Title: JACKed Up! (Part 5 of 6)
Author: Walt
Rating: T
Disclaimers: See Part 1
The trial would begin with after opening arguments, Casey questioning B.J. Cameron (recovered enough by this point from his stab wound to be out of the hospital) describing what happened in the events leading up to the format flip and his eventually being stabbed.
"This whole nonsense actually started when Shannon King pulled her little stunt at the championship game a year and a half ago with her dress 'accidentally' coming off. I said then that she likely knew exactly what she was doing, and I was among the first to say there were going to be crackdowns on everything because of that", said B.J. with Casey playing a tape from his show that originally aired the day after the 2004 football championship game.
On the tape of his show, B.J. said, "You watch. All these religious zealots are going to come out of the woodwork and demand that myself and others be taken off the air, and every little thing that they think was wrong is going to be investigated. Shannon King is going to wind up being responsible for setting back freedom on the air 50 years with her little stunt!", with B.J. then saying on the stand, "That so far has been proven true to some degree. The parent company of my station was fined around $5 million for every little infraction it seemed I caused, some of which dated back almost 10 years. All of the fines came from complaints made as it has since turned out by a handful of religious groups hell-bent on getting myself and others like Howard Stern off the air entirely. All of the fines are under appeal, but that didn't seem good enough for some higher-ups at the parent company, especally after Carolyn Spencer pulled her little act last fall on me."
"And that act was?", asked Casey.
"Her shooting me outside the studio after my show. After that, the higher-ups at the parent company said I would either have to tone down my act, or on my next contract I'd have to sign a clause that said I would be responsible for any fines my station or any affiliates that carried my show would rack up. I told them they weren't doing enough to stand up for me, and they acted like wusses, fearful of others like Carolyn Spencer who wanted to be more known for 'bringing down people like me.' That's when I decided I was going to sattelite, as I would have lost half my audience otherwise.", said B.J.
"What does that have to do with what happened later on?", asked Casey.
"A lot. The company knew they would have to somehow replace the revenue my show generated. As much as they hate to admit it, they knew it was not going to be easy, and after the way they treated me, there was no way I was going to help them. If they did fire me, my sattellite contract kicks in immediately, and they can't do anything to keep me off the air aside from paying a massive penalty for invoking a 'no-compete' clause of around $75 million", then said B.J.
"And that's why you blocked the format flip to what is being called here the 'Craig' format, but everywhere else it's known as 'Jack?'", asked Casey.
"There were other reasons, actually. When the format started, some of the bands that appear on my show made it clear if my station ever flipped to that format, they would no longer appear on it until I moved to sattellite next fall. That would hurt me a lot outside New York in particular, especially since most of the stations my show is on lean towards heavy metal", said B.J.
"So that was why you blocked the attempt to change the format on your station?", asked Casey.
"Mainly, though like I said, there was no love lost, and being able to put them in a tizzy knowing they were under severe pressure to flip one of the stations, that made it sweeter. I also never thought of the guys on (place call letters here)-FM as great personalities. I'm sorry for what happened to Ken Jones, but he should have remembered I had called (place call letters here)-FM the 'fogey station' for years", then said B.J.
"What were doing where you were when you were stabbed?", asked Casey.
"I was on my way home, walking on West 4th as I live where it merges with 12th street near Hudson. This woman who looked like Carolyn Spencer with the wig came from out of nowhere and stabbed me, and I automatically assumed it was Ms. Spencer because she tried to kill me earlier. When I heard she was killed in prison later on, I was thinking at that point she got exactly what she deserved for trying to kill me twice, not knowing obviously that it wasn't her who tried until someone else was arrested for it.", then said B.J.
"I assume you're talking about Ms. Jones", then said Casey.
"Yes", replied B.J.
Casey then asked, "Did you have any reason to think up until Ms. Jones was arrested that it was anyone other than Carolyn Spencer that tried to kill you?"
B.J. then replied, "Not really, however, the day after Ken Jones died, Ms. Jones did come down to where my studios were, and after my show railed into me. I'm sorry her father died, but that doesn't give her, Carolyn Spencer or anyone else the right to try and kill me!"
"Thank you", then said Casey, then turning it over to the defense, with Janine handling cross.
