Hundreds of Mainers have sent protests about the firing of the humble farmer to MPBN. The rants were ignored.
IT IS HERE IN OUR MAINE VOTING CITIZENS' SECTION
where you can read their NEWEST RANTS.
We also have an International Rant Section
just below our Mainers' Rants because here, at FreeThehumbleFarmer.com we believe that Maine Public Radio is in need of continuing education about what democracy is, why freedom of speech is essential to democracies and censorship is bad for
democracies. Please
scroll to the bottom of this section to read our series of
International Rants that describe the Holomodar, an act of genocide by
the Soviet government in Ukraine which killed millions of people in
the 1930's. It succeeded because the Soviet government enforced a
strict and unwaivering censorship. Censorship kept the truth about that hidden and millions died.
We try to educate MPBN that firing a radio host because he : *did Get Out the Vote Calls in 2006 for registered and unregistered voters, *refused to sign Guidelines forbidding talk of anything 'political' or 'controversial', *read a rant that began 'I don't care for war' that referred to the mastermind of the European genocide in the 1930's and 1940's, *read a letter from a viewer decrying taxcuts that eliminate humanitarian social programs, *read a rant that complained about searches of personal toiletries at airports that mentioned Mussolini, IS censorship.
And what is very, very disturbing is that employees of MPBN had to sign those same Guidelines to have a job. No one said to them, "Hey, you live in the United States of America. You don't have to agree to that to get a job at a publicly funded radio station." No one.
+++
June 9, 2008 To MPBN,
I'd love to help you out on a
membership drive, but I have had a touch of stone deafness lately for I don't
hear the Humble Farmer on MPBN anymore. You may be thinking, "What could be
wrong with my ears?" A little tinnitis and some bilateral decibel loss, but
nothing more. "What could be wrong with our stations?" With all the great
programs, you still have a disconnect through management with the membership, or
you would have more families in your membership, like me who have a deep sense
of loyalty. Humble is not on the air due to what I'd describe as an age old
personal dispute with one member of MPBN management who desires to change the
program from what the core of the membership wants. You wouldn't change a long
standing drama to a comedy or vice versa. Why tamper with
it?
Just like the ongoing Democratic nomination
process in regard to Florida and Michigan, "The
people vote and management decides" or to state it another way, "Discrimination". Not because one is
considered older, but because one is acting like a teen who has not learned to
respect those pay his wage or his elders. More following this Prairie Home
Companion [Sonnet Contest] submission:
Owed to the Humble
Farmer
I know a man with a
fire place, where no metals he does forge.
Where rolling hills and an open door, in a place
he calls St. George.
He has a
sense of humor, that some say is dry as chalk,
He loves his music and he loves his friends, my
God he loves to talk!
Little
quips and entwined stories, of times not so long past,
will get you almost e’rytime, if you don’t follow
close and fast.
We’d rant
‘bout shirts ‘n things wives buy us to wear,
in public view against our will, Fight back?”, We
wouldn’t dare!
A friend a
quarter century, on the airways of radio,
’til one day they Beck’n him and said that he must
go.
This broke my heart and
angered me, My long time friend was silent
How could I give to him who carelessly, threw away
this talent.
Time just keeps
on passing And for a time before we go
We want more time with Humble, upon our radio.
L**** M****
L*******, ME
My friendship goes back to when Humble was on Wednesday nights
(1979), before his theme song was dubbed (for all intents and purposes)
"inappropriate". I waited for that theme each Wednesday. It was like a bugle
call that let us all know that Humble would be the next sound you heard. Just
like a dose of medicine, I responded with a smile and anticipated of every
story, biography, each quip and each letter read on the air. But someone decided
the musical interlude could not stay, or perhaps thought it was best to jettison
members too attached to one host who was popular, or as some would prefer,
"endearing" for all of his time on MPR/MPBN.
We, the
former members of MPBN, know what was asked and we believe it to be
unreasonable, especially when others so quickly moved to save their jobs. MPBN
management knows what we ask, but as voters in an MPBN society, the people vote and management decides.
By
ignoring our pleas for reason, MPBN has decided it has enough money to ostracize
who it wishes, even if it breaks long chains of dedicated support. I'm not
totally stone deaf, for I can at least hear stations that don't judge me to be
the opposition. All we ask it for Humble to return! That way we can see if
anyone at MPBN is selectively deaf too!
Most
sincerely,
L**** M**** Lewiston
+++
humble,
I
can assure you they will not be getting a dime from the M household.
We barely listen to MPBN ever. When we want to catch Car Talk or
something we tune into NHPR because fortunately we’re close enough to
the border to have an alternative.
We
are living in a fascist country. There is no doubt about it. Look at
how our state is being bullied about by the Dept. of Homeland Security
(how Orwellian is THAT name?) because we don’t want to comply with Real
I.D. (another Orwellian term). I’m sick to death of it all. And how
about HR 1955, I believe it is, that would make “home grown terrorists”
out of all of us that might exercise our freedom of speech or dare to
assemble in protest of anything? I don’t mean to get on a rant, but
what happened to you is simply an extremely local version of a national
problem with institutionalized fascism, and I’m sick to death of it.
