<html><body>Jane Futcher was chairman of the Board at KZYX/Z while Belinda Rawlins ditzed away $200,000 of bank draw without any oversite from Futcher . Any General Manager who followed Rawlins would have stopped the bleed. But Jane embraced John Coate who had zero experience in public radio and its need for sloppy democracy. Without even giving Dan Roberts who also applied for the job of general manager the courtesy of an interview. Jane is a writer who writes almost exclusively about her own life experiences. Pat Kovner is a retired physicians assistant who has served the extended Laytonville community for more than three decades with a zest she still retains. Please give Pat your vote in the next election should you be a voting member of KZYX/Z.. --beth bosk,editor New Settler Interview<br /><br />P.S. I'm not sure where Jane Futcher's letter occurred. If you see it in one of your community newspapers, would you kindly FORWARD my post to that publication. --beth<br /><br /><blockquote><br />----- Original Message -s007@gmail.com><br /><div style="font-weight:bold;">To:</div><discussion@lists.mcn.org><br /><div style="font-weight:bold;">Cc:</div><br /><div style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</div>Sun, 23 Feb 2014 22:49:06 -0800<br /><div style="font-weight:bold;">Subject:</div>[MCN-Discussion]- KZYX: Let's Make It Better<br /><br /><br />
KZYX: LET'S MAKE IT BETTER<br /><br />
To the Editor, from Jane Futcher, Willits:<br /><br />
As a former KZYX&Z board president and a current candidate for the radio<br />
station's 3rd District seat on its board, I want to respond to several<br />
inaccuracies in Patricia Kovner's recent letter to your newspaper.<br /><br />
Kovner, who is also running for KZYX's 3rd District seat, clearly cares<br />
deeply about the station. But she doesn't have all of her facts straight.<br /><br />
She claims the station is in "big trouble" because of three recent letters<br />
of complaint to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).<br /><br />
First off, KZYX is not in trouble with the FCC nor in any danger of losing<br />
its FCC license. The complaints from listeners to which Kovner refers<br />
address several of the station's programming decisions and urge the FCC to<br />
suspend the station's license. The FCC has no jurisdiction over<br />
programming. The commission monitors the nuts and bolts of broadcasting --<br />
things like band width and frequency. KZYX&Z is in compliance with all FCC<br />
regulations.<br /><br />
Patricia criticizes the station because its nightly "news hour" has been<br />
cut to about 10 minutes and some of its best news staff "replaced." For the<br />
record, KZYX only aired a 60-minute news program for two of its twenty-four<br />
years of operation. Contrary to Kovner's assertion, KMUD in Humboldt County<br />
has never had a one-hour news slot.<br /><br />
When General Manager John Coate was hired by the board on which I served in<br />
2008, the station was dead broke and $200,000 in the hole. To cut overhead,<br />
Coate scaled back the news hour to its original 30 minutes and laid off<br />
news assistant Christina Aanastad. Eventually, he was forced to let go of<br />
news director David Brooksher and reduce the 30-minute news show to 10<br />
minutes. Did Coate want to? Absolutely not. But a station teetering on the<br />
financial precipice cannot afford a full-time news director. Coate has<br />
always promised that he'll produce the best news that the station's<br />
listeners want to fund.<br /><br />
Annie Esposito, the station's legendary news director, joyfully retired<br />
before Coate arrived and was not sent packing, as Kovner implies.<br /><br />
Kovner complains that the KZYX board of directors has "no power." The board<br />
has the same power it has always had: holding the license to the station;<br />
hiring and firing the general manager, and ensuring the station is run<br />
professionally, in a fiscally responsible manner and in compliance with the<br />
station's mission. When I joined the board of KZYX in 2005, the station had<br />
*no*had a general manager, and the board became way too involved in the<br />
station's day-to-day operation, a situation that was onerous for the staff<br />
and the board. Now that KZYX has a strong, fiscally responsible and caring<br />
station manager in Coate, the board can and does maintain a "hands off"<br />
approach to daily operations, as good boards should.<br /><br />
Coate and his hard-working staff have performed miracles: They've put the<br />
station in the black- no small feat- and made many technological<br />
improvements: installing a state-of the-art antenna for the station's 90.7<br />
signal; changing the way the satellite studios connect to Philo, rewiring<br />
the Philo Studio for greater reliability, and much more. Coate personally<br />
rebuilt the station's Web site, making it more user friendly.<br /><br />
KZYX&Z is not a "closed shop," as Kovner claims. Yes, the "Open Lines"<br />
program is currently off the air, and I hope it returns. Until then,<br />
listeners can write and call KZYX to express concerns about the station's<br />
performance. There are also 11 hours of community programming per week that<br />
offer call-in periods in which listeners can voice opinions.<br /><br />
Kovner wants the "old KZYX back," a return to the days when Judi Bari had a<br />
show every two weeks (not, every week, as Kovner states.) You bet it would<br />
be great to have Judi back, and I'll wager that every staff member at the<br />
station would do a happy dance if she could return to the air. But Bari is<br />
dead; there's no going back.<br /><br />
KZYX&Z is not perfect and never has been. Community broadcasting is a messy<br />
business. Pleasing listeners, programmers, volunteers, regulators, funders,<br />
underwriters, donors, board, staff and community members, all with strong<br />
opinions, is no picnic. I would hope that all of us who care about the<br />
station can pull together, bridge our differences and make our small but<br />
mighty community radio station even stronger.<br /><br />
Sincerely, Jane Futcher, Willits<br />
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