Darnell Tapped As iHM Sacto Metro President
Most recently serving as president of iHeartMedia’s “Pacific Area,” Steve Darnell transfers to Sacramento as metro president, succeeding Sara McClure (see separate story below). Darnell will report to iHeartMedia division president DJ Hodge, who notes, “After many years of successful leadership in our ‘Pacific Area,’ it was clear early-on that Steve was the perfect candidate to lead our Sacramento market as metro president. Steve is the ideal choice to continue the great work done by Sara McClure.” Darnell comments, “I’m excited for the opportunity to lead our Sacramento team and market-leading iconic station brands. Sacramento is a dynamic, thriving city and I’m thankful that DJ Hodge -among others – entrusted me with continuing our growth in this very important market.” The Fresno State University graduate previously was iHM market president for Fresno, as well as that cluster’s senior vice president of sales. Among the seven stations in iHM’s Sacramento cluster are simulcast news/talk KFBK-AM/FM “News 93.1” and similarly-formatted KSTE “Talk 650.” In Nielsen Audio’s June 2024 sweep, the KFBK simulcast ranks third (7.2, 6+), while KSTE finishes 15th (2.3, 6+).
President, will also become a Region Division president. In addition, Nick Gnau, formerly a Community Division president, will become a Metro Division president, and Shosh Abromovich and Dan Lankford will add Nick’s former Markets to their responsibilities as the Community Division presidents. Amy Leimbach, who served as senior vice president of sales for Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, will become president of those Markets. The company also announces changes that will enable it to increase its focus on a number of high-growth opportunities. Kevin LeGrett, president of the iHeart Sports Network, makes the transition from his role as division president of Los Angeles to now focus exclusively on leading and growing the company’s leading Political and Sports platforms. Additionally, Tony Coles, president of BIN: Black Information Network, now leads all multicultural efforts as the president of multi-cultural business and development. The new division presidents will report directly to Hartley Adkins, president of the iHeartMedia Markets Group, and Coles and LeGrett, as well as Adkins, will report to Rich Bressler, iHeart’s president, COO and CFO and CEO of the iHeartMedia Multi Platform Group. The company will be making this transition over the next few weeks.