[Kzyxtalk] The Public Trial of John Sakowicz

[Sheila Dawn]

 Hi , 
 I'd like to add my name to the list of the KZYX "14". I was a News volunteer for eight years when after I wrote a piece in the AVA called,  Inside Out-- Thunder Rumblings and Lightning Strikes-- about inside info on the termination of Christina Aanestadt and offering the perspective that the change in programming, especially that of the progressive news programs was not due to finances as Coate often maintained but due to forces yet to be determined.  As the years progressed it was easy to see that censorship was the real motivation.  I was told by News Director, Paul Hanson "that I could not write about the station in the AVA and continue as a volunteer." This is the same man who avoided a felony fraud conviction by pleading to a lesser charge  in regard to lottery fraud. All True.  So much for the Board's responsibility to properly vet all prospective employees.   Meg Courtney falsely told me that the Board had voted to ban me as a volunteer and that I was no longer welcome at the station. When, at a Board meeting , I confronted the Board to tell me when they had met and voted on my banishment without hearing my side of the story, it turned out that Meg and some unknown person(s) (most likely Coate & Aigner) had made the decision.
  I have, through dedicated persistence, been unbanned but needless to say, there is still a great deal of tension between Courtney and myself.  I have proposed, in an article on Transparency for the AVA, July 2016, that the Board set up a Truth & Reconciliation Committee consisting of some community members who have been mistreated to devise a fair grievance process that would bring those considered to be outsiders or reformers back into the KZYX fold. No response yet from any Board member as is their habit. In fact, I have had to send multiple certified letters to the station to insure any response for information I have requested.    Another election is coming up. The only contested seat is the AT- Large seat which is more desirable because it is open to station programmers. The Board already has Stuart Campbell as the de facto representative of the programmers. Despite my request that he give a report on his interaction with programmers about issues with which they are concerned, he has to date not said a single word about the programmers in his cumulative 4 years as their representative. If patterns hold true, he will be the next Board President and hold the station firmly in his powerful grip.
  There have been many injustices at our often touted "community radio station". The main one is the minimalizing of community input through the near non existent Community Advisory Board who didn't hold a quorumed public meeting all year. I have caught Stuart Campbell in a big fat lie about the private meeting of the CAB in his home by getting the notes about KZYX business at that meeting that he maintains never happened. Get Involved!     Sheila Dawn Tracy



      From: John Sakowicz <sako4 at comcast.net>
 To: kzyxtalk <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org> 
 Sent: Friday, March 10, 2017 3:43 PM
 Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] The Public Trial of John Sakowicz
   
Thank you, Dr. Miller, for this ""history lesson". I had no idea how you had to grovel. 
It is never enough for a host/producer to do superior programming at KZYX, with great guests, on important topics. No. Never enough. One must "kiss the ring", so to speak...or in the case of Aigner and Coate, kiss their ass.
I couldn't do it. Now I have a show at KMEC on a powerful digital platform with an audience now approaching 50,000 Youtube subscribers and distribution through several media channels.
No one at KZYX could ever put together that technology I now havve. Not Aigner nor Coate norr Culbertson. "Lazy" and "stupid" come to mind, and as Dean Vernon Wormer told John Belushi in the movie, Animal House, "lazy and stupid is no way to go through life."
-- JohnFrom: "Dr Richard Louis Miller" <drrichardlmiller at gmail.com>
To: "kzyxtalk" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>, "KZYX Board" <bod1989 at pacific.net>, "MCN Announce Lists" <announce at lists.mcn.org>, discussion at lists.mcn.org
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2017 11:30:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] The Public Trial of John Sakowicz

