Fraud. Scam-jobs. Lies. A string of lawsuits and phony misrepresentations. This, and much more, was business as usual at WALE 990 AM in Providence, Rhode Island. This den of vipers was so distrusted that New England Radio Watch referred to them as “a rip-off, a scam, a con, operated by liars and thieves.”

Note: the information contained in this article should be of great interest to those who get their news from the alternative media because the executive producer at this station, as well as at an affiliate – KFNX in Phoenix, Arizona – was J.C. Clayton. If this name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because he now uses the alias "Jack Blood". But prior to this latest incarnation he was also known as J.C. Clayton (aka John Clayton).

John Stadtmiller Exposes "Jack Blood"

Also, before proceeding with this sordid tale of deceptiveness, I’d like everyone to know that I’ve done an extensive amount of research into this matter, and have spoken with a variety of individuals who had first-hand knowledge and exposure to this ongoing scam at WALE. This includes former employees, the owner of WALE, members of a radio watchdog organization, a veteran radio consultant, and good-intentioned people who were ripped-off by Blood/Clayton and WALE, as well as an individual who actually sued the station’s owner – Francis Battaglia – and won a huge settlement. In other words, I didn’t simply do a Google search and write an article. The documentation is all right here, and it is corroborated by numerous other reliable sources. In fact, one individual told me that he has over 100 files on WALE, including every conversation he ever had with Blood/Clayton, along with every e-mail, fax, and all original contracts! We even have press releases listing Blood/Clayton as the station’s “executive producer,” along with his (former) business telephone number, home phone number, e-mail address, letterhead, etc. These will all be reproduced at the end of this article, so please don’t let Mr. “Blood” fool you into thinking that he was never associated with WALE, or their “brokered-time” scam jobs.

Anyway, what you are about to read is a classic case of some unscrupulous individuals (Blood included) who preyed upon and deceived dozens and dozens of people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This wasn’t some petty little operation; but instead their fraudulent practices were so overt that Scott Fybush of New England Radio Watch wrote on June 25, 2002, “It’s not often that we say ‘good riddance’ to a broadcast owner, but we’ll step on the editorial soapbox and note that we’re probably not the only ones glad to see the last of Francis Battaglia’s North American Broadcasting in New England.”

Fybush continued, “For years now, we’ve been seeing fraudulent coverage maps that claim the 50,000 watt daytime signal reaches Boston and Worcester, when in fact it shoots just a narrow beam over Providence and out to the ocean – and we’ve been hearing stories from non-radio folks who have been offered a chance to “host” their own radio shows on WALE. More often than not, those shows turn out to be leased-time broadcasts fed in on bad phone lines to no listeners – and do you think those folks will ever consider radio as a serious advertising medium after being burned that way?”

So, without further ado, let me describe exactly how this scam operated. First, representatives from this station - “Jack Blood” included - would seek out individuals to host a radio show on WALE. I confirmed this point with R. Michael Gray, program director and general manager at WALE for seven years, and also author Will Phillips, who was unfortunate enough to get bamboozled by this ruse.

Gray told me during a June 11, 2005 phone interview that WALE “actively solicited others” for what is called a “brokered-time” radio show. Stated differently, WALE actively sought them, not the other way around. Will Phillips confirmed this point by stating in a June 7, 2005 telephone interview that J.C. Clayton (Blood) “actively contacted him,” and that he had never heard of this radio station before then. He did, after all, live on Oregon at the time, while WALE operated out of Rhode Island.

To further prove the point that WALE and “Jack Blood” were the prime movers of this scheme and not simply innocent bystanders, Francis Battaglia himself – WALE owner – told me during a June 15, 2005 phone conversation [in reference to “brokered clients”] that J.C. Clayton (Blood) “called clients and solicited clients.” Former WALE host Thom Parrott also confirmed in a June 12, 2005 e-mail that WALE “cold-called” him, while Peter Ferrand wrote on August 12, 1998 [in reference to the “WALE scam”] that, “The aforementioned J.C. Clayton of WALE called me at WNTK and asked if I had any religious programming that I would like to distribute.” He concluded by stating that, “It could be that WALE is trying to scam people who are, in turn, trying to scam others.” Thus, I want there to be absolutely no mistake about it – “Jack Blood” was one of the individuals who actively solicited “clients” for their brokered-time scam.

