As Entercom’s share price sinks below two dollars a share, layoffs hit the company hard today, with deep cuts coming across the country.
Here at home, the Herald’s Jessica Heslam reports that 10 were let go in Boston, including “Reese Hopkins” of WRKO, The Felon’s producers and even a sales manager:
The ax came down hard today at Entercom-owned radio stations in Boston and the casualties include WRKO host Reese Hopkins – who was whacked after his mid-morning show.
About 10 employees at Entercom’s Boston stations have been canned so far as the company’s stock tumbled to under $2 for the first time ever during trading today.
Two producers of Tom Finneran’s morning-drive show were also ousted, including Rich Teter, and Andrew Strecker, according to sources. The head of promotions at WRKO-AM (680), Laura Rieder, and the head of national sales, Donald St. Sauveur, were also let go. A producer for the “Hillman Morning Show” with Greg Hill on WAAF [website]-FM (97.7 and 107.3) was also canned.
But if they can’t afford these people, then how can they continue to pay Finneran a high salary for subpar performance? How many programming managers will really be needed to oversee a shrinking on-air staff?
Judging by the rapidly-collapsing stock price, Entercom (NYSE:ETM) may have much less of a future than anyone could have imagined just a few months ago.
Between the credit crunch, loss of traditional advertisers such as car dealerships, still-bloated managerial costs and heavy debt levels, it’s a wonder how any radio company is able to survive this crisis.
At Entercom, however, these moves could prove much too little, way too late if the hidden financial picture looks as bad as one might suspect.
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