Thanks to reader Larry Mayer for letting us know about the massive — meaning 100% — cuts to KCSN’s announcing staff. The Northridge CA station has laid off their entire announcing staff and gone to unannounced, automated music from 6 am to 6 pm. According to John Rabe’s blog at Southern California Public Radio, KCSN plans to launch a digital stream on their website so you can see the name of the piece and the composer. For the moment it’s light classical, single movements, no-name stuff.
Management attributes the staff reductions to
critical cuts in state funding to Cal State Northridge. “Every part of the university has had to reduce costs, and the radio station is no exception.” said Robert Bucker, dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication.
These cuts follow a previous round of bad luck for KCSN, which sustained serious earthquake damage in January 1994 and then lost its CPB funding in 1998.
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For the record~
KCSN FM was re-instated by CPB for yet another round of Community Service Grant (Federal) money last year for some mysterious reason. As KCSN GM it was never revealed to me why or how this money rolled in. In fact, the whole deal was shrouded in mystery and continues so to this very day. Why would CPB give a proven “under-performer” almost 200 grand after the station was removed from the system a year prior as a result of lackluster RRC/Arbitron ratings? It is indeed a mystery. But that’s what happened.
During my 12 years at the station, with detailed RRC data analysis each quarter in my hands to prove it, KCSN would (and most likely never will) attain the Cume and AQH listener numbers required by CPB’s current Community Service Grant audience service criteria. The nagging issue remains: KCSN suffers from a paltry signal and a severly diminshed total coverage area as a result of KSBR’s co-channel interference and the due protection of (88.3 FM) KCLU’s 1-millivolt contour, amongst other issues. So, the federal money has once again trickled away, imagine that, and by default, the live classical presenters. OK, now what?
The Americana Alternative evening format that we began to build up from scratch, with able assistance from the Americana Music Association, a year ago, is being decimated and changed out for “The Milk Toast Hits of the 70’s”, and the station is now being run by pedagogues who, with all due respect, have no clue about programming or the business of radio. And to top it all off, the college administration has brought in a consultant yet again to point out the rough spots and suggest a course of action (which was suggested previously by the same gent three years ago)…. he’ll probably suggest the same course of action (history repeats, history repeats… at 60k a pop). How quickly we forget. A shining, glaring example of mismanagement. Who’s in charge here? Why aren’t proper decisions being made to ensure the fiscal health of the radio station? How long does it take?
Now, I wouldn’t really care except all of this is being inflicted upon a gem of a radio station and a staff of great people that I truly care about. Forget that I was GM, Program Director, Music Director, webmaster, supervisor, etc. Folks, this is painful. I mean, ouch!
The house continues to be cleansed, yet the sheer undirected madness of it all is shameful. Budget or no budget, supporting members, station staffers, beloved community volunteers, and listeners should not be treated this way, ever.
I have one word to describe this hornet’s nest. Unbelievable.
FJ
and KCSN has not sent out the premiums from the last fund drive in May 2010 yet