Anyway, here was their pitch: first of all, WALE/Clayton/Blood would tell potential ‘victims’ that they had the most powerful station in the Connecticut, Massachussets, Rhode Island area; and that they reached three-million listeners. (Now remember, Clayton was the one who actively sought clients, not vice versa.) To become a part of this enterprise, the mark in question had to fork-over $4,498 to cover the “initial production costs” of a thirteen-week pilot.

In return for their “investment,” Clayton/WALE promised to reimburse the individual(s) 100% of all sponsor revenue until the full amount of $4,498 was received. Then, thereafter, they would be privy to 50% of all ad revenue.

But, as Wade Phillips told me, WALE never secured even one sponsor for him and his co-host, even though they personally provided the station with a list of 20 potential advertisers who were tailor-made for their broadcasts. Thus, Phillips never received even one penny of reimbursement for his $4,498 investment, and he said he has personally documented at least 15-20 other people who were roped into this same scam. [More later]

So do you want the low-down on why no advertisers were ever secured? The answer is simple: there was never a sales staff at WALE for the “brokered-time” broadcasters in the first place! None. Zero. It didn’t exist. As program director and general manager R. Michael Gray told me during a telephone interview on June 11, 2005, “There was no advertising sold for these people. They just wanted to get the contract signed.” He also told me that prior to being fired (and then subsequently filing a lawsuit against the Battaglia family and winning a six-figure lawsuit), he personally saw dozens of people who were bamboozled by this scam. “It was out-and-out FRAUD” he concluded!

Scott Fyburg of North East Radio Watch reiterated this sentiment during our aforementioned phone conversation by saying, “They wanted to lease time to these individuals without them figuring out that they were just leasing time and getting nothing else in return.” When asked if there was ever a sales force for the brokered-time clients, he replied, “Certainly not.”

Thom Parrott also wrote in an e-mail to me, “What I was told and what I got in writing were different in pretty significant ways. They made no attempt to sell advertising within the range of the station.” He also added, “I was on twelve weeks and never saw a dime. Production quality was terrible -- we did better with volunteers on public radio.”

As time went on, Phillips asked WALE and Clayton for a list of sponsors that they had contacted (obviously to verify if anyone had ever been approached to buy ad time). But guess what – no list was ever produced. Why? Because there was no sales force for the brokered-time clients!

So, Mr. Phillips – who has, by the way, over 100 files on the WALE debacle, including a copy of every e-mail, fax, and telephone conversation that ever transpired – eventually contacted J.C. Clayton again, and was now told that he should contact his own sponsors and have them send checks directly to him and his co-host. More importantly, J.C. Clayton told him that he should solicit the guests that they had on their show and have them buy air time! Can you believe this guy’s audacity? [As a side-note, guess what Wade Phillips’ co-host’s name was – Mary BLOOD! After J.C. Clayton bilked them out of their money, he even stole her name (i.e. “Jack Blood”)!]

Sensing that a scam was taking place, the following is a direct quote from Wade Phillips: “On June 29, 1998, we faxed J.C. Clayton and Francis Battaglia formally requesting the name and phone number of the account representative for soliciting sponsors for our show, as we began doubting they even had a sales staff.”

This information was also never provided by executive producer J.C. Clayton; and to make certain that this information is 100% accurate, Mr. Phillips has written that he “can provide documentation of every contact we have had with WALE, including the initial written agreement and all phone calls and faxes.”

Phillips also asked Clayton to provide information on what type of sales strategy was being used for other network hosts, along with what sponsors they had contacted for them; but by this time their calls and faxes were not being returned. Unsurprisingly, not one sponsor ever materialized.

But wait, things get worse. As this appalling drama was unfolding, Phillips reported that on May 19, 1998 he received several high-pressure phone calls from J.C. Clayton and owner Francis Battaglia. The nature of these calls was … get this … they wanted even MORE money out of Phillips so that they could simulcast his show on their Phoenix, Arizona station (KFNX).

To prove once again that “Jack Blood” was directly involved in this ruse, what follows is a quote from J.C. Clayton (May 19, 1998) ‘justifying’ why he wanted more money: “It’s certainly going to be much easier for us to sell it if I could, even for pennies on the dollar, put the show on in Phoenix as well.”

