Entercom Sacramento licenses under challenge

November 11, 2009

Entercom Communications 2008 Annual Report states that  petitions to deny the licenses of all of six Entercom Sacramento radio stations are pending at the FCC, and that licenses of other stations are

under challenge due to listener complaints.

Entercom's Report notes that should the FCC conclude that programming broadcast by their stations was obscene, indecent or profane, they could face loss of licenses or fines up to $325,000 for a single incident, with a maximum fine of up to $3.0 million for continuing violations.

From the 2008 Annual Report:  "In the past, the FCC has issued Notices of Apparent Liability and a Forfeiture Order with respect to several of our stations proposing fines for certain programming which the FCC deemed to have been indecent. These cases are the subject of pending administrative appeals. The FCC has also commenced several other investigations based on allegations received from the public that some of our stations broadcast indecent programming. We have cooperated in these investigations which remain pending."

Several calls placed to the FCC by this reporter on this matter have been ignored.  If anyone has more information about these complaints, please contact this reporter at suewilsonreports@gmail.com .

Jennifer Strange Trial: Insurance Will Pay $16 Million Award

November 11, 2009

According to Radio Online, the $16 million awarded by jurors to the family of Jennifer Strange in the KDND Entercom water drinking contest will be fully paid by Entercom's insurance company.

See post here:  http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n19985

This brings a whole new meaning to the DeeJay's comments during the Morning Rave contest, "Be sure we have insurance on this."

Radio Magic

November 6, 2009

Dateline:  June, 2007.  Republican President George W. Bush had the support of the opposing Democratic party to pass his immigration reform legislation;  by most political calculations, the bill should have sailed through Congress.  But then Conservative Talk radio went on an anti-immigrant tirade, and a majority of the president's own party rose up to defeat the bill.  Senator Trent Lott, R-MS, then told the New York Times that "Talk radio is running the country," which in turn inflamed the Talk Jock rhetoric toward Lott.   Lott has since retired from his Senate seat.

In David Brooks' October 2  New York Times article entitled "The Wizard of Beck," he likens talk hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity to the little man behind the curtain creating grand illusions in the Wizard of Oz.   But their real wizardry is to make illusory mountains out of molehills; and while it’s easy to sweep aside a molehill, a mountain is hard for a politician or the press to ignore.

Case in point, the tea parties. 

According to TaxDayTeaParty.com, the tea parties started with "just three online grassroots organizations with an idea."   Had the tea party promotion remained online, it likely would have resulted in a molehill of a protest with a few hundred angry citizens making their views known locally.  

But then talk radio host Glenn Beck and Fox News decided to cross the line from reporting on the tea parties to promoting them.  According to the research group Media Matters,  Fox News featured at least 20 segments on the "tea party" protests and aired at least 73 in-show and commercial promotions for the events.  Other conservative talk hosts joined the cheerleading squad on radio stations nationwide, and soon the Tea Party Protests were a phenomena.  A mountain of people showed up. 

But the real slight of hand is how the wizards conjured up a spectacle that news could not resist;   News organizations like McClatchy's Sacramento Bee covered the Tea Parties on the front page.   Although polls showed otherwise, the wizards created the impression that most Americans, on April 15, 2009, had already had enough of President Obama and wanted change.  The mainstream media was magically transformed into a public relations pawn for the right wing war of words.   

Fast forward to November, 2009.    Just days before a critical House vote on Healthcare reform, Rep. Michele Bachman, R-MN, staged a Tea Party protest in the nation's capital.   Again, Fox News and Radio Talkers Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and other on thousands of radio stations moved into action, using their giant microphones to whip up public sentiment against healthcare reform.  The thousands who showed up at the Capitol made news in national publications from Washington to Los Angeles, and according to a poll from USA Today, the Tea Partiers are making inroads into gaining the coveted independent vote.  

It's not that the Tea Partiers don't legitimately believe in their cause;  it's that the media wizards are using the public airwaves to publicize only the views of this vocal minority, while ignoring the voice of the majority who do support reform and the "public option" (57% of Americans according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll.)

So, thanks to the wizards, the molehill of opposition against the public option in healthcare now looks like Mt. Everest, when it should look like a speed bump.  And there's no magic way for the rest of us to be heard.

Good trick.

Strange Trial Analysis

October 29, 2009

Today, a divided jury rendered a unanimous verdict against Entercom Sacramento in the case of Jennifer Strange, a mother of three who died as a result of radio station KDND's water drinking contest in January 2007.  The jury of seven men and five women awarded Jennifer's family more than $16 million compensation.

