On Monday, November 8th, when The Great Canadian Talk Show was canceled on 35 minutes notice by Red River College officials, they thought they had all the angles covered.
- Winnipeg Free Press editor Margo Goodhand had bypassed formal processes to pressure new president Stephanie Forsyth (with a false complaint) to silence The Great Canadian Talk Show on Kick-FM, the non-profit station that owed the College a huge accumulated financial debt.
- A policy "decision" was purported to have been made at a November 2nd "Executive Committee meeting" that would end all programming by non - Red River students on the station, in circumvention of a full Board vote of approval required under the Bylaws.
That was the only way Forsyth's agents could ensure that Marty Gold would not be able to defend against the Free Press intimidation tactic and be stopped from broadcasts holding the mainstream media ("partners" of Red River College) and "people whose opinions we care about" (ie the government) to account.
- Forsyth's College officials solidified control of the non-profit Board by enlisting support from radio industry reps acting as fellow "Executive Committee" members of Cre-Comm Inc., who viewed the popularity of the show within the community as competing with their own stations for listeners and who pretended they were above conflict-of-interest guidelines.
- A Forsyth-approved statement was ordered onto the station website with excuses concocted to cover-up for the real reasons for the cancellation - censorship by Red River College of the freedom of speech exercised by the community on public airwaves.
But in less than 48 hours, an email from a former Kick-FM host forced Dean of Business and Kick-FM Board member Graham Thomson to think hard about what to tell fellow hatchet-bearer, RRC vice-president Cathy Rushton, when he realized a 'new policy' of 'students only' was not believable even to people who were not necessarily fans of the show.
In fact, one who had learned at the station explained how it didn't make sense to him.
"... the reason I write you is to ask for your clarification on a few things I read on the kick fm website as to why the decision was made. It states that the Board has decided to make Kick FM more about "instructing the students of the CreComm program" so all volunteer shows were more or less going to get canned. Is this true? As a former CreComm graduate ('10) I'm confused."
After explaining how he went from having no interest in radio to working on a sports shows with no current students, as well as helping produce other programs, the former radio host wrote;
" I hope your plan isn't t shut down all volunteer radio programs for people not involved in Cre-Comm anymore ... I have friends who still have shows on Kick-FM (and) I would hate for them to have their shows cancelled because they no longer attend the program."
Then, inadvertently, the former host exposed the flimsy excuse of the official statement that the prime-time spot occupied by TGCTS was needed for current students.
"However, if there were current students who would want to do shows- by all means, they should get priority, I understand that... But I know there would be ways to do that without cancelling other programs because Rick found spots for everyone in my year that wanted a show- and there were a lot of us ! His schedule was FULL!"
Thomson forwarded the email to Rushton and cautioned her that the cover-up was being whittled down to a flimsy and demonstrably false excuse.
"This was one of the 'best' inquiries, and I have had a few about "yanking" all non-students. I'm feeling a bit stupid, as I thought Illegal Curve had 2 current students. I wanted to mention this, in advance of the phone meeting, as a strict policy of students only is not likely in the best interests of the station overall.
However, allowing 'outsiders' will leave us open to criticism and we may have to hang our hats on the 4-6 timeslot thing. "
"ALLOWING OUTSIDERS."
That's what is called "welcoming volunteers" at every other campus station in the country.
To Red River College, people from the community are "outsiders".
"HANG OUR HATS ON THE 4-6 TIMESLOT THING."
The "Executive Committee" had to "hang their hats" on requiring the timeslot -- but it wasn't actually required for the students.
It's now obvious why Graham Thomson didn't send the Nov. 10th email to station manager Rick Baverstock in November, isn't it?
Baverstock has said he would have pointed the Board to it at the Annual General Meeting on December 9th as proof that TGCTS did not have to be canceled to make room for new student radio programs, as the email was evidence he had previously fit them into the schedule even "when there were a lot".
Graham Thomson insisted to outraged listeners (and to the National Post) that the Winnipeg Free Press had nothing to do with TGCTS being silenced, that there was a 'new policy' for programming, and that prime time was needed for new student programs (even though he also said it didn't matter to the station if anyone was listening or not) and that the time slot was not targeted.
Well, considering only one show was axed under the 'new policy', the policy was changed within 48 hours, and that the station of one of the Directors of Kick-FM involved in the cancellation is now in the prime time business with the Winnipeg Free Press, the Dean of Business Graham "I'm feeling a bit stupid" Thomson is now 0 for 3.
Still to come: The 'twisted fun' Thomson told his boss he was having with the inquiries of the concerned public; their dismissive comments about the listeners and bloggers who happen to pay their wages through their taxes; and the bogus "appeal process" exposed.
