A restructuring of the programming departments is ongoing the past few days at iHeartMedia, mostly on the Country format side.
It is not yet known how many names are affected and the company has yet to comment on the moves. There are other names we have heard that have not yet become public.
Among those exiting the company in this round of cuts are:
‘Amber Miller’ Bouchard, APD/midday host at Alternative “Alt 104.5” WRFF Philadelphia. She joined then “Radio 104.5” in August 2016 and was promoted to Program Director in May 2020 when the station rebranded. She slid back to APD when Mike Kaplan joined the station as Program Director last September. Miller had just moved from nights back to middays earlier this week. She previously served as National Director of Promotion for Caroline Records, spent six years as APD/MD and PD/Afternoon host at Alternative 102.7 WEQX Manchester VT/Albany NY and has also worked on-air at 96.3 WDVD Detroit, 98.1 WQSM Fayetteville, and “G105” WDCG Raleigh.
Zack Owen, PD/morning host at Country “WACO 100” WACO-FM Waco TX since 1992 and Regional SVP/Programming. Owen co-hosted mornings at WACO-FM with Jim Cody from 1992 until Cody’s death from Liver Cancer last October.
LJ Smith had been Regional SVP/Programming for five markets based in Columbia SC. Smith joined the company in 2002 as Program Director of Country 97.5 WCOS after previously serving as SVP/Programming for Ocean City MD based Benchmark Communications and serving as Senior Consultant for Broadcast Programming.
Steve Wazz – Wazz exited as APD/morning host at Country 99.5 WGAR Cleveland after
Erich West, SVP/Programming for iHeartMedia Huntsville AL. West also hosted middays at Country 102.1 WDRM and afternoons on Classic Hits “100.3 The River” WQRV. He came to Huntsville in 2006 after four years as Operations Manager for the company in Macon GA. West also spent six years as Program Director for Tiger Communications in Auburn AL.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com