Ed Sherman with Wacky Webio PD

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: Webio program director has no regrets about leaving WSCR : Posted by Ed Sherman 6/16/2009 8:08AM on Chicago Business : Jesse Rogers still is wondering how the best job he ever had vanished in an instant with the station owner facing charges from the SEC. But he said he has no regrets about leaving WSCR-AM 670 to become program director for Chicagosportswebio.com. : "For three months here, everything was just great," Mr. Rogers said. "It was the best place I ever worked at. I doubled my salary. I absolutely don't regret anything. I wasn't sure it was going to last, but it was an opportunity I had to take. At least I made good money for three months." : Hindsight was the order of the day Tuesday, and Mr. Rogers had a better view than most. He worked closely with Chicagosportswebio.com owner David Hernandez. On Monday, the SEC sued Mr. Hernandez, alleging he ran a Ponzi scheme, using some of the funds to launch the new Internet sports talk station. : Mr. Hernandez spent lavishly on the endeavor. He poured nearly $300,000 into marketing for the station, which went on the air in April. Webio sent five people to Detroit during the Blackhawks series with the Red Wings; SCR sent nobody. After a launch party in March, he gave staffers envelopes with $500 checks (they cleared) to celebrate the beginning of the new station. : Initially, Mr. Rogers didn't see anything out of line with Mr. Hernandez's behavior. : "I assume he was willing to take some losses," Mr. Rogers said. "Yeah, did I wonder? I suppose I did, looking back. I just thought he was one of those guys who thought you have to spend money to make money. That's what anybody would be looking for." : Mr. Rogers said everything appeared to be running smoothly until three weeks ago, when the first paychecks started to bounce. He said Mr. Hernandez explained it was a bank error, even attaching a letter from the bank. : Mr. Rogers said he didn't think anything of it at first. But then he started to notice a change in Mr. Hernandez. : Mr. Hernandez had been hands-on until that point, Mr. Rogers said. Suddenly, he became unavailable. : "He wouldn't return our calls," Mr. Rogers said. "Everything was running smoothly. Then all of the sudden, it's not." : Mr. Rogers said only his last check didn't clear. He was lucky since others had as many as four bounced checks. : Mr. Rogers was on hand Monday when Mr. Hernandez addressed the staff. Mr. Hernandez wouldn't allow him to attend the meeting. : Mr. Rogers speculates that it stemmed from him asking questions about whether Mr. Hernandez spent time in jail. Mr. Hernandez was convicted of wire fraud in 1998 and was sentenced to 34 months in jail. : "Somebody asked him about it," Mr. Rogers said. "He denied it and learned that it had come from me. Turns out he suspended me." : Mr. Rogers learned that at the meeting Mr. Hernandez made accusations of improprieties against Mike North, his wife, BeBe, and Jeff Schwartz. Mr. North was a co-founder in the station, with BeBe serving as the chief operating officer and Mr. Schwartz as the sales manager. : "I want to stress Mike, BeBe and Jeff did nothing wrong," Mr. Rogers said. "I worked closely with BeBe and we went to David if we needed to get anything approved - a computer, travel. All they wanted to do was build something here." : Mr. Rogers thinks the station actually got off to a highly successful start. Advertising was better than expected, and they were building a nice core of listeners. : "We have a good foundation here," Mr. Rogers said. "I absolutely think this could have worked. I thought we had a good product. It's a shame we didn't have a chance to see it through."

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