[Kzyxtalk] Dennis O'Brien_KZYX candidate statement_2015

[King Collins]

 2015 Board Candidate Statement
Dennis O’Brien –District 5

“MCPB is a membership-based organization dedicated to serving the entire community of Mendocino County and contiguous counties. The primary purpose of MCPB is to engage in providing high-quality, independent, community and public radio and other media products and services.” – The Bylaws

I am a retired lawyer who has helped many nonprofits.  While a board member at the Mendocino Environmental Center, I helped obtain the FCC license for KMEC-LP.  I am very familiar with the rules concerning membership nonprofits and public radio.

I believe in nonviolent communication.  It is possible to oppose someone without calling them names or demeaning their character.  I will focus on policies and procedures, actions and their consequences, rather than personalities.

I have heard many proposals for change at KZYX the past two years.  They fall into four areas:

·       Freedom of Expression: No one will be disciplined for expressing their opinions on or off the air.  (Legal restrictions, e.g., certain words during the daytime, will still apply.)  There will be freedom of communication between and among the programmers, staff, management, directors, members, and the public.

·       Open Governance:  All policy decisions will be made by the Board of Directors.  Directors will have access to any and all information and documents. Members will have access to all records unless confidentiality is required by law.

·       Decentralized Power:  Final say on personnel matters will be with the Board of Directors, not the General Manager. Final say on programming decisions will be with a Programming Council, not the Program Director. The Council’s process will be open and responsive to the listening community.  The News Director/Department will be independent of the GM and PD.

·       Engagement with Members/Public: The Board and Staff will respond to questions and comments at board meetings as time permits. The Community Advisory Board will be independent and reflect the diversity of the listening community, with regular meetings open to the public. The Board and Staff will implement the recent CAB recommendation for regular call-in shows.

Each of these can be a policy change and/or submitted to the membership as a bylaw change.

The current policies concentrate power in the General Manager and Program Director. Every problem I have heard seems to come from this concentration and the efforts of the present board to protect it.  Please support me in trying to reinvigorate KZYX by making these essential changes in policy.  Thank you.

(To join the discussion, go to http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/kzyxtalk)