Wally George Testifies Woman Chased Him, Not the Opposite

Speaking with an uncharacteristic stutter but combative as usual, flamboyant talk-show host Wally George testified Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court that he did not chase a woman sales executive at KDOC-TV.

On the contrary, Linda Ford pursued him, showering him with attention and gifts, George testified.

“I was very, very flattered. I was very, very taken with Linda,” George testified, who said he was unmarried at the time. “But I made very, very sure our relationship didn’t go beyond what it should with a married woman.”

The allegations of George’s amorous activities--which he called a “despicable” attempt to ruin his reputation as “a moral person”--came in the trial of a lawsuit in which a salesman asserts that he was fired unfairly.

Request Denied

The mercurial George clashed several times with Superior Court Judge Robert A. Knox during his testimony and finally asked for permission to make a statement--which Knox denied, calling a recess instead.

Earlier, testimony centered on what several witnesses said were orders from George’s ally, then-station manager Michael Volpe, to use fake viewer ratings to boost the station’s advertising sales.

The allegations were made by Steve Conobre, 66, who asserts that he was fired by Volpe--at the urging of George and director Calvin Brack--for illegal reasons.

Conobre said George pushed for his firing because he had tried to intervene in George’s pursuit of Ford, according to the court file.

Righteous Anger

Mustering what appeared to be the same sort of righteous anger he exudes on his show, George acknowledged Tuesday that he wanted Conobre out.

Conobre was a lazy salesman who spent most of his office time chatting, “spreading malicious gossip that had everybody at the station in some kind of love affair,” George testified.

After George flatly and curtly denied all suggestions that he had pursued Ford, Conobre’s lawyer, Eileen C. Moore, began to produce cards, notes, photographs and letters she alleged had been sent by George.

George, growing irritable and stuttering, acknowledged several times that some of the cards were in his handwriting.

70 Notes and Cards

Moore produced more and more notes, more than 70 in all, which she contends George sent to Ford.

George said he could not recognize the handwriting or authenticate his signature on many of them.

“I’d send gifts and flowers to many people,” George testified. “I usually sign them with affection--I’m a very affectionate person. That doesn’t mean I’m in love with them.”

Moore produced several photographs of Ford and George together at a restaurant. George testified that he and Ford “had a little holiday celebration alone together.”

Moore asked, “So you admit that you pursued her?”

“No,” George said, “I’m saying I responded.”

Under questioning by KDOC attorney Thomas Sheridan, George portrayed himself as too much of a gentleman to succumb to Ford’s advances.

“She asked to have a physical relationship, and I rejected it,” he testified, “because she was a married woman. And I was not about to do such a despicable thing.”

In the lawsuit, Conobre has asked for unspecified damages for wrongful termination.

He asserts that he was fired from the station, owned in part by Pat Boone, in retaliation for his protest of the use of fake ratings and because of alleged favoritism by top management based on sexual favors.