Heidi Walters has a post at the NCJ Blogthing. I don’t have any more information than that, but it does appear that KMUD needs some help.
My suggesting? Save the hand-wringing for another time. Give the station some help right now.
More as I get it.
Addendum: Guess I should check my email every once in a while.
KMUD Needs Help
Redwood Community Radio, parent of KMUD and its affiliates, faces a major financial challenge. The ambitious signal upgrade project begun earlier this year is well advanced. Paying for it lags behind. KMUE (Eureka and Arcata) already has a stronger, clearer signal than it ever did. Within months, KMUD and Shelter Cove will have new equipment to improve their signals and to help assure reliability into the future. KLAI’s (Laytonville’s) facilities were improved a few years ago.
All this costs money. KMUD is asking its community for help. Some $100,000 of help. Despite federal matching funds for the upgrade, the station today has not come up with all of its share of the cost because of unforeseen cost overruns. In retrospect, it looks like the board erred in moving the upgrade forward without full funding assured, but a looming deadline forced a decision by a certain date. This was the last chance to get a matching grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or any other federal funding, for a project of this type. Bad weather in March and other things resulted in serious delays and overruns.
There is no place to turn but our communities of members and listeners. Next week’s payday (Aug. 7) will barely be met. The next one is not assured, to say nothing of meeting all other expenses. Financial details are available at the station.
A major fundraising campaign is now getting started. There will be announcements on-air, tabling around town and up north, special events. Aug. 15 will be a one-day appeal for funds on the radio. The board and station staff are looking hard at the budget and station resources. Other actions are under consideration. There is no thought at present of layoffs or shutdowns.
Our 25-year-old radio station is precious to us. The daily news. The community conversation of talk shows. The wild variety of music, both weird and wonderful. The friend who is always there for us needs the community’s support, its money. Today. Please pay your old pledges if you have not done so yet. Please respond generously to the appeals you will hear and see. Now, as never before, KMUD needs the people to power it through the upgrade and into a bright future.
144 comments
Comments feed for this article
August 8, 2012 at 10:33 pm
eddenson
Interesting that the comments on the njcoastjournal blog are positive so far. Hope that keeps up. I think, too, that KMUD may want to break down when they need how much money. Getting $100,000 in the next, say, week, is not likely to happen. Getting $10,000 might be. How much is payroll, and God forbid, did the station raid the payroll tax withholding funds? I certainly hope we pull through this. And develop a bit more financial awareness in our management decisions. It will be difficult to pull the fat out of the fire this time, but how much more so if it happens again?
August 9, 2012 at 12:01 am
Anonnymouse
Whatever happened to “small is beautiful”? The drive to be bigger and bigger is what has caused KMUD to go over budget.The expansion in Eureka was a terrible decision. KMUD has lost the support of the core group in SoHum by trying to cater to NoHum. No more COG reports, local news that is no longer local. Programming that is stale and out of touch with the local vibe. programmers that never volunteer outside their show. Time on air is a privilege not volunteer time, DJs should be required to volunteer as many hours per month as they are on the air or be canned. I have never seen some of the long time DJs help out at any KMUD event. Sell the KMUE transmitter and stop catering to people who don’t want KMUD. Clean house.
August 9, 2012 at 7:26 am
Violet
I’m hoping the community will come forward and help KMUD in a positive manner. Obviously, changes need to take place in how the station is managed, but the focus now should be keeping it alive. I’m sure the situation will be analyzed carefully and plans put in place to prevent this happening in the future. Our community has a tough time attracting and keeping competent administrators and community boards are usually inexperienced in financial matters. Good luck to KMUD! I’m making a donation today.
August 9, 2012 at 7:56 am
moviedad
I don’t want to imagine not having KMUD. I depend on the non-corporate-controlled, news and information they broadcast. Their music programs demonstrate the dedication and passion of programmers who spend hours putting together shows that you can’t find anywhere else.
At HSU, it’s an uphill battle trying to play KMUD in the art studios. Many of the students are wedded to “RealAudio” or “Pandora” and so many of them never heard of KMUD. I just can’t understand why people would rather listen to demographic software, randomly playing corporate approved play-lists, over a creative, artistic programmer who stays up all night putting together a great show. Those times when I have been able to stream the station at school, people are amazed it’s a radio station, and not a mix.
KMUD illustrates the difference between conglomerates like Romney’s “Clear-Channel” with thousand of stations pretending to be local, when in reality they are mostly programmed from one national location. One example of what you can expect from these stations is that on the day Mitt Romney announced his candidacy, over 200 DJs, considered too “Liberal” were unceremoniously fired. Some had been with their stations for more than 20yrs.
Without KMUD this is the kind of Radio we would be left with. Sure we’d still have KHUM, and KHSU. But KMUD has a positive influence on those stations. And it would be missed.
Supporting the station is a positive way of fighting against the corporate takeover of the media, and eventually the takeover of the whole country.
Please help keep free speech alive.
Support KMUD fm.
Go to: http://www.kmud.org and hit the “Donate” button. It’s so easy.
Thank you.
August 9, 2012 at 8:00 am
moviedad
Anonymouse that is a load of crap. “Local news is not local?” Absolutely false, download any single newscast puts an immediate lie to that statement.
As far as local programmers volunteering? What are you High? Obviously you don’t come to any of the events where the Broadcast booth or the coffee booth are working.
I don’t know what your axe-grind is all about. But your post is 100% BS.
August 9, 2012 at 8:17 am
anon
movie dad calm down, as a long time kmudder, there is definitely some truth in what Anonnymouse says in that many programmers at kmud don’t pull their weight. It’s always the same programmers that seem to be doing all of the work regarding volunteering.
Also, the community needs to see a full analysis and time line of how kmud got in this financial predicament so it doesn’t happen again. There obviously were no checks and balances in play here to head this off. The community’s trust has been breached on several fronts and kmud needs to somehow show the community that even if we can come up with this extra $100,000 to save kmud, that the people that mismanaged are no longer in charge.
August 9, 2012 at 8:21 am
Eric Kirk
anon – You know it’s one thing to criticize people volunteering an enormous amount of their time for “breaching” the “community’s trust,” whatever that is. But you nor just about anyone else are barred from stepping up and showing them the right way to do it. They and other local boards are having a hard time filling spots because it’s a pretty thankless task in this community where people attack before they discuss. Step up! Go in and save the day!
August 9, 2012 at 8:47 am
Anonnymouse
Moviedad,
Yes, there are a few stalwart programmers who can be counted on to show up for any KMUD booth or project but I still stand by my view that there a number of KMUD programmers who don’t do anything besides their show and some who can’t even be bothered to put CDs back in the library much less volunteer to do some work. Local news has gotten better but there is still too much time spent on Eureka and Ukiah. Younger folks don’t listen to KMUD as much because there is not much programming that appeals to them.
As to serving on the Board too many good people have been driven off, one treasurer quit because of being called a “nit picker” and only having gloomy things to say when attempting to rein in the free spending habits of the KMUD board and staff. This atmosphere coupled with cronyism displayed in hiring practices has led to competent people not wanting to get involved. 3 of the board members are appointed by the other members and this is supposed to be a chance to get people who have skills (such as financial)that are needed but seem to go to people who haven’t even got their own lives in order. I have also heard complaints about the underwriter rep’s “slovenly and unprofessional demeanor” turning off the business community. These are a few of the things I meant by “time to clean house”
August 9, 2012 at 8:54 am
janefish1975@gmail.com
They could stay the same size but other things don’t stay the same. Wages have to go up. Rent goes up. It is either raise the membership prices or get bigger and bring in more money that way. Or both.
August 9, 2012 at 8:56 am
Jane
Eric since you are moderating my comments could you please change the name on my post to Jane rather than my whole email address. Thanks.
August 9, 2012 at 9:21 am
Fred Mangels
DJs should be required to volunteer as many hours per month as they are on the air or be canned..
I’m assuming the DJs are volunteers? In that case, best to go by the old adage: Don’t screw with your volunteers!
Hard enough to find volunteers as it is. Jerk them around and you’ll have even fewer than you have now.
August 9, 2012 at 10:56 am
suzy blah blah
-Yikes!!! We can’t loose Kmud. This is one of our finest community units of service, entertainment and commentary. And being a long time soHumer and avid Kmud fan this issue has touched my heart deeply. But this isn’t about just me. Where has the old positive community response gone to? We really need to rally and come together as one community now like we did backin the day. I’m speaking for the solidarity between all of the groups, the growers, the business folk, the rednecks, the hippies, the hip-hoppers, the reggae faction, the young, the seniors, and everybody inbetween. I know people of all these stripes and their all good generous community minded people. So let’s show some community spirit here. Come on, where has the love gone? Time to break into the jar. Light dep is coming in now so it should be all good. Even if you had a bad year and only have a small digit the community can use it to preserve this totally awesome outlet for free speech, right now. Think about it, do you like to tune in to the well informed music shows like ED’s and the intelligent political talk shows like Eric’s. You can’t get that from the straight stations except maybe Khum or Khsu. Plus the news and many other needed community resources. But mainly it’s all about the local radio vibe of the soHum peeps, we need your community support on this one, it’s money that matters, and yours from the north too. It’s all one. One community. Sure, i’d like to see some rich grower come forward and throw in 100,000. LOL! But that likely won’t happen. So let’s get it together as a community and show how much solidarity we have with our radio brothers and sisters in this community of yours and mine. Anyway that’s suzy’s rant, and all i have time for right now. But i just want to say that it’s time to step up, come forward and pitch in. Please?!
