e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

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Report: Cumulus To Hire Record-Label Liaison

Longtime Jeff McClusky & Associates staffer John Kilgo is reportedly set to be named Director/Label Relations for Cumulus' CHR/Pop stations, with the Los Angeles Times quoting unnamed sources as saying Kilgo will serve as an in-house liaison to record labels. But the newspaper adds that, according to "critics," Kilgo's new job "smacks of payola" and is "sending a shudder through the major labels." Cumulus has had a contract with McClusky but plans to let that agreement lapse at year's end, the newspaper reports. Cumulus executives told the Times late yesterday that they had not yet finalized their decision on Kilgo and that he could still end up as an outside contractor with an "arms'-length" relationship to radio. When asked if it would be against the law for Cumulus to have an in-house record-label liaison, EVP John Dickey told the Times that Kilgo's role "stays well within the confines of how these relationships have been set up. It really is going to allow us to maximize our relationships with the labels."