The Latest Round of Layoffs at Audacy Require Examining the State of Radio

The latest round of layoffs at Audacy have been the talk of the radio industry for the past 24 hours. The cuts have impacted numerous markets and departments across the company. Inside sources told Barrett Media the number of people affected could go as high as 300.

Those impacted and not included in our original story, please email John or Jason. We are here to make sure your availability is conveyed to the rest of the radio industry. That comes in handy should others have future needs.

Following the news, Barrett Media’s Jason Barrett, John Mamola, Jeff Lynn and Garrett Searight took time to share a few thoughts. Here are their thoughts on the industry’s challenges, future, concerns, and mistakes.

Jason Barrett, President of Barrett Media

It’s ironic that news broke of Stephen A. Smith securing a 5-year deal with ESPN worth at least $100 million dollars on the same day as the Audacy layoffs. Not that ESPN hasn’t had its challenges before, but if you look at the state of TV/Streaming compared to Radio, it’s in a healthier position. My heart goes out to those affected, and the brand leaders and HR folks who had to deliver the bad news.

It’s been a rough decade for radio’s largest companies. Audacy, iHeart and Cumulus have each gone through bankruptcy, revenue decline, tumbling stock prices, management changes, and repeated layoffs. I’ve covered this business daily for 9+ years. Though I love it, it’s hard to elicit excitement about radio’s future when its top companies frequently experience headwinds. Even more troubling is that the big three’s issues paint a picture that all of radio is hurting. That’s not true. Ask smaller companies and local owners, they’re thrilled to be in this business, and they’re doing well.

My biggest concerns surrounding industry layoffs is that many involved in these decisions have been part of prior calls. If someone hasn’t created a business plan to put a company in a strong financial position before, why would you assume they will now? I used to tell my teams at local stations that everyone has to win their battle. From the PD to the morning show to the Sales Manager, GM, social media manager, and corporate bosses, all have to outperform the competition. As we sit here in 2025, do you trust radio’s top leaders at the big three to deliver a brighter future than Spotify, SiriusXM, YouTube, Television/Streaming companies, etc.?

Leaders are supposed to be measured on results. Fortunately for many, shrinking revenues don’t seem to bother investors. They seem satisfied as long as there’s fat to trim. Meanwhile, Spotify, YouTube, Apple, and larger media groups continue taking bites out of the industry’s advertising pie. Radio’s remedy is to reduce staff, and put its best people in positions where they have little chance to succeed.

Radio used to be great at marketing itself, and creating must-listen programming. Now, there’s minimal promotion of the industry and less memorable content. Instead of prioritizing can’t-miss voices and content, the business elevates mediocrity based on comfortability and costs. Talented people then get sent into the job market to help build new companies, and strengthen existing ones. That results in stiffer competition for ad dollars, something we already struggle to obtain. As others innovate and hire new people with new ideas, radio remains unable to raise rates, and monetize podcasts, merchandise, newsletters, events, and subscriptions.

I understand the challenges of running a business. I’ve led numerous radio brands, and live in a budget sheet on a daily basis with Barrett Media. If revenues can’t support retaining employees, tough calls have to be made. Complicating matters for the industry is that it’s not a seller’s market. If it were, radio groups would unload stations to help ease the burden. However, there’s a difference between going through this once, and experiencing it annually. If the same problems exist year after year, that suggests bigger problems up top than on a local level.

My only advice to media groups, when you’re parting ways with a lot of employees, say nothing. A statement from a corporate spokesperson telling the world that you’re making workforce reductions to ensure a strong and resilient future for the business, is distasteful. It’s also bullshit. Audacy made cuts last April, the prior year in March, and in April 2022. If those moves were made to ensure a brighter future, why is the company in the same position this year?

When a workforce is reduced by 10%-15% in 3 years, people don’t need hollow remarks. They need ideas, support, leadership, and innovation. Blaming corporate for the industry’s repeated problems is easy, but jobs are vanishing in many industries. The best thing radio professionals can do is stay educated on the health of the industry, and sharpen their skills in other areas. When these things happen, you shouldn’t be ‘blindsided’. You should be informed, and prepared with a strong Plan B. We may all love radio and want it to prosper, but just like a relationship, sometimes you have to let it go.

