Today’s casualty is KABC’s Larry Elder as Cumulus Media continued firing all the legacy talent from the ABC Radio days.
You may remember that Larry was on ABC radio in national syndication, but never really reached critical mass with national advertisers.
On the “not fired” list are Lars Larson and Clyde Lewis, both employed by Alpha Media.
To give historical context, a guy named Larry Wilson bought up a bunch of tiny market radio stations after 1996 reforms allowed unlimited national ownership. He ran a thing called Citadel Broadcasting. His backers eventually gave him around a billion dollars to go away while they put in a guy who wanted to run a company with major market stations. After the new CEO bought ABC Radio, Citadel almost immediately went into bankruptcy, falling into the arms of Cumulus.
Larry Wilson kept his powder dry for a decade, and now his Alpha Medis is one of the bottom feeders bargain hunting for failing stations he can turn around. Some of the independent stations may well want to sign on, now that Talk Radio Network is no longer a big player.