Tuesday, June 11, 2013

B’ham Radio: DuBose Sues Cox Media Over Retention Bonus

David Dubose
Birmingham radio executive David DuBose has filed suit against his former employer, the Cox Media Group, claiming the company owes him more than $300,000 in unpaid “special retention bonus” pay for staying with Cox during the recent sales of its eight Birmingham-area radio stations.

According to al.com, DuBose, who was employed with Cox for about 15 years, most of those as the Birmingham market manager -- was part of a group of investors who formed SummitMedia and  recently bought the Cox stations in Birmingham and in Greenville, S.C.; Richmond, Va.; Louisville, Ky.; and Honolulu. DuBose is the chief operating officer and executive vice president for SummitMedia.

SummitMedia closed on its purchase of Cox’s Birmingham-area stations on May 3, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday afternoon in federal court in Birmingham.

Among those Birmingham properties are urban stations 95.7 Jamz FM and 98.7 Kiss FM, country station WZZK 104.7 FM, classic-hits station 106.9 The Eagle FM, and sports-talk station ESPN 97.3 The Zone.

The bonus compensation was an incentive for DuBose to stay with Cox through the sale of its Birmingham stations, thereby enhancing the value of those stations, according to the lawsuit.

When the sale was not completed by Dec. 31, Franklin made a successive offer, dated Jan. 8, saying Cox would pay DuBose a sum of $310,686.97 if he remained with Cox through the closing. DuBose accepted that offer on Jan. 18, the lawsuit says.

On May 10, a week after the sale to SummitMedia became final, Cox informed DuBose that Cox would not pay him any of the special retention bonus, according to the lawsuit.


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