B'ham Radio: David DuBose OUT At Summit Media

David DuBose

David DuBose, who oversaw some of the top-rated radio stations in Birmingham and boldly tried to lure Paul Finebaum away from a rival, is out as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Summit Media, AL.com has learned.

DuBose was part of the original ownership group at Summit, which finalized its purchase of the Cox Media Group early last year. In 2013, the Alabama Broadcasters Association named him its Broadcaster of the Year.

In Birmingham, Summit owns urban stations WBHJ 95.7 Jamz FM and WBHK 98.7 Kiss FM, country station WZZK 104.7 FM, classic-hits station WBPT 106.9 The Eagle FM, soft-rock station WEZZ Easy 97.3 FM and gospel station WAGG 610 AM,Heaven.

Summit also has stations in Greenville, S.C.; Louisville, Ky.; Richmond, Va.; and Honolulu.

In August 2011, while DuBose was still the Birmingham market manager at Cox, he started sports station ESPN 97.3 The Zone and launched an all-out (and ultimately unsuccessful) effort to lure the sports-talk lightning rod Finebaum away from rival station WJOX 94.5 FM.

The Zone went off the air in the summer of 2013, about a month after Finebaum agreed to a multi-year deal with ESPN to host a national radio show that airs locally on WJOX.

Also last year, DuBose filed a lawsuit against his former employer Cox, claiming the company owed him more than $300,000 in unpaid "special retention bonus" pay for staying with the company until its sale to Summit Media became final.