August 9, 2012 at 12:07 pm
anon
so that real estate in leggett, how much is being asked for that? maybe time to reduce the price to 100K and its all good???
August 9, 2012 at 12:48 pm
bob
fred m said:
>>>DJs should be required to volunteer as many hours per month as they >>>are on the air or be canned..
I’m assuming the DJs are volunteers? In that case, best to go by the old adage: Don’t screw with your volunteers!
Hard enough to find volunteers as it is. Jerk them around and you’ll have even fewer than you have now.
this is a subject which often comes up at community radio stations. is being a dj at kmud “volunteering” and a service to the community? or maybe it’s a glorious privilege to get to host a music show on kmud, and you should be happy to put in a few hours doing some of the work that’s hard to get folks to do, like answering the phone during an on-air fundraiser, working a shift serving coffee at a local show, or cleaning up after the kmud block party or other community event. my opinion–it’s an ego boost and a privilege to get to host a radio show. most stations have serious competition for airtime, there’s often a long waiting list for new shows.
and moviedad is wrong to so quickly dismiss anonymoose’s comments.
kmud has made an effort to expand its audience to include the north county, and the upgrade to its facilities there comes as a direct result of that expansion. the upgrade is the reason they have a cash crunch at the station now. i think they have made a big mistake in this regard–there has been no serious effort that i know of to organize listeners in nohum. that’s the only place the impetus for expansion should have come from, imho, and also SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE SOURCE OF FUNDS for that new facility. the fact that kmud’s esteemed chief engineer wanted to take advantage of the feds’ willingness to help digitalize the radio spectrum WILL result in a serious improvement of the kmue signal. as is true with most radio engineers, especially those drawn to public radio, simon wants kmud to always have the best equipment possible. it’s his job to make sure kmud reaches as many listeners as well as possible within the listener area determined by the BOD. that’s what radio engineers do–build and maintain broadcast facilities.
me, i think it was probably a mistake to go for this expansion. not just the build-out of the transmitter, but the reaching out to faraway listenership in nohum. but past boards/staffs chose that path a while back, and now we have a nearly finished transmitter facility up north. the funds the board had hoped would pay for this capital project were supposed to come from the proceeds from selling two homesteads donated by loyal mudders–properties worth probably upwards of $300,000 to kmud–more than enough to pay for the project. but we have a funny life here in sohum–and it’s extraordinarily difficult to sell rural properties around here without taking a note back from the buyer. those monthly payments sure look good coming in, but kmud needs the cash to cover the shortfall caused by the expansion.
so what do we do now? me, i will help kmud get thru this crisis while the letting the board know that i personally don’t want them to put any further burdens on this sohum community by using our cash to expand the radio station outside of sohum. let someone from up north, or on kmud staff and board if they want to continue expansion for listeners outside the kmud signal area, raise money directly FROM DONORS WHO WANT TO PAY FOR THE EXPANSION PROJECT–don’t “shoehorn” it in from generous listeners worried that local operations will shut down if we don’t kick down for this project.
August 9, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Anonymous
Let someone from up north, or on kmud staff and board if they want to continue expansion for listeners outside the kmud signal area, raise money directly FROM DONORS WHO WANT TO PAY FOR THE EXPANSION PROJECT–
The drive to be bigger and bigger is what has caused KMUD to go over budget.The expansion in Eureka was a terrible decision.
August 10, 2012 at 6:16 am
moviedad
I mean no offense to “Anonymouse” are anyone else who has strong opinions about KMUD. Sorry.
As to Anonymous playing the “Us vs. Them” card. All I can say is that kind of talk is offensive. The station serves Humboldt county, north and south. But, it also serves the world. That is not hyperbole. The website is global and I use it whenever I travel.
It’s these kind of divisive attitudes that are destroying our country and it’s depressing to hear them from a supposed KMUD listener.
August 10, 2012 at 7:28 am
Mitch
moviedad,
I don’t think anyone is playing an “us vs them” card. There is value to keeping an ultra-local focus and remaining small. “The drive to be bigger and bigger” is behind a lot of our society’s failures.
August 10, 2012 at 10:54 am
Anon
Kmud is asking us to help raise another $100,000. (and then another $85,000 in Oct.) This is Huge.There is no harm at all in asking the people in charge at kmud to provide an analysis of how they got us into this mess. And then short and long term plans on how to get us out of this mess.
If the people in charge(treasurer,Board and staff) are not equipped or qualified to fix this, they need to admit this,step aside, and get a transition team of more skilled people to help steer kmud into stability. kmud has not been flourishing for a very long time, it’s been barely hanging on.
There needs to be some honest accountability at play here, other wise kmud will just keep bungling along as usual, never reaching her full potential.
August 10, 2012 at 11:16 am
RHokahey
I agree with Bob, Mitch, Anonnymouse and Anon,
KMUD is having cash flow problems because of the transmitter upgrade to KMUE. Was there a huge outcry from NoHum for this expensive expansion? Did anyone try to get NoHum listeners to pay for it? Are the payments from the sale of real estate going to monthly cash flow or is it being reserved for capital improvements? Is there a real financial plan or is KMUD just going to “muddle through?” How many staff members are there and how much goes to wages? Are we going to get hit up again in 3 months or six months? Main transmitter upgrade? Any new board members with financial experience or more of the same old any warm body will do? I would like to know the answers to these questions. Is anyone from KMUD in this discussion? Bigger is not necessarily better nor does it always result in more money. SoHum is where the money and energy came from to build the station and keep it going for 20+ years, keep it local, keep it simple is the true path to success .
August 10, 2012 at 11:47 am
Eric Kirk
Again – run for a Board position. Complaining on an Internet blog might make you feel better, but it’s not going to accomplish a whole lot. Run on the platform, “Nohum no, Sohum si!”
Step up!
August 10, 2012 at 11:59 am
longwind
I agree, boys. Bigger often ain’t better. I appreciate Bob’s contexualization.
Bob’s suggestions for future financial policy make sense to me, and I’m confident we’ll weather this storm. I wonder if anyone has a sense whether people are listening up there? Not many northern pledges come in while I’m on the phones. And I remember we disappointed people in the Eureka quake for not having that famous KMUD ear-to-the-ground coverage of events 70 miles away–and we can’t be expected to. So what do folks expect? Should we be trying to deliver the goods up there, at the cost of nodding off during daily Eureka police blotter summaries on our ‘local’ news? Murky issues, not obvious answers.
August 10, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Lucy Brown
Good grief I wonder if Zenophobia has a counterpart meaning “fear of other communities”. The cultural DNA of N Hum surely must be inferior and not allowed to comingle if it costs a buck. Talk about the redwood curtain. Or is it a redwood coffin! It is great to ask questions about how the board botched it but if you are complaining about expense keeping it small and local will just raise your prices to each member in the future unless more grants can be found. Good board members with the kind of background to manage grants don’t grow on trees in a rural place and are pretty hard to find in southern Humboldt. And they do this for free.
August 10, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Dave Kirby
Part of the problem with local boards is the scarcity of people with any real world financial experience. We live in a community where money does grow on trees. When you’ve got folks who pay their bills with postal money orders making financial decisions its bound to get a little flakey. KMUD is a valuable resource and it will pull through. In the future they need to hire folks with an eye toward the practical. Vision and vibes are nice but they don’t pay the bills.
August 10, 2012 at 3:30 pm
anon
did anyone hear the local news last night? five stories that didn’t really matter, extensive interviews that could have just been summarized in ten words each…that’s just how kmud does it: they ask people questions and get answers and there’s never any investigative stories…sure it takes time and money and energy for that i’m sure…well, now is a chance for the kmud news dept to actually get to the facts of a story, do an investigation…are they up to it?
c’mon kmud news, this is your shot!
August 10, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Julia
I pretty much have to agree with what Lucy Brown and Dave Kirby commented.
