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No. 23
Bob Pittman
CEO
Clear Channel Media
Twitter: @PittmanRadio
TV On The Radio…
When it was announced last year that Clear Channel investor/chairman of media and entertainment platforms Bob Pittman was being promoted to CEO of the global company, the appointment was heralded by media analysts and music industry players. After all, the former radio wunderkind (he was programming WNBC New York in his early 20s) was also bringing the wellspring of innovation, business savvy and branding acumen he drew from as co-founder of MTV, not to mention his later stints as COO at America Online and AOL Time Warner and CEO of Six Flags Theme Parks. So who better to erase Clear Channel’s dinosaur image? “Pittman’s appointment is not only a good move for the company but one that signals a new era in digital music,” Billboard’s Glenn Peoples wrote in October. “Clear Channel now has a smarter, more aggressive digital plan, and the rumors of terrestrial radio’s demise have been greatly overstated.” A big step in that plan: the acquisition of digital music company Thumbplay. The move spurred last September’s relaunch of Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio app, marked by the three-day iHeartRadio Music Festival. When you’ve got everyone’s ear-from music fans to Wall Street–that’s power.
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