Clear Channel Takes Next Step in Expanding Digital and Technology Leadership
Brian Lakamp Becomes Clear Channel鈥檚 President of Technology and Digital聽Ventures
iHeartRadio Joins Clear Channel Networks Group Under the Leadership of Darren Davis聽
New York, NY 鈥 July 8, 2014 鈥 Coming off the extraordinary success of the launch of iHeartRadio 5.0, Clear Channel, one of the leading global media and entertainment companies, announced today that it is taking another important step in its聽continuing聽transformation to a聽consumer-driven, technology-fueled company by naming Brian Lakamp its President of Technology and Digital Ventures.
鈥淥ur corporate focus on digital,聽increasingly leveraging technology to maximize our business,聽reflects the natural evolution of Clear Channel into a 21st聽century media company,鈥 said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of Clear Channel. 鈥淐reativity is also enabled by technology, and as advertisers鈥 interest in new and emerging technology options continues to grow, we intend to remain at the forefront of both innovation and creativity. Brian is perfectly positioned to help us 鈥 and our consumers, advertisers and content partners 鈥 as we continue to build Clear Channel鈥檚 digital roadmap for the future.鈥
In this new role, Lakamp will work closely with Pittman and Rich Bressler, Clear Channel鈥檚 President, to lead the overall technology platform and capabilities for all of Clear Channel, maximizing the impact across all of聽its technology businesses -- including its broadcast, digital radio, events and promotions聽and out-of-home businesses.聽 He will also be responsible for developing the company鈥檚 overall place in the worlds of big data and programmatic buying.聽He will serve as the company鈥檚 corporate voice on major technology projects,聽oversee Clear Channel鈥檚 relationship with Silicon Valley and the tech community,聽and develop a corporate strategy that unifies all Clear Channel technology platforms for the benefit of both consumers and advertisers.
鈥淟ooking across Clear Channel鈥檚 diverse set of media businesses and its unparalleled reach, there are massive opportunities to utilize emerging technologies to unlock business value and offer unmatched possibilities for our advertisers, our audiences and ourselves around analytics, programmatic buying of targeted audiences, and beyond,鈥 said Lakamp. 鈥淚t has been an honor to lead our iHeartRadio team as we built the fastest growing digital audio service in the history of the Internet, and I am now excited to take on this broader technology role for the entire company."
Lakamp will report to Pittman, and reporting to Lakamp will be Jeff Littlejohn, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Systems Integration; Pete Gerrald, Chief Information Officer; Philippe Generali, President and CEO of Clear Channel鈥檚 RCS Worldwide division, the world鈥檚 leading producer of broadcast software; and Joe Robinson, Executive Vice President of Strategic Development.
鈥淒igital is now聽at the core of Clear Channel聽and is key to all our operating businesses, and putting Brian -- someone with a proven technology and digital track record -- into the most聽senior level of the company with a clear mandate to keep us in the forefront of using technology to transform our business reflects the increasingly important role that technology is playing at Clear Channel,鈥 said聽Bressler.
Under this new structure, iHeartRadio will become part of Clear Channel Networks Group, reporting to its president, Darren Davis.
Pittman added, 鈥淚'm proud of the incredible work the iHeartRadio group has done under Brian, and I am confident the momentum will continue to grow as they join the Clear Channel Networks Group under the leadership of Darren Davis given his successes in programming and experience in heading our Networks businesses.鈥
Davis聽will now be responsible for the entire business of iHeartRadio as well as Premiere Networks, the radio industry's聽leading network group;聽Total Traffic and Weather Network; and the 24/7 News Network.
Reporting to Davis will be Pablo Calamera, Chief Technology Officer of聽iHeartRadio Networks; Jerrell Jimerson, Senior Vice President of Product for聽iHeartRadio Networks; Brian Kaminsky, Executive Vice President of Operations聽for iHeartRadio Networks; and Steven Radley, Senior Vice President of Content for iHeartRadio Networks, all of whom were instrumental to the success of the new iHeartRadio 5.0 and the聽service聽reaching the 50 million registered user milestone faster than any other streaming music platform and even faster than Facebook and Twitter.
鈥淚 look forward to working with the immensely talented iHeartRadio team to build on the tremendous success of iHeartRadio by utilizing the聽full聽promotional and creative power of Clear Channel for iHeartRadio Networks,鈥 said Davis. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to continue my collaboration with Brian in his new role to leverage new opportunities and maximize emerging technologies across Clear Channel鈥檚 national platforms and services."
About iHeartRadio
iHeartRadio, Clear Channel's digital radio platform, is the No. 1 all-in-one digital audio service, providing both custom radio and the leading live broadcast radio stations from all over the country and in all formats. With over 345聽million downloads across multiple platforms, the easy to use iHeartRadio is available on almost 40 devices across web, mobile, tablets, automotive partners, smart TVs, gaming devices and more.聽聽 iHeartRadio reached 50 million registered users in just three years 鈥 faster than any other digital music service and even faster than Twitter and Facebook 鈥 and reached its first 20 million registered users faster than any digital service in Internet history.