KCOL Fails Fort Collins during High Park Fire
Jun 20th
I couldn’t believe my ears Monday morning when I tuned in to see what was happening. Did I have the wrong radio station? Had the circus commandeered our precious information resource ? What the hell???
High Park Fire raged while Al and Sue at KCOL left Ft Collins with out a voice. they could have done something.
I expected to hear Ft Collins news talk radio station 600 KCOL to be pumping out information about the High Park Fire: You know the stuff we residents need right now during a raging wild fire. The latest evacuations, escape routes, where is the Red Cross located? Where can I eat? Where can I sleep?. Is there a medical team , my aunt is having a hard time breathing? Where are are some clean clothes? What roads are open.? Is my house still standing.? Little things like that.
Instead I got the idiot team of Al Malmberg and Sue Sutton acting as though they were on vacation in Disneyland. Worse they were having endless banal jokes about duct tape, her husband, their weight as though the city was not on fire at all. Their insensitivity and and complete lack of broadcast news professionalism is the reason for this column.
This radio station failed so completely to be there for Ft Collins in its greatest time of need, the entire morning show should be fired. The GM should be fired. And Clear channel the corporate vampire should absolutely lose it license to operate this radio station.
When I called Sue and Al, they were insulted that I dare question their programming decisions. They absolutely did not understand why they should suspend all programming and help the community while it burned. That is the chief criteria for an FCC license: Be good stewards of the airwaves we entrust in you. They could have taken calls, brought in volunteers, gotten out information, listened to the fire scanners. Did they do any of that? Hell no. They twiddle twaddled each other. These two are the worst kind of incredibly stupid broadcasters. So thoughtless.
Sue Sutton told duct tape jokes instead of Evacuation routesWhen I talked to the Managing director of the FCC in Washington, he launched an immediate investigation of Al, Sue and KCOL. Nicky Shears the special agent in charge of Colorado called me. She was incensed by the morning show. ” I have been listening and they are not doing much on the fire. I understand your concerns and the concerns of the city. Frankly we are concerned. Every 15 minutes they give very brief update” she said. “We are taking the KCOL situation very seriously and it will not end here, I assure you.” she said.
What could the FCC do. ?? Suspend the KCOL license, yank the million dollar investment from Clear Channel and hand it to a real community minded person for $1.00. They could do that.
Since KCOL radio in Fort Collins Colorado has clearly violated the spirit of broadcasting, the FCC will likely enact some law that will force the local radio station to go on the air and help with the disaster.
To make matters even worse KCOL pumped out Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and other haters all day and night and never addressed the fire at all.
Jann Scott
Jann Scott’s Journal
Jann Scotts Journal: Sally McNulty’s father died in the war: she always looked sad
May 26th
Jann Scott’s Journal is the story and life of Boulder Icon and talk host Jann Scott. He has been in print, on radio and on TV in Boulder since 1989. Some consider him the voice of Boulder’s soul.
In the small New England town of 4,000 where I grew up, there were a lot of war vets. My dad was a wounded war vet from WWII. The north town cemetery has graves from the American Revolution on up. In front of the library on main street is a memorial to the men and women who served in WWII. There are over 500 names on it. 32 have white crosses next to them.
In the small New England town of 4,000 where I grew up, there were a lot of war vets. My dad was a wounded war vet from WWII. The north town cemetery has graves from the American Revolution on up. In front of the library on main street is a memorial to the men and women who served in WWII. There are over 500 names on it. 32 have white crosses next to them.
Over 10& of our towns population served. Every man of fighting age served and many of the women. In the early 50’s the war was
American children who have lost fathers of brothers in war
still fresh in peoples minds and there were some big parades on Memorial Day. My dad marched in some but, then after a while mostly everybody wanted to forget the war. But everybody came out for the parade and they all gathered around the memorial for taps when the names of the war dead were read out loud. Everybody cried too. I didn’t understand. I was only 5 or 6 at the time.
But I do remember little Sally McNulty crying. She was two years older than me and seemed to be the only little kid crying. My dad would pick her up and tell her it would be OK and that a lot of people in our town loved her. Then he would buy her an Ice Cream cone and it would be over.
Later when I was in high school Sally had come to work for my families business and we sort of hit off a friendship. that consisted of me helping her baby sit, drinking a six pack of beer and making out.
