[Kzyxtalk] Fwd: from Christina Aanestad: [MCN-Discussion]-r

Thu Mar 6 13:43:34 PST 2014

And -- I forgot to add -- I have no control over operations at the station. Coate has total control. The whole business of control was set up that way by Coate. Coate insisted on being "Executive Director", along with being the "General Manager", when he was hired. It was written into his contract. 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Lambert" <paul.lambert55 at yahoo.com> 
To: kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org 
Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2014 1:07:18 PM 
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] Fwd: from Christina Aanestad: [MCN-Discussion]-r 

John: 

I must say that your description of John Coate ( Fought as if it were life and death. Fought so there could only be a winner and a loser. No compromise. No letting up.) resembles you more than him. 

Paul 

On Thursday, March 6, 2014 12:52 PM, "sako4 at comcast.net" <sako4 at comcast.net> wrote: 

I am so sorry I didn't take sides with Christina, and fight with her, at the time Steffen harassed her and Coate fired her. I knew nothing. I didn't want to know anything. I feared Coate. His absolute [power at the station. Like most programmers, I just did my show and got the hell out of the Philo studio. 

Since that time, I've come to know what a fine reporter -- and woman -- Christina really is. Also since that time, I've come to know who Coate really is -- a "tough guy with thin skin", much like Vladimir Putin. 

As with Putin, Coate sets things up so you're either all for him, or you're against him. Total loyalty. Total control. No dissent. No independent thinking. Every attempt to wrest some iota of control from him is fought. Bitterly fought. Fought hard. Fought as if it were life and death. Fought so there could only be a winner and a loser. No compromise. No letting up. And everything -- every damn attempt to do things differently from the boss -- is seen as a political dispute or a territorial (turf) dispute. 

It's nuts. 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Christina Aanestad" <mschristinamarie at netzero.net> 

To: nsi at mcn.org 

Cc: 

Sent: Wed, 5 Mar 2014 14:27:26 -0800 

Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] [MCN-Discussion]- David Brooksher 

Hi Beth, 
Feel free to pass this on. 

I made a verbal complaint against David Steffen for calling me a "bitch" and "uncivilized." His main concern was that I didn't smile at him in the mornings when he came in. 

I called John Coate and told him that David called me a bitch. John's first response to ask me what I did. I said I called David a sexist pig and told him he couldn't talk to me like that at work-it created a hostile work environment. David went on to complain that I was uncivilized, I didn't smile in the mornings…etc. I told John that David said I didn't smile. And John Coate then asked me why I didn't smile. I was shocked. I then agreed with John that yes, it's nice to smile. But also noted no one complains when the men don't smile, and also noted that the guys will sit around and BS cussing at each other jokingly, yet I somehow am considered uncivilized? Their double standards and overall patronizing tone are examples of the kind of treatment I endured while there. 

As tensions wore on there, I later filed a formal complaint against Paul Hanson, for yelling and being difficult to work with. He yelled at both Sheila Dawn and myself, but never once raised his voice at the male reporters like Louis Bigfoot or his trusted economic source John Sakowicz. It was the good ol' boys club. 

All I can say is that I am far happier and better off working elsewhere, like at KMUD. The generation gap there is entirely diverse, I'm not the only young adult there, and I believe therefore, am treated with more professional respect. It is a workplace where I can shine with the professional skills I possess and as the unique talented person I am, rather than a workplace that seeks to conform me into some box of what others believe a younger adult woman and journalist should be. 

John Coate drew down the debt by negotiating the debt and amount owed to NPR. That's it for the most part. My position cut was absorbed by other employee raises and his own over the years. 

Anyways, I wouldn't work with he or David Steffen if you paid me. I have no confidence in their leadership or communcation abilities. John Coate is a good administrator he helped lower the debt- at a cost that created significant schisms within the listenership and Mendocino County community-and those costs were unnecessary had a better leader and communicator been in his position. That being said, I was unhappy there before he arrived-the problems with David and Paul were there before. John Coate and I had communication breakdowns too. He took a very authoritarian approach towards me as if I were a liability instead of an asset and I had difficulty working with him. He banned me from covering marijuana stories and unfairly judged my work. I felt his edits to my stories were not in his job description and in some cases leaned towards censorship, which he did not like to hear. Instead of seeking a mediation he sought to excuse me from KZYX. But, really, the listeners positive feedback and at times constructive feedback kept me at KZYX far longer than I would have stayed with the existing staff on my own. 

