I seem to remember the one I participated in required you to hold the stock for a specific amount of time. Otherwise, you sold at the lesser of the present value of the stock or the price you paid when you bought it. I want to say Cumulus had the same requirement, though I’m having to remember back about 20 years and could be wrong.
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Radio of the Past: Revenge of the fired jock.
- Thread starter b-turner
- Start date
I seem to remember the one I participated in required you to hold the stock for a specific amount of time. Otherwise, you sold at the lesser of the present value of the stock or the price you paid when you bought it. I want to say Cumulus had the same requirement, though I’m having to remember back about 20 years and could be wrong.
You can't sell it immediately, you have to hold it for a certain amount of time. It's either a stock market or Federal rule, no matter what stock it is.
Can I Sell ESPP Stock Right Away?
Yes, you can sell stock purchased through your ESPP plan immediately if you want to guarantee that you profit from your discount. Otherwise, the value of the stock may go up, which increases your profit, or it may go down, causing you to lose money. However, you will pay a lower tax rate if you hold the stock for more than a year and sell it more than two years after the offering date.
Understanding Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP): Benefits and How They Work
Explore how Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) let workers buy company shares at a discount. Learn about eligibility, tax benefits, and key features to maximize returns.
Can I Sell ESPP Stock Right Away?
Yes, you can sell stock purchased through your ESPP plan immediately if you want to guarantee that you profit from your discount. Otherwise, the value of the stock may go up, which increases your profit, or it may go down, causing you to lose money. However, you will pay a lower tax rate if you hold the stock for more than a year and sell it more than two years after the offering date.
Some companies require you hold onto it for a certain amount of time though, like Kent pointed out.Understanding Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP): Benefits and How They Work
Explore how Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) let workers buy company shares at a discount. Learn about eligibility, tax benefits, and key features to maximize returns.www.investopedia.com
From looking at that, it would seem, unless you’re on the low end of the income scale, the stock value drops, or the stock surges, the tax penalties on selling during the year after purchase would exceed the savings you got when you bought it. Don’t quote me on this (I'm not an accountant, after all), but it almost seems like you can avoid the penalty by separating from the company before selling. Most people, though, wouldn’t do that just to save on taxes.
Ironically, one benefit I got from getting bought by Cumulus was immediate vesting, even though I had been with the previous company less than five years. That was a requirement of the deal. All full-time employees had to be vested in Cumulus on day one, including a co-worker who was hired the week before. As I mentioned before, I didn’t take advantage of any Cumulus benefits other than health insurance, but, if I were ever to go back, I believe I would still be vested in the company unless the bankruptcy discharged that.
ESPPs can have a wide variety of features. Usually, there are two six-month offering periods, which don't have to align with the boundaries of a year. Payroll deductions for purchasing stock accumulate during the period. At the end of the period, the stock is purchased at a price that can be set by a variety of methods. I've seen various approaches: purchasing at the price prevailing on the day that the offering period ended; or purchasing at whichever price is lower, at the start or the end of the offering period; or the lowest price during the offering period; or the lowest price during a "lookback" period that can range up to two years previous. Lookbacks are really nice at a company that has a rising stock price. The tech company I worked for had that feature, as well as the 15% discount off the market price (the legal maximum) but I had options and restricted stock as well, so I didn't do much with its ESPP. My opinion on ESPPs generally was that such a plan was something I wouldn't participate in unless I ran out of places to save money through payroll deductions, e.g. after hitting annual 401(k) limits. ESPPs actually shouldn't be seen as savings vehicles, but sometimes people view them that way. Maximum deduction, as I recall, was 10% of salary, deducted on a post-tax basis. I haven't seen requirements to hold the stock for a period of time, but if you sell before two years (IIRC), any gains are taxed as income; otherwise, only the employer's discount is taxed as ordinary income with the gains being taxed at capital-gains rates.
Edit to add: Charles Schwab has a brief explainer: https://eac.schwab.com/equity101/espp
(None of this is investment advice but is provided only for informational purposes.)
Some GREAT stories here! One guy I knew, on his last shift at sign off, relieved himself in front of the GM's door. One of the best was the night man quit and so he called his replacement on the hotline and said he was the Chief Engineer. The new guy never met the CE but saw the name posted. The fake CE told his replacement they were having problems at the transmitter site and he had already talked it over with the GM. It was around 8 at night and he told the new guy they were going to need to sign off immediately for emergency repairs and the GM said it was OK for the new guy to run the sign off cart, turn off everything with the remote control and just go home. The new guy did just that!
At the cluster where I worked that eventually sold to Cumulus, we hired a PD for the news/talk station. I don’t know exactly what happened, but he was fired less than three months after he started working there. He was fired the Friday before Thanksgiving after his show ended at 6:00 PM. In our college town, he knew most of our part-timers were students, and he helped make the schedule for Thanksgiving week since a large number of full-timers were out for the week, and Thanksgiving and Black Friday were company holidays. He also knew no one would know he was fired since he was let go after the office had closed.
