Content area
Full Text
NAB List Zeroes In on Three
Staff
The NAB could be setting a course for adventure, for Disney World, or maybe even planning a beer-bash celebration for its new president.
Top candidates to succeed | Eddie Fritts , long-time president of the National Association of Broadcasters, include former GOP Rep. and Love Boat co-star Fred Grandy , now a Washington radio talk-show host; Disney/ABC lobbyist Mitch Rose (ABC has just rejoined the association after a bitter divide); and David Rehr , president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association .
Search-committee members had been sworn to secrecy, according to one member, and weren't talking Friday.
Picking Grandy, who played Gopher on the old ABC series, would make for lively copy. But Republican Rehr appears to be the front-runner, said one source. A one-time staffer for former Rep. Vin Weber (R-Minn.) he's well-connected with the lobbyist crowd. He's also said to be the headhunter's first choice, though ABC's Rose, former chief of staff to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska.), has apparently also interviewed well.
Also mentioned as a Fritts successor is former AOL and Time Warner executive Lisa Hook , one-time legal adviser to former FCC Chairman Dennis Patrick , and veteran CBS executive Martin Franks , who was an early contender. Franks is said to have been told "no thanks" in June.
--John Eggerton
Negotiate Reality Pact, WGA Urges Networks
Staff
The Writers Guild of America , rebuffed during its last contract negotiations with the networks from organizing reality-show storytellers, hopes that, by unleashing a flurry of class-action lawsuits, it can return to the bargaining table two years ahead of schedule.
"We are hoping we get a call," says John McLean , the WGA's executive director. "We would like to do that. That is our goal."
The guild filed a second lawsuit on behalf of 10 storytellers last week, alleging violations of labor laws relating to overtime, wages and meal periods against Fox and Rocket Science Laboratories . Seven shows were targeted: Trading Spouses , Joe Millionaire , The Next Joe Millionaire , My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance , Renovate My Family , Married by America and Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay .
At a press conference, three of the litigants said that they were...