[Kzyxtalk] Mary Massey's FCC complaint about Mary Aigner's having allowed some swear words to reach the air and the obvious double standard.

[nsi at mcn.org]

Hey, Marco:  I was living in Mendocino at the time. There was never
ever a Programmers' meeting held at my home. Those heavy handed
meetings were all at the station.
Nor would I have ever said, "I'm afraid of losing my show." Around
that time Judi Bari was bombed and the FBI came to the station and
told Donovan or Johnny they could not broadcast any announcement or
whatever they received from any group or person that countered their
narrative that Judi and Darryl Cherney blew up themselves.  The
programmer who was on the air  when such a notice was put up on the
window called me at home and asked me what they should do and I told
them to tear down the Notice, that it was "prior restraint" (a term I
had just learned).  Clearly I was not frightened of reprecussions
from the FBI and aired the updates from the hospital on my show each
week, as well as reading excerpts from an interview I had recorded
and published in New Settler with Judi Bari earlier that month.  At
no time was I afraid of losing my show. It was a great shock to my
system that I did.  Becoming your champion just wasn't very high on
my agenda of things to do at the time, so involved was I in the
practicalities of forestland defense. But you have mis-remembered
that particular event. I remember intervening when Shawn indicated he
would have you arrested, but it truly is not in my nature to have
whispered to you afterwards a fear of losing 4th Gate Gazette. It was
the only public affairs programming the station offered at the time in
addition to being two consecutive hours of aOpen Line, gloriously
used.--beth bosk

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marco McClean" 
To:
Cc:"MCPB Board" , , "OBrien Dennis" , , 
Sent:Thu, 30 Apr 2015 22:53:24 -0700
Subject:Re: [Kzyxtalk] Mary Massey's FCC complaint about Mary
Aigner's having allowed some swear words to reach the air and the
obvious double standard.

 Re: Mary Massey's FCC complaint about Mary Aigner's having allowed
some 
 swear words to reach the air and also having a double standard.

 --by Marco McClean

 On one hand I don't like the idea of people complaining about 
 so-called dirty words that accidentally or artfully waft out onto
the 
 air, because it lends legitimacy to the screwy idea of it being
against 
 the law to just talk. It's not against the law to talk. On the
contrary, 
 it's unconstitutional to make any sort of law that even lightly
chills 
 talk, political or poetical or any other kind, at the beach, on the 
 street or on the radio. The FCC pays better than mere lip service to

 this. Go to
https://www.fcc.gov/guides/obscenity-indecency-profanity-faq [1] 
 and scroll down to /What is the safe harbor?/

 On the other hand, Mary Massey, your complaint points up the 
 hypocrisy in Mary Aigner and Co. airing swear words on their own
account 
 without receiving a retributive thumping, while they continue to use
the 
 same words as an excuse to throw others out and blackball them and 
 ostracize them ever after, which KZYX has been doing since the 
 beginning. It happened to me 25 years ago in 1989. Sean Donovan
hated me 
 with a hot hate, and he used to drunk-call me on the phone, when I
was 
 doing my show, and tell me things like that he just got up to piss
and 
 he decided to give his old pal Marrrr-co a ring. So what's going on,

 Marrrr-co? /Ugh./

 He waited until I described something as /bullshit/ (at two a.m.) 
 and that was it for me. No recourse, no opportunity to apprise
others of 
 the injustice, certainly no discussing it on the air --because no
access 
 to the air-- and then when I went to the next programmers' meeting
to 
 talk about it, Sean Donovan, the manager, was lording it over the 
 programmers' meeting, and he told his flunky Johnny Bazzano to call
the 
 police (!) and have me arrested for trespassing at the radio
station. 
 Months later still, when I went to the next programmers' meeting at
the 
 private house of Beth Bosk, (who had stopped Johnny from calling the

 police by saying, "Sean! What are you doing!") she turned me away
from 
 that meeting at the door, because, she said quietly, "I don't want
to 
 lose /my/ show." But of course she lost her show anyway in the next 
 crackdown on things even inching in the direction of being a little
too 
 free for the poobahs at the station to countenance.

 And a similar fate befell lots of people over the years. No-one in 
 a position of authority at KZYX deserves that authority, nor ever
has. 
 All KZYX airpeople even today must be timid and careful in their
public 
 and private lives not to ever say or do anything that might turn the

 management's Eye of Sauron upon them. Because they don't want to
lose 
 /their/ show. And that's not freedom. Its oppressive bullshit. Sean 
 Donovan set the tone for that and it's been the same song ever
since.