So, he called his entire part-time staff and told them he had found a way to cover their shifts and that they should go home and enjoy their holiday. Needless to say, those of us who worked for the FM stations had a really miserable week. A couple of the talk station's part-timers either lived in town or had already planned to be back, but all of us pulled more hours that week than we normally would.
There were a couple times I came dangerously close to getting fired there, and that was one of them. I made sure the OM of the cluster knew exactly what I thought of his decision to fire him after business hours immediately before a holiday week. I was in the doghouse for that for quite awhile, but a few bad hires after the holidays quickly got me back in everybody’s good graces.
I kinda think whenever EMF buys a rock station, they already know it's not always going to be a friendly trade-off. WCCC signed off with "Walk" Pantera. WLUP signed off with "Highway To Hell" AC/DC. Not sure what 100.3 in LA signed off with. But I'm sure it was somewhat friendlier.
If I had to pass such a torch, I don't know how I'd do it.
The established, upper middle age father of two adults side of me understands this is a business and graciously wants a peaceful transfer of control for the benefit of my employer and EMF.
My inner 18 year old side of me however reads the room and uncontrollably wants to dogpile too.
It's simply crushing.
If I had to pass such a torch, I don't know how I'd do it.
The established, upper middle age father of two adults side of me understands this is a business and graciously wants a peaceful transfer of control for the benefit of my employer and EMF.
My inner 18 year old side of me however reads the room and uncontrollably wants to dogpile too.
It's simply crushing.
Golden Slumbers by the Beatles.
That would be why so many stations fire their airstaff without warning before a change takes place. When I worked for an LP-1, we were told when we started that, if there were any firings, they would be without warning. The reason, while not explicitly stated, was because they didn't want us going out in a blaze of glory by sending EAS alerts across the whole chain of stations in the area. When the station did fire all of its weekenders about a year later, we were brought into a meeting, told we were gone, lined up at the door, and walked out.
When your badge will not open the gate to the parking lot it is a bad sign.
This wasn't revenge of the fired DJ, but rather revenge of the unpaid engineer:
I'm curious to know if anybody ever got prosecuted for any of those antics?
Probably not.
Most businesses wouldn't wanna bring attention to the act.
Like with an organization whose executive director embezzled a large sum of $$.
I inquired if they pressed charges against him, to learn they didn't, and quietly let the person go.
They didn't want adverse publicity.
But, that person would never again work in that industry.
How about guys that ran a bulk eraser on the cart racks just enough to partially erase spots and music? Never done it or been anywhere where it was done. Actually the few times I was fired it was a relief. I was always able to find another gig quickly and only collected maybe 2 weeks of unemployment if that, in my entire working career...I had a good reputation, good friends and I was very fortunate!
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Got you beat, Mike.
1989: Had taken over the OM/PD position at KWNK/670, which rimshotted Los Angeles from Simi Valley, the previous September. Station had been running the Satellite Music Network's "Starstation" format and management wanted to go to an all-Talk format on New Year's.
I cobbled together a schedule with me in morning drive doing interviews and features between newscasts, various satellite-delivered shows such as Sally Jessy Raphael, Tom Snyder, and Sports Byline USA, and a handful of local shows (including Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who no one in the market wanted at that point in time).
My agreement with KWNK called for a salary increase after the first 90 days of the new format. By the last week of March, it was becoming obvious that they weren't going to be able to honor that, and at the end of my Friday show I said "tune in Monday morning and see who'll be sitting in my seat."
Well, it turned out that the owner of KMYX/105.5 in Ojai (who I had worked for before) had changed formats -- from Urban to Country -- on Tuesday of that week, and for whatever reason was listening to me when I signed off. I got a call within an hour and he offered me morning drive ... starting the next day.
Exactly 21 hours unemployed. By the time he sold the station several months later, I was also APD and MD.
The worst station I ever worked for as far as management went was the only station to ever fire me. At noon on that day I was told to clean out my desk. I was told my services were no longer needed with no furher explanation. I was told to come back at 5 for my final paycheck.
When I returned at 5, one of the owners and the GM ushered me into the GM's office. I was handed a 2 page letter they wrote where I was confessing I had undermined ownership and management, effectively turning he staff against them. I was told to sign the letter or no paycheck. I looked at them with wonder at how they thought I would just sign so I could get my check.
I countered: hand me my paycheck or I'm getting the bulk eraser and going after the music library and commercials (all on cart with only a pair of triple decker cart decks in the studio). Then I said I would start destroying all the equipment I could before the cops get there. I said they had 30 seconds. Without a word, I got up from the chair, dashed out and they see me with the bulk eraser going past their door on the way to the on air studio.
They grabbed me, stuffing the paycheck into my hands. I made them tear up the letter and they escorted me to the door.
