Scoop: Four employees out in shakeup at WURD Radio
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At least four employees, including one of WURD Radio's top hosts, are being let go as part of what's described internally as a cost-cutting measure, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: WURD is the only Black-owned radio station in Pennsylvania, and among only a handful nationwide.
- The station, founded by the late Walter P. Lomax Jr., broadcast live during last year's presidential campaign from the White House complex — a major get.
Driving the news: The layoffs include "Reality Check" host Tonya Pendleton and her lead producer, Troy Wilmore. He had been with the station for 18 years.
- Pendleton, one of Philly's well-known radio personalities, has led "Reality Check" for the last two years.
- Content writer Kiara Santos and one other employee were also among those let go.
- The show won't continue to air, the station's general manager, Ashanti Martin tells Axios. She wouldn't say whether WURD would ever bring back the program.
WURD CEO and president Sara Lomax, the late founder's daughter, wrote in a memo obtained by Axios that the layoffs were meant to "ensure the station's long-term survival."
- She praised the laid-off staffers' "meaningful contributions to our station, our community and our city."
- "This decision was not made lightly. As an independent media radio station, it is imperative that we maintain our ability to give Black Philadelphia a voice and a place to make their voices heard," she wrote.
What they're saying: The WURD employees affected by the cuts either declined to comment or didn't immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
State of play: The media landscape is shifting, and competition for dwindling advertising revenue is fierce.
- WURD faced a setback earlier this year, when a conservative health care nonprofit filed a lawsuit alleging the station and one of its partners engaged in reverse racism when it launched a Black doctors directory to help connect people seeking care with physicians of color in the region.
- Martin tells Axios the cuts were unrelated to the lawsuit.
The bottom line: Martin says the radio station is trying to find its footing while dealing with the "erasure of Blackness" from society.
- "I'm very confident we will survive and thrive," she says. "It's time like this that outlets like WURD are needed more than ever. We want to be around for another 22 years and another 22 after that."
Disclosure: Axios Philly reporter Isaac Avilucea has been a regular unpaid guest on WURD's "Reality Check."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the name of WURD's CEO is Sara Lomax.