For much of the past two months, I have been observing and live blogging the trial. (suewilsonreports.com .) There is much to process before I comment at length.  But in brief:

KDND 107.9 "the End's" Morning Rave ruled the airwaves in Sacramento's morning drive.    The on air personalities ruled the radio station, too, the proverbial inmates running the asylum. And they clearly knew a person could die from drinking too much water: just a month before the contest, the Morning Rave spent an entire show making fun of a local college kid who had died from water intoxication.   They made fun of Matthew Carrington's death , and they knew someone could die from drinking too much water.  

But the Morning Ravers never gave Jennifer or any other contestant that information when they sponsored the "Hold Your Wee to Win a Nintendo Wii" contest.  Instead, they encouraged contestants to drink first 48, then 96 ounces of water an hour in a party atmosphere, while at the same time they were joking on the air about the potential of someone dying from water poisoning.  Listeners were calling into the contest (nurses among them) to warn the on air crazies that someone could die from water intoxication, but Lukas and Trish and Maney laughed them off, saying contestants had signed release forms, so the station wasn't responsible if somebody died.  (Contestants couldn't hear any of the radio comments.)

The jury understood.  They rendered a very careful verdict. 

But the public doesn't get it.  They don’t get that the release form Jennifer signed was deemed worthless by the court; and that the radio station actually withheld information about danger from the contestants.  No, by a two to one margin on online polls, the public thinks that Jennifer Strange is responsible for her own death.  And the comments are vociferous.  

So a radio station, a broadcaster licensed to serve the public interest, sponsors a contest it knows is dangerous.  A woman dies as a result; and the public stands up for the corporation who was trying to profit from the stunt.

There's so much more to this story.     Later.

See video of the Broadcast Blues Jennifer Strange story ond hear audio from the contest at broadcastblues.tv
.

Jennifer Strange Trial: Entercom Sacramento negligent

October 29, 2009

After nine days of intense deliberations, a jury of seven men and five women today rendered a verdict against a local Sacramento radio station in the civil trial of William A. Strange et al v. Entercom Sacramento LLC and Entercom Communications Inc. et al.  The trial was to determine accountability for the death of Jennifer Strange, who died as a result of a water drinking contest sponsored by Entercom Sacramento's radio station KDND.

By unanimous vote, the jury decided that Entercom Sacramento was negligent in Strange's death;  by unanimous vote, they also decided that the parent company, Entercom Communications of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania was not responsible.  By a vote of ten to two, the jury decided that Jennifer Strange did not contribute to her own death.

Economic damages were assessed at $1,477,118.  Non-economic damages were assessed at $15,100,000.

Jurors said finding Entercom Sacramento negligent was a relatively simple decision, mostly because Entercom on-air employees ignored phone calls warning them of the dangers of the contest.  They said they believed it was the responsibility of Entercom Sacramento to vet the contest with the parent company's legal department, which employees failed to do.

However, jurors reported that they were sharply divided over other issues in the case. They said no one thought Jennifer was 100 percent responsible for her death, but that two jurors thought she shared some responsibility.  As only nine jurors had to agree to render a verdict, that issue was quickly decided.  Deciding non-economic damages proved much more difficult, and took days of deliberations.  According to juror LaTeshia Paggett, some jurors thought that criteria they'd been instructed to consider for compensation like love, companionship, and moral guidance were invaluable, and as such, the family should receive zero compensation for those areas.  She said other jurors disagreed sharply and felt the compensation should have been as high as $48 million dollars.  In the end, according to juror Tammy Elliott, the jury agreed to averaging the dollar amount each juror felt appropriate.  "Each juror's number was weighted equally," Elliott said.

According to Entercom's annual report, Entercom Communications reports a 2008 revenue of $439 million;  Sacramento is one of their more profitable markets.

The FCC is still investigating the incident.

See the Jennifer Strange story and hear actual contest audio in Public Interest Picture's Broadcast Blues.

Broadcast Blues in Hot Springs: "You've got a Hit!"

October 28, 2009

Audiences didn't just applaud at the end of Broadcast Blues, they cheered!!  And shouted "Thank you for making this film!" to filmmaker Sue Wilson. 

Former Hot Springs Mayor and film festival founder Melinda Baran said "You've got a Hit movie!"  Festival goers "rated it right up there with Food Inc. and Tapped," also playing at the festival.  There were Many thanks for "such an amazing and important film."

Audiences LOVE this film...  Distributors, where are you? 

Broadcast Blues Goes to Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival!

October 20, 2009

Vast Right Wing Media Conspiracy Revealed!

