• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Jennifer Ross: The Continuing Sad Saga

N

NamJock

Inactive
Inactive User
I have never met Jennifer Ross. I have met, but do not really "know" some of the other players - but as a South Floridian and radio guy, I have watched this saga play out over the years.

Why does CBS continue to press the issue of her jumping ship eight years ago for a better gig across town? It doesn't help CBS' image to continue to punish and harrass air talent years after the fact. Just tell Jennifer to pay them a dollar and let it go. She still owes her attorneys big bucks for all the years of heartache this has caused. Though Ross did screw up pretty good, and there's a back story (as there often is), it still makes CBS look like the bad guys. Any prospective air talent would think twice before working for them based on this incident. And I'm sure that's the point they're trying to make. Don't jump ship, don't break a non-compete, look what we did to Jennifer Ross. It's creepy.

I understand she had a contract. But she's a jock not a rocket scientist stealing company secrets worth millions from Boeing. As the relatively new guy, this would be an excellent opportunity for Dan Mason to do the right and humane thing. Ross is broke and broken by this mess and a great deal of the blame rests with the guy (no names) who, for the publicity, continued to entice her to push the envelope before starting her new gig. It was a bit for cryin' out loud - that certain honchos at WEAT did not see the humor is not a legitimate reason to ruin someone personally and professionally.

BTW: in the money demos, WEAT was #1 before she left, remained #1 during the interim and remains #1 as of FA07.

My opinion - some, I'm sure, will disagree.
 
I don't know the entire story but my opinion is non competes should be illegal. If you don't want someone to find another job across town you need to pay them to stay and be nice to them. Most of us with any sense would gladly stay with a station that had a positive atmosphere even if we weren't making top dollar.
 
The theory behind a no compete (and realize I say THEORY) is that the company is paying you a premium on top of your salary so that you can survive or a year or six month (or whatever the no-compete stipulates.)

I'll agree with you, Mike, in part. If you quit your job and have a no-compete, you should have to live it out. But if you're fired -- that's a whole other story!
 
My heart goes out to Jennifer. She's always been a pleasure to work around.
With the evolution of the radio industry and the cost cutting measures being implemented by CBS and others, non-competes will go the way of large salaries.

The on-air portion of this industry will virtually regress to an hourly wage type job eventually.

Hang tight, Jen. You've got friends.

JD
 
Wow! I'm blown away by this story. I don't want to say CBS is the "bad guy" here but I agree, it doesn't leave you feeling all warm an fuzzy about the Eye. I guess I'm confused about why Jennifer appealed the original verdict. I'm no lawyer, but I believe that James Crystal was on the hook for the million dollar verdict that CBS won. Jennifer only became liable after she decided to appeal the verdict. Not only did she then get slapped with at $122k compensatory verdict, but because she forced this thing back in court... she became liable for CBS' attorneys fees as well as the fees of her own attorney which only grew commensurately.

I may not have all the facts straight here but the bottom line is... I never would have gone to war against CBS unless I had an iron clad agreement with my current employer (in her case James Crystal) that I would NOT be held personally liable NO MATTER THE OUTCOME.

Seems like James Crystal is the one who left Jennifer Ross swinging in the wind, which IMHO makes THEM the bad guys... not necessarily CBS. Just my two cents...
 
What about "you made a deal, you signed an agreement, so stick to it and keep your word"? This is sympomatic of a huge problem in today's society- no one wants to take responsibility for their own actions. You reap what you sow- she knew she was violating her agreement and now has to deal with the consequences. No one made her jump ship, she did that on her own.
 
markmywords said:
What about "you made a deal, you signed an agreement, so stick to it and keep your word"? This is sympomatic of a huge problem in today's society- no one wants to take responsibility for their own actions. You reap what you sow- she knew she was violating her agreement and now has to deal with the consequences. No one made her jump ship, she did that on her own.
Click to expand...

I agree with you which is why I never signed one. Employers shouldn't be allowed to require you to sign a contract unless they plan to pay you for the time you sit out the non compete. The arguement that the employer should be able to inforce the agreement if you quit but not if you're fired, wouldn't work though. The employee wishing to leave would just end up doing something to assure they got fired so they could get out of their contract.

As someone else here said, for on air people broadcasting will become an hourly wage job, not a career. In many cases it's already happened.

I'd really hate to work in radio now. So few groups are in charge of so many stations. In the old days in South Florida if you didn't have a contract you never had to leave, you just went to the next station. Some would wind up back at the station where they started.
 
Jennifer is on the hook for bucks but so is James Crystal to the tune of about 6 million.
After the first verdict, the decision of the judge was overturned on appeal. To save face CBS filed to have the case heard again and it was before the same biased judge.
Same verdict only this time the verdict was a judgement for 6 million, down from 22 million the first time.
Looks to me like the CBS mouthpieces want to keep the ball rolling as they're looking for some long green.
 
so many station managers won't deal with agents, prime example why talent needs them..
Jen, you are a pro
we are behind you!
 
jukebox said:
so many station managers won't deal with agents, prime example why talent needs them..
Jen, you are a pro
we are behind you!
Click to expand...

"we" who??? Speak for yourself. A pro honors their agreements. All Jennifer did was strengthen corporates hand when it comes to enforcing these silly non-competes.

I feel bad for her, but I think she should have handled this differently.

Now what's this I hear about her co-host Danny beating up his girlfriend? WTF!?!?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom