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Youth Movement at 790/The Zone

G

Greedy Kilowatt

http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/...g-next-young-gun-sports-radio-hosts/#comments

“We need to be younger, hipper, fresher, cooler,” said Zone Program Director Matt Edgar. “This is not a cheap promotion. This is legitimate. We are looking for raw talent we can groom who speak to a different audience. We want bravado and cojones.”

I agree. This is not a cheap promotion. It's the most expensive one ever.

It's the beginning of the biggest Age Discrimination suit the town will ever see. It's inconceivable anyone with 15 minutes in the biz would walk into this.

Everyone 30+ whoever got turned down at The Zone is calling his lawyer right now.

As for the future, hire anybody who isn't 100 and get sued.

Suddenly, losing $8M in St. Louis makes complete sense.
 
If radio is like any other business, if you can make the case that age is a bona fide job requirement, it's not prohibited discrimination. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_occupational_qualifications . The most famous example of this is that it is not unlawful sex discrimination for Hooters to not hire men as Hooters Girls. It's also an obvious example; a less obvious example would be for me (a fortysomething guy) to try and get a job at Abercrombie & Fitch.
 
Greedy,

I am a 40+ female so I know they don't want me. And guess what, I don't want a job that pays ZERO! Any guy that is over 30 and feels discriminated against for not getting hired to work for FREE has more issues than being too old.
 
Radio is not like any other business.

You're a FEDERAL LICENSEE. You're subject to hiring guidelines any other business isn't. Any vet knows this.
 
Greedy Kilowatt said:
Radio is not like any other business.

You're a FEDERAL LICENSEE. You're subject to hiring guidelines any other business isn't. Any vet knows this.
Click to expand...

Radio on-air talent are performers. They are covered by the same rules and laws that cover other performers, like actors and actresses. An older DJ has no more standing to complain that he wasn't cast as a DJ on a radio show aimed at kids than Meryl Streep or Glenn Close would have if either of them weren't cast as high school students on a soap opera.

If you can't accept the realities of show business, then get out of show business and become a shoe salesman.
 
This sounds more like an entertainment competition to me. I doubt EEOC would get involved with this any more than they would get involved with American Idol.
 
You don't know what you don't know.

Radio talent are employees of a federally regulated business. I doubt if Hooters ever had the Federal Pulchritude Commission show up in the lobby. When hiring, stations are obligated to consider a proportionate staff. What the Commission has called "Reflective of the community." Not doing so gets you fined or worse. Boilerplate for employment opportunity ads you run contain "WXXX is an equal opportunity employer, considering all applicants without regard to race, gender, age or handicap. EOE."

Little things like this help you keep the license. Doubt if you've ever run an ad like that.

Everything went out the window with the 20-29 qualifier.
 
Greedy Kilowatt said:
You don't know what you don't know.

Radio talent are employees of a federally regulated business. I doubt if Hooters ever had the Federal Pulchritude Commission show up in the lobby. When hiring, stations are obligated to consider a proportionate staff. What the Commission has called "Reflective of the community." Not doing so gets you fined or worse. Boilerplate for employment opportunity ads you run contain "WXXX is an equal opportunity employer, considering all applicants without regard to race, gender, age or handicap. EOE."

Little things like this help you keep the license. Doubt if you've ever run an ad like that.

Everything went out the window with the 20-29 qualifier.
Click to expand...

Tell you what. Contract your AFTRA rep. He'll tell you that the folks on the radio side have just as much standing to file an age discrimination suit about not being cast on a radio show as folks on the TV side have for filing an age discrimination suit about not being cast in a soap opera. Look at the casting sheets for any AFTRA or SAG production. You'll see age ranges next to most of the parts being cast. Being cast as an on-air character on the radio is no different.

And while you're checking things out, check out the Federal License requirements for the television stations that carry soap operas.
 
Contract your AFTRA rep. He'll tell you that the folks on the radio side have just as much standing to file an age discrimination suit about not being cast on a radio show as folks on the TV side have for filing an age discrimination suit about not being cast in a soap opera.
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The AFTRA rep--you mean Executive Secretary--is not a "he," it's "she"--Melissa. You neither live in Atlanta nor have you been a PD or GM. And certainly, you've never been to law school. You've no grasp of what's being discussed here. Try, as hard as it is for you, to stay on topic. This isn't about soap operas, American Idol or alien abductions. Your ancillaries have nothing to do with the fact that right now, the poor schmuck who said "I'm hiring 20-29" has been told to sit down and shut up by the GM and station's local counsel and their FCC attorney in Washington.

Go to another post and tell everyone you're a fighter pilot.
 
Greedy Kilowatt said:
Contract your AFTRA rep. He'll tell you that the folks on the radio side have just as much standing to file an age discrimination suit about not being cast on a radio show as folks on the TV side have for filing an age discrimination suit about not being cast in a soap opera.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The AFTRA rep--you mean Executive Secretary--is not a "he," it's "she"--Melissa. You neither live in Atlanta nor have you been a PD or GM. And certainly, you've never been to law school. You've no grasp of what's being discussed here. Try, as hard as it is for you, to stay on topic. This isn't about soap operas, American Idol or alien abductions. Your ancillaries have nothing to do with the fact that right now, the poor schmuck who said "I'm hiring 20-29" has been told to sit down and shut up by the GM and station's local counsel and their FCC attorney in Washington.

