It's also yet one more of many, many reasons why SaveWCAL's
work is so important.

Kling seems to ignore that it is the public that truly "owns" the airwaves and it is the public that deserves the widest possible access to them, not Kling. The public also deserves the widest, most competitive public radio system possible, not Kling's version, which seeks to limit, control, and then profit from the lack of competition.

Now we see one of the darkest outcomes of "Kling's public radio": a near-monopoly, which now refuses to be held accountable, or even answer, to anyone. Thank goodness we still have KFAI and its sister stations of IPR* (Independent Public Radio), to raise raise these important issues, when MPR will not.

Yet, if Kling and his buddies have their way, their "wild-west" public-radio take-over schemes will continue without challenge, and IPR's days could be numbered. So too, could dozens of other independently-held public and community radio licenses here in Minnesota, and around the country.

Yet Kling seems to have over-stepped in many ways recently, including repeatedly lobbying/advocating for a political position over its own airwaves, which could threaten their 501 c3 non-profit status, not to mention the rapidly evaporating goodwill among its own supporters.

The bigger they are, the harder they…

The issue is not vibration for recording & broadcasting, you are being fooled.

The big flap at MPR is the overhead wires obstucting the view of the Capitol from Kling's office – that's all it is . . .

How's your work view?

This means, for example, that anyone at MPR or pro-Kling could effectively strangle conversation by simply flagging a comment. Not saying they did. Just saying they could. Sheesh! Talk about preventing free speech!

With his ultimatums…he's now further isolated himself from some of the key power players that he's so carefully cultivated over so many years. He's been flying so high (in his own mind), for so long, that he's failed to notice reality:

He's flying too close to the "sun", that strange "burning" smell, and his (and MPR's) rapid loss of "altitude".

The wounds keep on coming…not only LRT, but also fundraising failures leading to staff and program cuts in the newsroom and elsewhere, member furor over cancellation of the Morning Show… etc.

Please ask your SaveWCAL members to send letters to the editor of the Pioneer Press and StarTribune, urging MPR to work with the Central Corridor people on a solution that allows rail transit to connect the Twin Cities, and mitigates the noise factor for MPR on the agreed upon Cedar Street route in St. Paul.

Now is the time. If King Kling wins, we lose light rail for an indefinite period, perhaps forever. Please write letters now, and pass the word. Thank you!

==================
Former State Senator and author John Milton takes Bill Kling to task. Kling must not win this one. Every point in Milton's brief admonition is on the money; MPR knew all of this from Day One and is just now wanting to raise dust? Shame on Kling. Using the public's airwaves to advance a personal agenda is a nasty turn for a public radio station. MPR has long since evolved into just another corporate media empire. A sad commentary on the genre.

Andy Driscoll
–
Andy Driscoll, Producer/Host
Lynnell Mickelsen, Co-host
Truth to Tell & CivicMedia/Minnesota
KFAI Radio, 90.3 Minneapolis/106.7 St. Paul/Streamed@ KFAI.org
651-293-9039 / Fax: (same, call ahead)

———-
From: "John Milton"
Date: December 19, 2008 4:06:33 PM CST
To: "Bill Kling"
Subject: MPR vs Central Corridor

Bill –

I just heard your misleading appeal to listeners on KNOW, to join you in trying to derail the Central Corridor project. In this crusade you've chosen, you are not partially wrong — you are entirely wrong. Keep reading . . .

1. I have read the relevant documents in this dispute, and to any impartial observer they do not support the conclusion that MPR must win this battle or move out of downtown St. Paul. That is just your way of throwing your weight around.

2. The documents clearly show that MPR, and everyone else who cares to read them, could and should have expected the alignment to pass down Cedar Street, as planned before you built your new palace.

3. In the rest of the world's cities, far larger and more advanced than St. Paul, radio/TV/network communications have thrived in close proximity to underground and street-level transit. Only MPR says that the line can't be built without disrupting your broadcasts.

4. So far on the Hiawatha Line, the complaint has been that the trains run so silently that people don't know they're coming. There goes your argument about "noise in the background" while you're broadcasting.

5. I find it despicable that you have fanned the fears of the church people alongside you in order to serve your interest.

6. I assume that since so few of your major donors are based in St. Paul, the delay or even killing of the Central Corridor project is not a big threat to most of them.

Rather than follow your advice (to help you pressure the Metro Council to bend over for King Kling), I will simply not contribute to your wholly-owned enterprise in the future, and I will urge my friends, one by one, to follow suit.

I hope you lose this one, Bill.. Arrogance shouldn't always prevail.

– John W. Milton, Afton, MN

Ooh, Kling in the bell tower of Boe. Ah, but that's another metaphor.