[Kzyxtalk] a model for the future

[sako4 at comcast.net]

REPLY TO THE AVA'S "SODDEN THOUGHT DEPARTMENT" 




I can’t disagree with the AVA's “sodden thought of the day” regarding KZYX. Indeed, KZYX is beyond meaningful reform given its current governance structure. 




Why? 




Because governance is fatally flawed. It was set up that way from the beginning. We have the station’s founder, a con man named Sean Donovan, to thank. 




Bottom line: The station needs to die, if it is to be reborn. 




Die how? 




The FCC should yank the station’s finances, and the CPB should yank its funding. The IRS and California Secretary of State should yank the station’s nonprofit status. 




What happens next? 




A community of like-minded people, who truly believe in community governance of a community radio station, a la KMUD, should organize to incorporate as a new radio station, and they should apply for the FCC licenses, CPB funding, and tax-exempt status. 




What’s nonnegotiable? 




KZYX’s useless, overpaid staff — Coate, Aigner, Steffen, and Culbertson — and all of the KZYX Rubber Stamp Board of Directors, and most of the tedious, irrelevant programmers, should be run out of town. 




They should all be banished forever from public radio in Mendocino County, and have no connection whatsoever to the new station. 




What would the new station look like? 




It should look like community radio — not public radio. Public radio puts the emphasis on NPR and strip programming over what a herd of independent minds can do. 




What is community radio? 




Community radio broadcasts content that is popular and relevant to a local, specific audience but is often overlooked by commercial or mass-media broadcasters. 




Community radio stations are operated, owned, and influenced by the communities they serve. They are generally nonprofit and provide a mechanism for enabling individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own stories, to share experiences and, in a media-rich world, to become creators and contributors of media. 




Who would operate the new station? 




The new station should have only one salaried staff member — a chief engineer. 




The balance of the station’s budget should go towards infrastructure improvements — new equipment and technology. This would include whatever it takes to prevent the dead air, fuzz outs, and irritating scratchy signal that listeners frequently experience now. 




Also, the new chief engineer should ensure that all public affairs shows are archived. 




Shows should also be available as podcasts and RSS feeds. RSS — which stands for Really Simple Syndication — is a convenient way to get audio, video, and text content. 

An iPhone app should be developed for the new station. 




Links between individual shows and social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Gmail-Google+, should be created. 




Links to LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, VK, Flickr, and Vine, should also be considered, as time and resources permit. 




Every public affairs show should have a corresponding blog. 




The station’s new chief engineer should also facilitate public affairs shows being posted to the Public Radio Exchange and Radio4All for the widest possible distribution. 




The new station’s public affairs shows should also be videotaped for distribution to Mendocino Access Television. 




Additionally, the station’s main studio should be moved to Ukiah. 




Very importantly, a Community Advisory Board (CAB) and a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) should be formed, and they should be as functional and powerful as the new station’s Board of Directors. 




My personal hope is that programming at the new station should have local news and public affairs as its main focus. Quality programming is what we want. The highest quality programming from the most professional programmers. It will help us attract the next generation of underwriters. (More about underwriters at the end of this letter in the interactive properties section.) 




Who will be among the new station’s programmers? 




Several familiar faces. K.C. Meadows. Christina Aanestad. Norman De Vall. Doug McKenty. Dennis O'Brien. Beth Bosk. Marco McClean. Mary Massey. Els Cooperrider. Ed Nieves. Otto Rennert. I would invite them all. I would recruit only the best. I would tap talent through the new station's CAB and PAC. 




Another thing. The new station, which will be a full-power FM station, should collaborate with local low-power community stations, like KMEC, KNYO, and KYBU. 




Also our friends to the north, KMUD. 




Finally, and very importantly, the station’s members should be allowed — encouraged — to communicate with one another via a listserv set up for that purpose. The member listserv will emphasize involvement and participation by the member. It's so important at a true community radio station. 




A bucket list-type of thing to consider at the new station? 




Interactive properties. 




Interactive properties will help the new station attract underwriters in new and exciting ways. A greater emphasis on underwriting revenues will relieve what was once KZYX’s heavy emphasis on its numerous, insufferable pledge drives. 




Interactive properties will capitalize on an audience that is highly informed and on the cutting edge of news, politics and culture. 




Our underwriters will understand that our audience at the new station will not only has access to radio and television programming, but also have access to a multitude of information ranging from educational resources to upcoming events in northern California. Our audience will also extend beyond Northern California with programming available through live streaming. 




Many businesses, donors, and organizations will find the new station’s audience to be particularly appropriate for their messages. These are our new underwriters. 




The new station’s emphasis on quality programming will attract the audience that our underwriters seek, which is most notably distinguished by its education level and its professional and financial successes. 




Online opportunities for underwriters will include: 
1. Web Banners on the new station’s website: full-page and section sponsorships, 
2. Live Audio Streams at the new station that will enable pre-roll sponsorship and online Video sponsorship, 
3. Member Newsletter at the new station, and 
4. Email newsletters blasts. 




What I would not do? 




I would not recommend that the new station join the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. 




The National Federation of Community Broadcasters was formed in 1975 as an umbrella organization for some community-oriented, noncommercial radio stations. It has been sharply criticized for encouraging the homogenization of community stations through its Healthy Station Project. The project encouraged stations to scale back volunteers’ power over management and the content of their programs, as well as to embrace more-predictable “strip” programming. 




Instead, I would recommend that the new station join the Grassroots Radio Coalition. It is a loose coalition of stations which formed as a reaction against increasing commercialization of public radio, the centralization of power in salaried management, and the lack of support for volunteers and their programs. 




How do I know all this? 




By talking to folks at the FCC. Let’s not forget that I had two FCC commissioners on my show back when I was at KZYX, including an FCC Board chair. I also speak with folks at the CPB. Many of them. And I’ve spoken with numerous attorneys and community radio statio people. 




Their collective wisdom? 




KZYX is too broken to fix. Continue to file complaints with the FCC, CPB, the IRS, and California Secretary of State. Encourage others to do the same. Document your case. Make the complaints culumlative. Pile them up. Like a punch drunk fighter, KZYX will eventually fail. 




If KZYX doesn't fail, sue them. A lawsuit will bankrupt the station for sure. It’s already morally and ethically bankrupt. 




Then, start a new station. 




A true community radio station. Something bright and shining. Something smart. Something local. Something edgy. Something that is “alternative”, “radical” or “citizen” radio. 




Somewhere the FCC wants to issue licences. Somewhere the CPB wants to fund. Somewhere underwriters want to flock. Somewhere the community really participates. 




Somewhere involvement and participation by the member is its own reward. 




It’s the right time. Radio is experiencing a revival, in part because of podcasting’s popularity and because more young people are now seeing radio as cool. 




Radio is cool. 




John Sakowicz 

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

Ukiah 
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