Company Town : BMG Names Insider to Head RCA Records

After a five-month search, Bertelsmann Music Group announced Monday that Robert Jamieson, 50, current head of its Canadian division, will take over as president of RCA Records. The German media conglomerate had considered a number of prospective candidates, including music agent Tom Ross, all of whom reportedly said they weren’t interested.

RCA--the one-time home of such major sellers as Elvis Presley and Perry Como--has been on the decline since BMG purchased the New York label in 1986 for $300 million. Former RCA President Joe Galante left the post in January to return to Nashville, just weeks before BMG issued pink slips to dozens of employees. BMG’s new North American chief, Strauss Zelnick, is counting on Jamieson to reverse the label’s sluggish performance in the contemporary rock market.

* Jason Flom has been named president of Lava Records, a new label established by Time Warner’s Atlantic Group. Flom has been an artist-and-repertoire executive at Atlantic Records since 1983 and will remain a senior vice president at the company while expanding his domain over the Lava imprint.

* Simon Kenny was promoted to vice president and managing director of Buena Vista International Television, the sales and distribution arm of Walt Disney Television International.

* Charles Hirschhorn is the new executive vice president at Hollywood Pictures.

* Warner Music-U.S. has named Ken Sunshine senior vice president and Peter LoFrumento associate vice president.