A dozen staffers were cut from Entercom Indianapolis prior to Cumulus Media beginning to operate the cluster today.
The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that the dozen staffers came from multiple departments at the station. Three names have been confirmed as being let go including the two on-air talents cut:
Kent Sterling departs after five years hosting afternoons at “CBS Sports 1430” WXNT. Sterling hosted the only local show on the station and previously programmed “1070 The Fan” WFNI Indianapolis and “101 Sports” WXOS St. Louis.
Kari ‘KJ’ Johll departs as Assistant Program Director and afternoon host at Hot AC “107.9 The Mix” WNTR. Johll had been with the cluster since 2002 serving as a co-host of the Dave Smiley Morning Show on 99.5 WZPL before moving to WNTR first as morning host and later afternoons.
Social media coordinator Chelsie Nickell also announced that she was out after two years with the company.
The IBJ reports that Ben Hoffman, who was promoted to SVP/Market Manager of the Entercom Indianapolis cluster last November after serving as VP/Sales since 2011, will transfer to Minneapolis as VP/Sales.
Had a great time the last five years doing the show. Thanks to all who listened. Cumulus decided our fun fest should come to an end. That’s radio. Thanks to everyone at Entercom Indy for helping make it work.
— Kent Sterling (@KentSterling) February 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/chelsienickell/status/1100502544424583171
Cumulus should give serious consideration to flipping one of its Indy signals – most likely 93.9 – to a mainstream rock or active rock format.
The gulf between Q95 and Alt 103.3 is a 1,000 miles wide!
Something similar to Cincinnati’s 96Rock would be PERFECT.
What would be even better is if they did something more like what The Rock Channel 97.3 Roanoke is doing
The days of simply filling a real or perceived format hole are long gone. What Cumulus will do is give serious consideration to finding the way to claim more of the dollars they’ve previously been leaving on the table. They’ll look at the formats they now have and determine the strategy needed to best position those 5 FMs and 1 AM. I’d guess the core will be FMS, JJK and ZPL. 93.9 and 107.9 may work to add those dollars, may work to protect that core from competition, or best case do both. If that means active rock, great. It may mean something else.