But Sally had never gotten over her fathers death. He was killed at Anzio when she was just two years old, but she remembered him. Her mom who looked just like Sally drank a bit to cover her pain. She never remarried. Sally said she felt so out of place because she didn’t have a father and she hated to explain “that no her parents weren’t divorced, that they loved each other very much and that my father was killed in the war”. Gulp. I didn’t know a lot of kids who lost someone in the war. But it wasn’t a joking matter. It was sobering.
A picture of Sally’s father sat on a table in the living room of her house in 1965. He was a smiling handsome guy of about 22. And he was dead. ” It has really affected my mom and I she said. We have been pretty unhappy for the last 20 years.
Now at 66 I have a lot of stories like this. My friend Anne lost her brother in Vietnam while she was a CU Junior. Anne was an intern at the newspaper I worked at. To this day she hosts a memorial for her brother at her Boulder home. She hasn’t forgotten.
We should all remember the families of those who have fallen on this memorial day.
from a city with many war dead on both sides of the Indian Wars, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the middle East
Jann Scott
Boulder Colorado
Jann Scotts Journal: Boulder Startup Week 2012: Speed Bootstrapping 101 at the Chamber
May 19th
Jann Scott’s Journal is the story and life of Boulder Icon and talk host Jann Scott. He has been in print, on radio and on TV in Boulder since 1989. Some consider him the voice of Boulder’s soul.
Jann Scott, CEO Channel 1 Networks, journalist, TV starr and more
As I previewed the schedule on line in Plancast, Speed Bootstrapping at the Boulder Chamber seemed like the best option for me for several reasons. I am a busy executive and my time is limited. The event was being hosted by a law firm who specializes in Startups, security laws and presumably they had been to the show. Joyce Colson from Colson Quinn emceed the event and she kept everybody on a timer. Thank God! ( seriously, it works best) The event was being held at the Chamber which is neutral ground so I wouldn’t be hassled by BSW organizers for being “press” which happened last year. Also, I am a Chamber member and I knew I could count on Angelique for access. There was also no alcohol being served so this was was going to be a sober nuts and bolts workshop where I could learn something It was not going to be the constant college party scene which consumes much of the Boulder Startup scene.
I was not disappointed. Speed Bootstrapping 101 was a series of check-ins by 7 business organization experts. Matt Fargo from Kurtz Fargo a cpa firm which specializes in tech corps gave a blistering litany of dos and don’ts for business financials. The most memorable being use quick books and outsource your book keeping to a specialist so that it gets done right. This way investors will understand what the hell you have when the time comes. Thank God we did both at Channel 1 networks.
Then the lawyers spoke. Rob Quinn almost had a pained look when he spoke of some basic mistakes startups make which hurt them badly down the road. This was another way for me to check to see if we did our preliminary work correctly. Protection of intellectual property ? check. Signed sub-contractor agreements? check. Signed no compete non disclosure statements? check. Set up LLC cause it is simplest? check Pay people cash and not in stock so company is not diffused? check. Paying in stock are big mistakes made by early startups.
Of course I have been in business for over 20 years, grew up in a business family so I can thank my father and family for some of my business ac cumin In 2006 I had the guidance of Bob Greenley and atty Amelia Tantilla early on in Channel 1 Networks, so I avoided big mistakes. Ray Skibitsky told me not to take venture capital since we were already making money.
Then a commercial real estate broker talked about complicated leases and who to trust and who not to. Very valuable. We will need a broker when we move, that’s for sure. Liz Ryan talked about how to hire good employees. Ideas I had never heard before. The Chamber talked about all of the SBA loans available. Did you know that there are loans available that will pay for 90% of commercial real estate? Why lease when you can own for the same money??
Also, there was a banker another accountant and another lawyer who spoke. They covered all of the bases.
So How did I do? I hate to be smug. But I scored 100%. Not one pitfall in the area of big stupid business mistakes. I feel more ready than ever to move on and sell our company to Google. One thing is for sure, I need to hire this team assembled at Bootstrapping 101 to help sell my company. For this I have to hand it to Boulder Startup Week, there was a gem among the beer cups. lol 🙂 ( an a good time was had by all)
The event was well attended by serious minded business people and I feel fortunate to have been there. If this event was repeated monthly at the chamber it could only help all Boulder business’s succeed.
From the Startup Capitol of America
Jann Scott
Boulder Colorado
