iHeartMedia sacks over 50 radio hosts, invests in artificial intelligence

iHeartRadio’s parent company iHeartMedia has announced dozens of redundancies this week.

57 on-air talent and execs employed by the US broadcast company have lost their jobs, or as iHeartMedia has termed it, been “dislocated”.

As MBW reports, the latest staffing changes have made waves due to the statement that came with the news citing a renewed investment in artificial intelligence.

“We are modernizing our company to take advantage of the significant investments we have made in new technology and aligning our operating structure to match the technology-powered businesses we are now in,” said iHeartMedia.

It’s believed that the 57 are mostly radio jocks carry decades of experience working across genres of music including  Rock, Urban, Country, Top 40, Hits and more.

“During a transition like this it’s reasonable to expect that there will be some shifts in jobs – some by location and some by function – but the number is relatively small given our overall employee base of 12,500.”

“That said, we recognize that the loss of any job is significant; we take that responsibility seriously and have been thoughtful in the process.”

The extent to which artificial intelligence will replace these employees is not clear at this point.

However, it can be assumed that AI will play some part in the music playlists that may play to fill in gaps across the over 850 live broadcast stations run by the company in the US.

iHeartMedia, which has an offshoot in Australia through its ARN partnership, filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.

It has since had a debut reduction and reorganisation plan approved by the US Bankruptcy Court.