[Kzyxtalk] Kzyxtalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 45

Mon Jun 22 14:59:52 PDT 2015

The use of personally degrading language and comparing folks to Hitler et al does nothing to advance the conversation and actually harms the cause of those using it.  Freedom of speech is a right, but that does not excuse anyone from the consequences of what they say, nor does it stop the ripples of ill will.
No one can be asked to resign for exercising their rights, but every director must put the interests of the organization ahead of his or her own.
Meanwhile, I think it would help to look at the job descriptions for all of the positions at the station, perhaps have some input on "What we want in a (GM, PD, etc.)".  It would go a long way toward rationalizing the discussions re personnel.  Are they available online?  If not, could they be posted?  Also, are the Station Manual and the other Policy documents online?  Could they also be posted?  My experience is that, the more folks know about such details of governance, the better the conversation about how to move forward.
Thanks,Dennis
      From: "kzyxtalk-request at lists.mcn.org" <kzyxtalk-request at lists.mcn.org>
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 Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 12:52 PM
 Subject: Kzyxtalk Digest, Vol 17, Issue 45

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: Marco the reasonable (Tim Gregory)
  2. Re: on dictators, goons, sycophants,    stuffed shirts and
      cheerleaders, and cheering mobs (David)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 12:28:03 -0700
From: "Tim Gregory" <tgregory at saber.net>
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] Marco the reasonable
To: kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
Message-ID:
    <fda4458e02114182e7d96074f3e0fd5a.squirrel at webmail.saber.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

Marco,
Hi, mm...sorry I'm on a sorry kindle, but thank you for personalizing so politely
your complex of concerns.

Keeping in mind the primary focus (operative interpretation of mission statement) I
will get back to you soon.
---

----- Original Message -----

From: "Marco McClean" <memo at mcn.org>
To: "kzyxtalk" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
Cc: editor at theava.com, "MCPB Board" <BOD at kzyx.org>, discussion at lists.mcn.org
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2015 11:24:39 PM
Subject: [Kzyxtalk] The board's, the management's and Tim Gregory's magic bubble.

>
> Tim Gregory <tgregory at saber.net> wrote under the subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] on
> dictators, goons, sycophants, stuffed shirts and cheerleaders, and cheering mobs:
>
> "Too bad Norman...you see the tool John [Sakowicz] has has made of your efforts at
> discussion? Some folks never learn boundaries--the world is their magic bubble..."
>

Okay, Tim, think of it the other way around. Imagine reading a
speech-to-text output of all the pledge-drive talk from a single day of
a typical unlistenable KZYX pledge drive, about how the station needs
more and more money in memberships and donations just to keep the great
programs coming, and about how it's like a great big restaurant where
all the listeners eat for free and so are bound by honor to pay up, so
pay up, and so on, and then the fatuous chuckling, and praise of the
management and staff who do /so much/ under such /difficult conditions/...

Now try to hold this in the same mind: just the manager and program
director and ad (underwriting) salesman together suck $140,000 a year
out of the station --the equivalent of 2,800 yearly fifty-dollar
memberships --more members than KZYX ever had or will have.

Mary Aigner's position (program director) is entirely superfluous.
NPR and other syndicated shows switch in and out automatically. Deejays
show up and play their CDs and once per hour ID the station, and when
they don't show up automation covers for them. What do you suppose
Mary's directing but a sine wave graph of pledge drive activity, so she
can continue to be paid to pretend to be needed and to quite viciously
defend her turf and her undeserved authority over others.

David Steffen is paid more than whatever he imagines /he's/ winning
for the station in return for it. Naturally he's a snarling dog for the
status quo.

And all John Coate has accomplished in eight years: sucking out of
the station for himself /half a million dollars/, firing the news
department right off the bat and 7.6 years later starting a pretend new
one, occasionally telephoning an engineer to half-assedly patch things
together for him, faking up the occasional financial report, and adding
approximately one bell and two whistles to a web page.

The CPB grant has always paid twice-over all the real-life expenses
of running and maintaning KZYX. How can you not grasp, Tim, that you'd
still get to do your show if the disastrous expensive top-down hierarchy
were deposed, and-- maybe my show would be on KZYX too, and the shows of
others who over the years have run afoul of the bad humour of the /real/
usurpers of the radio frequency, which is a natural resource, not a shoe
store. Three frequencies, in the case of MCPB. The money is there.
Airpersons can and should be paid for their work.

You say, "Too bad, Norman," but really, it's too bad for all of us.
You see the tool the "dictators, goons, sycophants, stuffed shirts and
cheerleaders" have made of our good faith and, for many of us, of our
lifelong efforts to provide a place for educational noncommercial
radiopeople to do audio art and science. Those dictators, goons, etc.
running the station have caused all their own troubles from within their
magic bubble of reactionary privilege --that's a good term, and an
accurate description, and they blame it all on others when anything
threatens that bubble. And /they/ get angry enough for their heads to
explode. We've all seen it.

