[Kzyxtalk] Fwd: KZYX records inspection

Wed Sep 23 19:41:15 PDT 2015

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: sako4 at comcast.net 
To: "Stuart" <asongman at mcn.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 7:40:16 PM 
Subject: Re: KZYX records inspection 

You still don't get it, Stuart. 

Doug, Norman, and I were all purged by Mary Aigner. Marco was purged even before he got a show at our station. This is censorship. This is unacceptable at a public radio station. Doug, Norman, Marco, and I are all great programmers, each in our own way. Doug is great with callers. Norman is the quintessential "public citizen". Marco is a real media pro in both newspaper and radio. And I get A-list guests speaking on the most important issues facing us today, which is why I'm a finalist for a $211,000 at a major foundation. I have a growing national audience at KMEC. If you want to hear a typical show with over 8,000 downloads, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGayl9uNW4A 

Doug, Norman, Marco, and I -- we were all purged. We were all purged by Mary Aigner. She is your problem, not us. 

Oh, I know you'll ssay that we were all purged for cause. You can say what you want about why Mary Aigner purged us. Argue all you want. But whatever you say, our purging was not about about obscenities being uttered on the air. 

In my case, Mary Aigner was at the engineering board when an obscenity was uttered. Mary Aigner ordered me off the board, to stand aside, to shut up. I complied. You can actually hear studio furniture being moved on the audio tape of the incident, as I moved aside aand let Mary Aigner take control of my show. 

Once in conntrol of my show, Mary Aigner should have potted down the mike, but she didn't, which is astonishing because she is the Program Director and has 25-years experience on the engineering board. Regardless, whatever was uttered was ambient sound, because I was standing 4-5 feet from the mike. In fact, I was standing right next to you. And the station received no complaints from the public about the incident, nor did the FCC. 

The whole incident was confabulated -- and escalated to purge status -- by Mary Aigner. 

In Doug's case, a caller uttered the obscenity -- not Doug. Doug admonished the caller. That's it. Peroid. End of story. Except for the fact that Doug was starting to question business practices as a member of the KZYX Board of Directors. 

In Norman's case, no obscenity whatsoever was uttered. 

So why was Norman purged? Because of his off-air conduct that challenged the public's right to free speech about KZYX. 

Mary Aigner explicitly told Norman he would never be on-air at KZYX again because of the fact that Norman started the kzyxtalk listserv. Then, she denied ever saying that when questioned by John Coate. 

She lied. Norman De Vall doesn't lie. He's a highly respected retired public servant who now advocates for kids in court. Norman De Vall sets the standard for integrity. 

How about Marco? Why won't he ever get a show at KZYX despite putting together 3-4 entertaining and informative hours of programming at KNYO every two weeks? 

Why, indeed? For the simple fact that Marco sees Mary Aigner's job as total superfluous, a waste of $50,000 a year, plus benefits. And Mary Aigner is lazy. And angry. Snarky. Hostile. A control freak whose employment options outside of KZYX are non-existent. 

A final thing. The ole' double standard. In 2015 alone, I've heard obscenities uttered in taped content several times while Mary Aigner was engineering a show. No consequences. No suspensions or expulsions from KZYX. 

The ole' double standard. 

You still don't get it, do you, Stuart. Here's a four-step plan. One, give us our shows back. Two, sack Mary Aigner. Immediately. Three, open up communications among the membership. Four, a few other things related to open governance would be nice, too. 

It's easy peasy lemon squeezey. This conflict can end. 

The alternative will make the FCC investigation look...well, look kum ba yah. 

In peace, 

John 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: "Stuart" <asongman at mcn.org> 
To: sako4 at comcast.net, discussion at lists.mcn.org 
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 5:22:22 PM 
Subject: KZYX records inspection 

I really think all you folks who complain about kzyx but then only show what 
information that they want to show, just enough to support their beliefs, 
taking 1/2 from one line and a few words from another are liars and crooks 
themselves. 

You yell about openness and then hide behind those same words. 

If you can cut and paste a few lines from this "FCC investigation" then you 
have access to the complete document, but none of you complainers seem to 
have the balls or feel secure enough about what they are bitching about to 
let everyone else decide what or whom is wrong. 

It's like a prosecution without a witness, without a defense, without a 
cross examination. And is therefore worthless and petty. 

