America's largest radio company Clear Channel is cutting nine per cent of its workforce – amounting to roughly 1850 jobs in its radio, outdoor and corporate divisions across the United States.
Most of the 1850 [link=http://ftp.media.radcity.net/ZMST/CC1-20.pdf]job losses[/link] will come from Clear Channel's radio sales department, with the company blaming a fall of around nine percent in revenues in 2008.
In an email to staff today, CEO Mark Mays confirmed the cuts saying "We are facing an unprecedented time of distress in the general economy – and the ripple effects have hit some of our largest customers hard."
According to reports on Amercia radio industry websites, staff were told of their fate via the tannoy system, with names being read out one by one. They were then "commonly asked to leave the building immediately and to return this weekend to pick up their personal stuff".
Clear owns around 850 radio stations across the States, down from 1200 a few years ago before a buyout of the company by private equity firms Thomas H Lee and Bain Capital in 2006.
