[Kzyxtalk] The Public Trial of John Sakowicz

[nsi at mcn.org]

Thank you Sheila. 
Please send this message to the coast listserv Announce where more members
of KZYX/Z reside. Announce is truly the coast public square.
--beth bosk 

On Sat, 11 Mar 2017 01:31:28 +0000 (UTC), Sheila Dawn
<sheila.dawn50 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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 "
> id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489192610802_11385" class="yahoo_quoted">     
> -------------------------
>  FROM: John Sakowicz 
>  TO: kzyxtalk  
>  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."
> -- John
> -------------------------
> FROM: "Dr Richard Louis Miller" 
> TO: "kzyxtalk" , "KZYX Board" , "MCN Announce Lists" ,
> 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 font-size:large;color:rgb(32,18,77);">
> 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 Savage 2-Toni Orans 3-Beth Bosk  4-Sister Yasmin 
> 5-Mary Walsh 6-Johanna Schultz 7-Els Cooperider 8-Christina Arnestad
> 9-Doug McKenty 10-John Sakowicz 11-Norm du Vall 12-Mitch Clogg 13-Marco
> McClean 14-KC Meadows
> 
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