Brenda Matthews vs. Clear Channel - go brenda!!!

[AnimatronicAbeLincoln]

A big one: would you hire her now, understanding what could happen if it didn't work out?

Well, we have to define "Work out." In this case, the definition is "work out" is if this giant corporation can come in and meddle in her life after they're done with her. I would have no reason to harass a person after-the-fact if I terminated him or her, so this wouldn't influence my decision to hire or not. I'm not a bully. I'm not a goon or a thug.

All that being said, she shouldn't have agreed to a non-compete that holds up in the event of termination not for cause. I'd rather not sign it and get fired, then have something like this hang over my head knowing it was gonna end like this. The only way a non-compete with me's gonna work is - If I quit, I don't get to go across the street. But, if you fire me not for cause, I'm free to go wherever I want to earn a paycheck using the only skills that I have so I can pay bills and have medical insurance and eat.

If you fire me not for cause, you have no influence over what I do with my life from that moment forward, and I wouldn't sign anything that said otherwise.

 

[jtudor]

For what it's worth this is my opinion of non competes and how they should work.

They should be in place to prevent a valuable asset (Personality, DJ, whatever) from just leaving on a whim to go to another station for more money during the contract.

If the employer decides not to renew the contract or terminates the employee the non compete should not apply.

There is nothing fair when an employer is allowed to say I don't want you anymore, but I will not allow you to work in this town for anyone else either.

Actually if the contract is not renewed or the employee is terminated, then how does a portion of the contract even apply then? I guess it depends on the wording in the contract?

 

[kentraco]

But, if you fire me not for cause, I'm free to go wherever I want to earn a paycheck using the only skills that I have so I can pay bills and have medical insurance and eat.

That's a valid point, of course.

But I think you have to take into account the reality that decent on-air positions for women are fewer in number than for men.

I can understand how a female employee, given no time to obtain legal advice and threatened with loss of a job and having to move out of the market to obtain something comparable, would feel compelled to cave in and sign.

 

[FiveStar]

For what it's worth this is my opinion of non competes and how they should work.

They should be in place to prevent a valuable asset (Personality, DJ, whatever) from just leaving on a whim to go to another station for more money during the contract.

If the employer decides not to renew the contract or terminates the employee the non compete should not apply.

There is nothing fair when an employer is allowed to say I don't want you anymore, but I will not allow you to work in this town for anyone else either.

Actually if the contract is not renewed or the employee is terminated, then how does a portion of the contract even apply then? I guess it depends on the wording in the contract?

Back in the bad old days, baseball had what they called the "reserve clause". It meant that a player who signed one contract was bound to that team in perpuity whether they signed a new contract or not.

The argument I have for no competes is that if you bring in a high priced talent and that talent has the potential to bring specific proprietary information with them then the company should have some guarantee that they won't just walk across the street the first time somebody flashes some cash at them. In this case, I see no interest that the company is trying to protect. At least in baseball, when the team released you, you had the right to sign with somebody else.

Sorry, Indydood there is no justification for this. None. It's simply a move borne out of spite and taking it public at this point won't hurt her a bit. I don't know Brenda, but if she's got talent and would help a company, I don't think they're going to be put off by someone who puts up a fight over such a dispicable move.

 

[indydood]

I thought we were a right to work state. Well doesn't she have the right to work?

My guess would be there wasn't a pistol pointed at her head when she signed the non-compete. If somebody has been there a long time, they certainly have ample opportunity to re-negotiate points like salary, vacations, benefits and non-compete clauses.

 

[kentraco]

If somebody has been there a long time, they certainly have ample opportunity to re-negotiate points like salary, vacations, benefits and non-compete clauses.

But in this particular case, renegotiation wasn't possible.

There was no non-compete, and then suddenly there was. It was just that quick, and Paxson didn't give them a chance to think or get counsel before having to make the choice: work here or don't.

It smelled back then, and it stinks today.

 

[billalm]

I remember those days in the 90's at Paxson/Clear Channel. In fact, they tried to get most airstaff (including all parttimers) to sign non-competes that not only included Orlando but you couldn't go and work against them in say Tampa or Jacksonville. It was harsh and in my opinion BS. But back to Brenda... no one has even speculated on what the offer is. It's gotta be Sunny 105.9 or Mix 105.1.

 

[BMVoicetracking]

Brenda Matthews here:

Indy'dood' - 1. you must be a CC employee 2. You are told at Clear Channel to sign that non-compete or you can't go on the air. That I remember clearly. I have since (very recently) found out that they can't pull that on you. As far as negotiating? I had no contract - just a non compete. No contract, bonus structure or raises, for that matter in the last 5-6 years.

For the record, I was the #1 mid-day personality in town for all of the years that I worked at Magic. I worked extremely hard. My salary was stated incorrectly in the front page article here in Radio-info. I made a decent living, but not only through my salary, but by voicetracking 3 other stations out of market, and doing all of the endorsements/remotes/appearances that my morning show didn't snatch up.

