AI killed the radio star
February 05, 2020

Hundreds of radio DJs laid off by iHeartMedia - the bosses blame AI, the DJs blame the bosses

Hundreds of employers have been laid off last month by the world's biggest broadcast company, iHeartMedia. American conglomerate's chief executive Bob Pittman said the “employee dislocation” was “the unfortunate price we pay to modernize the company”. Laid-off employees blame the cuts on the company’s top executives, with some critics saying executives used the systems as scapegoats, hoping to distract from old-school failures, portray themselves as futuristic and avoid public outrage, according to the Washington Post. The company, which now uses software to schedule music, analyze research and mix songs, has called AI the muscle it needs to fend off rivals, recapture listeners and emerge from bankruptcy. iHeartMedia owns online iHeartRadio and more than 850 local stations across the United States.