Urban Unrest

28 April 2006 | Community, Programming | Ernesto Aguilar

• Alexandra Siimotas, M.D., pulled together a great Open Journal Thursday. A board-certified ob/gyn, Dr. Simotas speaks on women's health and gives advice to listeners on a variety of issues they face. She came through our New Voices program. Here are audio links to her April 6 and April 27 Open Journals. Alex is reachable via her website. We'll try to get Alex back on in June, as well as connecting her with a few shows for appearances.
• TechWeb says XM Satellite Radio reported a net loss of $149.2 million for the quarter ending March 31, compared with a loss of $119.9 million during the same period a year ago. Losses increased as subscriber acquisition costs rose to $62 per new subscriber in the quarter from $52 a year ago. Programming costs are noted as an ongoing issue.
• Since our most recent schedule changes, I have received a steady stream of complaints from listeners about profanity and graphic content during the station's midnight-5 a.m. safe harbor period. Thus, I need to clarify a few things. Safe harbor is not a license to no longer screen music or play/say anything you wish. Safe harbor is intended as an opportunity to selectively air items one might not get a chance to air because of language. Graphic sexual content is still regulated by the FCC and a number of on-air discussions are not permitted, regardless of the hour. Gratuitous profanity is not acceptable. I ask you to spend some time and carefully review your content. If you wish to air something with profanity, or to have an off-color discussion, please ask about the law and community needs, and choose in service to the community first. I do not want to issue a sanction over this, and would most prefer people moderate their guests, music and/or themselves. If complaints continue, I will touch base with individual programmers about the complaints and the reason for particular content, then make a judgment from there. However, the frequency of profanity and questionable content during late-night programs is widespread. I know many of you have received little guidance on this, and appreciate your efforts to improve.
• I do not expect every programmer to like one another, but I do expect everyone to be respectful of one another on the air in the interests of KPFT. Taking what you feel about a particular person's beliefs or persona to the airwaves is not okay. Such behavior really is a disservice to listeners and only isolates others when, as you know, our mission is about encouraging dialogue and understanding. There are a few cases, such as with programmers joking together about each other, which are fine. I am happy to facilitate a mediation session between two volunteers who are having communication issues; just ask me to make this happen. However, mocking other volunteers' efforts, beliefs, voices, et al. on the air will not be tolerated. I haven't formulated a sanction for this and would prefer not to go there if I don't have to, so please be courteous to other volunteers and let's work off-air on any concerns with others you may have. Thanks.

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