August 11, 2012 at 7:17 am
bob
lucy wishing it were so straightforward as you seem to think. we’re talking here about fm radio, whose signal range would not allow us to reach listeners in eureka. in order to continue broadcasting there, kmud needs basically a whole new station–not for programming, which gets there via phone lines or internet, but to send out a signal that eurekans, arcatans, and other nohummers can receive.
we’re not talking about a buck. the eureka transmitter project was budgeted for something like $175,000, and with overruns, is looking more like $250,000. it has been expensive with simon maintaining a decrepit and out-of-date transmitter site in eureka, and the new transmitter will save a lot of his time and expense.
but this is how it seems to me–kmud is now saying to its current listening audience and membership that it may have to shut down its g-ville station unless we come up with something like $100,000. that would mean there won’t be anything for laytonville, shelter cove or eureka either. so far as i’ve been able to determine by asking kmud folks, most of the listeners and members are in sohum. they could have said at any time that the eureka transmitter was impossible to maintain and we needed to build a better facility or risk SHUTTING DOWN ONLY THE EUREKA TRANSMITTER. then someone–i think it should be led and funded by folks from up north who feel strongly enough to organize for the project–then someone could have raised money just for that.
and a word to moviedad–nohum listeners can tune in on the web, too.
August 11, 2012 at 7:54 am
Olivia
As a matter of curiosity, what is the percentage of membership dollars & donations that come from up north? KHSU is fundraising down here very specifically to keep their signal on the air down here. Has KMUD done that up north?
August 11, 2012 at 8:55 am
RHokahey
Bob makes sense. NoHm listeners should band together and start raising money. Tabling at the Co-op, Eureka Natural Foods, Wildberry’s and any event that will let them. Sign up new members. Get businesses to underwrite. Advocate. Donate money. Show us skeptical SoHum people that you want KMUD in your area and stop asking us to subsidize a transmitter that I don’t care about.
August 11, 2012 at 11:28 am
moviedad
Ok, bob..so……………..?
August 11, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Stephen
KMUD has the same problem really that the Kirby’s Independent has: a single-minded mindset that produces a limited community viewpoint. A lot of people just get tired of the same people saying the same things in the same way, sorta like me and my anti-Zionist rant that I can’t seem to help. Like the Independent vs. the Redwood Times where you can see the difference in coverage of community news–less coverage, less input from the community simply because there’s no room at the top given to diversity. If you’re not a Kirby, or worse, you piss a Kirby, you’re voice doesn’t get heard in the Independent. Dave knows I can say this true as he’s censored my letters. KMUD too is prone to petty censorship of dissident community voices. It seems to be a problem in counterculture venues supposedly “independent” of such shenanigans. Open up KMUD to the people who actually are within its radio range–not just the p.c. voices to keep the activists happy.
August 11, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Dave Kirby
Stephen….I am not related to the Kirbys who are the Independent. They are Alabama Kirbys and I am a Kentucky Kirby. I don’t have anything to do with the paper. You are not the first to make that mistake. I had a guy come up to me at Shop Smart and ask me why I was censoring his letters. Or was that you?
August 11, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Erasmus
Dave Kirby has no involvement with The Independent —- same last name, different family.
August 11, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Stephen
Sorry, Dave. It’s just that you Kirbys all look alike..
August 12, 2012 at 7:52 am
iknowme
The $100,000 KMUD needs is the operating expenses for the next two months. $25,000 a month for wages and $25,000 for expenses. Then it will be the fall fundraiser. So they want the community to give them $185,000 in the next 3 months. And they never mention the $82,000 they borrowed in the past 6 months when they said they didn’t know they were sinking. They have no plans for lay offs or cutting back and are insisting the present board remain and say none of them should be held accountable.
There needs to be serious restructuring at the station in order for people to start emptying their pockets.
I love KMUD but they need a REALITY check!!!!!!!!!
August 12, 2012 at 10:52 am
RHokahey
I don’t see any real plan coming out of KMUD board other than the same old beg our listeners to fix our mistakes with out any accountability. Keep asking for money and slam those who don’t give as “not caring about KMUD.” We were never asked about the expansion plans and questions back then went unanswered or brushed aside with “build it and the money will come.” Now the chickens have come home to roost and there is still no plan and no real analysis of the numbers. Where are all the NoHum listeners who want KMUD? The only tabling in NoHum I have ever seen consisted of SoHum residents.
August 12, 2012 at 10:56 am
Not A Native
I live in NoHum and though I occasionally listen to KMUD, I mainly listen to KNHM(Jefferson Public), KHSU, and KNHT(Southern Oregon University). When wanting to hear music, I scan the band untill I hear something I like, or at least is tolerable. Sometimes thats KMUD.
I’m not interested in helicopter and sheriff’s patrol “alerts” and long rambling rants of phone-in callers that seem to be KMUD specialties and turned me off from being a regular listener.
As to the money issue, earlier press releases said that KMUD had to expend money before having it because a FCC construction permit was expiring. Well, that’s partial BS, because construction permits can be extended, upon request(and with some costs). The press release also said KMUD didn’t want to “lose” the permit which in plain language means that if they asked for an extension, another public entity could ask to get the permit. Well, if another nonprofit exists that has the means to operate a station in NoHum, maybe they are better able to do so and should get the chance.
My guess is there is some individual empire builder at KMUD who has power over the board because he(she) has some expertise or is providing some service that board members feel unable to replace. Whoever it is uses their power to extort the board to do their bidding or else lose the person’s services. Another HumCo big ego who didn’t win the big city competition and is now playing the same game but settling for being a big fish in a little pond.
August 12, 2012 at 1:43 pm
moviedad
Keep guessing, you can do better.
August 12, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Jim Ferguson
KMUD has announced an all day on air fundraiser on August 15 (?) and a barbeque that afternoon where people can meet with staff / Board members, make contributions and offer suggestions about where they go from here and how they can get out of this mess.
For years, I suggested KMUD needed to do more outreach to the north end of the county – tabling at the Co Op, Arcata Farmer’s Market, etc. And nothing, the suggestion fell on deaf ears.
KMUD has no idea who it’s listeners are or where they are located. My understanding is that they don’t subscribe to any of the ratings agencies. I have never heard a breakdown of where their pledges come from which should be simple to generate.
Before a hugely expensive project like the Eureka upgrade happened, the board needed to conduct an unbiased survey to see not only if / who their regular listeners were at that end of the county, but would an upgrade provide enough new ones to justify the expense.
August 12, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Anonymous
Yep.
August 12, 2012 at 6:13 pm
suzy blah blah
-i talked to a number of community members about this today. The feeling is that it is a really serious issue, an emergency even, and we can’t let them silence us. We need the mud so we can continue to let our unique voices be heard, not just locally, but also to be spread out to an ever growing worldwide community of us on the internet. The more people that hear the message the better for the world. Think globally act locally. And it’s really urgent right now because if we’re silenced it will be a disaster for the future. So come on out of the woods for this and join together with us on Wed afternoon at kMud. We need the brightest and most inventive of us to be present to help the community move forward with the brain storming process concerning the financial issue that has arisen. Get off the couch people, put on your thinking cap, grab some money to chip in, and drag yourself into town. Put your community first at this time and don’t be so apathetic. Let’s join together as One and participate in and support our community when it counts the most.
August 12, 2012 at 7:07 pm
anon
What’s “the message?”
Don’t give any money until there’s a complete accounting about what
happened.
Fair enough?
August 12, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Anonnymouse
To keep banging your head against a wall and expecting a different result is dumb. We are in danger of losing KMUD because of disastrous decisions made by the KMUD board and staff. Now they are holding us all hostage with the cry of KMUD will die if you don’t donate. Catering to NoHUM with their larger population is also a way for KMUD to die. If this is the best they can do then the lot of them should all resign and allow a new board to be formed. The Northern listeners should band together and show their support and desire for KMUD by raising money to pay for the expansion.
Cut back the staff and get the programmers to actually volunteer to do the jobs that are necessary to keep the station going. Maybe only 2 or 3 paid positions are really necessary for the short term. Malfeasance by misfits have led to this. Now is the time to wake up and realize that wishing and hoping do not make a good budget.
KZYX is also under going changes due to poor management , no more local news and more canned programming. The drive to be bigger and bigger is so human and so destructive.
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August 13, 2012 at 8:39 am
anon
I don’t agree that Kmud should only serve SoHum. Of course Kmud should be serving ALL of Humboldt County not just the little area of Garberville. How to pay for that is something to figure out for sure.
The one thing that I keep hearing tho that is disturbing is that there is a lot of pressure being initiated by Kmud insiders to to not ask right now how this financial crisis unfolded. All three guys on the monday morning show all individually started out by saying this is no time to be asking or trying to find out the “why’s and the how’s” of how kmud got into this financial crisis.
I was stunned. wtf? This is exactly the time to find out. In fact this “financial crisis” could most likely have been been averted if there were more people PAYING ATTENTION. I agree with prior posts pointing out that there were obviously no checks and balances in place and no accountability along the way = receipt for disaster. This financial “crisis” is not just about “cost overruns”.
My family contributes $120.00 twice a year to Kmud. Kmud needs to provide a paper trail of accounting and where did the $$ go and lets see who all had there hands in the cookie jar. This would be a good start so all of Kmuds contributors can feel ok to give even more. But to not have a full accounting RIGHT NOW is asking too much.
