Clear Channel Cries Foul…

Friday, May, 30, 2008 by Mel Phillips.

Apparently Clear Channel  has had enough raiding of its personnel and has decided to sue the Tribune Company for misappropriation of trade secrets in connection with the Tribune’s hiring of Andy Friedman, previously VP of news, talk and sports at Clear Channel’s online music and radio division.  Friedman follows Randy Michaels, now Tribune’s COO, Jerry Kersting, CFO, Marc Chase and Sean Compton, senior VPs and Steve Gable, VP technology - all former Clear Channel personnel.  The man doing all the raiding is Sam Zell, owner of the Tribune…

Providing no contractual terms were violated, all’s fair in love, war and the media.  Raiding has been part of the America culture for as long as we’ve been an independent nation.  You don’t like it, it’s too late to dig up Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and complain about it, so live with it Clear Channel.  Clear Channel’s argument is that Friedman possesses detailed knowledge of ongoing projects and digital strategies that a competitor could use to harm the company and also says that he’s threatening to disclose these trade secrets.  I’m not a lawyer, praise the Lord, but unless you have in writing that Friedman was prohibited in doing so, this case has no legs…

This reminds me of disc jockey contracts where a jock would be prohibited from working within the same market for a period of time (usually one year) if he was still under contract to another station.  When we kicked off WRKO in 1967, WMEX went to the Massachusetts Supreme Court to block Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg from returning to the air at WRKO following an engineers  strike.  The Supreme Court ruled in favor of WMEX and Arnie never returned to the air at WRKO but moved into sales instead.  Clear Channel’s case against Andy Friedman will be decided by lawyers and a court but perhaps Clear Channel president John Hogan  shouldn’t have taken the raiding of his company so lightly when he said in April, “We can totally understand why Randy Michaels would want to hire them” …

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1879]  The world’s most famous arena:  Madison Square Garden  opens to the public at Fifth Avenue & 23rd Street (5/31).  Harper’s Weekly describes it as “grimy, drafty and combustible.”  Wait till they see the Knicks play…
2. 1889]  Damn it all:  The Johnstown  (PA) flood kills more than 2,000 after a damn breaks sending tons of water rushing through the city (5/31)…
3. 1907]  Taxiiiiiiii:  The first taxis in the U.S. arrive in New York City followed by an increase in traffic accidents (5/31)…
4. 1925]  They call it the streak:  Lou Gehrig pinch-hits for Yankees shortstop Pee Wee Wanninger  and singles in the first of his record 2,130 consecutive games played (6/1).  The next day he replaces Wally Pipp, who sits because of a headache and Gehrig’s record will stand until 1995…1982]  21-year old Baltimore third baseman  Cal Ripken Jr. begins his consecutive game streak (5/30).  He will eventually move to shortstop but his streak will last more than 13 years and 3 months and break Gehrig’s previous record…
5. 1961]  Both sides now:  New York, California and Illinois radio stations debut FM multiplex stereo (6/1).  One year later the FCC makes FM standard…
6. 1968]  ‘Happy Trails’:  Helen Keller, who earned a college degree despite being blind and deaf most of her life, dies in her sleep in Westport (CT) at the age of 87 (6/1)…1991] David Ruffin, lead singer of the Temptations dies from a cocaine overdose in Philadelphia at 50 (6/1)…1997]   Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X is critically burned in a fire set by her 12-year old grandson in her Yonkers apartment (6/1).  Shabazz will die from her burns on June 23 at 61…2000]  Latin music performer Tito Puente  dies on the operating table as a result of complications following 12 hours of open-heart surgery (5/31).  Puente was 77…
7. 1970]  The people’s choice:  Baseball’s All-Star voting returns to the fans so they can vote for their favorite players whether they deserve it or not (5/30)…
8. 1980]  This is CNN:  Ted Turner  starts the Cable News Network  (CNN) (6/1)…
9. 1994] Reg-gie, Reg-gie, Reg-gie:  Reggie Miller puts on one of the greatest scoring displays in NBA history when he scores 25 of his 39 points in the 4th quarter to help Indiana beat the Knicks in game 5 of their East Conference Playoffs (6/1).  The Knicks will come back to win the series in seven games…
10. 2005]  Teen vanishes:  American teen Natalee Holloway is last seen leaving a bar with three young men while vacationing in Aruba before disappearing (5/30).  Her body still remains to be found…

Music Memories:

• 1957]  Number One on this date:  “Love Letters In The Sand” - Pat Boone (5/31)…1963]  “It’s My Party” - Lesley Gore (5/30)…1972]  “I’ll Take You There” - Staple Singers (5/31)…
• 1967]  Released on this date:  “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” - Beatles (6/1)…1969]  “My Cherie Amour” - Stevie Wonder (5/31)…1982]  “Combat Rock” LP - Clash (5/31)…1982]  “Eye Of The Tiger” - Survivor (5/31)…
• 1971]  Tupelo money:  A two-room shack in Tupelo  (MS) opens as a tourist attraction (6/1).  It was the house Elvis Presley was born in…

Commentary:

I love the ruling by a New York federal judge that the term “real news” can’t be trademarked.  Real News Project Inc. tried to get the trademark for its news website, “The Real News Project” to which the judge said, I’ll give you a trademark when “real beer“, “real coffee”, “real food” and “real ice cream” also gets trademarked - never…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“:

(5/30)  Manny Ramirez (36), Gayle Sayers (65), Clint “Cheyenne” Walker (81)…(5/31)  Colin Farrell (32), Robert Dean Phillips (41), Brooke Shields (43), Joe Namath (65), Peter Yarrow (70), Clint Eastwood (78)…(6/1)  Heidi Klum (35), Ron Wood (61), Morgan Freeman (71), Pat Boone (74) and Andy Griffith (82)…

Timeline Countdown:  8 days until the Belmont Stakes, 16 days until Father’s Day, 23 days until summer and 36 days until July 4th…

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