Please don’t forget that there was no sales force for the brokered-time clients, so Clayton was unequivocally lying through his teeth. The whole thing was a scam from beginning to end! Plus, we know that Clayton also represented the KFNX 1100 AM station because his name appears on a February 25, 2002 press release for author and filmmaker Kenny Kemp. The exact data is as follows:

        Contact information: Executive Producer J.C. Clayton
        at jclucky4u@netscape.com
        Phone number: (866) 277-5369

Station owner Francis Battaglia also confirmed in a June 15, 2005 phone interview that J.C. Clayton was employed at the Phoneix, Arizona KFNX station up until the year 2002.

Take note of this date in question: 2002. This means that J.C. Clayton/“Jack Blood” was still involved in this scam as little as 2-3 years ago! How’s that for being a “pay-triot”?

But please don’t think the extent of this fraud is over. If you examine the official contract at the end of this article, you’ll notice that each perspective host was promised six-weeks of training. But what did they actually receive? According to both Wade Phillips and R. Michael Gray, the training was, in reality, two one-hour phone calls (paid for at the host’s expense!), and one fax. That’s it! Furthermore, the promotional copy provided by WALE was so unprofessional that Phillips said the name of his book was misspelled three-times in the press release, and there were so many other typos and grammatical errors that it appeared to heave been written by an elementary student.

On top of that, WALE didn’t even have a program guide so that potential listeners could find the show if they wanted to hear it!

If you’re still not convinced of their dirty dealings at this stage of the game, let’s examine a document compiled by Thom Parrott for New England Radio Watch:

Comparison of statements made by WALE and the truth

WALE WROTE: "W.A.L.E. continues to make a tremendous impact throughout all of Southern New England."
THE TRUTH: New England Radio Watch says, "WALE is considered something of a joke in the New England broadcast community."

WALE WROTE: "W.A.L.E. reaches out to over three million people in our tri-state area of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut."
THE TRUTH: per N. E. Radio Watch, "They come in very well in downtown Providence and very poorly almost everywhere else." "At night, WALE runs just 500 watts and can barely be heard anywhere." "They... have no measurable audience."

WALE WROTE: "... that's W.A.L.E., the powerhouse AM station that's bringing hordes of listeners back to the AM side of the dial."
THE TRUTH: per N. E. R. W., "They... have no measurable audience."

WALE MAP: shows "COVERAGE" of substantial areas of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
THE TRUTH: per N. E. R. W., "the map... is a lie."

WALE WROTE: their signal strength is "50,000 WATTS"
THE TRUTH: per N. E. R. W., "At night, WALE runs just 500 watts..."

WALE WROTE: The contract says the: "$3,900.00 is to cover all production costs."
THE TRUTH: I had to pay long distance phone connection to WALE to do the programs — clearly a production cost.

WALE WROTE: The contract says: "Client to receive 100% of all gross ad revenue up to $3,900.00; 75% thereafter for run of show."
THE TRUTH: There was no gross ad revenue. While I understand there is no guarantee I would recoup my investment, WALE knew they had "no measurable audience" and that this clause of the contract was grossly misleading.

WALE WROTE AND SAID: In convincing me that I was making a reasonably good investment, Jeff Spenard repeatedly stressed that I would recover my investment from ad sales. I was led to believe that WALE made its profit from ad revenue.
THE TRUTH: Spenard clearly knew I was unlikely to make any money from "gross ad revenue." WALE, in fact, makes all its money by selling air time to suckers like me.

Anyone knowing anything about commercial radio knows that they work aggressively to sell advertising and have full-time staff for this purpose. WALE obviously intended their written and verbal statements to give the impression they had an aggressive ad sales staff. I asked Bryant, Spenard, and WALE owner Francis Battaglia repeatedly to tell me how many people they had selling ads and they refused. The only reason I can think of for their refusal is that the answer is "none."

[Please recall that “Jack Blood” was executive producer at WALE for FOUR YEARS!]

===============================

In regard to WALE’s claims that they were a blowtorch 50,000 watt station, in reality Scott Fybush told me on June 14, 2005 that this is what they call a “Letterhead 50” where they claim to have massive output, but their “restrictive directional pattern” hardly reached past their hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. Peter George also wrote on August 13, 1998 that, “WALE is not the most powerful station in Southern New England. Sure, it is 50,000 watts, but those 50,000 watts serve the “fishies” of the Atlantic coast of Rhode Island and Southeastern Cape Cod. I live less than 30 miles from Providence and even with a GE Superadio II or III, that signal is in the “mud” at best.” Here again, more deceptive lies from WALE exposed and confirmed by multiple sources.