August 13, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Anonymous
ACCOUNTABILITY NOW!
Every single time there is a crisis at KMUD, it is swept under the rug. It is time for all at KMUD to be transparent and open, even though they don’t want to be.
I for one, am tired of all the drama at KMUD. No money from me until there are truthful answers as to how this happened. The MMM guys who don’t want to ask the “should-a, could-a, would-a” questions, are blind sheeples.
WHY, AND HOW, DID KMUD GET INTO THIS MESS?
August 13, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Not A Native
There’s no reason to believe any money has been misappropriated. KMUD just took risks and bought things it didn’t have money for and can’t afford.
Now, they’re simply asking for a bailout, no questions asked because they’re too important to fail.. No different from the banksters except for the amounts.
Will KMUD be more prudent in the future? I dunno but if the banksters are any guide, I wouldn’t bet on it. Personally, I’m going to throw a few bucks to KMUD, but not too many.
August 13, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Hans Wringer
Shoulda, woulda, coulda: Ideally one of the many self made local millionaires would have helped out with the land sales deals that were counted upon before the eggs had hatched. Real estate is the number one black market investment.
No private loan from “alternative banking” could, or can now be arranged?
Well they are either off the cliff or driving there and getting real close so I suppose most of us will come to their aid with more moolah. It seems to me that KMUD as an institution is somewhat of a spoiled child towards which the donating public parent should be both supportive and rescuing in the present, and corrective to prevent future fiscal expansion foibles.
August 13, 2012 at 5:33 pm
suzy blah blah
What’s “the message?”
-that’s the kind of apathy i’m talking about. Have you ever tuned in? You must have had your ears closed. If you really want to know what it’s all about come to the bar-ba-que Wednesday and contribute to the brainstorming that will be going down. Or else you might as well go back to sleep in the mainstream.
August 13, 2012 at 8:34 pm
Plebe
I think one of the problems is with the “grant” thing. Everybody goes ga-ga over getting grants but there are problems with not being fully self-supported by members. And not just saving up the money to make necessary improvements, so you don’t buy what you can’t afford.
For one thing, grants almost always require “matching funds” or else they are also LOANS. And they are often for infrastructure expansion, which is corporate-capitalism.
Growth is not always better.
But for some reason, seems like they all see “grants” as free money. Often it isn’t.
KMUD is all right. But I wish the news covered more local things, meetings and stuff like for instance, Garberville Sanitary District meetings. Decisions are being made there right now that will have huge impacts on the river and our town, but KMUD hasn’t said a peep about it for months. Why is that?
August 13, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Truth
Daniel Mintz puts local listeners to sleep during the evening news on a near-daily basis. And did you know he isn’t actually AT most of the Supervisor and Planning Commission hearings he supposedly covers? What a lazy joke. How much does he get paid?
August 14, 2012 at 6:15 am
Reality Check On the 101
There is a problem when you don’t hire people with the skills and training needed to do the job or don’t allow them to do that part of their job which they have the skills to do (because everyone else without the training at KMUD knows better how to do the job yet oddly won’t take it on). The Board just sets the direction for KMUD. Why do you think leadership changes over so often. Because the natives can’t let go of their ideas of no authority is good authority? Oh, yeah, small point of having to pay for good skills too. The more messes you make the more it will cost to find someone to come into this mess, clean it up, and then stay in the chaotic cesspool we all know but love anyway. Redway isn’t exactly a mecca for professionals or culture. Reality check on the 101.
August 14, 2012 at 3:17 pm
RHokahey
Eric , calling people’s concerns “hand wringing” belittles our very real concerns, poor planning , poor oversight and poor management is what got us in to this mess. We the members are being asked to bail out the station once again without asking any questions nor anyone taking true responsibility for this mess. Since you now live in NoHum why don’t you organize your NoHum friends and neighbors to raise say half the necessary funds to pay for the KMUE transmitter. I would be more willing to pitch in if I saw more support from up there. How about tabling at Blues by the Bay? I have always spoken out against the expansion to Eureka because I felt we would lose our local flavor that made KMUD so special. Sure enough now the news has more Eureka-Arcata stories, the classified ads and the calendar are dominated by NoHum ads and events. Back to our roots. Think global, act local. Small is beautiful. There is no evidence that the expansion will ever pay for itself and SoHum listeners will continue to subsidize NoHum listeners to our own detriment.
August 14, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Eric Kirk
If localism is what you want, then you should step up and run for the Board on that platform.
I should tell you that even when I lived in Redway I was interested in Nohum stories, because often they affected me directly. I’ve always considered Humboldt County to be of one community actually, which is why since I’ve moved here I’ve been engaged in politics north and south, and to some degree even in Mendocino County. I’ve never understood the isolationism you advocate, and I suspect that while you have no interest in affairs north of Myers Flat or south of Richardson Grove, most Sohummers do have an interest. The stories serve Sohum.
I agree that there should be more interest shown from Nohum. I’ve been amazed in conversations with progressives about KMUD programming at the number of people who have to ask me what the call numbers are. If KMUD is going to count on pledges from the north, it should definitely market a little more aggressively with the potential listenership. The perception of KMUD is precisely that it is what you want it to be – focused on Sohum interests, and certainly not many in Arcata really care all that much about the Hospital Board controversies. But they are interested in Richardson Grove, Reggae on the River, the Community Park, the homeless situation, and the health of the two rivers. They didn’t really have effective coverage of the Reggae War up there as I’ve run into plenty of people who say, “What the Hell was that all about?”
I think that part of the problem is that pledgers in Sohum are diminishing as there is a generation of growers who haven’t grasped the concept of responsibility for the community in which they grow. That and the fact that the money isn’t as plentiful anymore. And the fact that the population is aging because the community doesn’t effectively support families anymore as the population of children declines every year. “Small” may not be sustainable as costs increase.
Was it a good call? That’s for the membership to decide, and perhaps there should be a forum dedicated solely to the vision of what KMUD should be. Should it be a regional force, or just local? Should there be more music, or more talk? More syndicated material or less? These are important questions to answer.
August 14, 2012 at 5:46 pm
suzy blah blah
I’ve always considered Humboldt County to be of one community actually
-that’s why it’s called “soHum Parlance”.
August 14, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Dave Kirby
There is a media flood these days. Back when I arrived here I could get two fuzzy TV stations. And Am stations at night. Then there was KERG. Roddy and some deadheads. These days there is an info storm . Watching folks walking downtown with that electronic parasite (cel phone) attached to their ear, With a rain of satellite channels to chose from it gets hard to stay in business in this environment.
August 14, 2012 at 8:42 pm
RHokahey
Eric , You are actually supporting my view that what makes KMUD interesting to NoHum is the local stories that they can’t get anywhere else. The more coverage there is of Eureka-Arcata stories the less time there is for those very stories you mention. I am not advocating for isolation but that the uniqueness of our local area is what created the station and is where the effort should be expended. yes there are stories from up North that affect us in SoHum but I don’t think that the latest crack addict arrest or the murders in Hoopa are the ones we need to hear.
August 14, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Olivia
RHokehey, I have to somewhat agree with you. We have been calling the KMUD news “The Murder, Marijuana & Scandal News” for years. I love hearing Board of Supervisor news, and other news that originates up north that affects the whole county, but why do we have to hear about every murder, rape & bust in Weichipec, Eureka and Ukiah? There are other news sources carrying those stories. I suppose it has a lot to do with the ease of getting those stories and there are limited resources for the news desk. I’d rather see a 10 minute newscasts than what we hear now. Too bad we don’t have the resources for in depth local reporting. And typically, radio stations do news that’s very local rather than covering their whole listening area.
August 15, 2012 at 9:22 am
Erasmus
If KMUD’s paramount problem these days is the hundred grand needed to cover current expenses, and if the information on the KMUD website is correct, then 58% of the solution is in the hands of the listeners who made pledges that they haven’t fulfilled. (This statistic applies to the past two years.) —- Imagine: all the laggards come up with the dough they’ve promised to donate, and KMUD has a $42,000 debt to cover. Sounds manageable, doesn’t it? ———————————————————–If our culture relied more on shame and guilt than it does, the names of those who have yet to send in their pledges would be published or broadcast. I’d enjoy seeing what effect that would have.
August 15, 2012 at 5:21 pm
anon says
How about also publishing ALL the names of the people who have mismanaged Kmud for years and still get to continue to be on the board or staff. same old dysfunctional people same old dysfunctional problems. nothing new,ever.
August 15, 2012 at 8:49 pm
tra
“If our culture relied more on shame and guilt than it does, the names of those who have yet to send in their pledges would be published or broadcast. I’d enjoy seeing what effect that would have.”
Probably the main effect it would have is that the vast majority of those who were publicly shamed would not fulfill their pledges, nor would they ever give KMUD so much as a single a penny, ever again. And many other people would decline to make any pledges in the future, since they wouldn’t want to risk being publicly “shamed” if their circumstances changed and they weren’t able to follow through on their pledge.
