[Kzyxtalk] from the AVA's "Mendocino County Today" (2-18-2014)

[sako4 at comcast.net]

KZYX BOARD WRITES LOVE LETTER TO JOHN COATE 

To the Editor: 

I writing to let you know that the KZYX Board of Directors recently drafted a “love letter” to KZYX General Manager, John Coate. It will soon be posted to the KZYX website. The letter is absurd, especially in light of the fact that KZYX is facing five or more challenges to the renewal of their FCC licenses. 

I take the love letter to be a vote of confidence in Coate, but it borders on the obsequious. Perhaps it is a belated Valentine’s Day note. 

Maybe. It reads much more like a tribute to Caesar. 

Eight of the nine members of the Board of Directors endorsed the letter. I sit on the Board, and I was the sole dissenting vote. Regretfully, I can’t cut and paste the letter and share it with you. Why? Because that would violate the Board’s obsession with secrecy. 

I asked Board Chair Eliane Herring if the Board would allow me to post a short dissent to the love letter — much like the courts publish a dissenting opinion alongside majority and concurring opinions for important court decisions in the court reporter — but I never received an answer from Ms. Herring. 

Silence. No answer. 

No surprise. The Board would seem not to want to air any diversity of opinion with respect to poor management decisions at the station, nor does it seem to value free speech. We’ve known that much four months ago when Coate canceled the station’s only public forum for public comment “Open Lines,” and indefinitely suspended the show’s popular host, Doug McKenty — the Board was silent then, too. 

John Sakowicz, Ukiah 

* * *
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Lambert" <paul.lambert55 at yahoo.com> 
To: kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org, kzyxtalk-request at lists.mcn.org 
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 11:16:28 AM 
Subject: [Kzyxtalk] The KZYX's board letter to Members 



The State of the Station February 2014 
We are eight of the nine Directors on the Board of Mendocino County Public Broadcasting. We are pleased to report on the remarkable STATE OF THE STATION. 


· We know that KZYX&Z is financially secure. 


· We know that the station is ready and able to provide the community with critical, lifesaving information and news when needed in an emergency. 


· We know that we offer programs that listeners enjoy and depend on hearing in their daily lives. 


· We know that the station has a devoted, stable membership. 


· We know that the station is making necessary technical improvements to its infrastructure and equipment to improve our signals and minimize/eliminate downtime. 


And we know that we owe much of this progress, this success, to the efforts and accomplishments of our General Manager John Coate and his staff. 


Business/Finances: 


We give our General Manager full credit for turning around the station’s finances. When John Coate was hired in 2008, KZYX was more than $200K in debt. At this time (Feb. 17, 2014) we have more money in the bank than we owe. We could pay every bill we have, past and present, and still have funds in the bank. Our $75K line of credit has not been touched since November, and has been untouched for 8 out of the past 12 months. 


For the past 3 years our audits, prepared by an independent professional, have included a cover letter declaring that there are no irregularities or problems with our bookkeeping and accounting practices. 


John retired $116K in old debts last fiscal year. He restructured our remaining debt into a single no-interest monthly payment, which we have made without fail for almost two years. 


John reorganized our membership department to ensure more timely and consistent mailings, such as pledge acknowledgement letters. 


John shares all financial information with the Board in a way that is prompt and upfront. During his tenure as GM he has become an expert in managing a highly unpredictable cash flow and implementing cost control measures. 


Operations/Infrastructure: 


We installed a new backup power generator at the Philo studio. In the past, the entire station would go off the air every winter, sometimes for days at a time, due to power failure. This no longer happens. 


Now we have 


a new Emergency Alert System 
a new main control console in Philo 
a new state-of-the-art antenna for KZYX 90.7 
a new and improved program automation system 
a digital storage unit to begin building a comprehensive digital music library. 
backup equipment for various parts of the signal path resulting in far less downtime when something breaks 
We have changed the way the satellite studios connect to Philo, saving hundreds of dollars each month in phone charges. 


We rebuilt every part of the equipment required for the 88.1 signal on Bald Hill above Fort Bragg. Now it is trouble-free. 


We replaced the unit that converts audio to a radio signal to a higher quality unit that greatly improves the fidelity of the broadcast. 


We completely rebuilt the kzyx.org website in 2012, relying primarily on the efforts of staff and volunteers 


There have been numerous improvements to office and studio components such as computers, microphones, CD players, etc. and the Philo studio building has been rewired for better reliability. 


Programming: 


We have a dedicated volunteer staff of about 100 programmers who provide a quality product, week in and week out. We have 31 local programmers and 17 local programs on the air today that were not on the air in August 2008 when John began. These include Mendo Matters, Give and Take, Consider This, The Sonic Blender, Portrait in Jazz as well as many others. We are constantly looking to update our programming to keep it fresh, and we continue to welcome new programmers and new program ideas that will help us to better serve our community. We expanded our local news coverage with the addition of Michael Kisslinger and veteran reporter and producer Sheri Quinn. 


We, the undersigned trustees on the MCPB Board of Directors, are very grateful to John Coate and to his A-Team staff for their excellent contributions to our station. We are diverse, independent-minded individuals who believe wholeheartedly that they are doing a fine job of day-to-day management, and that they are moving the station forward in the right strategic direction. 


February 17, 2014 


Eliane Herring, Board President, Attorney (admitted to practice in Wash. D.C. and Tex., not Cal.) 


Holly Madrigal, Board Vice-President, Mayor of Willits 


Meg Courtney, Board Secretary, Vice-Mayor of Ft. Bragg 


Stuart Campbell, Programmer-Elected Representative, College Professor 


Fran Koliner, Retired Teacher, Visual Artist 


Bob Page, Managing Partner, Airport Health Club, Santa Rosa 


Laviva Dakers, Mother and KZYX programmer 


Ed Keller, Realtor and Property Development Consultant 
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