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No. 31
Lewis W. Dickey, Jr.
Chairman/President/CEO
Cumulus Media
Twitter: @CumulusSales
Using Heritage to Cumulus’ Benefit…
As America’s second-largest radio station operator, boasting 570 outlets in 150 markets, Cumulus Media lays claim to 14 million listeners through its radio and digital media platforms. (Those sums swelled following the company’s acquisition of Citadel Broadcasting in September.) Dickey co-founded the company in 1997 and assumed CEO duties in 2000. While new technologies like Pandora and Spotify threaten to cut into radio’s audience share, radio boasts “93% of listenership across the country and that basically hasn’t changed for 40 years,” he told CNBC in September. “The number of people listening to radio is actually at an all-time high as the population grows.” While he first caught the radio bug from his father, who ran stations in Toledo, Ohio, Dickey became enthralled with the financial aspects of the business. (His brother, too: John W. Dickey is Cumulus’ co-COO.) The Harvard graduate and member of the NAB board of directors adds that radio’s moneymaking power this year will benefit from the increasing onslaught of political content. “We think political [advertising in 2012] is going to be about a $350 million business for the industry.”
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