Usually what a non-profit does if it finds itself in a cash flow crunch, but at the same time has a lot of unfulfilled pledges, is to make private, polite reminder calls to those who have pledged but not yet fulfilled their pledges. That way the pledgers get treated with respect, if their circumstances have changed and they can’t afford to fulfill their pledge they are not publicly humiliated for no good reason, and those who have forgotten, or just not made it a priority yet (but do have the means to fulfill their pledge) are reminded in a friendly, personal, one-on-one way, which is usually the most effective way to produce results.
Taking a “shame and guilt” approach to unfulfilled pledges would be extremely counterproductive, both in the short-term, and the long term.
August 15, 2012 at 11:07 pm
RHokahey
Put it in perspective $52000 in unfulfilled pledges over 2 years = 4 pledge drives and $16000 per drive . $16000 is less than 20% of $85000 means KMUD is collecting over 80% of their pledges which is better than most non-profit pledge drives where 70% is considered to be a good percentage.
One thing I learned at the Barbecue today is that KMUD holds a $150000 note on the properly they sold. This was the matching funds that was used to get the $170000 grant. The solution to the “crisis” is to sell the note which would bring in more than the $100000 that the Board is asking for from the community. This would make it much easier to ask for $85000 in October. A “loss” on the note would be countered by a huge gain in public trust. Money now is worth more than the promise of money later.
If KMUD is serious about serving Eureka-Arcata and beyond this would be a good time to organize a committee of NoHum members to start tabling at places and events in NoHum to raise money and awareness.
August 16, 2012 at 7:12 am
Erasmus
Tra: allow me an occasional fantasy, please. What you say is true — rather obviously, so. Haven’t you ever wished a politician you despised would be tarred and feathered, or put in stocks and assaulted with rotten vegetables? Yet you know that you wouldn’t stoop to such vindictive behavior. ——————————————————————————- 30% of pledgers don’t fulfill their promises, and that’s considered a “good percentage”? Apparently my advanced years have not instructed me well on human ethics. I find the “acceptable” percentage shameful.
August 16, 2012 at 10:28 am
iknowme
RHokahey, you have it wrong. Yesterday on KMUD Br said the unpaid $58,000 in unpaid pledges were from the past two fundraisers. That any unpaid pledge more than a year old was not included. So that’s $24,000 from each of the last fundraisers. Also the note is worth $150,000 but so far they only have a buyer who will pay $114,000. And when they went for the grant they listed the property as matching funds. So if they sell the note it would be used to pay back the $82,000 in loans they took from people.
I found the Bar-B-Que to be a joke. First of all it was never mentioned that you had to pay for it. Then when you tried to talk to the board members who were there (no Bob Bier……..the board pres) you were told not to say anything negative about the board treasurer or any one else on the board because they were all hard working people and that it wasn’t fair to them. Wow! Is it fair that the community is asked to bail them out of the mess THEY created? When I was leaving one of the board members was playing a banjo and singing and I felt I was leaving a hootenanny not a gathering of how we could resolve to save KMUD.
August 16, 2012 at 11:33 am
bob
iknowme i don’t know you, but i think you’re quick to attack the board at kmud. first off, none of the current board members was on the board when kmud committed to the project to upgrade its transmitters. and i don’t know who told you, but i didn’t feel i had to constrain my criticisms of the board, which i tried to do in a constructive fashion.
and you seem to reject rhokahey out of hand without actually addressing what i see as his main point. kmud should sell the note they hold on the spyrock property and pay off the short-term debt and ease the cash crunch, rather than as you say “the community is asked to bail them out.”. that’s where i have to agree with him wholeheartedly. sell the note. then wait til october to hit up the listeners on-air as usual for the station’s operating budget.
August 16, 2012 at 11:49 am
iknowme
I have no problem with selling the note and paying off the short term note. But that won’t pay the needed money for expenses until the fall fundraiser. What changes are the current board making to alleviate some of these expenses? Why does it cost $50,000 a month to run a small community radio station?
August 16, 2012 at 12:37 pm
anon
i just talked to a kmud insider who told me that they don’t want to take the $114,000 offer for the note because its from a “shark,” a bank…
personally i think its time to swim with sharks but she is being patient and thinks the note will sell within a month to a “nice person” for more…
she answered all my questions in a half hour session and it made me not want to put out my incendiary All Sides Now, tonight…
i still might post it here just for laughs….
August 16, 2012 at 12:40 pm
anon
okay, i’m not going to go on the air with this, but here it is for giggles
All Sides Now–KMUD 911fm
It was pretty exciting the other day sitting around with some KMUD programmers talking about their dreams of next putting a transmitter up in Santa Rosa. as i embark on becoming the next Jake Pickering on All Sides Now, without the boring content and silly Romney bashing, it does my heart warm to know that my unique sohum voice, yeah right, may soon be flowing out over the yuppie wine country of Sonoma…
Did you hear the giddiness in the voices of the programmers on the air yesterday supporting the new Eureka transmitter? i must admit that it increases my thrill to know that the stripper puffing on a fag outside the TipTop club can now hear my voice in HD, thank you Simon, muddy engineer egomaniac numero uno (hey, don’t cut me off from the cheese man!)
Maybe it will all work out; i think its perfectly fine to extend our voices further and further–i want to be a raging KMUD egomaniac too!
Admittedly the KMUD membership has been asleep, we haven’t been paying attention, and that has to change. KMUD is like our car or computer, we just want to drive the damn thing and when it breaks down we don’t know what to do.
I want to challenge whoever is really running KMUD to tell us everything, every detail of how the station runs and how we got into this fix. is there any reason not to tell the membership everything? a KMUD insider told me she knows the truth and there’s no scandal. i hope to talk to her before putting this on the air.
i have a lot of questions i would like answered so it will be interesting if i get answers or a stone wall. (for example, the $60,000 cost overrun because the transmitter construction crew had to leave and come back because of the weather. really? i thought a tarp costs $20 bucks…details please…and the question of the last station manager: why did she leave and what is her involvement with the financial difficulties?) when i get a clear picture of what went down i will tell everyone else, probably on my new prime time radio slot. what? now i’m not getting the show?!&*$#%$$$!! is that how it works? well, this is the most prime time slot there is–are you listening Orick? you better be, this one’s for YOU! call in now with a pledge or just call in to prove you exist.
anyway KMUD you tell us everything and we’ll come back, support you or throw your ass out the door and install a new controlling clique, maybe we need someone like Barb Truitt to watch over you…i know, i know, things have always worked out for us out here so far so maybe its just a blip in the road….what the F–on to Brookings!
your privacy is over KMUD power structure, we’ll find out who you are and hold your feet to the fire until you squeal like a pig…
August 16, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Anonnymouse
Why would they have to pay off the loans they got? Aren’t there terms for the loans? They haven’t really tried to sell the note, they have been dragging their feet because it would only sell at a “loss”. This property was a gift so anything realized is a plus. A large lump sum now is worth more than a small amount coming in every month and being spent on monthly expenses. Put out a PSA or a class ad and see if there are any takers who would give more than the “shark”.
Well maybe the Board member who told me that the unpaid pledges were from the last 2 years had it wrong but my main point is still valid as this falls in the more than 70% were paid.
I went to the Barbecue hoping to meet more of the Board members and the new station manager but there were no introductions or group discussion while I was there.
August 16, 2012 at 8:16 pm
Anonymous
Why was the B-B-Q portrayed as a party? Why was it such a party atmosphere? This financial “crises” is serious business. The community deserves a more serious and much more adult response than a hootenanny.
August 17, 2012 at 5:33 am
moviedad
Dammit! That was my idea! I wanted us to sit in a big circle with steel-tipped whips and self-flaggellate until everyone was bloody, and then we would take turns cutting the call-letters into our arms and thighs with razor blades. But those namby-pamby KMUD’ers thought all the blood and mourning would turn off the members and they wouldn’t know where they were.
But I’m with you, let’s all wallow in our misery and attack our fellows so as to lessen our pain and regrets by an iota or two.
August 17, 2012 at 9:35 am
anon
eric, your choice of topics last night was supremely boring–what is wrong with you? you know i like you, maybe i LOVE you, but THIS MUST NOT STAND…why eric why? had a busy day and decided to phone it in? your show only got a little interesting when a caller veered you off the topic…
there must have been a better option, god forbid you open the lines up to local political issues, like the kmud imbroglio for example…
there, i had to say it: the emperor has no clothes…
what’s wrong eric?
August 17, 2012 at 10:07 am
buy openvpn
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace.
August 17, 2012 at 10:28 am
Crystal Ball
xenophobia [ˌzɛnəˈfəʊbɪə]
n
(Psychology) hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers or of their politics or culture
xenophobic adj
+
IGNORANCE
the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness
+
If the shoe fits, wear it
definition
If something belongs or pertains to you, accept it. This proverb first appeared as “if the cap fits,” which may have referred to a fool’s cap. The later version has become more common and is associated with the glass slipper in the fairy tale, “ Cinderella.”
