Posted on 05/20/2010 12:56:10 AM PDT by raccoonradio
WRKO radio host Howie Carr has lodged a trio of complaints against the station with the state Attorney General’s office, seeking unpaid bonuses and a pay raise in the three years since his bosses thwarted his attempt to defect to rival WTKK.
The Herald received the complaints from the Attorney General’s office under a Freedom of Information Act request. Carr declined comment this week.
The WRKO-AM (680) afternoon-drive talker and Herald columnist filed his most recent complaint against the station’s owner, Entercom Communications, over a month ago before he was hit with a weeklong suspension in April for badmouthing the station.
The complaint involves an unpaid performance bonus. Pending investigations are exempt under the public records law.
Carr filed his first complaint in September 2007 after WRKO went to court to stop him from becoming the new morning-drive host on WTKK-FM (96.9). Carr’s complaint said Entercom failed to pay him a $13,333 quarterly performance bonus he had earned for the spring ratings period. During that ratings period, Carr’s radio show ranked fifth in Boston among 35 to 54-year-old listeners, and he was making $12,200 a week at the time, according to the complaint.
In October, an Entercom executive sent Carr’s bonus check - $8,694.87 after taxes and authorized reductions - to the Attorney General’s office to be forwarded to the talk show host.
In a letter enclosed with the check, the station executive said the failure to pay Carr his bonus wasn’t intentional nor was it an oversight. “We determined that (Carr) was not entitled to a spring 2007 bonus based on a premature, and apparently incorrect, report,” the letter said.
In December 2008, Carr filed a complaint after the station failed to pay him a $5,000 raise. In his complaint, Carr wrote he was due a $5,000 annual pay increase on Nov. 15 under the terms of his contract. “Company is in breach of contract for the second time in a year,” Carr wrote in his complaint, which said he was earning about $15,000 a week at the time.
An investigator with the Attorney General’s Fair Labor & Business Practices contacted the company. An attorney representing Entercom told the investigator on Jan. 5, 2009, that a check had been mailed to Carr, according to filings, and the case was then closed.
Entercom Boston vice president Julie Kahn and WRKO program director Jason Wolfe didn’t return calls or e-mails.
HC list ping—Howie raises a stink vs RKO
Any 2weeks lulz?
You mean Kevin “Two” Weeks (formerly Kevin Squeaks?)—haven’t heard of any, though I guess he’s working construction now or something
lol
I guess we know why the station hired Felon Finneran. As they say, birds of a feather flock together.
I want him to stay right where he is.
Transmissions from 96.9 are non-existent west of Sturbridge, where it switches to horrible lib talk from Northampton.
Unless he goes on magic radio....
You can pick him up on 0830...
thanks, and of course, 560
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