iHeartMedia today announced the retirement of longtime executive Jeff Littlejohn, who most recently served as Executive Vice President of Engineering. Steve George will step into the role, effective immediately.
Jeff Littlejohn will continue in an active consulting role for iHeartMedia, lending his unique expertise that has helped the company grow over the past three decades. Littlejohn retires after an extraordinary 32 years with iHeartMedia, first starting in 1992 as Chief Engineer for Cincinnati. He rose through the ranks as he helped expand the company after the 1996 Telecom Act. He was part of the team that created the first version of the iHeartRadio App and worked with Toyota and Ford on the first integration of iHeartRadio.
More recently, Littlejohn helped spearhead a modernization of iHeart’s studio facilities and conversion to cloud-based audio systems. Littlejohn is well-respected in the industry and is the recipient of the 2014 NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award and 2008 Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award. He also served as the Chairman of the NAB Radio Technical Committee.
“There are few people in the industry with the expertise and longevity that Jeff has and we’re grateful for the incredible work he’s done for iHeart. We’ve been fortunate to rely on him for over three decades and I’m so thankful we’ll keep drawing from Jeff in his new consultancy role,” said Hartley Adkins, President of the Markets Group for iHeartMedia.
“I am truly thankful for the incredible opportunity to have spent 32 years with such an innovative and forward-looking company. It has been a privilege to collaborate with so many talented colleagues in building something that serves our listeners and communities in meaningful ways,” said Littlejohn. “As I step into retirement, I’m committed to ensuring a smooth transition for Steve George, and I’m excited to continue contributing in an advisory capacity, which will also allow me to spend more time with family and explore new adventures.”
In his new role as Executive Vice President of Engineering, Steve George will manage the overall technical operations, systems and engineering teams that support iHeart’s 860 local broadcast stations in 160 markets; and continuously seek to improve resilience, redundancy, efficiency and performance of the iHeartMedia portfolio.
“I’m honored to step into this role and continue the incredible work that Jeff has done for iHeartMedia,” said Steve George. “Jeff’s leadership and guidance have been invaluable to our engineering team, and I’m grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to work with and learn from Jeff and many iHeart engineers over the years. I look forward to building on his legacy and the strengths of our outstanding engineering team.”
An industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, George began his career at iHeart in 2001 as Chief Engineer for the Sioux City, IA, market. He worked in roles across the country, including Regional Director of Engineering in Omaha, NE; Regional VP of Engineering for the Midwest; and, most recently, VP of Engineering and Systems, where he oversaw many of iHeart’s centralized engineering teams.
iHeartMedia is a leading media outlet across multiple platforms, including its broadcast stations; live events; data; and its digital businesses and platforms, including mobile, social and its own iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia’s free all-in-one digital music, podcasting and live streaming radio service – available across more than 500 platforms and over 2,000 devices including smart speakers, digital auto dashes, tablets, wearables, smartphones, virtual assistants, televisions and gaming consoles.
