News & Media Announcements

Education, Awareness, Change

19 August 2009 

EARTH MATTERS RADIO SHOW WAS AN ELABORATE FRAUD.

In February 2009 the Greenhouse Neutral Foundation's Founder & Chair Bob Williamson, was approached to conduct a live radio interview by Randell T. Byrd who, posing as the Fire Chief of Independence Fire Department and the News Director of the 'NightRide show' at WBRF, WPAQ, WSYD, WWWJ, www.blueridgecountry98.com www.wpaq740.com Independence Virginia, wished to conduct the interview to be transmitted into the States of Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Subsequent to this initial interview and the reported success of it by Randell T. Byrd, the Foundation was advised by Mr. Byrd that the radio station's management had signed sponsorship relationships with commercial organisations to fund a weekly 3 hour live program, to be called "Earth Matters".

Over the following weeks and months at 5 PM eastern Saturdays, the show hosted by Randell T. Byrd who also assumed the position of Executive Producer was conducted, featuring Bob Williamson as the regular weekly international guest along with Suzanne Sparling the Executive Director of the Foundations US Operations. The Foundation at Randell T. Byrd's instruction secured an array of weekly feature guests and experts to appear on the Earth Matters program from around the world to talk and provide valuable input on a range of environmental topics.

In the first week of August 2009 information was obtained by the Foundation which after investigation discovered that Randell T. Byrd was neither the Fire Chief of Independence Virginia , or a radio show host or employee of the Radio Station in Independence as he had posed. The assurances by Randell T. Byrd that the Foundation and invited guests were engaged in speaking with many millions of radio listeners across 4 US States weekly, was a deliberate, intricate and malicious fraud.

A number of recorded live transcripts of the Earth Matters weekly program can be listened to on the Foundation's US site at http://www.greenhouseneutralfoundation.org/earthmatters.html .

The Foundation and others have suffered greatly from this fraud by Randell T. Byrd. The Foundation is cooperating fully with the US authorities to pursue a range of criminal and civil charges against him.

The Foundation is now active in seeking new bone fide radio partners that are capable of transmitting a program based on the Earth Matters format.

Media Contact or for further information:

Bob Williamson,
Founder and Chair - Greenhouse Neutral Foundation
+61 8 9295 6035