Channel Follies Revive the Radio Melodrama : Scandal-Plagued Anaheim TV Station Fails to Live Up to Boone’s Image

The legal history of Anaheim-based KDOC--Orange County’s first and only commercial TV station--offers a marked contrast with the squeaky-clean image of the board president and major stockholder, Pat Boone.

After 14 years of what Boone once termed “steady, relentless and often frustrating efforts” to obtain a broadcast license from the Federal Communications Commission, the station made its debut on Channel 56 in October, 1982.

But it took just 13 months to have its license jeopardized by allegations of “moral unfitness” when a former model, Leslie McRay, alleged in a $10-million lawsuit that she had been denied a job because she refused to provide sexual favors to KDOC general manager Michael Volpe.

Volpe, who denied the allegation, left the station 2 1/2 years later when the board of directors voted not to renew his contract. He continues to be listed by the station as an owner.

At the time of McRay’s allegation, Boone dismissed it as an effort by “someone else”--not identified--”who is using her” to sabotage the station’s dealings with the FCC. Boone was confident, moreover, that “they’ve definitely overplayed their hand”--a conclusion subsequently supported by the FCC’s decision to renew KDOC’s license.

Nevertheless, the station agreed to an out-of-court settlement of McRay’s suit, only to face similar accusations--including sensational court testimony about office romances, kickbacks and favors for sex--in other lawsuits brought against management over the next few years.

In a $3-million wrongful termination suit filed in 1984, Steve Conobre, a former ad salesman who helped open the station, accused Volpe of cooking up phony ratings to boost the station’s ad sales and of favoring a girlfriend with the most lucrative ad accounts.

When the suit came to trial in 1987, Conobre testified that he was fired after he had voiced complaints about faking the ratings for ad clients to create the impression that the station had more viewers than it actually had. He also alleged that other corporate officials of Golden Orange Broadcasting Co., which owns KDOC, condoned the fraudulent practice, which they denied.

Conobre testified further that Wally George, the station’s on-air star of “Hot Seat,” pushed for Conobre’s dismissal because he had interfered with George’s sexual overtures to another female member of the KDOC sales staff.

George, who was a co-defendant in the suit along with Volpe and Calvin Brack, who is now the general manager, denied the accusations. On the witness stand, the combative talk show host insisted that the member of the sales staff--account executive Linda Ford--had pursued him relentlessly from the moment he came to KDOC in 1982.

However, Conobre’s attorney, Eileen C. Moore, produced more than 80 amorous cards and notes addressed to Ford in George’s handwriting.

Ford, who is married, told jurors that she had been embarrassed by George’s attentions and was once forced to call police to escort him from her home. Further, she testified that when she complained to Brack, the secretary-treasurer of KDOC’s parent company and the station’s director of business affairs at the time, he advised her “to humor” the star.

Boone, who was called to the stand, testified that the station management had acted fairly and honorably in firing Conobre, 63 at the time. To support his contention, he cited an investigation conducted by the station’s general counsel, William G. Simon, another major stockholder in the corporation and a former head of the FBI in Southern California.

But the jury didn’t buy Boone’s argument. It awarded Conobre, who suffered a heart attack after his dismissal, more than $250,000. The station was ordered to pay $181,000 in general damages and $50,000 in punitive damages. Volpe and Brack each were ordered to pay $10,000 in punitive damages, and George was assessed $5,000.

The jury’s decision is being appealed by the station. Commenting on the appeal, Boone said in a recent interview: “I feel for Steve (Conobre), as I would for anybody who loses his job, (but) his lady lawyer convinced the jury” that the station management was hardhearted.

Boone maintained that the jury did not hear the whole truth. “We do care about our employees,” he said, adding, however: “We don’t think he (Conobre) was wronged, certainly not to the extent the jury decided.”

Ford has filed her own lawsuit, accusing the station of a breach of agreement, fraud and deceit. Her suit, which has been pending since 1986, is scheduled for trial in Orange County Superior Court Dec. 12. She is asking $2.7 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Moore, who is also Ford’s attorney, said last week that KDOC has put out feelers for an out-of-court settlement.

Thomas R. Sheridan, a board member of KDOC’s parent company and the attorney handling the suit for the station, confirmed that a settlement is under consideration.

“She has made the demand and we’re investigating the thing,” he said. “There are no concrete proposals at this stage. We are looking at all the material to see if it’s more prudent to settle the case than to go forward.”

In the meantime, the station has settled another lawsuit brought by former ad sales manager John Funk, who was fired in 1985. Funk sued on four counts, among them breach of contract and intent to inflict emotional distress. The station paid him an undisclosed sum in a secret agreement to keep the case out of court.