This conversation should be taking place regularly on the air, and
in a forum on the KZYX web page, where boardmembers, and so-called
management, and airpeople --and the public, who pay for the station with
their taxes whether they like it or not-- can all participate equally,
in the light. It's crazy that Norman should have had to start this
listserv in the first place. KZYX should have been hosting an open
unmoderated forum on its webpage all along.

So John Sakowicz talks like an angry man. There are some real things
and creatures to be angry about at KZYX, and they've dug the hole
they're in, and they're still digging. I have trouble understanding why
you won't recognize this, Tim.

Marco McClean
memo at mcn.org
http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 12:51:59 -0700
From: "David" <uw at kzyx.org>
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] on dictators, goons, sycophants,    stuffed
    shirts and cheerleaders, and cheering mobs
To: <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
Message-ID: <73C00675E595426C9ADC8EB4DBEE2B19 at Underwriting>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

You know John, I wondered how long it would be before you introduced Hitler
into the conversation. And Idi Amin? Uncle Joe? Three who murdered millions.
Germany, Poland, France, et al, Uganda, and the USSR. And then there's KZYX.

You've continued to prefer to personally attack with vitriolic public
written language and simultaneously attempt to maintain your "Hey Buddy, can
we talk" persona in one-on-one situations. You seem to find it difficult to
face someone and say these things to their face but have no trouble using
this reprehensible language in emails. You should read some Samuel Johnson.

David

David Steffen

KZYX Business Development

(707) 895-2324 office

(707) 322-9895 cell

(707) 895-2451 fax

  _____  

From: kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org [mailto:kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org]
On Behalf Of sako4 at comcast.net
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 5:10 PM
To: kzyxtalk
Subject: [Kzyxtalk] on dictators, goons, sycophants, stuffed shirts and
cheerleaders, and cheering mobs

Bottom line? Steffen doesn't earn his salary. His job description is to sell
underwriting -- but Steffen falls far short. So why does Coate keep keep
this fat little clown? 

Why, indeed?

Let me explain it this way: Whether you're talking about Hitler's Germany,
or Stalin's Russia, or Idi Amin's Uganda, or John Coate's KZYX, the
psychodynamics of a dictatorship are pretty simple.

The "dictator", of course, is Coate -- he has centrist, top-down, autocratic
management style; he is reclusive (nobody knows Coate outside of the
Anderson Valley); he manages by manipulation, lies, and intimidation; he is
not a real leader, only pretends to be a leader; he fixes elections; he
purges what he can't fix or people he can't fool; he purges critics; and
purges even those who dare to raise questions. 

Like any dictator, Coate also works hard at the "cult of personality". Was
Coate a financial wizard who saved the station? Of course not! For his first
two years, Coate drove the station deeper into debt, then he balanced the
books only by eliminating the news department and firing three people.

The "goons" and "sycophants" are well-represent by Mary Aigner and David
Steffen.

Hitler had his NSDAP, Stalin had his Politburo, and Coate has the MCPB Board
-- "stuffed shirts and cheerleaders", they have no real power; they are
laughable, pitiful; they rubber stamp everything Coate puts before them.

And the "mindless, cheering mobs"? They are the station's 70-80 programmers,
of course, who are so afraid of losing their shows, they'll do anything.

  _____  

From: "nsi" <nsi at mcn.org>
To: "David" <uw at kzyx.org>, "Liz Helenchild" <deejayliz at yahoo.com>,
"kzyxtalk" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 3:01:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] verifying memories & deadlines

Liz! He's a pompous pig. Why are you even bothering getting through? There
is a good reason for clean sweeps.  You don't have to deal with this kind of
left over clutter.
The only reason David Steffen is still at the station is because he had
Coate's back.  As a so-called whatever he's supposed to be doing, he's
useless.  --beth bosk 

----- Original Message -----

From:

"David" <uw at kzyx.org>

To:

"Liz Helenchild" <deejayliz at yahoo.com>, "Kzyxtalk" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>

Cc:

Sent:

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:52:38 -0700

Subject:

Re: [Kzyxtalk] verifying memories & deadlines

The idea of a drop-down menu, with clearly labeled divisions seems, at least
on the surface, to be easily understood by most people using the web in
2015. 

David

David Steffen

KZYX Business Development

(707) 895-2324 office

(707) 322-9895 cell

(707) 895-2451 fax

From: Liz Helenchild [mailto:deejayliz at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 1:42 PM
To: David; Kzyxtalk
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] verifying memories & deadlines

Thanks, David,

I look forward to the website being more user friendly ie more direct/less
like a scavenger hunt. 

What may be familiar to you may not be obvious to others in search of
information.

If the inner workings of the station were more easily accessible, there
might be fewer pleas for transparency.

Isn't he job of media s'posed to be Communication?

