[Kzyxtalk] ATTN: Tim Bray-Fwd: why you're not on KZYX

[doug mckenty]

Thanks to both of you for clearing up this aspect of KZYX history that I
was not fully appraised of.  I agree that no one person should control all
aspects of the programming and hope the new board will revisit the PAC and
give more real oversight to this committee.

Doug


On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 9:19 AM, Joel Waldman <poet at mcn.org> wrote:

> FYI:   *P**ishka,* n. (Yiddish).  A small, closed, hand-held container
> proffered by one who is soliciting cash donations to a prospective donor.
>
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From: *Liz Helenchild <deejayliz at yahoo.com>
> *Date: *March 5, 2014 4:00:42 PM PST
> *To: *Joel Waldman <poet at mcn.org>
> *Subject: **Re: why you're not on KZYX*
> *Reply-To: *Liz Helenchild <deejayliz at yahoo.com>
>
> Sure, Joel, you may share with Tim. Though not always in total agreement
> with his views, I do respect him as mostly level-headed.
>
> Yes, I was remembering you (wisely) bowing out of the Repub Power Hour.
>
> Your story of the Coate kibosh on your TOTW turn with Jeff B, if accurate,
> does not speak well for the openness one expects from public radio. Our GM
> purports to want balance in opinion so as to represent/please a wider
> demographic than the grey lefties who I suspect are the majority of
> listener/supporters.
>
> The KZYX BOD blew it bigtime when they granted Coate say-so over
> programming. Personalities aside, that's way too much power in one place
> for a listener-sponsored station.
>
> Onweird,
>
> Liz
>
>
>
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* Joel Waldman <poet at mcn.org>
> *To:* Liz Helenchild <deejayliz at yahoo.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 5, 2014 11:59 AM
> *Subject:* Re: why you're not on KZYX
>
> Good morning, Liz,
>
> Nice to hear from you.
>
> Alas, it is all true, to my present shame, embarrassment and chagrin.
>  Like an ex-con, I can't seem to escape my past.
>
> I think this is what you recall.
>
> You may be referring to the old, worn-out and terminally boring episode in
> my checkered career as host of, "The Republican Power Hour."  The best
> thing I remember about the program was that it was, allegedly,  so dynamic
> it took a mere thirty minutes.
>
> At the time I was recently separated from my full-time career with the
> Navy as a PACE instructor, and the George Herbert Walker Bush - William
> Jefferson Clinton presidential campaign was making lots of smoke.  I
> supported Bush, the father, because he was a practical and adroit
> administrator who recognized the need to raise taxes, his admonition to us
> to "Read my lips," notwithstanding.    The slime factors attached to "Slick
> Willie" Clinton, were glaring, even then.
>
> I recall having been a jerk a time or two on the air, insulting callers as
> stupid and hanging up on a few.  I did not try to win the Mr. Warmth award.
>
> After Clinton's win I saw no need to continue the program, nor my
> engagement with the County Central Committee of the Republican Party as its
> Communications Officer.  To slosh a metaphor, the bloom was off the flower
> and the clay-clogged feet of the boys and girls playing party politics
> turned me off.
>
> I had young girls to raise and we all know the hustles necessary to make a
> buck in Mendocino.  Do you remember any of the old jobs I had around here?
>
> Or might you be referring to REALLY ancient history,
> when I was a guest of Dan Roberts' on his "Wild Sage" poetry show?   I
>  arranged for Lawrence Ferlinghetti, my publisher, mentor and friend,  to
> call in to the show to chat with us on the air.  I am still thrilled by the
> tape of Ferlinghetti's first public reading of his elegy for Allen Ginsberg
> over KZYX.
>
> I understand stretching is good for people.  So how's this for a stretch
> of your recollections:
>
> Jeffery Blankfort extended an invitation to anyone who wished to speak on
> behalf of the American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC) to be a
> guest on his show.  Nowadays, I have almost no political affiliations of
> any kind.  But when I was seven years old I walked through the halls of my
> Bronx apartment building with a blue and white pishka knocking on doors
> asking for cash donations for the Jewish National Fund to give money to a
> Zionist tree-planting project around the foothills of Jerusalem.
>
> Jeffery and I met at a Cafe' in Boonville to discuss the parameters of my
> appearance as his guest, including the limits to my on-air volume of my
> voice.  He wanted my levels not to exceed his own.  I agreed.  There were
> meters and kill switches arranged.  We eschewed Yiddishisms;  I was not to
> call him a schmegeggi, he would not call me a meshigginah.
> Nu?  A regular Lincoln-Douglas!
>
> Publicity, both print and broadcast, was disseminated.  I was ready.  An
> hour or so before the broadcast, just as I was leaving the house, I got a
> call from the newly appointed Station Manager, John Coate.  My invitation
> to appear on "Takes on the World," was rescinded.  Mr. Coate thought the
> program would make for "bad radio."  At some vague promise of a future
> opportunity to have some air-time to take issue with the regular,
> anti-Israeli, Arab propaganda spewing from Coate's cash cow, I found myself
> dismissed.
>
>  I have had NOTHING but bad reception from the station since.  I find
> myself unwelcome there.  My offers of volunteer support is ignored.
>
> I am out of time to continue this billet-doux, right now.
>
> We need more time for reminiscences, later.
>
> Joel
>
> PS I was so captivated by your query, I have yet to get back to Tim Bray.
>  May I SHARE THIS LETTER WITH HIM?
>
> On Mar 4, 2014, at 11:20 PM, Liz Helenchild wrote:
>
> Joel,
> My recollection is that you had a KZYX talkshow for awhile & dropped it on
> your own.
> Do I remember this correctly?
> Liz
>
>
> So preposterous a notion, that I might be welcomed at KZYX, that I hadn't
> given it a thought.  Thanks for asking, Tim.
>
> Since Blankfort has takes on the world, give me a little time to mull over
> my range.
>
> I'll get back to you after rehearsal.
>
> Joel
>
>
> On Mar 4, 2014, at 3:58 PM, Tim Bray wrote:
>
> What kind of show are you proposing?
>
>
> On 3/4/2014 2:02 PM, Joel Waldman wrote:
>
> All quite as refreshing as using a dolly.
>
> Perhaps as a minority of a minority, the least politically-correct local
> Joker in the neighborhood, do you think EVEN I
> might get a chance back on the air?
>
> Joel Waldman
>
>
>
> --
> Oak & Thorn <http://oakandthorn.wordpress.com/>
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