CC Outdoor Pulls Radio Competitor's Board

Orlando radio talkmeister and former handgun enthusiast Shannon Burke today accused the radio chain that fired him of yanking a billboard that features him and his new station, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Burke, 45, hosts a talk show on WEUS, 810 AM.

The station leased a billboard from Clear Channel Outdoor, part of the multimedia company that owned Real Radio, 104.1 FM, where Burke used to work.

He was fired two years ago after he got drunk and flew into a rage because his dog had sneaked out of the yard. He pulled a handgun, shot his wife's dog and the same bullet grazed a grove along the side of his wife's head.

After first ordering him out of the house, she forgave him, took him back and helped him avoid a long prison term.

He pleaded no contest to animal cruelty and opening fire in a building and served six months in the Seminole County Jail.

He also was ordered into alcohol rehab, to get treatment for bi-polar disorder and to give up his guns.

On Thursday the billboard came down. On the air, Burke accused Clear Channel broadcasters of trying to marginalize him. They do not want a former employee taking away listeners and using a company billboard to do it, Burke said.

Chris Kampmeier, a Clear Channel radio programming executive in Orlando, said Thursday that he didn't have anything to do with the billboard coming down and would be surprised if anyone else in the broadcast division did.

Read more here.

Tom's Take: It is my understanding the outdoor buy was placed on both Clear Channel Outdoor and CBS boards in the Orlando market. CBS Outdoor boards remain up as of Friday morning.