In addition, on June 9, 2005 I interviewed veteran radio consultant Donna Halper, who lists as her credentials:

1) A radio and management consultant since 1980
2) Faculty member of Emerson College in Boston, where she teaches media history, media     criticism, and media literacy
3) Author of numerous articles and essays, along with her most recent book, Invisible Stars: A     Social History of Women in American Broadcasting
4) Two Master degrees, and working on a Ph. D.
5) Discovered the rock group RUSH, who dedicated their first two albums to her

Needless to say, this is an individual I feel it is safe to trust. Anyway, Ms. Halper described to me the tremendous debt WALE racked-up during their tenure in New England, along with a string of lawsuits, bankruptcy, and how they would put just about anybody on the air (provided they fell into their trap first and ponied-up the necessary money). Lastly, she told me, and these are her exact words, they had a “pretty sleazy reputation.”

Ms. Halper also posted a message on August 11, 1998 with the subject line asking, A Scam at WALE? “Anyone heard of people being scammed by WALE??? This was forwarded to me by somebody in the industry who I have always found trustworthy, and who wanted me to verify if any of these claims were true. While I have heard some WEIRD programming on that station, I didn't realize it may have ventured into [the] illegal or unethical ... do any of you know what is going on at that station?”

Upon hearing Donna Halper’s above-mentioned comment, I immediately hearkened back to some comments John Stadtmiller made during his February 21, 2005 National Intel Report expose' on John Clayton-“Jack Blood.” After describing how a clinical psychologist labeled Blood a “sociopath,” Stadtmiller went on to say:

          “The true meaning and definition of a sociopath is: everything is okay in their eyes. They can           do and say anything that they want to, and the only time there becomes a problem is when           they get caught. That’s when there’s a conflict. But up until that point there is none. And if you           want a true definition of a sociopath, I'm describing John Clayton.”

Stadtmiller concluded by calling “Jack Blood” a “lying sack of sociopathic crap.” At the time, some people may have dismissed this diatribe as nothing more than sour grapes, but after everything we’ve read in this article, Stadtmiller’s overview takes on an entirely new meaning in regard to “Jack Blood”.

If you consider this assessment too harsh, please be aware that at the time when J.C. Clayton was scamming Wade Phillips, WALE boasted of producing 91 shows. If each of these individuals was screwed-out of an original investment of $4,498; that comes to over $400,000! And Wade Phillips was only associated with this station for thirteen weeks. Try to imagine how many others got swindled out of their money. This isn’t tiddlywinks, folks --- it’s some serious money. And, as we’ve seen, Clayton and WALE did absolutely nothing to honor a variety of promises made in their original contract; the worst being that they secured absolutely no sponsors for their hosts because there was no sales force! It was nothing more than out-and-out FRAUD!

To close, during my phone interview with Wade Phillips, I asked what his initial impression was of J.C. Clayton (aka John Clayton, aka Jack Blood). He told me, “I got the impression that he was a salesman, and that his actions didn’t meet his words and promises.”

And after this shakedown scam-job was over, I asked what his impression was of J.C. Clayton. Without hesitation, Phillips replied, “He is an absolute lunatic crook.” He also made a very interesting comment to Lisa Guliani prior to our subsequent conversation. Phillips said that, “People are chasing him down all over the country.” Do you think this remark has anything to do with J.C. Clayton’s use of the alias “Jack Blood”?

So, there you have it, folks. As we can see from the chronological dates listed above, Blood-Clayton was employed by kingpin Francis Battaglia for at least four years (until 2002), and he was not an innocent bystander in this company’s fraudulent activities. Instead, Blood (among others at WALE) actively participated in bilking innocent, good-intentioned people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The evidence provided is overwhelming, originates from numerous unrelated sources, and is fully documented with names, dates, and places. More damning is the fact that every person I interviewed told the exact same story of rampant fraud and deceit. Of course "Jack Blood/JC Clayton/John Clayton" will deny deny deny this overwhelming proponderence of evidence, but you have to ask yourself: who are you going to believe now - him, or ALL of the other people quoted in this article?

