http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4759718.html By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle John Granato has settled his lawsuit against CBS Radio, the parent company of KILT (610 AM), and will leave the station, effective Monday. Attorneys reached an out-of-court settlement Sunday night in Granato's suit, which accused KILT of breeching his contract and asked a Harris County district court to void the non-compete clause that would prohibit him from working on air for another Houston station for the next six months. "John Granato and CBS Radio have agreed that John will no longer work for KILT-AM," the parties said in a statement. "John is voluntarily dismissing his lawsuit against CBS Radio and is no longer contesting the enforceability of his non-compete agreement." Granato's attorney, Terry W. Yates, said he would file papers in Harris County district court on Monday dismissing the suit with prejudice. While Granato's final day of employment with KILT will be Monday, Yates said Granato will not appear on the air during the station's morning show with on-air partner Lance Zierlein. His last day on the air at KILT was Friday.
Spoke with a guy last night at a party that claimed he works for 610. He said one of Granato's friends is starting a new sports AM radio station and he is going to join it. Don't know if this is true or hearsay but just thought I would throw it out there.
Yes, the former GM of 610 AM was hired by 1560 AM. 1560 AM was recently sold and the new owner I think is going turn into a sports station.
Longer version of the article out now: http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4759943.html Thanks to settlement, Granato free of KILT By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle John Granato will leave KILT (610 AM), effective today, under the terms of an out-of-court settlement reached Sunday night in his lawsuit against CBS Radio, KILT's parent company. Attorneys concluded the agreement just over a week after Granato filed suit against CBS Radio, accusing the company of breaching his contract and asking a Harris Country district court to dismiss the non-compete clause that would prevent him from working on air for six months at another Houston radio station after leaving KILT. "John Granato and CBS Radio have agreed that John will no longer work for KILT-AM," the parties said in a statement Sunday night. "John is voluntarily dismissing his lawsuit against CBS Radio and is no longer contesting the enforceability of his non-compete agreement." Terry W. Yates, Granato's attorney, said today will be Granato's last day of employment with KILT, but he will not appear on-air. Terms of the agreement will remain confidential, and Granato, whose contract was to expire Nov. 30, had no public comment on his decision to settle the suit and leave KILT. "John is appreciative of the 10 years he had at Sports Radio 610 and wants to thank his loyal listeners over those years," Yates said. "He also wants to thank his good friend Lance Zierlein, who he has really enjoyed working with." Yates said Granato had no immediate plans other than to "spend quality time with his family and play a lot of golf. Then we'll see what happens." He said Granato would continue to appear on Astros-related programming on KNWS (Channel 51). Marc Vandermeer will work today's morning show with Zierlein. John McClain will work today's afternoon-drive shift in Vandermeer's stead alongside Rich Lord. KILT officials did not return calls seeking information on how long Vandermeer will work mornings or to detail how the station's daily lineup would change in the wake of Granato's departure. Michael McCabe, a Dallas attorney representing CBS Radio, also declined comment on the case. Sunday's developments ensure the Granato-Zierlein team has officially come to an end — Zierlein took off last week to prepare for the NFL draft, so their last show together was April 20 — one month shy of its 10th anniversary. While Granato isn't talking publicly about options, one possibility could be to join a reformatted KILE (1560 AM) later this year. KILT's former general sales manager, Richard Topper, will be general manager of KILE, which reportedly will add the syndicated Erich "Mancow" Muller show as part of a "guy talk" format.
mark and lance then mcclain and rich? so football all day all the time? well atleast tommorrow. i like having mark and rich together because then i know there's no need to change the station from charlie.
If 1560 goes all-sports and can be similar to The Ticket in Dallas, then i'm all for it. Just don't bore the heck out of us with endless college sports talk and syndicated sports talk programming like most of the other sports stations in Houston. I really like the guy-talk format when i've heard it in other cities.
