I’ve reported here a couple times that Michael Savage has indicated on air that he might just quit radio “by the end of the year”. I’ve also watched as TRN hosts have been accepting non-network work and wondered what is going on and suspecting that TRN is having problems, in part due to the Washington Times not paying them..
Now we know. Savage has filed a lawsuit against TRN, his syndicator. From the description on radio-info.com, Savage’s contract forces him to renew with TRN indefinitely. It contains a provision that allows TRN to match a competing offer to keep renewing the contract. Those who remember the Howie Carr contract dispute will recognize how this works – Howie Carr lost his lawsuit against Entercom in a similar situation and was forced to keep working for Entercom against his wishes.
Apparently, TRN’s strategy was that if nobody was interested in paying to hire away Savage, Savage was trapped in this contract for the rest of his life. This goes a long way to explain why Savage has been working maybe 6-10 hours a week. It looks to me like he was trying to get fired. He and Mark Masters (son of Roy Masters) are on very bad terms.
Here is the official TRN statement confirming the lawsuit:
Recently, media outlets have reported that Savage has filed litigation against OTRN in an attempt to escape his contract. OTRN, Masters said, will hold him to his contract. “Michael’s lawsuit against us is unjustified and frivolous,” explained Masters. “Michael’s contract is crystal clear, and we are 100% confident that the courts will justify our position. The Michael Savage Show will remain on the air.”
Since the release of his latest book, Savage seems a lot more focused and animated. Westwood One (aka CBS) says they are interested in hiring Savage. They’re offering him $1.1 milion up front as an advance against 50% of gross receipts and visibility beyond radio.
Perhaps Michael Weiner can then come out from behind his Conservative TRN persona and be himself.
I forgot (again) that Dr Laura was syndicated by TRN for a while now… She is leaving at the end of December 2010
I also forgot that Phil Hendrie started doing a local show on KFI in Los Angeles. Laura Ingraham does a lot of TV. Everyone seems to have a scone job.
“Recently, media outlets have reported that Savage has filed litigation against OTRN in an attempt to escape his contract. OTRN, Masters said, will hold him to his contract.” That is a bad idea. You don’t attack your own employees and in the meantime force them to keep working for you– unless you’re in the military. Then again, Savage is based in California, where you can’t have non-compete clauses, so they don’t really have much of an option to keep him off a competitor’s network except to continue employing him.
TRN is extremely desperate.