And what about our foreign policy? Why will we not speak out against
China as the totalitarian government there tries to beat Tibetan monks
into submission? Well, because China owns us – they own us in a giant
trade deficit and they own us because Bushie keeps borrowing billions
from them to keep his sinking ship from going under entirely. And they
own us as our big corporations sponsor the Beijing Olympics and our
government would never want to threaten the profits of its biggest
corporate powers. ARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!
I’ve
started going to protests – tax protests because I’m sick of funding a
war that should never have started, and civil liberty rallies too. I
do think the seeds of discontent are well sown in this country and
sooner or later there’s going to be a rebellion.
Do
I sound like a danger to “homeland security”? I have resolved, by the
way, to start flying the Gadsden Flag as soon as the weather turns
pleasant enough not to rip or freeze it off my house. You may recall
that this flag is the bright yellow one with the rattlesnake that says
“Don’t Tread on Me.” I’ve resolved to fly this flag instead of my
beloved starts and stripes until I have my country back, until I feel
that my constitutional rights are fully intact and safeguarded, and
until we stop making war for frivolous reasons. I hope I can fly my
stars and stripes again in this lifetime, but I’m already almost 40 so
who knows.
Hang in there – B
+++
March 20, 2008 Dear humble, I lived in Maine for 9 wonderful, soulful and eye opening years. I came from the south, no not Portland but Atlanta, and found myself and who I was, in Maine. You were a big part of that. On Friday nights, because my tv had given out and I didn't want to pay for the cable to be strung down our road to my house, I listened to you and then the late Ed Bradley and Jazz from Lincoln Center while I tied my Caddis flies for the upcoming summer. I have since moved away from Maine, but think about it daily and miss it with a broken heart. Today I went onto the Maine Public Radio site to see if I could still hear your show on Friday nights. It made me sad to see that your show was no longer in the line-up. You were the best show on there! The humor and jazz were the perfect ending to a work week. I will miss your show always and look back on it as part of my growing into who I am today.
M S
++++
Shame! Shame on MPBN in general and Mr. Charles Beck in particular!
... my letter to the BDN got published in the Sat/Sun BDN. I am sending the
following cover letter to NPR in Washington, having given up complaining to
Maine Public Radio.
J in A******
National Public Radio
Dear sirs:
Shock and awe! That's what I felt when I watched NOVA's special on the
Tiananmen Square incident and, at pledge break, saw Charles Beck make a
pitch for contributions.
From what I have learned, it was MPBN's thin-skinned political
mindset that prompted him to muzzle Maine humorist Robert Skoglund and ruin
a 28 year run of "The humble Farmer" show on MPBN. Some facts came out in a
recent Christian Science Monitor. It seems Mister Skoglund had had the nerve
to read on the air an entry from an encyclopedia on the subject, "fascism,"
with emphasis on the rise of Mussolini in the 1920's. There were eerie
parallels to the present American political scene which Mr. Beck found
insulting to himself and other ....
I am enclosing a copy of my letter to the Bangor Daily News, published
today: I wrote MPBN and suggested they put a disclaimer in front of Mr.
Skoglund's show as is done before the 1 PM community forum shows. MPBN never
replied.
Perhaps MPBN was too self-righteous to see the enormity of his appearing
in the middle of a program in which a desperate, paranoid and repressive
Chinese government attempts to strip away the human rights of its citizens
to protest and to express themselves, rights that real Americans should
cherish. On the other hand perhaps he was fully aware of that irony and
relished every moment of it, thinking that nobody in the audience would see
his hypocrisy. If so, he was wrong and I am sure I'm not the only one who
saw it.
Later in the week another pledge break interrupted a lovely two hour
American ballroom dance competition. The woman who was cheerleading the fund
drive, promoting a news program on MPBN, commented, "There's more than one
side to every story and you deserve to hear them all." Maybe it's a good
thing Mr. Beck, the Torquemada of Public Radio, wasn't on TV that evening:
he might have choked on such a hypocritical platitude. Shame! Shame on MPBN
in general and Mr. Charles Beck in particular!
J in Addison
+++
++++
THESE COMMENTs FROM A NEW YORKER...OPERA SINGER...THOUGHT YOU WOULD FIND OF INTEREST
Subject: Fw: Opera On Public Television? Not Here. Not Now.
For whatever reason, Maine PBS continues to sink to the bottom of the PBS pile. Once opera, Great Performances, Live from Lincoln Center, etc. were actually shown in the announced PBS time slots. Sadly, this no longer seems to be the case. I've dropped Maine PBS from receiving any contributions. I want, in fact, to ************. (Maybe then **********************nah.)
Last season when one of the Met HD telecasts was to occur, the local affiliate decided not to go with it. When I complained, I was offered an answer that Thursday night is local television night, e.g., all Maine-produced programming. I'm paraphrasing here, but the message was clear: "We will not abandon our locally produced shows which Mainers clearly prefer to whatever other offerings PBS may be presenting Thursday night, whether it's Great Performances or The Metropolitan Opera. Well, this isn't quite true on several levels. First, the airing of the Met presentation occurred in the summer, when the locally produced shows were both repeats. One of the shows is actually produced and stars a good friend of mine, who was out of the country and that night was the FOURTH time that episode had aired. (That friend also happens to be an opera fan). Second, the local shows are only two 30 minute shows and last only from 8-9 p.m.
