MEDIA / KEVIN BRASS : Donley’s Suit Over Firing Just Keeps Plodding Along

The court file for former reporter Bob Donley’s wrongful termination suit against KGTV (Channel 10) is almost an inch thick, after almost two years of depositions, motions and general bickering.

Donley says the station blacklisted him after he was fired in June, 1987. One of the more visible television reporters in town, he was known as much for his stylish suits, nice hairdo and Geraldo-like approach to some stories as for his uncanny ability to win awards.

Though Donley and station executives agree on very little, the court records do paint a general portrait of the incident that led to Donley’s sudden departure.

When Donley arrived at work June 19, 1987, he read a script from Michael Tuck’s “Perspective” from the night before, which criticized news reports that indirectly linked former mayor Roger Hedgecock to a drug raid.

In the court records, Donley says he “became upset and ill and was unable to perform his duties,” mainly a 7:25 a.m. local news update. The station says Donley threw a tantrum and stormed out of the station, damaging a computer on the way out.

In a memo to the station’s news director, Paul Sands, Donley called his coverage of the Hedgecock story “only the biggest exclusive in local reporting since my earlier reports on (J. David) Dominelli.” Telling Sands he was going to take the day off for “emotional stress,” Donley asked Sands, “Who the hell is (Tuck) to say anything . . . and especially on the air . . . about a story I’m doing?”

Sands replied by suspending Donley for three days and calling him “churlish,” “childish” and “immature.”

A few days later, when Donley says he refused an offer of about $14,000 in advance pay in exchange for his resignation, he was fired.

The combatants have spent the last two years primarily going back and forth about whether general manager Ed Quinn made good on a threat to “blackball” Donley and prevent him from “ever working in the city again,” a statement Quinn denies making.

A job offer from Channel 39 disappeared soon after Quinn’s alleged statement, Donley claims. He also says the station leaked details of the incident to San Diego Union columnist Tom Blair, thus damaging his reputation.

Channel 10 officials counter that they did nothing to prevent Donley from getting a job. Donley says they only told prospective employers, “Yes, he worked here,” and nothing else, in effect denigrating his character through faint, or non-existent praise.

Lawyers for both sides have been debating the legal shadings and relevancy of these lofty issues for two years.

Beyond the specifics of the case, the court file is chock-full of behind-the-scenes information and amusing little tidbits, such as a memo from Sands telling reporters not to use cutaways of themselves shaking their heads during interviews when the subject is saying something stupid.

For those who have always wondered what veteran television reporters like Donley get paid, he said for the record that the station had agreed to a new five-year contract starting at $90,000 a year, with a $10,000 annual raise, shortly before he was fired.

In one of the depositions, Donley was asked, “Was it your habit Both former Channel 39 news director Ron Miller and Channel 8 news director Jim Holtzman gave depositions. Both said Channel 10 management had never talked to them about Donley. At one point, Holtzman said he passed on Donley to hire Marc Brown, now at KABC in Los Angeles, after trying “desperately” to hire Brown for more than a year.

Donley’s case, scheduled to go to trial in August, continues to plod along. A motion by KGTV attorneys for a summary adjudication of certain issues was taken off the calendar by a judge April 6. A similar motion is scheduled to be heard May 8.

Donley’s attorney, Samuel Frazier, hoped to get a deposition today from Blair, to at least confirm that Donley didn’t leak the story of his dismissal.

Meanwhile, Donley, who has spent the last two years running a coffeehouse and working as a stockbroker, among other jobs, recently reappeared on local television, as a spokesman for an electronics company.

On a scale of cheesiness, Channel 39’s recent efforts to do live reports, apparently without regard to a story’s worthiness, rank as a solid 10. During one show last week, they did live updates from Chula Vista, where a fishing boat was due to be launched. The on-air dialogue between anchor and reporter was just a little more interesting than this:

“Anything happening out there, Dave?”

“Nope.”

Channel 8 weatherman Larry Mendte was one of a dozen newscasters from around the country considered for the new cast of HBO’s “Not Necessarily the News,” according to Paula Ferguson, casting coordinator for Moffitt-Lee Productions. Mendte was recommended by a former colleague, she said, but none of the newscasters made the final cut. The new cast will debut May 24.

San Diego Padres’ director of broadcasting, Jim Winters, says the team will take a minimum of 30 days to choose a radio broadcaster for the future. Three stations--XTRA-AM (690), KKLQ (Q106) and incumbent KFMB-AM (760)--have placed bids. The smart money is on KFMB, but don’t count out XTRA. XTRA general manager and former Steelers’ linebacker John Lynch is a notorious big spender and sports fan, and he’s already wooed the Chargers. Though nobody is remotely insinuating any form of nepotism, Winters won’t have to look far to get a reference for Lynch. John Shean of the Padres’ broadcasting sales department is Lynch’s brother-in-law.

“There is more than dollars involved here,” Winters said, pointing to such factors as a station’s ability to promote the ball club and provide coverage throughout the county. “Our working relationship in the past with KFMB has been outstanding. Like in politics, it’s hard to unseat the incumbent.”

A new show is in its embryonic stage at Channel 39. Tentatively scheduled to air on Sundays beginning in June, the show will be an hour-long documentary.

San Diego Union columnist Don Freeman wrote a column about San Diego Union cartoonist Steve Kelley on Friday. Unbiased Union columnist Freeman liked Union cartoonist Kelley’s performance on the “Pat Sajak Show.” What a surprise.

Kevin Weatherly, most recently music director of KIIS in Los Angeles, is new assistant program director at Q106.