The new owner of KNFT radio, Ted Tucker, is not off to a very good start in Silver City, at least from a public relations perspective.
Most people are aware that one of his first acts as owner was a format change at the KNFT-AM station, which resulted in the cancellation of the Morning Show. The morning show was one of the longest-running programs in Silver City. Dianne Hamilton did the show for decades, and Nick Seibel took up the slack after she left.
Lori and Gwyn
For the last several years, it’s been manned by Gwyn Jones and Lori Ford. In addition to their witty commentary, listeners tuned in to hear the latest on Silver City happenings and events. It was also the only local programming on the air (aside from sports) on that station.
The show was pulled, and Lori and Gwyn invited community listeners and friends to come visit one last time as the show went the way of the dodo.
Ed Conley, of Community Access Television of Silver, was on hand to tape the final show, and the segment has been running on CATS since. Well, word comes today that Ed was forced to pull the segment after Tucker found out about it:
[O]n Monday morning I received a call from Ted Tucker Sr. that was, to be polite, a less than friendly demand that I pull the show from rotation since I didn’t obtain permission to air it from him or his agents. In order to avoid further conflict I agreed, at which time Mr. Tucker attempted to continue his diatribe and I reminded him that I said I would pull the show and no further discussion was necessary. He continued to blabber on and I hung up on him. I immediately contacted John Waters, CATS general manager and asked him to remove the program from rotation and he assured me it would not air again.
This is simply absurd, but it lends some insight into Mr. Tucker’s plans for KNFT (and perhaps KSCQ) in the future. He’s already eliminated the only local talk show on the air, and is now threatening community television.
Now, say what you will about previous owners of KNFT, but you cannot deny that there was a local focus, and, more importantly, a dedication to providing community service. What Mr. Tucker has done is establish a reputation as an anti-community, bottom-dollar businessman. I’ve also heard reports that Mr. Tucker and his attorney bullied a KSCQ employee into signing a severance package agreement.
As a former KNFT employee, I’ve refrained from pursuing a story on KNFT with the Daily Press, but another reporter has. When we first received sale of Tucker’s application to purchase KNFT, the Daily Press contacted him for comment. This was several months ago, and, though public record, something Tucker did not want out in the open. He asked that the Daily Press keep a lid on the sale until final (that won’t happen until the FCC gives its approval).
Tucker is notorious for his aversion to the public spotlight (do a Google search) but I would urge you call or e-mail and voice your concerns over this blatant affront to community media.
Ted Tucker Sr.
Managing Member of SkyWest Media
KNFT Radio: (505) 388-1958
suz
This is happening all across America – replacing local news and shows with …. material (often cwap) downloaded from satellite. And as you know there is a movement in Congress to kill public access TV too. Diversity of opinion apparently is unnecessary when empire replaces democracy.
Ed Conley
Suz,
Yes, you are correct. It seems that the Empire doesn’t want a local voice any more. I have attempted to get the community more involved in access television since 2000 here in Silver.
I have taught at least 50 people some basic production skills and sadly only a handful of them have produced any content. We have tried to get the schools interested with little if any interest expressed, even though channel 18 on Comcast is devoted to education.
If anyone who watches CATS wonders why the same programs keep running for weeks if not months, it is due to lack of participation from the citizens of the area. We aren’t looking for network quality production, mainly everyday people presenting ideas, thoughts, meetings, discussions, music, any range of material that isn’t provided by regional and national media giants.
There are great opportunities for expression through this medium, at least for now, and it seems it is the only outlet for offering diverse opinions and points of view that we all have access to.
CATS provides training and makes equipment avaliable to producers at no cost, but neither I nor the management of CATS can force people to use it.
I am asked several times a week to video tape events for organizations and individuals but I am quite frankly getting burned out. I have offered to train anyone interested in learning the basics just to get a wider range of programming on the air. One could produce shows full time and only scratch the surface of the endless possibilities for important issues and matters in our area. I encourage any one, regardless of experience or skill level to consider becoming a member and a contributing producer so this vital form of expression can thrive.
Ed Conley
Todd M. Livermore
I’m confused. Some reporter “persued” this story and then signed the owner’s Dad’s name to it at the end? The author states that Mr. Turner is ‘anti-community’ and that the previous–now bankrupt–owners were dedicated to providing ‘community service’. This would be a good time to note that ‘community’ and ‘communism’ share the same root word, and ultimately the same bankability. Say what you want about ‘bottom-dollar businessmen’, but nobody ever got a job from a poor man. And nobody ever sustained their job at a business that lost money.
Now regarding that poor employee was bullied into signing a severance package–if that’s what we’re to believe. I’ve been layed-off no less than 5 times in my career as an airline pilot and nobody ever gave me
jack-s*%$t! So I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for anyone who received a gift from management upon their departure.
Todd M. Livermore
Deming, NM
Richard Fisher
“This would be a good time to note that ‘community’ and ‘communism’ share the same root word, and ultimately the same bankability”
com?mu?ni?ty?
/k??myun?ti/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuh-myoo-ni-tee] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun, plural -ties.
1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
2. a locality inhabited by such a group.
3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the): the business community; the community of scholars.
4. a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage: the community of Western Europe.
Main Entry: community
Part of Speech: noun 1
Definition: society
Synonyms: association, body politic, brotherhood, center, colony, commonality, commonwealth, company, district, general public, hamlet, jungle, locality, nation, neighborhood, people, populace, public, residents, society, state, territory, turf
com?mu?nism?
/?k?my??n?z?m/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[kom-yuh-niz-uhm] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
2. (often initial capital letter) a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
3. (initial capital letter) the principles and practices of the Communist party.
Main Entry: communism
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: government
Synonyms: Bolshevism, Marxism, collectivism, dictatorship, socialism, state ownership, state socialism
Antonyms: capitalism
My God man, pick up a Dictionary and a Thesarus and stop perpetuating ignorance.
Ken Murphy
Wow! You guys still on the air? Go any openings?
Art Stone
Etymology of community and communism:
community
1375, from O.Fr. communité, from L. communitatem (nom. communitas) “community, fellowship,” from communis “common, public, general, shared by all or many,” (see common). L. communitatem “was merely a noun of quality … meaning ‘fellowship, community of relations or feelings,’ but in med.L. it was, like universitas, used concretely in the sense of ‘a body of fellows or fellow-townsmen’ ” [OED]. An O.E. word for “community” was gemænscipe “community, fellowship, union, common ownership,” probably composed from the same PIE roots as communis.
communism
1843, from Fr. communisme (c.1840) from commun (O.Fr. comun; see common) -isme. Originally a theory of society; as name of a political system, 1850, a translation of Ger. Kommunismus, in Marx and Engels’ “Manifesto of the German Communist Party.” The first use of communist (n.) is by Goodwyn Barmby, who founded the London Communist Propaganda Society in 1841.
Looks to me like they share the same etymology – both are derived from Old French comun. Who looks ignorant now?