Cox Radio Rolls with the Changes...

Cox Radio has a big corporate announcement to make: They are Downsizing!

They just announced this morning that they are looking to shed some of their radio/TV markets. As of right now, they are looking at selling 28 radio stations and 4 TV stations in slower markets in order to focus on larger markets. They are also on a buying binge, of sorts. They have their eyes on two markets where they will buy 2 stations each. These markets are Jacksonville, FL (WAWS-TV and WTEV-TV) and Tulsa, OK (KOKI-TV and KMYT-TV).

On the radio side, they are planning to sell stations in six markets. These markets include Birmingham, Greenville, SC, Hawaii, Louisville, Richmond, and Southern Connecticut. They will also sell some TV properties: KFOX-TV (El Paso), WJAC-TV (Johnstown, PA), WTOV-TV (Steubenville), and KRXI-TV and operating rights to KAME-TV (RENO)

At the corporate level, several leadership positions will either be eliminated or shuffled around.

Some of these changes include the movement of Former CMG VP Kim Guthrie to SVP, where she will be in charge of radio markets, while former Austin American-Statesman Publisher Jane Williams will take the position of SVP in charge of CMG's TV portfolio. Both will report to former WSB-TV GM and now Executive Vice President of Broadcast, Bill Hoffman.

Former Group Vice President Rich Reis is now the Vice President/GM in charge of all CMG's digital operations.

Former Group Vice President Ben Reed is now the Vice President and Market Manager in charge of the Atlanta CMG radio cluster. He takes over for Dan Kearney, who was recently tapped as VP/Market Manager of CMG's Miami radio operations. Kearney takes over for Jerry Rushin, who is retiring from the company this month.

Many more changes have been announced. For more info, please visit www.allaccess.com.

The moment this article caught my eye, I thought about my friends working both in the New York market and the Atlanta market. I was more worried about my friends working in the Long Island market than I was Atlanta. For CMG, Long Island is a much smaller market (only 2 stations). But, when I read the article further, I was relieved that neither New York or Atlanta is on the chopping block.

You can send me your thoughts and comments, as always, at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, by commenting on this post, and contributing to my blog forum. I hope to hear from many of my readers!!