Nicely Played

Just when you thought Fort Wayne radio had hit the bottom of creativity and imagination, this comes along.

At first blush, this would appear to be a kind, compassionate and generous offer to the recently fired employees of Federated Media. At a time when the economy is questionable, it would seem that the Oasis Radio Group was in a position to give the ex-FedMed employees a ray of hope.

In truth, this is not what it seems. In reality, it's a well done publicity stunt offering Oasis Radio Group an opportunity to stick their thumb in the eye of a competitor and their former employees. Most, if not all,  of the ex FedMed employees signed employment contracts when they were hired (a standard practice) which include non compete clauses. There is little chance that FedMed would ever waive those clauses, and an even more remote chance that any of the ex FedMed employees would risk a long, expensive court battle to take a position with Oasis.

The non compete is a pesky little piece of legalese generally stating that if the employee leaves the employer, for any reason, the employee agrees (is forced to agree) to not work for a "competing" media facility for a specified time (usually a year) within the same "market area". Crafty lawyers have had marginal success challenging non competes by simply having the new employer specify a slightly different job title (air talent vs, disc jockey. or music director vs programming coordinator). Not to be out done, those contracts, for some time now, contain an additional "trade secrets" clause stating that the employee, in the course of their regular duties, would have access to inside information that could damage the employer if the employee were to become employed by a competitor. Courts have, time and time again, upheld both the non compete and trade secret provisions. 

So you may admire Oasis Radio Group, but not for the reason you think. They deserve to be applauded for having the business sense of taking advantage of a competitor's weaknesses and using that to enhance their image. That's how the game is played.