Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/308664
For Members 14 SAG-AFTRA | Spring 2014 | SAGAFTRA.org Sign the petition at savelocalradio.org/koit HOWARD TAKES STATION-TO-STATION TOURS D uring two trips to New York, SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard visited several radio stations to meet with broadcast members and tour the facilities in which they work. In January, Howard was treated to a tour of the Clear Channel facilities in Manhattan. Clear Channel operates several different stations, including WOR, WLTW and Q104.3. New York Local Second Vice President Jim Kerr gave the tour to Howard, who was joined by New York Local President and National Vice President, New York Mike Hodge and National Board member Rebecca Damon. Howard also took meetings with national board members Christine Nagy of WLTW-FM and Jeff Spurgeon of WXQR. e leaders toured the iHeartRadio studios, which gave Howard a glimpse of the future of broadcast. "Seeing an on-camera studio audience set up in a radio complex gave us a very good picture — if it wasn't already crystal clear to all of us — of where our work is headed," he said of his visit, adding, "I have always been a huge fan of broadcasters and seeing our members in action was a real highlight." In March, prior to the quarterly Broadcast Steering Committee meeting in New York, Howard toured the local CBS radio studios, which house WCBS 880 and Fresh 102.7. ere, Howard and SAG-AFTRA leadership and staff met with veteran broadcaster Rich Lamb of WCBS and Jim Douglas and Kim Berk from Fresh 102.7. From left, SAG-AFTRA General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer Duncan Crabtree-Ireland; National Board Member Rebecca Damon; New York Local President and National Vice President, New York Mike Hodge; President Ken Howard; WCBS' Rich Lamb; Tim Scheld, WCBS 880 director of news and programming; and SAG-AFTRA Associate Executive Director and Labor Counsel for News and Broadcast, Rich Larkin. Bottom, Hodge, left, and Howard, right, visit the Clear Channel facilities in Manhattan with local radio legend and New York Local Second Vice President Jim Kerr. S AG-AFTRA has launched a Save Local Radio campaign to support members fighting for a better contract at top- performing San Francisco radio station 96.5 KOIT — and you can help. On April 3, SAG-AFTRA launched savelocalradio.org/koit, a place where the public and fellow union members can show their support of the five-member bargaining unit at the station, which is owned by Pennsylvania-based broadcasting company Entercom. As of press time, the bargaining team was still locked in a struggle with Entercom for a fair contract. Entercom, one of the largest broadcast corporations in the United States, bought KOIT in 2007. e union bargained with Entercom in good faith in an effort to reach a fair agreement. However, Entercom made aggressive proposals to take away hard- fought benefits and basic protections, only to declare an impasse and impose the terms that they could not achieve in negotiations. ey then proceeded to gut the union contract at the station, lay off employees and depend more heavily on "voice- tracking," a practice of prerecording a show with the intent of making it sound live to the otherwise unsuspecting local audience. Voice-tracking allows the company to pay employees for just a few hours of work instead of for the whole shi, so the company can make the same profits while slashing employee hours. Prerecording programs means that when local events are unfolding, there is no one on the air to react to or report on them. Let Entercom know they can't get away with their anti-worker corporate agenda by signing the petition and showing your support. HELP SAVE BAY AREA RADIO 11-19_For Members_F.indd 14 4/23/14 4:17 PM