David Steffen is a repeat offender of sexual harassment. He left his position in Point Arena amidst similar allegations-but far worse than mine-and avoided looking at his own sexist disposition by jumping ship and joining KZYX. Well, wherever you go there you are. And so I had to be the next recipient of his sexist expectations and harassment. Now instead of looking earnestly at them, he makes bald face lies to the public that I harassed him. That's hilarious and disappointing but not surprising based on my experiences with him. 

I think KZYX needs new blood and a near entire overhaul of employees. 

Sincerely, 
Christina 

On Feb 17, 2014, at 3:15 PM, nsi at mcn.org wrote: 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "David" < uw at kzyx.org > 

To: < kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org > 

Cc: 

Sent: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 12:40:08 -0800 

Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] Fwd: Re: [MCN-Discussion]- David Brooksher 

Once again we have revisionist history at work here. 

I will resist any invitation to go into the quality of any newsperson’s writing and reading skills or personal agendas. I will however set the record straight on other issues. 

No-one had a plan to raise the $40-50,000 needed to bring on an additional full-time newsperson. Raising $4000 is laudable but what if there is no additional money? The person is laid off again 6 weeks later? Secondly, the financial health of the station did not improve the moment lay-offs occurred. The debts were still there. 

To my knowledge there was never any harassment claimed by her toward me. To the contrary, I informed the General Manager that I refused to have any more one-on-one meetings with the newsperson due to her harassment of me. I would meet with her ONLY if there was a third party in the meeting to observe. In addition, I have never spoken with anyone outside of KZYX about any issues associated with any current or former employee. Anyone claiming any other knowledge is clearly lying. 

It’s interesting how people who have no knowledge of any of these events always have something to offer. 

David Steffen 

KZYX Business Development 

(707) 895-2324 office 

(707) 322-9895 cell 

(707) 895-2451 fax 

From: kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org [mailto:kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org] On Behalf Of nsi at mcn.org 
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 3:58 PM 
To: kzyxtalk at listsmcn.org 
Subject: [Kzyxtalk] Fwd: Re: [MCN-Discussion]- David Brooksher 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: 

"" 

@mcn.org> 

To: 

Tim Bray 

@wildblue.net> 

Cc: 

discussion at lists.mcn.org 

Sent: 

Thu, 13 Feb 2014 14:02:28 -0800 

Subject: 

Re: [MCN-Discussion]- [Kzyxtalk] David Brooksher 

Folks: I suggest you all go to the KMUD archives and listen to the 1/2 
hour news coordinated by Christina Aanestad on Wednesday February 12. 
Most especially you Tim. 
It is representative of the possibilities John Coate threw away: 
Exquisite sequencing, well trained community corresspondents, a daily 
spectrum of Mendocino and HumboldtCounty news. 

