Radio One Cuts Hit Ohio, Other Markets

The down economy, and the media's troubles, are just part of the story at Radio One - which reportedly made a wide variety of job cuts in a number of markets Thursday, including at all of its Ohio clusters.

We don't have any details directly about the company's Cleveland stations, but Radio-Info.com columnist Tom Taylor includes this line in his story about the Radio One job cuts:

In Cleveland, production talent, parttime air talent and producers gone and some fulltime vacancies not filled, for a total of perhaps 12 bodies.

The number seems a bit high, and we haven't confirmed it from within Radio One's Cleveland cluster, which includes urban AC WZAK/93.1, hip-hop WENZ/107.9, gospel WJMO/1300 and urban talk/brokered WERE/1490.

But there are reports of eight job cuts at Radio One's hometown Washington DC cluster, and as many as 20 are said to be out of work at the company's Atlanta operation.

Taylor also reports word of two staffers being let go, each, at Radio One's Cincinnati cluster - urban AC WMOJ/100.3 "Mojo" program director Phillip March and an unnamed host at urban talk WDBZ/1230 - and in Columbus, where Taylor names WCKX/107.5 afternoon driver "B. Slim" and production director Ed Dozier as job casualties.

Radio One no longer owns stations in one Ohio market, Dayton, due to a recent sale to Main Line Broadcasting.

The cuts seem extensive.

But Radio One's problems are deeper than those of most broadcast companies, with its stock tumbling to low levels. And the company hasn't been in the best financial shape even when you set aside the economic downturn...