[Kzyxtalk] Loyalty

[Tim Gregory]

i understand your reasoning, doug. i dislike your example of marco's latest
'rejection', though. while i believe marco is grounded enough not to be another sako
in the ranks of the station, granting him airtime COULD have similar fallout.

obviously the 900lb gorilla, NPR, is not fully understood in its pros and cons, nor
are all sane suggestions for improving our calendar week. 'npr worldview' is not
only here, it keeps up with the times enough to know its demographic and go with the
flow.

some listeners admire that, too.

i grew frustrated with both callers and hosts on thurs call-in hour...called to
separate personal tastes v. concerns about autocratic content decisions...might have
said it better...

we're all on our learning curves...
---




I feel compelled to respond to a post last week from Marco where he revealed an
email from the current Program Director at KZYX stating that the organization was
not interested in working with him as they were only looking for volunteers who
would, in her words, express a "loyalty" to the radio station.

What does that mean?

KZYX is meant to be a community organization that, according to its mission
statement, produces programming that is open to "all points of view."  In other
words, those with different, and opposing, perspectives, should be able to use the
station as a communication hub where these differences can be hashed out in an open
and transparent manner and the radio station should operate as a common resource
shared by all members of the community.  The bylaws and policies of the station
clearly dictate that differences in opinion concerning station governance and
programming decisions should be made in a similarly transparent and democratic
fashion.

About 10 years ago, a few entrenched members of the stations hierarchy chose to
disregard many of these policies in order to enforce upon the station a "NPR
formula" which minimized the influence of members of the community interested in
discussing alternative or activist opinions that strayed too far from what I would
describe as the "NPR worldview."

As a result, community support for the station plummeted and the stations net worth
dropped from $350k to almost zero.  The station has lost an average of $3000 a month
during that time, despite the fact that the CPB grant increased by nearly 100%.
(Though the amount has been reduced over the last two years.)

Those who advocated for a return to the democratic spirit expressed in the stations
policies often coincided with their desire to discuss alternatives to the NPRcentric
perspectives of those who unilaterally took control of the programming were often
simply pushed out over time.

While it seems obvious that many in our community wish to hear more alternative
beliefs, and the expression of those beliefs on air would result in more community
financial support for the station, those who have taken control of the programming
simply accuse those who seek democratic change over hierarchical control of
disloyalty to the institution itself.

>From my perspective, those who have taken control of the programming to impose
> their beliefs, at the expense of the rest of the community, are the ones who act
out of disloyalty to the institution, and those of us attempting to democratize
the
> process in order to save the station financially, are the ones loyal to the spirit
of community radio with respect for the shared, common resource it is meant to be.

The accusation of "disloyalty" seems to be yet another excuse to silence the voices
in our community who believe that the radio station should be open to "all points of
view."

Doug

Sent from my iPhone
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