Plenty Of Static At Embattled Kcmu

A dispute between some of the listeners and volunteers at KCMU on one side and managers on the other is growing louder than the University of Washington station's alternative music format - a format some listeners and volunteers say is threatened by an effort to make the station more "commercial."

Over the past two weeks, there have been program changes, staff cuts, one firing, and a weekend anti-management meeting attended by hundreds that became the forum for the public resignation of one of the station's disc jockeys.

And yesterday, campus police were called to the station.

A reporter who broadcast a story Friday about the internal upheaval at KCMU - against station policy and direct orders, said station manager Chris Knab - was fired on the spot. A campus police officer was present yesterday when the reporter returned to the station to receive an official letter of dismissal.

Knab barred other news staffers from the newsroom, according to the staffers, while another DJ, Riz Rollins, who was on the air at the time, described the scene.

"I have full support of the university behind me and a lot of volunteers are in favor of the changes" he has made at the station, Knab said yesterday. "Regretfully it's escalated to the point where something is going to happen, but all (CURSE) can do is go through the proper channels."

CURSE - Censorship Undermines Radio Station Ethics - is a coalition of former and current KCMU employees, volunteers, and listeners who want to bring the public station "back under community control." A meeting CURSE organized Sunday night drew a large crowd.

CURSE complains that managers are taking control that should rest with listeners because the station is publicly funded.

Grace Crowley, who was news director and disc jockey at KCMU for three years before leaving over policy disagreements, said the dispute at KCMU began Oct. 26, when the station started running a syndicated program called "World Cafe."

Knab said yesterday that "World Cafe" was an experiment.

"When we got our power increase from 180 watts to 400 watts in 1987, it took us from being a closet station to a signal that could be heard for 25 or 30 miles," he said. "That was when we initiated a `variety' music format, one more appealing than just `alternative' rock.

"Our long-range plans have always looked to trying different formats. I told the volunteers at a staff meeting two weeks before we tried `World Cafe' what we'd be doing . . . Unfortunately, eight or nine volunteers were taken off the air. I understand that when people make a personal investment it hurts when it's taken away."

Nine volunteer DJs were dropped to accommodate the program, which runs for two hours every weekday. Although KCMU is mostly listener-funded, opinions of listeners who dislike the program are ignored, according to CURSE.

Crowley said the program served as a catalyst to already unhappy station workers and listeners, but is not the only issue.

Another is that donations are used largely to pay the salaries of managers who are directing KCMU toward the "safer" taste of a commercial station, according to CURSE.

Knab strongly disagreed.

"CURSE says 85 percent of the money goes to paid staff. It's more like 54 percent.

"As for some songs, we try to create a certain rhythm and flow to the entire day. Some things are just out of place."

Mike Fuller told the crowd Sunday that in the early 1980s when he worked at the station, the station manager was an adviser, answerable to a volunteer board of directors, with no say in programming. But when Knab came on board in 1985, he eventually took complete control of the station.

"After our signal was increased and the new format began attracting more listeners, my job description changed," Knab responded yesterday. "My responsibilities increased. My superiors were happy.

"We're trying to bring new customers in. There are people who are opposed to that . . .

"They accuse me of wanting higher ratings. But when I look at the ratings and see that 0.4 percent of all radios are tuned to KCMU, I don't see that as public service.

"The issue is one of empowerment. Returning to a democracy is not going to happen. It's the old cliche, a democracy is having too many chefs in the kitchen. I've tried to tell people that as gently as possible for the last five years. But every change down the line has been met with opposition, even the ones that worked out.

"It's the nature of public radio. You make changes, it upsets people."

Many of those people were heard Sunday night. Among the speakers were KCMU alum Jonathan Poneman, who now runs Sub Pop Records; Richard White, a spokesman for the Washington Music Industry Coalition; attorney Todd Maybrown; and Riz Rollins, a KCMU DJ, who said he could no longer support the station and announced his resignation, effective Friday.

Knab said he would miss Rollins as an employee and a friend, and hoped he would return to the station.

Cromley said yesterday that CURSE will continue to challenge management decisions at KCMU.

"We'll be going directly to the university to negotiate," she said. "We aren't talking to the station at all. I really don't want to see Chris (Knab) right now."

CURSE is calling for a contributions boycott by KCMU listeners. Listeners could contribute instead to a fund that will be held in escrow until the station is "returned to the community," Crowley said.