9-9-2013
Talk Radio Network said in a statement today that it has cut back to "the basic operating essentials" and has suspended operations for America's Radio News Network. ARNN shut down on Friday; affiliates are being provided with "appropriate feeds" until they can find other programming. TRN said, however, that there is no truth to the rumors of an alleged shutdown of all programming operations, and that other programs are continuing without interruption. The syndicator also said these changes are pending the resolution of its antitrust lawsuit against Dial Global/Westwood One.
TRN blames its circumstances on actions by Dial Global/Westwood One, as described in a second amended complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, Western Division. The complaint accuses Dial of, among other things, abusing its position as TRN's independent ad rep to misrepresent amounts paid for advertising and thereby "reduce the disclosed allocation of revenue that it owes to shows that are owned, produced, or syndicated by anyone but Dial and its affiliates." Additionally, it claims ARNN was driven off the air by the refusal of Dial's satellite services division to permit former CNN Radio affiliates (CNN stopped top-of-the-hour newscasts in late 2012) to carry ARNN's top-of-the-hour newscasts, instead pushing them to Dial's own NBC Radio-branded newscasts.
Read the complaint here (PDF).
(9/9/2013 10:43:04 PM)
I can't speak about people being paid or not but Masters has a real life beef with Dial and Cumulus. Sadly no one is going to care - the deal will go thru and he will likely go out of business because of it all.
Our industry is in flames and its all about who has money and leverage - Masters has neither.
Something important is missing in this story: TRN is refusing to pay backpay and termination pay to contractors at ARNN. He left people in the lurch with no money and no recourse. Many of the big name talent is working for free. If TRN has enough money to keep the lights on, it has enough money to pay these people. All the staffers in Oregon got a final paycheck. TRN is just throwing the ARNN people under the bus.
(9/9/2013 8:06:10 PM)
Sad situation but such situations are also opportunities for aggressive operators.
There needs to be another national player in the radio news industry.
Problem with the current crop is that are all aligned with the political parties and we all know the parties don't listen to the people. More than 91% of the people oppose a war in Syria but one wouldn't get that sense by listening to CNN or any of the other news networks.
I feel bad for the people that trusted Masters and are now out of a job, especially those behind the scenes, and the smaller ARNN affiliates who now have to scramble for new programming.
I guess Dial Global is there to pick up the slack(er).
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