Posted by Flame Thrower on January 29, 2010 at 15:05:36:
In last weekend's Chicago Radio Spotlight (which I see is posted here a bit down the page), Todd Ronczkowski was talking about past people he had worked with, including a not-so-good GM who was "doing time for a scam." That started off a whole lot of questions and searches for just who was this unnamed scam artist/con man GM? Todd is too much of a gentleman to name this person. Regardless, I now have the answers about that person.
Before I get to that, if you haven't read Rick Kaempfer's Chi. Radio Spotlight interview with Todd Ronczkowski, you should do so -it's on the main page here under 'Get to know Todd..'. Outside of that one quick reference to the scam artist GM, it is a very positive interview that also mentions some very nice things about the new WLS PD, Drew Hayes, as well as Todd's station, WVON.. and Rick always asks great questions.
Back to the scam artist... It turns out the man in question is Tom Avila aka Tom Simon. Tom has been in radio many years, working in a few different markets. He has also been in legal trouble for as least as many years. He has been arrested on several felony charges during most of his adult life, including charges of assault, bank fraud and grand theft. He has been in trouble for forgery, selling good illegally, eBay scams, assaulting officers and much more.
Even though his legal name is Tom Simon, when working in radio, he used the name Tom Avila. He comes from a journalistic background, it turns out. His brother is former Chicago TV reporter and current ABC News correspondent, Jim Avila, the highly respected, award-winning journalist. Another brother is Jaie Avila, a TV news anchor in San Antonio. Yet another brother is Chris Simon, a journalist working in the Soviet Union. His father is Jim Simon, a talk radio pioneer who later became a Vice President of CBS. Needless to say, the rest of the Avila/Simon family is not very close to Tom, and is in fact, very embarrassed by him.
If you'd like to read more about ol' Tommy Boy, here are links to a pair of stories about some recent fun he was having down in Phoenix. Since these articles were written, Tom has been prosecuted, found guilty of numerous charges and is in jail for a few years to think about his life.:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-04-01/news/tom-avila-s-big-story/ (Phoenix New Times: Tom Avila's Big Story)
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-06-10/news/b-s-enterprises/ (Phoenix New Times: Former radio guy arrested for forgery - again)