Also, for several weeks each Spring (it's coming soon) they interrupt their already crappy scheduled programming at 3:00 p.m. EVERY DAY for their godawful Maine Auction which runs until after midnight! Literally, there is NO evening programming at all, and it's just ***** awful the junk they hawk. Embarassing.
Also, they will gladly obliterate the schedule for the Maine Principal's Association Annual High School Basketball Tournament, a show screaming for community cable network airing if ever there was. In fact, it does air on a local community cable channel as well, so . . .
What's even more shocking is how well opera does here in the State. Nearly every performance I attend is sold out; the Met HD cinemacasts have sold out every performance, almost all of them requiring additional theatres to accommodate ticket sales.
After a number of complaints (evidently) they decided to present several of last year's Met HD operas - but made the ridiculous decision to air them, but only on their HD affiliate channel and on SATURDAY AFTERNOONS DURING THE LIVE MET RADIO BROADCASTS! Brilliant.
This season they aired Hansel & Gretel, but have decided not to show the rest. Remarkable.
12 of their 17 daily hours of programming is children's television: Clifford the Big Red Dog, Caliou, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Curious George, Arthur . . .
Meanwhile we get Eric Clapton Crossroads, Three Mo Tenors, Andrea Boccelli in the Desert, Andrea Bocelli in Rome, Andrea Bocelli in Outer Space, some wretched pop boys choir (ghastly!), Il Divo, some stinking hash called the "Opera Band", James Taylor, James Taylor in Concert, A Tribute to James Taylor, Martina McBride, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hayley Who Ha, Josh Groban . . - had enough? Wait, there's plenty more **** where that came from, trust me!
Of course, their radio station (MPBN) was the one who, several years ago - without ANY warning whatsoever, decided to drop the Met Radio Broadcasts - even as they continued to list them in the program guide! The following year, - after everyone I know in the world, including friends, and a number of listeners here who don't even live NEAR Maine - the broadcasts were back . . . but we only found that out by accident, since there was no announcement, advertising, etc., to inform those of us who had "left the fold" they'd brought them back. Then listening to the Meistersinger broadcast, my friends and I thought "okay, we'll give them money again" - only to have the broadcast stop during Act III and automatically switch to "All Things Considered." I am not ******* you.
Poor, even idiotic decisions seem to abound and flourish with these people. I hereby nominate Maine Public Television for the WORST PBS affiliate in the nation. Pretty amazing when one considers that only a few years ago I was defending it as one of the very best. Sadly, it doesn't take long at all to completely destroy something. They could write the book. Oh, wait: they did.
p.
++
My name is S**** C**. I in B***, Maine.
I ask here today that you amend LD 1993, the Bill to
“Resolve, Establishing the Commission To Review the Accountability of
State Cultural Agencies” to include Maine Public Broadcasting Network,
which, as you know receives 2.25 million dollars in one “line item” in
the Education budget.
Specifically, this is a request that in Section 5 of the
proposed LD1993, the words “Maine Public Broadcasting Network” be
added after the words “Maine Historical Society” and that the words
“State cultural agencies” be expanded to include the words “and other
entities receiving General Fund monies that engage in “cultural
activities.” The General Fund money received by MPBN is approved,
passed and sanctioned by this Committee and surely it is within the job
of this committee to amend this legislation to address concerns about
accountability by MPBN for those funds..
Over several months of effort, it has become very clear
that the accountability within Maine Government for how and where that
2.25 million dollars is spent by MPBN- or even within their
responsibilities as a non-profit Public corporation within the State of
Maine is sadly lacking. Yes, they have a Board of Trustees. However,
in the recent past, that Board appears to be accountable to no one
other than themselves. Only 2 of the 22 members are appointed by the
Governor and the Legislature. The remaining 20 pick each other and
there is no mechanism for careful scrutiny by the Maine legislators who
are asked to approve that General Fund payment of 2.25 million dollars
for budget decisions that are made within MPBN about what to do with
that money. Yes, they publish their budget-after -the-fact. There
appears to be no other level of scrutiny from the Legislators who
approve that money. This is a government handout with no questions or
strings attached. This is my question to you? What new strategies for
accountability for that money can be developed? Today, I urge you to
amend LD 1993 to include on this Commission MPBN as a receipient of
State funds that engages in “cultural endeavors” similar to that
provided by the other entities described as cultural agencies.
You may say ,we can’t include investigation of that
“line item” called “Maine Public Broadcasting Network” within this
Commission’s work because this is a Commission about “cultural service
agencies.” I suggest to you that commissions cost money to assemble
because the State has to pay people to get to the meetings and for the
meetings to be run. Inclusion of a recipient of 2.25 million dollars
from Maine Government whose accountability to Mainers is questionable-
is an efficient and practical use of the proposed Commission. We are
facing a huge budget deficit. We do not need two commissions to look
at accountability. Amending this bill to include the receiver of this
2.25 million dollars, MPBN will bring us all much closer to exercising
government oversight in a responsible way.
had been fired, in part, for being inappropriately “politicized” in his comedy and satire .