In the midst of the 1998 Clinton Impeachment, grassroots groups of citizens from across the country staged a protest against Ken Starr in Washington DC.   One of those groups was the Truth in America Project;  headed by journalist Sue Wilson, it focused on the vast right wing media conspiracy against President Clinton.

Years later, Wilson continues to expose right wing bias in the media with her new film, Public Interest Pictures'  Broadcast Blues.  She uses a series of vignettes to show how media policy changes stemming from the Reagan era have corrupted our news, information, and even public safety.  In a searing interview with former Right Wing "hit man" David Brock, she reveals the Conservative media's calculated misinformation campaign to bring down President Clinton, and shows its impact on politics and news today (including the recent Fox News' court ruling that news does not have to be true.)

Broadcast Blues is playing 5:30 PM October 22 at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. 

Information about the film is available online at www.broadcastblues.tv and information about the film festival is at http://www.hsdff.org/home .

Jennifer Strange Trial: Determining Damages

October 18, 2009

The closing arguments in the case of William Strange et al vs Entercom not only summed up the case for the jury, but presented them with guidelines for determining compensation should they find Entercom liable for the water drinking death of Jennifer Strange stemming from the January 2007 "Hold Your Wee to Win a Nintendo Wii" radio contest.

Sacramento Bee reporter Andy Furillo and KOVR CBS 13 reporter David Begnaud reported that plaintiiff attorney Roger Dreyer is seeking more than $24 million, and plaintiff attorney Harvey Levine is seeking an additional $12 million.   They report that Defense attorney Don Carlson told the jury $4.5 million would be more appropriate compensation. 

But those broad numbers downplay the detailed instructions given to the jury by the court on how to determine the proper level of compensation.  Attorneys are not asking for punitive damages in this case, but rather for economic and non-economic damages for the 2.75 years since Jennifer died and the 51.75 years she would be expected to live in the future.

First, should the jury find Entercom liable, they must determine the direct economic impact of Jennifer's death on the family.  Jennifer was the bigger wage earner in her family, and the jury was given some rather straightforward instructions on determining how much money Jennifer would have contributed to her family's well being had she lived.

Second, the jury was given a much more complicated set of standards established by the court (not the attorneys) by which to determine non-economic compensation.  For each of the Plaintiffs, (husband Billy, daughter Jorie, 3, son Ryland, 6, and son Keegan, 13,) the jury must consider compensation for each of the following factors individually:  Love, Companionship, Comfort, Care, Assistance, Society, Moral Stewardship, Training, Guidance, and in the case of her husband, Physical Intimacy.

It is pretty simple to calculate how much money Jennifer would have earned had she lived.  But how do you put a number on the damage done to a little girl who will never know her mother's love?  How do you put a number on the damage done to a little boy who will never have his mother's moral stewardship?  Or to a teenager who will never again have his mother's guidance?  Or to a husband who will never again know his wife?   There are no easy answers to those questions, but those are the questions this jury will likely have to decide.  

Dreyer suggested that each of those areas should be compensated between $100,000 to $150,000;  Carlson suggested far less compensation for each area.

How much would each one be worth to you?

To be continued

October 15, 2009

Due to the death of my father, George C. (Bud) Wilson, I am unable to write about the closing arguments in the Jennifer Strange trial.  I will return Monday.

Dad lived to be 90, and with only an eighth grade education, rose to be General Manager of Schultz and Lindsay Construction, one of the largest highway contractors in North America.  He pioneered highway construction techniques which are still in use today, and set records in the industry which still stand.

I am very proud of him, and will always miss him. 

Jennifer Strange Trial Coverage: Who was Jennifer?

October 13, 2009

Roger Dreyer began the morning by reminding the jury what this trial is all about:  Jennifer Strange.

While I have focused heavily on the corporate aspects of the trial, I think it a good time to reflect on the woman at the core of this trial, Jennifer.

By all accounts, she was much loved and respected.  Here was a single mother, who gave birth to her elder son Keegan when she was just seventeen, who focused her life on that little boy.  She exhibited remarkable maturity for a girl her age, and she sheparded her son into the GATE program for gifted children.  She attended every parents teacher conference, she spearheaded activities at her son's school, and she became good friends with her son's teacher, who said that Keegan worshipped Jennifer.

So did her son Ryland, now aged 6;  daughter Jorie, now aged 3, unfortunately will not remember her.

At the same time, Jennifer worked her way up in the radiological lab where she worked up the ranks into a supervisory position.  At age 28, with no college education, she was earning nearly $60,000 a year, and her co-workers loved her.  They found her style of management uplifting and encouraging, and said she always would find a way to allow people learn in their own way. 

