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As of May 25,
2003 the last Swizzle Stick was heard on KXCI. The following is the letter
we posted onto the KXCI Programmer's listserve and the KXCI Bulletin Board at
Yahoo.com explaining our decesion to cancel the show:
KXCI Listserv members,
We, Diane and Don Bombshelter, have
resigned as volunteers at KXCI
effective Monday, 26 May 2003. The
last "Swizzle Stick" aired on 25
May 2003. As we have seen many
discussions on this group about why
people have left in the contentious past,
we wanted to have our own
statement. We expect it to be deleted
from this listserv, so you may
find it also at the KXCIBulletinBoard
group.
While there is a strong desire to rant,
curse, and rage, this usually
serves no purpose but to vent and changes
no one's mind. This will
change no one's mind. Those who are
willing to question will
determine their course based on
understanding of the facts. Those not
willing to question live happy and joyous
lives.
We are leaving because we no longer wish to
be associated with KXCI
due to the management and the Board of
Directors (BOD). This has
resulted from a lengthy process where we
tried to learn more about
issues, see what the different viewpoints
were, and tried to
contribute to positive change.
What we found was a Board of Directors that
believes it is very
successful, despite the membership pointing
to deep-rooted problems.
It is a BOD that has changed the rules
without membership concurrence
to make itself a majority of
self-appointee's. When questioned about
this, the common response was that it was
best for the station. We
can't speak to whether this is true, but
you would think that a
Community radio station would try to have
some input from its members,
for it is members who ultimately own the
station.
We also found that the General Manager,
Tony Ford, operated with no
accountability. Technically, Tony is
accountable to the BOD. But we
believe that the Tony/BOD relationship is
so incestuous that no one
has (or will) question Tony's decisions
without extreme external
public pressure. We have disagreed
with many things Tony has done,
most specifically the Volunteer Agreement.
And for speaking out, were
clearly "watched" for potential
"harming" of the station.
Lastly, we found that the Program Manager,
Roger Greer, would not
stand up for the programmers in any way,
while mewling words of
compromise and promises of a brighter
future. Based on our
observations of actions taken, that the
brighter future will be when
there are no programmers/volunteers left
who question the decisions of
management.
We commend those who are honestly trying
to effect change, and wish
the newly member elected BOD members may be
successful in creating
change for the better. However, we do
not see that any thing would
result in replacing Tony or Roger.
While we have nothing personal
against Tony or Roger, we do not wish to
have any further association
with them or as a result KXCI.
We are moving on to develop a music show
for Access Tucson. We have
found the Access Tucson environment much
more to our liking and look
forward to having fun again, and not worry
about potential censorship
or whether what we say or do on our own
time is considered "harmful"
to the station.
Bye,
Diane and Don Bombshelter