LD 1993 can very well incorporate, through an amendment,
new strategies for accountability by MPBN for that 2.25 million
dollars. . MPBN is not a line item: It is a cultural entity generously
supported by this Committee’s action, accountable - right now- to no
one and very deft at passing the buck when they are called on a
decision..
+++
Greetings,
As a Maine native and full time tax paying resident, I
am encouraging your committee to hold MPBN accountable for actions that
can be described as, "not in the publics interest".
I need not remind you that we are a poor but proud
state.- a state that has always found comfort in being identified with
free thinkers.
Recent actions by senior staff at MPBN have been in flagrant disregard of that heritage. Indeed, a national embarrassment !
Their ritualistic plea to the government for their
annual unquestioned stipend under the guise of a public service needs
your close and critical attention given their philosophical departure
and the acute problems of our state finances..
Sincerely
D**** C***e
** M*********** Drive Portland, ME 04103
+++
Dear Senator Mitchell,
I write this to state my support for efforts to amend LD
1993 to include MPBN under the oversight of the Education and Cultural
Services Committee. This is specifically because of the peremptory
firing of Robert Skoglund, and the termination of his fine program,
"The Humble Farmer," because of his straight talking commentary's
offensiveness to some in the MPBN management's idea of political
correctness.
As an MPBN member, I was affronted by the lack of
responsiveness to widespread objection among MPBN listeners to this
firing, which was in effect, heavy-handed-censorship of views which
MPBN could have easily disclaimed, as they do the views expressed on
many of their programs. I have written my objection to the management
of MPBN, and received no response. I have since voted my objection by
cancelling my long-running membership. Along with many others, my
dollars no longer flow to directly support MPBN, specifically because
of this issue. I am greatly chagrined and saddened by this development,
as overall, I have valued MPBN, and have been proud to be a member and
supporter.
However, as a taxpayer, I still contribute to the moneys
allocated by the State to MPBN, a contribution over which I have no
control. As a taxpayer, I am disturbed by the lack of accountability
required of MPBN to all of Maine's taxpayers. It is my hope that the
proposed amendment will be accepted, in order that proper scrutiny of
decisions by MPBN management such as the firing of Robert Skoglund may
be made by the Committee (E&CS), and that the actions of the MPBN
board of trustees and MPBN management fall under the purview of the
Committee.
Thank you for your attention to my concerns.
Sincerely,
B**** A****p
Dedham, Maine
+++
Dear Senator Mitchell, Senator Bowman, Senator Mills,
Representative Norton, Representative Finch, Representative Makas,
Representative Farrington, Representative Harlow, Representative
Sutherland, Representative Edgecomb, Representative McFadden,
Representative Muse and Representative StranqBurgess,
Please support an amendment to LD 1993 to include MPBN.
Any organization receiving state funding should be held accountable.
Period. The humble farmer should still be on the air (great music and
commentary) as many Maine citizens have requested.
The article below is disturbing [see: To the editors of Current.org]
- independent journalistic approach?
Is that based on Mr. Beck's opinion/approval?
Sincerely,
R** Du***
5** Ol** B**** Rd
Brunswick, ME 04011
++
Dear humble,
Last Friday night I turned the car radio on and heard MPBN's 7 PM program for the first time in a very long while. Imagine my surprise to discover that they are airing a show called "Ideas" in that hour that not only is preceded and followed by a disclaimer as to its content not necessarily being the opinion of MPBN, its management or volunteers and might not be appropriate for children to hear, but is not even a music show at all!
Then this week I listened in the morning and heard Garrison Keillor on his "Writer's Almanac" talking about Hitler, the Beer Hall Putsch and the burning of the Reichstag!
Obviously, MPBN's board feels there is no need to maintain even a facade of adhering to the policies that were cited in justifying your removal from the air. The contributions of corporate sponsors are clearly enough to satisfy the financial requirements of MPBN, else they'd never so blatantly contradict their own previous statements about your removal for fear they would alienate their everyday citizen donors.
Mike ++
hi humble
My friend told me that the "i won't renew because of humble" continues unabated. as a matter of fact, she called a woman who had never even listened to your show but wouldn't renew based on the freedom of speech issue. M.P. Whiting +++
Shutting off MPBN Times Record Brunswick, Maine January 28, 2008 letters@TimesRecord.Com 01/28/2008 To the editor:
Blind feuds are a ridiculous way to live a life and expect the esteem of the community.
When the Maine Public Broadcasting Network decided to make an issue of what had not been an issue in my 28 (minus some military years) years of listening to Maine Public Radio, most listeners did not know that Charles Beck had previously singled out the Humble Farmer by deleting his opening theme. It was my Wednesday evening audio landmark.
MPBN had annual polls in "Airplay" and changes derived from the results, yet when the public demands a program, Mr. Beck just "stays the course!" and rejects the Humble Farmer and the listening audience.
