KDOC Jurors Hear Claims of Favoritism, Phony Ratings

A jury heard claims Friday that a former manager of KDOC-TV cooked up phony ratings to boost ad sales, granted special favors to an employee with whom he was romantically involved and unfairly fired a salesman who had been with the station since it first went on the air.

Steve Conobre, 66, who helped open Orange County’s only commercial station in 1982, said he was fired unjustly in 1984. His wrongful termination trial opened this week in Orange County Superior Court.

Conobre sued the station, whose major shareholder is Pat Boone, for lost wages, emotional distress and medical expenses for a heart attack he said he suffered as a result of the firing. Also named as defendants are director Calvin Brack, former general manager Michael Volpe and controversial talk show host Wally George.

Countercharges

Conobre said George pushed for his termination because he interfered with the talk show host’s romantic pursuit of another member of the KDOC sales staff. George is expected to testify next week.

KDOC attorney Thomas R. Sheridan said Conobre simply was not measuring up in his job.

“He was not a good salesman,” Sheridan said. “He was at home when he belonged at work. He was insubordinate.”

Volpe, who said he now runs a media consulting firm, left the station last year. His contract was not renewed by Golden Orange Broadcasting Co. Inc., which operates KDOC. Eileen C. Moore, Conobre’s attorney, told jurors Friday that in 1983 Volpe ordered the eight-member sales staff to use fake ratings figures.

The station did not subscribe to either of the national audience ratings firms, Arbitron or Nielsen, according to Sheridan, because the services were too expensive.

Volpe, based on his experience, came up with his own ratings estimates, Sheridan told jurors.

“Everybody has a right to make an estimate,” Sheridan said. “Mr. Volpe has as much a right as Mr. Nielsen.”

Conobre alleges that Volpe ordered the sales force to use his figures and to say they were from “ARB,” a term commonly understood in the industry as a reference to Arbitron.

If a potential client insisted on knowing the source, Volpe told the sales staff to identify it as the Anaheim Research Bureau, according to Conobre. No such firm exists.

Volpe mentioned the Anaheim Research Bureau “in jest,” Sheridan told jurors.

Office politics and romance are highlights of the trial.

George went “gaga” over Linda Ford, a new sales representative, Moore told jurors. He “pursued” Ford, a married woman, “relentlessly” for months, according to the lawsuit.

Eventually Conobre, a friend of Ford, tried to intervene, he said. From that point on, Conobre said in his suit, George pushed Volpe to fire him.

Ford, who has claimed in a separate lawsuit that the station cheated her out of substantial commissions and then forced her to resign, will testify next week, Moore said.

In his lawsuit, Conobre also claims that Volpe granted special favors to Peri Corso, a sales representative with whom he was romantically involved, assigning her lucrative accounts that should have gone to others.

Moore is seeking punitive damages for her client, damages designed to punish a defendant for wrongdoing. She has not specified an amount. The trial, expected to last three weeks, is before Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert A. Knox in Santa Ana.