[WXBH-Discuss] wxbh bummer

[Mark McKinley]

Friends,

LPFM Community radio:  it’s not about the money - it’s about authentic 
voices having access in their own community to the airwaves. Local. Diverse. 
Public interest.

This past Thurs afternoon WXBH was positioned for the next plateau:  the 
Brick House Board’s Radio Committee had reached an agreement ($250/month 
utilities included, immediate move-in condition) for studio space  (at 
Bardstown Road and Hikes Ln) in our broadcast listening area .  No more need 
to pre-record, transfer, download, edit, upload, blah, blah,…..Finally, 
feasibly within a week, programmers such as the Newburg Youth Council would 
have a studio in their own community - turn on the radio:  on-air!

Transparency:  As previously shared at other meetings and with other Brick 
House Board members including BH Chair John Hicks, our plan was modeled 
after our mentor, highly successful lpfm sister Radio Free Nashville, WRFN.  
WRFN operates a studio in its broadcast listening area as well as an urban 
studio. Hicks responded to me:  “Makes sense.” The Buechel studio location 
not only validates our position in the broadcast listening area for 
programmers, it positions us within walking distance of hundreds of 
potential underwriting neighboring businesses - revenue for BRYCC, Inc.

Transparency:  As I’ve shared previously with Hicks and others at open 
meetings, this is no plan to undermine or split off from the Brick House. 
I’ve continued to support the Brick House - recently writing another check 
and only last Sunday afternoon working a concession stand at Slugger Field 
to raise money for the Brick House.  Last year alone, the WXBH radio project 
contributed $7,000 or so to keep the organization’s building afloat,  a 
building without a heating or cooling system and other safeguards to protect 
studio recording and broadcast equipment.

Rather than celebratory, Thursday evening’s Board meeting was toxic: more 
than once, Radio Committee members were lectured by other Board members with 
limited or peripheral WXBH engagement - a litany of biased voices raging 
that a studio in the broadcast listening area was divisive.

And then one of the loudest voices,  David Morrison, new to the Board this 
spring, honestly admitted in the meeting:  “IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY” -  David 
wants the money that would go to the studio in the broadcast listening area 
to go to the Brick House.  Throughout the rancor, John Hicks  was 
laryngitic, his Makes Sense voice shrilly silent.

Passion fuels our drive.  Fanaticism blinds and people drive off the cliff.  
Jim Jones probably began innocently passionate before eventually blindly 
dispensing his deadly kool-aid.   I hold no personal grudges (or icepicks) 
against anyone at the Brick House.

IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY - that’s corporate media’s kool-aid. Holding the WXBH 
project hostage is unacceptable.  After 2 years+ actively engaged in the 
WXBH project,  I’m  not drinking or dispensing that kool-aid.

Bummer.  I guess pissing and spinning will begin.   No cheers. - Mark