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Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor about KOOP appear in the Austin Chronicle faster than we can archive them onto this site. So we gave up. Below you can read some letters that appeared through August 1998. For more recent letters, visit the Austin Chronicle's website and search for "KOOP".

Chronicle:

Thanks to Lee Nichols for pointing out that the Paramount Theatre didn't give their permission for their name to be on the letter that Paul Odekirk sent out in support of KOOP's board of trustees ["Naked City," Vol.17, No.49]. But why stop there? You let Paul get away with claiming that "I sent the letter out and when it came back, it came back with a bunch of signatures, and then I sent it out to the press." Why not ask Paul what the e-mail address is of the person who signed the Paramount's name? Has Paul tried contacting that person? It's also worth pointing out that over a third of the "supporting organizations" listed in Paul's letter are groups that he or others on KOOP's boards either control or are significantly involved in.

But in any event, which is worse: that the letter contains bogus signatures, or that it's riddled with falsehoods and no supporting evidence? (A fact not mentioned in the article.)

I realize that Chronicle readers may have a hard time trying to follow the KOOP story from short letters to the editor and from newsbites in "Naked City," so I encourage interested readers to check out the Save KOOP Radio Web site for the full story: http://pobox.com/bluejay/savekoop.

Michael Bluejay|
Host of The Bicycle Lane on KOOP

Editor:

Is one picture worth Lee Nichols' entire "Media Clips" column [Vol.17, No. 45]? Never in the 10+ years that I have been reading The Austin Chronicle have I seen a photograph so capture someone's personality as the image of KOOP Radio Trustee Teresa Taylor.

The ice cold paranoid glare of Taylor staring back at me from the page was almost too unnerving to look at. My compliments to photographer Jana Birchum on capturing the shot. It must have taken nerves of steel.

Thanks also to Louis Black for the hard-hitting editorial comments. It is the community's responsibility to take back KOOP Radio from Taylor and her ilk.

Thanks again,

John "Paunch-O" Lane

To the Editor:

Lee Nichols' "UnKOOPerative" article ["Media Clips," Vol. 17, No. 45] is flawed in many ways. By allowing two ex-Board of Trustees members to speak most passionately for recent Board of Trustees decisions, Nichols is giving a powerful but small band of revolutionary thugs - led by Eduardo Vera and Paul Odekirk - more exposure and respect than they deserve. While neither programmer is currently affiliated with the Board of Trustees, both are intimately connected to its decisions because Odekirk and his lover Tony Truong are both Community Board Members, and head rebel (and Community Board member) Vera is married to Board Chair Teresa Taylor, the real Lady MacBeth in this sick sordid tale.

With a taste of power, Odekirk and Vera have joined forces and, with the help of their lackey puppets, have forced real, long-lasting changes.... This so-called band of thugs has infiltrated and infected the KOOP radio system with the help of their feeble lover/puppet/zombie/followers. They've figured out how to change KOOP Radio, a ship with a makeshift sail, without a declaration of mutiny. Now that they've reached a decision, they allow the accountant (sister of another Board of Trustees member) to speak about KOOP Radio ("isn't just a place to hang out and play tunes"), Jenny ("a lovely and personable woman with strong attributes"), the future ("growing so rapidly - critical phase and leadership must be established"), and prognosis ("there is just no money"). These unfair attacks reveal the accountant to be part of this misguided coup conspiracy.

These changes were concocted and plotted in the rebels' bedrooms. The Board of Trustees are sell-outs. Stand up, overthrow them, and someday soon it will again be smooth sailing!

Sincerely,

David Kay (Mr. E)
Brooklyn, New York

Editor:

After seeing much in the Chronicle and Statesman lately about the controversy at KOOP Radio, I'd like to add the perspective of a long-term KOOP programmer and former Community Board Member. Ever since I went to my first KOOP meeting in 1993, my life has been under the influence of a vision of a cooperative radio station that would allow the voiceless to speak. Back then I was so inspired that I immediately made time in my life to go to meetings, paint our modest office, and help to do what was required to make that vision a reality. At a time when I was so disillusioned with Austin that I was planning to move, KOOP was such a beautiful and hopeful thing that I recommitted myself to living here.

Unfortunately, my rosy image of a cooperative utopia didn't last long. Before we were even broadcasting, there were many instances of the brutal internal conflict we are now witnessing. I seriously considered giving up on KOOP many times. One experience I remember clearly was at an early meeting as Eduardo Vera shook his fist in my face while screaming, "don't fuck with me." Yes, there were witnesses. No, he wasn't the only one acting destructively, but that event is typical of the culture of disrespect that continues to poison KOOP today. Things got better for a while, but it was really just like that brief trip on the wagon for a committed alcoholic.

I think this conflict that seems so damn important to the current participants would be regarded as extreme carelessness by the communities that depend upon KOOP. Do the people of Chiapas or Sierra Blanca, the people who are suffering here in Austin, or the Barton Springs Salamander care if KOOP is a model bureaucracy? No! They want us to continue to exist and broadcast a signal. Jenny Wong has done that and more for the past five years. Thank you, Jenny.

After this madness is over, let's try one more time to create a community organization that can more honestly describe itself as a cooperative. Let's honor the staff and volunteers who work for KOOP, and not just throw them on the scrap heap when they are no longer thought to be useful. KOOP is supposed to be an alternative to the disrespectful, ungrateful, greedy mainstream culture. Let's keep it that way.

Neal Tuttrup

Dear Chron,

I've been involved in cooperatives since 1981, and KOOP radio has been a delight to participate in. KOOP has consistantly improved its entertaining, radical, informative programming since it went on the air. The news of KOOP's internal hemorrhaging leaves me wondering what, really, is the problem?

