Kenny Smoov’s departure from Cumulus Media doesn’t simply leave an empty office in Nashville or another name to remove from a corporate programming directory. It leaves something considerably more consequential behind: one of the most complicated programming chairs inside a company that still owns a meaningful portfolio of Urban and Urban AC radio stations across America. Whoever eventually occupies that chair won’t simply be picking records, taking label calls and sitting through music meetings. If Cumulus gets this hire right, that person could help determine what the company’s Urban brands sound like, whom they develop, how aggressively they compete and—perhaps most importantly—how authentically they remain connected to the communities they’re supposed to serve.
That’s why On The Dial isn’t particularly interested in playing the usual radio-industry game of throwing 15 names against the wall and pretending we know who’s getting the job.
We don’t.
As of Tuesday morning, Cumulus has not publicly announced Smoov’s successor.
But I do know this company.
I know programming.
I know Urban radio.
And I know enough about Cumulus to say this:
Don’t hire somebody just to fill the chair.
Find somebody capable of changing what the chair can accomplish.
First, Give Kenny Smoov His Flowers
Before we start talking about whoever comes next, let’s make sure we don’t casually erase what just walked out the door.
Smoov spent more than two decades with Cumulus, including 21 years at 92Q WQQK/Nashville. He became VP/Urban Formats in 2019 and, at the time of that promotion, was charged with helping oversee 37 Urban stations across 25 markets.
Think about that responsibility for a minute.
Thirty-seven stations.
Twenty-five markets.
Different competitive environments.
Different demographics.
Different talent.
Different local histories.
Different versions of what Urban radio means to the people listening.
And he wasn’t doing that from some programming laboratory completely disconnected from local radio.
Kenny was still in it.
Programming.
Doing an airshift.
Talking to listeners.
Working with talent.
Living with the consequences of programming decisions the same way the people he was advising had to live with theirs.
That matters.
And there’s precedent for it inside Cumulus.
Before Smoov, Ken Johnson occupied the VP/Urban Formats role. By 2018, Johnson was overseeing programming strategy involving 42 R&B/Hip-Hop, Adult R&B and Gospel stations while simultaneously programming WNBM in New York.
So there is a pattern here.
Cumulus has historically put people in this job who aren’t simply corporate programmers.
They’re radio programmers who also happen to have corporate responsibility.
There’s a difference.
And Cumulus should preserve it.
Now Comes the Hard Part
Urban radio in 2026 is not Urban radio in 2006.
Hell, it isn’t Urban radio in 2019.
Music discovery has exploded across TikTok, YouTube, streaming platforms and social media. Hip-Hop’s relationship with younger audiences continues to evolve. R&B has experienced its own fascinating resurgence and fragmentation. Urban AC remains enormously valuable but has to negotiate generational change without abandoning the audience that built it.
Meanwhile, radio itself is fighting for relevance inside an entertainment universe where the listener carries practically every song ever recorded in their pocket.
So what does Cumulus need from its next Urban programming leader?
Not somebody whose biggest qualification is having a great ear.
That’s the admission price.
They need a strategist.
Someone who understands that KMJJ/Shreveport isn’t WQQK/Nashville.
That Power 105.1/Kansas City isn’t simply another station where you load the corporate music architecture and hit SAVE.
Cumulus itself described Power’s mission around Hip-Hop, R&B and serving both sides of the Kansas City community when it launched the station in 2023. That local emphasis wasn’t accidental.
Urban radio works when the station belongs to the city.
The next VP needs to understand that.
They Need Somebody Who Understands Culture, Not Just Music
This may be the most important requirement.
Urban radio isn’t simply a collection of songs that happen to test well among a particular demographic.
It’s culture.
It’s language.
It’s fashion.
It’s churches.
It’s HBCUs.
It’s barbershops and beauty salons.
It’s clubs and restaurants.
It’s neighborhood politics without necessarily being political radio.
It’s the local high school.
It’s Black businesses.
It’s the artist who hasn’t exploded nationally yet but already owns the city.
It’s knowing when something happening in the community requires the station to stop behaving like a jukebox and start behaving like a neighbor.
A great Urban programmer understands that the playlist is only one ingredient.
Cumulus needs somebody who understands the rest of the recipe.
They Need a Talent Developer
This one is personal for me because I believe radio has spent far too much time talking about finding the next generation of talent while simultaneously eliminating many of the places where that generation used to learn.
Where does tomorrow’s great morning host learn how to become great?
Where does the next night personality learn phones?
Where does somebody learn how to tell a story in 45 seconds?
Who teaches them how to hit the post without sounding like they’re doing a 1987 aircheck?
Who tells a young personality, “That break was terrible. Now do it again,” and actually teaches them why?
That’s programming.
The next Cumulus Urban leader should be somebody who can identify raw talent and develop it.
Not just manage personalities who are already successful.
Build some.
Radio desperately needs that again.
They Need Somebody Who Understands Ratings AND Revenue
Here’s another thing we don’t say enough in programming departments:
Eventually somebody has to sell this stuff.
A brilliant radio station that nobody can monetize is going to have a difficult conversation eventually.
The next VP needs to understand Nielsen, perceptual research, streaming behavior, digital consumption and competitive positioning—but also how all of those things translate into a product the sales department can take into the marketplace.
Programming and sales should not be two countries separated by an ocean.
The great programmers understand the business.
The great sellers understand the product.
The great companies make them work together.
They Need Someone Who Isn’t Afraid to Tell Corporate “No”
Oh boy.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
A corporate format leader has to understand economies of scale. Of course.
There are things that should be shared.
There are efficiencies that make sense.
There are national opportunities that one individual station could never create by itself.
But the person sitting in this particular chair also needs enough credibility to occasionally walk into a meeting and say:
“That may work nationally. It will not work in this market.”
That’s not insubordination.
That’s programming.
Because there is a dangerous point where efficiency becomes sameness.
And sameness is deadly when your entire competitive advantage is supposed to be your connection with a particular community.
Cumulus needs somebody strong enough to protect that distinction.
They Also Need Somebody Who Understands Digital Isn’t the Side Hustle Anymore
The next Urban VP shouldn’t have an “on-air strategy” and then somewhere near the bottom of the agenda ask what we’re posting on Instagram.
It’s 2026.
Digital is part of the radio station.
Video is part of the radio station.
Social is part of the radio station.
Streaming is part of the radio station.
The personality’s phone is part of the radio station.
The morning show’s best moment shouldn’t disappear into the ether because nobody thought to turn a camera on.
The next person in this role needs to understand how a terrestrial Urban brand becomes a multimedia local entertainment brand without destroying the thing that made the terrestrial station valuable in the first place.
That’s a very different skill set from programming a music log.
And For God’s Sake, Let Them Be a Programmer
This sounds ridiculously obvious.
Apparently it isn’t.
Let whoever gets this job program.
Give them access.
Give them authority.
Give them accountability.
Let them coach the PDs.
Let them challenge assumptions.
Let them recruit.
Let them develop talent.
Let them experiment.
Let them fail occasionally.
Let them find records.
Let them walk into markets.
Let them sit in morning-show meetings.
Let them listen to airchecks.
Let them hear what the streets are saying before somebody sends over a spreadsheet explaining what the streets supposedly said six weeks ago.
You know…
Programming.
Radical concept, I know.
Wait a Minute. Do I Need to Send My Résumé?
Now, before somebody screenshots this paragraph and starts a rumor…
CALM DOWN.
I’m joking.
Mostly.
Okay, I’m joking.
😂
But sitting here writing the job description, I did have one terrifying moment where I thought:
Hold on.
Former Cumulus programmer?
Check.
Urban programming background?
Check.
Major-market experience?
Check.
Digital leadership?
Check.
Management?
Check.
Talent coaching?
Check.
Been inside Cumulus corporate before?
Check.
Oh, Lord.
Do I need to call Atlanta?
Somebody hide my phone.
Because the last thing anybody needs is Publisher Steven Mills announcing on On The Dial that he’s throwing his name into the hat and planning the RETURN TO CUMULUS WORLD TOUR.
I can already see the press release:
“HE’S BAAAAACK.”
Absolutely not.
Probably.
Maybe.
😂😂😂
Relax, Cumulus.
I’m kidding.
DO NOT HAVE HR CALL ME.
Unless…
Nope.
Moving on.
This Hire Actually Matters
All jokes aside, Cumulus has an opportunity here.
Kenny Smoov leaves behind a role with real history and real responsibility. Before him, Ken Johnson helped guide a portfolio that numbered more than 40 stations. Smoov inherited 37 stations in 25 markets when he took over the corporate assignment in 2019.
Those numbers alone should tell you this isn’t some ceremonial vice presidency.
The person sitting in that chair can influence what millions of listeners hear.
They can influence who gets hired.
Who gets developed.
Which ideas spread.
Which stations take chances.
Which personalities get another opportunity.
Which programmers become tomorrow’s corporate leaders.
And whether Cumulus’ Urban brands feel like authentic pieces of their communities or merely transmitters carrying music.
That’s why the company shouldn’t rush this one.
Look inside the building.
Look outside the building.
Look at successful PDs.
Look at people nobody expects.
Look at women programmers who have historically been overlooked for corporate format leadership.
Look at programmers who understand Hip-Hop.
Look at programmers who understand Adult R&B.
Look at people who understand both.
Look for somebody who can walk into the executive suite Tuesday morning and into a neighborhood community event Saturday afternoon and be equally comfortable in both rooms.
Find somebody who knows the research.
And knows the streets.
Find somebody who understands the P&L.
And understands the people.
Find somebody who knows radio’s history.
And isn’t trying to recreate 1998.
Find somebody who loves Urban radio enough to challenge it.
Then give that person enough authority to actually do something.
Because Kenny Smoov leaving Cumulus created an opening.
What Cumulus does with that opening could tell us considerably more about where the company believes Urban radio is headed.
And we’ll be watching.
From a safe distance.
With my résumé safely locked in a drawer.
For now.
— Steven Mills
Publisher, On The Dial
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