On Tuesday, WJR 760 morning host Guy Gordon revealed he was exiting the Cumulus Media Detroit news/talk radio station.
While the move was somewhat of a surprise, the details were even more surprising. Being fully aware that there are three sides to every story — one side, the other, and the truth — it certainly appears Gordon believes he was asked to accept a 60% pay cut, which he obliged. But when the station — perhaps more accurately, the company — asked him to move from mornings to the 2-4 PM timeslot, he balked, threw in the towel, and walked away.
Just sit there and stew on that for a second. Someone was willing to — allegedly — take a 60% pay cut to keep their job. How many people, even if they’re making six or seven figures, do you know that are willing to take the slash to their salary?
But that wasn’t enough, apparently.
Not only was the expectation that Guy Gordon needed to more than half his salary, he needed to move out of his dream job, too.
Reading between the lines, that sort of offer would lead me to believe that Cumulus Media didn’t want Guy Gordon on its morning show at WJR any longer. They absolutely have that prerogative to make those decisions. It is their company. They get to run it how they see fit.
But, if that’s how you want to program your station, don’t be surprised if employees don’t want to bend to your every will.
I find a somewhat repetitive pattern with radio leaders — especially those who have spent decades at the top of the industry — who fail to recognize this fact: It isn’t 1985 anymore. Hell, it isn’t 1995, 2005, or 2015 anymore.
The message, if you haven’t heard it yet, should be loud and clear: you no longer have the upper hand. The “there are only a finite number of these jobs available, and you should be grateful that we’ve allowed you the opportunity to occupy one” attitude should have gone the way of the dodo about 10 years ago.
Never has it been easier for a media member — whether you work in the audio, video, or written word spaces — to work for themselves. To monetize their own efforts. To be their own boss. Just look around the industry and see all of the self-owned, self-started media endeavors that have grown into profitable outlets.
If you act in an obtuse manner — and I think, should Gordon be believed verbatim, that asking someone to move out of a timeslot they don’t want to leave and cut their pay by 60% is obtuse — you should expect people to call your bluff.
Radio companies should want to attract top talents. They should want those hosts, anchors, reporters, producers, programmers, salespeople, or anyone else involved in the operation of the brand to be with their companies for decades.
This isn’t rocket science, but how do you attract top talent? You treat them better than other companies or industries do. You equip them for greatness. Maybe most importantly, you pay them what they’re worth.
If you’re not attracting and keeping top talent, how can you expect your business — and the medium as a whole — to thrive? Furthermore, if you’re so blatantly treating top talent as if they should simply be thankful that they still have a job, what does it say about the state of the industry and your company? If confronting the answer to that question feels uncomfortable, perhaps change your strategy and thought process.
There are a bevy of available options in 2025 for audio consumers. Which means, in turn, there are a bevy of available options for audio talent to create content for audio consumers. The radio company is a middleman. And in a world that increasingly is cutting out the middleman at every turn, I think it’s time that leading radio companies recognize that landscape change.
Accepting that landscape change doesn’t mean the acceptance that the business is swirling the drain. It does mean, however, stepping up to the plate and finding new, exciting, creative ways for advertisers to spend their marketing dollars on our stations and with our brands. If the status quo is no longer working, change the status quo.
Also, so many in the industry care so much about how we’re perceived. But I don’t understand how a company could view the Guy Gordon situation and think that it’s good for anyone. If the hope is to ever claim that the top media talents and personalities are still found in radio, how can you legitimately make that case in good faith?
The onus is on the leaders of major radio companies — like iHeartMedia, Audacy, and Cumulus — to lead the charge. You have to be the ones to not only attract and retain top talents, but to also reinvigorate the sales approach to monetizing those talents. Because the entire industry looks bad if those same people are able to embark on their own endeavors and find profitability.
Be leaders. Change the course of the future of the industry. Set a plan, make it your North Star, and follow it.
Take up that challenge. I just can’t imagine that you’ll regret it.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
