Pierre Eaton—Richard Eaton's son, who also served as United's vice president and as a secretary for Friendly—assumed direct responsibility for WJMO's operations in mid-1969; he would relinquish those duties in January 1970, but not before operations manager John Slade was fired. Morton Silverman—Friendly's vice-president and assistant secretary—assumed oversight of the station shortly thereafter, while Slade's dismissal ignited a dispute between staff and management over working conditions at the station and the lack of blacks in key leadership positions. Station staff and local community groups, including the SCLC's Cleveland chapter, presented a list of 21 demands; these included the installation of new broadcast equipment, appointments of African-Americans to management roles, and the cancellation of all ethnic and religious programs, including "Message of Hope". Key station personnel formed a coalition with the SCLC that staged a boycott, picketing, and then an employee-led "sick out," which took the station off the air between January 12 and January 21, 1970; Friendly retaliated by firing all personnel involved in the "sick out", while the SCLC's Cleveland chapter asked sponsors to withhold advertising from WJMO. In a truce called to resolve matters between the staff and the management, the fired personnel were reinstated, and morning host Kennard "Ken" Hawkins was appointed the station's general manager; becoming the first African-American to hold that position at a Cleveland radio station.