Dear KZYX Friends and Neighbors:
Some of you have been asking me for an explanation of my effusive expression of gratitude to KZYX Board President  Meg Courtney during the recent Board meeting at the Senior Center, on March 6, 2017.
Some year ago I was one of the 15 people* terminated from KZYX.  This number of persons terminated, at KZYX,  is greater than the total  number of people I have witnessed terminated during my entire 66 year working career. 
 To put this in perspective:  I have scrapped dishes, washed  toilets, cleaned rat cages, cleaned sewers, waited on tables, taught at the University of Michigan and Stanford University,  made testimony to the California State Assembly and the  President's Commission on Mental Health, served as  Senior Vice President,  and President of my division,  of a chemical dependance  treatment program employing 2000 people, and much more.  Again, the total number of people  terminated, in my entire  66  career,  for all reasons, was not close to the 15 terminated at KZYX.
KZYX General Manager, John Coate, and KZYX Program Director, Mary Aigner, refused to meet with me to discuss any of  their actions.  Instead,  Coate sent me a letter saying  that I would not be allowed to return to my job  until I sent a  letter to all 100 KZYX  programmers admitting "my mistake".  My lawyer said Coate's demand of a public mea culpa  was illegal.   When I called Coate he refused to take my calls.  This was the most egregious example,  amongst many,  during a 10 year work  period,  which were, by far,  the the most painful in my entire work history.
 During their tenure, I was regularly met, by GM  Coate and PD Aigner, with derision, contempt,  sarcasm and a  level of disrespect which was palpable.   It was painful to call the station for any reason,  whatsoever,  for at bare  minimum I was met with a sarcastic  "why are you calling and bothering us?"
 Coate/Aigner  made me grovel for 2 solid years in order to provide me with a key to the Mendo studio.  Finally after they terminated Norm du Vall, he gave me his key.  Another time they refused to give me an answer, for 6 months,  to my request that I be allowed, at my own expense, to buy a head set with mic built in.  
My dedicated studio engineer, Mike Dell'Ara,  was  witness to both of these incidents as well as to the tones with which I was chronically treated for many years.
In addition, during my entire 10 years, there was no building of spirit du corp or  ever a  real working Program Advisory Committee (which, to this day, despite the promises of  Board member, Stuart Campbell, 8 months ago,  still  does not exist.)  Thus, in a community radio station there is no channel for community input to programming.
It was only because of my love of our community and  my program,   and my belief that my program adds to our community,  which I cherish, that I continued to work under such unusually painful  adverse circumstances. Instead  of quitting I chose to out wait them.   Staying the course,  and staying alive, are winning tactics.
>From the moment Coate and Aigner  departed,  the atmosphere at KZYX  changed  and my work life improved markedly...in fact,  it became normal.  Now I both enjoy my job and the people I work with.
 Acting PD  Angela de Witt was a pleasure to work with and so is PD Alice Woefle-Erskine.  We work cooperatively,  as a team, for the station and for the community. We treat one another with respect and good cheer.  
So why did I express so much  gratitude to Meg Courtney?  Because  8 months after my "suspension"  she  persuaded John Coate to meet with me at her home for dinner.If was only  because of Meg's  intervention  that Coate  actually deigned to speak with me.   It's almost impossible to dine with someone without talking to them.Subsequent to the dinner Coate  invited me to resume my program which I did after a full year off the air.    Because Meg did caused Coate to do his job  I am eternally grateful.
Presently  the list of those KZYX programmers  terminated is at least  14*.   Perhaps some of these programmers  deserved to be terminated. Perhaps some of these programmers deserve to be reinstated.  Perhaps apologies  to some are proper.  For certain,  until there is a review of these 14  terminations they will fester in our community. We heard expressions of the festering at the Board meeting on March 6.
With our new, and very experienced, GM, Jeff Parker, it is a new day at KZYX and I hopefully  KZYX will finally  take its place as a model station.  Unfortunately Jeff has inherited some old baggage which needs attending to.  Such is life.  Most of us have old baggage that benefits from healing.  
Lets get with Jeff and support his  leading  us  to the greater  community contribution  hundreds of us have been working for, voluntarily,  without pay, these past many years.  If the Trump government takes away our federal funding (about $140,000/year)  let us raise it here in our community. We can do it!
If ever there was a time for us all to put our disagreements aside and  pull together, in the same direction, this is it!
Wishing you all excellent health,
RichardHost, Mind Body Health & Politics.
Richard Louis Miller, M.A., Ph.D.
Clinical PsychologyWikipedia: Dr Richard Louis MillerWikipedia: Wilbur Hot SpringsMindBodyHealthPolitics.orgMendocinoTV.comPsychepedia.org 

*KZYX Programmers Terminated (not in chronological order of termination)1-Phaedra Savage2-Toni Orans3-Beth Bosk 4-Sister Yasmin 5-Mary Walsh6-Johanna Schultz7-Els Cooperider8-Christina Arnestad9-Doug McKenty10-John Sakowicz11-Norm du Vall12-Mitch Clogg13-Marco McClean14-KC Meadows
















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