Bailey Named PD of WIVK/Knoxville

• Cumulus Media Knoxville has wisely taken advantage of the extensive market knowledge possessed by veteran programmer Rich Bailey, naming him as the new Program Director of legendary Country station WIVK. Bailey famously spent 23 years across the street with SummitMedia as Operations Manager of the cluster and PD of Top 40 WWST (Star 102.1) until March of this year.

Bailey’s previous programming stops include WSSX (Mix 95.1)/Charleston, SC and WKSI (Kiss 98.7)/Greensboro, NC. Early in his radio career Bailey spent five years at WKXX (Kicks 106)/Birmingham, AL as MD and night jock.

Ken Salyer, VP/Market Manager of Cumulus Knoxville, said, “The opportunity to have Rich join our team in Knoxville was simply too good to pass up. His dedication to detail and drive to win is known industry wide. This elevates our group to an entirely new level.” Jeff Jarnigan, OM of Cumulus Knoxville, commented, “The good fortune to have Rich Bailey sitting in our backyard and available was beyond comprehension. His success in Knoxville and vast market knowledge brings an entirely different level of competition capabilities to WIVK. A CMA win and a tremendous PD hire… it’s been a great October for WIVK!”

Bailey remarked, “I’m very excited about the opportunity to join a legendary and award-winning station like WIVK. I look forward to working with the team there and growing the market share even more. I want to thank Jeff Jarnigan, Ken Salyer, Doug Hamand and Brian Philips for allowing me this opportunity. Now the FUN begins!”