Judge: Ryan Haney Can’t Work For Cox For Now

Ryan Haney

A federal judge ruled Thursday afternoon that former WJOX 94.5 FM Birmingham, AL program director Ryan Haney cannot work for rival sports-talk station WZNN ESPN 97.3 The Zone until more evidence is heard in a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by his former employer, Citadel Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Cumulus Meida..

U.S. District Court Judge David Proctor set a March 4 date for that hearing, according to The Birmingham News.

Until then, Haney is prohibited from working for the Cox Media Group, which owns 97.3 The Zone, and from providing any services to the company or communicating with its employees or agents.

Proctor's order also prohibits Haney from "communicating with and/or soliciting any of Citadel's customers, content providers, advertisers or employees (and from) disclosing or sharing any confidential information of Citadel."

Haney, who had been with WJOX since 1998 and had been its program director since 2004, left the station on Jan. 21, and began working at 97.3 The Zone as its program director a week later.

The breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by Citadel claims that Haney had a no-compete clause in his contract with the company that prohibits him from working for another radio station in the Birmingham market for a year after leaving WJOX.

Also, Citadel argues that, under the contract, Haney could not enter into a new contract with a competing radio station within six months of leaving WJOX without first giving Citadel a chance to match the offer.

Haney's last contract with Citadel ended Dec. 31, 2010, according to court documents. But Citadel's lawsuit states that since that date, under the terms of the old contract, Haney has worked as an at-will employee and all obligations under that contract continued.

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