[Kzyxtalk] KZYX, Broken Radio

[drs at mcn.org]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                John,
with
Mary
and
John
gone.
were
left
with
there
board,(hand
picked?)now
what?.
David
Shacklett



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> KZYX, BROKEN RADIO
>
>
>
> The KZYX Birthday Bash is nothing more than another fundraising event for
> a failing radio station, a station that is completely controlled by
> management for its own benefit, and which purges itself of its critics and
> fails in so many other ways.
>
> How does KZYX fail Mendocino County?
>
> Show content is controlled, censored. Programmers with strong
> personalities, who do shows on important and controversial topics with
> guests with national reputations, and who stand up to management are
> pushed out. They are purged.
>
> Programmers who criticize station management or otherwise “rock the
> boat” are purged. Popular programmers such as Norman De Vall, Doug
> McKenty, Johanna Schultz, and myself were all purged for speaking out.
>
> Newsperson, Christina Aanestad, was purged.
>
> Earlier in the station’s history, Beth Bosk, the editor of The New
> Settler Interviews, was purged.
>
> Also, K.C. Meadows, editor of the Ukiah Daily Journal, was purged, and Els
> Cooperrider, who worked so hard to make to make Mendocino County the
> nation’s first GMO-free zone, was purged.
>
> This is appalling.
>
> There’s more bad news. Equipment regularly fails at KZYX.The broadcast
> signal was down for three whole days earlier this year. Equipment breaks
> down a lot. It’s old and needs to be replaced, not held together by
> spare parts, masking tape, and bailing wire.
>
> Another thing. There is no Ukiah studio, and never will be. Any
> fundraising attempts during the Birthday Bash or Pledge Drive at creating
> a Ukiah studio are patently fraudulent. Folks should know that all monies
> raised go to the general fund, and most monies go towards salaries. A
> decade ago, $6,000 was raised by a few dedicated volunteers to start
> creating a Ukiah studio. That money disappeared. It wasn’t restricted.
> It wasn’t escrowed. John Coate was later forced to admit that $6,000 was
> spent on salaries.
>
> Regarding salaries, four points: one, salaries are not disclosed at KZYX,
> they’re secret; two, all staff recently got a raise at the last meeting
> of the KZYX Board; three, General Manager, John Coate, gave himself a 10
> percent raise in 2013 at precisely the time county workers were getting a
> 10 percent pay cut. and four, the budget at KZYX is upwards of $650,000,
> meanwhile the budget at KMEC is $17,000, not a big bang for the buck.
>
> The KZYX Birthday Bash is a farce. It is little more than a celebration of
> the egos of John Coate, and Mary Aigner. Aigner is the KZYX Program
> Director. She handles the purges. Stalin had nothing on Aigner. Not a
> thing. Aigner has been with the station for its entire 25 years, and in
> that time Aigner has beaten back four attempts to oust her.
>
> The final insult is that Coate and Aigner rig Board elections. They tell
> some candidates like myself not to run. They discourage others. Meanwhile,
> Coate and Aigner recruit their flunkies to run for the Board, and endorse
> them, and work to get them elected in every way. In other words, the
> flunkies have the home field advantage. It’s why progressive candidates,
> like Doug McKenty and Patricia, lost this year.
>
> Bottom Line?
>
> The FCC has received numerous objections to the renewal of KZYX’s
> licenses. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is also on notice about
> the station’s numerous and serious problems. And so is NPR. Now the
> station’s members and underwriters need to take notice.
>
> KZYX will fail under current management. To save the station, the plan is
> simple. We need fire Coate and Aigner, downsize the station, invest in
> equipment and technology, archive shows, create a Ukiah studio, restore
> the right to free speech at the station, and bring back all those
> programmers who have been purged.
>
> What KZYX should not be is a jobs program for the five people who work
> there, and I’m using the word “work” loosely, because my attempts to
> get job descriptions, work hour logs, and performance evaluations were
> completely shut down by Coate. Staff won’t even archive its shows.
>
> Most of all, KZYX should not be a private clubhouse. I repeat: KZYX is not
> a private clubhouse. It’s a community radio statio. But right now,
> it’s a broken radio.
>
> And so, my friends, the time has come to vote with your dollars, or more
> precisely, to not vote with your dollars. KZYX should not be supported
> while Coate and Aigner are still calling the shots. Having them in the two
> top management slots reminds me of a management takeover in the private
> sector. That’s when insiders buy all the assets and operations of a
> company, but in the case of KZYX, Coate and Aigner didn’t put up a dime.
> Worse, with our membership and underwriting dollars we members and
> underwriters have actually paid Coate and Aigner to take over the station
> and make it their own.
>
> A takeover. A broken radio.
>
> Boycott the Birthday Bash. Boycott Fall Pledge drive.
>
> Thank you.
>
> John Sakowicz, Board member and suspended host of “All About Money”
>
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