latest on the KBOO democracy struggle
Aug 22, 2013 16:27:34 GMT -8
Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2013 16:27:34 GMT -8
Theresa Mitchell announces creation of astro turf Inner party organ "Save Kboo" website:
portland.indymedia.org/en/2013/05/423145.shtml
portland.indymedia.org/en/2013/05/423145.shtml
1.May.2013 12:08
actions & protests | alternative media
latest on the KBOO democracy struggle
author: savekboo.org (theresa mitchell)
We have a brand new website....come to the May Day March....progress versus union-busting...stay respectful, stay "community"
tower of power
tower of power
The new website is savekboo.org savekboo.org ...bookmark it and 'like' it please.... savekboo.org
--It contains the latest news and a link to the article on the struggle at the Portland Radicle. Savekboo.org was created last night and so does not yet have the official approval of the Resistance, aka the Keep KBOO As KBOO organization. So if you're just coming into this topic, I have put up a summary of goings-on. Will KBOO fall to top-down zombification? Not if we ORGANIZE.
The latest: no Staff have yet fallen to demoralization nor to the firing attempts. Several Board members apparently are ready for an about-face, and are waiting to hear from members (a "letter-writing campaign" was mentioned). One staffer told me that the usual boisterous atmosphere at KBOO has been deathly quiet.
Jenka Soderberg, the award winning journalist and News Director, has returned from Palestine. That should liven things up a bit; the Volunteer Coordinator is taking vacation time in Mexico, but the Youth Director is back. Drop in to KBOO and offer your support to the Staff--as you can imagine, having to work under the Damocles' Sword of Firing has been very stressful for them. To say the least!
Board Members, too, are hearing from Members about the need to immediately end the grossly inappropriate and expensive union-bashing effort ($2000 has already been sent to Bullard union busters, just as a retainer)! Time is of the essence as we race to prevent loss of valuable and experienced Staff due to demoralization, and of course we would never want to face the fantastically expensive scenario of "full reinstatement with back pay" if the union-busters were to win.
The information I have gleaned from volunteers and staff is that this "revitalization" is VERY hostile to anti-capitalist, anti-war, and pro-revolution viewpoints. (Full disclosure: I have broadcast PressWatch since 1990 at KBOO (and it was on an Austin community radio station before that), married the Volunteer Coordinator in 1995, and was on the Board of Directors, fighting the previous corporatization/zombification attempt, in 1996. My household would be more peaceful and would bring in more money and better health care without my Spouse's job, though I feel she is the best for KBOO with her patient organizing and mediation skills, and near-fanatic dedication.)
But remember: this is (or can be rescued as) COMMUNITY radio, so stay respectful and remember that even the craziest and most misguided schemers here are just trying to do what is right by their lights. Be gentle and persistent. We will win!
Here is the Station Manager's take on this, cut-and-pasted from the kboo.fm website:
Dear members information about special meeting
"Dear Members,
Some of you have heard me talk about the need for change at KBOO, and why we find ourselves at this crossroads. You may have also heard about some the actions underway to set KBOO on a course towards long term stability and sustainability. Change is hard, filled with emotion and requires doing things that are challenging and difficult. But the potential for KBOO to better fulfill our mission and support the evolving needs of our diverse and vibrant neighborhoods is within our reach.
The KBOO Foundation Board of Directors has called a meeting to discuss the current changes occurring at KBOO, provide historic context for the problems KBOO is facing, and provide details of how the Station Navigator intends to maximize available financial resources, build needed infrastructure and capacity, and create the foundation for future stability and growth.
If you care about KBOO and are interested in hearing details of the plans underway, "straight from the horse's mouth", you are invited to attend this conversational meeting. There will ample time for Q & A.
Date: Saturday, May 4th
Time: 1:00 - 4:00pm
Location: Tabor Space, 5441 SE Belmont Street, Portland
Thank you,
Lynn Fitch
Station Navigator
AND:"
The KBOO website is moving to a new server and we are experiencing some temporary issues, including sound problems with our online stream. Thank you for your patience, we will be back in business and operating issue free very soon."
................................................
IN REBUTTAL: We have had "big changes" at KBOO Community Radio before, and they have been lengthy, open, transparent processes that resulted in satisfactory formats. This is a suden "top-down" change emanating from pro-business enthusiasts with tea-party leanings, in my opinion. Take a look at the comments on my previous posts, for example, and you will find attack after attack on the characters of the Staff, and even an example of the old secret-police ploy, of putting something so disgusting in the mix that it makes it hard to keep reading (a Holocaust reference....not just a nut, folks, but someone who knows what they are doing in stifling open process). The "Stability and growth" angle is an attempt to remove the lifeblood dynamic of community radio, the membership derive, so that it may be replaced with corporate donations. I'm not mind-reading here, just following history at similar community stations. To win, we need transparency big time, so please copy-and-paste, spread widely, put on social media, talk it up, et cetera. And do it NOW because history shows the whole thing could collapse into something that could, as Grover Norquist put it, "be strangled in a bathtub."
"....details of how the Station Navigator intends to maximize available financial resources...."--we already know that the Station Navigator (as Lynn has chosen to call herself) woudl pull the heart out of our economic paradigm, and replace it with...what is left? Sucking up to corporate America like NPR does?