"You just admitted in court you blocked the company from flipping your station to what is being called the "Craig" format here. Were you thinking of the potential consequences that would happen at that point?", asked Janine.
B.J. responded by saying, "That's how radio is today, sadly enough. It's all about corporate greed, especially when the parent company's biggest shareholders are two hedge fund operators who basically forced the flip, as they knew the higher-ups who run the company are a bunch of wusses. It was my right per my contract to threaten to leave immediately if they flipped."
"And you would have done that?", asked Janine.
"You bet I would have done that since my sattelite contract kicks in immedately if I leave because of that, unless the parent compant of my station paid the penalty my contract called for if they forced me to sit out until it expires. Do you really think when I did that I knew that Ken Jones was going to croak not even a day after his station flipped and he along with everyone else there were fired?", then said B.J.
"You know you not only angered Ken Jones and my client, but the rest of the air personalities at (place call letters here)-FM as well as the many loyal listeners of that station?", asked Janine.
"That's not my fault! I can't help the fact the higher-ups at the parent company are a bunch of wusses who are so scared of losing what they have that they would wind up screwing a lot of people. I'm sorry again that Ms. Jones lost her father, but how was I supposed to know that was going to happen?", then said B.J., his tone getting louder towards the end.
"You should have realized how many people were going to be angry about what happened.", then said Janine.
"I could not have, nor could anyone at the parent company have realistically sensed the level of anger at what happened when (place call letters here)-FM flipped! I know that station was beloved and was well known, but it clearly was not what I do! The people who listened to (place call letters here)-FM were not listeners of my station, and many people who work in advertising were more likely to listen to me or the way (place call letters here)-FM is now than when it was an oldies station", then said B.J.
With that, B.J. finally stepped down.
Up next were the couple of Rachel Ng and Gene Young (who found B.J. stabbed) in that order, with their recounting what they saw that night, including their noting neither saw who actually attempted to kill B.J., followed by forensic officers who found the wig that made Savannah look like Carolyn Spencer. Jack then put on witnesses who saw who they thought at the time was a red-headed woman running after both stabbings, in each case wearing a trench coat that was brought into evidence, as well as the clogs found at the site of Shannon King's stabbing. The two women who killed Carolyn Spencer in prison then took the stand, with their noting they killed Carolyn because at the time, they thought that she had again tried to kill B.J., "and needed to make sure that didn't happen again", as one of them put it.
Jack then put on the stand Sam Cullen, manager of one of the hedge funds that had a major share in the parent company of (place call letters here)-FM. Jack starts by asking what led to their demanding that one of the company's stations be flipped to what was being called the "Craig" format, but "Jack" elsewhere.
"We'd been going over the financial records of the company very carefully for the past several months, starting with when Carolyn Spencer shot B.J. Cameron last fall and his subsequently making the jump to sattelite as soon as his contract expires next August. The station B.J. is on was not doing that well outside of his show ratings-wise, and it appeared that station was going to really tank a little over a year from now when B.J. left. We had several times noted the company was a hold, but if they didn't do something soon we would have to go to a sell in spite of the fact their TV operations were solid, having overcome the fines they got for what happened with Shannon King's incident a year and a half ago. Their radio division was doing horribly as a whole outside of B.J., and we'd been monitoring the success they had in other markets flipping stations to the 'Jack' format", said Sam on the stand.
"And how successful were those stations?", asked Jack.
"Enough to where we felt if they they went to the format in New York, it would be a huge step forward, and like with the other stations, it would save them a lot of money", then said Sam.
"Did you actually threaten to sell your stock the day of the change in formats of (place call letters here)-FM, why did you do it and would you have actually gone through with the threat?", asked Jack.
"I did personally. We have a number of investors in our funds, and I had been under pressure to dump the company from a few of them as they felt the company was underperforming. One of them emphatically called me late that Monday night saying he heard a rumor a competing company was prepared to flip one of its stations to the "Jack" format that Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM. That investor was demanding we did something either way, so once I was able to confirm the rumor, I had to go to the Chairman and tell him my fund was going to dump all of the fund's shares if one of their stations failed to flip by 3:45 PM. We would have actually done dumped our shares since if we didn't and another station went through with the threat, we knew other investors would have put in sell orders the second the other station flipped", said Jack.