Do not throw stones here..you don't know me. I've worked hard in this business for more years than you've been on this earth, and I won't be pushed around. The station, and the company that I want to work at, is waiting for this to be over so I can continue a successful career.

 

[CHRles]

Best of luck to you Brenda . I remember when I lived in Orlando that Magic had some great personalities who knew how to relate well to the audience. Best of luck trying to get your issue resolved, and let us know when you're able to properly start working over at another station in town.

 

[kentraco]

I've worked hard in this business for more years than you've been on this earth, and I won't be pushed around.

And if you go to the mat with Clear Channel, take 'em some places they don't wanna go - like age discrimination and gender discrimination vis-a-vis pay.

I have a big dog in that fight.

 

[mightymoose]

I'd like to hear Clear Channels side of this story. It may be a real eye-roller , itmight have you doing a ROFLMAO but just to see what's happening in their corporate mind would be fun.

 

[Billy Ocean]

I was APD on a station that Brenda voicetracked... No matter what - she's a pro! Fingers crossed for you Brenda... I know you'll come out of this for the better!

 

[Whiplash]

Brenda, no matter what, don't STOP fighting this. Your getting national attention. Attention the suits don't want to see.

Keep fighting!!

 

[MusicMan11]

What i can't for the life of me figure out, is why CC would keep a guy like dan sileo whose numbers can't be anywhere as good as Brenda's were during her tenure.

I worked at CC-Maitland from 96-00, on a part time basis only; i kept seeing all the full-timers around me getting screwed over.

best of luck! i wish CC would sell all their stations so hard working folks can get their radio careers back on track.

 

[kirkiefan]

GO BRENDA GO!!!!

GO BRENDA GO!!!


May this I hope serve as the catalist for all former and current CC employees to fight back.

May Clear Channel and the other clustercasters go down like Enron...what goes around...COMES around!!!!

 

[kentraco]

http://www.zazzle.com/clear_channel_sucks_shirt-235359908729356917

 

[Mike Sheridan]

First of all to Brenda I want to say best of luck and good for you for fighting this non-compete foolishness. I never understood this contract nonsense. In any other business if they don't want you to work somewhere else they have to pay you the salary agreed to in the contract until that contract expires. No so in radio they give us sucker contracts.

A couple of years ago I decided to go back into radio part-time. I had some friends at my local Clear Channel cluster and they put in a good word for me, plus the PD liked my aircheck (it was on the very same station I'd be working for, just done many years before). Anyway I sat down to sign the mountain of CC paperwork and there in the middle of the stack was a non-compete. For PART-TIME, NO HOURS SPECIFIED! They insisted I had to sign, I insisted that I wouldn't and walked away.

I have never heard of a jock fighting these things and winning. I'm not saying they don't....just I've never heard about it. I suspect we lack the money to launch a legal attack. I for one would like to see these contracts declared illegal.

Given what on the air people make these days in radio it's clear that companies and their management do not value on air talent. So why try to keep someone from trying to make a living elsewhere? It's just plain mean spirited.

Go get 'em Brenda, there are many of us behind you.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

http://www.zazzle.com/clear_channel_sucks_shirt-235359908729356917

Hey CBS desirves equal time!

 

[kentraco]

I suspect we lack the money to launch a legal attack.

Considering the size of the Clear Channel monolith, your numbers are probably legion.

Perhaps there's a legal firm that would file a class action suit on your behalf based upon restraint of trade - taking its compensation on contingency. They place a few ads in Clear Channel markets, and all those angry chickens start coming home to roost.

I'm just sayin'...

 

[indydood]

Brenda Matthews here:

Indy'dood' - 1. you must be a CC employee 2. You are told at Clear Channel to sign that non-compete or you can't go on the air. That I remember clearly. I have since (very recently) found out that they can't pull that on you. As far as negotiating? I had no contract - just a non compete. No contract, bonus structure or raises, for that matter in the last 5-6 years.

For the record, I was the #1 mid-day personality in town for all of the years that I worked at Magic. I worked extremely hard. My salary was stated incorrectly in the front page article here in Radio-info. I made a decent living, but not only through my salary, but by voicetracking 3 other stations out of market, and doing all of the endorsements/remotes/appearances that my morning show didn't snatch up.

Do not throw stones here..you don't know me. I've worked hard in this business for more years than you've been on this earth, and I won't be pushed around. The station, and the company that I want to work at, is waiting for this to be over so I can continue a successful career.

I'm not a Clear Channel employee and I don't know you (obviously) so there are no "stones" being thrown here. Just making simple, basic observations. If working at Clear Channel was so oppressive, you probably should have found a better situation years ago.

Brenda, what I've read here you're probably a very nice person and talented personality and I hope you get some satisfaction. But it was YOU who chose to take this whole drama public, so you now have to live with the consequences and others weighing in on your situation. If you can't stand the heat- well, you know the rest.