Cardinals flagship radio exec under pressure from investors

"(KTRS) Station investors include many prominent St. Louisans, including broadcaster Dan Dierdorf, former beer distributor Jerry Clinton and several

• family members of Cardinals President Bill DeWitt."...

KTRS president and gm Tim Dorsey denies he's being pressured to resign, but

• "...the website stlmedia.net on Thursday published a scathing memo dated April 6, marked confidential and addressed to ''fellow KTRS directors/investors."

The memo criticized Dorsey for everything from the 2005 sale of half-ownership of the station to the Cardinals for $2 million, to his hiring and firing of on-air talent, to what it called the lavish lifestyles led by him and his two station-employed sons.

• "It is obvious to us that he has mismanaged our station for years to such a degree that the value of our asset has diminished because of it," the unsigned memo said....

Dorsey created KTRS (formerly KSD) in 1996; he had been second-in-command at KMOX Radio for years.

• Despite cash infusions, KTRS has lost about $1 million a year for the last several years, including $320,000 in the first quarter of 2009, the memo said.

It blamed Dorsey for rosy projections about the revenue the station could get from Cardinals broadcasts. Based on those assurances, investors sold to the Cardinals at a fraction of the station's potential worth only to see revenue estimates fall well short, the memo said. It also questioned why Dorsey paid Cardinals broadcaster John Rooney $80,000 for occasional on-air appearances, even though he was being paid by the Cardinals, and

• spent an additional $2,000 with Rooney at upscale restaurants.

The memo also took Dorsey to task for spending "tens of thousands of dollars wining and dining at St. Louis' finest restaurants," and his use of limousines, luxury hotels and first-class airport lounges."...via Radio Daily News

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