Cumulus Media’s new CEO, Mary Berner, is set to receive a big payday.

Berner, who ascended to the top spot at the radio giant following a stint on its board, will receive a sign-on bonus of $1 million along with a salary of $1.45 million, according to a regulatory filing.

Berner, 56, will also be eligible for an annual cash bonus of up to $1.5 million.

The former head of the MPA — The Association of Magazine Media, Berner signed a three-year contract in succeeding Lew Dickey, the longtime boss of the ailing Atlanta-based Cumulus.
She starts at the country’s No. 2 radio company on Oct. 13.

Berner has been on an operational tour of the company since joining the board on May 13 to try to figure out ways of jump-starting growth and reorganizing sales to better serve advertiser interests, according to several radio industry blogs.

Critics have had much to say about her lack of radio experience. Berner was CEO of Fairchild Publications and was in charge of the Readers Digest Association as it moved into a prearranged bankruptcy before joining the MPA.

The former publisher of Glamour magazine is also eligible for four million stock options.

Cumulus’ current CEO, Lew Dickey, is to move to a vice-chairman position. The latest filing had little to say on Dickey’s change in circumstance.