KY age discrimination suit goes national on Friday as John Stossel cries, "Give Me a Break!"

Remember the EEOC complaint filed by three former 99.7 KY disc jockeys earlier this year? A couple of months after that, ABC News flew two of them — Tanna Guthrie and legendary rock 'n' roll jock Max Floyd — to New York for a classic John Stossel grilling. I don't want to say that John Stossel is predictable, but Vegas suspended betting on how this segment would turn out 10 minutes before it was announced.

And now, nearly four months later, the bit is finally airing on ABC's "20/20" on Friday.

UPDATE: Here's the story as it ran.

Here's its description of the show:

The law says that older employees can not be fired because of their age. When a Kansas City radio station changed music formats, they fired two DJs who had been on the air many years. The DJs are suing, charging the station with age discrimination. But John Stossel says that hiring and firing is the creative destruction that allows businesses to thrive. To the laws and lawyers that try to stop such change, Stossel says, “give me a break!”

That John Stossel would standing athwart the EEOC yelling "stop!" is not exactly news, even though it's airing on a news program. Still, that's not even the silliest part. Tanna Guthrie is working in radio again ... for the same company that fired her! The EEOC complaint is still not resolved, yet the defendant, Entercom Communications, has hired Guthrie to work at another of its stations.

"Four weeks ago, they hired me again for KUDL in afternoons, two doors down," Guthrie said with a laugh. "I wanted to stay in radio. That was my thing. So I am in radio."

But that means, of course, that John Stossel will be able to look at the camera at the end of his segment on Friday and, curling his porn-star mustache, smugly inform the viewers that the woman you just heard has been hired back again ...

"I am totally going to look like an idiot, because you know they're going to air a postscript," said Guthrie. "That's what I would do if I were running the story."

Comments

[Allison Solow]

What's Stossel going to do when ABC fires him for not being cute anymore? You don't think he'll holler age discrimination? What a hypocrite!

The bottom line, especially on RADIO, is were they doing the job? If the radio ownership had cause for the firings, they should have made that clear and document it. If it was an age thing, shame on them!

[pepe]

Dear Allison,
You cannot be a hypocrite if you haven't done it yet. And there is no way to know if he would even think of doing it.

He's not a hypocrite...at least not about this.

[The Wise One]

The station changed format for God's sake! It's not like they fired Max & Tanna and then just filled their spot with new, younger DJ's. If ABC cancelled the show LOST, should they have to employ all of the actors in whatever show replaces it? Of course not. Radio personalities are in the entertainment industry. Other radio stations will probably think twice about hirring either of them now, fearing a lawsuit.

[Judy]

Wow, it's obvious Stossel did not do an inch of homework -- GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!

Lets start with 01/12/2005 when Ed Zander wanted 51 yr old Mike S. Zafirovski out to "restructure" MOTOROLA with a younger look.

Have you seen their stock, let alone the heap of steel in Harvard sitting vacant?

Do you prefer to ignore 03/13/2000 Age & the Academy? Ask any actress over 40 or even 35 how many scripts are running to her.

I am a 54 yr young, plus size woman, who the same day I had orthoscopic knee surgery, did not go home to bed, but continued doing business, via the telephone. Two days later I was out running errands.

My point is my girlfriends 19 yr OLD niece had the exact same surgery and was laid up for 3 weeks. Yes, that is called milking it.

I believe the baby boomers have more stamina and work ethic than half of the x or y generation.

John Stossel, you are not Chuck Goudie. Let him take your job, as he knows what investigative reporting really is, before he would ever say "Give me a Break" about age discrimination!