<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear KZYX folks,<div><br></div><div>I didn't find any comparison of commercial to public radio, yet, but I was more than a little surprised at the salaries of NPR execs and on-air personalities. No wonder we pay so much for their programs... <div><br></div><div>See <a href="http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/beggar-wears-prada-or-why-i-stopped-giving-public-radio-5558">http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/beggar-wears-prada-or-why-i-stopped-giving-public-radio-5558</a></div><div><br></div><div>It's a long interesting article. Here's a comment about one of NPR top execs, whose base salary is $450,000:</div><div><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; ">Despite chronic budget deficits, onetime NPR CEO <u>Vivian Schiller</u>, whose initial base salary was $450,000, received a bonus of $112,500 in May 2010, about 17 months after she was hired, according to the <em style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; ">Washington Post.</em> She was characterized as being very likable, but so are we, and we don't ask people to give us hundreds of thousands of dollars for it. <u>The nonprofit watchdog group Charity Navigator lists her compensation for FY 2011, the most recent year for which IRS data are available, at nearly $573,000</u>, before she was ousted after a series of gaffes (she currently works at NBC, and will leave at the end of the year to become "head of news" at Twitter).</span></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>The NPR execs salaries are out of sight, but what about the salaries of NPR on-air folks:</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "></span><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> Earlier this year, the <em style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; ">Newsbusters </em>and <em style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; ">Daily Finance</em> web sites listed some of the most recent NPR salary information available (2010-2011) for the hothouse flowers known as the "talent." The data, from IRS 99 forms, included:</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> <u>Robert Siegel</u>, cohost of “All Things Considered,” $375,652; </div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> <u>Melissa Block, </u>cohost of "All Things Considered," $299,229</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> <u>Steve Inskeep,</u> co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” $373,097; </div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><u>Renee Montagne,</u> co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” $405,140;</div><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> <u>Scott Simon,</u> "Weekend Edition" Saturday host, $364,465; </div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> <u>Terry Gross,</u> host of WHYY’s “Fresh Air,” $256,611.</div><div style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "> (Now that "Morning Edition" has <em style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; ">three </em>anchors, with the addition of <u>David Greene</u>, it must cost nearly a million dollars annually just for the big stars, not to mention the behind-the-scenes workhorses. I guess the same must be true for "All Things Considered," which has three now as well. I recently heard Siegel do the whole show <em style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; ">all by himself, </em>and he did just fine!)</div></span></blockquote><div><div>On Feb 20, 2015, at 3:12 AM, King Collins wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>A quick look on the web indicates that the median salary for General Managers is $96K; for engineers, $80K. --king<br><br>On Feb 19, 2015, at 10:47 PM, Douglas wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">Marco (and you,D.McKenty) Can you give us an idea of what the pay rate is for Station Manager and Program Director in the FM broadcasting industry? Is there a difference between the pay scale of commercial vs public stations? What are the parameters?<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Thanks - Douglas<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">-----Original Message-----<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">From: Marco McClean <<a href="mailto:memo@mcn.org">memo@mcn.org</a>><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Sent: Feb 19, 2015 2:53 PM<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">To: MCPB Board <<a href="mailto:BOD@kzyx.org">BOD@kzyx.org</a>><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Cc: <a href="mailto:scamp1104@comcast.net">scamp1104@comcast.net</a>, <a href="mailto:kzyxtalk@lists.mcn.org">kzyxtalk@lists.mcn.org</a>, <a href="mailto:discussion@lists.mcn.org">discussion@lists.mcn.org</a><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Subject: [MCN-Discussion]- Regarding the opaque board and bad management of<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>KZYX.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Okay, whew.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Two weeks ago I wrote a note to the KZYX board members. Not having any <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">other way to reach them I used the form on the website, which I <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">suspected doesn't go to the members but simply to /board liaison/ Stuart <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Campbell. Among other things I wrote (including that station manager <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">John Coate has personally sucked out of KZYX' revenue stream half a <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">million dollars in his tenure there in payment for doing some basic <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">required tasks that other radio stations' managers accomplish in like a <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">lazy afternoon per month), I had asked Stuart Campbell personally these <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">questions:<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">(*1) Stuart, is your show worthwhile and interesting and an asset to the<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">station? Are you good at it, and are you proud of the show? Now, try to<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">put yourself in my shoes. Imagine you weren't on the board of directors,<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">that you brought your show as a finished proven product to KZYX, and you<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">waited and waited --waited for years-- and when you asked what progress<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">was being made to put your show on the schedule you got no answer at<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">all. And when you wrote to the manager, he told you /he/ wasn't the<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">program director. And when you asked, "What do I have to do to get my<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">show on KZYX?" the manager said, "I guess you have to convince Mary."<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">And when you stopped by the station to talk about it you were treated as<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">though you were an unwanted intrusion and told to use the telephone next<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">time. What would you do then? Go to the board of directors? They'd tell<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">you they have no control over who's on the air and who's not. Then what<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">would you do?