KYRS Crisis: Bannings, Firings, Dissolution of Committees, Re-write of Bylaws, Elimination of Consensus
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--------September 23, 2007------
KYRS COLLECTIVE
kyrscollective@gmail.com
Collective: A group of people who share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives are also characterized by attempts to share and exercise political and social power and make decisions on a consensus-driven, egalitarian basis.
The KYRS Collective has met every two weeks since late February 2007. The 'executive director' of KYRS recently acted to prevent the Collective from meeting in the Community Building. As one might expect with most banned organizations, this in no way has resulted in the dissolution, nor the abandoning of the vision, values or goals of the Collective. The Collective continues to meet with the intent of insuring that KYRS adheres to the sacred words of the Mission statement, including its waning commitment to the values of diversity, community and, as evidenced in the recent bannings of programmers, democracy. The specter of the epic battle for the survival and integrity of KPFA is raised by the recent actions of the board and ownership of KYRS. It is ironic that the one of the first pages posted at this Wiki site dealt with the struggle for the survival and community control of KPFA. It was offered as a precautionary tale. Now a similar struggle is underway at KYRS. It is incumbent upon those with an interest in true community-based radio,consensus-based decision making and other elements of the mission statement of KRYS to inform themselves regarding the recent decisions by the 'executive director' and a fraction of the KYRS board to suspend all committees, ban programmers, remove permission for the Collective to meet in the Community Building, conduct closed board meetings without minutes, and other actions which indicate that effectively an internal coup has occurred at the station.
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Report back from KYRS Collective Meeting of September 20, 2007
Having been shut out the Community Building, the KYRS Collective meet September 20, 2007 at Lutheran Church. Attendance was the most dynamic and diverse to date with current and banned programmers and staff, concerned KYRS community members, and volunteers. As has been the case since the day the Collective was formed it was stated again that membership in the Collective is open to all.
Concerns continue about the power structure of the station, the form of participation, lack of clarity regarding the mission statement, etc. There continues to be a desire to see a more "horizontal" form of democracy than the current traditional corporate "hierarchical" style.
All of these concerns have been exacerbated by the recent closed board meetings, the suspension of all KYRS committees, the bannings and revocation of memberships of two programmers and one staff member. The structure of the station has changed with no participation by nor even notice to the membership of the station.
KYRS COLLECTIVE
kyrscollective@gmail.com
The same questions that the Collective has asked for months remain? Are the bylaws silent, vague, or clear on the whether or not a programmer can be on the board? What is the relationship between the KYRS mission statement and what actually goes out over the airwaves? What's on the programmers' wish list? How to get the funds applied to meet those needs? Why is the equipment being stolen and destroyed without regard for the impact on the ability of programmers to do their work?
--See copy of the original Bylaws at end of page as Word document--
(A fraction of the board recently modified the Bylaws and made changes such as deleting the word "consensus" and other changes. In that these actions were carried out in secret and closed meetings without minutes or other notes, the full extent of the anti-democratic actions taken by the station are unknown.)
(A fraction of the board recently modified the Bylaws and made changes such as deleting the word "consensus" and other changes. In that these actions were carried out in secret and closed meetings without minutes or other notes, the full extent of the anti-democratic actions taken by the station are unknown.)
Welcome to the KYRS Programmers Collective WIKI.
Here we can have extended conversations about issues that affect us all.
At the KYRS Thin Air Community Radio 89.9 and 92.3 FM website you will find a programming
calendar, events listing, programmer bios, streaming audio of KYRS programming, underwriting
information and much, much more:
And to view the exciting schedule of KYRS programming, go to: KYRS Programming Schedule
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