[Kzyxtalk] Concerning salaries for FM stations

[King Collins]

A quick look on the web indicates that the median salary for General Managers  is $96K; for engineers, $80K. --king

On Feb 19, 2015, at 10:47 PM, Douglas wrote:

> Marco (and you,D.McKenty) Can you give us an idea of what the pay rate is for Station Manager and Program Director in the FM broadcasting industry?  Is there a difference between the pay scale of commercial vs public stations?  What are the parameters?
> Thanks - Douglas
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Marco McClean <memo at mcn.org>
>> Sent: Feb 19, 2015 2:53 PM
>> To: MCPB Board <BOD at kzyx.org>
>> Cc: scamp1104 at comcast.net, kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org, discussion at lists.mcn.org
>> Subject: [MCN-Discussion]- Regarding the opaque board and bad management of	KZYX.
>> 
>> Okay, whew.
>> 
>> Two weeks ago I wrote a note to the KZYX board members. Not having any 
>> other way to reach them I used the form on the website, which I 
>> suspected doesn't go to the members but simply to /board liaison/ Stuart 
>> Campbell. Among other things I wrote (including that station manager 
>> John Coate has personally sucked out of KZYX' revenue stream half a 
>> million dollars in his tenure there in payment for doing some basic 
>> required tasks that other radio stations' managers accomplish in like a 
>> lazy afternoon per month), I had asked Stuart Campbell personally these 
>> questions:
>> 
>> (*1) Stuart, is your show worthwhile and interesting and an asset to the
>> station? Are you good at it, and are you proud of the show? Now, try to
>> put yourself in my shoes. Imagine you weren't on the board of directors,
>> that you brought your show as a finished proven product to KZYX, and you
>> waited and waited --waited for years-- and when you asked what progress
>> was being made to put your show on the schedule you got no answer at
>> all. And when you wrote to the manager, he told you /he/ wasn't the
>> program director. And when you asked, "What do I have to do to get my
>> show on KZYX?" the manager said, "I guess you have to convince Mary."
>> And when you stopped by the station to talk about it you were treated as
>> though you were an unwanted intrusion and told to use the telephone next
>> time. What would you do then? Go to the board of directors? They'd tell
>> you they have no control over who's on the air and who's not. Then what
>> would you do?
>> 
>> Here is the entire and only response that I got yesterday (two weeks 
>> later) from the board, or rather from Stuart Campbell, marked /From: 
>> MCPB Board <BOD at kzyx.org>/
>> 
>>> Dear Mr. McClean,
>> 
>>> As a Board, we support John Coate's and his staff's management of the 
>> day-to-day operations of KZYX&Z. We have also voted unanimously to 
>> approve the current operating budget.
>> 
>>> Stuart Campbell
>>> Board Liaison
>> 
>> And I wrote this back immediately:
>> 
>>  I want a response from the board members, not just from you. Did you 
>> even pass my message along?
>> 
>>   And you didn't even answer what I asked you specifically. Here, I'll 
>> ask you again in case you misplaced the earlier message:
>> 
>> (*1), look up)
>> 
>>   Now I have another couple of questions for you and for the other 
>> board members: How do you feel when you hear people on the air on KZYX 
>> lie that the members and the community control the station? when in fact 
>> the board has given complete control of every aspect of the station to 
>> John Coate and Mary Aigner, and they don't feel like they have to answer 
>> to anybody?
>> 
>>   And do you really think it's wise to pay just John and Mary and 
>> David Steffen the equivalent of more yearly $50 memberships than you 
>> even have members? Especially now that the CPB grants will be less this 
>> year and every year from now on, and keeping in mind how little is 
>> actually required of John and Mary in between pledge drives, and also 
>> that David Steffen's "business coordination" barely brings in enough 
>> money to offset his pay?
>> 
>>   Really, Stuart, pass messages like this along, unchanged. When I and 
>> others write to the board members we expect what we write to reach them. 
>> I'm sure keeping [the message] to yourself would be breaking the law.
>> 
>> To which Stuart Campbell replied, marked /From: scamp1104 at comcast.net  :
>> 
>>> To: Marco McClean
>> 
>>> Every member of the Board received your communication and your request 
>> unchanged. They may choose to respond to you individually or not--that's 
>> up to them. I WAS RESPONDING FOR THEM AS A WHOLE BOARD [emphasis mine 
>> -Marco (*2)] and THE MESSAGE I SENT WAS AGREED TO BY 8 OF THE 9 OF US. 
>> One Board member did not communicate one way or the other.
>> 
>>> I consider being a KZYX programmer an honor and a privilege, not a 
>> right. If I was removed from the air, I might be saddened but not offended.
>> 
>>> Stuart Campbell
>> 
>> And I wrote just now and am sending to scamp1104 at comcast.net, 
>> BOD at kzyx.org, kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org and discussion at lists.mcn.org:
>> 
>>   Unlike you, Stuart, I consider it a right to be on the public 
>> airwaves. Because it is a right, and should be considered so at KZYX. 
>> The management of KZYX that you claim is doing such a great job is so 
>> bad at it and so overpaid that KZYX requires taxpayers to pay in federal 
>> grants the entire /real/ operating budget of the station, and that's 
>> been the case since the beginning. I was there.
>> 
>>   But you don't consider it a right, so, okay, how about if you were 
>> kicked off the air in 1989 and then blackballed and ostracized by KZYX 
>> for a quarter of a century, during which you started and ran a 
>> countywide newspaper and did 17 years of successful radio, 15 of them 
>> commercial, while considering it a right for others to be printed and 
>> aired on equal 
> 
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