[Kzyxtalk] Trump and KZYX

[John Sakowicz]

KZYX IS IN REAL TROUBLE WITH TRUMP 

On Thursday, March 16, in a front page article in the New York Times, it was announced that the budget submitted by President Trump cuts all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). 

Regarding the CPB, Trump hates public media. Rightly or wrongly, Trump equates public media with liberal media. Here in Mendocino County, our public radio station, KZYX, has a far left-of-center basis. In 27-years since its founding, KZYX has never diversified to include moderate, much less conservative, voices, even while purporting to be "public" radio. 

Now that basis will come back to haunt us. I'll explain. It's all about funding.. 

Over last 27 years, KZYX has received $4-5 million from the CPB. Keep in mind, CPB funding is the "mother's milk" of all public media, especially small rural stations, like KZYX. Without CPB's big fat check coming every year, we at KZYX would have failed in any given year. 

So what now? What is KZYX's contingency plan? 

Well, it doesn't have one. 

KZYX's only hope going into the future will be grants -- corporate and foundation grants. That kind of funding. No more annual federal handouts from the CPB. 

But there's a major problem. KZYX won't get corporate and foundation grants. And certainly not fot for operations. It just won't. Why? For the simple reason that KZYX's business practices are so far out of compliance, 

KZYX will never get money from the private sector. Accounting and audit, in particular, are dismal at KZYX, and corporate and foundation grant makers are sticklers for well-managed applicants. 

I repeat: Our accounting and audit are dismal. I should know. I served on KZYX's Board of Director from 2013 to 2016, and was Board Treasurer in 2014. I also hosted a popular show, "The Truth About Money" on KZYX for six years. (The show is now called "All About Money", and it is broadcast every Monday at 1 pm on KMEC.) 

I cite just one example of KZYX's dismal accounting and audit -- the station's IRS Form 990s. In the three years that I was on the KZYX Board, I, along with the rest of the Board, never once saw the station's 990s before they were filed. It gets worse. 

At KZYX's last Board meeting, on March 6 in Fort Bragg, investigative journalist, Scott Peterson, did a flip chart presentation that showed that KZYX's Form 990s are defective, if not fraudulent, as filed. 

Indeed, Mr. Peterson demonstrated that much, if not all, of the station's accounting and audit is incomplete, inaccurate, and inconsistent. Nothing adds up, and if it does, it adds up to a failing station. 

Don't think public radio stations can fail? Well, they do! Close to home, KUSP in Santa Cruz failed. KUSP was much bigger than KZYX. And Santa Cruz is a liberal university town with a lot of support for public media. But guess what? KUSP failed anyway. In fact, KUSP's very own IRS Form 990s were the "canary in the mine" that should have given its own Board of Directors an early warning of a failing station -- but they were ignored by KUSP's Board. 

Sounds a lot like KZYX. 

Corporations and foundations will KZYX only if our financials are impeccable, which they are not. Our financials are inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent , as Scott Peterson demonstrated . Additionally, at KZYX there are no multi-year reviews of operating statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. And debt is never disclosed -- what we owe NPR, the CA Department of Forestry, American Radio International, and Pacifica? What we owe on our letter of credit at the Mendocino Savings Bank is not disclosed? 

And what do our correct Form 990s look llike? It's shocking, but KZYX's IRS Form 990s were filed without the KZYX Board ever having seen them. 

Also, corporations and foundations will only fund KZYX if our policies are strictly followed. Currently, our policies are not even posted on our website. This is also shocking. 

As someone who is a trained trustee and fiduciary, and as someone who is a trained Board director, and as someone who has years of accounting, audit, and management experience, I'm here to tell you that KZYX will fail, and I'm here to help. I want to help KZYX save itself from itself. It's why I'm running for the KZYX Board. 

I will fight for best business practices at KZYX, so we can open up new revenue streams from corporations and foundations. But first, I will insist on best business practices for accounting, audit, and management. I will refile defective Form 990s, and will restate the station's other financials. 

I promise to work with KZYX's GM and put a premium on collegiality with other Board directors. But I will not wink at "business as usual" as our beloved community radio station goes out of business, and the airwaves become silent -- not as Trump remakes the United States of America in his own image and likeness. 

John Sakowicz 
KZYX Board candidate 










-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/kzyxtalk/attachments/20170317/1dcec880/attachment-0001.html