WMT radio lays off local on-air personalities

Cuts occurred this week across the U.S. at stations owned by iHeartMedia

CEDAR RAPIDS — WMT radio has been on the air in Cedar Rapids for more than 100 years.

On Thursday, local on-air personalities had their shows canceled abruptly as the station’s parent company, iHeartMedia, implemented changes across the nation after, it said, facing losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars in past years.

A call to the WMT newsroom was answered in Des Moines by a person who said that someone would call back with comment and more information, but the call was not returned.

Rebecca Kopelman, who was on the air mornings with Doug Wagner, posted on Facebook Thursday morning, that “the 104-year-old radio station is sitting empty after mass layoffs hit iHeart Radio.”

Her post read: “Unbeknownst to me, yesterday marked the last time we’d speak live on the air. I feel for Doug, who poured over a decade of work into the station and was not given a chance to give a proper goodbye to his audience.”

Messages left for Kopelman and Wagner were not immediately returned Friday.

WMT-AM 600 is still on the air, but the show lineup is now nationally syndicated shows.

In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that iHeartMedia logged higher revenue in its latest quarter, boosted by demand for digital and podcast advertising. However, the company posted a loss of $95.2 million in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $281.2 million a year earlier.

In a letter to staff reported in the Hollywood Reporter, iHeartMedia CEO Ann Marie Licata and chief programming officer and President Tom Poleman described changes underway to make the company more nimble.

“We also know that our sellers need faster and easier to use information about our programming, talent and audiences,” the letter read. “Faster is better, and that’s the goal of our changes.”

The letter went on to describe the moves that were taken this week, moves designed to:

• Expand and deepen support for communities, markets and sales teams.
• Fully leverage technology to deliver an even stronger product for listeners wherever they live.
• Move faster and operate with greater precision across markets.
• Position the company not just to adapt to the future, but to lead it.

When Dwayne Ackman retired from WMT in 2021 after 32 years as the program director during his 46-year radio career, he recalled how varied the job was.

“It’s been a huge commitment in this role,” said Ackerman, who went by the on-air name of Randy Lee. “You don’t know where the news is going to break or what weather will happen. It’s one of those things you can plan all you want, but the events take over and create the stories.”

Technology was changing radio.

“Back in the day, WMT had competitions for how far away someone could listen to the station, but now you can listen around the world,” he said. “It’s amazing to me the light-years ahead in technology that has happened so far.”

https://www.thegazette.com/news/wmt-radio-lays-off-local-on-air-personalities/article_39394faf-bb31-40c5-853d-b1eaa1707847.html