On Thursday, Connoisseur Media officially completed its acquisition of Alpha Media. But CEO Jeff Warshaw said you shouldn’t expect the newly-merged company to start slashing positions.
While speaking at the BNM Summit on Thursday moments after the news of the acquisition had been completed, Warshaw said he doesn’t believe in the strategy of cutting your way to prosperity.
“We have great people. We’ll continue to add great people. We are going to be adding people,” said Warshaw. “We have the markets that we’ve been successful. Connoisseur has traditionally done business with extremely high market share, great ratings, huge sales staffs, and big involvement in our communities.”
He added that the investment into the company — which will now feature more than 200 stations held by Connoisseur Media — won’t be limited to employees.
“In Connecticut, we might have 10 vehicles. I go to visit markets — and in one particular market — I can’t believe that there are no vehicles,” said Warshaw. “I can’t believe there’s no street presence. You’re competing in this market with two of the largest broadcasters. How do you compete? And they said, ‘Well, they don’t have it either.’
“And so that’s just not the way that we operate. If we’re going to be in a market, we’re there to win, to be a great place to work, where there’s positive energy and excitement and enthusiasm for winning,” he continued, “where we can get great results for our clients, and we can be intrinsic to our communities. So if we’re going to be in the market, we want to be there to win and be the best level media operation.”
In total, the company now owns 216 stations in 47 markets, making the company now one of the top 10 radio ownership groups in the United States.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
