Oregon Media Insiders

WWeek is calling it a bombshell. My first reaction was:

eep.

Details are coming out from former KOIN ND Jeff Alan's lawsuit against the station, which was filed in April. In it, he claims that Ed Whelan's firing was discriminatory, and so was his own:

At a July 2007 meeting in Portland, the lawsuit claims that Jason Elkin, CEO of NVT [New Vision Television], insisted that Whelan be fired as a condition of NVT buying the station. Alan and [then-KOIN owner] Montecito President Sandra Benton objected, the lawsuit says, because Whelan "was a minority, was older and had recovered from a stroke." But the lawsuit says Elkin "angrily insisted."

At the same meeting, the lawsuit says that Elkin asked Alan, then 54, whether he was too old for his job, and made one other disparaging remark about Alan's age.

Whelan was fired August 20, 2007, as we reported here first (in fact, much of KOIN's newsroom learned of the firing from OMI rather than its own management).

But it doesn't end there:

[New KOIN GM] Chris Sehring ... told Alan to check out a resume tape from prospective news reporter Kacey Montoya, according to the lawsuit. Sehring told Alan that they "would probably be forced to hire her," the lawsuit says.

Alan objected to hiring Montoya on two grounds, the lawsuit says. First, he believed she was unqualified. And second, according to the lawsuit, "some quick internet searches" revealed that Montoya appeared "in inappropriate material" under the names Kacey Aliece and Kacey Bytheway.

Montoya told WWeek she had been a swimsuit model before becoming a reporter and doesn't regard the photos as erotica. She told WWeek, "I never posed in any pictures with the intent that they would be put on an erotica site. This is not the kind of modeling that I did, and I would like it if you made that perfectly clear." According to the lawsuit, both Alan and former KOINer Theresa Stedman objected to both Montoya's hiring and her salary, described as at a higher rate than they had approved. Current KOIN ND Lynn Heider is standing by Montoya.

Alan was fired in January 2008:

The lawsuit ... claims Alan was fired due to age discrimination, out of retaliation for opposing Montoya's hiring, and out of retaliation for acting as a whistleblower on Whelan's firing.

(FYI, Alan was not my source on the Whelan story.)

Alan wants his old job back plus $2.5M for economic damages and pain and suffering. KOIN owner NVT and its CEO Elkin are named as defendants in the suit.

Some thoughts on all this:

First, can lawsuits from Stedman and Whelan be far behind?

Second, for once the innuendos that accompany virtually every pretty young woman into this market on this website turned out to be at least a teeny bit true. When Montoya came on at KOIN, someone in the comments outed her "Kacey Bytheway" identity, or whatever you want to call it--I have no idea if that was her alias or one that whoever bought the photos gave her Bytheway is her given name; Montoya is her alias.

Why didn't I follow up? I'm not kidding when I say every single good-looking young woman who comes into this market is assailed with "she slept her way into her job" crap on this website. You don't see it because I delete it; sexual innuendo is about the only thing I delete before it sees the light of day. Why I didn't delete that comment, I dunno.

Mondays KOIN 6 11PM coverage of the Hwy 30 fire between Rainier and St. Helens used a map that caught my eye. Must of been a new employee who put that together. Take a look

KOINers were surprised today when they were summoned to gatherings to meet the new GM, Tim Perry, late of KSBY in San Luis Obispo. Former GM Chris Sehring is moving further up the corporate ladder within KOIN owner New Vision, but it's not clear where yet. More as the story develops.

From the comments we discover that KOIN owner New Vision has expanded, purchasing KTMJ in Topeka, KS. Purchased it from Montgomery Broadcasting. This now makes two Kansas stations NV owns along with longtime KOIN sister station KSNW in Wichita. The purchase pushes the NV portfolio to 17 stations.

Who is nibbling on KOIN's house? Apparently owner New Vision. No, not new staff cutbacks; good luck finding anyone else to cut. No, not new technology; that would require money. This time, it's the building.

At a staff meeting this week, GM Chris Sehring announced that architects were coming to re-evaluate the station's space needs and that up to an entire floor might be vacated and sold back to the building for a one-time cash payment. The KOIN lease is something like $1 a year for 99 years currently; once that space is given up, it'd be hell to get it back. But hey! What's a little more strip-mining of an already-stripped out station?

Meanwhile, the sales staff is doing its best to pitch in on the space consolidation effort. Two top salesmen have quit in the last month, one moving to KATU and one, Ron Massey, opening his own agency. Rumor has it sales commissions were recently re-formulated to the sales staff's detriment.

Via PDXRadio, we hear of two deaths of note: Marilyn McKay, longtime KOIN finance gal who retired in 1997; and Ric Eljin, aka Rick Liljenberg, of KYXI, KOIN radio and KGAR among others.

[Edited to correct spelling of Ric Eljin's name. Apologies.--L]

I'm surprised nobody has posted this. Koin.com has Mike Donahue's replacement on its site. His name is Art Edwards, and he has connections to the Portland area.

[Lynn here--redid the headline and linked the long URL. Thanks, Nicole. Edwards is still on WDIV's website as of this morning; Edwards was a street reporter there for eight or so years and has 20 years in the biz. Art seems to have lost some hair on the way from WDIV to KOIN. :) Welcome to the market, Art. I'm sure the traditional OMI bashfest will begin momentarily. Let me just say don't take it as this writer's opinion, and that it happens to everyone, so don't take it personally, either.]

The sweep is over... click "read more" for some highlights & lowlights.

Teresa Stedman is out at KOIN. The (Saturday) memo from GM Chris Sehring:

The Director of Human Resources & News Operations position has been eliminated. This position’s former duties will be re-assigned to KOIN’s News and Business departments effective Monday, May 19th.

As a result of this change, Teresa Stedman has left KOIN to pursue new interests. All of us at KOIN appreciate her many efforts on behalf of our station; we thank Teresa for her hard work and wish her great success in her future endeavors.

KOIN is also combining the Promotion and Production departments into a Creative Services unit with Rodger O'Connor in charge. Rick Brown moves to Production Manager in that department.

As Byron Beck at WWire says, who knew? I always liked that show, and I always forget it's on. Now I'm going to have to watch it!