[Kzyxtalk] Different kind of station?

[King Collins]

Dear Tim Bray, et. al.

I am addressing you Tim because  you were kind enough to respond when I asked what you meant when you wrote that I (King) wanted "a completely different kind of station." Your response is helpful. 

You say: "It seems to me that you and I both want more and better communication from station management and the Board.  Where I think we differ is in the degree of participation by the listenership in management decision-making."

That's not quite what I am saying. At this point, I am only concerned with the glaring fact that the board makes no effort to communicate directly with members. At best the board waits passively for comments from members. So the model I advocate is not for the listeners to participate in management decision-making but for the listeners to participate in board decision-making. But more precisely the petition will change the bylaws to require the board to "respect" the members by communicating directly with us. 

And as you say below, you have long advocated for more communication between management and programmers, which is understandable. So the way I see it, we are dealing with two distinct communication loops:
    board interacting with members, and
    staff interacting with programmers. 

Do you, or some other cranky programmer have a problem with that? I'm sure someone must, even if it seems like a no-brainer to me.

And does that clarify what the peition is about? 

King Collins
www.greenmac.com

* * * *

On Sunday, March 2, 2014, Tim Bray <tbray at wildblue.net> wrote:
Hi King,

Thanks for the kind words of support and appreciation.   

It seems to me that you and I both want more and better communication from station management and the Board.  Where I think we differ is in the degree of participation by the listenership in management decision-making.  You seem to want the station to be run as a kind of collective, with participatory decision-making, and I see that as leading to a different kind of station than the one we have.  (I think that management model is unworkable and would lead to paralysis or worse.)  It seems to me that you also want more airtime devoted to station business, with listener participation, and less to... well, what, exactly would you have less of on air?

That said, we do agree about the desire for more communication from and between management and staff.  I have been working for a long time to get that for the Programmers at least, because it frustrated me when staff would make changes at the station and I would find out about it on Sunday morning at 7 AM when I arrived for my shift.  The current staff is MUCH better about communicating with programmers than they were when I started there.  We generally do get informed in advance about changes that will affect how we do our programs, with training and guidance.   

Cheers,
Tim

p.s.  I hope you didn't take "perennial gadfly" as a slight.  It just seemed an accurate phrase - and one that has probably been applied to me at times as well.


On 2/28/2014 10:32 PM, King Collins wrote:
Dear Tim Bray (and others of like mind),

I like your program and I see that you work very hard to raise money for the station. Thanks very much.

Early on you mentioned my name as one of the sources of complaints (below) and said that people like me "want a completely different kind of station."

Would you please explain what you meant by that? And I do not mean to be confrontational. I really want to know.

Thank you, 
King Collins

Tim Bray said (excerpted): 

.... there really isn't merit to the attacks on station management....Most of the complaints arise from a few causes (including) perennial gadflies who want a completely different kind of station (King Collins et al).

* * * *
>