[BrickBoard] Re: [WXBH-Discuss] wxbh bummer

[Aron Conaway]

1. $7,000 of that one source of money is in the Brick House Mortgage

2. I missed Board Meetings this year because I was teaching a class of human 
beings at the University of Louisville. I do not regret doing my job.

3. There was a clear suggestion in the Board meeting by non-Radio Collective 
Members to dissolve the Radio Committee and Radio Governing Board. Why would 
you do that? We are not even attempting to act like we are not part of the 
Brick House. We have never even discussed being a separate entity from the 
larger organization, yet there are constant accusations that it is so.

4. We did make a very clear argument that we did not want a building because 
it would be a burden to the radio project. We were in fact the only growing 
group of volunteers, had to take over a defunct Board and pay 90%+ of all 
the bills for a long stretch and had no interest in keeping the building 
open for the nearly non-existent activity. Now building obligations are the 
source of trying to strip the radio collective of the ability to do what 
simply must be done to succeed. Our radio projects money is being seen as 
everyones key to an easier way. We are not being asked to simply match match 
any other collective in their contribution. We are being asked to double, 
triple and on and on to fill in the large gap. Those who took it on should 
be looking to more creative avenues for income.

5. There is no protection from the Brick House whims for the Radio Station 
now. The collective is under a  constant and newly more-powerful threat. We 
gave you the building, now you want the radio to fall to its knees to it?

6. A slap in the face? By safeguarding the station from sinking with the 
ship? We don't want to run the brick building, period. Why is that hard to 
understand and accept? It is wrong to try to guilt and force people into 
contributing time and effort where their hearts do not lie. Radio has pulled 
its weight to the umpteenth degree. Radio will (or would have) continued to 
throw in on the effort to pay the bills.

7. (this is a little redundant from #4) The Brick House people who wanted so 
badly to keep a building of that size in that spot should be searching for 
all of the revenue to keep it afloat. Making the radio station a crutch for 
your habit is unfair to us. We gave and gave and now, after little thanks, 
we are being forced to give without having any say so? Organizations must 
find a solid revenue if they believe they are worth staying afloat. But 
draining all the resources of the most successful group in the organization 
is suicidal. And the resources are not just monetary. We shouldn't be 
credited on the money that we put in that were actually real peoples direct 
contributions to a Radio Station (seems criminal to me)? Even while hardly 
any one else was contributing?

8. Again... if  Radio is Brick House and we are working on the Radio then we 
are working for the Brick House. You seemed to have agreed with this point 
already.

9. We are on a very, very slippery slope at this point. Part of me would 
rather remain silent and take the easy way out here. I won't speak for 
everyone else, but I feel a very, very strong possibility that a lot of 
folks are about to walk away. Seeing that we have given a huge amount of 
graces to the Brick House in the last few months, the only resolution I 
could accept would be to see a lot of backing out of our business. Our 
thresholds for small-minded accusations and over-generalizations and general 
paranoid behavior have been met by a long stretch. Back off the radio's 
money and its volunteers or they'll be gone. If we have anymore dismissals 
of our concerns by being called overreactive in the emails or hear anymore 
pressure to adhere by everyone else's expectations then I am out. And I can' 
t say I'll be surprised to see several very powerful, helpful, positive and 
giving people right beside me on the way out.


-BArf







From: John Hicks <johnhicks at wxbh.org>
Reply-To: brickboard at brickhouse.cc
To: "WXBH General Discussion List (Open to all to subscribe and 
post.)"<wxbh-discuss at wxbh.org>
CC: rlightsyjr at aol.com, 
lmr-announce at louisvillemediareform.org,wxbh-tech at wxbh.org, 
brickboard at wxbh.org
Subject: [BrickBoard] Re: [WXBH-Discuss] wxbh bummer
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:21:10 -0400

My apologies for the drama. I really believe we are poised to do great 
things and that Mark is reading far too much into Thursday's meeting. No 
action transpired at the meeting that affects radio. Mark appears to be 
upset that some discontent that had been brewing (and that he was aware of) 
rose to the surface and was voiced at the meeting.

I believe we all have voiced approval of the idea of having two studios: one 
in the Brick House and one in our coverage area (and the Buechel location is 
ideal for that). The discontent was heard at the meeting is that, while 
money and effort are being poured into the Buechel studio, the same can't be 
said for the Brick House studio. Many of us have struggled over the past 
year to get the BH on its feet so it could see the day when radio goes on 
the air. Now that that day is here, we'd like to see a few of the dollars 
being expended going into a Brick House studio. (We need air conditioning 
and some modest computer and audio equipment.)

I'm sure we can work all this out in short order. For one thing, we have not 
really undertaken any fund-raising in recent months. In a city of a million 
people, I'm sure we can raise a few thousand for a modest studio in the 
heart of that city.

Yes, it is about the money. The past few months have been a lesson in that. 
Radio found a single source of funding, and that source was willing to fund 
the Buechel studio but not the Brick House studio. I for one am very 
grateful to that single source. But let's not let that source of money skew 
our operations. The Brick House was founded on the principles of DIY -- 
Do-It-Yourself. Let's roll up our sleeves and get that studio built in the 
Brick House the old fashioned way!

--John Hicks

Mark McKinley wrote:
>
>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.

My support for the Buechel studio is more than perfunctory. I strongly 
support it. (I had proposed such a studio in a grant application I submitted 
in February, long before any one else had proposed it.)

>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
>
>

--
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