Kitchin Departs as The Blaze CEO. In a company-wide email,
Kraig Kitchin describes the reason for his exit as chief executive officer of
Glenn Beck's
The Blaze is owing to outside business obligations. He writes, "The Blaze deserves and needs an exclusively focused leader. That is something I cannot provide, given existing commitments I choose to honor." The co-founder and former chief operating officer of
Premiere Radio Networks says he is not leaving The Blaze. "I will stay, working every day as the interim head of sales with a focus on finding the right person for that position, assisting in the transition, on advertiser growth, program development, and
industry relations." In a separate email, Beck remarks, "I know much of what has happened since December 2014 has been structural and behind the curtain. We were a company swimming in debt. With the hard work of Kraig, [Beck advisor and president of Beck's
Mercury Radio Arts]
Jonathan Schreiber, and now [chief financial officer
Misty Kawecki], we will be debt-free by summer. This is miraculous and takes all of the downward pressure off of us." Kitchin's replacement, digital startup entrepreneur
Stewart Padveen, joined Beck's company last summer; he will be the fourth leader of The Blaze since late-2014. Kitchin took over operations of Beck's subscription digital and cable television operation last June. Also stepping down, according to
The Daily Beast, are director of advertising sales
Jeremy Price, and director of marketing
Liz Julis.
PPM Analysis: Hot AC. RadioInfo managing editor Mike Kinosian presents the second of three format analyses based data from the recent Holiday 2015 PPM survey from Nielsen Audio. The first format addressed was adult contemporary and you can find that report here. In today's look at hot AC, Kinosian delivers charts showing the (persons 6+) ratings fluctuations of stations from the December 2015 survey to the Holiday 2015 survey; fluctuations from Holiday 2014 to Holiday 2015; market rank (four hot AC-formatted stations finished #1 in their markets); plus a comparison of the performances of adult contemporary and hot AC stations. See the whole report 
out of his SVP of programming position after just five months in the post. Tidwell, who also was responsible for programming country outlet KAJA "KJ97," posted on his Facebook page that his position was eliminated. He'd been OM with the company's Tucson cluster before moving to San Antonio and noted in his post that he'd worked for iHeartMedia on and off since 1997…..JVC Media 
of Florida announces local radio pro Leroy the Love Toy joins the company to host the morning show on classic hits WYGC, High Springs (Gainesville market) "104.9 WOW FM." The company says Leroy has worked for 12 years in the Gainesville market and has strong community ties. Leroy comments, "I am beyond excited to join the WOW-FM and JVC family. I'm ready to rock out and bring LOCAL and FUN radio back to radio in this market. Thanks to Chaos, Sam Gerace, and EVP Shane Reeve for giving me the chance to join this great company."…..Greater Media promotes Ellen Rubin to senior vice president and general counsel for the company. She's been with Greater Media since 2003. In 2007 she was promoted to VP and general counsel. Chairman and CEO Peter Smyth states, "Ellen is a brilliant attorney who has been a key player in shaping Greater Media's future. We are fortunate to have someone like Ellen in our company."