IN Radio: Cumulus Files Non-Compete Law Suit

Amanda Rollen

Cumulus Media has filed suit in a bid to ban an on-air personality from another station.

Cumulus's WMDH NashFM 102.5 in New Castle  filed a Delaware Circuit Court 4 lawsuit this week against Amanda Rollen and Hoosier AM/FM LLC, which operates five radio stations in Marion and four in Kokomo.

According to the suit – filed by Indianapolis attorneys John Drake and Todd Kaiser – Rollen was an on-air personality and programming assistant for NASH-FM until last Oct. 2.

The Indy Star reports the lawsuit alleges Rollen, a Muncie resident, in December 2012 signed a “non-competition” agreement in which she promised to “not to engage in the same or essentially the same job for any commercial radio station within a 50-mile radius” of NASH-FM’s transmitter for six months after leaving the New Castle station.

The suit says Rollen began working for the Hoosier AM/FM stations in Marion and Kokomo on Oct. 20, in “direct violation” of the non-competition agreement.

Attorneys for Cumulus Radio Corp. are seeking temporary and permanent injunctions prohibiting Rollen from working for Hoosier AM/FM “as an on-air personality, conducting remote broadcasts (or) carrying out production and programming activities.”

The lawsuit also seeks monetary damages and compensation for legal expenses.

According to the suit, the transmitter for WXXC Star 106.9 FM in Marion is 40 miles from the WMDH FM transmitter along North Prairie Road in Springport, while the business address for several of Hoosier AM/FM’s Marion stations is 37 miles from the Springport transmitter.