Jennifer was a stalwart friend.  She was someone who would always be there to help, be it with a wedding, a new baby, or help getting a new job.  And she was the kind of person who would help her friends without ever being asked.

Her children were the focus of her life;  her husband Billy even admitted so, but it didn't bother him.  Birthday parties, Halloween, Christmas, coloring Easter eggs, she would make a big deal of them all.

She was loving, in an overt way.  She would tell her children and husband and friends she loved them, she wasn't shy about it.

And they say that when Jennifer Strange entered the room, her smile preceded her.

A lot of people really miss Jennifer Strange.

Jennifer Strange Trial Coverage: The Final Witness

October 9, 2009

"Hold You Wee to Win a Nintendo Wii" contestant Aram Dermenjian took the stand Tuesday as the final witness for Entercom's defense team. 

He testified that from listening to KDND, he understood that the rules were contestants would be drinking a cup of water every fifteen minutes, and the last person that went to the bathroom would win.  He also said those rules were given to him by the female at the station who told him when to arrive, and that she said the last person to use the bathroom or vomit would win.

He told Entercom attorney Don Carlson that he was a UC Davis student at the time of the contest, and that he did know about the Chico water drinking death.  He said that he had heard the term water intoxication before the 2007 contest, but he thought this contest was different from the Chico hazing incident because the contest was voluntary, while the Matthew Carrington in Chico had been forced to drink large amounts of water.

Carlson:  Did you understand you could leave at any time?  Dermenjian: Yes.  Carlson:  Did you think you'd know what your limits were?  Dermenjian: I was a dancer, and had a decent understanding of what I could do.  Carlson:  Did you read the release form?  Dermenjian: I glanced it over.  Carlson:  Did you decide it was okay to sign?  Dermenjian: Yes.

Dermenjian said the contestants had discussed going from the eight ounce bottle of water to the larger 16.9 ounce bottles to speed up the contest.  Carlson asked whether the radio was playing during the contest, and Dermenjian said it was, but he only remembered music playing, not callers.  He said there was no discussion of the Chico incident by contestants during the contest.  Dermenjian was the first to leave the contest, as the first contestant to leave was given a chance to be interviewed on the radio.

Strange family Attorney Roger Dreyer established that Dermenjian was the president of his fraternity at UC Davis, and that he had heard of the Chico incident in a fraternity newsletter.  Dermenjian said he knew that Carrington had died of acute water intoxication.  Dreyer also established that Dermenjian had studied AP Chemistry in high school, and understood how sodium electrolite imbalance in the body worked.

Dreyer asked whether anyone at the radio station had given him information as to the hazards and dangers of the contest; Dermenjian said he didn't need it.  Dreyer asked about his signing the release form, he said it looked like a standard form.  Dreyer: You didn't think that radio station would ever put you into a contest that they knew could kill you?  Dermenjian: I didn't think they'd done research.

Dermenjian said that when he was told they would be drinking a cup of water every ten minutes instead of every fifteen minutes, he didn't know what six cups an hour would do, as he was used to four cups.  He left the contest before they switched to the larger bottles.


Dreyer:  You knew about Chico, about Chemistry, your experience as a dancer. Based on your knowledge, you kept that information in mind?  Dermenjian:  Yes.  Dreyer:  Did anyone from the radio station say we want to let you all know about water poisoning or dangers?  Dermenjian:  No.

He said no one from the radio station said they'd received a phone call from a pediatric nurse giving them notice of a potential hazard, and that he did not recall any contestants talking about the Chico State death.  He was in the contest for less than an hour, but stayed to himself, and did not tell any of the other contestants about his knowledge of Chico or of water poisoning. 

When he left the station, Dermenjian listened to the broadcast and heard the "Eva Brooks" call, which had warned the Morning Rave staff that people could die from water intoxication.  Dreyer:  When you heard that, was it consistent with your knowledge?  Dermenjian:  Yes . Did you call the radio station to let them know what you knew?  Dermenjian: No.  Dreyer:  You weren't running the contest, were you?  Dermenjian:  No.


On redirect, Carlson asked why he didn't tell anyone about Chico;  he said that most of the contestants seemed to be friends, and so he just sat in the corner by himself.  Carlson:  Did you assume others would know their own limits and know when to stop drinking?  Dermejian:  Yes.

Dreyer again:  You don't know what anyone else knew?  Dermejian:  True.  Dreyer:  You've met people who don't know the dangers of sodium imbalance?  Dermejian:  True.

This was the final witness in the case.  Closing arguments will begin 9:00 AM Tuesday, October 13.

To see the Broadcast Blues story about Jennifer Strange, including audio from the contest, please go to www.broadcastblues.tv .