The KOOP board of directors complains that general manager Jenny Wong is a bad bookkeeper, but this just doesn't ring true. Even for-profit enterprises are expected to barely scrape by for the first five years.

Organizations have two basic styles of leadership. There is the traditional pyramid structure, with a strong president/leader/board heading up a chain of command, or the circle structure that uses consensus process for decisionmaking. I think this is where the dividing line lies. The KOOP BoD, or some of its influential members, are pyramid types, and Jenny Wong and most KOOP programmers are consensus types.

We are all deeply influenced by the pyramid structure, from family to school to job, and by a world history dominated by kings, priests, generals, and presidents. It is the efficient structure of war and patriarchy. By comparison, consensus is slow and painstaking. Even within progressive groups, many people don't have the patience for it.

Both styles of leadership have their places in alternative/radical organizations. In crisis situations or confrontation with an enemy, there is no time for consensus. But a volunteer collective like KOOP radio is best run by democratic process with a manager who facilitates the workaday operations of the station.

There is a movement in KOOP to recall the current board. This is a legitimate exercise of KOOP's democratic process which will probably be successful, but it will expend a lot of time and resources. It will be a very ugly scene. The Board could save KOOP from this crisis by simply resigning. Community consensus process requires trust, and the volunteers and programmers can't trust the board now that the knives are drawn. Strong-arm politics will not work for KOOP. It's time for the board members to disarm and rejoin the circle.

Sincerely,

Cedar Stevens

To the Editor:

Jenny Wong and I have had our differences dating back to her editorship of UTMost magazine - many of them major brouhahas - and I do not envy the situation of anyone on the opposite side of a pissing match with her. That said, Jenny did not deserve to be fired from KOOP. She more than anyone made the station what it is today, certainly more than Eduardo Vera or her other so-called progressive critics. Wong, not Vera, is the victim of "McCarthyism" here, if anyone is, and in my opinion Vera and his cadre of superficial, intellectually facile do-gooders should examine their innermost selves to determine whether they retain the capacity for shame.

I laughed out loud when I read that the problems with KOOP accounting amounted to "some things were mislabled and the files weren't all in the right places, but when you crunched all the numbers everything balanced." I shudder what to think would happen if my own small business were held to a higher standard than that! If the board won't hire Wong, or any future station manager, some bookkeeping help, this situation will never change - I promise from experience.

Anyone who would accept the station manager's job under this board, under these circumstances, would have to be either a neophyte or a fool. Good luck, Jenny, and to Lee Nichols: keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Scott Henson

To The Editor:

This letter is in response to the article entitled "UnKOOPerative" ["Media Clips," Vol.17, No.45].

Some programmers and volunteers went to KOOP on the evening of July 13 to support our general manager, Jenny Wong. She was to be informed of the status of her contract with the Board of Trustees. Some of us made last-minute appeals to the board to renew Jenny's contract.

The Board made their decision in a closed executive session. When Board Chair Teresa Taylor informed the waiting personnel that Jenny's contract was not renewed, a respectful question-and-answer period followed, ending with my impassioned statement. At no time was anyone screaming.

I will be playing the unedited tape of that encounter on a show I produce, "Adventures in Aztlan," this Saturday, July 25 at 3pm on KOOP (91.7 FM). I ask that you listen closely to the voices of some people who really care about the future of KOOP.

Respectfully yours,

Lupe Cedillos

Dear KOOP members and listeners, Chronicle readers:

Since KOOP Radio began broadcasting about three and a half years ago, the "little station that could" has experienced many changes and developments, the latest of which is going on now ("KOOP Chaos" ["Naked City," Vol.17, No.42]). I would like to address last week's article by sharing a few facts with you.

During my employment as general manager, the station's annual income has increased 402% - from $19,600 in 1994, to $58,671 in 1995, to $71,291 in 1996, and culminating with $78,704 in 1997. When I started, KOOP had major debts mainly due to engineering and law firms, which is common for start-up community radio stations because of the high cost of acquiring a non-commercial license. Starting at approximately $106,817, the total debt has steadily decreased to approximately $89,872 in 1995; $77,508 in 1996; and $69,938 in 1997. This means that while I have been employed at KOOP, during the most difficult growth period of any new radio station, debt has decreased by 35% while income has increased by 402%.

For the last five years I have managed all aspects of station operations and activities. This has involved managing the fundraising, bookkeeping, and administrative work of 200-300 volunteers who are or have been part of KOOP. To accomplish these tasks, I have worked with only one other paid part-time staff person at the station.

KOOP now receives a range of grants on the local and state levels and from private foundations. The station is continuing to expand business sponsorship of its programs. In general, KOOP strives to attract an ever-increasing listener support by constantly working to improve its community service. On behalf of KOOP, I have applied for dozens of grants, managed eight on-air pledge drive campaigns, and have helped to organize many benefit events, direct-mail campaigns, and other fundraising efforts.

Since I signed on as manager in 1993, KOOP has not missed a single day of broadcast due to inability to pay bills, nor has it ever bounced a check.

I hope this letter is clarifying to those who are unclear about my value as a contributor, and affirmed my contributions to those who already know it. To all of you who are or have been KOOP board members, and all the rest of you who have made KOOP what it is today - I could not have done my job without you. I thank you.

This month marks the end of my fifth year as general manager of KOOP Radio. This job has meant more to me than anything else I've ever done in my life. I sincerely hope I am allowed to continue in this role, because I believe KOOP has just barely scratched the surface of what it's capable of doing over the next five years.

Jenny Wong
KOOP General Manager

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