David Field stepped down as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Audacy on Wednesday morning, ending his 27-year tenure in the leadership position. The company has named Kelli Turner as the interim president and CEO of the company, while Field will serve in a newly created role as a special advisor to the CEO and Board.
Field’s exit from the leadership position comes after Audacy emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy following the restructuring of its balance sheet. Under his leadership, Audacy has grown its audio business to a multiplatform offering that has approximately $1.2 billion in revenue, more than 230 stations across 47 markets and several podcast networks.
Various members of the sports, news, and music radio sectors who both work for or were previously employed by Audacy spoke with Barrett Media regarding Field’s departure and the future direction of the company. Those interviewed were offered anonymity to speak more freely on the subject.
Noticeable in the response from many inside the company was the hesitancy to say anything about Field’s exit. Dozens of current employees declined to comment when asked a variety of questions about the tenure of David Field, what the future may hold for the company, and whether they are optimistic or pessimistic about the future of Audacy under new leadership.
Some current and former employees, however, were willing to discuss their reactions to the move. One former Audacy employee said the writing for Field’s exit has been on the wall for some time.
“When I saw the thing that the Texas court had finally approved the bankruptcy, the first thing I said was ‘I wonder how long it’s going to be before David Field leaves his job,’ and the answer was three-and-a-half hours.”
“Not a surprising move based on how poorly the company is performing,” added another music radio employee. “It appears as if the purchase of the CBS clusters did him in.”
“Long overdue! The results speak for themselves. We wish him the best in his future endeavors,” added a music radio employee.
When asked what Field’s exit means for the company’s leadership, a few employees were unsure what to think of the choice of Kelli Turner to succeed him on an interim basis. One industry executive told Barrett Media, “they need someone in that company who understands the content, brands and platforms, and can excite the advertising community. Maybe elevating a board member works, but I think this a critical hire for the company. If they were wise they’d look at someone internally like Chris Oliviero.”
Another programming executive who previously led one of Audacy’s top market brands shared, “I think it’s very telling that a current Audacy employee at the highest levels of the company was not made interim CEO, but a member of the board whose background looks way more like a banker than a broadcaster. I think that’s very telling for the future. We’ll know more when they name a CEO. Will it be somebody with extensive broadcast experience? Or will it be somebody from an outside industry on the periphery of broadcast who is much more of a financial banker type than a broadcaster type? It’s too early to tell what the future is.”
“A lot of people were waiting for this,” an Audacy news/talk station employee said. “In fact, if it didn’t happen, people would be even further disillusioned.”
Another programmer speaking on the condition of anonymity told Barrett Media, “Audacy made the necessary move to change leadership at the top, and hopefully, it can emerge from bankruptcy revitalized. With some of the most legendary calls in radio, they have the opportunity.”
When asked what David Field’s legacy as the leader of Audacy will be, one former employee said it succinctly.
“I never had any problems with him, but I think his legacy is going to be that he will be the guy who screwed up the great radio stations that CBS gave him in November 2017. The original sin is when Entercom took over CBS, thinking they were smarter than many of the CBS people who they ousted very quickly upon that merger.”
“You cannot run New York, Los Angeles, Chicago like you would some of the medium to smaller size markets in America. Cumulus made that mistake and we all know what happened to them. You would’ve thought that the folks at Entercom would’ve seen that playbook and done the opposite. They didn’t. I think that original sin led us to where David Field unfortunately is today,” they concluded.
David Field had a stretch of success with Audacy, but the company struggled through the pandemic and had to enter into bankruptcy. Although the radio group was able to emerge and eliminate 80% of its company debt with approximately 2.7 times net leverage, ownership stakes of the company were yielded to creditors. Turner now steps into the role on an interim basis after serving on the company board for parts of the last five months.
“It’s not shocking that he resigned,” said a sports radio programmer. “The more interesting thing, at least for me, is that Audacy hasn’t already thought about this: who will be the successor following the bankruptcy? Because you’re going to have to reorganize just a little bit.”
The ambiguity surrounding the future of the Audacy C-suite is something that could elicit concern, especially as the company tries to remain sustainable in the marketplace.
“I can imagine there’s probably some nervous energy in all the talk brand buildings because what Audacy has done better, I feel, than really any of the major broadcast companies is really take in a lot of assets and built the spoken word format, whereas others kind of leaned into music,” said the programmer. “So what do I think it will do? It really kind of depends on who they bring in. But I can understand how some people in the business in those formats can be a little concerned right at the moment.”
Nonetheless, there seems to be ambiguity surrounding the direction of the company as it moves forward in the new year. Various sports radio stations under the Audacy Sports umbrella, which was established last April, serve as flagship radio stations for collegiate and professional teams. Audacy has engaged in layoffs of its sports staff in the past, including eliminating local programming from stations in Milwaukee and Las Vegas in August 2022.
“It’s impossible to tell at this point,” another media business executive said. “We’re all rooting for the company and our many friends within the company, but it will be a while before we see how this plays out.”
As the company looks to move forward under new leadership, reactions are mixed on whether or not this will bode for a rosy future for the radio giant.
“Now, the question is, will there be investment? Will there be an appetite for growth? The company still has a lot of people who want to get after it and win, but really want more support at the corporate level,” one current employee said. “A lot of questions remain, but a lot of people within Audacy blame him for the bankruptcy in the first place.”
“I think many companies that we all deal with are going through something right now, whatever that may be,” added the media industry executive. “I won’t say this is a particular warning sign. We’ve been going through this for a very long time – many companies have gone through this; many companies hope not to go through it again – but we just have to monitor it. It’s too soon to tell how this will play out, not just for this company, but in a more global fashion.”
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