*Barry Bad belongs to Kaye T - too good not to share
We had an hour long meeting this morning with Board Chair Barry Walker and Vice Chair Barry Johnson. Unfortunately our hopes of an outcome that would allow us to continue to support the radio station did not happen but that doesn't mean that we have to stop the support for Dave. As a committed volunteer with 89.7 Dave deserves to be acknowledged and treated with respect, just like all the volunteers should be.
For those who have asked, here's a synopsis of our meeting with the board members.
Met with Barry Walker and Barry Johnson, zooming in from Florida.
The meeting began with me not even getting my first sentence out and Barry Johnson was rolling his eyes at me. I asked him " Are you rolling your eyes at me?" Barry answers - "So what if I am"
I share this so that you can all understand the level of maturity and professionalism we were dealing with from this particular board member.
In short we expressed our concerns around the complete lack of communication from station management around changes to our sponsored show and time slot. The common courtesy of a heads up or the opportunity for discussion after 3 1/2 years (04/2018) of community partnership.
Barry Johnson told us there was no obligation for them to communicate with us or Dave Glover. That this is how "radio works". In fact Barry went on to insult us by saying that the amount of money we have paid in sponsorships was a joke and that they were losing money on us. We have paid the station just over $15,000 since 04/2018 and were always presented a contract from the station and paid what they asked for.
On the advertising section of the Northumberland 89.7 website it reads:
Our Promise:
Recognized by the Chamber of Commerce as leaders in Communication and Technology. We promise our advertising campaigns will be professionally produced and aired!
We will make your advertising dollars work hard for you to deliver results by optimizing your campaigns and providing useful & creative added-value!
Great service!
Very competitive pricing!
Perhaps Barry Johnson should not be so critical of his advertisers financial contributions when his own organization promotes their competitive pricing. And the service is NOT great!
Barry Johnson had absolutely no remorse for the deterioration of our relationship, nor for the way Dave Glover has been treated, nor, for not communicating with listeners. In fact one of Barry's statements to me was that we were no longer sponsors as our contract finished on Feb28/22* so that really we were just there as "aggrieved" listeners.
Aren't radio station listeners the most important people for a radio station?
*our contract expires every year at the end of February. The station manager had been in contact with us in mid February to set up a time to renew. We had responded yes and were waiting on a date for the meeting. In the meantime I sent Kevin 4 new commercials on Feb 27th which were being aired as we had an understanding that we would be continuing with our sponsorship.
Barry Walker was much more reasonable and acknowledged that mistakes may have been made. Unfortunately Barry Walker is not on social media and has no idea about what is happening on that platform.
Barry Johnson believes that I am smearing the station with my petition and posts. I explained to him that both myself and my business partner have really enjoyed being a part of the station. We have had a lot of fun creating our commercials (which Barry Walker complimented) and sharing them on Dave's show. We expressed how we had hoped to be able to continue to support the station. We were honest about our experiences good and bad. I expressed how important for us to have good communication as it is the foundation of any relationship.
I also expressed that when you choose to use social media as your first point of communication be prepared for the conversation to happen there.
In my opinion it is their treatment of volunteers, sponsors and listeners that is smearing the reputation of the station.
I told Barry Walker how unfortunate it was at having to meet him for the first time like that under those circumstances and how sad I was to leave the station.
And of course I was clear how disgusted ( strong word best describes strong feeling) I was at their treatment of Dave. In my opinion there is no excuse for not engaging your volunteer, a member of your team, before implementing such a drastic change.
Just because "this is how radio works" doesn't mean it has to be how 89.7 works.
And when I inquired how the board felt that their new Executive Director referred to himself as "Just the fry cook" when asked why he didn't reach out to us and that their new show host has admitted on his personal facebook page that upon agreeing to do the show, he wanted one of the board members gone before committing to the station long term" neither board member had anything to say.
They also heeded no attention to this petition and those who signed it.
So needless to say no matter how much we support Dave and would love to sponsor his show again we can no longer do business with the station while their current practices are in place.
Thank you all so much for your support. It's greatly appreciated.
If you have any questions or concerns I would suggest reaching out to the station directly at (905) 372-2391 or info@northumberland897.ca