Jennifer Strange Trial Coverage: Defense Begins, Then Rests

October 6, 2009

Defense attorney Don Carlson, who represents Entercom Sacramento and Entercom Communications Inc., called his first witness to the stand this morning.  Stephany Fiore, Forensic Pathologist for the Sacramento County Coroner's office had conducted the autopsy on Jennifer Strange.

Fiore testified that while she had done a couple of autopsies with cases of hyponatremia, she had never done a case of acute water intoxication.  She testified that in her research, she discovered 18 cases of people who
died from water intoxication, and that 15 of those cases involved people who were severe psychotics; the other three were either marathon runners or military trainees.

Under questioning from Plaintiff attorney Roger Dreyer, Fiore said it would be "pretty easy to find information on water intoxication, you can google it."  When asked if water intoxication can produce euphoria, she said she had not read that, but that it could cause confusion, coma, seizure, and death.  She also said that more than one and a half liters of water could be very bad.  Dreyer established that 6 eight ounce bottles of water were about equivalent to 1 1/2 liters, and that 6 16 ounce bottles would have equaled 3 liters per hour.

In his questioning, Dreyer referenced the criminal investigation which had been launched, but then dropped, in the matter.  Defense attorney Carlson, outside the jury's presence, told the judge that motions had been made and approved that no mention be made of "criminal investigation, and that saying that in the presence of the jury was very prejudicial.  Carlson made a motion for mistrial.  Judge Phillips denied that motion, but agreed to give an admonition to the jury to disregard that statement.

Carlson next called Entercom Director of Engineering and IT manager Rick Rapalee.  Rapalee was instructed by Entercom immediately after the water drinking death to save all archives of the contest, including the Morning Rave shows the week before which promoted the Wii contest.

Carlson played several clips of the promotion:
1-08-07, 6:44 AM  "All of you will be drinking the same amount of water every fifteen minutes; the last person standing wins the Wii."
1-08-07  7:45 AM  "We're going to give them water everey fifteen minutes." 
1-09-07  7:33 AM  "If you qualify, every fifteen minutes, contestants will have to drink 8 ounce or 16 ounce glass of water, and keep drinking until the last person standing."
1-09-07  7:47 AM  Jennifer Strange calls the station to try to qualify for the contest.
1-10-07  7:10 AM  "Going to be drinking water every fifteen minutes, the last person standing without going wee wins."

Dreyer asked Rapalee whether he had listened to the entire broadcasts, he said no, he had been directed by the defense team to find out at what times those clips had played during the broadcasts.  He had not listened to what was said before or after each clip, nor had he been asked to go through the entire broadcasts to find every reference to the Wii contest.

Carlson next called Wii contestant Ronald Mendoza.  Mendoza was a regular listener of the Morning Rave, and had been in Entercom contests before.  Carlson asked Mendoza what he'd heard about the contest on the radio.  He said that the Wii would be the prize, that they'd be outside in light clothing, they'd be drinking water, and that the last person standing would win.  Carlson:  Quantities of water?  Mendoza : Yes.

He told Carlson that when he'd been qualified for the contest, a woman who he thought was Liz Diaz told him the rules over the phone: they'd be standing in the cold weather, wearing something thin, if you vomited,
something like that, you're put of the contest. Carlson:  So you knew before you got to the radio station if you urinated yourself or vomited you're out?  Mendoza: Correct. 

Carlson asked whether before this contest, Mendoza was aware of the Chico incident;  Mendoza said yes, but that he did not draw any similarites, because in Chico it was against his will, it was not voluntary.  Carlson
asked whether he understood he could leave the Wii contest at any time;  Mendoza said he did.

Carlson asked whether he's heard the radio playing during the contest; Mendoza said he had, but he had not heard any calls warning of problems with the contest.

Mendoza also said that there was a general consensus amongst the contestants to move to larger bottles to get the contest over quicker.  He also said he'd dropped out because other contestants seemed more determined to win the Wii, and he took movie tickets instead.

Plantiff attorney Dreyer asked him about the Chico incident;  Mendoza said he had heard of that death, but didn;t know the details.

Dreyer:  You trusted Entercom?  You never thought this radio station would ever run a contest that could have results like Chico?  Mendoza: True.  Dreyer: You trusted they would never expose you to danger?  Mendoza:  Yes.  Dreyer: You believed they would research this?  Mendoza:  True.

Carlson called one more contestant, then rested his case.  More on that testimony tomorrow.

For video of the Jennifer Strange story, and actual audio of the Wii contest, please go to www.broadcastblues.tv
.  For full trial coverage,
go to www.SueWilsonReports.com .