=Keeping SoHum in the 70′s forever.
August 17, 2012 at 11:12 am
Julia
The figure of unpaid pledges is from the last 2 pledge drives, Spring 2012 and Fall 2011. I was confused at one point as to whether is was two years or two drives – it was two drives. KMUD actually budgets $15k per year for pledge write-offs.
The most recent figures I’ve seen regarding the recent progress of collecting unpaid pledges is at:
$2,506 in Pledge Payements from Spring 2012
$760 in Pledge Payements from Fall 2011.
The newest set of financials should be available on the KMUD bulletin board no later than Monday, August 27. And will be available at the next KMUD board meeting.
It’s been said before, I’ll say it again. I don’t think it was appropriate to ever frame this as a “crisis”. KMUD is asset rich and cash poor, and therefore experiencing a difficult cash crunch. KMUD is solvent. Let’s sell the note in a fiscally responsible way ASAP!
August 17, 2012 at 11:16 am
Julia
I recently found this short video by KCRW explaining their HD signal. Check it out…
August 17, 2012 at 12:35 pm
moviedad
My old comment directed at Anonymous 8:16:
Dammit! That was my idea! I wanted us to sit in a big circle with steel-tipped whips and self-flaggellate until everyone was bloody, and then we would take turns cutting the call-letters into our arms and thighs with razor blades. But those namby-pamby KMUD’ers thought all the blood and mourning would turn off the members and they wouldn’t know where they were.
But I’m with you, let’s all wallow in our misery and attack our fellows so as to lessen our pain and regrets by an iota or two.
August 17, 2012 at 12:53 pm
moviedad
Is my fly open? I just can’t get arrested on this…..
August 17, 2012 at 5:02 pm
WTF
Julia, it was Dennis Cobb on Monday Morning Magazine (Aug 13th)that used the word “Crisis” to discribe the pickle KMUD was in. He felt it was the most appropriate word that discribes both the circumstance and urgency. You should bring this up to him since he used “Crisis” first on KMUD?
August 17, 2012 at 6:10 pm
moviedad
They do stack up, don’t they?
August 17, 2012 at 6:20 pm
bob
wtf anyone who heard prez rob speaking about what was happening could reasonably use the word crisis thereafter. but many were speaking in a way that could’ve had listeners and the rest of the community in a tizzy as well.
August 17, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Rip Orter
Saw the KMUD donation table at the Arcata co-op today.
August 17, 2012 at 10:17 pm
WTF
Sorry Julia, I meant David Cobb on Dennis Huber’s KMUD show. He had also said it was normal for a nonprofit to be asset rich and cash poor, which is a good thing. If you have a good healthy NFP EO and build it, they will come, the public will always make donations. KMUD is a public NFP EO, they need to let the public know everything and get on with life. As for you Bob, you were on that Dennis Huber show with David Cobb and for the first time ever, I agreed with David Cobb on everything he went on about. It just seems to me the KMUD Board and Staff are more on the defensive, which is weird if they didn’t do anything wrong.
How long have we all known that being on a NFP Board sucks and nobody can get any respect, no matter who we try and please, you can’t please everyone. That’s why we joined a NFB anyway? To make things better? Make a difference? It’s apart of the crap we all put up with, just ask Eric. People on Boards get burnt out from all the abuse and they take it all for free (in most cases).
August 17, 2012 at 11:45 pm
Anonnymouse
It depends on the Non-profit. In my experience the more open and transparent the board is about decisions and financials the less drama there is. Of course there are exceptions to this as we see with the Community Park where no matter what they do they get beat up by a small vocal group who seem to hate the Park or are just plain psychotic.
KMUD has not been transparent with the whole muddle they are in and don’t seem to really want any questions. “Just trust us and don’t ask and we won’t tell any way” and “if you don’t send us money when we tell you to then we’ll have to shut down.” . Above all don’t come to the Board meeting next Friday. WTF board meetings are supposed to be open to the public and this is a time when they should be there. Appointing the new member, discussing the “crisis”. Why dis listeners when you are begging them to bail you out. Are you taking lessons from the Republicans?
August 18, 2012 at 5:44 am
moviedad
More “Hoot’n'Nanies!”
August 18, 2012 at 9:01 am
Anon
It depends on what nonprofit board you are on and where. Southern Humboldt can be brutal. The nonprofit without any board development or just local small fry development are tough. The better, more experienced and respected, business people I know get burnt-out sitting on boards. Southern Humboldt seems dead set against any serious training or education especially if it costs money. God forbid they actually pay for a decent manager to come and stay awhile to get things together. Outsiders aren’t welcome long because new ideas start to pop up. Employees and boards too often hop from crisis to crisis and find the nearest straw person to light on fire when problems crop up. The irony of it all is just rich. But interesting. Another reason to expand coverage. Television soaps are boring next to this stuff.
August 18, 2012 at 10:29 am
bob
wtf who was on dennis huber’s show with david cobb? not i, said the little red hen …
August 19, 2012 at 8:20 am
Olivia
The key to an organization’s success is having competent management, a challenge in SoHum. That administrator needs an educated board for support and oversight, another tall order locally.
Organizations that have benefited from stable leadership are Beginnings, Open Door Clinics, the Credit Union in the last 12 or so years, and not too many others. RRHC now has an excellent administrator; their problem is the same as most rural communities, a lack of qualified doctors. The verdict is still out on the hospital, though their administrator has stabilized their finances, something that has never been done. And the Park has had pretty good leadership, from the beginning. Too bad about the crazies trying to derail it.
August 19, 2012 at 11:13 am
Twigs
In the meantime the rest of the world does not stand still. KHUM sees the value of moving into the Southern Humboldt market with its blogging content mostly directed toward growers and having a So Hum host. As more and more people get drawn into KHUM there will be less and less listeners for KMUD. Which means less and less members to convince to contribute.
But KHUM is private and owned by a corporate guy. One person making the final decision and setting direction instead of five hundred locals. Each one, whom apparently knows just how KMUD should conduct their business but, outside of a handful, are unwilling to run for the board. And fewer still, if this blog is an representation, think the station needs to increase their reach.
August 19, 2012 at 1:44 pm
anon
kmud runs on 45,000 a month; why? i think we have to start discussing how to make kmud run on 10,000 a month or less? why so much money? can we get an accounting of where the money goes?
August 19, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Olivia
I assume, as a nonprofit, KMUD’s financial statements are readily available to the public. I can easily imagine expenses being that high.
August 19, 2012 at 2:48 pm
anon
maybe kmud could start another, sister station, down here, a mini-station that runs on a couple hundred bucks a month; then if the main station goes under we’ll still have our safe solvent little sister broadcasting for our community…sounds far-fetched but maybe not…
August 19, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Anonnymouse
Almost $600,000 a year to run a non-profit radio station, something is wrong here. Where does all the money go?
August 19, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Olivia
I suggest everyone with questions ask for financial statements. Perhaps KMUD could then have a meeting answering questions posed in a civil manner. I can easily imagine where $45,000 a month goes, but people inexperienced in radio stations or with running businesses in general might need some explanations.
August 19, 2012 at 6:22 pm
bob
anonnymouse, you’re starting to get a bit far out there. you know what it can be like to be part of a sohum BOD, and need to cut kmud’s some slack. me, i haven’t found them to be so un-forthcoming as you seem to, and the organization is solidly solvent. there was a complete rundown of kmud’s income and expenses for this year, comparing budget amounts to actuals, available at the BBQ a few days ago. it sat out on a table in plain sight. sorry, no bulletin boards. i have questions about details, but haven’t met with smokescreens.
and i, for one, would urge y’all to slow down before looking at the station’s budget with carving knife in hand. as a community broadcaster for 3 decades, i don’t see theirs as a bloated budget. your cutback choices would be personnel side or “costs” side. i don’t think there’s a lot of room to cut back on major expenses like POWER, telecommunications (kmud needs lotsa computer bandwidth to broadcast from its various locations) or equipment maintenance. so, people–did you want to start with the news department? how about engineering? bookkeeping? station administrator? good luck trying to run it as an all volunteer station.
slow down. please.
ps perhaps the answer to the question “Where does all the money go?” can be found in the words of john prine’s sam stone–or not.
August 19, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Plebe
Anonnymouse:
“It depends on the Non-profit. In my experience the more open and transparent the board is about decisions and financials the less drama there is.”
That is the problem with the park board… they are not open and transparent.
That is why there is always a bunch a drama and controversy.
August 19, 2012 at 8:35 pm
iknowme
No matter how you read the budget it still comes out the same. The station needs $100,000 for the next two months for expenses then the on air fundraiser asking $85,000 and don’t forget the $$82,000 they borrowed this spring which could be paid back with the selling of the note.
