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Getting kicked out of a market

M

mleach

When an anchor, oeven a disc jockey gets fired from a station are there cases when ALL of the stations in the market make some kind of "gentlemen's agreement" NOT to hire this person..ever !!!

For many, many years I heard this story ( could very well be an urban legend ) that when Bill Kamal was fired from his weather job at Washington's WUSA-TV rather suddenly back in 1993, that the other stations in that city and even the Baltimore stations made some kind of agreement with each other, not to hire Kamal for any position at any time. Wonder if this is true?

Last year weatherman Jamie Singleton was fired from his job at Roanoke, VA's WSLS-TV over that nude photo/My Space incident even though several friends of mine who live in that market believe there is more to his firing than just that since the man did have a history of drug problems that made the local press there. Like Kamal, in the case with Singleton I have heard that since he "violated WSLS's Morals Clause", the other TV stations in Virginia will not hire him "per agreement with WSLS". I have heard both yes and no in this situation.

In the Hagerstown, Maryland radio market a disc jockey there was fired last year. His crime? Attending a "bear" gay party in Washington DC called "Bear Invasion". My sister who works at a furniture store in Waynesboro, PA ( part of the Hagerstown market ) which does business with several radio stations in the area was telling me this story and she went on to say that from what she heard it really wasn't an issue of the man being gay that got him into trouble but by being a part of the "bear" lifestyle that did him in. Anyway, when the jock was fired, several of the stations in the market as well as the stations in Winchester, Virginia made an promise to each other not to hire him due to his private life.

I know that in many markets there is a rule in place where if one station fires someone they can't walk over to another station the next day and start working there even if the station wants them for employment, but to more/less say "you can't work in this town ever again", I wonder just how common that is?
 
That's blacklisting and in many, if not most states, that's illegal.
 
I wouldn't say there's "blacklisting" per se, but there are certain factors other stations will take in consideration.

Contractually (sp?), most agreements signed by the talent have a standard 6-month "non compete" clause saying that, if they should choose to terminate the agreement (or re-negotiate), they have to lay low in the market for six months before re-emerging elsewhere.

However, if a talent is terminated under a controversial issue, most of the time it's a PR nightmare, and other stations wouldn't want to take on that burden. Even when it's out of the public eye, it's still in the advertisers' and, especially in smaller markets where the advertisers with money is few and far between, it's all about making the people who help you pay your bills happy.
 
Years ago I once worked for a PD who after firing our 7-midnight jock actually DID called up the other other PDs & GMs in the market telling them not to hire this person. The other stations honored that request. To this day I am not sure why he was fired but it must have been serious as we were told if this guy ever step foot on the property we were to call the police.

Non-compete clauses: arent they illegal in a few places? In the past at the stations where I worked at, only those who did mornings and afternoons had to sign them. 7-midnighters, middays, overnights and weekenders for some reason did not had to sign them. I am sure this changes from market to market.

Morals Clauses: in this day and age with so many states with employment being "at will" meaning one can be fired anytime for just about anything, I am surprised many stations even bother with this unless its a case where an actual crime was involved like Bill Kamal in Florida for example. Other than that I believe that when a station forces its employess to sign a "morals clause" in their contracts, to me it sounds like you are allowing the station to take control of your personal life . I can see a station frowning if a nude pic of one of their employees appears online or in a magazine after all in some placessome types of nude pics can spell legal trouble in a variety of ways, but to be told you can't go to bar for a drink or have a personal ad online, thats a bit much.

A good friend of mine works at a station in West Virginia, his contract has contains a morals clause that even goes as far as saying that he "avoid" cities that are "very gay friendly as our station promotes family values. " Which cities were on the list? Well of course San Francisco and LA were on the list but also Indianapolis, Denver, Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio as well. Heaven forbid if he has a chance to check out the Indy 500 or take in ski trip to Colorado or even visit Six Flags over Georgia. He could lost his job !! Bizarre !!
 
bk77 said:
A good friend of mine works at a station in West Virginia, his contract has contains a morals clause that even goes as far as saying that he "avoid" cities that are "very gay friendly as our station promotes family values. " Which cities were on the list? Well of course San Francisco and LA were on the list but also Indianapolis, Denver, Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio as well. Heaven forbid if he has a chance to check out the Indy 500 or take in ski trip to Colorado or even visit Six Flags over Georgia. He could lost his job !! Bizarre !!
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is a bit above and beyond. It sound like he's at a "Christian" format station, or something like that. Does it go by "The Fish", as a lot like to go by? That's pretty hypocritical to have a station have such a strict morals clause that would prevent having him even visiting cities like Atlanta that might not only have the Gay Pride festival, but also have Joyce Meyer at the Georgia Dome. What are they saying about the city I live in by avoiding it? Are they saying I live in Sodom or Gamorrah? Yeah, that's a bit much just for a job.
 
FloydB said:
bk77 said:
A good friend of mine works at a station in West Virginia, his contract has contains a morals clause that even goes as far as saying that he "avoid" cities that are "very gay friendly as our station promotes family values. " Which cities were on the list? Well of course San Francisco and LA were on the list but also Indianapolis, Denver, Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio as well. Heaven forbid if he has a chance to check out the Indy 500 or take in ski trip to Colorado or even visit Six Flags over Georgia. He could lost his job !! Bizarre !!
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is a bit above and beyond. It sound like he's at a "Christian" format station, or something like that. Does it go by "The Fish", as a lot like to go by? That's pretty hypocritical to have a station have such a strict morals clause that would prevent having him even visiting cities like Atlanta that might not only have the Gay Pride festival, but also have Joyce Meyer at the Georgia Dome. What are they saying about the city I live in by avoiding it? Are they saying I live in Sodom or Gamorrah? Yeah, that's a bit much just for a job.
Click to expand...

Same thing with Denver. While the Mile High City may be home of the Marylin Hickey Ministries, several beautiful churches and I believe quite a few Christian groups have held conventions there over the years and yes Focus On the Family is just down the road in Colorado Springs, Denver OTOH has gotten a bit more gay friendly over the years such as offering same-sex benefits to city employees, having one of America largest pride parades and a few years back I heard that Denver is one of the few American cities ( Indianapolis is another ) that still have gay bathhouses something that many other large cities have gotten rid of over the years.

Several years ago my wife and I were on vacation in Nags Head, NC. While we were there we heard a local dj make some joke about how the city of Indianapolis, Indiana is America's "leather & bondage" capital. Whether or not that is actually true, I have no idea but when the chips are down I am sure places like Indy, Columbus, Denver or whatever are really no more so-called "gay friendly" than any other large city.

Yes, I agree that its a bit much for any job to tell their employees where the can/can not visit.
 
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