[Kzyxtalk] Marco McClean's op-ed, Tim Bray's attack piece, and my response

[sako4 at comcast.net]

Today, KZYX spokesman, Tim Bray, attacked Marco Mclean's fine op-ed in the UDJ, to which I replied, also in the UDJ 

Marco's op-ed: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/opinion/20150325/why-does-kzyx-need-so-much-money 

My reply... 



O, Tim Bray! You again! You're such a reliable and such an enthusiastic shill for that two-headed hydra known as Coate-Aigner that I'm starting to wonder if the only reason you're on the KZYX schedule is because you kiss so much arse around the station. 

And indeed, you have you been so justly rewarded for such arse kissing! You have not just one show at KZYX, but two shows! 

You host "Oak and Thorn" on Sunday mornings -- do we really need two hours every single week of either the dreary, dolorous strains of Celtic ballads or the manic, noisey pipings and seesaw pitchings of Irish jigs and reels? Ugh. The Celtic thing is so 70s. Didn't Enya's boat "sail away" years ago? 

And you also host the "Ecology Hour" on Tuesday nights. 

Two shows. 

Yes, you bow to the two-headed hydra, and you get rewarded. I understand. Everyone at KZYX understands how things work -- especially the one hundred or so volunteer programmers who host shows. They understand. 

And how do things work? Suck up. You're in. Question Coate-Aigner. You're out. 

Which explains why really outstanding programmers like Norman De Vall, Doug McKenty, Johanna Schultz, Beth Bosk, and many others have been purged over the years by Coate-Aigner. I was also purged. 

It also explains why award-winning news anchor, Christina Aanestad, was purged -- she insisted on editorial control over the content of her own stories. 

And it explains why really excellent programmers like Marco McClean will never be allowed on-the-air by Coate-Aigner. 

This purging is censorship, pure and simple. Censorship. And censorship is un-American. 

And to that I say, starve the beast. 




Starve the beast! Coate-Aigner doesn't deserve the financial support of KZYX's members and underwriters! 

Cutting off financial support is the only way things will ever change at KZYX. Money is all that matters to the beast. Coate has been at KZYX for eight years pulling in big bucks. He even gave himself a 10 percent raise in 2013 at precisely the time employees at Mendocino County were either losing their jobs or being forced to take a 10 percent pay cut. So much for worker solidarity, John Coate! 




Meanwhile, Aigner has been at KZYX for its entire 25-year history. Years and years of pulling in big bucks in the Anderson Valley where Aigner's only other job options were pouring wine in a tasting room or making beds as a housekeeper at a bed-and breakfast inn.. 




The public should make no mistake about it: KZYX is a jobs program for the people who work there. And guess what? They won't even disclose their salaries to you, the public. 

At an annual budget of $550,000, KZYX staff has pulled in millions and millions of dollars. of public monies. And KZYX broadcast equipment doesn't even work. For all those millions, the public gets a lot of dead air or a scratchy signals. 

Just look at today, March 26, for example. From KZYX's website, and I quote: "We were off the air for a few hours Thursday morning because a power supply failed up at the 90.7 transmitter. We set up a workaround until we replace the part. Thanks for your understanding." 

This is the eighth or ninth time this year alone -- just in 2015 alone -- that the broadcast has been down. Why? Because those millions of dollars go to salaries instead of equipment and technology -- where that money desperately needed. 

And to that, I say again and again: Starve the beast! Starve the beast! 

Starve the beast until we get much-needed change at KZYX! 

In the meantime, have fun with your shows Tim Bray. Your Irish pipers can pipe, and your fiddlers can fiddle, as Rome burns. 





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