1. Alison put a ARIYNBF banner on iTunes without a Carolla Digital Network logo on it.
Earlier in 2014, Rosen paid to promote her show on iTunes.
She hired a graphic designer and put a banner up in the podcast store.
Carolla saw the banner and wanted to know why it didn't have a Carolla logo or "bug" on it.
Here's the thing- most of those banners, even now, don't have network bugs on them.
And if he cared so much about brand awareness, why hadn't he had his people design banners (with bugs) and paid to promote his network's shows on iTunes?Rosen went back and forth with Carolla's proxies via email debating on what bug size was bug-like and what took over the banner.
Carolla thought the lack of network pride was a direct snub.
He thought Rosen was trying to distance herself from his brand.
Carolla spoke of how Rosen may have had difficulty getting some guests because of his politics, as if that were her problem alone and not the whole studio's.
Finally a bugged-up banner was submitted to iTunes, hopefully increasing listenership and making both Rosen and Carolla more money.
She knew he'd been pissed, but thought he'd let it go since it was never mentioned again.
He hadn't.
For the past couple of years, Carolla had been fighting what he describes as "patent trolls," or a company that buy old patents to try to reapply them to something else.
In this case, a company bought an old patent regarding sequencing of digitally distributed content and decided that they had retroactively invented podcasting.
They sued Carolla for $3 million in hopes that he'd settle.
He didn't.
The trolls finally dropped the suit in July of 2014, but not before he racked up a defense bill of over $650,000.
Carolla decided to crowd-source the defense fund on fundanything.com, but only came up with about a half million.
He then diverted the proceeds from his Amazon.com banner ad into the defense fund, which was fine.
He then decreed that the other shows on his network would do the same, committing their banner money to the defense fund.
The problem was that that ad revenue was a significant portion of Rosen's monthly income.
The situation sadly shows how out-of-touch the millionaire Carolla has gotten.
To him, moving the Amazon money to the defense fund was no more than switching which column the numbers went in.
It was one of a dozen revenue streams he could sacrifice without impacting his lifestyle.
For Rosen, it was one of three revenue streams that her boss was trying to take back.
Most people would object to losing thousands a month, even during years that didn't involve pricey weddings or fertility procedures, which hers did.
Their recollections differ on how strongly Rosen objected, and Carolla said he did let her keep the Amazon banner revenue, though he didn't feel she was being a team player.
What he failed to mention is that Rosen acquiesced and ended up putting up the banners anyway, contributing to paying back the dense fund all the way up until December, when she was fired.
Carolla's airing of Rosen's faults did answer some listeners' questions, even if it came off as crude and unprofessional.
For Rosen, it let her know the incidents that had stuck in her former boss's craw for months on end.
In some ways it was like a creepy romantic breakup:
She knew he'd sat beside her smiling deceitfully months after he'd decided he was going to dump her.
He'd decided to do it after Christmas for it's tidiness, like a high school senior who dumps his girlfriend after prom.
So, what's done is done.
Rosen is glad to be on her own, even if it's without the studio's resources.
Carolla kept most of his listeners and will continue sailing his pirate ship over the digital airwaves, master of his own domain.
But things are different now.
Now we know that Adam's the only one truly on the pirate ship, and everyone else is still working for a temperamental boss that could fire you without warning, i.e. The Man.
The sense of family is gone, and it's more what he wanted all along, the Cult of Adam.
And, if I'm being honest, I'll continue to listen, even without that sense of family.
But if I'm ordering something, I'll be clicking through Rosen's Amazon banner.
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