 Jesus, Sean Donovan was a piece of work. I remember him giving an 
 encouraging fundraising talk about how many old people there are in 
 Mendocino County, and what a good idea it would be to encourage 
 specimens near to meeting their maker to include KZYX in their will.
"We 
 might even call the old folks' homes." I: "Are you serious?" Sean: 
 "They're gonna die anyway. And the station needs the money." That's 
 right, it needed the money /to pay Sean/, just like it needs so much

 money now to pay John Coate and Mary Aigner and John Steffen and...

 Come to think of it, during the next-to-latest in its endless 
 series of egregiously unlistenable pledge drives, in a moment I
lingered 
 on KZYX on my way up the dial to KNYO, I heard someone say something

 just like that-- encouraging listeners to consider putting KZYX in
their 
 will.

 A current frustration is that I want to write email to the other 
 paying members of MCPB to point out how wrong it is that the
operators 
 of KZYX refuse to allow members to communicate with each other
without 
 being limited, censored and supervised. And I can't write email to
the 
 other members, because the operators of KZYX refuse to give out the 
 membership list --they say it's for privacy reasons-- but it would
be 
 the work of fifteen minutes to put an open unmoderated forum on the 
 subject of station business and operation somewhere on the front
page of 
 kzyx.org, where such a thing belongs. John Coate could do it
tonight, on 
 his iPhone, at the dinner table.

 Another frustration is that everyone on the board and in management 
 of KZYX pants-on-fire lies out loud when they say that the community
and 
 the members control the station. In real life there's no two-way 
 communication between members of MCPB and the board-- neither in
private 
 nor on the air. I've written to the boardmembers on several
occasions 
 and have never got even a /got your email, thanks/ in response. I
did 
 once get an email from Stuart Campbell saying that the board all
(except 
 for one-- Sakowicz probably) agreed (in what must have been a
private 
 unposted session) on Stuart's response to me, which did not provide
an 
 answer to any of the questions I've ever asked them but instead was 
 Stuart's one-sentence statement that the board fully supports John 
 Coate. That's it. Oh, right, also I got email from Stuart Campbell
in 
 jumping caps and exclamation marks that their not sending me a
ballot 
 until it was too late for me to use it to vote was in no way to be 
 construed as preventing me from voting in the board election! That
was 
 an election with like a 25% turnout, so how many others didn't get a

 ballot? And I did get a pleasant note welcoming me as a member of
the 
 KZYX family when they cashed my membership check, and with the note
came 
 a photocopy of the schedule of shows, none of them my show nor
anything 
 at all like it but, you know, thanks /so/ much for the money.

 Another frustration is that they flush away hundreds of thousands 
 of dollars (!) every year to pay a handful of bobbleheads in the
office 
 to wander in and out and behave as they please, and pay everyone
else 
 nothing. Just the amount the management suite --Mary Aigner, John
Coate, 
 David Steffen, etc.-- is paid would easily fully fund a dozen other 
 little radio stations. Every membership dollar and even a little
more 
 goes directly into management's pockets; none of it helps the
station in 
 any way. Keep that in mind when you're asked to become a member and 
 pledge money. If the managers were worth what they're being paid,
KZYX 
 would be the Cadillac of radio stations, and would distribute a full

 catalog of fine new local shows to hundreds of NPR stations. They're

 not, it isn't, and it doesn't.

 In addition KZYX receives vast sums of tax money every year, and in 
 return for this it sits on a county-spanning collection of
frequencies 
 in the educational band and keeps out anyone who might say any of
this 
 on the air, much less do the kind of quirky innovative local free
radio 
 experimentation that the low end of the FM dial was set aside for. I

 want /my/ show on KZYX. It's a better show than most of what's
there, 
 including the NPR shows. And that's never going to happen until at
least 
 John Coate and Mary Aigner are removed, and-- I think I'm being very

 fair here, and I'm addressing the board specifically when I say
this-- 
 you don't have to remove them by firing them, if you're afraid to
hurt 
 their feelings; simply adjust their pay to be more in line with what
the 
 people actually doing the work of radio at KZYX are being paid
--which, 
 see above, is zilch-- and they'll quit on their own, demonstrating
what 
 they're really in it for in the first place. They're not in it for 
 radio, and they're not good for the station.

 So I am a little conflicted about your complaint, Mary Massey. If 
 your method of getting rid of bad, oppressive management just sets
up 
 whoever comes next to keep me and others like me on the outside for 
 another eon, then the good news and the bad news cancel each other
out. 
 In another 25 years I'll be in my eighties. I and my listeners would

 like some positive action on this issue while I can still go several

 hours between toilet breaks and while I still have all my own teeth.

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

 Marco McClean
memo at mcn.org [2] 
http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com [3]

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Links:
------
[1] https://www.fcc.gov/guides/obscenity-indecency-profanity-faq
[2] mailto:memo at mcn.org
[3] http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com
[4] mailto:Kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org
[5] http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/kzyxtalk

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