You spin everything you say so all you get is dizzy readers who have no 
inkling what or who is full of it. 

I call out you all the KZYX protesters to actually post all of the facts, 
all of the available documents which you are basing your grievances on, in 
their entirety and without yours or anyone's opinion to cloud the issue. 

If you want support from the community, whether it is pro or con on an 
issue, show you deserve it, no, PROVE you deserve it, be honest and 
forthright. 

Then use terms like "in Other words" "terrorists" "almost unprecedented" 
plus others if I really wanted to dissect your emails which all they do is 
add color and a Donald Trump kinda flair to the proceedings. Again 
Worthless... 

I think You'll be surprised how many, when given the complete facts and then 
really understand the situation, might agree with you. 

Stuart Cohen 

-----Original Message----- 
From: announce-bounces at lists.mcn.org [mailto:announce-bounces at lists.mcn.org] 
On Behalf Of sako4 at comcast.net 
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 3:33 PM 
To: announce at lists.mcn.org 
Subject: [MCN-Announce]- KZYX records inspection 

To the Editor: 

It's absurd for KZYX management to say that the recent FCC decision to renew 
the station's licenses was somehow a "slam dunk victory" for the station. 

First, the FCC's investigation took almost two years. In other words, the 
station's license was held up for almost two years. That's a very long time 
in the regulatory world. A two-year investigation is a rebuke in and of 
itself. 

Second, it's almost unprecedented that the FCC completely revoke the 
broadcasting licenses of a presumably public radio station. A station would 
have to be commandeered by a terrorist group...something like that. 

Third and quoting from the FCC decision, "...the Informal Objections filed 
by John Sakowicz, Sheila Dawn Tracy, M. Kathryn Massey, Yasmin Solomon, and 
Sandra Peterson ARE GRANTED IN PART." 

The FCC decision continues, "IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that KZYX IS ADMONISHED 
for failure to maintain both a full-time employee and one full-time 
management level employee at Station KZYX(FM)'s main studio during the 
license term." 

The emphasis above in capital letters is the FCC's own emphasis. 

The objections were substantiated in part, and KZYX was admonished -- 
terrible. 

A slam dunk victory? I think not. Couple the FCC's two-year investigation 
and qualified decision with the decision by the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting to slash KZYX's funding -- the station was cited for not 
reaching enough of the minority community -- and we get a more accurate 
picture of the very serious problems at KZYX. 

There's more. 

In October, KZYX's business records will be inspected as a result of a 
demand letter that was filed earlier this summer. Within a day of the 
station being served, former KZYX Executive Director and General Manager, 
John Coate, announced his sudden resignation. 

Was Coate's resignation a coincidence? I think not. 

The demand letter was signed by two former KZYX Board directors, Doug 
McKenty and King Collins. It was also signed by myself, a current board 
director, along with a former and highly respected member of the Mendocino 
County Board of Supervisors, Norman De Vall, and Ukiah attorney, Dennis 
O'Brien. 

Attorney, Peter Kafin, will accompany us on the records inspection in 
October. 

There's more trouble ahead for the bullies who call themselves KZYX 
management. The truth shall set us free. Let's be clear, KZYX is not a truly 
public radio station. KZYX is a closed clubhouse. 

What is KZYX? 

KZYX is a closed clubhouse that is not advised by a strong and independent 
Community Advisory Board and Program Advisory Committee. Both are weak and 
ineffective, and characterized by conflicts of interest. 

KZYX is a closed clubhouse that keeps its 2,100 members in the dark and 
fights every effort to organize them. The result is that membership has 
declined from 2,300 members in only the last few years. 

KZYX is a closed clubhouse that keeps its 80-90 volunteer broadcasters 
unpaid and fights every effort to unionize, or otherwise organize them. 

KZYX is a closed clubhouse that is a jobs program for the full-time staff at 
the station who will not disclose their salaries, will not provide job 
descriptions or work logs, and will not be subject to job performance 
evaluations by the Board of Directors. 

KZYX is a closed clubhouse whose program decisions are made by one person, 
the Program Director, who does little actual work, comes and goes as she 
pleases, and who also routines censors programmers and otherwise purges her 
critics. The result is that she has remained unchallenged at KZYX for 25 
years. 

Let's work together to make KZYX truly public again. 

John Sakowicz 
KZYX Board of Directors, 2013-2016, Board Treasurer, 2014 

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