On WING TV, we continually tell our viewers that the alternative media must set a substantially higher standard than the mainstream media. Jack Blood’s past behavior proves that he didn’t even remotely adhere to this code. Instead, he was at the forefront (as executive producer at WALE) of giving this entire industry a garish black-eye. Furthermore, we now need to ask ourselves a very simple question --- when Jack Blood tells us something (or plugs a product), how can we ever believe a word he says about anything? I know there are a lot of people who have been swindled out of a considerable amount of money who would NEVER again believe a word this guy says; and in all honesty, I won’t either.

========================

DOCUMENTATION

Original WALE Contract with J.C. Clayton contact information:

WALE 990 - "RENEGADE RADIO"
NORTH AMERICAN BROADCASTING CO., INC.
1185 NORTH MAIN STREET
PROVIDENCE, RI 02904
PHONE: 401-521-0990
FAX: 401-521-5077

Contacts phone number fax number
J.C. Clayton, wk 401-521-0990 401-521-5077
J.C. Clayton, hm 401-276-0318

========================

Theme of "In Your Dreams" show:
"dreams, consciousness, and personal growth
"also, mind-body healing (prodromal dreams; dreams that reflect physiological symptoms prior to conscious recognition)
"Duration of contract - 13 weeks (May 18 - August 10), renewable with same terms

Terms of contract
Initial production cost of $4,498.00
"$3,000.00 deposit due by 4/22/98
"sent via Fed Ex on 4/20/98, using WALE's acct #183938843
"balance of $1498.00 due on 5/6/98
"sent via Fed Ex on 5/4/98, using WALE's acct #183938843
Contract is non-refundable, and non-cancelable (by either side)
Renewable by client at same terms
Client to receive 100% of all gross ad revenue up to $4,498.00 ("usually recouped in a couple of weeks"); then 50% thereafter for run of the show
"the $4,498.00 includes all production costs, preparation, training for program, production of program, and production of client's and sponsor's commercials Client owns Syndication/Copyrights to show and will receive taped copies of program Client controls all weekly topics and Guests on show

========================

Letter to NBC’s Dateline from Will Phillips – August 10, 1998

STORY SUGGESTIONS
DATELINE NBC
ROOM 510
30 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10112

To the Producers of Dateline NBC:

Good Morning,

Mary Blood and I just completed co-hosting a 13-week program on radio station WALE 990 AM in Providence, Rhode Island, and suspect we are two of many people who may have been scammed out of a total of over $400,000.00.

I am the author of a book on Kensington Publishing's Trade Paperback Best Seller list (Every Dreamer's Handbook, Nonfiction/Self-Help, Kensington, NY 1996), and have taught classes in dream understanding and personal growth since 1984 at colleges (Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon) and independently. My co-host, Mary Blood, has been teaching classes in Sleep and Dreams at Portland State University and done research on melatonin and circadian rhythms for over ten years.

In April of 1998, WALE radio (also known as North American Broadcasting Co, 1185 N. Main Street, Providence, RI 02904, ph: 401-521-0990 or fax: 401-521-5077) contacted a colleague of ours in California, telling her they were looking for someone knowledgeable on dreams to host a weekly radio talk show for their station. She contacted us shortly afterward, saying that she didn't consider herself the radio talk show host type, and wondered if we might be interested. After some discussion, Mary and I contacted WALE, and they ended up extending the offer to us.

J.C. Clayton, executive producer, told us that WALE has the most powerful AM station in the Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island area, with a listening audience of over three million people. He told us that because this would be a new show, we would need to come up with the initial production costs ($4,498.00, or $346.00/week for the 13 week pilot show), then would be reimbursed as WALE's sales team secured sponsors for our show. He said we would receive 100% of all sponsor revenue until our initial expenses were reimbursed, and then 50% of all sponsor revenue after that. He suggested a likely return of around $200/week to start with, increasing as more sponsors were secured.

We were wary of the terms, but contacted a couple of friends in the radio business who said they had heard of similar deals, although they didn't know much about them. We contacted the BBB in Providence, RI, and were told they had no information on WALE one way or the other. We also investigated them on the internet, and discovered that it was true that WALE has a 50,000 watt transmission signal, which is ten times as powerful as the next most powerful AM station in southern New England. We also contacted Gebbie Press (PO Box 1000, New Paltz NY 12561, ph: 914-255-7560, FAX 914-256-1239), which claimed to have full information, including mailing address, station format, metro market ranking and email addresses for thousands of USA radio stations. I spoke with Mr. Gebbie personally, and he told me that WALE AM is ranked 31 out of 200 in the Providence metro market.

