[Kzyxtalk] Coate's resignation

[sako4 at comcast.net]

To the Editor: 


On June 11, KZYX Executive Director and General Manager, John Coate, resigned, only one day after he was served with a demand letter for financial disclosure at the station. The letter was prepared by a legal team, and it was signed by three current or past KZYX board directors, including myself, Doug McKenty, and King Collins, one past member of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, Norman De Vall, and one member and recent board candidate, Dennis O'Brien. 


The demand letter was prompted by Coate's refusal to answer questions asked by me about staff salaries when the station's audit was presented at the May 4 annual meeting. The refusal by Coate to answer questions from a board director about important financials at a public meeting is a violation of the California Corporate Code. 


The letter was also prompted by Coate's post on his Facebook page where he referred to 37% and 32% of the station's members who voted for reform candidates, respectively, during the last elections, as a "hate group" and "haters" who should "STFU". (See Urban Dictionary for the meaning of this acronym.) 


Coate's resignation is effective July 1. 


With Coate’s resignation, it’s time for real and meaningful change at KZYX. 


Change. 


New faces — Program Director, Mary Aigner, has got to go. It's nonnegotiable. For 25-years, Aigner has been the one constant in a highly dysfunctional organization. Also, operations manager, Rich Culbertson, and business manager, David Steffen, have got to go. They been at the station for the last 10 years, as both operations and finances have deteriorated, and as management hunkered down in a bunker mentality. Time to clean house. KZYX needs fresh faces. Outside people. Young, talented, new people. 


Change. 


New business model — Out with the old guard, top-down, centrist management model. Out with the autocratic management style. Out with management bullies and control freaks who purge their critics, and even those who dare to ask questions. Out with the station's decision not to embrace affirmative action by refusing to advertise all jobs, including part-time jobs. Out with the station's submissive board that has relinquished all authority to management, particularly over hiring and firing decisions, and program decisions. 


Change. 


New community radio — In with a strong and robust Community Advisory Board and Program Advisory Committee, just like at KMUD. In with the station's 2,100 members. In with the public. In with community. Let the station's 2,100 members make hiring decisions, and decisions over what shows they want to hear. Power to the People! 


Change. 


New main studio — Ukiah, not Philo, should be the station's new headquarters. Nobody lives in Philo, except Mary Aigner. 


Change. 


New equipment and technology — No more dead air, scratchy irritating signals, and fuzzouts. No more webstream constantly dropping out. No more feeble attempts at archiving shows on a temporary basis on an inferior "turnstile" platform. If little KMEC can permanently archive shows and post them to Youtube, why can't KZYX? And why can't really good shows be distributed to the wide, wide world outside of Mendocino County via the Public Radio Exchange or Radio4All? 


Change. 


New transparency — KZYX needs to totally comply with the demand letter for financial sent to Coate. What is station hiding? Why does staff get regular raises, even as the station struggles financially? Why did Coate get a 10% raise during the summer of 2013 at precisely the time county employees were being forced to take a 10% pay cut. About a quarter of county employees didn't even get the pay cut. They got pink slips. And why does the station's board of directors insist on secret communications among themselves, even about issues that have nothing to do with confidential personnel matters? Also, the station's 70-80 programmers communicate in secret on their own KZYX listserv, including being allowed to make slanderous statements about reform candidates running for the board. 


Change. 

New beginnings -- New beginnings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). KZYX remains in serious trouble with the FCC and CPB, and may also soon be in trouble with the California Secretary of State. The FCC has yet to renew both of the station's licenses, despite many thousands of dollars spent in a legal defense of poor management practices, and the CPB slashed funding to KZYX by $50,000 this year. Think the FCC and the CPB aren't paying attention to our problems? Think again! We need to get back into compliance with the law. Soon the California Secretary of State will be all over us, too. 

Change. 

New collaborations with other media — KZYX needs to pool resources, particularly regarding news reporting, with other media. K.C. Meadows of the Ukiah Daily Journal should be given her show back on KZYX. Mark Scaramella of the Anderson Valley Advertiser should get a show, as should Beth Bosk of The New Settler Interviews. Former KZYX superstar, Christina Aanestad, should be invited back as an investigative journalist working on special assignments. Popular KNYO broadcaster, Marco McClean, should get a show. KZYX should form formal working relationships with KMUD, KMEC, KNYO, and Mendocino College. 

Change. 

New beginnings with members — KZYX membership numbers continue to fall, and pledge drives continue to fall short of goals for very real reasons. Like the cliche about mushrooms, KZYX management keeps members in the dark and feeds them manure. Members feel generally disenfranchised, uninvolved with the station, and unconnected to one another. Members need to communicate with one another via a listserv sponsored by the station, and they need their own newsletter. They must be allowed to organize. Members are the heart and soul of public radio. 

Change. 

It’s time for real and meaningful change at KZYX. Now more than ever. And with Coate gone, and soon Aigner, change is finally possible. Members are the key. Our next board meeting is on June 29, at 6 p.m., in Willits, at a location TBA. 

John Sakowicz 

KZYX Board of Directors (2013-2016), Board Treasurer (2014) 








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