iHM Ups Three Senior Programmers to Division Executive VPs

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, January 16, 2020

iHeartMedia

iHeartMedia names three of its senior programming executives to Division Executive VPs of Programming for the iHeartMedia National Programming Group, effective immediately. Jeff Hurley, Tony Travatto and Angela Watson Charles will now join current Executive VPs of Programming Andrew Jeffries, Thea Mitchem, Maynard and Gene Romano. They will report to Brad Hardin, Chief Operating Officer of the iHeartMedia National Programming Group.

Each member of iHeartMedia's Executive VPs of Programming team will partner with the company's Division Presidents, collaborating with each Division to provide national programming assets, services and resources:

• Mitchem and Jeffries will work with Kevin LeGrett and Scott Hopeck and the Region Division, which is comprised of the company's largest markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

• Romano and Maynard will work with Division Presidents Tom McConnell, Tony Coles and Linda Byrd and the Metro Division, which houses markets that are large areas that still encompass multiple communities - but are not regional hubs like the company's largest markets.

• Travatto, Hurley and Watson Charles will work with Division Presidents Shosh Abromovich, Nick Gnau and Dan Lankford and the Community Division, which includes markets that focus on the shared needs of one community and one trading area for most businesses and advertisers and will also group markets into areas which are geographically close and culturally similar.

"We're excited to add Angela, Jeff and Tony to our already extremely talented Executive Vice President of Programming team," said iHeartMedia Chief Programming Officer Tom Poleman. "They each have deep experience building great local brands with a blend of math and magic, and they'll provide excellent leadership to our programmers in our Community Division markets."

Hurley has served as Regional Senior VP of Programming for iHeartMedia's Allentown-Harrisburg Region since 2013. He joined iHM in 2004 as the Program Director for WHKF-FM/Harrisburg, PA and later worked as a Program Director, Operations Manager and an air personality for brands in the Region. Hurley's on-air background includes stations in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Rochester NY, Tulsa, Wilkes Barre, and Elmira NY.

Travatto brings more than 20 years of experience to his new role, most recently as Senior VP of Programming for iHeartMedia Detroit and Program Director for Channel 955 and 100.3 WNIC. He joined iHeartMedia in 2005 as the Program Director for KXXX-FM/San Antonio and has served on iHeartMedia's CHR brand team. Travatto's background includes working at stations in Michigan and Illinois.

Watson Charles began her career at iHeartMedia in 1990 as a promotions intern for WQUE-FM before transitioning into programming and as an air personality. In 2015, she was named Senior VP of Programming for iHeartMedia's eight stations in New Orleans. Also known as Uptown Angela, Watson Charles is the midday air personality for Q93.