Morning host Morris Baxter, after recuperating from complications over diabetes the past five months, will return on air September 21 on jazz station 91.9/WCLK-FM.
Baxter experienced a diabetic shock in April and has undergone extensive treatment since then. In May, he said he had been pre-diabetic for two years but recently was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes despite making diet and exercise changes. At the time, he had hoped to return in June, but the recovery period ended up being far more arduous than he expected.
He first became the station’s morning host in 2007.
The non-commercial jazz station, owned by Clark Atlanta University, has seen ratings improve in recent years. In August, the station brought in a 2.0 share, tied for 18th place overall with hip-hop station Streetz 94.5 and sports talk 680/The Fan.
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Credit: Facebook public profile photo
Credit: Facebook public profile photo
“Hurricane” Dave Smith, who ran Radio One Atlanta programming for several years but was dismissed after a former jock sued him over sexual harassment and assault claims, has seen his countersuit dismissed by a state court judge in Fulton County.
Ed Buckley, who represents Feleg Abraham (known on-air as Shorty Mack), told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Smith’s attorneys filed a motion asking the court to reconsider the dismissal of the counterclaim. He said the original lawsuit is still working itself through the court system. An email to Smith’s attorneys was not returned.
At the time he was let go, Smith was vice president of programming for Radio One Atlanta, overseeing Hot 107.9, Majic 107.5/97.5, Praise 102.5 and Classix 102.9.
Abraham originally filed her lawsuit in August 2019. She claimed Smith had come on to her even before she was hired. She said he assaulted her at least twice, including a time in his office where he allegedly forced oral sex on her. She said he sexually harassed her numerous times from her time of employment Dec. 12, 2016 until her resignation February 23, 2018.
In his counterclaim originally filed in September 2019, Smith refuted and denied all of Abraham’s claims.
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Attorney Alan Dershowitz filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN earlier this week seeking $300 million. He claims the network distorted a quote he said during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump that made him appear to be an “intellectual who had lost his mind."
Dershowitz said Trump had not abused his power by leaning on Ukraine to open an investigation of Joe Biden’s son. On Jan. 29, Sen. Ted Cruz asked Dershowitz if it mattered whether there was a “quid pro quo.”
“The only thing that would make a quid pro quo unlawful is if the quo were somehow illegal,” he said.
He later added that “if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”
In his suit, he argued that CNN hosts created "a one-sided and false narrative’ that Dershowitz had argued presidents could act illegally in blanket fashion if they believed their re-election was in the public interest.
Dershowitz said he “unequivocally and unambiguously stated” that a president could not act illegally in that context.
“Due to the overwhelming vastness of its broadcasts, CNN caused substantial damage to Professor Dershowitz by irreparably harming his reputation,” it says.
CNN declined to comment about the lawsuit.
