Members of the audience are bobbing their heads and tapping their feet as Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop performs at a special live-to-air fundraiser for Toronto’s JAZZ.FM radio station.

It’s a warm July evening and all the attendees are donors who shelled out $125 for the hour-long show in the station’s airy performance hall.

The Juno-nominated sextet cleverly reworks familiar jazz and pop songs. The music is vibrant and fun, the audience delighted.

But that up-tempo vibe contrasts with the recent turmoil and angst going on behind the scenes at JAZZ.FM91.

In March a group of employees calling themselves the Collective — a mix of 13 past and present on-air and behind-the-scenes employees — signed an explosive letter they gave to the station’s board of directors, accusing then-president and CEO Ross Porter of “sexual harassment” and “inappropriate workplace conduct of a sexual nature.”

In their letter, obtained by the Star, the Collective also blamed Porter and a vice-president for bullying, belittling and harassing employees.

They complained about an “us versus them” management style, a climate of fear and intimidation, and a lack of vision in programming and day-to-day operations at the station.

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The Collective accused Porter of threatening legal action or retribution against any staff member who considered going over his head with their concerns. And they said two members of the board of directors backed Porter’s leadership style.

Responding to one of the group’s demands, the station swiftly called in an independent workplace investigator to probe the allegations.

Four days after the letter the station announced that Porter, who has led JAZZ.FM since 2004, was taking a paid leave of absence. The station also said Bernie Webber was stepping aside as chair of the board.

At the end of May, after the investigator’s report was completed, the station announced Porter was stepping down and being given the honorary title of president emeritus — in effect a retirement. He has been replaced by an interim CEO and now Porter’s main responsibility is hosting a two-hour radio program for the station on Saturday mornings.

Before his fall from grace, Porter, 64, who earned about $270,000 a year in salary as CEO and president, was a Canadian success story.

He took over JAZZ.FM 14 years ago and erased its $800,000 debt over several years, eventually turning the station into an internationally recognized award-winner — one that jazz and blues musicians across the country praise for giving their music a wide platform.

Now his career is in tatters. He’s spending time caring for his wife, who has terminal brain cancer, and a son who has PTSD from three tours as a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan.

To learn more about what went on at JAZZ.FM, the Star contacted senior employees, donors, listeners and well-known local jazz musicians with ties to the station. The Star also reached out to several members of the Collective. And a complex narrative emerges.

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Some people blame the Collective for carrying out a “character assassination” of Porter and for having an axe to grind against the station.

“It appears the intent of the Collective was to decapitate or remove members of senior management,” John Sadler, a member of the board, said in an interview.

But others assert that the Collective was right to speak out, arguing that the atmosphere at the station was poisonous under Porter, who they claim ran the operation like a despot, frequently yelling at employees.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Marc Jordan says in the 25 years he has known Porter he’s never seen him behave inappropriately with staff or mistreat them. Jordan says his sense is there are “some unhappy employees” trying to destabilize the station. He calls Porter a “brilliant guy who built JAZZ.FM.”

Added one current senior member of the station who asked not to be identified because she doesn’t have the authority to speak on behalf of JAZZ.FM: “So here we are, revenue is severely compromised (and) costs are high. Hosts and other staff have been let go. The station is limping and bleeding. And this is primarily because (of) the Collective …”

She added that Porter “could be sometimes crass. He liked to tease people. But I have seen zero evidence that any of this amounted to sexual harassment.”

Danielle Goreski, a former senior account executive at the station who reported to Porter for nearly five years, says he was respectful to women and always treated her as an equal.

“I never felt uncomfortable behind closed doors,” she said in an interview.

Another senior employee, who also does not have authority to speak on behalf of the station, wrote in an email to the Star that the only ones at JAZZ.FM who ended up on Porter’s bad side and got “called out” by him where those “who weren’t performing their jobs, plain and simple.”

There were staff, including on-air names, who were weak at their jobs, or insubordinate, or unprofessional, or failed to meet targets and this frustrated Porter, according to the senior employee.

As for the sexual allegations, the senior member said Porter did participate in casual conversations, banter and jokes that were “going around the table” but none of his banter was worse than what others were saying at the time, the employee says.

Porter “hugs” males and females in the same manner, and “it is a term of endearment, and not a sexual advance,” the senior employee adds.

The employee did note, however: “for sure, there have been times” when Porter “said something that perhaps a CEO shouldn’t.” Still, Porter “makes the list of best bosses I’ve ever had,” the employee goes on to say.

As for the Collective, the employee says: “in summary what is happening at JAZZ.FM now is nothing short of a coup, a mutiny, a hostile takeover attempt.”

Porter’s critics have a different take.

“As the producer at the station for three years, I can assure you that I regularly had female employees come into my studio after meeting with (Porter), distraught and crying,” James Dooley, a former employee, wrote in a Facebook post in June.

“When I did work there (staff talked) about holding (Porter) accountable somehow but there was such a fear of him that nobody felt comfortable putting their name to paper,” wrote Dooley, who calls JAZZ.FM the “most toxic environment” he has ever seen, a problem he says continued for years. Dooley has held a number of media-related positions elsewhere.

When contacted by the Star, Dooley, who is not a member of the Collective, declined to comment beyond his Facebook statements, saying only that he stands by the remarks.

In an interview with the Star a member of the Collective who asked not to be identified, also described the atmosphere as “toxic.”

“Everything that was being done was just to cater to one individual — Mr. Porter,” said the member.

“The berating of people, bullying, pitting people against one another, and belittling people ... telling staff not to talk to other staff. There’s no way things could be any more unprofessional,” the member added.

The Collective member said the letter wasn’t signed in malice or with the intent of toppling senior management, but rather in the best interests of the station.

