Message: The Foulks File-[713] Subject: PUBLIC NOTICE From: THOM FOULKS Reply to: PUBLIC NOTICE-[670] To: All [Read:24 times] Sent:Sep03 09:11:14 Here's a recounting of what occurred yesterday between BRN and me, as shown by an exchange of fax messages... FAXMEMO September 3, 1992 TO: BRN FROM: Thom Foulks, Cache la Byte SUBJECT: Goodbye I choose to communicate via fax on the matters at hand so that I need say what I have to say just once; it can be read by all involved, as appropriate. About three months ago,I began asking for a raise in my Computing Success! broadcast contract rate; unchanged since the day I did my first broadcast (cleared by fewer than ten affiliates). That "campaign" by me culminated on Sept. 1 when I was informed BRN would no longer pay for the long distance telephone calls I make in putting together my weekly four hours. That was a violation, without notice, of the verbal contract made nearly four years ago between Dave Rose, Mark Murray and myself -- i.e., BRN would pay my BRN-related telephone expense. (Any verbal agreement with compliance by all parties for a substantive period of time is a contract). So, I was left with the decision of personally subsidizing BRN for a monthly average long distance phone bill of $160, just so that I could continue my broadcasts. (How do I know that total? My Cache la Byte residence has four phone lines. A push of one key on a telephone controller selects the BRN outgoing line. Simple, and all calls get computer-logged. I wasn't even billing BRN for the monthly cost of that line; only the traffic it carried). I greatly resent any inference that I have been billing BRN for my personal long distance calls to my kids. (Eve though, some were: Thom, Jr., Dana and Kathy are all experts in their own computing fields). Similarly, sending 4 a.m. fax traffic -- to cut telephone costs -- from a BRN office to my various contacts is hardly practical. I've subsidized BRN since Day #1 of my involvement with the network. I've provided my own computer gear, including the maintenance/upgrade costs, for my broadcast activities as well as programming for BRN. I've made long-term loans of computers to BRN, without even a request for reimbursement. I have obtained free use of national online services for BRN talk show hosts (of which, you better check the status -- I am removing my name as the account holder for Prodigy). I purchased my own tape recording gear for use with CS! interviews, knowing that BRN had no studio time available for my erratic use schedule. I have appeared as a BRN representative at national conferences, with no reimbursement. I was denied travel reimbursement to accept a national award, the only such award won by any BRN staffer. Some fast addition/subtraction resulted in an obvious conclusion: When I subtract the phone bill subsidy (plus my unreimbursed mileage expense in traveling to RN 4-5 days a week) from my monthly BRN contract services checks, I could barely cover my home mortgage payment. I regret losing the ego satisfaction of doing Computing Success!, and I am already making efforts to find a more pragmatic broadcast outlet for me to do a similar show. (Greg Davis has a thick file of contact/phone numbers ready for use by any one BRN can find to continue the CS! show.) I regret that BRN staffers and affiliate stations are going to receive a lot of queries about my disappearance, but I have been forced into a corner from which there is only one exit. Someone from BRN can pick up my employee door key at 5311 Alta Loma Rd. Working for BRN has already cost me too much money -- I'm not spending more to drive there again. FAXMEMO September 3, 1992 TO: Rihard Grisar, BRN FROM: Thom Foulks, Cache la Byte SUBJECT: Comments Thank you for the "outrageous" letter. It gave me a clear opportunity to display the positions of all involved. Here's the letter -- I've added some [comments]. September 2, 1992 Mr. Thom Foulks 5311 Alta Loma Road Colorado Springs, CO 809l8 Dear Mr. Foulks: It is nothing short of outrageous that you have notified BRN'S affiliates of your decision to cancel your show without giving the Businss Radio Network, Inc. the thirty (30) days written notice as required in paragraph 6. of our agreement dated January 30, 1989. [Notice was equivalent to that given me regarding reimbursement for my BRN-related telephone bills.] I also find that your statement that BRN has "violated longstanding terms of my contract with the network" is libelous and we will take appropriate action against you and your company. [The term "libel" has no relevancy to a corporation. But I suggest you tone down your refererences to me; you're skirting defamation of character. There's not enough value in this whole episode for me to take it to court -- BUT, if YOU want to... Sounds like fun.] Finally, your use of stationery with our corporate letterhead has been used contrary to its intended usage, with an obvious attempt on your part to have it appear that we officially sanctioned your unwarranted "FAXMEMO". You are forbidden to use our name in any correspondence that you mail or faxmail to any person, organization or radio station. Based upon your actions, the Computing Success show is hereby canceled effective with your last broadcast on August 30, 1992. [Now, THAT's a fact! Oh, by the way, I am keeping Mr. Crossman apprised of these proceedings.] I am also sending you a copy of your agreement with our company, and if you can show me which paragraph addresses the question of whether you are entitled to be reimbursed for telephone expense I will certainly honor that commitment. In the meantime I am compiling our accounting records with regard to your previous telephone reimbursements, and we will be sending you an invoice for your reimbursement to Business Radio Network for telephone payments to you during the agreement term. [BRN still owes me $151.23. Do I take it I should not expect payment?] BRN will be notifying our affiliates of your outrageous conduct concerning this matter and advise you to make some attempt to reverse this situation by retracting statements in your FAXMEMO dated today. [Don't bother.I've already distributed your letter to me -- without these comments. "Outrageous" is something they can judge for themselves.] Very truly yours, BUSINESS RADIO NETWORK, INC, \s\ Richard G. Grisar President RGG:g FAXMEMO September 3, 1992} TO: BRN FROM: Thom Foulks, Cache la Byte SUBJECT: Wrap Up Judge: "Did you, or any authorized BRN representative, tell Mr. Foulks that BRN would pay for long distance phone bills?" Complainant: "Uh, yes, your Honor." Judge: "Did BRN subsequently pay, or reimburse Mr. Foulks, for such phone bills?" Complainant: "Uh, yes. When he submitted a request for reimbursement." Judge: "How many such requests did he submit, and how many were subsequently paid by BRN?" Complainant: "Approximately 15, sir." Judge: "Mr. Foulks has been associated with BRN for a longer period than 15 months. How did he handle his telephone expenses during the period preceding the 15 months of these phone bills?" Complainant: "He had been issued a telephone credit card, to use for direct billing of his telephone expense." Judge: "Why is Mr. Foulks not using that credit card today? I'm told it is still active." Complainant: "Mr. Foulks suggested that it was less expensive for him to use a reimbursement scheme for his telephone expense than a credit card, because each credit card call costs a stipend for its use." Judge: "That suggests that Mr. Foulks was attempting to reduce the cost of his telephone traffic. Was he successful? Did the billing costs go down? And by how much?" Complainant: "Our records show that Mr. Foulks' telephone costs, monthly, decreased to somewhere less than one-half of the previous monthly total." Judge: "Was Mr. Foulks billing BRN for long ditance expenses unrelated to his BRN contract?" Complainant: "Yes, sir!" Judge: "Please explain..." Complainant: "Well... I know he was, sir, but we have only a list of phone numbers by which to verify that." Judge: "So, if Mr. Foulks called a specific number, you know that it was not a billable BRN expense? How do you know that?" -------------------------------------------------------------- I could go on with this scenario at some length, but I think the point is clear. BRN violated its contract with me, without notice, when I was told on Sept. 1 that BRN would no longer pay my telephone expense for doing the Computing Sucess! broadcasts. Anyone disagreeing with that conclusion should contact a attorney for review of the above. Meanwhile, I intend to communicate the circumstances of this situation -- at my own expense -- with my friends across the nation. OK, some more odds and ends on the BRN affair. ** I remain a product reviewer for the Newsbytes News Service, and a Contributing Writer to Boardwatch Magazine. Neither of those are much