Susan Cook ("Bottom feeders, speak the truth to power," local commentary, Jan. 8) is right that there are options to MPBN and deaf management. My MPBN listening time has decreased by about 80 percent and my contributions to all pledge drives each year to zero, including matching funds and removal from my estate plan. Others, I am sure, did likewise.
If Mr. Beck fell into the water, one of the first hands to reach for him would be Humble's. The only question that remains is: Would Beck be man enough to reach back to take his hand?
La**y Ma**s, Lewiston ++
+++ Charles Beck very often reminds people that "we know that you do have choices" during fund drives. I have exercised many of the choices outlined in
Susan's letter plus one other; low power FM. Low power FM is back to the future in the sense that there were times before FM was owned by
mega-corps with political agendas. MPBN is similar to the mega-corp mentality if you think of it as government sponsored as opposed to publically
funded broadcasting; a distinction that I had not considered before the demise of the Humble Farmer radio hour.
Susan Cook appears to suggest that the $2.5 million that MPBN receives each year could be better spent. I agree.
One other thing that is evident; The Humble Farmer has touched a lot of lives and he is well loved for his effort.
Charles Beck has touched lives. Can he also claim love and friendship ?
k g-b Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107
+++
++
Let me put my 2 cents in. I have listened to the humble farmer's show for years and been a loyal supporter of and contributor to Maine Public Radio. While I will continue to listen to their news, jazz, and opera programming, I can no longer contribute financially to the station until they rectify the mistake they made by giving him the boot. And it's not just the deplorable fact that they tried to gag him as they did when they issued him an ultimatum to shut up. So much for free speech! That's bad enough. Apparently they think music and satirical story telling don't mix. But it's pure hypocrisy to claim that the humble farmer was entitled to entertain with music but not with the commentary that had been a mainstay of his show for years, and then, at the same time, to air The Capitol Steps, a musical and political satire review, and even wheel them out for MPBN fundraising events. This is an assault on both free speech and the public trust. Far worse was the hypocrisy and the shoddy behaviour that followed the humble farmer's dismissal, after they unceremoniously gave him the bum's rush. No curtain call, not even the courtesy of letting the listening public know he wasn't part of the lineup anymore. They just erased him from the schedule without a word. Nothing! And then the management has the gall to appeal to the listeners to support "all the programs that you've come to love and depend on". Hah! There's a serious cognitive disconnect here. And that's where the buck stops. While I value the valuable programming we get from NPBN, I am not going to subsidize the station until they give the humble farmer the decency of, at the very least, a proper burial. Anything less is uncivilized.
D.W. Phi**s*u**, Maine December 22, 2007
++
From: *****d W *******,
To: Membership@mpbn.net Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 4:53 PM Subject: Re: Mr. & Mrs. **r*in, please renew your radio membership Support for MPBN!
Hopefully this will reach a live person so that you'll know why we've made the decision to discontinue membership in MPBN. One of the main reasons we supported MPBN was the wonderful Friday evening jazz show hosted by Robert Skogland, the "Humble Farmer" and we were very disappointed you couldn't work things out amicably w/ him.Henceforth, until we hear that the Humble Farmer is back on the air, we are unwilling to support the station w/ any donations. Thank you. Regards, D** Ma*t**, C**, G** 5*7 L*** Street B***tol, ** 0***2 (***)7*4-85** D*n@O**Mil**op*.c**
++
Read the following rant to learn how to Just Say No!
Greetings!
No, you haven't been drafted (might be dating myself here) but I do
want to enlist you in the campaign to Free The humble Farmer!
Who? On one foot (that means "quickly"), The humble Farmer is a radio
program, played on Maine Public Radio for nearly 30 years, which was
removed from the air because the program's host holds personal
positions that bother the top ranks of the MPBN brass, President Jim
Dowe and Charles Beck, who directs radio programming.
I am not asking you to like either Robert Skoglund, the show's host,
or to like his program. That's not the issue. Skoglund was booted off
the air because he wouldn't sign a document, created to muzzle him,
which amounts to simple and unadulterated censorship. Plenty of
programs that MPBN plays have hosts with points of view far more
extreme than Skoglund's but oddly, Beck and Dowe didn't think they
could force Garrison Keillor to sign their paper...
As MPBN gears up for it's Fall Membership Drive, I am writing to you
to keep your wallets in your pockets and resist any urge you might have
to support MPBN financially. We've been members for more than 20 years
and when the captains of our public radio station stop playing
at being tin pot dictators, I expect we'll be members again. That will
be after Skoglund has his overdue apology and his radio show
back.
Thanks,
Mike
Call 207-287-2500 to talk to your legislator about this! ++
TO: James Dowe President and Chief Executive Officer Maine Public Broadcasting Network 1450 Lisbon Street Lewiston, ME 04240 April 14, 2007
Dear Mr. Dowe,
I
write to follow-up on the comments I made at the April 12, 2007 Maine
Public Broadcasting Network Board of Trustees meeting. Thank you so
much for allowing supporters of Robert Skoglund “The humble Farmer” to
speak. I was so glad you finally had
a chance to actually meet Mr. Skoglund in person at that meeting, for
the first time. Robert Skoglund’s unique talent has, after all, made
such an extraordinary contribution for 20 years to the actual content
that is played over the MPBN radio waves. And all for $30 a program!
