It has been nearly a year since longtime Tallahassee personality Joe Bullard abruptly exited urban AC “96.1 Jamz” WHBX, a station he’d worked for since 1997. Bullard sued the station last August for age discrimination, and court maneuvers during the past year offer some insight into what led up to the split for one of the market’s best-known personalities and programmer.
Bullard originally filed suit last year in Leon County Circuit Court. However, after the complaint included claims under the federal employment law, the cased moved to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The dispute has since evolved into a broader legal battle that sits at the intersection of programming strategy, workplace allegations, and the broadcaster’s bankruptcy.
In an updated complaint filed in February, Bullard alleges Cumulus systematically pushed him out because of his age after nearly three decades with the broadcaster. Bullard, 72, alleges the campaign began in early 2025 when consultant Kenneth “Smooth” Smoot told him the station was headed in a “different direction” and directed him to stop playing “older” music during his show, “specifically citing artists such as Anita Baker and Gladys Knight as ‘too old.’”…