WE R Chicken

First of all I would like to thank everyone who emailed The Tuscaloosa Post-Herald or me expressing their support. I apologize if by some oversight you did not receive a reply.

Almost three weeks ago now I received the threatening e-mail from Mr. Thomas and WERC, which is now on the Internet for the whole world to see. The unanswered question is why Mr. Thomas would do this?

The answer has to be one of two scenarios. The first possibility is that a sponsor called Mr. Thomas expressing concern that they had been listed on the Anti-Finebaum web-site. Another possibility is that a prospective advertiser indicated they would not advertise on Paul Finebaum's radio program because of the hassle that might come with it. (In particular noting the web-site which listed the sponsors).

Whatever Mr. Thomas' motivation was, it is clear that he was very unhappy with the web-site. Even though the site had only received about 2000 hits at the time Mr. Thomas made his initial threat on March 9th. (By the way the site now has over 4000 hits)

However, his actions only magnified the problem. So probably after being advised by his attorneys he sent the following email.... (My responses are in bold)

 

>From: Bill Thomas <bthomas@mindspring.com 
>To: tpheditor@hotmail.com
>Subject: Thank you from WERC

>Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999

Anyone that believes Mr. Thomas' is really thankful for this web-site probably also believes Dennis Rodman is a virgin. Apparently, the site has still not been mentioned publicly by Paul Finebaum, on his show or in his column. (I wonder why.)

>Dear Mr. Scott Otts (tpheditor@hotmail.com),

>Feel free to post any websites that you would like. >We appreciate the attention that you are bringing
>to the Paul Finebaum show on WERC. (960AM in
>Birmingham and 570AM in Anniston/Gadsden)

I assume your going to send me a check as payment for the valuable services I have provided to you. After all that would be the only fair thing to do. (What do you say about $10,000)

>Although we have been informed that we have legal >grounds to require you to remove your websites,...

The truth is Bill knows he has no legal standing whatsoever. But after you've threatened someone with litigation what can you say.

>we have decided not to take action....because quite >frankly, it encourages people to tune in to the
>show to see what may happen next. Paul's ratings
>are constantly growing and it is obvious that
>"controversy" and Paul's willingness to speak his
>mind despite any consequences usually attracts a
>large audience. You've proved that Paul can
>generate a reaction from the audience, and
>that is what we pay him for.

Translation: "Since we have no legal grounds I'm going to tell you how much I appreciate what you are doing in the hopes that the entire matter will go away. It is obvious my initial attempt at intimidation was ill-conceived. Again, you will note that we have not mentioned the web-sites on the air" (Bill Thomas)

I have asked Bill for a copy of the Arbitron ratings books for the past year. I have a feeling his definition of "constantly growing" is somewhat different from mine. Once again, I have received no reply.

>By the way, I certainly hope you will post this >entire letter on your site, just as you did the >previous e-mails (which you published without my >consent).

I didn't need his consent. It's not my fault he is embarrassed by what he wrote.

>That's OK....we have a sense of humor, too!

>Bill Thomas
>VP/GM
>WERC

>PS: Thanks for listening! Also, may we have your >permission to provide a link to this site from >www.werc960am.com?

Bill, I gave you permission last week. The link is still not up. What's a matter?