Just to restate: hundreds of thousands in reserve, a cash flow from an enthusiastic member/audience...we are NOT in an economic crisis except to the point that this new Board minority has brought us, as we face tremendous outlays to union-busters, and the loss of disgusted and confused Members. We must fight, respectfully, but with our full strength behind the wheel! Eyes on the prize: a multi-media, more relevant, more transparent, more stable KBOO, using the experience and expertise of our dedicated Staff.
portland.indymedia.org/en/2013/04/423088.shtml
portland.indymedia.org/en/2013/04/423008.shtml
homepage: homepage: savekboo.org
actions & protests | alternative media
latest on the KBOO democracy struggle
author: savekboo.org (theresa mitchell)
We have a brand new website....come to the May Day March....progress versus union-busting...stay respectful, stay "community"
tower of power
tower of power
The new website is savekboo.org savekboo.org ...bookmark it and 'like' it please.... savekboo.org
--It contains the latest news and a link to the article on the struggle at the Portland Radicle. Savekboo.org was created last night and so does not yet have the official approval of the Resistance, aka the Keep KBOO As KBOO organization. So if you're just coming into this topic, I have put up a summary of goings-on. Will KBOO fall to top-down zombification? Not if we ORGANIZE.
The latest: no Staff have yet fallen to demoralization nor to the firing attempts. Several Board members apparently are ready for an about-face, and are waiting to hear from members (a "letter-writing campaign" was mentioned). One staffer told me that the usual boisterous atmosphere at KBOO has been deathly quiet.
Jenka Soderberg, the award winning journalist and News Director, has returned from Palestine. That should liven things up a bit; the Volunteer Coordinator is taking vacation time in Mexico, but the Youth Director is back. Drop in to KBOO and offer your support to the Staff--as you can imagine, having to work under the Damocles' Sword of Firing has been very stressful for them. To say the least!
Board Members, too, are hearing from Members about the need to immediately end the grossly inappropriate and expensive union-bashing effort ($2000 has already been sent to Bullard union busters, just as a retainer)! Time is of the essence as we race to prevent loss of valuable and experienced Staff due to demoralization, and of course we would never want to face the fantastically expensive scenario of "full reinstatement with back pay" if the union-busters were to win.
The information I have gleaned from volunteers and staff is that this "revitalization" is VERY hostile to anti-capitalist, anti-war, and pro-revolution viewpoints. (Full disclosure: I have broadcast PressWatch since 1990 at KBOO (and it was on an Austin community radio station before that), married the Volunteer Coordinator in 1995, and was on the Board of Directors, fighting the previous corporatization/zombification attempt, in 1996. My household would be more peaceful and would bring in more money and better health care without my Spouse's job, though I feel she is the best for KBOO with her patient organizing and mediation skills, and near-fanatic dedication.)
But remember: this is (or can be rescued as) COMMUNITY radio, so stay respectful and remember that even the craziest and most misguided schemers here are just trying to do what is right by their lights. Be gentle and persistent. We will win!
Here is the Station Manager's take on this, cut-and-pasted from the kboo.fm website:
Dear members information about special meeting
"Dear Members,
Some of you have heard me talk about the need for change at KBOO, and why we find ourselves at this crossroads. You may have also heard about some the actions underway to set KBOO on a course towards long term stability and sustainability. Change is hard, filled with emotion and requires doing things that are challenging and difficult. But the potential for KBOO to better fulfill our mission and support the evolving needs of our diverse and vibrant neighborhoods is within our reach.
The KBOO Foundation Board of Directors has called a meeting to discuss the current changes occurring at KBOO, provide historic context for the problems KBOO is facing, and provide details of how the Station Navigator intends to maximize available financial resources, build needed infrastructure and capacity, and create the foundation for future stability and growth.
If you care about KBOO and are interested in hearing details of the plans underway, "straight from the horse's mouth", you are invited to attend this conversational meeting. There will ample time for Q & A.
Date: Saturday, May 4th
Time: 1:00 - 4:00pm
Location: Tabor Space, 5441 SE Belmont Street, Portland
Thank you,
Lynn Fitch
Station Navigator
AND:"
The KBOO website is moving to a new server and we are experiencing some temporary issues, including sound problems with our online stream. Thank you for your patience, we will be back in business and operating issue free very soon."
................................................
IN REBUTTAL: We have had "big changes" at KBOO Community Radio before, and they have been lengthy, open, transparent processes that resulted in satisfactory formats. This is a suden "top-down" change emanating from pro-business enthusiasts with tea-party leanings, in my opinion. Take a look at the comments on my previous posts, for example, and you will find attack after attack on the characters of the Staff, and even an example of the old secret-police ploy, of putting something so disgusting in the mix that it makes it hard to keep reading (a Holocaust reference....not just a nut, folks, but someone who knows what they are doing in stifling open process). The "Stability and growth" angle is an attempt to remove the lifeblood dynamic of community radio, the membership derive, so that it may be replaced with corporate donations. I'm not mind-reading here, just following history at similar community stations. To win, we need transparency big time, so please copy-and-paste, spread widely, put on social media, talk it up, et cetera. And do it NOW because history shows the whole thing could collapse into something that could, as Grover Norquist put it, "be strangled in a bathtub."
"....details of how the Station Navigator intends to maximize available financial resources...."--we already know that the Station Navigator (as Lynn has chosen to call herself) woudl pull the heart out of our economic paradigm, and replace it with...what is left? Sucking up to corporate America like NPR does?
Just to restate: hundreds of thousands in reserve, a cash flow from an enthusiastic member/audience...we are NOT in an economic crisis except to the point that this new Board minority has brought us, as we face tremendous outlays to union-busters, and the loss of disgusted and confused Members. We must fight, respectfully, but with our full strength behind the wheel! Eyes on the prize: a multi-media, more relevant, more transparent, more stable KBOO, using the experience and expertise of our dedicated Staff.
portland.indymedia.org/en/2013/04/423088.shtml
portland.indymedia.org/en/2013/04/423008.shtml
homepage: homepage: savekboo.org