Shenanigans abound along the Stateline
King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!
deal with over the last two months.
The already published facts are these: Paul Wozny, General Manager of
WSLD in Whitewater, was busted on September 6th on charges of sexually
assaulting three boys while as a Boy Scout leader. He was initially
charged with nine offenses in Walworth County, but Dodge County is also
investigating him on many more incidents. He's looking at a maximum
sentence of 390 years in prison on the Walworth County charges alone.
Now to the stuff inside WSLD's licensee, WPW Broadcasting. Up until
September 12th, I worked for WMCW in Harvard, Illinois, which is
co-owned with WSLD. Wozny also served as a salesman for both WMCW and
WSLD. I had been promised by WMCW PD Mike Bellamy (he of those moronic
Old Style commercials on WGN's Cubs games) that, beginning September 17,
I was to co-host WMCW's midday chat show with Chris Hammerberg, then a
sportscaster and salesman with WSLD. In fact, the promises from Bellamy
continued all the way through to September 11th. Sponsors had already
been sold on the show, specifically around Chris and myself doing it.
Upon Wozny's bust, WPW CEO David Madison decides to fire Wozny and put
himself in as GM of WSLD. Suddenly, he comes up with a new policy about
how all WSLD employees -- air staff, salespeople, office workers -- are
to sign a non-compete agreement barring them from working at another
station within a 100 mile radius for 18 months. He claims that he
doesn't want anyone bailing out on him and taking jobs in Chicago,
Milwaukee or Madison now that he's lost his GM and WSLD is surely going
to come in for a lot of bad publicity because of Wozny. Of course, the
only person on the staff who has ever received a job offer in any of
those markets is Hammerberg, who the Mustangs wanted to hire for their
play-by-play. So the non-compete is a lot of BS designed to intimidate
his staff, no more, no less.
Hammerberg refuses to sign. So what comes out on the 12th? That Madison
has ordered the WMCW midday show cancelled and bars Hammerberg from
working it. Of course, with no Hammerberg, the spots that have already
been sold will have to be returned. And I'm out of a weekday gig.
But the real capper comes when Bellamy says that the blame for the
show's scuttling is Hammerberg's! Not Wozny's for raping kids, not
Madison's for pulling his tinhorn act, but Hammerberg's for not being
available. Of course, Bellamy is too gutless to admit that Hammerberg
isn't available because Madison dictates his inavailability. He simply
blames Chris for it and leaves it at that.
Thus, after having my intelligence insulted by said gutless Bellamy, I
toss him the key to WMCW and tell him where he can stick his piddly
little weekend hours, too.
And what's happened since then? Well, Hammerberg's out, too. Chris' sin
was to attend one of Wozny's initial court hearings. Of course, that's
Chris' right as an American citizen to attend a court hearing. But
Madison goes ape-stool and claims he's afraid that he (Madison) will be
sued for one of his employees attending any of Wozny's trial. You figure
it out.
So now Hammerberg's on the beach, too. But Madison is putting a bogus
story around that Hammerberg quit, which Madison knows is a lie as
Madison's the one ordering Chris' dismissal.
Such is life on the WPW plantation. Don't stand up for your rights or
Massa Madison will crack the whip...
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King Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!
How Radio is done.
kingd...@elknet.net
heard on WSUW Whitewater WI
Love your enemies. It drives them right up the bloody wall.