<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Here is the entire and only response that I got yesterday (two weeks <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">later) from the board, or rather from Stuart Campbell, marked /From: <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">MCPB Board <<a href="mailto:BOD@kzyx.org">BOD@kzyx.org</a>>/<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Dear Mr. McClean,<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">As a Board, we support John Coate's and his staff's management of the <br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">day-to-day operations of KZYX&Z. We have also voted unanimously to <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">approve the current operating budget.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Stuart Campbell<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Board Liaison<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">And I wrote this back immediately:<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"> I want a response from the board members, not just from you. Did you <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">even pass my message along?<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"> And you didn't even answer what I asked you specifically. Here, I'll <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">ask you again in case you misplaced the earlier message:<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">(*1), look up)<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"> Now I have another couple of questions for you and for the other <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">board members: How do you feel when you hear people on the air on KZYX <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">lie that the members and the community control the station? when in fact <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">the board has given complete control of every aspect of the station to <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">John Coate and Mary Aigner, and they don't feel like they have to answer <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">to anybody?<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"> And do you really think it's wise to pay just John and Mary and <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">David Steffen the equivalent of more yearly $50 memberships than you <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">even have members? Especially now that the CPB grants will be less this <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">year and every year from now on, and keeping in mind how little is <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">actually required of John and Mary in between pledge drives, and also <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">that David Steffen's "business coordination" barely brings in enough <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">money to offset his pay?<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"> Really, Stuart, pass messages like this along, unchanged. When I and <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">others write to the board members we expect what we write to reach them. <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">I'm sure keeping [the message] to yourself would be breaking the law.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">To which Stuart Campbell replied, marked /From: <a href="mailto:scamp1104@comcast.net">scamp1104@comcast.net</a> :<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">To: Marco McClean<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Every member of the Board received your communication and your request <br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">unchanged. They may choose to respond to you individually or not--that's <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">up to them. I WAS RESPONDING FOR THEM AS A WHOLE BOARD [emphasis mine <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">-Marco (*2)] and THE MESSAGE I SENT WAS AGREED TO BY 8 OF THE 9 OF US. <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">One Board member did not communicate one way or the other.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">I consider being a KZYX programmer an honor and a privilege, not a <br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">right. If I was removed from the air, I might be saddened but not offended.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">Stuart Campbell<br></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">And I wrote just now and am sending to <a href="mailto:scamp1104@comcast.net">scamp1104@comcast.net</a>, <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><a href="mailto:BOD@kzyx.org">BOD@kzyx.org</a>, <a href="mailto:kzyxtalk@lists.mcn.org">kzyxtalk@lists.mcn.org</a> and <a href="mailto:discussion@lists.mcn.org">discussion@lists.mcn.org</a>:<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"> Unlike you, Stuart, I consider it a right to be on the public <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">airwaves. Because it is a right, and should be considered so at KZYX. <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">The management of KZYX that you claim is doing such a great job is so <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">bad at it and so overpaid that KZYX requires taxpayers to pay in federal <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">grants the entire /real/ operating budget of the station, and that's <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">been the case since the beginning. I was there.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite"> But you don't consider it a right, so, okay, how about if you were <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">kicked off the air in 1989 and then blackballed and ostracized by KZYX <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">for a quarter of a century, during which you started and ran a <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">countywide newspaper and did 17 years of successful radio, 15 of them <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">commercial, while considering it a right for others to be printed and <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">aired on equal <br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">__________________________________________________________<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">__________________________________________________________<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The Mendocino Community Network (MCN) provides the MCN Discussion list.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Use of the list is subject to the terms of service at<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.mcn.org/email/dtos.html">http://www.mcn.org/email/dtos.html</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">TO UNSUBSCRIBE from this list send an email to <a href="mailto:discussion-leave@lists.mcn.org">discussion-leave@lists.mcn.org</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">(To complete the process you must reply to the email you receive in response)<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">For listserv technical problems please contact: <a href="mailto:listmanager@mcn.org">listmanager@mcn.org</a><br></blockquote><br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></html>