Liz

From: David <uw at kzyx.org>
To: 'Liz Helenchild' <deejayliz at yahoo.com>; kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
Cc: 'Stuart Campbell' <thales1104 at comcast.net> 
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 1:28 PM
Subject: RE: [Kzyxtalk] verifying memories & deadlines

Minutes have been on the web for years. Go through at your leisure. On the
KZYX website one only has to explore "About", look under "Station Business",
and click on "Minutes". As with all of the other ongoing incorrect
suggestions that there is a lack of transparency, one can find 7 years of
minutes posted by the General Manager and the board.

David

David Steffen

KZYX Business Development

(707) 895-2324 office

(707) 322-9895 cell

(707) 895-2451 fax

From: kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org [mailto:kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org]
On Behalf Of Liz Helenchild
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 10:30 AM
To: kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
Cc: Stuart Campbell
Subject: [Kzyxtalk] verifying memories & deadlines

In the service of winnowing out accuracy from hearsay, would it be possible
to find & cite minutes (or video or audio recordings) of past board
meetings?

Is the application period for GM now closed?

Liz

From: Doug McKenty <dougmck at gmail.com>
To: " kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org " < kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org > 
Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] new GM and? executive director?

Thanks for the clarification. My source for the information was someone one
the hiring committee, but memories can be faulty. 

I am not aware of any other "falsehoods" that I have circulated but am aware
that occasionally my sources may be inaccurate. If there are any other areas
where my sourced material differs from yours, I am always interested in
comparing them, so that myself and the  community can get as close to a
realistic interpretation of the truth as possible. In this way we all make
better choices. 

I would like to thank Norman DeValle for setting up this listserve allowing
the type of open and transparent communication necessary for this process,
and hope someday to hear his voice back on the air at KZYX. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 20, 2015, at 7:59 AM, David <uw at kzyx.org> wrote:
> 
> Doug.
> 
> Can we please once and for all dispense with the lie that John Coate
> "insisted that he be called Executive Director"?
> 
> The 2008 job posting, which has been sent around on this thread for all to
> see (including a post by one of the current board members) clearly stated
> that ED was what they were looking for.
> 
> Stop circulating another falsehood.
> 
> David
> 
> 
> 
> "KZYX&Z Community Public Radio in Philo , CA , is seeking a creative
> non-profit professional to become Executive Director/General Manager of
> Mendocino County Public Broadcasting. 
> 
> KZYX&Z is a full service station offering national programming from NPR,
> Pacifica , APM, and PRI, as well as diverse local programming produced by
> more than 120 volunteers. As KZYX&Z celebrates its 19th birthday, we are
> looking for an energetic, focused leader with fundraising and management
> skills to help us achieve a new level of service for our community,
members,
> and volunteers with our upcoming digital conversion. 
> 
> The successful candidate is preferably one with a public broadcasting
> background and strong planning skills. The candidate will be able to
> demonstrate a track record of effective internal leadership; skill in
> building relationships with organizations and individuals; and a history
of
> effective fund raising. The candidate must be an exceptional communicator,
> technologically literate, and capable of overseeing and ensuring proper
> compliance with the financial, legal and regulatory requirements of
> operating a public broadcasting station. The position requires an
> understanding of the difference between community and public radio as
KZYX&Z
> is hybrid of both models. 
> 
> Find the full job description online in the careers section at
> http://kzyx.org.  <http://kzyx.org./> 
> 
> 
> Send resume, references, and cover letter by June 15th to: 
> 
> jobs at kzyx.org 
> 
> or
> 
> KZYX&Z 
> Attn: Search Committee 
> 

PO Box 1

> Philo, CA 95466"
> 
> 
> 
> David Steffen
> KZYX Business Development
> (707) 895-2324 office
> (707) 322-9895 cell
> (707) 895-2451 fax
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org
[mailto:kzyxtalk-bounces at lists.mcn.org]
> On Behalf Of Doug McKenty
> Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 11:37 AM
> To: kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
> Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] new GM and? executive director?
> 
> I believe the board is going to set up a hiring committee to oversee the
> process. They are required by law to publicly post the job opening as part
> of the process. 
> 
> John Coate, to the best of my knowledge, insisted that he be called
> Executive Director upon his hiring. He also insisted that he have total co
> tell over the programming. He had an interesting interpretation of the
role
> of the board, basically relegating it to fundraising, while all station
> operations were the preview of management.  Any attempt by the board to
set
> policy or effect programming was considered "micromanaging."  Let's hope
> they find a new anther with a more inclusive philosophy. 
> 
> I, for one, hope they drop the "Executive Director" title altogether. 
> 
> Doug
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jun 19, 2015, at 10:54 AM, Kelly Grimes <grimie at mcn.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Good morning,
>> What is the process for finding a person to replace Mr. Coate, the 
>> general manager?  Will that person automatically become the executive 
>> director of MCPB?  If the board of directors is responsible for 
>> overseeing the general manager, why is the general manager the head of 
>> the board?  This has always seemed a bit odd to me and now appears to be 
>> a good time to discuss the true title and scope of work for Mr. Coate's 
>> replacement.  Does anyone have any factual information?
>> Thanks,
>> Kelly
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Kzyxtalk mailing list
>> Kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
>> http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/kzyxtalk
> 
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> 
> 
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