Party report: KUAC flap

An essential part of the public commons these days is public radio. Greg Petrowich, station manager of KUAC, is in a tight spot due to what I'd say was a REALLY bad decision to whack out a whole bunch of popular programs and replace them with a few others—without checking with the public about it. An uproar ensued. Petrowich made the further error of dismissing those upset as being a "small, vocal group" in an opinion published in the News-Miner in August. Since then there have been all sorts of letters to the editor, editorials, opinions, and whatnot from a pretty large and very vocal group. Petrowich's timing was also terrible: this was done shortly before the pledge drive, and, rumor has it, KUAC is not doing very well this year.

But KUAC did finally start to acknowledge the listeners' concerns recently, and I was heartened to receive an e-mail from them on Friday saying that Luke Hopkins, Torie Foote, Dermott Cole, and John Davies had been recruited to a Community Task Force "to develop better community communication and meaningful partnerships for the future." But then I received another e-mail, from No Nukes North and signed by Foote, Hopkins, and Davies, saying that KUAC used their names without checking with them first. At the party, John told me that when he saw KUAC's note, he "nearly went through the roof," especially since the Community Leadership Council's membership (tentative or no) has been kept tightly secret. So KUAC jumped the gun a bit.

The three of them have since talked with Murray Richmond, the volunteer organizing the task force, and clarified that their participation is tentative and conditional upon the purpose of the group, and that they'd like to hear more. KUAC sent out a correction this morning.