BlogWood: MT Archives

Banned in Tampa: The Final Chapter?

Probably not the last word on my suspension from WMNF.

Thanks again to everyone (the vast majority of you) who sent positive wishes and or constructive and well meaning criticism my way. I only got one response like the following:

As far as your show goes, it is like all of the other 4-6 am shows, filler with hardly any listerners (sic) and no significant fundraising for the station. I don't care about it one way or the other, and I wouldn't know you from a thousand other 4-6 dj's who have come & gone over the years.

That was from some dried up old hag who has been pissed off for two years because I called my show MorningWood and used “You’re getting up with MorningWood!” as my tag line. The fact that she’s been obsessing about this for 2 years pretty much negates her claim not to care, but engaging this one in logical argument is like having a debate with a fundamentalist. Mere facts are powerless against the fortress of her sophistic dogma.

Listen, I tried to unequivocally explain that MorningWood was a double-entendre, that it could literally mean Morning with (Nor)Wood, and therefore was a very clever play on words, but she just started emailing in tongues, and (figuratively) spat in my face. Some people are just too far gone to reach.

Anyway, to review, this whole thing started with a phone call in which WMNF Program Director Randy Wynne informed me that a listener complaint about a profanity in a song right before 6:00AM was gonna result in a what I understood to be a permanent suspension.

Randy’s response to a subsequent email revealed that he was actually concerned about my programming choices for the entire MorningWood broadcast that day, and that the “open ended” suspension was due to the his belief that he could no longer trust me as a programmer.

Randy maintains that I broke WMNF’s programming policy. and I’ve come to believe that I may have, although I don’t think I broke any of the less strict FCC rules, nor have I been accused of doing so.

So, I deserve some punishment, but an indefinite suspension? That’s way too harsh, not to mention arbitrary and unprecedented, and being notified via a confusing and rushed phone call rather than in person or in writing is a blatant breach of my rights as a volunteer, according to WMNF’s own disciplinary policy.

Even the ancient addled prude quoted above agrees with me on that point:

As far as due process, yes, I would agree that there should be something in writing and an impartial policy to be applied evenly across the board, with an appeal process.

I was gonna meet with Randy and Station Manager Vicki Santa and plead guilty, emphasizing the fact that I never intentionally set out to break any rules, no matter what Randy might think, and beg to have my indefinite suspension defined as 2 weeks or 4 weeks or whatever so that I could get back to doing MorningWood.

Then this email from Randy hit my inbox on Friday:

The basic schedule has been set, but programmers have not been named. In the following two weeks (by 12/3/04), I will need statements of interest from programmers and potential programmers.

All programs are OPEN TO APPLICATIONS from current programmers, subs, and
those not doing shows. You can apply for any show for which you feel
qualified, whether it is currently your show or not. Current programmers
should not consider their position is automatically renewed. Nor should you
assume you will not get the show again; we are simply asking you to reapply
with a statement of continued interest.

Program changes are upon us at WMNF. Here’s how this works: First, Randy decides what changes he’s gonna make and which programmers he’s gonna move around etc. Then he sends out an email like this one and invites everyone to apply for whatever shows they think they are qualified for.

After he receives everyone’s applications, he promptly ignores them and announces his predetermined selections. Randy’s programming decisions are final. Since Randy just wrote that he has lost trust in me as a programmer, I doubt that he is inclined to allow me to keep my 4:00AM gig, much less move me up to a more humane time slot.

So, I’m gonna break another “rule.” I am going to assume that I will not get the show again. There’s no point banging my head against this wall. Even if I get a reprieve, MorningWood would end in January. I’d only get to do a couple more shows, if that.

I still feel that I was treated unfairly, that judgment was rushed and arbitrary, and that I was never offered a day in court, but Randy holds the keys to the microphone, so if he doesn’t like me, I’m history.

I know it’s hard to believe, so I’ll say it again: at WMNF, with all of it’s committees, and all of its talk of being volunteer driven, and all of its feel-good schmaltz, one man has complete control over filling music related time slots. One man, who does not have to justify his decisions, and rarely if ever does. The application process is fatally flawed, because it is not open to review. Randy makes his decision by himself and answers to no one.

So why fight it? It’s a volunteer position. I honestly don’t have the time or energy or financial resources to take on this losing battle right now.

However, since I will no longer be doing MorningWood every week, I should have some free time on my hands. I’ll probably just start blogging way too much, but I am also thinking hard about starting a movement to provide more support and representation to WMNF volunteers. Sort of a Volunteer’s Union. I’ll post more about that later.