• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 8, 2008

The radio industry is enduring another round of layoffs, with the announcement Thursday by CBS Radio that it has laid off or declined to re-staff positions for just under 5% of its workforce, concentrated in specific divisions around the country.

Rather than a sudden round of cuts, much of this trimming happened slowly over a number of months. Altogether, it means about 400 positions have been eliminated, the largest such reduction since previous CEO Joel Hollander laid off 115 staffers in July 2006.

Among the most recent layoffs were Michael Damsky, vice president and general manager of WXRT-FM in Chicago. CBS also cut three general sales managers at its Charlotte, N.C. office.

The layoffs and elimination of positions came at the behest of Dan Mason, who returned to serve as president and CEO of CBS Radio in early 2007 after a five-year hiatus. Amid a challenging radio ad market, Mason has focused on maximizing profits through cost-cutting and streamlining, much of it aimed at middle management.

In December, Mason initiated a major shakeup of regional management, appointing market managers and sales directors in Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington, D.C. and Florida who are directly responsible to him.

Emmis Communications is also slimming down, with 46 employees laid off in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Austin. The company said it did not plan to lay off any more employees in the near future.

In a recent internal memo, Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan ordered a freeze on new hires, as well as cutting out research and ad spending entirely for the remainder of the first quarter, effective Feb. 1. Hogan wrote: "No one anticipated how challenging Q1 would be for us, and while the plans we put in place last fall made sense then, clearly we are operating in a different environment and thus need an adjustment to our plan."