Longtime Emmis Corporation programmer Rick Cummings has announced his retirement.
After 43 years with the organization, Cummings will step away on Friday, September 1st.
“Save my immediate family, nothing has given me more joy in life than working for Jeff (Smulyan) and Emmis,” Cummings said. “This company has afforded me extraordinary professional and personal opportunities, here and abroad, that no kid from rural Indiana could ever have imagined. I am eternally grateful for this and the future as Emmis allows me to continue in a consulting role. As I told Jeff, ‘I’ll work for you until they carry one of us out!’”
Cummings became the first program director of the company in 1981 at WENS-FM. He was later named National Program Director in 1984. The 72-year-old oversaw iconic radio brands like sports station WFAN in New York and news/talker 93.1 WIBC in Indianapolis.
“Rick and I have been together every day since Emmis started, and we worked together even before that,” Emmis founder and Chairman Jeff Smulyan said. “It’s hard to describe our relationship, but no one has contributed more to the success of Emmis for 43 years than Rick, and no one has been a better friend and partner. It is hard to see Rick wanting to slow down, but he has certainly earned the right to do that. Knowing that he will remain as a consultant means that we will continue to work and laugh together for a long time.”
Despite his retirement, Rick Cummings will continue to serve in a consultant role with the organization.
