Radio personalities let go

MAITLAND, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ) - Clear Channel Communications on Tuesday laid off hundreds of employees across the company, including properties in Orlando.  CC Media Holdings Inc., the parent company of the radio-and-billboard giant, said it was laying off about 590 people in its radio division and suspending its 401(k) company match.

The layoffs target such areas as programming, engineering and customer service. They come on top of 1,850 layoffs in January, which mostly affected sales.  In addition, Clear Channel said it would suspend its matching contributions to employees' 401(k) retirement accounts, effective April 30.

"If the company hits 90 percent of its year-end targets, it will retroactively restore the match," a spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal .  "We believe we have got the right structure and staffing levels for current market conditions," said the spokeswoman.

Long-time Orlando radio personality Jim Philips, host of The Philips Phile on Real Radio 104.1, began his afternoon program lamenting the loss of one of his own crew members, Oddo, calling it "heartbreaking."  "He has been a major, major reason for the success of this program," Philips added. He said the termination was not performance-based, but simply the result of company-wide cutbacks.

Among other notable on-air personalities who got cut: Bubba "Whoopass" Wilson of the Monsters in the Morning, of Real Radio 104.1 and the Shot Doctor of 540 AM.   In addition, the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that 106.7 FM morning producer Alex Diaz and Crazy Sam from Rumba 100.3 are departing.

The company first announced a reduction in work force about three months ago, made at the behest of Clear Channel's new owners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners, who took the company private in a $17.9 billion deal last year.

The Wall Street Journal reported in January that the compnay was planning to lay off about 7% of its U.S. staff and is likely to replace more local shows with syndicated content from the company's Premiere division, which syndicates personalities such as Rush Limbaugh.

The company said in a preliminary filing on April 20, that its first-quarter revenue had plunged 23 percent, to $1.2 billion, while its debt nearly tripled, to about $21 billion. The company’s full results, as well as those of its publicly traded Clear Channel Outdoor subsidiary (NYSE: CCO), are scheduled to be released on May 11.

In Orlando, Clear Channel has seven radio stations: WFLF 540 AM , WJRR 101.1 FM , WMGF 107.7 FM , WQTM 740 AM, WRUM 100.3 FM , WTKS 104.1 FM and WXXL 106.7 FM .