John Mamola, Sports Columnist

I wrote on Wednesday that radio needs to do a better job telling its own story. Unfortunately, days like yesterday happen far too often. It’s hard to fathom how radio can control its own narrative when the majority of headlines surrounding it focus on people losing their jobs. How can radio companies preach locality when they are no longer local? Can you champion digital and technological advancements when you’re playing catch-up with podcasting and digital streaming since the dawn of Windows 95? 

Radio is losing the battle for its own livelihood.

For many who choose to work in the industry, radio is a passion—a love letter of service to entertain and inform the listener. These are people who work hard, show up early, stay late, go the extra mile, and do whatever is asked of them simply because they love it. Yet, how can radio sell itself as a bright and thriving industry when its past and present feel as silent as dead air? 

The sacred ground that radio has claimed for generations is being chipped away with every layoff. How much longer can fewer people be expected to do more, with no promise of stability? Radio has become a constant “look over your shoulder” business, where there are more fires to put out than sparks to ignite. 

At its core, radio is about connection—the relationship between talent and the audience. With so many other places to hear music, why continue stripping away the one thing that makes radio special? With countless sources for local sports coverage, why lean on syndication that often ignores the hometown teams? There are many ways to get weather and traffic updates, but when a hurricane knocks out power, where do people turn? 

If radio continues to neglect investing in people, it must ask itself: Why should people continue investing their time in radio? 

Garrett Searight, News Editor

Days like yesterday make it difficult to advocate for and champion the radio industry. Maybe I’m not seeing the forest through the trees, but I don’t know of many industries that have cut their way to prosperity. And the industries that still exist and are fruitful today that had major cuts in the past have seen bounce-backs that radio can only dream of. 

It just doesn’t make sense to hear radio leader after radio leader tell you that two of the major selling points of the radio industry are “local” and “personalities”, and then see those same companies continue laying off local personalities.

The radio industry isn’t in a good place right now. It continues to be self-inflicted with no end in sight. What happened at Audacy is likely to happen at other companies throughout 2025. And those same people that say the industry is doing great because 90% of Americans use terrestrial radio monthly are the same people who will look their employees in the face and say that layoffs are necessary to streamline operations or whatever poppycock excuse they can muster to try to mask the fact that the same employees they’re speaking to now are likely to be the next ones to go. 

We live in a media world where content is king. And yet, somehow, radio seems to be one of the only avenues that can’t figure out how to monetize itself to enough profitability that we don’t have to write “(Insert Radio Company Here) to Cut 7% of Staff in Latest Round of Layoffs.” If the content doesn’t matter, if the work that radio hosts, DJs, producers, and programmers doesn’t matter, just turn the transmitters off. The party is over if that’s the case.

Sometimes, it isn’t “challenging market conditions” or “economic headwinds” that cause these situations. Sometimes, it’s just flat-out incompetence. But that’s unpopular to even think, let alone say.

I’d love to be able to look on the bright side and think the night is darkest before the dawn. But it’s becoming ever more challenging to think the sun is going to come up for the radio industry. What hope do you have that things are going to turn around? That the major players will get their financial house in order so the industry can thrive instead of survive.

I look forward to the day that I’ll be able to sit down and type stories about the wonders of the industry and how it bounced back from the doldrums it once saw. But it’s become increasingly likely that I won’t ever have to think about what that story sounds like. 

Jeff Lynn, Music Editor

While not surprising, the Audacy layoffs are disappointing. I have been through the RIF process both as the manager delivering the news and on the receiving end. With those experiences, I still believe that trying to save your way to prosperity is not possible and shortsighted.

Until radio is willing to look at the real problem, this will likely continue. Radio doesn’t value its product. It bends over and takes the lowest rate to keep it from the competition. At the same time, tossing in lesser-rated cluster properties in what I like to call, “Do you want fries with that?”

That leads to long stop sets and no resources for investment in talent and marketing. Isn’t it funny that when the radio sales rep gets the message from a client that times are hard and they need to cancel their buy, the first thing they are told is, “That’s exactly when you need to increase your buy.” Well, take your own advice.

Until radio stops apologizing for its product and drives rate, the consumer will be stuck with generic talent piped in from elsewhere. This trend of eliminating people will continue. Companies will keep surrendering licenses and having stations go dark. Last one out please turn off the lights.

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