I write to request a copy of the ethical guidelines that members of the
MPBN Board of Trustee are asked to follow upon their appointment as
trustees. I assume that like so many at MPBN, your Board members are
volunteers. One of the Board members commented as h/she came in on
Thursday that “the meeting was worth the drive up”, which certainly
sounds like an unpaid volunteer to me! Perhaps you might clarify that.
I think we would all agree that there are many in the MPBN audience who
would always find the Board meetings “worth the drive” whether they
were compensated or not. I do believe
that Robert Skoglund’s talents are a gift that many, from all walks of
life, appreciate. I agree with all those who spoke who identified the
muffling, muzzling and stifling of Mr. Skoglund as political
censorship. I described at least one political event that the very
private Mr. Skoglund agreed to come to in October 2006 that became
oddly coincident with the onset of this “muffling”
It is with great respect and sincerity that I restate my comment that
appointed Board members are given the task of honoring and protecting
the Public Interest, not co-opting it. Maine is a very small place and
it is especially important that the organizational structures within
MPBN for acting on Audience comments be effective. A significant
frustration of those who have written to MPBN about Mr. Skoglund’s
censorship since November 2006, has been the absence of any
acknowledgement. In fact, when I called to ask when “The Humble
Farmer” would be returned to its usual 7:00pm time, the woman who
answered the phone told me, “It’s not changing.” That is a concern
from an organization that repeatedly turns to the public for financial
support.
I
think everyone in the United States is weary of personal influence
peddling as a way of overriding the decision-making process within
organizations. Anyone can pick a phone and call a friend of a friend of
a friend who holds an appointment on a Board and try to force a
decision that more appropriately would be given a thorough public
vetting before any action was taken.
This is a great opportunity for the Maine Public Broadcasting Network
Board of Trustees to take a good look at some very important issues
related to management. Those that come to mind certainly include
valuing the Creative Talent that provides programming content, holding
Board members accountable to ethical standards expected in any
corporation, and resisting the disturbing trend in this country to
trade personal influence acquired through appointment to a Corporate
Board as if one were sharing freshly-baked cookies with a neighbor.
Thanks again for allowing the supporters of Robert Skoglund “The humble Farmer” to address the Board of Trustees.
Sincerely,
A 'humble' Advocate
Cc: Ray Routhier Portland Press Herald Art Mayers Courier Gazette
++
FreeThehumbleFarmer@localnet.com Bath, Me 04530
Governor John Baldacci State House Station # 1 Augusta, Maine Dear Cc: Congressman Tom Allen. Congressman Mike Michaud, Attorney General Steven Rowe, Senate President Beth Edmonds and Speaker of the House Glenn Cummings
Dear Governor Baldacci:
In light of the extraordinary disregard by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network of citizens’ freedom of expression, over 100 Maine taxpayers have joined together to ask that you immediately introduce legislation to the current session of the Maine Legislature to suspend all Maine government funding to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network Chief Executive Officer James Dowe has fired Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer. This action is an arrogant abandonment and neglect of cherished freedoms: the right to free speech and the right to free expression. The State of Maine should not provide funds for organizations that do not honor fundamental civil liberties, including the right to free speech. We further ask that this suspension be in place until the Maine Public Broadcasting Network management rescinds the politically motivated censorship imposed on Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer and other MPBN creative talent through the station’s demand that performers sign guidelines restricting statements about a wide range of topics, including those considered political or controversial. Congressman Tom Allen, Congressman Mike Michaud, Attorney General Steven Rowe, Speaker of the Maine House Glenn Cummings and President of the Maine Senate Beth Edmonds have also received copies of this letter. Please acknowledge and respect the wishes of Maine people who collectively and individually support this request for suspension of support for MPBN. Thank you.
