[Kzyxtalk] [MCN-Announce]- A an open letter to Jonathan Middlebrook, boardmember, MCPB.

[John Sakowicz]

> I wish KZYX cared, Marco, but they don't. KZYX is a private club. And it's a jobs program for a small number of insiders.
> 
> Once programmers like us are blacklisted for speaking the truth about this "less-than-public" public radio station, we're blacklisted forever. That list includes you, me. Beth Bosk, KC Meadows, Bruce Anderson, Norman De Vall, Doug McKenty, and many other excellent programmers.
> 
> -- John Sakowicz at www.kmecradio.org 
> 
> 
> > On July 19, 2018 at 9:53 PM Marco McClean <memo at mcn.org> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > To Jonathan Middlebrook, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting Corporation:
> > 
> > I'm just checking in to make sure you did as I asked and inserted the 
> > text of my eight-minute (two page) address to the board into the minutes 
> > of the July 16 meeting and then put it in the KZYX public inspection 
> > file. I'll expect to find it there next time I visit.
> > 
> > I read a three-minute version at the board meeting, and even so was cut 
> > off before I finished. You people act as though it's an inconvenience 
> > and a nuisance to deal with the public at all, and that's very sleazy of 
> > you. The three frequencies that MCPB squats on are a natural resource 
> > that belongs to everyone. Broadcast radio frequencies don't belong to 
> > any corporation; you're granted temporary use of them, that's all, and 
> > all dealings regarding them should be out in the open and be discussed 
> > in public. Keep that in mind. The way you have always done it, the only 
> > time the public can interact with the board is during board meetings, 
> > and restricting comments to barely enough time to blow one's nose is an 
> > insult. You refuse to put the board meetings on the air, and you refuse 
> > to engage in dialog on sensitive subjects, and in any case three minutes 
> > is not anywhere near enough. Your sour time-monitor guy growling at the 
> > old Native American woman who went thirty seconds over time, "So you 
> > don't want to play by the rules, eh!" when another person offered to 
> > give up her time so the woman could finish a sentence, is typical of 
> > your bad attitude as a board.
> > 
> > Transparency is a serious issue. I also want all the information that's 
> > come up in what Jeffrey Parker called in his report the "collaborative 
> > process" of the CPB audit so far. It's more than two months into the 
> > process; there must be something. Email it to me at your earliest 
> > convenience. Don't procrastinate about this. Putting little things off 
> > just means they don't get done. The public has a right to know now, not 
> > to be kept out for more months (or years) until you've cooked it into a 
> > positive message about yourselves. You don't have to even read it; just 
> > collect up all the related emails and files and send them. No-one has 
> > any right to keep secrets about this. There is no expectation of privacy.
> > 
> > Oh, right, other information I want is the exact nature of Stuart 
> > Campbell's current function at the station, in detail. I've heard him 
> > described as the Darth Vader of MCPB. I've seen and heard of him 
> > tiptoeing around behind the scenes, whispering in the ears of 
> > boardmembers and passing secret messages (or instructions?) to the 
> > moderator of election forums, and then yez all glance deferentially to 
> > him, and sheepishly, too, so I rather think of him as Grima Wormtongue. 
> > Anyway, shine a light there. And of course give all this information 
> > also to your crack news team so they can read it on the air, because 
> > that's definitely news.
> > 
> > I hope Jeffrey Parker is enjoying the paddleball toy I gave him. I 
> > imagine he might be getting bored during those long 
> > forty-dollars-an-hour hours with his feet up on the desk, watching a bee 
> > on the window, and I remember how energized Mel Brooks looked playing 
> > paddleball in the governor's chambers in /Blazing Saddles/ --you know: 
> > "We gotta save our phony-baloney /jobs/, gentlemen!" and when I saw the 
> > toy in the dollar store it just clicked; I knew who needed one of those.
> > 
> > --
> > Marco McClean
> > memo at mcn.org
> > https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com
> > 
> > 
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