ABC-WESTWOOD WAR: A REPORT FROM THE FRONT

In pop music, few things are coveted more than backstage passes to a concert. So when radio network Westwood One found that its name was not on the backstage guest list for Saturday’s Live Aid mega-concerts, it sued.

Westwood One’s action--taken in Los Angeles Superior Court last week--threatened to black out portions of the concert from the live ABC radio broadcast.

They are scheduled to be heard in Southern California on KLOS-FM (95.5), starting at 3 a.m Saturday and continuing to 11 p.m. The American Broadcasting Co., owner of KLOS, holds exclusive U.S. radio rights to the concerts, aimed at raising money for the hungry and the homeless in Africa.

But Westwood One argues that it holds exclusive radio network rights to nine artists appearing in the concerts and that ABC radio should be prohibited from broadcasting performances by those artists. The artists named by Westwood One are Tina Turner, Elton John, the Pretenders, REO Speedwagon, Rick Springfield, Bryan Adams, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Hooters, and Hall & Oates. Westwood One President Norm Pattiz said mid-day Monday that an out-of-court settlement could be in the offing that would make the suit moot.

According to Pattiz, the chronology of the ABC-Westwood One radio network war went this way:

On July 1, Westwood One distributed a press release heralding its decision to waive its exclusive broadcast rights to the nine artists, all in the name of charity.

That waiver, Pattiz told The Times Monday, was made on the condition that Westwood One be allowed to broadcast regular backstage news reports and interviews from the Philadelphia and London concerts. Westwood One would then be the only radio network other than ABC to have backstage access.

When it became clear that Westwood One would not be permitted backstage, the radio network filed suit, Pattiz said. ABC and Worldwide Sports and Entertainment (producers and marketers of the concerts) had agreed orally to allow Westwood One backstage, but withdrew that offer when a written contract was discussed last week, Pattiz added.

“For some unexplained reason,” said Pattiz, “we are being shut out.”

An attorney for ABC, Morgan Chu, said that “Westwood One legally has no backstage rights. They have never been granted backstage rights. Period.”

A spokeswoman for Worldwide Sports and Entertainment would not comment on the case.

Pattiz was adamant: “To assume that they can walk over all our legal rights just because it’s a charitable cause is nonsense. The other side (ABC and Worldwide, named as defendants in the suit) is not living up to the terms of its agreement. We had no choice but to go to court.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Irving A. Shimer, who denied Westwood One’s request for a temporary restraining order Friday, said he would hear arguments on a preliminary injunction request this Friday.

Barring an out-of-court settlement, ABC could be barred from broadcasting the nine artists named by Westwood One if Shimer rules in its favor. “ABC would then have nine holes” in its broadcast, Pattiz said, “but one would hope it would not come to that.”

Each artist is scheduled to perform for approximately 20 minutes. Bob Benson, vice president and senior executive of ABC radio, said that ABC would have “no problem” filling its coverage should it be stopped from airing the nine artists. “We would hate not to have those acts,” said Benson, “but we would still have an excellent broadcast without them.”

Pattiz said he recognized that the Westwood One suit might invite criticism, perhaps drawing charges that it was not cooperating with the Live Aid altruistic cause. Pattiz argued, though, that Westwood One, a public company, has a fiduciary obligation to shareholders not to give up its assets--the nine artists. “We have to be able to demonstrate that we’re getting something out of it,” he said.

“We have devoted dollars and time to this cause,” said Pattiz, noting a Radio for Africa benefit that the network sponsored. “In fact, it offends us that (ABC radio) is using this (Live Aid) as a commercial enterprise.”

Benson denied that ABC Radio, which will pay Live Aid a minimum of $500,000 for radio rights to the show, will make any money on the broadcast.