During a period of 2009, I had to tape my BLUE MONDAY show because of health issues. On 8/11/09 I received an e-mail from Chris Merrick, stating that I had not read an underwriting announcement for Saturday Market. Any underwriting was normally put in my mailbox and I would read them. These were not! In his e-mail, he informed me that I had received an official warning and if it happened again within 12 months my show would be suspended. When I replied to his e-mail, and explained I had no knowledge of the underwriting, he replied back and said that explained part of the problem but his earlier warnings still were in place. Needless to say, this pissed me off! I was a volunteer at kboo for over 23 years. I put together my show every week from my own collection. I tried to follow all rules and required meetings e.t.c. As a volunteer I did all these things on my own time. As a volunteer I was never paid. I believe that I presented an entertaining and informative show. Over the years I have received an incredible amount of feedback both on the air and out in the world, and all of it was always positive. My show was a "Voice For The Blues" for as far as kboo reach's out. I had many national and local acts appear and featured the music of many local acts. I am writing this at this time because I am still asked "What Happened"? and also out of curiosity I looked on the "BLUE MONDAY" site and noticed that comments were still coming in as late as last month! There is something called respect and I sure didn't receive any in relation to all this. I think 23 years shows a pretty good commitment. For a station that allegedly, "gives everyone a chance", you sure dump on people when you think it's time to go! This refers to Irish, Native American, "Rockaholics" and other programing. I'm just glad I got out when I did. I cannot, do not, and will not support kboo any longer. Please feel free to put this in your monthly newsletter, hopefully around pledge drive time. ------------- BILL RHOADES
Comments
trashin KBOO
Bill, you make it sound like your show was a problem, spend a lot of words here defending it, 23 years, etc. This is hard because i like you and your show of course was great, but i happen to know the staff thought so, too (How else could you be on for so many years?). I've been at KBOO a long time too, and i've had my problems with certain staff members as well (believe me...sigh) over the years, but not "KBOO". You and i and about 500 volunteers are KBOO. Yes, there are "enforcers" of the rules we all gotta play by, but your show was not the reason "it was time to go" by any means. Blue Monday is a gaping hole in MANY people's Mondays. i miss the hell out of it. The other programmers you refer to as removed also had singular personnel issues. "KBOO" doesn't dump on Irish (she wasn't Irish, btw), Native or any group. I get that you're angry at someone (and i know who), but this is just trashin KBOO, man, and you don't need to trash the whole enchilada. We're still here and we miss you.
Dear Bill, I'm sorry to read
<P>Dear Bill,</P>
<P>I'm sorry to read this. I've been a fan of your show. I for one would not want you to have the impression that your years of volunteering are not appreciated.</P>
<P>As a Board member I think it is important that we have processes for addressing disagreements about policy decisions that give chances for people to be heard and treated fairly. </P>
<P>If you did try to use KBOOs conflict resolution process but it didn't work, or if you declined to participate but would like to change you mind, I'm happy to do what I can to see if we can address your feelings of being pissed off.</P>