Audacy has announced that Clay Walker will rise from Director of Programming and Operations for their Greensboro NC cluster and Brand Manager/afternoon host of Country “93.1 The Wolf” WPAW Winston-Salem to the newly created role of Vice President of Content Operations overseeing a new Content Operations Department.
In the new role, Walker will be responsible “for content operations across the Company to ensure innovation, standardization, and delivery of a premium product at the local, regional and national levels.” The department will also develop “the requirements and business objectives that drive the short and long-term goals and funding for content creation, curation, and operational systems.” He will report to Audacy EVP/Programming Jeff Sottolano. The company notes that Walker helped conceptualize and design the operation of the Company’s national programming initiatives in Country, Alternative, Top 40 and Classic Rock.
Audacy’s SVP/Technical Operations, John Kennedy, will see his role adjusted to focus on overseeing the company’s broadcast engineering. He will now be responsible for managing and maintaining Audacy’s “acquisition, distribution and production equipment and solutions at the local, regional, and national levels, including Audacy’s Network Operations Center.”
Walker had been with Audacy Greensboro since 2007. Drew Bland has been promoted to Regional VP of Country and will add the programming oversight of WPAW to his duties.
Audacy has announced a series of leadership updates for its technical operations business.
Clay Walker has been elevated to Vice President of Content Operations, overseeing a newly created Content Operations Department. In this role, Walker is responsible for content operations across the Company to ensure innovation, standardization, and delivery of a premium product at the local, regional and national levels. Under Walker’s leadership, the Content Operations Department is also responsible for developing the requirements and business objectives that drive the short and long-term goals and funding for content creation, curation, and operational systems. Walker will report to Jeff Sottolano, Executive Vice President of Programming. He will depart his current role as Director of Programming and Operations for Audacy Greensboro.
John Kennedy, Senior Vice President of Technical Operations, will oversee a refocused broadcast engineering function. Kennedy will manage and maintain Audacy’s acquisition, distribution and production equipment and solutions at the local, regional, and national levels, including Audacy’s Network Operations Center. With expertise in broadcast engineering standards, regulatory needs and equipment, the broadcast engineering function is accountable for ensuring that Audacy’s radio and streaming solutions have 99.99% uptime and meet listener, advertiser and FCC expectations.
“As we aim to continuously evolve our content distribution and technical operations to serve our multi-platform future best, we’re excited to have two passionate leaders in Clay and John to drive two critical areas of our tech ops function,” said Sarah Foss, Chief Technology Officer, Audacy. “We’re confident these changes will enable us to better envision, plan and implement multi-platform transformation across our content operations, broadcast infrastructure and network.”
“Clay has already proven himself to be an adept and innovative thinker as it relates to the evolution of our content production and distribution systems,” said Jeff Sottolano, Executive Vice President, Head of Programming, Audacy. “I am excited to see him and John partner more closely with our central, regional and local content and technical operations teams.”
“Audacy’s portfolio of the industry’s highest-profile creators, brands and platforms is simply incredible. I’m excited to help further accelerate the Company’s transformation with technology and world-class technical talent to build better experiences for our fans,” said Walker.
Walker is a 20-year broadcast veteran, 17 of which spent at Audacy. In addition to being the Brand Manager at 93.1 The Wolf (WPAW-FM) in Greensboro, he has helped conceptualize and design the operation of the Company’s national programming initiatives in Country, Alternative, Top 40 and Classic Rock. As the Director of Programming Operations for Audacy Greensboro, Walker focused on developing innovation in automation, audio processing and listener experiences while developing frictionless environments for the Company’s content creators.
“As we aggressively work towards enhancing our content technical infrastructure, it will be an exciting opportunity to work alongside Clay and our leadership team to ensure we are best serving our listeners’ expectations and advertiser demands,” said Kennedy.
John Kennedy is Senior Vice President of Technical Operations for Audacy, overseeing regional and market technical staff and operations in all Audacy markets and NOC operations. Kennedy started working in radio engineering upon entering Providence College and has made a career of working in radio broadcast and related industries throughout New England since 1980. He joined the Company in 1999, working his way up from local market Director of Engineering to his current role as Senior Vice President. He serves on the NAB Radio Tech Committee and is a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the IEEE/Broadcast Technology Society.
