Dave Crowl Announces His Retirement
• Longtime radio executive Dave Crowl, currently Regional Vice President /Market Manager of Cumulus Cincinnati, has announced his retirement, effective at the end of the year, closing the book on a successful 44-year career.
A native of Dayton, OH, Crowl is a second-generation broadcaster — his father, H.K. “Bud” Crowl owned WAVI & WDAO/Dayton for 30 years. Crowl began his radio career in 1977 as an Account Executive at WLVQ-FM/Columbus, OH. Eighteen months later he was promoted to Sales Manager, and in 1979, at the age of 25, was named GM. In 1984, Crowl’s career took him to Portland, OR as VP/GM of KKRZ, overseeing a format flip from Soft AC to Top 40, which propelled the station to No. 2 in the market in less than a year. He then headed to Milwaukee as VP/GM of Country WLZR-FM, flipping it to Album Rock in 1987 and launching The Bob and Brian Show, which continues to be the No. 1 morning show in Milwaukee. In 1991, Crowl was named President of Great American Broadcasting’s Radio Division, and then President of Jacor’s Radio Division after Citicasters’ acquisition by Jacor. In 2000, he was appointed SVP of Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia), before joining Cumulus Media in 2012 in his current role as RVP/Market Manager for Cumulus Cincinnati. Crowl also served as Acting GM of Cumulus Indianapolis from 2014-2016.
Crowl commented, “A 44-year career in radio would have been challenging to achieve without the support of my family, mentors, colleagues and friends who constantly inspired me. More importantly, I could not have arrived at this moment without the foundation of all the many dynamic general managers and their market teams who delivered compelling audio content to their listeners, communities and advertisers every day 24-7.” He continued, “No matter the market size, I’ve had the good fortune of working with the very best program directors, local personalities, news people, sales managers and account executives in radio. In addition, no success ever occurred without the dedicated efforts of so many chief engineers, accounting teams, promotions people and traffic continuity managers. I’m indebted and deeply grateful to you all. And to all of my national sales partners at Eastman and Katz over the years, thank you for your excellence. I also want to thank Mary Berner, Dave Milner and everyone at Cumulus for their tremendous support of the Cincinnati operating cluster these last several years. Finally, to my entire team at Cumulus Cincinnati, I will always cherish your good work and all of our accomplishments.”
Mary Berner, President & CEO of Cumulus Media, said, “Dave Crowl has distinguished himself as one of the most respected leaders in radio, dedicating the last 44 years to making radio the best it could be for the many communities he has served so well. In the process, he has lifted up our industry and the people in it, always treating others with respect, dignity and understanding. He will be greatly missed, and we wish him all good things in his retirement.” Cumulus EVP of Operations, Dave Milner, remarked, “I’ve had the good fortune of working with Dave multiple times throughout my career, and not only is he one of the most successful and passionate leaders in radio, he retires having helped so many others thrive. I’m excited for Dave and wish him much happiness as he enters this new chapter in his life.”