And yes they could very easily lay off numerous staff as there are 10 employees. (8 which are women) Some are doing the job that one person used to do just fine. And the board ( right now 7women) is made up of 3 programmer reps voted by the programmers, 3 member reps voted by the members and the other 3 are appointed by the board. So they seat their friends and since the board does the hiring they hire their friends or make up jobs for them. The by-laws need to change so that all board members are voted in. Expenses need to be cut!!!
August 19, 2012 at 9:39 pm
tra
iknowme,
Please explain why you think the gender of staff and board members is relevant to this discussion. It seems to me that it isn’t.
August 19, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Annon
You really want your board of directors to try to explain a budget and investment strategy plus personnel stuff to the natives in S. Humboldt? Oh please. There is a comedy show in this someplace. Hilarious.
August 20, 2012 at 8:29 am
Eric Kirk
tra – Apparently women don’t have a mind for numbers, or something.
August 20, 2012 at 10:14 am
iknowme
if it had been all men there would be no end to the criticism.Let’s let the women run the station and look at the disastrous road they’ve led it to! There needs to be a balance of the genders. And if you don’t agree with these women then it becomes very hard to do your job. They fired one woman as station manager because she didn’t follow their orders and the next one quit before she was shown the door. Several years ago there was an excellent woman treasurer on the board who had the best accounting experience but was chased away by the present board treasurer who hopefully will not be reseated this Friday at the Board meeting.
August 20, 2012 at 10:16 am
iknowme
Also if it’s a COMMUNITY radio station then at least the board and staff should represent the community. I don’t think So Hum is made up of 90% women.
August 20, 2012 at 10:59 am
Felix
Just gonna respond to this one point – the gender balance of the Board shifts from year to year. When I was seated for my first term the ratio was the reverse: 7 men, one woman and one vacancy. And IMHO that proportion is common and rarely complained about!
The appointed seats are not filled with in-laws. They are filled by the willing. And if there is more than one candidate, there’s a vote (of whichever constituency. Or of the Board, if it’s the appointed seat).
At the last meeting the desire for gender equity was noted and males are/were encouraged to submit letters of intent (though I agree with tra on importance of this detail – it doesn’t necessarily mean jack).
The deadlines have probably passed, but all you competent fellas should have already gotten those letters turned in, right? You could give showing up at the meeting a try – but write something up. And I promise nothing, the election’s deadline is no surprise – but a lack of candidates can cause it to be extended. When we lack those in-laws……..
August 20, 2012 at 11:56 am
Eric Kirk
iknowme – I was told when I first moved here that much of the back-to-the-land movement had missed the Second Wave of feminism which came out in the early 70s, and that some very antiquated social views were still present among some of the older hippies which might have been transferred to the next generation. I think most of the community kept up with what was happening in the world, but your posts could have been written by Phyllis Schlaefly. You may not know of her, but a simple Google search ought to do the trick.
If it had been all men, I don’t think the gender issue would have even been raised. People notice sexism and racism in very subjective contexts. In some colleges early in the 1960s, as affirmative action was finally bringing in students of color, white students would complain about the lunch table which was exclusively filled with black students. They didn’t seem to have any trouble with all of the all-white tables surrounding the one black table, and they certainly didn’t inquire very deeply as to the cause of the defacto segregation in such a way as to wonder if maybe there was something to it other than that the black students were part of some sort of club.
Again, if you’re a man and you want gender balance, then step up. Don’t whine because so many women have volunteered their time and agreed to put up with abuse because they love KMUD. Get in there and show those clueless women how it works. Bring in that much-needed masculinity to set them straight.
Or you can remain in the shadows and insult half the world’s population with anonymity. But that’s not very manly – by any standards.
August 20, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Julia
As an incoming female board member, I would have been THRILLED to see that seat filled with a qualified male candidate. However, not a single other KMUD member (male or female) stepped up for that seat…
Nominations for the board appointed seat are open until tomorrow.
Eric, I think you are spot on about Phyllis Schlaefly.
August 20, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Annon
Personally there have been times at Kmud where I couldn’t figure out the gender of the person. Didn’t make any difference to me. Didn’t make any difference to them. Didn’t make any difference to any one in the near vicinity either. It certainly didn’t make any difference to the listeners. That’s the way it should be.
August 21, 2012 at 8:26 am
gpf
$60,000 to install an antenna? OK, lets look at this one item that was an approved expenditure of the KMUD board.
An itemized list, with how much money went for what, and to whom for this antenna job?
To me, this would serve as an acid test of the boards fiscal responsiblilty.
I’m not asking to micro manage, not accusing….it would be instructive to have a real world example with numbers to look at. This was a big ticket item, ($60,000) so let’s look at it.
August 21, 2012 at 1:36 pm
anon
go get the info gpf…and report back…
August 21, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Oh Yah
Well did you sit through the board meetings where they discussed this stuff. Did you do your duty as a member when the time was there to do it. Or do you know want the board to go back over in detail the whole process for you again. And for the next person after you. And the person after that. Did you read the financials. I’d call it micromanaging probably. It is really hypocritical too considering board meetings aren’t attended to then point your fingers and say the board isn’t transparent and want them to go through everything again just for you.
August 21, 2012 at 8:33 pm
anon
Oh Yah, what’s your problem? relax…
anyone can go into KMUD and get the info, right?
we do need to pay more attention…
by the way, Cynthia interviewing the sister of the dead guy tonight? jeez, was that necessary? anything to fill in the news half hour?
unbelievable…
August 22, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Anonymous
KMUD is not forthcoming with info to just anyone. Having tried on more than one occasion, I have given up.
August 23, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Felix
Board meeting at the Humboldt House tomorrow at 4:00 – with Letter of Intent in hand, I believe you can still apply to be considered for the Board appointed seat.
August 23, 2012 at 2:17 pm
bob
1pm for the board meeting tomorrow. and the board can probably appoint whomever they want, whenever they want to the available seat, whether there’s been a timely application or not.
August 24, 2012 at 6:59 am
anon
man, good kmud news last night: all timely stories–nice job…
August 24, 2012 at 8:47 am
Felix
Thanks there Bob – came to correct myself! It’s 1 till 4 on the Board meeting. So sorry, if I messed anyone up.
August 24, 2012 at 12:20 pm
anon
damn, i’m missing the meeting; someone report back here the highlights?
thanks
August 24, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Felix
An extremely well qualified male from McKinleyville was seated for the BOD appointed seat. Julia M. has accepted the Member rep. seat and Marcy S. will continue as Programmer rep.
It was a well attended and pleasant meeting.
CDs of the meetings are available for cost (used to be $10) if one wants.
Minutes, agendas and financials from meetings are also posted at the station….
The BOD was forced to go over-time some and moved the tail end of the meeting to another spot. So it’s possible there may be more to report. But someone else will have to fill in anything from then, I came home. Hopefully these are ‘the highlights’ most people were interested in.
Long live the MUD!
August 25, 2012 at 8:16 am
Anonnymoose
Two realtors advised the board to NOT sell the note because it gives them income every month. This is like taking advice from a used car salesmen on buying a house. KMUD delaying decision for 2 weeks seeking financial advice. Also going to ask for more money at pledge drive time. MUDdling through is the name of the game. No real plan to solve the cash flow problems except beg us to save the station.
August 25, 2012 at 12:58 pm
bob
sorry, but felix didn’t mention that the interim station administrator (jeanette) told the board that she was pretty sure they had enough funds only to pay expenses thru september, but things weren’t clear after that. regardless, the board failed to act on a proposal from its own finance committee to start a process of looking for potential note-buyers. said at least one reluctant board member “what’s the urgency?” “we need to wait to act til after we can consult with a financial planner(one not likely accessible til after kmud applies for and gets a TAP grant from the humboldt area foundation) to know if it’s a good idea to sell the note.” “we can wait til our next meeting on september 11.” personally, i think it’s more urgent than that.
apparently the board is getting a strong push from local realtors brian elie and george rolff not to sell the note. rolff said so in person at the meeting. they say it’s too valuable an asset to sell. so far as i know, they haven’t come up with an alternative way to pay for the project either.
at the meeting, the board was pretty much evenly split on whether to go ahead and look for potential buyers. call your friends on the board if you wanna know what they think. or try board@kmud.org for all of them.
the board heard from ~10 members of the audience
maybe 20 people were in attendance, or some part thereof
cynthia announced her resignation as volunteer coordinator.
jeanette is proceeding with a string of off-air fundraising activities.
new (temp) board officers suzanne president, noel secretary, julia treasurer.
the board will meet 2x/month for the next several months to deal with what seems like a very full platter.
sorry i didn’t take better notes. new board member carlos casarez seems pretty sharp. next meeting set for tuesday, september 11.
que viva la mud!
August 25, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Not A Native
Sounds to me that the board needs to understand what “net present value” means. In this context, the sum of interest and principal payments they have received plus the offer/asking price for the note should be compared to the note’s face value, adjusted to present time. If they’re approximately equal, KMUD should sell the note, just as it would have sold the property for cash.
