Thursday, July 25, 2019

Only Ten Years Since ...


Change comes to KGGV in 2009

2008 was a year of consolidation and stabilization at KGGV.  That was our third year and we mostly did the things that we had done in years before, but we did them better.  The economic crunch snuck up on us, but hitting the fundraising panic button in December, brought us back into the black.
As with other changes, in years past, we regretted the departures of Helena Giesea, Guy Fox & GAX, Sheila Koren, Ari Herman and Sharon Wikoff, the teens, Sophie Weiner and Bryce Youngberg, and Katt off to New Zealand.  Since 2006, KGGV has launched 94 different programs, hosted by 71 different local people.  Our stasis point is 50 shows with 43 DJs. 
As the year wound down, the loss of Beth Hearn, as head of station, seriously rocked the station volunteers.  December was a quiet month.
But spring appears to have come early this year, and the daffodils blooming in front of the radio station are inspirational.  We look now to the new people who joined us in 2008 to pick up the tasks of those who have departed.  This new baker’s dozen brings youth, fresh energy, and passion to KGGV for 2009’s challenges: Bruce Robinson doing the RR Gardener Sundays at 11am; Linda Jennings on Saturday nights at 8pm; Lois Pearlman and Leslie Warren, community activists, on Thursday at 1pm; Nancy Jo Wood has a Friday noontime program and is involved in Programming; Doug Fogel hosts a 1pm Friday Health program; Jerry Louis does a music show Mondays at 7pm; Laura Mueller interviews locals at 11am on Saturday mornings; Brian Martens hosts evening reading programs; Maria Viegas is our New Orleans Chef on Saturdays at noon;  Zoe Puckett provides late night dance music on Thursdays and supports our Underwriting efforts; Patti Blaylock has recently launched her “Soul CafĂ©,” and is also our PSA contact; and most recent is Meg Krewszewska, who launched, to rave reviews, Sacred Sounds.
So, the goals for 2009 are to blend the passion of the newcomers with the wisdom of the old-timers to form some organizational niches, which can move the station forward along several lines:
1.)                  Fundraising is the paramount issue for 2009.  Specifically, establishing consistent and sustainable sources of income.  To that end, we have opened a position of Fundraising Coordinator.  Applications are being solicited from the volunteer staff.  This would be a two-year position and span all fundraising events as overseer.
2.)                 In support of the Fundraising Coordinator, we have put in place Zoe Puckett as Underwriting Manager to handle what could be out largest source of income.
3.)                  Programming is important to all radio stations – achieving audience appeal and providing a consistent and sustainable programming format is the domain of the group we put in place last year, the Programming Committee.  This group was achieved through open applications from the volunteer body.  It has been our most successful venture of last year.  This year will see three replacements on the Programming Committee, again through an application process open to the volunteer body.
4.)                 Events management spans the third most important set of goals for 2009.  Of course, event management overlaps fundraising, station management and programming; that is why we have defined an Operational Advisory Committee, at Board level, to deal with more detailed management of KGGV events.  The centerpiece to this committee is the concept of a Volunteer Coordinator.  The Volunteer Coordinator provides a communications conduit from the volunteer body to the Executive Committee.  In an equivalent manner, the Operational Advisory Committee becomes a management team fully capable of running the station: Programming, Fundraising, Volunteers, and Station business.
5.)                 The final goal for 2009, strange as it might seem four years on, is to document this approach to KGGV management, and the relationship between Board oversight and day-to-day management.  Documentation of policies and procedures will remain the responsibility of the Executive Committee, as they are the delegates of the Church Council and the Congregation.
6.)                 The keystone to the radio station is the KGGV Executive Board.  This year Ed Smith fills the Moderator role on the Board; supported by Pam Tinnin, our Pastor; Peter Andrews, Treasurer; and Randy Wells, Chief Engineer.
Final word from Peter
     There was a lot of chaos this past year, as will be true for any organization with volunteers of the 50-99 size such as our radio station.  They aren’t strangers.  They are your neighbors.  Some attend Church.  Some attend groups that the Church supports.  Some would be better friends if we came together more often.  One of my biggest failures last year was not uniting the two groups for Camp Cazadero.  That will happen this year, I hope.  It’s a good mission – costs nothing – and provides few headaches.
The same can be said of the radio station – good mission – cheap – happy.


Thursday, July 4, 2019

Holiday Reflection


Spending holidays alone is a major cause of depression.  That’s true for me.  I’ve been retired for the past ¼ of my life: with a wonderful, paid-for house, a calendar of rewarding volunteer activities, and a contact list of scores of people who are off-line visiting with their friends and family.
For the first ¾ of my life (to date), I have been a family man.  MS-Word is telling me, don’t be gender-specific, but that is the truth; for many people I have been a father-figure, unfortunately, not so much for my own daughter, but we had a second chance.  I retired to bucolic Monte Rio which I dearly love, but the no family hits me on holidays.
The first family I fathered, broke up in the sixties, and I seem to have strived to compensate for that loss ever since.  Once I was more mature, I liked being a father.  It’s still a bitter memory for my first wife but our daughter has turned out better and more successful than either one of us individually; and that’s rare these days.
I spent decades raising kids ever since that first debacle.  I loved every minute of it.  We Dads, especially stepdads, don’t get much acknowledgement; it’s a labor of love, for the mom and the kids.  The summer Bar-B-Que I miss most.  Stepdads mostly play the role of moderator, but when it comes to Bar-B-Que, they rule.
I forced the issue for a few years, and some others tried to continue for a while.  I’m now happily locked into the house in Monte Rio, thinking of getting a cat, and maybe enrolling into another poetry or art class.

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Going Clear by Lawrence Wright


1970’s
I had forgotten just how, into all this crap, we all were back in the seventies.  For me, it was Silva Mind Control, EST, both at the Jack Tar Hotel in S.F., Triangle pyramids, cocaine snorting, self-indulgence, pot, LSD, egocentricity, and I still try and forget the clothes.

2020 (50 years on)
In a broad, historical view, there’s minor difference from the 1890’s hawkers of elixirs and patent medicines, electro-magnetism, or loco weed; and don’t forget the “Elmer Gantry” of the 1930’s.  “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Book selection
A few of our book club may recall my old penchant for carping about journalists who dare to switch from Sunday supplements to full-length book format, either novel or non-fiction.  9 out of 10, to my mind, don’t make the transition well.  Wright’s writing [sorry] carried him enough to avoid much criticism, but he woefully lacked an editor, who could slash and burn.  This was a subject that had great appeal for the Sunday supplement crowd, to prize-winning acclaim.  And who could say no to a pile of a hundred packets (a hundred in each) of hundred-dollar bills?  So, he expanded it, without a leash.

What did I Learn – I need to Learn
I and my seventies, so smart friends, thought Tom Cruise must be dead by now.  No one could believe this malarkey in this day & age.
The Internet and social media means:
    THERE IS A PLACE FOR EVERYONE, NO MATTER HOW INSANE.