"And you had no way of knowing what was going to happen after that?", asked Jack.
"Of course not. I knew there was going to be some outrage when (place call letters here)-FM flipped, but in no way could we have anticipated the death of Ken Jones less that 24 hours after that happened nor the killings that followed", then said Sam.
With that, Jack was finished, with Mary handling cross on Sam. She would start by asking Sam, "What happened after the flip?"
Sam replied, "Nothing at first, but once B.J. went off about how he blocked the format flip at his station and specifically said our fund and another that held major stock in the company forced the flip, we had a number of fans of (place call letters here)-FM calling us in anger, and some fans of that station then coming to the lobby of the building we work out of and screaming how we were responsible for causing the death of what was New York radio as they knew it and later Ken Jones once it was known he died."
"When you heard that Ken Jones had in fact died, did you have any regrets?", asked Mary.
"We were sorry he died, but we could never have realistically anticipated what would happen next. The fact is, we had to look at it solely from a business standpoint, and I'm sorry if it sounds cold. We are in no way responsible for what happened after that", then said Sam.
"Maybe not legally, but you don't think morally you were reposible?", asked Mary with Jack objecting and Mary subsequently withdrawing the question and Sam then stepping down.
The manager of the other hedge fund that was a major shareholder in the parent company (Maurice Pillman) then took the stand, with that being a virtual repeat of what Sam had said on the stand.
Warren Altman next took the stand, and under Jack's questioning first confirmed what the hedge fund operators had said. Jack then asked how hard they tried to place the new format on B.J.'s station, with Warren responding, "We were actually planning on doing that in the near future, but knowing what B.J. thinks of us, we had to do it in a way he would not be offended, going over every legal avenue we had first. That all went out the window when Mr. Cullen and Mr. Pillman walked into my office that Tuesday morning, making it clear they fully intended to dump their shares of the stock unless we flipped one of our stations to the 'Jack' format by 3:45 that afternoon out of fear another station would beat us to it as was the case in Philly. We tried to implement it on B.J.'s station, but he made it clear he would leave immediately if he did, and we could not afford to lose a year of revenue from his show. We told Mr. Cullen and Mr. Pillman this, but they made it clear it had to be done that day, or they would dump their stock, leaving us no other options aside from flipping another station we own."
"And why not flip that station?", asked Jack.
"That other station appealed to women 18-40, which would have been financial suicide for us. Many ad agencies loved that station and spent much more money on that station before those listeners were younger and more desirable than either B.J.'s station or (place call letters here)-FM, even though the oldies format was still billing reasonably well", said Warren.
"And why weren't (place call letters here)-FM's listeners 'desirable?'", asked Jack.
"The fact many of the listeners have gotten older. While our oldies station was more a continuation of the traditions of Top-40 radio on AM in the '60s and '70s and one that played a lot of later hits, the station had the last few years become an increasingly harder sell with ad buyers, many of whom have an unhealthy obession with those under 40 in particular. It was a problem that only was going to get worse, though not right away. If the act Shannon King did at the championship game not happen a year and a half ago, perhaps we don't have to come down as hard as we did on B.J., with his likely not going to satellite radio even though personally I'm no fan of his. In turn, we likely are not having to have to worry about how we are going to replace the revenue lost from B.J.'s show and we likely would never have been under the pressure we were to flip (place call letters here)-FM as we did", then said Warren.
Jack responded by saying, "Very well. Did you anticipate there being anything close to the backlash that happened when you did flip (place call letters here)-FM?"
"We expected some, but not even close to what happened. Of course, the death of Ken Jones not even a day after the flip probably made the backlash harsher than it would have been otherwise. I know a lot of people were upset over what happened as (place call letters here)-FM was an institution, but we had no choice. We felt horrible when Ken died, but Savannah refused to understand what was going on. She made it clear she felt we killed her father, and there was nothing we could do to change her mind", then said Warren, with Jack finished with questioning.
Mary then handled cross-examination of Warren by first asking, "You said B.J. threatened to leave immediately if the Jack format had be placed on his station. I don't remember there ever being one person that wasn't the station owner who dictated what the format of a radio station was, so how did he get that control?"