KMUD isn’t in the investment business, trying to make money from financial assets. If the idea of the board members is to fund KMUD’s mission through investments, they should create a separate foundation funded as such and run by financially knowledgable people.
August 25, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Felix
Thanks Bob, except for your estimate of the audience (20? No way) that is far more in depth than I could manage – I didn’t take notes. A little harsh though.
Now it sounds to me like we have a whole lot of what do you call’em? Armchair quarterbacks? If you want to know exactly what was said at the meeting, get a CD! Heavens, I can think of a couple details Bob missed!
If ya don’t want to put out for a CD, the Minutes will be posted in the hall at the station and anyone CAN go and check them out.
Viva la MUD
August 26, 2012 at 9:38 am
bob
i didn’t really take notes of the meeting either. just wasn’t going to admit it. and i bet there were pretty close to twenty people there. i can name maybe 14 or 15 and i didn’t know everyone there. but there were really only about 8 or 9 speakers.
and yes, i did omit a few details, and no, i wasn’t really so harsh as i could’ve been–i want to support the board even when i think they’re making huge mistakes. but if you do listen to the cd, pay careful attention to the answer to nella’s question
if you don’t think we should sell the note, how do we get ourselves out of this financial pickle?
August 26, 2012 at 10:15 am
Jim Ferguson
Did Jeanette give an update on where the emergency fund raising stood? In the paper and on the website, the number was about $24,000.
Having been in the community as long as I have, I knew they’d be able to come up with $25,000 fairly quick, just like during the normal pledge drives, but after that, it would be very, very tough.
The fact the Board is not using the coming month of breathing room to come up with a solution (i.e. selling the note), or another out of the box idea, and some even wonder about the urgency, causes me to think it will soon be the end of September and once again we’re wondering where the money is to make payroll…
August 26, 2012 at 10:28 am
Felix
No desire to dicker Bob – your report could have been from notes…I don’t think it really matters how many people there were precisely. I would note that unless there is some (perceived) controversy there are rarely 3 or 4 non BOD members attending…..maybe some of our armchair quarterbacks should start dropping in.
I’m not sure what is to be done. But we can’t undo the upgrade (if we wanted to and that is open to debate) so debating whether or not it should have been done is pointless. And you’re correct reminding the people none of the current BOD had any input on this project, so maybe we might try to cut them some slack personally, while we ‘muddle’ through.
Probably the question wasn’t directed to me – but I didn’t say I was against selling the note. I’ve never had enough money to know jack about such and so I wasn’t gonna speak to it.
viva la MUD – paz
August 26, 2012 at 11:58 am
bob
nella’s question was to the other board members
August 26, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Anonymous
What was the question, and what were the answers?
Have to agree that KMUD is not in the financial investment business.
How much money has NoHum come up with for the upgrade?
August 26, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Anonymous
Wasn’t Julia Minton on the BOD that voted for the upgrade? Did she not push the idea?
August 26, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Felix
Bob, I meant this question: “if you don’t think we should sell the note, how do we get ourselves out of this financial pickle?”
I didn’t think it was directed to me – was that Nella’s question? My memory does not serve and I’ll definitely have to see minutes or listen to the tapes to remember responses.
August 26, 2012 at 10:44 pm
bob
yes, that was the question board member nella white put to the board members who voted not to go ahead yet with starting the process of looking for a buyer of the spyrock note. nella voted to get it going along with three of her colleagues. and no reason to go listen to the tape for anybody’s answer–there’s nothing to hear because none of the other board members had a response.
August 27, 2012 at 9:09 am
Anonymous
How much money has NoHum come up with for the NORTHERN upgrade?
August 27, 2012 at 10:50 am
Estelle's Conflict
Supervisor-elect Fennell received a “shaded parcel” letter from the county, which means she’s built on an unapproved lot without permits. This puts Estelle in a conflict-of-interest situation. She won’t be able to vote on shaded parcels, or amnesty or anything else involving the illegal building in rural Humboldt. Anyone who voted for her because of illegal land use:
too bad.
August 28, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Manuel
Anonymous” comment that “Every single time there is a crisis at KMUD, it is swept under the rug. It is time for all at KMUD to be transparent and open, even though they don’t want to be”.
Is really on the mark. And one thing to look for is a common denominator. That pretty much boils down to a board member or two, including a Treasurer who sat in a board meeting and was unable to decipher standard bookkeeping entries, in fact finally turned out not to know the difference between gross and net income. The same individuals piloting KMUD into oblivian have insisted on ignoring that things be done their way and have so far proven not to be qualified at anything other than pointing the finger of blame at others, sweeping things under the rug and making life miserable for the staff. Forcing Chairman Rob out was just plain old fashioned stupid, the word that best describes the BOD at this point as a unit.
I agree with Anonymous no more money until there is transparent accounting of what has gone on, why plans presented in open meetings that would have prevented things going critical were ignored, and perhaps most important of allm why at least one board member has rewritten meeting minutes in a total disregard for transperency.
August 28, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Olivia
Who is on the board & who is the treasurer?
August 28, 2012 at 7:53 pm
bob
“manuel” obviously has an axe to grind with the former treasurer, whom s/he insults with vague and un-substantiated allegations.
can “manuel” point to any printed set of kmud board minutes that differ in content from the actual recordings of board meetings kept by kmud?
“manuel” is also dead wrong about the exit of “chairman rob,” whose own words to the press, particularly to kmud news, did a huge disservice to the organization, and were sufficient in and of themselves to look for a new board president–imho.
fyi–kmud board includes:
suzanne beers president
noel soucy secretary
julia minton treasurer
jordan jumpshot
siena klein
marcy stein
antonia lamb
carlos casarez
nella white
August 28, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Anonymous
Who was treasurer before Julia Minton?
August 29, 2012 at 7:31 am
iknowme
Jama Chaplin was treasurer.
August 29, 2012 at 9:19 am
Felix
Chairman Rob’s term was completed! He was not forced out!
Axe to grind, inaccurate and purposefully incendiary comments!
August 29, 2012 at 12:59 pm
moviedad
Axe grinding is definitely in progress. Doesn’t know the difference between “net” & “Gross”? I call bullshit on that. Especially if you’re talking about Jama.
August 29, 2012 at 10:55 pm
Manuel
Chairman Rob’s words were on the mark. Sweep harder. His characterization of the board as a unit fit very well.
August 30, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Julia Minton
In response to Anonymous on August 26, 2012 at 4:12 pm who said, “Wasn’t Julia Minton on the BOD that voted for the upgrade? Did she not push the idea?”
Good memory. In 2010/2011 I was on the Board for a year and helped them understand the technology they were voting on. As a matter of fact, there were 7 votes to proceed with the upgrade – I was not one of them.
August 30, 2012 at 7:36 pm
bob
okay, “manuel,” so how many kmud board meetings have you attended in, say, the last year or two? can i check out your notes? obviously, you must have watched the board in action on many occasions as you feel so free to anonymously criticize their actions. perhaps you’re privy to secret information the rest of us don’t have. maybe you could share some actual facts even if you’re not willing to use your real name. maybe you’d like to serve on a community accountability group to look over the board’s shoulder, as suggested by jim ferguson in this week’s paper.
not a bad idea, jim, but better yet, imho, kmud might want to establish an audit committee, at least partly made up of people with financial and/or ngo budget oversight experience. such a committee could provide support to the president and treasurer, whose jobs stick them with a greater degree of responsibility than other board members, being officers of the organization and all. it’s a not-uncommon practice, and is actually required by state law(CA non-profit integrity act) for organizations with budgets not hugely larger than kmud’s. this would be an action to support kmud and its board rather than look to point fingers afterward.
and call me a moviedad dittohead for calling bullshit on you, too, “manuel,” especially about outgoing kmud treasurer jama chaplin.
i’m going to hold off on my sort of hefty criticism of members of the board. i have already written about my thoughts on hearing the board president on the kmud news on august 6th–i’ll spare you, and him, the gory details of that criticism. i’m glad he was willing to step up and serve as president, although i do wish he’d had the support necessary to do a good job. no-one wants to have a target on his back in this community.
sell the loan!
August 31, 2012 at 1:15 pm
bob
hey eric, are personal attacks allowed if the poster doesn’t use someone’s name, just identifies them clearly for all the world to see? i thought you didn’t like insinuendo(sic) on your blog. once again, iknowme joins manuel (are they different people?) in launching a personal attack from an anonymous poster without a shred of evidence.
August 31, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Eric Kirk
I haven’t been following this thread Bob. I’ll look it over for personal attacks.
August 31, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Eric Kirk
Okay, I removed a post which I do feel amounts to a personal attack. It’s one thing to talk about policy, but I don’t think a blog is the best place to discuss whether personnel are competent. I don’t agree with the characterization, but even if I did, it really should be discussed in a face-to-face meeting.
September 1, 2012 at 10:37 am
bob
10 Q eric