Go to another post and tell everyone you're a fighter pilot.
Click to expand...

I never said I was a PD or GM. And I don't live in Atlanta, I live in Gwinnett County. It doesn't take a lawyer to repeat what anyone who understands how show business works is well aware of.

Now, if some suit chickens out about the truthful ads about the characteristics of the people the station is looking to cast, odds are it's because they don't want bad publicity, like the crap you're stirring up. It's not because it's illegal. It's because bad publicity is bad. Period. Show business isn't about reality, it's about entertainment and having the audience think good things about you.

I don't know who you are. You're hiding behind a fake name same as I am. There's nothing wrong with that. But I suspect that your anger about The Zone advertising for younger talent could be because you're older talent. I could be wrong. I don't know. But it sure looks that way. And, if it is that you're mad because they want to cast young and you are not young, I can fully understand. I've been turned down for acting gigs because I looked too old, or too young, or too ethnic, or not ethnic enough, or too short, or too tall, or too whatever. As the saying goes, "That's show biz!"

At least you can feel proud that you opened the can of worms that got the folks running The Zone to back away from publicizing who they're looking for. You haven't gotten them to change the specs for their casting, but at least you've got them to keep it secret. Congratulations. Just hope no one else in town figures out who you really are, not if you want to work here again.
 
Greedy Kilowatt said:
Radio talent are employees of a federally regulated business. I doubt if Hooters ever had the Federal Pulchritude Commission show up in the lobby. When hiring, stations are obligated to consider a proportionate staff. What the Commission has called "Reflective of the community." Not doing so gets you fined or worse. Boilerplate for employment opportunity ads you run contain "WXXX is an equal opportunity employer, considering all applicants without regard to race, gender, age or handicap. EOE."
Click to expand...
I bet WVEE, WALR, and Radio One's cluster don't have staffs that are only 30.4% black.

Next up: Kaedy Kiely sues Cumulus to become the first Regular Girl.

And when it comes to EEO, all businesses are "federally regulated".
 
BTW, this whole flap is over a contest, similar to TV reality shows like "The Next Food Network Star" or "America's Got Talent", or a scholarship contest like "Miss America".

There is also a certain element of "affirmative action" in surrounding the contest. Given that the station management admits that they have mostly old talent on the air, this is an attempt to bring about "balance". It's little different from a station with a staff with no minorities deliberately seeking a member of a minority to achieve the proper balance. If you're going to get on a high horse about the EEOC, remember that "affirmative action" to achieve balance is also a component of the concept "equal opportunity".
 
Greedy Kilowatt said:
Radio talent are employees of a federally regulated business.
Click to expand...

That has nothing to do with it. The EEO regulations for radio are no different than any other business.

The government has struggled with this a long time. They've discussed improving minority ownership in broadcasting, they've discussed minority employment, and they've even discussed minimum staffing requirements in broadcasting to combat the layoffs, and none of them have been approved because at the end of the day, radio stations are private businesses that use federally regulated airwaves. That's no different than truckers using federally regulated interstate highways.

The interesting part is that this station is attempting to change the demo of AM radio. Other than Radio Disney, few people under 50 know AM exists. Some say the reason is because of programming aimed at older listeners, like news and right wing talk. Others say AM is simply doomed regardless of the programming. This is the one last chance to see if programming aimed at a younger demo can attract that audience.
 
In every company certain age types are looked at for certain jobs. EEO regulations states the company as a whole cannot discriminate due to age. Obviously, Big League Broadcasting does not as most of their hosts are in their 40's. Thus in the protected 40-70 age group.

This is a non-issue.
 
This is from personal experience: We ran the equal opportunity “spot” every 23 hours. It is best to show that you made an attempt to hire a minority by asking for the ethnic or race sheet on the last page of the application to be filled out. These were stored in a file that was in a cabinet in the corner of the lobby that also contained the public file. If there were a few minorities it showed an attempt, and management hired who they wanted. All Big League had to say was they wanted “young sounding” non experienced talent they could hire cheap and wash everybody’s car! The real issue here is not discrimination. It is an operation in one of the top ten markets in the USA not “dotting I’s and crossing T’s. If I was running Lincoln (the licensee of 790 AM), I would be worried about some law firm trying to make a few $$, finding an older applicant who was rejected and going after my license.
 
Greedy Kilowatt said:
"WXXX is an equal opportunity employer, considering all applicants without regard to race, gender, age or handicap. EOE."
Click to expand...

That line has more loopholes than the other radio favorite, "ALL CREDIT APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED!"
 
secondchoice said:
I would be worried about some law firm trying to make a few $$, finding an older applicant who was rejected and going after my license.
Click to expand...

They only make a few bucks if they win, and any lawyer knows this is not a case they can win.
 
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