<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I am so happy to hear the discussion going forward with such clearly analyzed issues. <div><br></div><div>So…as Tim wrote…" It would appear the "hardcore NPR fans" are satisfied with less than 20% of the schedule, but the "community radio" fans are not satisfied with their 50%. I wonder why that is. I also wonder if there is any consensus about what proportions would be appropriate."</div><div><br></div><div>I wonder if this is true.</div><div><br></div><div>Let's conducte a grassroots poll of our listening community. Lets ask what people individually want. Let's male it a true campaign. Announce it everywhere…the Advocate/Beacon/AVA/ KZYX/fliers/etc. What do YOU want? Make a clear time frame for responding. Follow up the poll with some solid statistics and analysis by a team of bipartisan members and then published a report. </div><div><br></div><div>What are the numbers behind the "Hardcore NPR fans?" </div><div>What are the numbers behind the "Community Radio Fans." </div><div>Does either group's interests reflect the statistics that Tim put forward? </div><div>Are they content with their current percentages?</div><div><br></div><div>I think this would go a long way in helping to structure and plan the stations programming.</div><div><br></div><div>Am more that wiling to volunteer to help this happen.</div><div><br></div><div>Very interested in hearing other people's views. </div><div><br></div><div>Let's poll, publicize the results, analyze the returns and MEET our members where they actually live. </div><div><br></div><div>I even have a suggestion for a campaign slogan…</div><div><br></div><div>"Let's Not Fight…Let's Program!"</div><div><br></div><div>All the best to all the best,</div><div><br></div><div>Ann</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On May 18, 2014, at 4:46 PM, Tim Bray <<a href="mailto:tbray@wildblue.net">tbray@wildblue.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">The schedule currently includes 83
hours/week of syndicated programming, of which 32.5 hrs/wk come
from NPR; and 85 hrs/wk of locally-produced content. So, just
over 50% of the airtime is in fact "community" radio, just under
50% is "canned". Less than half the syndicated programming is
NPR, the rest includes things like Democracy Now! and other
popular programs. <br>
<br><br>
I don't agree that the NPR audience can be labeled a "silent
majority" - every Pledge Drive we hear from many people that NPR
is among the things they like about the station. They just aren't
as strident as the NPR-haters. When there is locally-produced
programming they dislike, instead of agitating for its removal,
most of them simply switch off the radio. That's certainly what I
do, and many of the people who talk to me about station matters do
as well. But for whatever reason, many NPR-haters aren't
satisfied with that, and want it taken off the air - and don't
seem to care about the wishes of the other half of our audience
who prefer it. Why is that?<br>
<br>
The numbers show a shift of 9.5 hours/wk from local to syndicated
since 2009; that's about 6% of the broadcast schedule (168 hrs/wk
since we went to a 24/7 broadcast, which I think happened in
2007). Does that really constitute "severely reduced?"<br>
<br>
The bottom line for me is, KZYX has a diverse audience and some
fraction will be dissatisfied with the content at any given time
in the schedule. It's impossible to please everyone. Most of
our audience understands and accepts this - the price of diversity
is not always getting your own way. <br>
<br>
We had a PAC at one point and I attended one or two meetings. The
committee members seemed to get bogged down over criteria and
process for evaluation, and personality conflicts hampered their
efforts. It's enormously difficult to find people who have the
time and enthusiasm to devote to program review, have no personal
agendas to advance, and can work through disagreements with
others. <br>
<br>
Tim<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 5/18/2014 8:23 AM, doug mckenty wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:CAKNFa+Ks0ih9nQOpgAA9B78gkLmOFxPOBE2yf0ncj6jki8AY3g@mail.gmail.com" type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Tim,
<div>I am glad that you have been enlightened as to this issue
as it has been central for me for some time. As the host of
Open Lines, I have heard this complaint for years. That KZYX
is going too NPR, too pre-recorded, not enough locally
produced material etc. The surveys the CAB has put out for
years have showed at least 50% of the listening audience want
to hear more "community" radio and even surveys of our own
membership (whom theoretically like the current programming)
show that only about half of them are hardcore NPR fans and
the other half would still like to hear less canned material
and more locally produced content.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Nonetheless, over the last ten years KZYX has severely
reduced this type of content. Because the programming
decision making process is not transparent, nobody but staff
knows who has applied for what kind of shows. I have spoken
in the past with many who applied for a program but were never
contacted afterwards (over the years I have personally
witnessed this about six or seven times and suspect that there
are others out there). Also, our community currently has no
ability to affect programming decisions at KZYX so while these
complaints and surveys have shown us that more "community"
radio would be beneficial to the station, the communities
ideas have no way to translate into actual programing changes
at KZYX. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This is why I have been advocating for the impementation of
the current board policy that created the Programming Advisory
Committee. It would solve both these problems.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It is my belief, after hosting Open Lines, being on the
board of directors, and analyzing what survey material is
available, that KZYX would have between 4000-.5000 members if
the current operational philosophy focused on the "community"
aspect of our station rather than its "public" aspect.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Staff has been pretty adamant that the public radio formula
will (and has?) saved the station. Their feeling is the vast
majority of Mendocino County residents rely on NPR for their
daily informational needs and this silent but large majority
will (and has?) fork up the money required. They feel so
strongly that this approach is working that they have decided
implementation of the PAC is unnecessary. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>One more thing, this top down management style in which the
program director decides all the programming is typical of
"public" radio stations. These stations typically have some
local news, NPR and some jazz or classical music in the
interim. "Community" radio stations very often have a
committee, such as the PAC, that at least reviews all
volunteer programs each year, and is responsible for the
assessment of applications for new programs. This ensures the
transparency of the process as well as establishing some
protocols requiring diversity and ensuring that the station is
truly open to "all points of view." It also prevents one
person from inadvertently promoting their own perspectives
over the needs of the community. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Though I feel that there are only about 2300 really diehard
fans of public radio in this County (ie the number of members
KZYX has maintained for the last 10 years) and question the
decision to promote it over the production of more local
content, there is little I can do to promote a change except
advocate for the PAC. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This has been my central issue for the last twelve months.
