After Citadel took over the 23 ABC stations, Suleman kept Dolan in place as its “Major Market Group” head, reporting to him. But Mitch alleges a number of actions by Suleman that undercut him, such as replacing Los Angeles market manager John Davison in January 2009 with Farid’s friend Bob Moore. Dolan says that was done without consulting him. And further, that Suleman agreed to pay Moore the same salary Dolan was getting, even though Moore reported to Dolan. (Former ABC exec John Hare testified at the August arbitration hearing that Moore’s pay package was, in the arbitrator’s words, excessive and unprecedented.) Dolan complained that in the Summer of 2008, Suleman replaced the director of sales in L.A. without consulting either him or Davison. Also that Farid offered the GM job at WPLJ (right around the corner at WABC) to somebody without checking. And Dolan says Suleman hired a friend to run a station in Dallas – and had him reporting directly to Suleman. Former WPLJ programmer Tom Cuddy circulated the arbitrator’s decisions to some of the radio trades, because he wants to set the record straight about his former boss, Dolan. Cuddy says one trade (not T-R-I) wrote that Dolan had been dismissed in February for budget reasons. After Mitch left he filed to get his severance of $850,000 plus 9% interest – which is presumably the bulk of the $917,000 he now claims as a creditor in Citadel’s bankruptcy. Ex-employees are at real risk of becoming creditors, in the Chapter 11 stories that are yet to be written.
so I suppose it illustrates that broadcasters aren't the only ones having difficulty selling space.