"That occured when he signed his last deal nine years ago, three years before the outfit that owned his station merged with us. It was written in there after B.J. came very close to leaving 10 years ago after a shift from what had been a hard rock format to one that was more mainstream caused him to lose a lot of his ratings outside New York, and B.J. came very close to leaving at that time. The group that owned the station outright at that time had even less leverage than we have now with B.J., so they were forced to give in and give B.J. that kind of control. We were aware of that when we merged with them in 1999", said Warren.
"And it was ironclad?", then asked Mary.
"Not ironclad, but very close. Since B.J. has huge ratings, it would have been very difficult to replace that, even for just a year since he's leaving anyway next August for sattellite. That left us with little choice under the threats we had and the time we had to do it in", said Warren.
"You knew that Ken Jones had just lost his wife five months ago, and it was clear his being on the air was helping him in moving forward. You had to realize that firing him would have at least some negative effect", said Mary.
"We had no time to think of that, though again, we could not have realistically expected that Ken would die not even 24 hours later. I took his death very hard as did many others", then said Warren.
"Because you felt responsible for his death by what happened not even 24 hours before?", asked Mary.
"I'll put it this way: Ken was someone you wanted on radio, which should be obvious by the fact he was on the same station for 37 years. We didn't want to fire him or any of the other air personalities, as they were why the station still had good ratings. We had investors who were threatening to sell that day, and if we didn't, they were going to do it, and it would have triggered a massive sell-off to the point where it would have caused problems with us in the TV and cable ends of our company", said Warren.
"And how were those parts of the company performing?", asked Mary.
"Objection!", yelled Jack, with Judge Tehurne overuling.
"They were performing fine. The problem was, B.J.'s departure next August was creating problems for us on the radio end, and it got bad enough where investors were ready to dump stock without any regard to how the rest of the company was performing", then said Warren.
"You could have kept the air personalities on the new format", then said Mary.
"We could have, but we have also been under massive pressure to cut costs on the radio end from our shareholders. Even before this, many of them wanted us to fire a number of the legends because they were in their minds being paid too much", then said Warren.
"And those people had no appreciation of what a station like (place call letters here)-FM was like?", asked Mary.
"Most of the managers of these funds are from outside New York, and are also too young the know the histories of the stations (place call letters here)-FM continued its traditions from. All they cared about was their funds making money", said Warren.
"So basically, investor pressure led to what happened", then said Mary.
"Exactly. As much as we are all saddened by what happened to Ken Jones and everyone else who subsequently was killed, we are not responsible in any way for causing that", then said Warren.
"Though the fact is, Ken Jones, Shannon King, Quinn Robbins and Carolyn Spencer would all probably still be alive and B.J. Cameron would not have been stabbed if (place call letters here)-FM had not flipped from oldies", then said Mary.
"That sadly in this case is true", then said Warren, who then stepped down as Mary was finished with him.
At that point, Jack rested for the prosecution, and the defense called its first witness, Rick Johnston. Janine would handle the questioning, opening by saying to Rick, "You and Ken Jones were there from before the station first went oldies?"
"We were. Ken joined in February 1968, about five months after Savannah was born, and I joined just after Thanksgiving in 1969. It was March 2, 1970 when we went to what at that time was more of a '50s and doo-wop format, along with what were then more recent hits of the '60s", said Rick.
"So the station wasn't actually known as an 'oldies' station at the beginning?", asked Janine.
Rick replied by saying, "Correct. The 'oldies' label the station got would not come until around 1978 or so, once FM radio really began to that time take hold, and the station really became what it was during the '80s and '90s, equal to what was the case with the legendary AM stations before it. We were just fine until corporate mergers put people up above who were more concerned with making every last dime no matter what", said Rick.
"And how was that the case?", asked Janine.
"Starting with when the parent company went public not too long after the merger with what had been the company that owned B.J.'s station in 1999. While it did make the company a lot of money, it also put new pressures that previously had not been there, and especially on us because our listeners were getting older. We knew it would have to come to end eventually because the ratings would likely decline and the demographics were continuing to get older, but we also felt we would be given the chance to see this to a natural end, especially given how long we had been an oldies station and the fact the ratings and billing were when the flip happened still solid compared to other stations", said Rick.
"So you knew it eventually was going to have to come to an end", said Janine.
