Daughter of mogul bids for Jazz.FM
Marie Slaight seeks to dissolve board at scandal-mired station
The daughter of Canadian billionaire Allan Slaight is behind a major push to gain control of Jazz.FM, a Toronto radio station mired in scandal.
In a three-page letter sent to the station’s board of directors Aug. 17, Marie Slaight, a poet, author and director of an arts production company in Australia, says the only solution to the station’s problems is to “dissolve the board in its entirety” to pave the way for a new institutional culture.
In her letter, she says changes are needed to address the “corruption of the board itself” and the “toxic situation” the board has created at Jazz.FM.
Slaight donated $250,000 last year to name a studio at Jazz.FM in her father’s honour for two years. Marie Slaight, 63, is the sister of Gary Slaight, a wealthy Toronto entrepreneur and CEO of radio broadcasting company Slaight Communications.
She claims the current board is “quite simply killing ” Jazz.FM due to what she calls the board’s lack of judgment.
And she’s one of several people in an Aug. 3 email exchange that included a chart with names of 20 potential directors who could form a slate to toss out Jazz.FM’s existing board.
Slaight’s name is second on the chart.
One of the people suggesting potential names is Brian Hemming, an investor relations specialist in Toronto with knowledge of mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring. He calls the selection of the slate of directors and replacement of the existing board an “urgent matter.”
He lists attributes that should be considered in judging the potential board members, including experience in radio, fundraising, governance and marketing. He urges the others in the email exchange to begin reviewing the list of potential candidates “as quickly as possible” so a final list of eight names, including Slaight, can be hammered out.
“Much to do in little time,” Hemming writes.
Jazz.FM’s annual general meeting for its member/donors is set for Friday, Aug. 31.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Hemming said he had nothing to do with Slaight’s push.
“If Marie is doing something it’s not something I’m involved with,” he said.
He later added: “what is correct is there are many people out in the community, listeners to Jazz.FM, donors, advertisers who are upset with how certain matters have been handled over the past couple of months.
“I know a couple (of people) who are upset enough that they will probably attend the annual meeting and have some questions to ask and have something to say,” Hemming said, adding there are people who want to come up with solutions to “very obvious problems” at Jazz.FM.
Hemming is married to popular Canadian jazz singer June Garber.
Jazz.FM’s volunteer board consists of 10 donor/member positions and the CEO position — which is being filled on an interim basis given the departure of Ross Porter. There are currently two vacancies for which two people have been nominated to fill those spots, and expiring terms for three current members are up for renewal.
The board oversees the running of the station, a not-forprofit charity with an annual revenue of $4.6 million and 143,000 daily listeners. Listener-donors make up about half of the station’s annual revenues. Jazz.FM, based in Liberty Village, has an all-jazz-andblues playlist.
The station was rocked in March by a scandal after a group calling itself the Collective — former and current staff employed on-air or behind the scenes — brought forward a letter accusing Porter, the station’s then-CEO and president, of sexual harassment and inappropriate workplace conduct of a sexual nature. In May, after a third-party investigation was complete, Porter stepped down from his position.
Porter says the group’s allegations against him ranged from fabrications to distortions of what occurred.
Members of the Collective and their supporters said in their letter that Porter was a bully who needed to go, while Porter’s allies interviewed by the Star said he was a good boss who fell victim to a group of malcontents bent on over- throwing the station’s leadership. Enter Marie Slaight. Her father, Allan Slaight, 87, is a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. In the 1970s he owned well-known radio stations in Toronto and Montreal before selling more than 50 radio and television stations to Astral Media for $800 million in 2007. He’s the former owner of Standard Broadcasting and former co-owner of the Toronto Raptors. His Slaight Family Foundation has donated tens of millions of dollars to Toronto hospitals.
Marie, the least known of the three Slaight siblings, runs Altaire Productions and Publications, an arts production company for independent artists in Sydney, Australia. She’s a music lover and Jazz.FM fan who began donating after contacting the station with some playlist concerns. When she initially gave the money last year, she did so anonymously. (She identified herself as the donor in her Aug 17 letter.) She only agreed to give the $250,000 for the naming rights on the condition that no money was coming to the station from her brother Gary, or the Slaight Family Foundation, sources say.
At the time she didn’t explain her reasons for these conditions, other than telling senior leaders at Jazz.FM she was the “black sheep of the family,” sources say.
In her August letter to the board, she says that over two months she has spoken to do- nors, musicians, past employees, listeners and advertisers, and tracked all the media reports about the problems at Jazz.FM.
“Consequently, I am outraged by the obvious long-term misconduct at the station, only some of which was apparently addressed by … the Collective,” Slaight writes, adding she believes the group’s sole aim was to improve the station.
She says the recent “disemboweling” of the station — several on-air personalities have been let go or quit in the past year and a half — has hurt the quality, and later adds: “my dissatisfaction with Jazz.FM pertains solely to the board’s dereliction.”
Slaight, who calls herself a longtime supporter and donor, says she had hoped to continue as a major donor to “for life and beyond” but “drastic changes” are needed for that to continue.
In her letter to the board she’s demanding several items from Jazz.FM such as a full disclosure of corporate records including: financial statements; a current list of member/donors; and the report of the third-party investigation into this year’s scandal. Only two board members have seen the investigator’s findings and the station insists no one else will see the report, citing privacy obligations.
Slaight gave the station seven days to provide the items. In an email to the Star, Slaight declined an interview request. In a statement late Friday she said the goal of her letter to the board was to raise issues and “ensure that this unique nonprofit radio station continues to serve listeners with the playing of great jazz, promoting up and coming talent and serving the community through education and outreach programs.”
David McGown, who chairs the board, said in an interview that Slaight can’t get the investigator’s report due to privacy issues but will be able to access most other items. He expressed disappointment that Slaight didn’t contact the board or managers before issuing her letter.
As for her calling the board corrupt and ineffective, McGown said such characterizations are false, and that board members are working in the station’s best interests.
In a letter to donors Friday, McGown issued a dire warning: Jazz.FM could cease to exist after a takeover.
He said he’s left wondering if the group seeking to control the board is “looking for an opportunity to disrupt a relatively small charitable institution and grab what is an extremely valuable asset.”
That, McGown warned, could lead to the station turning into “just another commercial broadcasting station.”
At $4.6 million in annual revenues Jazz.FM is small but has a frequency coveted by competitors, due in large part to the power of the signal emitted from atop the CN Tower, McGown says, which provides one of the larger reaches among FM bands.