RADIO WARS: Tony Bruno Says WIP Owes Him $30k
And a missile has just been fired.
Tony Bruno, responding to a Twitter exchange between me and Josh Innes (who implied that his show beat Mike Missanelli in a recent ratings release), said WIP – by way of Operations Manager Andy Bloom – owes him his $30k bonus for having the number one rated show with Innes:
I am caught in the crossfire! Missiles stream above my head!
I asked Tony what, uh, happened. He says WIP claims they don’t owe him his number one ratings bonus because the two sides never had a contract– rather, they had an agreed upon letter of intent, he says.
Mr. Bruno?
“I signed my letter of intent in February. Bloom never gave me final, executed contract. [Bloom] claims I had no deal, yet paid me everything agreed in letter of intent except ratings bonus.”
“I warned Bloom my next move was taking this public. He defers to CBS legal. Tired of taking the high road to help others succeed… guy is protecting his own butt at my expense.”
“He keeps tell me and my lawyer the contract wasn’t signed, thus no legit deal. Keeps insisting it’s a closed deal because his legal department says so.”
“He claims not signing a contract by March 1st made letter of intent void, yet I have paper trail where he stonewalls about getting me a contract until March 31st. Even then he didn’t clean it up with promises he made verbally, yet didn’t want in final executed contract. Vacation and shift length weren’t correct, my lawyer wanted it clean.”
Typically, I’m told, ratings bonuses are based on three-months ratings books in the men 25-54 demo.
A few months ago, as you’ll recall, Tony retired, of sorts, from radio after just a few months partnered with Innes at WIP. Their show quickly ascended to the number one spot, ahead of Mike Missanelli. Which made Tony’s departure all the more curious, and surprising. Though awkward, his on-air the retirement was treated amicably by both sides, with Bloom even reading some comments from Bruno, who declined to call in to address the audience and issued a statement on his own. He later spoke to Jeff Blumenthal of the Philadelphia Business Journal, giving a bit more insight but not yet taking the gloves off with Innes or WIP. Since then, Bruno has been doing his podcast, The Tony Bruno Show, and we haven’t heard much with regard to his departure from WIP. Until today.
An email requesting comment from Bloom wasn’t immediately returned. I’ll let you know if he responds with anything other than calling me an A-hole.
As for the ratings claim: I’m told Innes and Co. did win the most weekly ratings period, which runs about 2-3 weeks behind. We’ll provide more context if we get it, from anyone, because now people from both stations think the other station feeds me ratings. BURSTING IN AIR:
