DALLAS — The last year has been one of changes for 96.7FM/1310AM The Ticket, the popular sports talk station in Dallas.
Now, some of that has spilled over to the courtroom.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Dallas denied a request from The Ticket's parent company, Cumulus, that aimed to prevent former hosts Dan McDowell and Jake Kemp from recording a new podcast. But Cumulus responded by re-filing their request, which called for a temporary restraining order against McDowell and Kemp, who left The Ticket last month after being unable to come to a new contract agreement.
McDowell and Kemp, who hosted "The Hangzone" from noon to 3 p.m., resigned from the station on July 14 and were last on air on June 30. They've since begun recording a new podcast with multiple episodes per week.
Cumulus, in a lawsuit filed Aug. 4, requested an emergency injunction against McDowell and Kemp, saying they've displayed "flagrant breaches of contract" and "misappropriation" of the company's intellectual property rights.
The lawsuit said McDowell and Kemp were prohibited from "activities the same or essentially the same" as hosting The Hangzone for a period of six months after they left the station, a contractual agreement commonly known as a non-compete.
But Judge Karen Gren Scholer in a ruling Wednesday denied Cumulus' emergency application for a temporary restraining order, saying nothing filed by Cumulus "makes any reference to serving notice of the application on defendants, much less 'certifies ... any efforts made to give notice and the reasons why it should not be required.'"
Cumulus later Wednesday filed a renewed application for a temporary restraining order and injunction.
Cumulus officials in a statement to WFAA on Thursday morning said they were "very disappointed that the actions of Mr. McDowell and Mr. Kemp have necessitated litigation."
"Throughout their employment, we offered our unwavering support, engaged in good-faith negotiations for contract renewals, and reached a mutual agreement on salary matters while expressing our eagerness to collaborate on expanding their presence to new platforms," the statement said. "Despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an agreement."
McDowell and Kemp have not yet commented on the lawsuit, though they referenced the litigation in their podcast released Sunday.
"Apparently there are lawsuits happening," McDowell said. "Apparently they do want us to stop this. We're working with certain advisors. We've been advised that we are doing nothing wrong, so don't stop, for now. So right now, we are putting this out there, and what's in store for tomorrow? I don't know."
The lawsuit said, McDowell's and Kemp's new podcast, named "The Dumb Zone" is "an identical show," to The Hang Zone, and the suit alleges they started recording the podcast before their employment formally ended with The Ticket on July 14.
McDowell and Kemp were last on the air for The Ticket on June 30.
The lawsuit also accuses McDowell and Kemp of talking "at length" on their new show about their podcast about contract negotiations with The Ticket, and it said the two "mocked" the company's cease-and-desist order, offering instead to "cease-and-cist."
The lawsuit outlined an array of other allegations, saying McDowell and Kemp threatened to release conversations they had with Cumulus executives; criticized the company's hiring practices; "actively disparaged" company employees; rebranded an X account, formerly known as Twitter, owned by Cumulus to a new handle, "@dumbzone69"; changed The Hang Zone's logo by blacking out "hang" and replacing it with "Dumb"; and used The Hang Zone's website link to redirect their new Patreon subscription account.
The lawsuit also provided some details on how contract negotiations allegedly developed between Cumulus and McDowell and Kemp, saying the two sides agreed "on most terms," including pay.
The snag in negotiations, according to the lawsuit, happened over McDowell and Kemp wanting "to engage in other independent media pursuits" while working at The Ticket, "specifically starting their own podcast."
"During these discussions, Defendants gave no indication that they were simultaneously recording a competing podcast, nor that they had any intent to start a competing podcast or otherwise violate their restrictive covenants," the lawsuit said.
Cumulus said it "could not agree" to McDowell and Kemp recording a podcast, but the company offered them a podcast they could host "independent of The Hang Zone" on the company's podcast network, with the possibility of revenue sharing options.
McDowell and Kemp declined, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also went into McDowell's and Kemp's comments about Cumulus on their new podcast, specifically an episode the two recorded with comedian Akaash Singh.
The lawsuit said Kemp let Singh "represent" that Kemp's pay did not increase when Kemp was promoted from producer to host in 2020. Kemp's pay "doubled during the time frame when he started hosting," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is arguing McDowell and Kemp violated several counts, including breach of contract and fiduciary duty. It also aims to recoup any attorney's fees as a result of the lawsuit, noting that Kemp agreed in his contract with Cumulus to cover any company attorney fee's involved in enforcing the contract.
