Eric Von Haessler just sent out this open letter:
Rodney,
This is my response to all the latest tom-foolery.
I've posted it on my blog and included it below:
To whom it may concern,
I write this as a man who has just been mugged. Your
faithful radio friend feels as if he’s just been run
over by a Mac truck and left for dead in the middle of
the road.
For reasons known only to themselves Clear Channel has
decided to fire me with cause based on trumped up
charges that have been fabricated out of thin air.
They have also lent their moral weight to a lawsuit
filed against me by the hosts of the Viva morning
show- a lawsuit which also happens to name them as
defendants as well. Seem strange?
It is strange and gets stranger with every passing
day. First of all, how did I ever get to a point in my
life where I’m being sued by guys named Yogi and Panda
over jokes made about their bathroom habits? It’s all
in the company you keep, I guess. But I digress...
My first reaction to all of this in the press was that
I would fight to the bitter end. After all, I’m right
and they’re wrong and justice should be served. But it
turns out that justice is a murky and possibly
prohibitively costly concept to secure.
Every lawyer I’ve consulted has assured me that I have
the facts on my side and that for just a couple of
Brink’s trucks full of cash they’ll be glad to present
my wonderful case in a court of law. The problem is
that it’s likely to cost more money to win than the
amount of money I would actually win- if I won. In
which case I would have simply wasted a number of
years of my life tilting at windmills. Not a prospect
I look forward to.
I’m sure the folks at Clear Channel reading this are
all smiles, since rolling over the little guy is what
they’re designed to do, but I’m beginning to come to
terms with the fact that sometimes the bad guys win
and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.
I’ve been ambushed and I don’t know that there’s any
reasonable expectation that a person can beat an
ambush. So I’m thinking that I’ll just hire no lawyers
and defend myself until judgments are made and all of
this gets moved into the past.
The sad fact is that I know I’m in the right but I
don’t think I have much of a chance against these
guys. That’s humbling and instructive, but true.
It is important to me that fans know that I’m not full
of B.S. here. The ‘controversial’ on-air bit that
sparked all of this was approved beforehand by
management. I, as an employee, do not have the right,
let alone the duty to overrule management and kill an
approved segment. Clear Channel knows this to be true,
but they also know how much it will cost me to prove
it.
Clear Channel has also helped spread the idea that I
was somehow involved with creating a hostile workplace
for those working on the Viva staff. Which is
interesting since I haven’t had a single conflict with
any member of their staff at any level- sales,
programming, promotions, or any other department, in
the nearly two years since my return to the building.
What Clear Channel and the hosts at Viva are doing to
me and my family is immoral. But I’m learning that
morality and the law are kissin’ cousins at best.
Honesty and integrity are quaint notions that I choose
to live by. But they don’t have much currency when
you’re up against immoral people who know how to work
the system.
Bringing honesty to a battle with Clear Channel is
like bringing a knife to a gunfight. So I think I
might just go have a beer instead.
The hardest part in all of this is keeping from
becoming completely bitter about everything that’s
going on. But that’s a battle worth fighting. I won’t
give into bitterness because, if left unchecked,
bitterness consumes and eventually destroys the soul.
I’ve been ‘blessed’ with the Chinese curse of an
interesting life and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My family and I will just huddle up with friends and
loved ones and wait for the storm to pass.
It will pass.
They always do.
Rodney,
This is my response to all the latest tom-foolery.
I've posted it on my blog and included it below:
To whom it may concern,
I write this as a man who has just been mugged. Your
faithful radio friend feels as if he’s just been run
over by a Mac truck and left for dead in the middle of
the road.
For reasons known only to themselves Clear Channel has
decided to fire me with cause based on trumped up
charges that have been fabricated out of thin air.
They have also lent their moral weight to a lawsuit
filed against me by the hosts of the Viva morning
show- a lawsuit which also happens to name them as
defendants as well. Seem strange?
It is strange and gets stranger with every passing
day. First of all, how did I ever get to a point in my
life where I’m being sued by guys named Yogi and Panda
over jokes made about their bathroom habits? It’s all
in the company you keep, I guess. But I digress...
My first reaction to all of this in the press was that
I would fight to the bitter end. After all, I’m right
and they’re wrong and justice should be served. But it
turns out that justice is a murky and possibly
prohibitively costly concept to secure.
Every lawyer I’ve consulted has assured me that I have
the facts on my side and that for just a couple of
Brink’s trucks full of cash they’ll be glad to present
my wonderful case in a court of law. The problem is
that it’s likely to cost more money to win than the
amount of money I would actually win- if I won. In
which case I would have simply wasted a number of
years of my life tilting at windmills. Not a prospect
I look forward to.
I’m sure the folks at Clear Channel reading this are
all smiles, since rolling over the little guy is what
they’re designed to do, but I’m beginning to come to
terms with the fact that sometimes the bad guys win
and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.
I’ve been ambushed and I don’t know that there’s any
reasonable expectation that a person can beat an
ambush. So I’m thinking that I’ll just hire no lawyers
and defend myself until judgments are made and all of
this gets moved into the past.
The sad fact is that I know I’m in the right but I
don’t think I have much of a chance against these
guys. That’s humbling and instructive, but true.
It is important to me that fans know that I’m not full
of B.S. here. The ‘controversial’ on-air bit that
sparked all of this was approved beforehand by
management. I, as an employee, do not have the right,
let alone the duty to overrule management and kill an
approved segment. Clear Channel knows this to be true,
but they also know how much it will cost me to prove
it.
Clear Channel has also helped spread the idea that I
was somehow involved with creating a hostile workplace
for those working on the Viva staff. Which is
interesting since I haven’t had a single conflict with
any member of their staff at any level- sales,
programming, promotions, or any other department, in
the nearly two years since my return to the building.
What Clear Channel and the hosts at Viva are doing to
me and my family is immoral. But I’m learning that
morality and the law are kissin’ cousins at best.
Honesty and integrity are quaint notions that I choose
to live by. But they don’t have much currency when
you’re up against immoral people who know how to work
the system.
Bringing honesty to a battle with Clear Channel is
like bringing a knife to a gunfight. So I think I
might just go have a beer instead.
The hardest part in all of this is keeping from
becoming completely bitter about everything that’s
going on. But that’s a battle worth fighting. I won’t
give into bitterness because, if left unchecked,
bitterness consumes and eventually destroys the soul.
I’ve been ‘blessed’ with the Chinese curse of an
interesting life and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My family and I will just huddle up with friends and
loved ones and wait for the storm to pass.
It will pass.
They always do.