After considering WALE's proposal for a couple of days, Mary and I decided to accept their deal, approaching it as an investment in our own abilities, and an opportunity to promote the personal growth work we both so deeply believe in. We split the $4,498.00 production costs and, after doing our own research, sent in a list of over twenty companies we felt were excellent suggestions for WALE to have their sales team contact as potential sponsors. The first "red flag" popped up immediately after we signed the agreement and sent WALE a Cashier's check. When we read the promotional copy and commercials for our show sent to us by WALE's producers, we discovered they had misspelled the name of my book three different ways on the one-page copy, and made so many other errors that Mary and I (who have both taught at college level) both felt it looked like the work of an elementary student.

The next red flag was that their promise to provide us with "six weeks of training" turned out to be two one-hour phone calls (at our expense) and a fax.

Perhaps the most disturbing red flag was when J.C. Clayton called and suggested WE CONTACT SPONSORS ON OUR OWN AND HAVE THEM SEND THEIR CHECKS DIRECTLY TO MARY AND I PERSONALLY.

We can provide you with numerous examples of WALE's lack of professionalism, and have documented all of our conversations with WALE. But the bottom line is, they have not gotten a single sponsor, nor even given us the name of one single company they have contacted about sponsoring our show.

The executive director, J.C. Clayton, told me on May 19th, 1998 that he hoped to be calling around mid-June with good news about sponsors. Instead, we received several high-pressure calls around that time from both he and WALE owner Francis Battaglia asking us to come up with more money to produce a simulcast on their new Phoenix station. When we asked about the status of sponsors, J.C. stated, "it's certainly going to be much easier for us to sell it… if I could, even for pennies on the dollar, put the show on in Phoenix as well."

J.C. Clayton and Francis Battaglia both claimed that WALE was trying to sell our show to sponsors, but neither could name a single company contacted by WALE, nor have they responded to our repeated requests for the names of any other hosts of WALE programs who might be able to assure us that WALE had secured sponsorship for their shows. Instead, they encouraged us to solicit the guests we were interviewing on the show to buy commercial time, and again, TO HAVE THEM MAKE THE CHECKS OUT TO MARY AND I PERSONALLY.

On June 29th, 1998, we then faxed J.C. Clayton and Francis Battaglia, formally requesting the name and phone number of the Account Representative responsible for soliciting sponsors for our show, as we began doubting they even had a sales staff. We had at that time done seven shows, and interviewed internationally known guests who Mary and I both felt should have been a strong draw for quality sponsors. At that point, we were still assuming that WALE was approaching companies to sponsor our show, and hoped we might be able to help the Account Rep (if there was one) by offering information that could help sell our show.

Neither J.C. Clayton, Francis Battaglia, nor anyone else responded to our fax, so I resent it on July 13th, 1998, but to this date we still have received no reply from either of them, and increasingly began suspecting a scam.

We searched the internet and collected names of other people who are doing, or have done, shows on WALE, and have learned that we are not the only people who have lost a great deal of money to them. WALE claims to be producing 91 shows (however, they have no Program Guide and their website, now requires a password to enter, although it was accessible in April of this year when we were first contacted).

At $4,498.00 per show, they may be bringing in as much as $409,318.00 every 13 weeks, and may not be doing anything whatsoever to keep their promise to secure sponsorship for those shows. Because Mary and I do believe in the work we are doing, and because we believe we had an ethical obligation to fulfill our end of the bargain-even though WALE has not appeared to make any attempt to fulfill theirs-we honored our promise to complete the 13 week contractual obligation. However, we also feel we have a moral obligation to alert people if WALE is indeed scamming well-meaning folks like ourselves out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. We initially contacted the Providence, RI Better Business Bureau, and were told they had no jurisdiction and we needed to contact the Rhode Island Attorney General. When we contacted the Attorney General, we were informed that it was not their jurisdiction, either, and referred to the FCC. We contacted the FCC in July, but have heard nothing back from them. We're beginning to see how WALE could be getting away with such a scam.

We can provide the names and phone numbers of over a dozen people who are doing, or have done shows on WALE. I can also provide documentation of every contact we have had with WALE, including the initial written agreement and all phone calls and faxes.