According to sources at the station, the sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct complaints against Porter were lodged by two or three women.

One complaint was that Porter regularly engaged in sexual comments, including a joke that staffers should sleep with donors for money — a reference to the 1993 Hollywood film Indecent Proposal, in which a married woman has sex with a wealthy man to get money for her and her husband.

During meetings with staff and managers, Porter allegedly asked them to pitch him good ideas that would “make me horny” — i.e. that Porter would like.

Another complaint was that his face brushed too close to a female’s neck when he hugged her. And there was an accusation he touched a female employee on the thigh while speaking to her during a meeting.

In a statement to the Star, Porter says the allegations range from “fabrication to a distortion of what happened, due to a lack of context” and he wonders what the “true motivation” of the complainants was.

He says he did not regularly start sexually graphic conversations, and would never knowingly touch or behave in an unwanted manner.

As for the “make me horny” comment, he says he used it in the context of asking staff for exciting ideas, not in a sexual way. He acknowledged it’s the “wrong expression to use” and added he hasn’t used the term in nearly three years.

Porter denied ever “consciously or knowingly” reducing staff to tears.

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Located in Toronto’s Liberty Village neighbourhood, JAZZ.FM has a loyal base of listener-donors, and donations make up about half of its annual revenues.

It’s a registered not-for-profit, a charity with an annual budget of $4.6 million and 143,000 daily listeners. The small operation has 16 employees including managers, plus a handful of hosts on contract, and is overseen by a volunteer board of directors.

The station began over 60 years ago as CJRT, and it was first owned by what is now Ryerson University. Ownership was transferred in the mid-1970s to a non-profit corporation.

In 2001, an all-jazz playlist was ushered in, and the station adopted the new title JAZZ.FM91. Porter, a former broadcaster and producer with the CBC, and former executive at Canwest, took over three years later.

Awarded the Order of Canada in 2013 for a lifetime of community and national service, Porter is credited with heading a number of projects at JAZZ.FM including the 2005 launch of the Jazz Lives annual fundraising concert, a marquee event that has brought big-name acts to Toronto such as Branford Marsalis and Pat Metheny.

Among several community outreach initiatives Porter helped establish is the JAZZ.FM Youth Big Band, started in 2008. Talented high-school-aged musicians are guided by experts in improvisational, jazz and ensemble styles and are given the opportunity to perform as an 18-piece band at large Toronto venues.

The station has also captured prestigious awards, including last year when it won gold, silver and bronze at the New York Festivals World’s Best Radio Programs — the silver and bronze for programs hosted by Porter.

The station won two silvers at the event this year, including for one of Porter’s shows.

But the station is facing an industry-wide decline in ad dollars. The station saw a budget shortfall of nearly $620,000 in 2016, according to tax filings with the Canada Revenue Agency. The station used reserve funds to cover the loss.

Tax filings for 2017 showed a modest $30,000 surplus for JAZZ.FM.

Sources at the station say there was a sense of optimism that JAZZ.FM would see a healthy fiscal outcome this year.

Then in March, the controversy erupted over the letter.

That meant added costs including the independent investigator and legal fees.

Battle lines were drawn.

Days after the letter came out, someone walked into a production studio at the station and erased four hours of pre-taped content for a coming show. The station looked into it and said it was sabotage by an employee, but chose not to seek punishment.

In late May JAZZ.FM wrote a letter to the Collective saying the report of the third-party investigator, Jennifer MacKenzie, was completed. The board would only say that “many” of the Collective’s allegations were found to be “unsubstantiated” including those against the two board members.

“Other” allegations required action by the station’s board of directors, action that has already been taken, the board says. The board wouldn’t say what the report said regarding Porter, but he’s no longer CEO and president.

The station says the allegations pertaining to workplace safety and human rights concerns have been dealt with.

Senior staff told the Star these resolutions didn’t fully satisfy members of the Collective. For instance, they wanted to obtain the investigator’s report but the board denied that request, citing confidentiality commitments to those who spoke to the investigator.

MacKenzie talked to nearly 30 people, including all those who signed the letter, as well as full-time, contract and former employees who came forward voluntarily.

Her report has only been seen by two board members and the board’s lawyer, according to the board.

The member of the Collective who spoke to the Star said members are also upset JAZZ.FM permitted Porter to remain on the air with his Saturday show.

As the station reeled from all of this, a financial hit came in late June when Bay Bloor Radio decided to pull ads from a Saturday program Porter hosts. Bay Bloor, which markets audio and video products, hasn’t decided if in the fall it will resume broader advertising arrangements it has with the station, worth about $50,000. All of this resulted from Bay Bloor’s concerns about the Collective’s allegations.

Then came more bad news. In late June, as part of a cost-cutting move, the station sent a note to donors informing them that seven employees, including five full-timers and two on contract, were being terminated. That included four on air-hosts: Walter Venafro, Jaymz Bee, Mark Wigmore and David Basskin.

In fact a number of other staff, including popular on-air names Dani Elwell and Garvia Bailey, have left the station over the last year and a half.

Members of the Collective have pointed to high turnover as a symptom of the problems with the station’s management. But senior employees at JAZZ.FM say some of the turnover is simply a result of the realities of working for a not-for-profit — including lower wages.

Meanwhile, JAZZ.FM continues to broadcast its music.

“As a Canadian cultural institution, our commitment to our supporters, including our donors, listeners and the musical community will not waver,” David McGown, the new chair of the board, said in a statement to the Star.

Listener Greg Marshall, 54, a donor to the station and a volunteer who was on hand for the Turboprop show in July, says he’s shocked and saddened by what’s been going on recently.

The retired teacher says his biggest fear is that these problems might lead to JAZZ.FM shutting down.

“It’s essential that we keep and support this kind of music.”

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