George Plaster - Contract Dispute

Contract Dispute

In the summer of 2003, Plaster was the central figure in a very public contract dispute which led to, and later hampered, his move to WGFX. When Cumulus Media agreed to purchase WWTN from Gaylord Entertainment Company, Plaster invoked a contract loophole which voided his contract with WWTN. Earlier in the year, however, Plaster had begun negotiations with Citadel Broadcasting Company to move his show to then-classic rock station WGFX (Plaster was suspended from WWTN for nearly two weeks in February 2003 after Gaylord officials reportedly learned of his backroom dealings). Plaster left WWTN in July just as the sale to Cumulus was completed, having been employed by the station since the early 1990s. He announced through other media that his show would resume on WGFX in August.

However, on August 11, 2003, just hours before he was to debut on WGFX, Cumulus (with assistance from Gaylord) was granted an injunction in Davidson County Chancery Court, preventing Plaster from appearing on his new show. Cumulus had sought to quash Plaster's new contract, citing a non-compete clause in his original WWTN contract. Plaster was under the assumption the clause had been voided along with the contract, which had been signed by Gaylord Entertainment, not Cumulus. Cumulus then filed a breach of contract suit against Plaster, and he reacted with a counter suit alleging that Cumulus was illegally hampering his ability to make a living. Willy Daunic and Darren McFarland, who both also made the move to WGFX (though without legal consequence since neither was under contract to WWTN), took to the air in Plaster's place and continued that way for two full months. On October 11, the case was settled without trial, and Plaster received an undisclosed sum of money from Cumulus and Gaylord. He was also allowed to join his co-hosts on WGFX, where he continued to broadcast until September 16, 2011.

Public perception in the ordeal favored Plaster, and most of his audience followed him to WGFX. Meanwhile, SportsNight continued at WWTN without Plaster, and was later moved to WNFN-FM, where it continued to compete with The Sports Zone until March 13, 2006. On that Wednesday, SportsNight was canceled and its hosts (those who once worked with Plaster) were fired, effectively ending the saga. SportsNight saw its ratings consistently and significantly drop in the three years following Plaster's departure. In July 2006, after three months of earning respectable ratings airing ESPN Radio programming against Plaster, WNFN launched The Sports Guys, a new afternoon show hosted by legendary Nashville sportscaster Bob Bell and former Middle Tennessee State University head football coach Boots Donnelly, although Bell's declining health later caused him to leave the program. In July, 2009, WNFN changed formats as ratings never approached those of Plaster's show.

On September 16, 2011, another contract dispute occurred when Cumulus acquired Citadel (the sale had occurred earlier but closed at this time) took over and Plaster left WGFX (104.5 The Zone). Plaster continued his work on TV, and returned to radio on July 23, 2012 as co-host of Baptist Sports Medicine SportsNight at the Game from 3:00 to 6:00 PM on 102.5 The Game (WPRT-FM) with Willy Daunic and Darren McFarland.