[Kzyxtalk] Local vs syndication

[Liz Helenchild]

Diane,

Your history & analysis thereof clangs a gong with me.
Do you mean SAB (Station Advisory Board) is something other than the CAB (Community Advisory Board)?

Peace,

Liz




________________________________
 From: Diane Paget <dpaget at mcn.org>
To: kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org 
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2014 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] Local vs syndication
 

A lot of what Doug says in this post reflects my experience of the 
station since it first went on the air. I used to be a very active KZYX 
volunteer, hosted a month public affairs segment for a while, helped my 
kids host Rubber Biscuit, wrote and tallied the first two listener 
surveys, helped in pledge drives. Then my life got busy and I didn't 
have as much volunteer time. When that kind of time returned to my life, 
I went back to see if I could help the station out again and found the 
atmosphere much more defensive and less welcoming to volunteers. I'm 
still a member because I do listen sometimes and I wouldn't want to go 
back to what it was like before KZYX, but I listen a lot more to KPFA 
and give them more money because I like their programming better.

One of the things that has changed in the past 25 years is the 
demographics of KZYX's listeners. In 1990 a greater percentage of the 
station's members were people who moved here in the 70's and 80's as 
young hippies, back to the landers, political activists and mom and pop 
pot growers -- the kind of folks who like the homemade feel of locally 
produced community radio. As more baby boomers have retired or 
semi-retired here from urban areas and university towns, where they were 
accustomed to NPR type public radio stations, there is more acceptance 
of (and maybe even a preference for) syndicated shows. Unfortunately 
those folks who have moved here from the city in the past 15 years have 
lots more money to contribute to the station than those of us who have 
lived here since the 70s. So if you are running the station as a 
business or even if you are just trying to pay off a lot of debt, there 
is going to be a tendency to let the money speak. But the station 
started in debt and paid off that debt while providing lots more local 
(and edgy -- don't forget the Beth Bosk had a show for years) 
programming and half an hour of locally produced news.

A PAC might be able to address the problem of local vs. syndicated 
programming if it had the authority to make decisions and there was a 
mechanism in place to ensure that the members of the committee were 
representative of the membership of the station. The recently restarted 
Station Advisory Board members seem to have been hand picked by members 
of the Board and maybe the staff. If there isn't a fair, transparent 
process for selecting the members of the PAC, it could be just window 
dressing.

Doug, do you know if the FCC regs or the station By Laws say anything 
about one? What does the current board policy that created the 
Programming Advisory Committee say about how it will be selected and 
what its powers would be?

The PAC has come and gone over the years. It would be interesting to 
look at that history and see why it failed, when it did.

Diane


doug mckenty wrote:
> 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  
>
>    
>
>
>
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