10:30PM PDT
Edmonton, Alberta
August the 5th, 2008
Rob Christie
  
Photo: Courtesy of
VancouverBroadcasters.com

Word on the street is Rob Christie left Rawlco today, however there's no official comment if the former Power 92 morning team would be reunited at Newcap's Capital FM shortly...

our source tells us this was announced to the staff of Magic FM this afternoon.

.

Rob is gone. Confirmed by Magic employees.
Shannon to host with Duncan.
No official confirmation on where Christie is going....but he's going to Capital.
From Shannon's Blog posted today:

"I’ve heard it said before that life is cyclical… well, in the past while… that’s exactly what I’ve been experiencing. Back to the same building, same floor, same control room as I worked some 13 years ago… and back to working with a fella that I worked with… 13+ years ago.    

The familiar smell of a building I used to spend time in… and the sound of familiar laughter ringing.  

Life is surprising, and exciting.  

I couldn’t be happier to be spending more time with Duncan Paterson. He has always been one of my favorite people in this crazy business… and he is most definitely one of the wittiest. When last I worked with him, he spun stories about being the only stay at home dad on the block raising 2 baby girls… and I am sooo looking forward to hearing how those stories have progressed…  

Hopefully this time .. he won’t try to push me out of a plane.  

Seriously.

Oh the stories…  Good times ahead my friends!"

So what does that say about Rawlco Pres. Pam Leyland's other "denials"?

Specifically about a Rawlco sale to Bell/CHUM?

She was on the record that Rob was with them for the long term and there is no truth to sale rumors.

Strike one.

Try again.

My guess would be that if an employee tells their boss that they're staying put, then as far as the company is concerned, they're staying put.  Rob might have told Rawlco he was staying, Leyland reiterated that and then changed his mind, leaving Magic in the lurch.

This doesn't make Rawlco look bad or deceptive in any way, IMHO.

The bottom line is the bottom line. Once the C.R.T.C. makes their decision on the new licences, Rawlco will take a look at their future revenue generating possibilities and decide at that point whether or not to sell. They're not going to come out and say that but any employee with experience won't be surprised either way.

Rawlco makes all staff sign non-compete contracts don't they?

Can they can block this?

So reading between the lines, it's gonna be Rob and Audie back together again at Capital FM?

Figure it out. Cardinal was brought in to fix up some tired properties for Newcap and he's not wasting any time. First they ditched that stupid "k-rock" moniker and went with the brand everybody recognizes....K-97.

Then they put Capital FM on auto-pilot while he went out and got the talent to build a winner. Christie, Lynds, can Broadhead be far behind? Wait for it, folks. When they push the button it will make a big splash.

If they're smart they'll make a big splash. The switch back to K97 had no splash though. Neither did the return of Terry Evans, the switch to Big Earl... Nothing. Cap FM has had a moderate splash so far... They spent a ton to put this thing together, will they be willing to spend the money to promote it or hope word of mouth is enough?

Will be interesting to see if they have the same punch as they did 25yrs ago.

How about a witty, sidekick news guy for the show?

most of those witty-sidekick-news-guys have smartened up and left the business to be PR flacks.

Anyone know if there's enough money going around for a similar move to be made in Calgary for XL 103?

Who could they bring back? Norm's gone. Jim Jackson?

Quoted from Hot_Pot_Ontario

Rawlco makes all staff sign non-compete contracts don't they?

Can they can block this?

Money talks when it comes to non-competes.  Buy outs are common, but not always needed.

I have personal experience with Rawlco and my "non-compete" was so broadly written that no court would accept the scope of the contract.  Rawlco has sued employees over non-competes at much lower levels than a morning show host.  I know of two, both of which....Rawlco lost.  They've probably improved the language for the bigger deals, but still....very subjective.

No court will uphold a broad scope contract that prevents someone from earning a living.  A properly written non-compete is a contract for the employee to give extended notice of departure to minimize damages to the company.  Same as you having a pre-determined severance notice arranged in your employment contract to protect you from being bounced.  The trick is you have to be PAID during that notice term either way.  Then you are obligated to serve out your notice.  If they stop paying you, then it is subjective in the courts eyes.

A typical buy out would be a percentage of the non-compete notice.  As an example, if Rob has a properly written year's notice of "non-compete", Newcap goes in and writes a cheque for 50% of that to Rawlco to get him out.  Otherwise, you have a Mike Cooper in Toronto situation where Mike was hired by CHFI from EZ-Rock, but not on the air for 6-8 months.  Mike was likely still on the EZ-Rock payroll while off the air serving the "notice".

This is why I made the comment about Pam Leyland's denials.  Drink the Rawlco Kool-Aid if you like, but if Newcap bought out Rob's non-compete there is no way Ms. Leyland wouldn't have known.

Wow...how's this for being on topic.  From http://www.insideradio.com

New York bars non-competes.
New York Governor David Patterson (D) signs the Broadcast Employees Freedom to Work Act into law, which means everyone from salespeople to on-air talent no longer need to sit out a waiting period. Patterson calls non-competes “an unfair burden” which have forced radio professionals to leave the state to seek employment. Not covered, however, is station management. New York becomes the eighth state to ban non-competes.