"We did, but we thought that would be 5-10 years from now, and by then Ken, myself and several of the others would be retired. We never in a million years thought it would end as it did because two hedge fund managers would basically come into the office of the Chairman of the parent company and threaten to sell all of their stock in the company unless a station flipped to another format that day", then said Rick.
"And this was I assume out of concern of what would happen when B.J. Cameron left his station after next year?", asked Janine.
"Yes. I knew they were going to have to do something to replace the income lost from B.J. leaving his station next summer, but none of us thought B.J. would go as far as he did to block the change to the 'Craig' format on his station, forcing them to flip our station and fire all of us", said Rick.
"You and Ken were at the station when the meeting was called that explained what happened?", said Janine.
"I was there, but only because I happen to live very close to the station and can get there walking in 10 minutes. The only other people there were Ken because he happened to have just finished his show and Tom Robinson, who had followed Ken in the afternoons for the last 23 years. We all knew something bad was going to happen, because this meeting only was announced a half-hour before it happened just after Ken finished his show, which would turn out to be the final show as an oldies station. We would find out that the station was flipping, and we were gone. We didn't find out the rest of what happened until later on", then said Rick.
"And how did Ken take it?", asked Janine.
"He was devastated. We didn't know at that point what really went on behind the scenes with first the hedge fund managers demanding an immediate flip out of fear another station was going to go to the JACK format the next day and then B.J. Cameron threatening to leave immediately if his station was flipped, so we all felt at that point it was a very cold thing given his wife had just died five months ago, and Ken was only now really starting to recover from that", said Rick.
"So what then happened?", asked Janine.
"Ken had remembered the vibes Savannah had when Shannon King committed her act a year and a half ago", then said Rick.
"At the football championship game?", then asked Janine.
Rick then said, "Yes. Savannah was convinced as soon as that happened there was going to be a 'moral crackdown', and that it eventually would lead to problems for B.J., which in turn would eventually lead to problems for us. She had a feeling they would either have to eventually fire B.J. or he would leave as soon as his contract expires because the so-called 'moralists' would be going after B.J., who did look like an easy target. Because everyone knew how much money B.J. rakes in for the parent company every year, Savannah was saying then how they would have to find ways to make up for money lost because of B.J. either being fired or leaving, and she turned out to be right."
"Did you talk to Savannah after the flip and you were all fired?", asked Janine.
"Later that night, I came by Ken's apartment, and she was there. Like all of us, Ken was floored at what happened, and Savannah was extremely worried this was going to kill him", then said Rick.
"And that would be the last time you saw him alive?", asked Janine.
"Yes, and I was afraid that would be the case when I got a call from my son to put on B.J.'s show the next morning. It was when B.J. was gleefully going off on how he 'brought down the so-called legendary piece of trash-FM' as he called it, saying it was his way of saying thanks to the parent company for being behind him when the station started dealing with heavier fines as a result of actions from as far back as 10 years earlier after Shannon King pulled her stunt. That included playing jingles he had made up to call the station 'Piece of Trash-FM' in fact", then said Rick, with Janine then playing defense exhibit 1, what B.J. actually said about the flip after it happened.
On the tape of the broadcast the morning after the flip, B.J. said, "I'm so happy this morning. I know a lot of people are angry that piece of trash-FM was flipped to what they're calling the 'Craig' format late yesterday, but many of them are old doofuses just like the losers who have been hanging on for years on that station, especially that old bag Ken Jones. They actually wanted to flip my station to the 'Craig' fornat, but I made it clear I would be gone at once if that happened, and the higher-up wusses caved into those hedge fund managers who stormed into their offices yesterday and made it clear they had to flip one of the stations by the afternoon yesterday or they would dump their stock. I was never going to allow my station to be flipped, and it gives me great pleasure to say that I brought down the so-called legendary piece of trash-FM for good! Those idiots never saw what happened yesterday coming, and it was great to see a fogey station like that go down in flames!"
"Did you try to contact Savannah and/or her father after it happened?", asked Janine.
"Of course, and when I could not get an awnser on Ken's cell phone and Savannah's was busy, I was sensing either or both of them heard it and something very wrong happened. It was not too long after that Savannah called me as she did everyone else to say that Ken got extremely angry when he heard it, and he died of a massive heart attack not even five minutes later", said Rick.
