[Kzyxtalk] Local vs syndication

Sun May 18 08:23:03 PDT 2014

Tim,
I am glad that you have been enlightened as to this issue as it has been
central for me for some time.  As the host of Open Lines, I have heard this
complaint for years.  That KZYX is going too NPR, too pre-recorded, not
enough locally produced material etc.  The surveys the CAB has put out for
years have showed at least 50% of the listening audience want to hear more
"community" radio and even surveys of our own membership (whom
theoretically like the current programming) show that only about half of
them are hardcore NPR fans and the other half would still like to hear less
canned material and more locally produced content.

Nonetheless, over the last ten years KZYX has severely reduced this type of
content.  Because the programming decision making process is not
transparent, nobody but staff knows who has applied for what kind of shows.
 I have spoken in the past with many who applied for a program but were
never contacted afterwards (over the years I have personally witnessed this
about six or seven times and suspect that there are others out there).
 Also, our community currently has no ability to affect programming
decisions at KZYX so while these complaints and surveys have shown us that
more "community" radio would be beneficial to the station, the communities
ideas have no way to translate into actual programing changes at KZYX.

This is why I have been advocating for the impementation of the current
board policy that created the Programming Advisory Committee.  It would
solve both these problems.

It is my belief, after hosting Open Lines, being on the board of directors,
and analyzing what survey material is available, that KZYX would have
between 4000-.5000 members if the current operational philosophy focused on
the "community" aspect of our station rather than its "public" aspect.

Staff has been pretty adamant that the public radio formula will (and has?)
saved the station.  Their feeling is the vast majority of Mendocino County
residents rely on NPR for their daily informational needs and this silent
but large majority will (and has?) fork up the money required.  They feel
so strongly that this approach is working that they have decided
implementation of the PAC is unnecessary.

One more thing, this top down management style in which the program
director decides all the programming is typical of "public" radio stations.
 These stations typically have some local news, NPR and some jazz or
classical music in the interim.  "Community" radio stations very often have
a committee, such as the PAC, that at least reviews all volunteer programs
each year, and is responsible for the assessment of applications for new
programs.  This ensures the transparency of the process as well as
establishing some protocols requiring diversity and ensuring that the
station is truly open to "all points of view."  It also prevents one person
from inadvertently promoting their own perspectives over the needs of the
community.

Though I feel that there are only about 2300 really diehard fans of public
radio in this County (ie the number of members KZYX has maintained for the
last 10 years) and question the decision to promote it over the production
of more local content, there is little I can do to promote a change except
advocate for the PAC.

This has been my central issue for the last twelve months.  I apologize for
not being more clear earlier.  The multiple side issues and drama are
having a real negative impact on my ability to clearly state what I believe
needs to be done to get the station up to the 4000 member mark.

Thanks to you all for participating with this list.  After over four months
of having this communication tool, I am beginning to feel that we have
occasionally cut through the BS and disinformation and are beginning to
discover the central issues and what our legitimate disagreements about
those issues are.

Good communication is the key.  Most of the changes I have been advocating,
such as a move toward more "community" radio, are pretty common sense, in
my opinion, once all the information is revealed.  Why any attempt to make
common sense change creates so much drama and contraversy is beyond me, and
I really hope we can move past this communication breakdown and start
getting some real work done.

Doug

On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 8:46 PM, Tim Bray <tbray at wildblue.net> 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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>
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