++ Dear Mike [see River Is Wide section], I tried to obtain info on [Legislature's 2008] hearing schedules so I could obtain the bill number if already assigned, but can not find it yet. My input will read as follows: "In this climate of ever increasing expenses, I am writing to ask that MAINE Public Broadcasting NOT be granted funding in the wake of the firing of Robert Skoglund, also known as the Humble Farmer who has been known for many years as one of MPBN's most important and longest running programs. While MPBN has expressed their opinion over many issues over the years as has Mr Skoglund, why is Humble NOW not permitted to speak, as if this constitutional right includes all but Mr Skoglund. I was at and spoke at the hearing MPBN held in Lewiston in the winter where all I heard speak, said only good of Humble's programs, but it seems that minds were made up before the meeting began. I have listened to Humble for most all of the 28 years I have been in Maine. From when I serviced medical equipment for the Navy from Cutler to Portsmouth out of Brunswick to when I service anesthesia equipment at most of Maine's hospitals to the drives home after a long day at National Semiconductor, Humble has ridden as my shotgun, keeping me company from the music box in my dashboard. The United States abandoned "loyalty pledges" in the 1970s, but MPBN has resurrected this document for one person only: Robert Skoglund. The pledge to play music and not speak makes me wonder if MPBN understands the wrong done and hurt they have caused to so many loyal listeners. After searching for any reasonable justification for his dismissal, I can find none, except perhaps, his 71+ years, or "age discrimination" in its rawest form and you can not let that go unaswered. Please withhold MPBN Funding!" For the common good! L**r*y Ma***, L**I*st*n
++ Will do, Mike. I too HAD been a public radio member for over 20 years. First MPBN wouldn't stand up to NPR when they unceremoniously fired Bob Edward. Then
Humble. I still listen, but I'll be damned! P*t*r Ne*ki*k ++ I do agree, but wonder what would happen to mpbn if government support were totally pulled. i'd hate to see the whole ship sunk. But, I do intend to not renew my financial support during this upcoming fund raiser. And I intend to call in at least a few times to say so, and to indicate that I will not contribute to the salaries of james dowe & charles beck. Long live Humblety! S**** Br****ler ++
This message has been sent to Ed Finch our rep. All donations to NPR have been canceled. M****n Sc****t ++ Right on! I already returned my renewal letter from MPBN with a comment regarding the humble scrawled across it in sharpie marker and no check. I can't remember when I started sending checks to support public broadcasting but it had to be when WCBB started putting "educational television" on the air. Of course, I'm "one of those" who listens to Amy Goodman (on W**G) so..... Happy trails; E*l**t R*bi*s*n ++ Sent to Rep. Bruce MacDonald and Sen. David Dow (Find your Maine Legislators' Contact information by calling 207-287-1500)
Please vote against any state funding for the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. It hurts to make such a request, but I must. This once-great broadcasting service has become a vehicle of censorship, having fired Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer, for his refusal to sign a statement of conditions giving the management the right to control what he would say. Until Mr. Dowe, Mr. Beck and the board of MPBN come to terms with the concept of free speech, MPBN does not deserve public funding support.
Thank you.
L*rz N**lson E*st B*othb*y
++
Sent to MPBN October 9, 2007
I am deeply concerned for the sustainability of a broadcasting service that does not hold dear the value of free speech.
Your mission statement includes the following:
Ethical Standards – We maintain an unwavering commitment to fairness, transparency, tolerance, diversity, and accountability in everything we do.
And yet, you canned the humble Farmer for alleged political statements and his refusal to sign your sham agreement to allow you to control everything he said.
Have any of you ever read the First Amendment?
—L*rz N*e*ls*n
To: Charles Beck, Vice President for Radio Services
MPBN Radio Membership Division
65 Texas Ave. Bangor, ME 04401
Hey Chuck, I don't know what's going on there, but the membership people seem to be asleep at the wheel-- I've sent several messages, email and snail, saying that we wanted to cancel our membership and have asked that they please stop sending the MPBN magazine, but the magazine keeps coming and they just sent another renewal notice. Maybe you could walk over to their offices and, I don't know, maybe bash a gong a few times? Sound an air horn of the sort kept on boats to attract attention when sinking? We were sort of surprised not to see MPBN at the Common Ground Fair, but we had a very nice time listening to the humble Farmer. There was a very, very good turnout this year, I think 18,000 and change on Friday, and even more on Saturday. Altogether, more than 60,000 people came! Many with deep pockets. Odd than MPBN couldn't make it... You know, there is a way to restore order. A way to make things right. It's not that hard. MPBN could do it. You could make it happen. Support is what a public radio station wants, not tsuris. Look it up if you don't know what it means.
Have a nice day.
Mike C******y Br**sw*ick, ME
++
September 29, 2007
To: Judith Gardner
MPBN Radio Membership Division
65 Texas Ave. Bangor, ME 04401
To Whom It May Concern:
I recently received my membership renewal notice from
you. My membership expires in January, 2008. I have listened to Maine Public
Radio since I first spent time in the state of Maine, in the 1970s. I spend
more time listening to public radio in Maine than to any other media. I have
been a member of MPBN for several years. A few years ago you kindly made your
studio available to me for a satellite interview with Juan Williams for a
segment of Morning Edition that
he was producing, and I was grateful for that. Last March I was interviewed by
Jeannie Baron on Maine Things Considered.
I listen frequently to MPBN and over the years have felt a part of the public
radio community.
But I am not renewing my membership this year, because
of the way you treated Robert Skoglund, aka The humble Farmer. You were
unwilling to continue to give him the freedom and artistic license as a
humorist to speak on whatever subjects he wished. You determined him to be a
program host instead, and asked him (and other program hosts) to sign a
statement limiting topics. No humorist of any stature would have signed it.
Mark Twain would never have signed it. Garrison Keillor—never, yet you
are willing to air his show, in exchange for the good will and pledge dollars
it brings you, despite Keillor’s political barbs which are far more
pointed than Skoglund’s, and which directly implicate (and name) certain
politicians and celebrities. The traditions of American humor go well beyond
Marshall Dodge saying, “Set ‘er again!” You were unwilling to
air Skoglund’s show with a disclaimer that his views did not necessarily
represent MPBN. This you could have done, if you wanted to keep him. And after
he was unable to sign your document, you let him go, after 28 years of service,
without so much as an on-air thank you nor even a mention in your new magazine,
Experience. How disrespectful,
how ungrateful, and how badly you misunderstand the art and the function of
humor, particularly the rich tradition of Maine humor, which stems from Mainer
Seba Smith’s 19th century political humor.