Funny thing, that owner called me three times in the next decade asking me to come back.
This is the same owner who berated me for taking 2 hour lunches, saying I had to work 40 hours a week. When I replied I worked 60 or more hours a week and to pick the 40 he wanted me to work and I'd take a one hour lunch. Not even listening, he said I had to work 40 hours a week and no more than an hour for lunch or I'd be let go. I complied but was called in by the same owner and GM for being unavailable. (I did the morning show so I worked 6am to 3pm taking 10 to 11 for lunch). I cut out weekends and being talent on remotes. I looked the owner in the face and said I did what he required, cutting my hours to 40 a week. I quickly went back to 6am to 7pm with a 2 hour lunch, live remotes and weekend events. Sales loved me since they could get that spot done after 5 and running the next morning.
My sweet revenge was never signng a non-compete by stalling and geting into sales where I went after my former GM's accounts (I got a few of them...enough for him to notice).
This station hired one of our salespeople. He seemed to be doing okay judging by the accounts I heard. Christmas is coming up and everybody is hustling in sales for every dollar they can get before January. Payday was to be before New Years Day, at least a couple of days. The guy looked through and on top of his desk the day everybody got their paychecks. Not finding a check, he asked with a note on the GM's desk. Heading out for a few sales calls, he returns, rummages through the papers on his desk to find copy points and new to the stack is a letter on station leterhead saying his employment had been terminated two weeks prior. The management saw him, spoke to him and such during that time but they failed to tell him he was fired until he asked for his paycheck. Very typical of this station's GM and primary owner. They finally sold and got a good operator.
Back to my firing, I was replaced with a guy willing to do my job for $200 less a month. This guy was a legit top 100 market program director who was bi-lingual (on the Texas/Mexico border). He sounded major market and the station sounded good. One day a couple of months after they hired him, bounty hunters found him and took him during his morning show! Seems he got drunk, caused a wreck that killed a young girl. That top 100 market station let him go because of all the bad publicity. Once he got out on bail he headed to the border to work a few months before vanishing into Mexico. He didn't vanish.
When I returned at 5, one of the owners and the GM ushered me into the GM's office. I was handed a 2 page letter they wrote where I was confessing I had undermined ownership and management, effectively turning he staff against them. I was told to sign the letter or no paycheck. I looked at them with wonder at how they thought I would just sign so I could get my check.
I countered: hand me my paycheck or I'm getting the bulk eraser and going after the music library and commercials (all on cart with only a pair of triple decker cart decks in the studio). Then I said I would start destroying all the equipment I could before the cops get there. I said they had 30 seconds. Without a word, I got up from the chair, dashed out and they see me with the bulk eraser going past their door on the way to the on air studio.
They grabbed me, stuffing the paycheck into my hands. I made them tear up the letter and they escorted me to the door.
Funny thing, that owner called me three times in the next decade asking me to come back.
This is the same owner who berated me for taking 2 hour lunches, saying I had to work 40 hours a week. When I replied I worked 60 or more hours a week and to pick the 40 he wanted me to work and I'd take a one hour lunch. Not even listening, he said I had to work 40 hours a week and no more than an hour for lunch or I'd be let go. I complied but was called in by the same owner and GM for being unavailable. (I did the morning show so I worked 6am to 3pm taking 10 to 11 for lunch). I cut out weekends and being talent on remotes. I looked the owner in the face and said I did what he required, cutting my hours to 40 a week. I quickly went back to 6am to 7pm with a 2 hour lunch, live remotes and weekend events. Sales loved me since they could get that spot done after 5 and running the next morning.
My sweet revenge was never signng a non-compete by stalling and geting into sales where I went after my former GM's accounts (I got a few of them...enough for him to notice).
This station hired one of our salespeople. He seemed to be doing okay judging by the accounts I heard. Christmas is coming up and everybody is hustling in sales for every dollar they can get before January. Payday was to be before New Years Day, at least a couple of days. The guy looked through and on top of his desk the day everybody got their paychecks. Not finding a check, he asked with a note on the GM's desk. Heading out for a few sales calls, he returns, rummages through the papers on his desk to find copy points and new to the stack is a letter on station leterhead saying his employment had been terminated two weeks prior. The management saw him, spoke to him and such during that time but they failed to tell him he was fired until he asked for his paycheck. Very typical of this station's GM and primary owner. They finally sold and got a good operator.
Back to my firing, I was replaced with a guy willing to do my job for $200 less a month. This guy was a legit top 100 market program director who was bi-lingual (on the Texas/Mexico border). He sounded major market and the station sounded good. One day a couple of months after they hired him, bounty hunters found him and took him during his morning show! Seems he got drunk, caused a wreck that killed a young girl. That top 100 market station let him go because of all the bad publicity. Once he got out on bail he headed to the border to work a few months before vanishing into Mexico. He didn't vanish.
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