Friday, December 11, 2015

NYC Radio: Geraldo Sues Cumulus, WABC

Geraldo Rivera has sued Cumulus Media Inc., claiming that the national radio station owner backed out of a $600,000 deal for him to host a daily news talk-radio show on WABC 770 AM in New York -- and locked him out of his studio, for good measure.

Rivera contends in the suit that Cumulus’s new owners locked him out of his studio and office at the radio station chain’s WABC-AM after refusing to honor a one-year agreement for 2016. He says his agent negotiated the deal with Cumulus’s former owners, who lost control of the company in September, and that the new owners have wrongfully refused to honor it.

Bloomberg reports the lawsuit asserts that in an e-mail to Rivera on September 30, John Dickey, executive vice president at Cumulus at the time, acknowledged the employment agreement, writing: “Thanks Geraldo. I admire your work and your loyalty. Glad you will be covering the election on 77 WABC next year...”

“It is not about the money,” Rivera said in a November Facebook posting. “Because of their unforgivable disrespect, I will fight them and they will end up costing their battered company far more in damages than they expect to save in my salary.”

Davidson Goldin, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Cumulus, didn’t immediately comment Thursday on Rivera’s suit. Goldin runs a New York-based public relations firm.

The case is Rivera v. Cumulus Media Inc., Case No. 654121/2015, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan)

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