NEW YORK — Her legal name is Amilee Cattouse. For listeners of one of the nation’s leading Adult R&B radio stations, she’s known as Shaila Scott.
Under that name, Cattouse was the midday host on WBLS-FM 107.5, an iconic radio station serving African Americans across the Tri-State area today licensed to MediaCo Holding Co., the passive partnership between Emmis Communications founder Jeff Smulyan and Standard General head Soohyung Kim.
Was is a word that’s frustrating Cattouse, so much that she has hired legal counsel and sued WBLS’s owner over her dismissal.
Representing Cattouse is Wigdor LLP and Gilda L. Kramer & Associates.
They filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and seek a jury trial to help demonstrate that, as Shaila Scott, Ms. Cattouse had “an extraordinary 30+ year career” and was once referred to as “Radio Royalty.”
As her legal counsel asserts, “None of that mattered to the corporate managers” at MediaCo.
The complaint alleges that Scott was paid less than her male peers and decided to part ways with her at age 59; her replacement in middays at WBLS is approximately 25 years younger.
There’s more, as described in the 12-page preliminary statement filed by the legal counsel — Cattouse further alleges that MediaCo withheld her severance unless she promised not to sue the company for discrimination, including what she and her legal counsel consider to be “violations of the equal pay laws.”
In a statement, Wigdor LLP Partner Valdi Licul claimed, “This is yet another troubling example of the hurdles faced by even the most accomplished women. They are paid less than men who perform the same job and then discarded when they reach a certain age. Thankfully, Ms. Scott is one of the brave women who has decided to fight back.”
Cattouse added, “I am shocked and saddened that WBLS decided that when I reached 59, it was time to discard me. I dedicated my career to radio and to the fans that listen, who I will miss greatly. I hope my decision to speak up will shine a light on the realities that women still get paid less than men for the same job and at a certain age, they are no longer valued.”
That’s a bit of a different tone than what Cattouse shared in early June to Vibe magazine. “Although this is the end of my journey with WBLS, it is, of course not the end of our journey,” she shared to the publication.
Raised in Harlem, Cattouse, as Shaila Scott, first gained noticed at acclaimed R&B station WBLK-FM in Buffalo. She came to New York to work at WBLS, and in 1994 shifted to former Adult R&B station WRKS “98.7 Kiss FM” — a move fueled by the late programming executive Steve Smith, who died on Thursday.
In 2012, with Emmis’ acquisition of WBLS, Scott moved back to her first NYC home, taking middays.
On June 2, her departure from WBLS became official. “Sadly, Mediaco decided not to renew my contract and advised me that ‘the station is going in a different direction,’” she shared with Vibe.
MediaCo has been led by CEO Rahsan-Rahsan Lindsay since June 2021.
