[Fwd: Spiney Norman]

[Jeff Kopp <kopper@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I received this email (attached) almost immediately after I sent a
letter to both the PD and GM of WUSB... it appears that he (the PD)
sincerely *does* want to keep Spiney on the air, just not as often, and
have him alternate with another program. This sucks, I agree, but it's
better than no Psychedelicatessen at all, IMHO. Plus, maybe you could do
this for a few months, while you search for another public radio station
that can give you a weekly program.

I guess I can kind of understand how difficult it is to make these sorts
of decisions... we had to give a couple of shows the axe at KDHX in
order to make room on the schedule for Greaser's Lunchbox (rockabilly),
Scene Of The Crime (proto punk), Fishin' With Dynamite (alt.country),
Psych-Out!, and Swing Thing. But the shows we got rid of were pretty
dead weight ones... one bad rap/hip hop show that NEVER raised any money
for the station and two bad folk/acoustic music shows. Those programmers
weren't happy either. Just thought I'd throw that in.

kopper

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• To: Jeff Kopp <kopper@xxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: Spiney Norman
• From: D-Kline <dwklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1999 02:37:50 -0500 (EST)

Hi Kopper,

My name is David and I am the Program Director at WUSB. Yes,
ultimately, it was I who made the decision. However, the
decision that I am guilty of making is to reduce Spiney's
shift from two-hours-weekly to two-hours-biweekly. I made
a programming decision to have him alternate with another
staffer that does an excellent show and has limited
availability. Spiney was uphappy with this and decided
to close the Psychedelicatessen.

Spiney should not need to come up with a proposal to make
his show better so that it can get back on the air. He does
an excellent show already. I've asked him three times to re-
consider. I've also asked friends of his to speak with him
and ask him to come back. It is his decision to stay away.

For now I am not filling his slot permanently because I am
hoping that he will agree to do his show every-other week.
Eventually I will have to get a permanent replacement. We
have many staffers yet we are limited to only 24 hours in
our broadcast day. I have many qualified programmers and,
for right or wrong, and with the help of the advice of our
advisors and some past Program Directors, this is how I've
chosen to solve the problem: by making more and more people
alternate.

Perhaps you can speak with Spiney and ask him to reconsider. Or
maybe you feel as Spiney does, that no psychedelicatessen is
better than half what it was for the past five years. I don't
know, I just know that I want him to do his show, that I need him
to alternate, and that I can't hold that slot for him forever.

Hope that helps.
David

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