Christian talk radio’s Bob Larson has long had a reputation for being demanding, but not abusive, toward his workers. However, new developments have called into question whether Larson has crossed the line.
A former Bob Larson Ministries (BLM) employee, Robert Cannella, has asked the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to determine whether BLM discriminated against him. Larson hosts the controversial talk show “Talk Back Live,” based in suburban Denver. If discrimination is found, BLM may be ordered to reinstate Cannella or pay damages.
In addition, Bonnie Bell has announced she is leaving the ministry, the fourth top female manager to quit or be fired from BLM since 1992.
In Cannella’s complaint, filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the EEOC, he alleges he was sexually harassed by his supervisor, Pam Koczman, and when he reported it to Larson and Angelo Diasparra, senior vice-president, he was demoted and later fired. BLM informed him that he was fired because of “budgetary reasons.”
Cannella told CHRISTIANITY TODAY that he has also asked the Colorado Department of Labor to investigate BLM for nonpayment of accrued overtime. Cannella says he is owed nearly $6,000 in back pay. Cannella was hired as a production assistant and later promoted to operations manager.
Cannella claims that sexual harassment from Koczman, vice-president of network services, began shortly after he accepted a job at BLM. He says “the final straw” was when Koczman allegedly left three photographs of herself in beach attire on Cannella’s desk.
Diasparra says BLM is preparing a legal response to Cannella’s complaint. According to sources, Koczman has a widely respected reputation within the ministry and has made a counter-allegation that Cannella sexually harassed her. The status of the counter-allegation, which Cannella denies, remains unclear.
In mid-August, Bell announced on the air that she was leaving to return to Missouri for “personal reasons.” She served as Larson’s fill-in host on many occasions and was a leading public representative of the ministry. Bell told CT, “I want time left over for me. I’m not prepared to give up any more weekends. I’m getting old and weary. I’m not as career-oriented as I thought I was. This is not what I want to do.”
Since last year, three other top managers have left suddenly. Lori Boespflug, a vice-president who was actively involved in writing the Larson novel Dead Air, was fired by Larson after he found out she was living with her fiancé. Margo Hamilton, head of BLM’s hotline referral service, abruptly left the ministry last fall for “personal reasons.” Hamilton’s replacement, Sharon Craft, headed up the referral service for a few months until she quit earlier this year.
From a variety of sources, the work atmosphere at BLM has been characterized as unusually tense, stressful, and at times verbally abusive (CT, May 17, p. 74). Earlier this year CT obtained from a reliable source copies of ministry memos, which paint a stark picture of how Larson deals with his workers.
In a February memo, one station manager was reportedly “horrified to see how [Larson] treated staff and Kathy [Larson’s wife at the time] in particular eight to nine years ago when [Larson was] there to do a show.”
Cannella told CT, “People are scared they will be fired. The way [Larson] treats his employees in such a browbeating manner, in a denigrating way, people start to doubt their own self-worth.… He is never to blame for anything the way he does business.”
Other memos obtained by CT show how closely Larson keeps an eye on his staff, including monitoring elevators and the parking lot to see who arrives late for work. Larson has also complained in memos about “unscheduled guests” at work, saying, “No one will be allowed access to [BLM] unless: They have been approved by me personally. Have a scheduled appointment and are cleared through a director. Are an obvious exception such as a long-time large donor.”
According to a May 5 memo, there were 130 stations carrying “Talk Back.” A dozen had been dropped as of May, including nine stations that canceled. Some stations said they received “negative feedback from listeners.” A February unaudited financial statement indicated that 1992 income dropped 14 percent, to $4.6 million from $5.4 million in 1991.
By Timothy C. Morgan.
