[Kzyxtalk] Local vs syndication

[Diane Paget]

Tim,

You need to look further back than 2009 to really see the change I am 
talking about. I wish I had kept copies of Radio Waves from the 90's so 
I could document what I recall, but I didn't.  In those early years the 
station was on the air 24/7 -- with local programming all night long, 
two hour public affairs programs five days a week from 9-11 a.m. and 
more public affairs or spoken word in the evening. There was a poetry 
show, a Native American Show, Beth Bosk and Judi Bari both had shows, 
there were lots of interviews with local people and people in local 
government -- for a while there was a County Supervisor interviewed 
weekly. And of course lots of local music shows. There were regular 
programmer trainings -- promoted on air. And, in the beginning, all of 
this was done with five staff members. And lots more volunteers -- 
volunteers were welcomed, given real work to do, and appreciated.

There was also conflict, name calling, people feeling censored and/or 
disrespected, there were programmers who were so abrasive or demanding 
that staff didn't want to work with them (but who had listeners who 
loved them), there were general managers that drove volunteers away. All 
these things happen at KPFA too. It seems to go with the territory of 
truly public radio -- the opportunity to have your say on the air 
attracts some mighty big egos.

Diane



Tim Bray wrote:
> This is a valid point.  There has been some replacement; my research 
> indicates a net shift from local to syndicated of 5.5 hours/week of 
> public-affairs programming and 4 hrs/wk of music programming since 
> 2009.   I don't think this was a management goal, so much as a series 
> of ad-hoc decisions when situations arose.  Diane is undoubtedly 
> correct that it has much to do with the relative burden on staff of 
> syndicated vs. local production.
>
> Training and supervision of programmers - old and new - is something I 
> have been requesting more of for years.  We got some excellent 
> pledge-drive training back in 2007, which made an immediate and 
> noticeable improvement.  Vance Crowe and I held some workshops the 
> following year, but since then we've had the financial crisis and lost 
> 4 full-time staff members, so programmer training (which takes a lot 
> of time and effort) hasn't been a priority.  Rich has been training 
> people when new equipment is installed and whenever individuals have 
> specific questions, but it's a huge burden on him to try to improve 
> the skills of 100+ programmers while keeping the equipment operating.  
> Mary seems to have her hands full just managing all those people and 
> plugging holes in the schedule when someone takes a vacation.
>
> I think it would be helpful for anyone who shares Diane's concerns 
> about local vs. syndication, and the value of training programmers, to 
> write letters expressing their concerns to station management and the 
> Board.  It would be especially helpful if this were done in a 
> non-confrontational way, without accusing staff of malfeasance etc.  
> Simply make known your desire for more local programming and better 
> training for programmers.
>
> This is the kind of change I am wholeheartedly in favor of: improving 
> the quality of our product, especially of the parts we produce 
> locally.  It's not easily done, in part because people get pricklish 
> when you ask them to improve - they often take that to mean you think 
> they aren't quite good enough already.  Some programmers have no 
> desire to improve or do anything differently than they are already 
> doing.  Change is always resisted. 
>
> It's also quite difficult to find and develop talented local 
> programmers who will make the commitment to a regular radio shift.  In 
> that regard, I think it is remarkable that we have so many, given our 
> population and demographics.  From conversations with station staff, I 
> can say they are always looking for new programmers and are frustrated 
> by how difficult the search is. 
>
> All the best,
> Tim
> -- 
> Oak & Thorn <http://oakandthorn.wordpress.com>
> Facebook: Oak and Thorn
>
> On 5/16/2014 5:48 PM, Diane Paget wrote:
>> I would rather address the larger problem of the replacement of local 
>> programming (due both to censorship and to the fact that it is easier to 
>> slip a CD into the machine than to train and supervise new programmers) 
>> with national programming and the deterioration of the quality of what I 
>> can hear on KZYX.
>>
>>     
>
>
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