Back and Forth: Interep/Katz Drama Grinds On

The soap opera in the national radio sales rep business continues.
Interep said Thursday that “nearly all” of the Katz Radio Group employees who had joined Interep in dramatic walkoff style earlier this week have returned to Katz, which is owned by Clear Channel. That group has been estimated at 130 to 150 people.
“Their sudden departure (Wednesday) was prompted by an apparently untrue announcement by KRG that all major radio groups currently represented by Christal and Katz Radio had made the decision to retain representation with those firms,” Interep stated.
“In subsequent conversations yesterday between Interep and the heads of several major groups under KRG’s representation, each group head stated that they had not yet made any decision in their choice of representation firm.”
The Interep statement continued:
“In a prepared statement, Ralph Guild, chairman and CEO of Interep, said, ‘Interep is aware that Katz Radio Group took actions to interfere with the recent expansion of our staff and leadership team. Although Interep strongly questions the legitimacy of Katz’s behavior, we are still gathering the facts. When we have all the information, we will take any and all necessary, lawful actions to stop any wrongful interference with our business that may have occurred.’
Interep said it intends to enforce signed contracts with the three execs who departed Katz to start two independent rep firms at Interep.