Photo Credit: Audacy
Audacy announces a significant realignment strategy around “verticals” instead of “market geography” in a content-first model shift.
On Tuesday, Kelli Turner, Audacy President and CEO, announced a major company realignment in an internal memo to staff. The goal is to shift away from traditional market-based management and toward a “vertical” content and leadership structure in order to better align with the company’s digital-first push.
The new strategy will see Audacy organize its programming and content teams by categories such as news, sports, country, and alternative, rather than by geography.
“For decades, radio has been organized by market geography. This legacy model doesn’t best serve our business in today’s digital, multi-market landscape, or leverage the extraordinary talent and scale we have within our formats,” said Turner in a memo to staff.
“Starting this week, we will organize all our programming teams and content by verticals. News, sports, country, alternative, etc.—instead of by location. This unlocks greater scale, resources, and expertise for our brand managers and frees our market leaders to focus intensely on revenue-generating activities.”
Additionally, several key leadership roles will change—including Chief Business Officer and New York Market President Chris Oliviero, who will now oversee Audacy’s Content Organization and report directly to Turner. Oliviero will manage the company’s programming and content strategy across platforms and formats in this expanded role.
As part of the new structure, many leadership roles will now report to Oliviero: Leah Reis-Dennis will continue to guide podcast strategy, John Pacino will oversee product, while Jeff Sottolano will remain responsible for programming. Station brand managers will also no longer report to individual market presidents, and instead will report directly to their respective format vice presidents.
Turner also announced that Chief Revenue Officer Bob Philips and EVP of Revenue Operations Liz Mozian will now report directly to her—a move Turner said ensures Audacy’s sales strategies evolve alongside its content operations. The regional leadership structure will also change, following Brian Purdy’s transition from Regional President to Senior Advisor. The company redistributed the markets that Purdy had been responsible for among its remaining regional presidents.
“Both of these changes—being content-first and creating larger regional groups—continue to support our goals of creating an agile, dynamic, future-facing Audacy,” said Turner. “Local radio remains a lifeblood, and this helps make us even stronger and better as the business evolves.”
The restructuring reinforces Audacy’s continued efforts to adapt its content strategies and leadership, and to respond to a rapidly evolving audio landscape.
