You may remember MaryBeth Garber departing SCBA not too long ago to take a job with Katz Radio Group. She had been the president of the SCBA for 13 years and when Mark Gray was promoted at Katz one of his new hires was Garber. That left the SCBA without a President and apparently without any leadership. Yesterday some Southern Californis broadcasters led by President & GM of Mt Wilson FM Broadcasters Saul Levine began circulating a "Save the SCBA" letter. They are also accusing Katz (owned by Clear Channel) of trying to take over the association.
The letter Levine sent out reads
"In response to the planned dissolution of the Southern California Broadcasters Association by its current Board of Directors, several local broadcasting companies led by Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, Inc. have come together and formed an ad hoc committee to keep the SCBA in operation." Levine says at a May 16 meeting the SCBA?s Board of Directors expressed the intention to shut down the organization, as evidenced by their forfeiture of the existing SCBA office lease, the announcement of severance packages for SCBA staff, and their inaction with regard to filling the vacant post of SCBA president. Moreover, the board?s plan calls for remaking the organization under the aegis of Katz Media Group, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, ostensibly ending SCBA?s independent status, which is essential to its effective and unbiased representation of local broadcasters."Last night Levine sent the following e-mail to Radio Ink after we received word from garber that none of this was true. "What is not true? At the board meeting we were told SCBA was being terminated. The office was being closed, the three employees were being terminated, and Katz under MB would take over SCBA and run it from the Katz Offices (the fox in the chicken shack)."
Garber denies this is happening. "I am glad to see Saul?s passion for the SCBA, but what he is declaring is not true. At the last SCBA Board meeting, the members voted to keep the SCBA in business, although they were forming an Advisory Committee to poll the members to prioritize the SCBA services they wanted. That committee was then going to recommend how best to structure the SCBA to deliver the primary services the membership wanted. One of the ideas presented by the SCBA Executive Board that was discussed and subsequently rejected by the membership was to shut down the SCBA offices and pay to have one SCBA member housed at KRG to work in tandem with me, having that person turn out So Cal versions of whatever I create for radio on a national basis. Certainly at no time did the prospect of remaking the SCBA under the aegis of Katz Media Group come up, nor would it. I?m pleased that the SCBA membership voted wholeheartedly to keep the SCBA open and working for Southern California radio."
Levine disputes that explanation of how events went down. "The Board voted to close down SCBA as we know it, and move the name over to Katz where MB on the CC/Katz payroll would spoon feed things to SCBA. Not only would CC/CBS/Katz control 15 radio stations (and two TV) plus Metro Traffic and all LA Traffic, but SCBA-if you can call it that. As an independent, how do you compete with that?" Levine says this is just backtracking and denial, that he interviewed employees at the SCBA and they were all fired with a severance package coming. He added there was never a vote by the membership. Levine said if Garber or Katz can show there was a vote he will eat his hat.
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