WBBM Employees had to pay for GM's Birthday Bash

[kneedinthegroin]

Saw this in TV Business Confidential this morning.

WBBM EMPLOYEES HAD TO PAY FOR GM’s BIRTHDAY BASH. The Chicago Sun-Times reports
that on Wednesday, WBBM/Chicago GM Joe Ahern had a get-together and luncheon to celebrate his birthday
with some station executives, air talent and family members at a restaurant in Chicago’s Loop that ran up a tab
of $5,000. Ahern then submitted an expense report for reimbursement to WBBM controller Ron Damron,
who kicked it back. Damron then went to each of Ahern's department heads and managers to demand that they
cover the cost of the birthday bash, according to station sources. Most were ordered to hand over personal
checks “in the area of $100 or more,” one source said.

[Kace]

It's the gift that keeps on givin' the whole year through.

[tater]

Now that's the way to boost company morale.

[Brain Cramp]

GM submits tab for birthday party for himself for a workplace reimbursement? Jackass.

The tab for lunch is $5,000? What? Was the line at McDonalds backed up?

[Roy Hobbs]

Boy, wait 'til they pass the hat for the new station the GM pushed for.

[Spike]

Most were ordered to hand over personal
checks “in the area of $100 or more,” one source said.

I think the answer the employees are looking for is "no."

[The Mockingbird]

I think you aren't reading that story very well.

Damron then went to each of Ahern's department heads and managers to demand that they
cover the cost of the birthday bash,

Managers, being the key word. Sounds like they were forced to cover their own bar bills. They should have known better.

[ewink]

I actually find it kind of funny that the business guy had the balls to refuse an expense report submitted by his boss.

[djboy]

is this the guy who didnt like their awsome graphics and made them change to the ugly blue colored graphics??

[djboy]

..you know as I think about it almost reminds me of the former CEO of E! Remember she had them big baby showers at E studios and used company funds to pay for gifts and other items for her friends. Then the partners who owned E got the letter stating what was going on so disney, and comcast did the audit. ...later she was let go!!!

[News Is Broken]

GM submits tab for birthday party for himself for a workplace reimbursement? Jackass.

The tab for lunch is $5,000? What? Was the line at McDonalds backed up?

Well, in retrospect, we probably could have done without the strippers and limos.

[Spike]

I actually find it kind of funny that the business guy had the balls to refuse an expense report submitted by his boss.

He probably knew that when the internal auditors found it during their next expense account audit, he would be on the hook for approving it in violation of company policy. That could easily be considered expense account fraud. If the guy was a CPA, he could lose his license over that and have a bit of trouble getting another controller position.

The GM probably couldn't do much of anything to him for adhering to company policy, because if the GM tried to bully him in any way the guy would just call up, make a report on the company's SOX hotline and laugh when the GM got fired. Even if he lost his job, he would at least keep his license.

[s'news]

Still sucks.

[Fargin Icehole]

I would've subscribed him to the "Jelly of the Month Club".

Right, Mr. Griswald?

Phuck him.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

...make a report on the company's SOX hotline...

I've called the sox hotline many times. Ask for Candy - she gives the best sox.

[Angel's Hell]

Since it was HIS birthday party HE should have paid for food and the employees for their own bar bills.

[Mom]

Let me get this straight. The birthday bash (a luncheon) was held on Wednesdsay afternoon. One would assume that the employees who attended went from work to the lunch party and would return to work after lunch (since it was a Wednesday). Yet, many of them were handed bar bills for $100????? Are drinking lunches OK for management types? A hundred dollars worth of drinking lunch? Maybe I'm out of the loop, but drinking while on the clock or returning to work after drinking was a fireable offense at any station I've ever worked. Of course, I didn't enjoy the privileges of management. Perhaps one of those privileges includes managing employees from in the bag.

[Rex Kwan Do]

Read the Suntimes article and this Ahern guy has some balls to try to get the station to pay $5Gs for his party after all the job cuts, and cancelling the plans to cover the mayor in China trying to bring Olympics to Chicago AND cancel plans to cover the conventions.

No wonder this station gets its tail kicked. Wrong people calling the shots.

[Stormtracker_Tony]

with a name like WBBM, wouldn't you expect the workplace to be sh*tty? :worship: :thumbsup:

*pen drops*
:shifty:

[Shot A Load]

Did he charge his family members or does he expect the managers to cover that too?

[Union Label]

Looks like that tab for lunch just got a lot more expensive (http://www.suntimes.com/business/feder/1220776,ahern-cbs-101408.article) for Mr. Ahern.

[Pro]

The timing seems wierd. It hasn't been long since WBBM changed anchors and they just moved into a brand new HD facility. But no one has ever contended that CBS ever did anything logical with their O & O's anyway...;)

[theultimatetruth]

Karma, baby. As George Constanza would say, "I love it!"

[adam & doctor drew]

don't know the guy at all.
don't work in Chicago (though I used to).

but just following it as an outsider, it looks like he was put in charge of a last-place station, tried a bunch of things to turn it around, all of them failed.... but at least he TRIED things.

we've all seen (and worked for) bosses who did nothing, had no plan, played it safe and hoped things would somehow improve.

please don't read this as if I'm "defending" Ahern.....for all I know, this guy is Hitler....
but it appears he did spend a ton of money and at least tried to move the needle.
you know the old saying, no one ever dedicated a monument to a committee.

go ahead, flame away.

[Southernguy]

don't know the guy at all.
don't work in Chicago (though I used to).

but just following it as an outsider, it looks like he was put in charge of a last-place station, tried a bunch of things to turn it around, all of them failed.... but at least he TRIED things.

we've all seen (and worked for) bosses who did nothing, had no plan, played it safe and hoped things would somehow improve.

please don't read this as if I'm "defending" Ahern.....for all I know, this guy is Hitler....
but it appears he did spend a ton of money and at least tried to move the needle.
you know the old saying, no one ever dedicated a monument to a committee.

go ahead, flame away.

I almost have to agree. Feder was one of his best critics and so he should be. I don't not anything about the inner workings of Chicago media but Ahern certainly seemed off the chart, at least based on what I have read regarding Chicago media. That being said, maybe he thought he was doing what needed to be done--did it--and ended up being the whipping boy when it didn't 'immediately' pan out. That's always been the trouble with local TV--short-sightedness. If it doesn't work overnight--it doesn't work. And that's just stupid.

[Jane Craig]

The timing seems wierd. It hasn't been long since WBBM changed anchors and they just moved into a brand new HD facility. But no one has ever contended that CBS ever did anything logical with their O & O's anyway...;)

Sounds to me like they left him in place through the move. And now they have 6 months to prep for May. CBS O&O group -- what a zoo!

[Roy Hobbs]

Sounds to me like they left him in place through the move. And now they have 6 months to prep for May. CBS O&O group -- what a zoo!

If I were an anchor at one I'd spit up my Starbucks and act strangely paranoid when friends came to town to visit. :whistle:

[newz2me]

I didn't know him either. However 2 things that stood out...

1. He created "a marble shower in the private bathroom of his new office even after he had begun cutting jobs, decimating the news budget and destroying morale."

2. Racked up a $5,000 tab at his birthday bash and had the balls to try to expense it out. Not sure if the department heads and managers ever did get stuck paying for it out of their pockets.

I've seen too many of his type. Good riddance! However like most people of his ilk, he'll probably get a better job out of this.

[Jane Craig]

Maybe AIG is hiring.