[Kzyxtalk] sako rants, marco taunts, homie won't play

[Doug McKenty]

Tim,

I appreciate what you are trying to do with this Mission Statement idea, but my question, and this has been my central issue ever since I was an MCPB board member, is what do you do when nobody in the organization cares about following the mission?

The current mission clearly states that the membership controls the station's programming and operational philosophy, yet the board has given staff complete control over both, with no transparency and no oversight into how either are formulated. 

I have literally spent hours trying to convince the GM, David Steffen and Stuart Campbell that the mission is not being followed, and have the emails to prove it, and they spent hours writing me back insisting that membership control means "staff control."  

So we can write another statement, but what do we do when that one is ignored as well?



Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 25, 2015, at 3:06 AM, Tim Gregory <tgregory at saber.net> wrote:
> 
> this thread really belongs to kelly grimes, who asked dave steffen the 'difference'
> between public and community radio. denny broke it down broadly, i wrote to you
> 'Keeping in mind the primary focus (operative interpretation of mission statement) I
> will get back to you soon.'
> 
> you didn't notice or appreciate my clarification of her question: interpretation of
> mission statement in practice is what matters. but wait, you want conversation about
> your opinions as a quid pro quo? well then, fuck off. i'm a volunteer at kzyx AND
> here...i don't defend status quo, i make lemonade. [and i'll pass on the sack o'
> piss you're drinking, thanks.]
> 
> but 2] try leaving whole threads intact if you want to go back over something.
> excerpted, okay, but also intact.
> 
> 3] a better mission statement would be a joy. a tool. an asset. i didn't think you'd
> just toss one off, but perhaps others may see such an effort as worthwhile. YOURS
> might be EXCEPTIONALLY brilliant, marco. if you could only get small enough...
> ---
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Tim Gregory" <tgregory at saber.net>
>> thanks for all the opinion all over again, marco, but i'm not here to argue that.
>> write kzyx a better mission statement, if you can.
>> c'mon, you're a writer, give it a try.
> 
> 
>    WYou never address any of the many
> good points I have madehat are you here to do, then? ; you just change the subject.
> It's hand waving.
> 
> 
>> Norman deVall wrote, "...The challenge is how to open a conversation.
> Their response letter appears to be anything but. No easier to talk with
> the Board than it was to talk with John."
> 
> 
>> Tim Gregory replied: "...Sounds simple but early family counselling
> has talks 'put the baby in the middle'--a point of agreement where both
> parents want the best for the kid... KZYX May be 900# gorilla baby, but
> it brings out the mother hen in all of us..."
> 
> 
>    Yeah, see, Tim, you never address /anyone's/ points. The problem is
> the board and managers always have the advantage and can just wait out
> and ignore any voices for change, anything at all that anyone outside
> the bunker writes, any calls for transparency. They've been selectively
> ignoring their own rules and their own mission statement all along; how
> would a new one help?
>    Waiting months for a board meeting and then driving two hours to get
> there-- to speak to an angry, pursed-mouthed board for a timed two
> minutes and then be shouted down by the belligerent packed crowd of
> apologists for the board and people who benefit financially from the
> station and deluded "programmers" who think their shows depend on the
> status quo and who apparently love being bossed around by control freaks
> and love not being paid to do the work while the bosses are paid to
> pretend to work-- then waiting for the next meeting, and the next, and
> the next, and so on, has got everyone exactly nowhere in 25 years. All
> writing anyone sends to the board stops with Stuart Campbell, who
> filters what gets to the others. That's why it's so important to have
> this conversation regularly on the air in prime time and on an
> unmoderated forum on the station's web page, which the insiders will
> never allow.
>    The people who /are/ the problem are always either whining or
> pontificating from their panic room inside the armored chest of your
> giant robot gorilla. It can never be anything like a counseling session.
> There's no level playing field. There's no bathwater. There's no baby.
>    I'll make a deal with you, Tim. You answer some of the concrete
> points I've brought up in the last six months  --the points your mind
> most veers away from-- and then I'll consider writing something you tell
> me to write; a mission statement, why not.
> 
>    Just to ground us in reality: all MCPB's existing transmitters and
> mixing boards and microphones and computers and peripheral equipment,
> all together, cost less than $25 a day to operate. David Steffen's and
> Mary Aigner's ridiculously well-paid positions are entirely superfluous
> to the operation of the station. All the crucial tasks of any radio
> station manager can be accomplished in a lazy afternoon per month. The
> yearly CPB grant has always paid for the entire operation of the KZYX
> --overhead, electricity, bookkeeping, tower fees, repairs, internet,
> phones, music publishers' fees, NPR dues, plumbing, everything-- twice
> over. Everything said on the air during every pledge drive, about how
> "the station needs your money and pledges and memberships to keep the
> great shows on the air" is a lie. These aren't opinions. These are
> verifiable facts. Answer some of it, Tim.
> 
> 
> Marco McClean
> memo at mcn.org
> http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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