The email you referenced on the Programmers listserv, TIm (sent when? 2 
years ago), was posted by Christina while she still believed John 
Coate when he told her his intentions were to hire her back once the 
stations finances were improved. 
Coate by the way turned down a $4000 (and growing) pledged amount of 
money collected on the coast by Meredith Smith in a matter of two 
weeks to specifically continue Christina's employment in the new 
department. 
Such targeted monies have been accepted by the station before. 
Coate turned that down! He wanted to be entirely rid of Christina, 
but hadn't made that clear to her because he did not want her to go 
public (and possibly to court) with the harassment she had suffered 
from David Steffen and Paul Hansen. Harassment about which she had JUST 
made a formal complaint to Coate. 
Paul Hansen. Remember him. He flees the station roster right after 
the AVA learns and publishes that Hansen was involved in some 
sort of grift operation at the last station he worked for. And 
indicted for. An indictment he had not disclosed on his resume. 
Immediately after Paul's departure from KZYX, Christina applied for 
the position of News Director. And Coate responds with a terse 
content-based turn-down. . . . Then, casually disses her to Doug 
McKenty. 
Upon first learning (for the first time last month) that her 
professional reputation was being openly besmirched by John Coate, 
Christina sent an email to Doug expressing her outrage, and includes 
a copy of Coate's curt dismissal for all to see for themselves and 
judge. (She gave us both permission to post it on the discussion 
listserv, which I did. ) 
This goes on and on. And if you want more, I'll do David Steffen 
next. 
Tim! Just listen to that newscast so you understand the extent of 
Coate's terrible, terrible judgement 
"Management"! Is that what you think this is. . . . More like 
living in a FailedState. --beth bosk 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Bray" 
To: 
Cc: 
Sent:Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:17:22 -0800 
Subject:Re: [Kzyxtalk] David Brooksher 

In response to Beth's request, I went back and looked at the e-mail 
Christina sent to the Programmers list. I don't think it will 
violate 
any confidence or privacy to share the relevant line to which I 
referred 
earlier: 
"I was laid off not fired. John has done right the right thing in 
this 
process." [sic] 

I wasn't her biggest fan, but she displayed some class in that 
period. 
That particular e-mail laid out a number of ideas for how KZYX might 

survive the financial crisis it was facing, and prosper in the 
future; 
and several of those have since been followed up by the Board and 
management. She did fault the Board for not doing more fundraising, 
programmers for not making a clear enough case to listeners for 
contributions, and management for not embracing more of her ideas 
There was some justification for all of that. 

So there's your reality check; and it was Sako who threw her name 
around 
here. 

As for Brooksher, he tried to develop a team of local correspondents 

here. I remember a Programmers Meeting when he made exactly that 
pitch, 
explaining how easy it was to do and that he would train anyone who 
was 
interested, etc. He got a couple of people to do it - like Louis 
Bigfoot - but not enough to make it work. That wasn't management's 
fault, or even Dave's, but ours as a community. After Dave left, 
John 
asked the programmers to pick up some of the slack by covering more 
of 
the local events and affairs on their shows, and I think some have 
done 
so. It's too bad they don't seem to be getting any recognition for 
that; all anyone wants to talk about is the lack of a half-hour 
local 
news program. 

I may be out of my league, but I am not manufacturing information 
(that 
might be John S. you're thinking of) and if I am deaf, it is not 
intentional. KZYX is far from perfect and I have long been critical 
of 
many aspects. I think it has improved in many ways since I started 
listening; perhaps your opinion differs Since it is a matter of 
opinion, neither of us has to be wrong. 

Sincerely, 
Tim Bray 

On 2/11/2014 8:53 PM, nsi at mcn.org [1] wrote: 
> This is crap Tim. John Coate didn't "lay off" Christina. That's 
just how he couched it when he promised her she'd be rehired as soon as 
the finances improved. 
> What he really did, was take the first step towards shutting down 
the News Department as an independent entity; an entity with the contractual right to negotiate its budget. And which had control 
over the content. 
> I'm not even sure now that cancelling the news department and 
> replacing it with 5 minutes of press releases and recitation from 
the 
> Press Democrat was really within his purview. And if so, what a 
> mistake. Where was the Board oversight? 
> David Brooksher was canned because he resisted Coate's 
interference in 
> his news gathering, which began to be an appropriately focused 
> attention on the struggle over the extension of the Marine 
Sanctuary 
> zones in our region. 
> What David did at KMUD was put together and train a team of local 
> correspondents. In other words: Bush Radio. 
> --Which is what Christina wanted to do at KZYX/Z. Mary Aigner, in 
all the years she has been there, has yet to recruit and train a 
bilingual public affairs team And has done nothing to replace the local 
programming we once aired re. Native American culture and issues. 
You are out of your league here and either manufacturing information 
or intentionally deaf to what went on. And continues. 
> As a first step: you need to do a reality check with Christina 
before you throw her name around. --beth bosk 

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