May 1, 2008

Selbig rips KUDO

Former KUDO station manager/DJ Aaron Selbig, fired on Sunday due to "cost cuts", has come out swinging against management.

From an Aaron Selbig press release:

My professionalism as a broadcaster is being assailed by representatives of the IBEW Local 1547 and TATI Broadcasting, and I'm not going to take it lying down.

Since I was fired last Sunday, I have tried to take the high road on all of this, biting my tongue in order to protect the radio station that I still care about and my dear friends who still work there. I still believe in the power of KUDO to affect local politics (and I believe it has), and I very much support the efforts of my colleagues Shannyn Moore and CC in trying to harness that power. However, for Mike Robbins, Cary Carrigan, Vince Beltrami and Larry Bell to now be advancing the line that I'm the one responsible for KUDO's lackluster ratings performance is a bald-faced lie, and they deserve to be called on it.

The IBEW and TATI's reasons for firing me are starting to resemble George Bush's ever-changing reasons for the invasion of Iraq. First, it was a "cost-cutting measure". Now it's ratings. What's next? My hidden stockpile of sarin gas?

Let me be perfectly clear: my show had the highest ratings the station has ever seen.

I'll be the first to say that the ratings for my show have never been spectacular and I have never been able to get them where I wanted them to be. However, in comparison to the flat-line ratings for KUDO's national and syndicated programming, the performance of my show has been solid. For instance, in 2006, my first year on my own on KUDO, my ratings were triple the overall station ratings.

The IBEW never allowed me to institute my own vision for the station, which centered around the idea that "hot" talk radio that was engaging to listeners should be the primary objective for KUDO, regardless of political leanings. I had the philosophy then, and still do today, that your typical Alaskan has a very wide array of political opinions depending on the topic. Someone who is pro-choice is not necessarily pro-gun control, as an example, or just because one is an avid hunter doesn't mean that they aren't supportive of wildlife conservation. I tried to implement that simple philosophy at KUDO in my time there, thinking that we could be tapping into a whole new talk radio market if we did it right, but it fell on deaf ears.

How unusual is it for a "programming director" to be forbidden to make decisions about a radio station's programming? That's exactly what happened to me when I began working for the IBEW.

I tried and tried and tried again to convince Vince Beltrami and the IBEW to shake up the programming, cut the dead weight, and invest in promoting the station. It wasn't just like pulling teeth . it was impossible. They were so cheap that they refused, with the exception of one lame TV spot that ran for a couple of weeks last year, to advertise KUDO to the people of Anchorage. There were, and still are, folks in this town that aren't even aware that KUDO exists. That shouldn't be, and I was trying everything I could to change it.

Unfortunately, I had no support from the IBEW.

As for the notion that the IBEW did not directly influence the content aired by myself and other KUDO talent, that too is a blatant lie. As a matter of fact, on-air content that they disagreed with was the one thing that was guaranteed to get a response from the IBEW. For instance, Melinda Taylor, who is communications director at the IBEW, used to regularly call my program using the name "Nancy" and berate me whenever I had the nerve to question the motives of local Democrats. Melinda was perfectly happy with my exposure of Republican corrupt bastards like Pete Kott and Dan Coffey, but the slightest questioning of a Democrat was sure to bring the on-air wrath of "Nancy". I must say, it was awfully weird to be shouted down by your boss on live radio, especially when she lacked the courage to use her own name.

One incident in particular drew the wrath not only of "Nancy", but Vince Beltrami and Larry Bell, as well. Last year, when an audio tape surfaced of Sen. Lesil McGuire threatening witnesses in her husband's corruption trial, I went on the air and challenged the Democratic leadership in the Senate Majority Working Group to do something about it. In particular, I was critical of IBEW lawyer and State Senator Bill Wielechowski. Although I consider Sen. Wielechowski an outstanding legislator and a personal friend, I was unsatisfied with his answer to the McGuire situation, which was basically that you had to "go along to get along" in the state Legislature. I said so on the air, which prompted one of "Nancy"'s belligerent phone calls (she snarkily asked me that day why didn't I run for office if I didn't like situation), off-air telephone calls from Larry Bell that evening, and a meeting with Mr. Beltrami the following Monday. At that meeting, Mr. Beltrami explained to me that it was more important from an IBEW standpoint to get more Democrats elected to the Legislature than it was to examine the motives of said Democrats. Despite my intense disagreement with that myopic sentiment, I bit my tongue and never said anything about the McGuire situation again.

I was and still am a pro-labor guy, by the way. I firmly believed then and now that working people need representation and the ability to negotiate contracts to get a fair shake in this country. Many men and women who are IBEW members were listeners to my show and some are personal friends. I am glad that these hard-working Alaskans have representation from the IBEW. However, I would call on the IBEW membership to consider my story and take a closer look at how the IBEW operates. The frustrating experience I have had with the IBEW leadership has turned me off only to the IBEW leadership, not their members or their noble mission.

As for my medical issues, Mr. Bell offers a clever excuse as to why the IBEW, an organization that bills itself as the defender of working Alaskans, does not offer health insurance or any other benefits to its KUDO employees. He explains that, via Chinook Concert Broadcasters via IBEW Investments LLC, KUDO employees don't actually work for the IBEW. My answer to that is a question: Why then, Mr. Bell, didn't you just set the whole thing up in the Cayman Islands, so that none of us would have had to pay taxes?

And one more thing . the IBEW still owes me a month's pay plus the month's severance package that Cary Carrigan promised me at the time I was fired. I have yet to receive either and, if I don't have a check for the full amount in my hand by Monday the 5th, I will be filing a complaint against the IBEW with the Division of Labor. Now, how ironic would that be?

Aaron Selbig

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