1550 stunts; Renda’s Jacksonville cluster sued

The sale of WLFP-AM (1550 Braddock) won FCC approval about a month faster than expected. That left Ed DeHart and Stephen Zelenko scrambling to put together a stunt format until a new one could get on the air. They didn’t have the rights to carry the Lifestyle network that the former owner, Business Talk Radio, ran. The WZUM calls which once graced the now-dark 1590 Carnegie, have been approved for the station.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh-based Renda Broadcasting is facing a lawsuit brought on by Arbitron. Tom Taylor NOW (e-mail subscription only) reported this week that the Jacksonville Cluster of Renda stations let their Arbitron subscription lapse in 2010. The suit alleges that a Jacksonville market manager had sought numbers for the stations there from an area ad agency exec several times between May 2011 and the end of 2012. Arbitron was seeking damages of $150,000 per act plus $500,000 in Florida state violations (under that state’s “Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act”). On Monday a federal judge called the pleadings “shotgun” and said they were unacceptable and gave Arbitron until July 26 to amend the complaint. The lawyer for Arbitron wasted no time and refiled by Tuesday. To an untrained legal eye such as Taylor’s, the document read pretty much the same way as the original. If that’s the case, it seems apparent that the judge will throw the case out. The case affects the Jacksonville stations only.