COMMUNITY SOUNDS OFF ABOUT KMHD

This is the third part in an ongoing series on the college’s contract with OPB to operate its KMHD FM radio station.

As the fate of Mt. Hood’s agreement between KMHD and Oregon Public Broadcasting remains up in the air, MHCC students, staff and faculty, and community members have joined the conversation. We also got a brief reply from former MHCC President John J. “Ski” Sygielski, who initiated the original discussion of partnering with OPB.

SURVEY RESULTS

In reporting on this issue, public input has been a high priority for The Advocate. We created an online survey where anyone could anonymously weigh in with their thoughts on this big upcoming decision.

The data has been compiled into three core demographics of respondents: current students, Mt. Hood employees, and community members (which includes previous students).

As of Oct. 24 at noon, the survey has recorded 65 total responses, with 27 responses from current students, 24 from employees, and 14 from community members.

Of three options presented, about one-third (33.8 percent) of respondents prefer that the MHCC District Board renew the agreement with OPB (Option 1); 3.1 percent prefer that the Board terminate the agreement with OPB and start an affiliated nonprofit organization to run KMHD (Option 2); and 63.1 percent of respondents prefer that the Board vote to terminate the agreement with OPB and return the station to college operations (Option 3).

Graphics by Eli Rankin / the Advocate

INFO SESSION INPUT

On Oct. 16, the Advocate and Associated Student Government leaders teamed to host an information session to explain the current situation with the station and looming decision, and to gather more public input.

Three posters listed the options the board is examining, and colored stickers allowed people attending the Main Mall presentation to vote for their preferred outcome. Out of 39 votes cast, two people voted for Option 1; another two voted for Option 2; and 35 people voted for Option 3.

There was time made for public input, and a handful of students and staff members spoke to the crowd about their thoughts on KMHD, with most being in favor of bringing the station back to campus.

Calvin Walker, former KMHD development director (fundraising/donations) and current MHCC academic adviser, said he is unsure as to whether or not bringing the station back is the best move. But, regarding the current contract with OPB, he said, “It’s just a bad deal, y’all.”

Recent Mt. Hood broadcasting program graduate Greg Leonov supports bringing back the station. He mentioned the fact no broadcast students have served an internship at KMHD in the past decade, despite contract language to encourage those internships. He said, “It’s important to remember how much OPB has done for students – nothing.”

Recently, Clint Locey retired as KMHD’s on-site engineer. Larry Holtz will be filling his place, part-time, beginning Nov. 2, and spoke passionately about the station needing to be brought back to campus. Holtz also questioned the estimated cost of bringing the station back to Mt. Hood because his salary is much lower than what Locey was being paid, reducing the overall operating cost.

A student in an MHCC medical program expressed sympathy for Integrated Media students and voiced frustration that no internships with OPB have taken place. He was torn between the idea of renegotiating the agreement and what it might cost to bring KMHD back to Gresham, but primarily just wants students to benefit more from KMHD’s existence, he said.

BOARD MEETING

During the regularly scheduled meeting of the District Board on Oct. 17, three parties gave public comments regarding KMHD.

Susie Jones, former board chair and a former MHCC band instructor, spoke first.

“I think it’s very important to bring the radio station back to the college,” she said. “If the station is relocated here, the college is going to gain a marketing tool. It’s going to once again have a laboratory for the students in the radio program. It will have synergy with the music department, and it will bring prestige to the college and the community that the college serves.”

Melanie Roberts, ASG vice president, reflected on feedback from the info session the previous day.

Roberts told the board, “I’d really, really love for the students to take charge and have the radio back at the college because it’d be awesome to hear the radio and see students have a voice and truly caring in what they want at the college.”

To conclude the public testimony, the Advocate (this reporter and Megan Phelps, editor-in-chief) summarized the previous day’s info session and poster voting results, and offered to share the newspaper’s online survey results with the board once the survey closed.

PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

A lot of people in the community have deep connections with the station and broadcasting program.

Alumnus Wayne Greenlee started the radio broadcasting program in 1981, a few years before the college obtained the FM license.

He met his wife here, and said she would sit in the control room with him and they would play records together. Reminiscing, he mentioned how he used to read from the National Inquirer tabloid at noon, and it was always highly anticipated. Just before Greenlee left Mt. Hood, KMHD went live and he got to connect with an older woman in her 80s or 90s who would come in and play classical records.

As for the current situation, Greenlee said, “OPB’s cool, don’t get me wrong. But the thing is, a radio station itself could be run by the students, for the students, and keep East (Multnomah) County a lot more informed than some of these other stations.”

In a deeper dive into the history of the station, Gregory Gomez, current MHCC Public Safety communications dispatcher, reflected on his connections to KMHD. He joined the broadcasting program as a student in 1988, served as an intern at KMHD in 1989, and worked at the station for the 18 years, prior to its move to OPB.

Gomez was the music director, volunteer coordinator, production director, and for a brief period of time, he was also the program director.

When the station relocated to OPB in Southwest Portland and Gomez lost his radio career as a result of the 2008-09 economic downturn, he opted for a lateral position change (to Public Safety) in order to support his young family.

He explained that a lot of the conflicts that arose while the station was here on campus came from a clash between students and volunteers.

“You had the volunteers who viewed KMHD as a jazz radio station, whereas the students, to them – as it should be if you’re a true radio professional or want to be one – KMHD was a radio station that happened to be playing jazz as its format,” he said.

Gomez recalled a meeting with John Sygielski, the Mt. Hood president at the time, who said that the station was moving to OPB in hopes that it would help increase student enrollment through cross-promotion to OPB’s large audience.

“I believe that enrollment never increased,” said Gomez. “Not for a moment, not when I sat in that meeting and this guy was telling us this. I don’t for one moment believe that that was the actual reason why this (license agreement) was happening.”

He instead said there was “poor management of MHCC” at the time, as well as directly with the station itself, which led to “eventually the downfall of the station operating here.”

Reached for comment, and more details, on the decision to relocate KMHD to OPB, Sygielski – currently president of Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania – replied with a brief email: “I departed Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) in June 2011 and am proud of our accomplishments. I wish the MHCC community well.”

MOVING FORWARD

Gomez is sure of what he’d like to see happen, now.

“I’m saying this fully as a graduate of the radio program here, I believe the station should be back here on campus,” he said. “I believe it should be available to the radio students, and consideration for them should be first and foremost.”

If so, he said it needs to be led by a strong manager who believes in the academic aspect of public radio, and that the role of volunteers needs to be “critically re-examined” in order for KMHD to move forward.

“I think under the helm of JD Kiggins (current head of the Integrated Media broadcasting program), the station can make some really big strides,” said Gomez.

Devin Hardgrove, recent broadcasting graduate and current KMHD2 program assistant, also supports bringing the station back to campus.

“College radio is the voice for the students. It’s also the discovery of different genres and different things around campus and the community,” said Hardgrove. “The opportunities that this station could bring to this campus is overwhelming. From enrollment to awareness, we’d get a lot of publicity. It’d benefit the school 100 percent.”

Next week in the fourth part of this series, The Advocate will editorialize on this issue as the independent voice of Mt. Hood students.