money in the bank. I've had discussions with PC World about a column, but they don't seem to be chomping at the bit, so... Just as I always avoided working for KRDO and the GT locally, I have no desire to work for any of the Ziff-Davis Publications (PC Magazine, P/C Computing, etc.) Their management styles have similarities to BRN. ** I expect BRN to cancel any form of a Saturday computer show, and put Craig Crossman's Computer America (broadcast from the Miami area) on Sunday afternoons. Craig's show on American Forum Network was already being handled through here. The hours are likely to be different; and the rumor mill says KNUS won't carry the show. ** I notified several affiliates of my departure from BRN, by faxing them roughly the same exchange yo're rad hereon. Given that stations like KJJO and KEZX had strong local commercial sales in CS!, they have a problem BRN will have to handle. ** BRN owns the "Computing Success!" name. So, no, I cannot simply move CS! to some other venue. Originating a national program from Cache la Byte requires $$$'s in electronic gear I don't have, plus some additional phone lines I don't have. ** Word of my BRN departure has spread. I had a call from a New York PR agency yesterday, wanting to know what happened. I told 'em; they're shipping me a product for review, anyway. Similarly, Prodigy is cancelling my BRN account -- and is providing me with my own free account. ** I intend to continue writing "The Foulks File" for Colorado Springs ComputerTimes (assuming Rob still wants me to). ** Ed Hoffman and I are doing a seminar next week on DOS/PC use and word processing, for local secretarial services firms. No money in the bank from this one, but I expect to continue exploring such activities. ** Note hat no one can take away my Computing Press Association award for "Best Radio Show" -- the first such award to a national broadcast. The next go-round for such awards is not until next spring, so I left BRN as a winner -- with even a faint possibility yet of still being in that competition again. ** For now, my short-form bio is thus: Former host of the award-winning national computer talk show, "Computing Success!", Thom Foulks is a free-lance computer product reviewer, writer and speaker. His product reviews appear regularly in the Newsbytes News Service, Boardwatch Magazine and the Colorado Springs ComputerTimes. ** I'm not out beating the bushes, anxiously looking for "something to do." I know the word is spreading of my situation, a holiday weekend is upon us, and broadcasters will be waiting to hear what BRN does to fill the gap I left. By this time next week, I'll have a better handle on where computer gadfly Thom Foulks stands. Message: The Media-[950] Subject: NOW IT CAN BE TOLD From: THOM FOULKS To: All Sent:Sep 09 03:20:30 I'm joining PC World as a columnist-contributing editor. The working title of my column: "At The Business End" (not final, as yet). We are efforting to get the column into the December issue (now in preparation), but is quite possible it may slide 'til January. I'm going to San Francisco in a few days for a "get-to-know-each-other" sitdown with the PC World editorial staff. My column will specialize in informal reviews of unique hardware and software products, from a business user's perspective -- i.e., "Such and such may be a great product, but does it really help you be productive?" I'll also deal with exceptional products that do not fit well into comparative reviews, discussing their usefulness instead of mere benchmark testing. The editor-in-chief of PC World is Phil Lemmons, who was at Byte Magazine when Jerry Pournelle gained early popularity. In my conversations with Phil, he compared my writing style (evidenced by the many Runtime Reviws I have written for on-air use) to Pournelle: Phil wants the same type of informal narratives from me. (Anyone who's read my review writing on here for past couple of years, knows that's right down my alley!) Among the products I'm likely to deal with in the premiere column are a pair of items not yet announced: A powerhouse '486 at a mouth-watering price, and an affordable 600 DPI laser printer. My writing for ComputerTimes, Boardwatch, and the Newsbyte News Service, will continue. Thanks to all who have evidenced concern publicly and privately about me, since my hasty BRN departure. "Computing Success!" was a great training ground for me, but it is now very much in the past.