[Kzyxtalk] MCPB Board meeting, June 29 -- time for change

[sako4 at comcast.net]

Dear friends and neighbors, 

With Coate's resignation, I think it's time to rethink the station's business model. Sean Donovan's model of 25-years ago is simply broken. 
I'll explain. Our station has yet to have its licenses renewed at the FCC even after a year of legal wrangling. Our funding at the CPB has been slashed by $50,000 in 2014-2015 alone. Membership numbers have been declining by about 200 members. Revenues are declining. Our business manager does not cover his salary and benefits with underwriting. Pledge drives fall short of goals. Meanwhile, we experience broadcast problems. Dead air. Scratchy irritating signals. Fuzzouts. Also, the webstream drops. 
We are failing. We will fail. It's inevitable given the trajectory we're on. 
It's time to think out of the box. 
The model I'd like to see is the following: 
1.) Furlough staff and replace them with one really competent, really talented chief engineer -- a payroll of only one full-time employee. 
2.) Have the jobs formerly done by staff be paid on an hourly basis to new hires -- contract employees. 
3.) Have the monies saved on the payroll restructuring be invested in infrastructure -- equipment and technology. 
4.) Move the station's main studio to Ukiah. 
5.) Build out a digital platform that supersedes our broadcast platform. This is very important, so I'll explain in detail. Public affairs show audio should permanents archived, and shows should featured on Youtube -- like at KMEC. Shows should be in podcasts format. Shows should be distributed to a national audience via the Public Radio Exchange and Radio4All. Shows should be linked to fan favorites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Periscope, Google+, and to newcomers like Hootsuite, Hinge, Kleek, Yik Yak, Bebo,and Secret. 
6.) Shows should be linked to blogs. Every one of our station's 70-80 programmers should have a blog. 
7.) Shows should be videotaped with in-studio video cameras, just like at KMEC, and aired on Mendocino Access Television (Channels 3 and 65). 
8.) A robust Community Advisory Board and a robust Program Advisory Committee, both of which, along with the MCPB Board of Directors, should control governance at the station -- not an executive director and general manager (the position should be abolished). Stipends, or mileage allowance, should be available to low-income board/committee members to encourage diversity. 
9.) Members should be encouraged to organize and communicate, like at KMUD. Members need their own listserv sponsored by the station. Members need their own newsletter. Privacy shouldn't be a concern. It's a red herring issue. Why? Because members can opt-out at the time they become members. 
This is where our budget should be going, not to a business model that 25-years old and now failing us. 
I will open up this dialogue at the June 29th board meeting. 

John Sakowicz 
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