[WXBH-Discuss] wxbh bummer

Sat Jul 14 17:55:49 EDT 2007

In June, 2006, 10 people were voted in as the new  Brick House board  
of directors. I am one of those and was appointed Treasurer. Seven of  
those folks were willing to serve because of their interest in radio.  
Two folks were familiar with and had put many, many hours into the  
Brick House and its operations and one was new to the organization  
( after attending three or four monthly board meetings and chairing  
the general assembly meeting in August, this individual was the first  
to resign ). After four months or so of evaluating the organization's  
operations, finances, and prospects, the board wished to put the BH  
on a sound financial footing, pay all its debts and continue its  
operations in a leased space. A majority of the board saw no  
compelling connection between building ownership and BH operations,  
and voted 6-2, with one abstention, to sell the building. This vote  
was taken, as I recall, last October. It seems that ever since that  
vote the core group of people who agreed to serve on the board  
because of their interest in radio have been cast in the role of  
villains. Yet it is this same group of radio villains who agreed on  
June 28 of last year put in $5,000 of radio-designated money toward  
BH solvency and again last Sept 18 put in another $2,000 to pay BH  
bills. Yeah, we're really bad folks, right? Would it be great for the  
BH to find some more just like us? Perhaps the garden collective, the  
bike collective, the art collective, etc, will rise to the same level  
of support as radio.
Mark did not, in my opinion, read too much into Thursday night's  
meeting. Somehow, the idea of a lease that insulated the BH from any  
financial obligation was viewed as divisive. One board member said he  
felt "victimized" by this event. The radio executive committee has  
absolutely no objection to the construction of a studio at the BH,  
nor does it object to anything else the general assembly and building  
committee of the board/assembly wishes to do with respect to  
financing the building. The radio executive committee feels strongly  
that it cannot wait for a suitable studio to be constructed at the BH  
in order to continue the WXBH project. As one board member aptly  
described the situation last Thursday, "...radio is a part of the  
Brick House." Thus, as radio grows and develops which can lead to  
financial independence, the BH also has the potential to prosper  
financially as well. Until then, the radio committee's duty is to  
make those decisions it feels will result in a strong, viable future.  
If it is faced with continuous vitriol, interference and obfuscation,  
then the entire project becomes extremely vulnerable.

John Wilborn

On Jul 14, 2007, at 2:21 PM, John Hicks wrote:

> 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 skeofpects,osprinances and tions,  
> peraw 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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