Future of KUSP

An Open Letter to the KUSP Board of Directors

This letter is also available as an mp3 file: » Future of KUSP, Read by Lyle Troxell (6.5MB).
Please do listen to my reading if you can. As this is about radio, an audio version is more fitting. The text below covers almost the same content, but edited a bit.


To the Pataphysical Broadcasting Foundation Board of Directors,

I want to start by thanking you all for your dedication to the success of KUSP. I know that your countless hours of hard work is second only to that of the staff of KUSP. Thank you very much.

I am currently in my 15th year producing GeekSpeak on KUSP.

On the first show I hosted (GeekSpeak 2000/08/14) we covered optical drives and since then we have introduced to the KUSP audience: USB, FireWire, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, SATA, Viruses tools, Mars rovers, iPod, podcasting, iPhone, iPad, solid state drives, security issues, privacy concerns, space news, many technically based political stories, and much much more. GeekSpeak is a successful radio show and podcast with over 7,000 subscribers.

My ties to KUSP go much deeper than that; for a year of middle school I was homeschooled, which included a Wednesday trip to the station to learn how my father, Peter Troxell, hosted his program, “State of the Arts/In the Greenroom.” The staff and volunteers of KUSP became a sort of extended family. And as my father became Development Director and then Station Manager, KUSP became a second home. Helping host Chomp 'n' Stomp, the KUSP Auction, and many KUSP fundraising and community events were a large part of my High School and College years. KUSP tied me to my community. It defined a bit of who I was and made Santa Cruz and KUSP synonymous.

When my father retired, Terry Green was hired as KUSP's station manager; shortly afterwards, my father died. I knew that my thoughts of Terry would be tainted by my feelings of remorse over losing my father, my best friend. And as Terry guided the station to less of a community-run organization, I was on the fence as to whether it was a good decision or not. I am very aware that hard decisions are easy to criticize from the outside. I put my trust in Terry, because he is a very smart and dedicated person, and I respect him. The one thing I felt I could speak up about and give guidance on was based around my technical expertise and knowledge of new media.

Ten years ago, during the shift in programing to compete with KAZU, I gave my opinion that the current strength of KUSP was it's FM broadcast, but that every year that broadcast would become less and less important as other technologies arose. I suggested that to counter this inevitability it was necessary to invest in the creation of new content. To invest in creation. As clear as this was ten years ago, it has now become obvious to all, because the content that we re-broadcast is available directly via podcast, websites, and apps. And every year more and more people find wonderful content via non-FM ways. Which means that while KUSP’s current value is it’s broadcast, it’s future and it’s potential is in fostering and curating the creativity of our community.

So why has the station not made a place for new content, a place for creativity? Well, probably because it's hard. It takes a special vision and a lot of hard work. Creativity is messy. I ran the technology and facilities for the Digital Arts and New Media Master of Fine Arts program at UCSC for ten years. And though amazing people produced incredible things with much passion and joy, the day-to-day was difficult; financial issues, arguments, failures, sadness, broken tools, messy desks, and laser cutter fires were the norm.

Helping creative people be creative and teaching them to improve their skills is no easy task. But there are people that can do this. There are leaders that create vision and empower people. We need someone like that to run KUSP to manifest its potential.

However, KUSP's lack of vision and lack of creative curation is not what made me say "yes" to joining the Community Leadership Planning Group (CLPG); I joined because I wanted to ensure that we were not going to lose KUSP's broadcast ability. I didn't want Santa Cruz to lose KUSP. I joined the CLPG to figure out a way to make KUSP financially viable.

The CLPG Recommendations are about financial stability and new leadership.

Sabrina Eastwood, Kate Daniels Kurz, Gregory Becker, Matt Farrell, Cathie Royer, Jane Doyle, Katie Roper, Emily DuBois, Brett Taylor, and Michelle Williams, I urge you to accept the CLPG Recommendations and act upon them all as soon as possible.

John Morrison and Kelly O'Brien, I understand that the Recommendations are difficult to execute; it will affect friends and people you respect, but it is time to act responsibly. If executing the CLPG Recommendations is too difficult for you personally, then please take a back seat or step down from the board.

I believe that the only chance that KUSP has of remaining on air and serving the community in the long-term is by following the recommendations of the CLPG.

Therefore, I request that you, the KUSP board, either implmement the recommendations or, at least hire a Management Consultant reporting directly to the board, thereby moving to make the station viable financially and setting up the station for success.

If you do not do so, I can no longer support KUSP. I will continue producing the GeekSpeak podcast, but I will not provide GeekSpeak for broadcast on KUSP.

Thank you for your time, and your dedication to KUSP,

-Lyle Troxell

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Producer of GeekSpeak on KUSP
Senior Software Engineer at Netflix

CLPG Recomendations