New fissures have formed at KOOP-FM, Austin’s precariously managed “community-owned” radio station and recipient of city cultural contracts funding (i.e., tax dollars). This week’s flashpoints include the cancellation of the Wednesday evening environmental show co-hosted by longtime programmer Robert Singleton, the resignation of one of the station’s board of directors, and the removal of two longtime news programmers from the membership rolls.
Let’s start with Singleton, who says he was never notified that the station’s programming committee had decided to pull his eight-year-old show; he learned about the decision in a letter someone taped to the studio door last Wednesday night. Singleton’s request to the board to stay on the air until his appeal date Nov. 23 was denied, he says. Calling the cancellation “sad,” KOOP Treasurer Bob White said Singleton hadn’t fulfilled his volunteer obligations; Singleton says he had hoped to make up those lost hours, which he missed due to work, at a later date. Replacing Singleton’s drive-time slot will be a half-hour comedy show, White says; KOOP still broadcasts environmental news on Thursdays. Singleton doubts that his appeal will be successful. “This is the third time I’ve been suspended,” he said. “The basic incompetence of this board bothers me.”
Next comes the resignation of board member Gilka Cespedes, who on May 21 — another day of infamy in KOOP history — met with several board members at the station to discuss KOOP management and to try to take a “snapshot” (and copy the computer files) of the station’s financial records. Also on hand were a licensed accountant (and KOOP member) and a computer professional. The group didn’t send notice of their meeting to either White or board President Taylor Cage, who say the group’s actions endangered KOOP’s records and confidential membership info. “As a private nonprofit corporation, KOOP financial records are open for review by members who make an appointment with the office,” Cage said. “The financial records available for view do not include the members’ donation information.”
The board was set to vote for a second time to oust Cespedes, but she took the initiative and ousted herself, keeping both her membership and her show; the board will vote on who will fill her seat. Not so lucky were longtime programmers Pam Thompson and Stefan Wray, who co-hosted KOOP’s Friday evening news show for five years until the board suspended their programming privileges last month after their involvement in the May 21 incident. “We went to the board meeting, ready to face our accusers,” Wray says, “but instead of letting us defend ourselves, they again met in executive session and removed our membership.” (Cage says the pair still has another chance to appeal in writing to the board, but the pair says the board doesn’t even make known its appeal procedures.)
While both Wray and Thompson were present at the May 21 meeting, so were two other programmers who have not been suspended. Cage explains that one alerted him to the May 21 “raid” while it was in progress, and was found blameless, while the other lost one of his programming slots. “We tried to look at each person who was involved with the incident and base actions according to that,” he said.
Board Secretary Shaun Hopkins, a newbie who’s relatively unsullied by years of KOOP family feuding, abstained on the Wray/Thompson vote, but said his colleagues “made the wrong decision,” and added that KOOP management is “contaminated” by an “us vs. them” mentality that perpetuates conflict and overshadows the station’s positive traits — namely, its community role and the dedication of its many volunteers. Without any written policies in place, he said, the board can make decisions arbitrarily — even unfairly. “The majority of the board dictates the majority view of some members.”
This article appears in November 8 • 2002.