Radio broadcaster Audacy issued sweeping layoffs this week that have impacted at least 100 workers in local and national radio operations, according to multiple sources who spoke with The Desk on background.

Two sources familiar with the company’s plans said the layoffs affected national, regional and local operations, and spanned across job titles, including human resources, accounting and payroll, creative services, on-air talent, digital content producers and other workers.

Many of the affected workers were informed about their layoffs this week, the sources said, and others are expected to be told in the coming days. While the initial tally was around 100 workers affected, one source said the total number of people who may lose their jobs could exceed 300 by the end of mid-March.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for Audacy issued a statement to reporters that confirmed the layoffs, without citing a specific number of employees affected.

“Audacy has made workforce reductions to ensure a strong and resilient future for the business,” the Audacy spokesperson affirmed. “We are streamlining resources to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving media landscape and to best position Audacy to continue serving listeners and advertisers with excellence.”

Like other radio companies, Audacy has struggled to accommodate an evolving shift in the way people receive their music, sports talk and news as competition heats up from streaming and other digital distribution platforms, including on-demand music services like Spotify and podcast platforms.

The situation Audacy finds itself is also unique, because the company — formerly known as Entercom — took on a significant amount of debt in order to effectuate a blockbuster merger with once-rival CBS Radio, allowing it to scale its operations to over 220 radio stations serving around five dozen media markets.

The company also bet large on a handful of podcast production firms, including Cadence 13 and Pineapple Street Media. While the podcasts deliver tens of millions of listeners each month, they have yet to make a substantial contribution to the company’s top or bottom lines.

Investors were not pleased. The company lost its New York Stock Exchange listing after its per-share price fell below the required threshold of $1. To regain compliance, it initiated a reverse stock split, effectively combining multiple shares in order to bring its per-share price back into compliance. It didn’t last long, with the company being delisted for a second time after the share price fell below $1 again.

In January 2024, Audacy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move that was intended to remedy around $1.6 billion of its nearly $2 billion in debt. One month later, a federal bankruptcy court approved its restructuring plan; the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a transfer of Audacy’s broadcast licenses from the bankruptcy company to a newly-established firm — also called Audacy — that counts George Soros and his Soros Fund Management among its creditor-owners.

The new ownership structure has drawn the ire of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who said the agency last year rushed to approve the license transfer without giving it proper scrutiny. Carr, who was a FCC Commissioner at the time the matter was decided, was appointed to his current role by President Donald Trump in January.

“If your last name was Soros, well, the commission bent over backwards and gave you a special, unprecedented commission-level shortcut to buy 200 radio stations,” Carr said during a television interview.

Carr’s comments suggested the FCC might take another look at the matter, even after it was already approved. It would likely cause more harm than good to a radio company that, despite its emergence from bankruptcy as a better-capitalized operation, is still beset by organizational challenges.

In January, Audacy’s long-time CEO David Field announced his departure, capping a 27-year career as the company’s top executive that included oversight over many of the deals that landed the broadcaster in its precarious financial position. Last month, Audacy’s Chief Financial Officer Rich Schmaeling said he was leaving the company before his contract was set to expire.

The layoffs that started on Thursday are expected to help Audacy save tens of millions of dollars in employee-related expenditures, including benefits and salaries, in the coming years. But they come at a sizable reputation cost, as some of those who received pink slips have deep ties to their communities.

The affected workers include J.R. Cruz Gonzalez, a Wichita-based radio host with more than four decades of local broadcasting experience. Gonzalez had been off the air in recent weeks due to a health episode, and his termination came without an opportunity to say goodbye to listeners in the manner most-customary in the radio industry: From behind a microphone.

Instead, he took to Facebook to bid farewell to his audience.

“I am making plans to head back home to Houston to rehab and recover,” Gonzalez wrote. “Only God knows the plans He has for me — plans for me to prosper and a future.”

What follows below is a list of confirmed national and local radio departures, based on public statements, local media reports and sources who requested anonymity:

National Radio

• Nick Ashooh (BetMGM Network / Infinity Sports Network)
• Citlaly Bastian (Audacy Corporate)
• Lucy Burdge (BetMGM Network)
• Joe Cingrana (Audacy Corporate)
• Bailey Dotson (Audacy Corporate)
• Dan Edwards (Audacy Corporate)
• Dan Karpuc (Audacy Corporate)
• Matthew Horner (BetMGM Network)
• Tarrah Gibbons (Audacy Corporate)
• Julianne Gilman (Audacy Corporate)
• Anna McMichael-Kane (Audacy Corporate)
• Sophie Pratt (Audacy Corporate)
• Spencer Ray (BetMGM Network)
• Dave Savage (Audacy Corporate)

Local Radio

• Jonathan Alcantara (WMQX, Scranton)
• J. R. Cruz Gonzalez (KEYN, Wichita)
• John “Johnny Dare” Caprefoli (KQRC, Kansas City)
• Craig Elsten (KWFN, San Diego)
• Marc Ernay (WINS-AM, New York City)
• Charles Feldman (KNX, Los Angeles)
• Annie Heilbrunn (KWFN, San Diego)
• Brian “Ponch” Hudgens (KZPT, Kansas City)
• Henry Lake (WCCO, Minneapolis)
• Annie Leamy (WCBS-FM, New York City)
• Aricka McCauley (WOMC, Detroit)
• Charley McCain (WSMW, Greensboro)
• Mark Menard (WWL, New Orleans)
• Trey Morgan (WOGL, Philadelphia)
• Thomas “Jammer” Naylor (WEZB, New Orleans)
• Dale O’Brian (WPAW, Greensboro)
• David O’Leary (WMJX, Boston)
• Erin O’Malley (WWBX, Boston)
• Dermot O’Neil (WCBS-FM, New York City)
• Greg Raneiri (KSON, San Diego)
• Joe “Jeetz” Reder (KGON, Portland)
• Adam Spolane (KILT-AM, Houston)
• Jamie Tanchyk (KWJJ, Portland)
• Tim Taylor (KGON, Portland)
• Wilson Truong (KMOX, St. Louis)
• Chris Tubbs (WCCO, Minneapolis)
• Nikki Vivas (KZPT, Kansas City)
• “DJ Raymond” (WHHL, St. Louis)
• “J Love” (KMXB, Las Vegas)
• “Shae Bae” (WHHL, St. Louis)
• “Princess Stormm” (WHHL, St. Louis)
• “Priestly” (WWMX, Baltimore)

Additionally, KNX (1070 AM, 93.1 FM) News Director Alex Silverman affirmed his intention to leave the station and the company by April. In an all-staff note sent to station employees on Thursday, Silverman said he was departing to pursue other opportunities, though he wasn’t sure what those were just yet. Silverman joined KNX in 2022 after serving in news-related roles at KYW (1060 AM, 103.9 FM) in Philadelphia and WCBS (880 AM, now WHSQ) in New York City. In January, Silverman led the KNX newsroom through around-the-clock coverage of the Southern California wildfires, which included some of the first on-the-scene reports from the blaze in the Pacific Palisades.