NextRadio, TagStation Cut 35 Jobs

• Back in October Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan initially announced the company planned to “dramatically reduce” operations of his passion projects — the NextRadio and TagStation subsidiaries — technology that would allow consumers to listen and interact with live local radio on their smartphones. Smulyan cited insufficient financial support from the industry as the basis for his decision.

Yesterday, the reality of the situation reared its ugly head — in a statement to a reporter inquiry, Smulyan issued this statement that read, “On October 11, we announced that Emmis was unwilling and unable to continue to fund the NextRadio and TagStation businesses as they were currently structured, and that we planned to dramatically reduce the operations of these businesses and explore other means of eliminating the operating losses from these businesses in the coming months.

“After exploring several alternatives, we have made the difficult decision to dramatically reduce the scope and scale of our operations, which includes the termination of 35 employees of these businesses. NextRadio and TagStation employees that were separated were given generous severance packages. We will provide certain product support and maintenance for the foreseeable future.

NextRadio and TagStation are efforts that I and many others championed and spent enormous energy supporting. We believed in the success of these businesses. To come to this day is a difficult one, not just for the employees directly impacted, but also for Emmis and the radio industry.”