Feder: Furloughs, wage cuts hit Cumulus Media Chicago stations

Tuesday was Cumulus Media's day to share the financial pain of the coronavirus shutdown with its employees, following similar draconian moves by iHeartMedia and Entercom, Robert Feder writes.

Salaried employees will take three weeks of unpaid leave in one-week installments over the next 15 weeks.

Others will take 90-day pay cuts, and a third group will be put on 90-day furloughs, starting April 16.

Cumulus CEO Mary Berner, who's reducing her salary 50 percent, told employees: "Even though these are intended to be temporary actions, I know they are going to land hard - really hard - and that is in the emotional and financial toll that a furlough or salary cut will take on each of you, but also in terms of the increased workload the vast majority of you will have to take on during your co-workers' furlough weeks. I am truly sorry and sad about this announcement. None of you deserves this."

Get the full report, and more Chicago media news, at robertfeder.com.