A Massachusetts judge ruled yesterday that Howie Carr can’t go to work for Greater Media doing mornings at WTKK-FM Boston – at least, not yet. According to reports from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, the judge has not yet issued his final ruling, but did decide yesterday that a provision of Carr’s contract with WRKO-AM, owned by Entercom, giving it 180 days to match a rival offer, is enforceable, even though the non-compete clause of the same contract is not enforceable under Massachusetts law. Confused yet? Anyway, Carr won’t be on the air at WTKK today, as had been planned. His contract with WRKO expired yesterday.
After the ruling, Greater Media sent RBR this statement: "At this point, Howie Carr has failed to obtain the ruling from the Court that was a condition of him coming to work for us. The court’s decision left many questions unanswered. We are disappointed that Howie will not be on WTKK tomorrow, but we are hopeful that he will be a part of the Greater Media family in the very near future."
There was also a statement by a PR firm representing Carr: "While we would like to have achieved a complete victory in court, we are gratified that the decision leaves open the opportunity for Howie to work at the place of his choosing. Not only did the Court find unlawful a portion of Entercom’s employment agreement, but the Court adopted our argument that Howie cannot be forced to work for a particular radio station. Howie looks forward to taking some well-deserved time off from one of his three careers and to joining WTKK in the very near future."
At deadline, RBR had not received a comment from Entercom.
