The CEO of Jamaica’s biggest media company, RJR, is out after fifteen years on the job!  

CEO of Radio Jamaica, Gary Allen will be stepping down at the end of this year, after 15 years in his role.

Allen is set to leave office on December 31.  The company announced that he’ll be replaced by Anthony Smith, who is currently the deputy CEO for print and digital services.

Radio Jamaica is the parent company of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group, which is by far Jamaica’s largest media entity, and is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The Group includes the almost 200-year-old Gleaner newspaper, television station TVJ, and several radio stations like Hitz, Fame and Power 106.

According to the company, the management change is necessary as part of its digital-first transformation. 

As the new CEO, Smith will be responsible for leading the charge to implement and execute the group’s new business model.  All departments and revenue channels will become his responsibility.

So you know… No pressure.

Allen will stay on as senior executive for corporate and external affairs and will be responsible for regulations and policy making.

The news comes as the company’s biggest television competitor, CVM TV, has undergone a massive rebranding in the past year. 

Michael Lee-Chin sold CVM to Oliver McIntosh’s Verticast last year, and Ollie and crew have hit the ground running! Many of you may know McIntosh as the founder of SportsMax, which he eventually sold to Digicel. 

CVM has revamped their entire morning show with superstar celebrities Miss Kitty, Dennis Brooks, Tami Chin Mitchell and Ity Ellis on lineup. They have a bunch of new sets and to steal their old tagline, they’re “looking in, looking out, looking even better”. 

So quite possibly, the RJRGleaner Group smells the competition and is shaking things up!

Radio Jamaica is also a listed company, so they have a duty to shareholders to maximise revenue and profits, which have been struggling. For the first quarter of its 2024 financial year, Radio Jamaica made J$1.2 billion in revenues and a net loss of J$38 million after taxes. But that’s a slight improvement over the J$40 million net loss for the same period last year.

The company trades under the ticker, RJR. The stock closed on November 3 at $1.52 cents, down 34% since the start of the year.

And that’s the bottom line.