"And when you saw Savannah after that, how was she?", asked Janine.
Rick then said, "She was completely devastated. To lose both her parents in such a short time, and to have her father's death happen the way it did, not even 24 hours after what at the time appeared to be one of the coldest firings you can imagine only to find out after that it was caused by a series of events that included someone else gleefully saying he cost you your job, I'm not surprised that she would snap, especially being an only child and never having married. Many of us were amazed she was able to hold it together for Ken's funeral on Saturday."
"But you did try to help", said Janine.
"As did everyone else. Ken was one of my closest friends, and I've known Savannah since she was little. She always was a very bright girl who now is partners in a consulting firm that is doing extremely well. Savannah had already taken her mother's death hard and like Ken had only recently bounced back from it to where she was who we all remembered. When I saw her that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after Ken died, she was crying constantly, and everyone else I spoke with said there was very little they could do for her to stop, and from what I was told only ate when she absolutely had to. Many of them were a lot more angry at the people who forced the flip of (place call letters here)-FM, and especially B.J. since they all felt he was responsible and wished that he could be charged with causing Ken's death", said Rick.
With that, Janine was finished, with Jack then saying to Rick on cross, "But you know of course that B.J. Cameron can't be legally charged with causing Ken Jones' death, as there was no way he could have known what was going to happen."
"With all due respect, that doesn't change the fact that Ken Jones would be dead less than 24 hours after the format change of (place call letters here)-FM that happened because B.J. blocked it on his station, and Ken died not even 10 minutes after B.J. made his remarks on the air!", then said Rick in a voice that became raised towards the end.
With that, Jack was finished, and court was adjurned for the day.
Outside the courthouse on the sidewalk of the Supreme Court Building at 60 Centre Street, B.J. was holding a press conference where he reminded people that a lot of what he did was business on his end, and again said he was sorry that Ken Jones died, but he was in no way responsible for what happened after that. As he began to walk away after the press conference, a woman came charging after B.J. with a baseball bat in her hand.
"You killed Shannon King and deserve to die!", yelled the woman as B.J. ducked out of the way. The woman's momentum caused her to run into Alexandra, who could not get out of the way with her legs going very hard into a concrete barrier put up on the curb after September 11th and the woman who did that also hitting the barrier hard. Jack and Casey ran over to see if Alexandra was all right.
"I think I'm OK", said Alexandra, first taking off her shoes before attempting to get up with Jack and Casey's help while Janine and Mary come running over, with Alexandra able to put weight on both of her legs, though grimiscing as she was in quite a bit of pain as she attempted to walk that off.
"Some nutcase woman tried to kill B.J. just now, yelling about how he killed Shannon King. He ducked, and she ran into Lexi, causing her to run into the barrier", said Casey, pointing to the woman (in her mid-20s with very long blonde hair) who was being handcuffed and taken into custody.
"Figures. I'm surprised B.J. hasn't gotten more threats from Shannon's fans", then said Mary.
Seeing Alexandra appearing to be OK enough to walk under her own power, after making sure that actually was the case, Mary and Janine leave while Jack and Casey walk with Alexandra back to the DA's Office to make sure. Arthur spoke with Jack, Casey and Alexandra in Jack's office once there.
"So, some nutcase who thinks B.J. Cameron was responsible for Shannon King's death tried to kill him with a baseball bat, only he ducked and the woman barrels into Alexandra?", asked Arthur.
"That is what happened. I couldn't get out of the way until it was too late, as I didn't see her try to kill B.J. I'm a little banged up, but nothing too serious thankfully", said Alexandra, who was lying on Jack's couch with ice packs on both of her knees.
"Amazing considering from what I heard you banged your knees into a concrete barrier", then said Arthur, pausing and then saying. "Good thing the jury's sequestered for this trial."
"Definitely", then said Jack, who then notes to Arthur everything that happened in court.
While Alexandra appeared to be fine, Arthur wanted either Jack or Casey to ride back to Brooklyn with Alexandra to make sure since the injury did occur when a woman who was trying to kill B.J. Cameron ran full steam into Alexandra. Casey had already insisted on doing so even before Arthur said it, concerned that Alexandra's knees might swell up based on her own experience with a similar injury while playing softball.
(continued in Part Six)