I apologize for not being more clear earlier. The multiple
side issues and drama are having a real negative impact on my
ability to clearly state what I believe needs to be done to
get the station up to the 4000 member mark.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks to you all for participating with this list. After
over four months of having this communication tool, I am
beginning to feel that we have occasionally cut through the BS
and disinformation and are beginning to discover the central
issues and what our legitimate disagreements about those
issues are. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Good communication is the key. Most of the changes I have
been advocating, such as a move toward more "community" radio,
are pretty common sense, in my opinion, once all the
information is revealed. Why any attempt to make common sense
change creates so much drama and contraversy is beyond me, and
I really hope we can move past this communication breakdown
and start getting some real work done. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Doug </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 8:46 PM, Tim
Bray <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:tbray@wildblue.net" target="_blank">tbray@wildblue.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
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<div>This is a valid point. There has been some
replacement; my research indicates a net shift from
local to syndicated of 5.5 hours/week of public-affairs
programming and 4 hrs/wk of music programming since
2009. I don't think this was a management goal, so
much as a series of ad-hoc decisions when situations
arose. Diane is undoubtedly correct that it has much to
do with the relative burden on staff of syndicated vs.
local production.<br>
<br>
Training and supervision of programmers - old and new -
is something I have been requesting more of for years.
We got some excellent pledge-drive training back in
2007, which made an immediate and noticeable
improvement. Vance Crowe and I held some workshops the
following year, but since then we've had the financial
crisis and lost 4 full-time staff members, so programmer
training (which takes a lot of time and effort) hasn't
been a priority. Rich has been training people when new
equipment is installed and whenever individuals have
specific questions, but it's a huge burden on him to try
to improve the skills of 100+ programmers while keeping
the equipment operating. Mary seems to have her hands
full just managing all those people and plugging holes
in the schedule when someone takes a vacation.<br>
<br>
I think it would be helpful for anyone who shares
Diane's concerns about local vs. syndication, and the
value of training programmers, to write letters
expressing their concerns to station management and the
Board. It would be especially helpful if this were done
in a non-confrontational way, without accusing staff of
malfeasance etc. Simply make known your desire for more
local programming and better training for programmers.<br>
<br>
This is the kind of change I am wholeheartedly in favor
of: improving the quality of our product, especially of
the parts we produce locally. It's not easily done, in
part because people get pricklish when you ask them to
improve - they often take that to mean you think they
aren't quite good enough already. Some programmers have
no desire to improve or do anything differently than
they are already doing. Change is always resisted. <br>
<br>
It's also quite difficult to find and develop talented
local programmers who will make the commitment to a
regular radio shift. In that regard, I think it is
remarkable that we have so many, given our population
and demographics. From conversations with station
staff, I can say they are always looking for new
programmers and are frustrated by how difficult the
search is. <br>
<br>
All the best,<br>
Tim<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
-- <br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://oakandthorn.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Oak & Thorn</a><br>
Facebook: Oak and Thorn<br>
<br>
On 5/16/2014 5:48 PM, Diane Paget wrote:<br>
</font></span></div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>I would rather address the larger problem of the replacement of local
programming (due both to censorship and to the fact that it is easier to
slip a CD into the machine than to train and supervise new programmers)
with national programming and the deterioration of the quality of what I
can hear on KZYX.
</pre>
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<br>
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