Thank you for your consideration,
Will Phillips

========================

Will Phillips - Notes taken after phone conversation with Francis Battaglia – June 10, 1998

I just got a "hard sell" call from Francis Battaglia, WALE owner. He said that he had just read the fax I sent JC and belligerently told me he had invested 5 million dollars and years of his life in building WALE before seeing a return on his investment and belittled me for expecting to see a return on my investment within a month before "pulling the plug." I told him there must be a miscommunication somewhere, because Mary and I have no intention of "pulling the plug" on the show we're doing in Providence. We simply don't care to invest more money in another show in Phoenix based on our experience so far on the Providence station.

He said, "Well, would you consider doing a simulcast in Phoenix for free?" I said, "Would it involve taking another day or would it be at the same time?" He said, "At the same time, just on the two stations." I said, "I suppose that would be all right. In fact, yeah, I'd like that." He said, "So you're willing to let me spend 5 million dollars to build up the station and you want me to give you a station for free? You're not willing to invest fifty dollars an hour?" I said, "No, I'm not. I realize in the context you just placed it, that sounds outrageous, but that's how I feel. I don't want to invest another penny in the radio show until I see some evidence that it's going to pay off."

I told him that Mary had asked JC for the names and numbers of 3 people doing similar shows to ours so we could ask them how long it took them to recoup their investment. Francis said, "I could give you hundreds of names, but considering the fact that I'm the owner of the station and have years of experience, I think I would be the best person to give you the information you want."

I told him that Mary and I entered into the original agreement on good faith, based on what we were told by JC and Bob Cotoia. Francis said, "When people go into business together, there has to be a certain degree of trust." I then pulled up my notes (above) and listed the reasons we started to lose confidence in the station. I mentioned the first three points:

"When I asked for a WALE Program Guide, I was told there wasn't one.
"Our "Six Week Training" turned out to be two one-hour phone calls and a fax.
"The promo and commercial copy prepared by WALE was extremely amateurish and misspelled the name of my book three times on one page. Not only does that makes it hard to confidently tell guests that WALE can produce quality advertising copy for them, but I would be appalled if a colleague of ours were to received similarly-written ad copy.

I think I caught him off guard with my preparation. He said, "If you would have brought that to my attention or JC's attention at the time, we could have taken care of it." I told him that we DID bring it to the attention of either JC or Bob Cotoia-whichever of them faxed it to us, and that we re-wrote it and eventually it was produced to our satisfaction. He said, "Well, you can't form an impression of an entire radio station based on one five-dollar-an-hour employee." I told him that when that's the only contact a client has with the station, that's exactly how they base their entire impression of the station, and that if that copy had been the first thing I saw from WALE, I never would have signed the contract.

At that point, he said, "Just a minute," and put me on hold with some Chinese doctor show from Vancouver (again with no ads except his own). I set my 3-minute timer and hung up when it went off.

He called back about ten minutes later and left the following message on my machine:

"Yes, Will, I just had a production emergency, I greatly apologize. Francis at WALE radio. Again, we've all had employees work for us, Will. Maybe some of ours are sub-par, though we are doing hundreds of ads here at the station, obviously the work that they did is not tolerated, though again, when I know about the problems immediately, or management, or senior management knows about the problems, they can be solved, I guess fortunately a lot sooner, though that still doesn't diminish the opportunity we have to reach another four million people in Arizona, which is why I bought the station-continue to reach people here, do it inexpensively, build a show, help a lot of people, don't want to let negativity and a few minor problems stop all of that, Will. So if you can get back to me, or get back to me with Mary on a conference call, we'll discuss the details and see if we could possibly work something out… um, as I said, very inexpensively, maybe get sponsors to pay for the show there, or here, so we can continue to work together, and get you on there, starting in July when we start, and see what we can work out. Again, Francis at WALE, 401-521-0990. I'm in till seven o'clock Eastern time nightly, and, uh, hopefully we'll speak to you soon and see if we could work something out to help both of us out for the future here. Thanks, bye."

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Further Links

WALE vs. New England Radio Watch

Kenny Kemp News Release (see J.C. Clayton’s name at bottom as executive producer for KTNX in Phoenix, Arizona

Scott Fybush “Good Riddance” newsletter – June 25, 2002

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Additional "Jack Blood" Articles & Audio Clips

Jack Blood Sells Out - Victor Thorn & Lisa Guliani

Jack Blood & Fox News - Victor Thorn

Give A Man Enough Rope ... - Lisa Guliani

Jack Blood "Sell Out" Clip

Jack Blood "Sociopath" Clip