And so I cannot renew my membership. After weighing
the considerable benefits that the Maine public and I receive from MPBN, my
desire that you continue to do all the good programming that you do, and the
many fine reasons to continue my support, against my feelings regarding your
treatment of Robert Skoglund, I find that I just cannot be a part of your
organization at this time. I do hope that you will try to make it right with
Skoglund, to apologize for the shabby way you have treated him, and to
recognize what he and his show have done for MPBN for nearly 30 years. I also
look forward to the possibility of renewing my membership in the future.
Sincerely,
Jeff T****
Cc: Charles Beck, James Dowe
++
When they [MPBN] came out with Experience- the glossy **g- I decided that they don't need my little bit. They have it in their hands to be of the people but they have obviously chosen to be of the corporate world. For Peace and Justice S****n St***** P*****re *** C****es *t. #**8 P***la*d,ME 04***
++
I wonder what voice members of mpbn have. Any choice in what shows are aired? Any choice of who runs the organization? I'd like to make a motion to dump dowe & beck, and bring back HUMBLE. S****** R. B***i*ler 2*5 S****k Hill L**, ME. 04***
++
Please add my name to the petition in support of Robert Skoglund [suspending all funding to MPBN]I am also cacelling my membership with them until they reinstate The Humble Farmer to the airways. M*** G**** P* B** *** 1*50 ******* Road S**********, ME 04*** ++
I would like to add my name to your petition. I am (was) a paying member of MPBN. First they were silent over the firing of Bob Edwards, now they censure the Humble Farmer and become the pabulum of political correctness. This is the Last Straw. I have demanded a refund. Free speech is at risk. Please include me in! P**** ********** 5*4 G****** R*** W**slow, ME 04***
++ Would like to sign the legislative petition to cut funding for MPBN because of their censorship of Skogland
M**** B******* P.O.Box 4** N*****gew**k, ME 04*** ++ Please re-instate the "humble farmer program on Friday evenings. It has long been enjoyed by many of my family and friends. We feel like this is a huge loss and you have made an enormous error. His program is typical of humor from our State of which we feel so proud... We feel that you are trying to take the personality away from our state and its citizens. This station is a public station and when you want to remove a program so valuable as this that the citizens should have a say. Is this not a free country?? B**** D**** and S***** D***** 2** A***sta R**d W**sl*w, ME 04***
++ Add my name to those opposing the firing of Humble and the action of Charles Beck and James Dow.....they should be fired, not Humble. His show was a pleasure to thousands of Maine residents and visitors. R*** C******n 17 O** S***h R**d South B**w***, Maine 0**** ++ D**** M P**e, 73 F****al St. W*****set ME 04**8 Let Humble speak...Are you afraid to offend someone? How ridiculous! DP
++ Please add my name to the letter requesting review or suspension of public funds to aine Public Radio until they retract any form of restrictions on opinions voiced in a responsible manor. R*** G****** 7*7 G*****er RD J****son, ME.
++ I support any means to block the censure of The Humble Farmer's freedom of expression.
Ch***** B******t 9 M***** Ave. W*********, ME 0**01
++
I disagree with the MPBN (PBS) decision to take the action it did with 'The Humble Farmer'. For this and other reasons I shall drop my annual membership of Maine Public Radio...and Maine Public TV is not far behind!! Censorship is wrong. Let the listeners make their own decisions about programming. H***** M. F******* 1 R****** R*** G*****, ME 0403* ++
P**** G***** 97 M******** Rd. P*lmyra ME 04*** They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin ++
If it's not too late,please add my name, as an MPBN member, to your letter asking that state funds be withheld because of the censorship of the Humble Farmer. N****n B**** 4* B***** Head L**** Road V*******en,M***e 04**3 ++
I support Humble and Free Speech. I do not believe public funds should support Broadcasting which denies free speech. RETRIAL YES! S**** S***de P***ore 6*5 C***ress St. #**8 P**tland,ME 04**1 ++ Sight-unseen, D*vid and I are signing onto your letter to Gov. Baldacci, recommending a cut-off of state funding for MPBN, based on their "firing" Robert Skoglund, aka the humble Farmer, from his Friday night gig. J*** H** and D***d B***ht D**mo*, ME
++ Yes!! Sign me up [for the petition to suspend State funding to Maine Public Broadcasting]. For years, I have been griping about their ignoring their listeners' and viewers' opinions and desires. Please add my name to your list and keep me informed about how I may help. I live near the capital and would be willing to help provide a physical presence when it is needed. Thank you for all you do for the people of Maine! Sincerely, Br***** A. G***l**g Loyal Listener and Viewer of the Public Airways
This is why I've dropped my MPBN membership, after being one of the Founding Members and supporting public TV and radio since the early 1970s, in Maine since 1982. One by one, every good program has been dropped, replaced with drivel like "car talk" and "Whadya know." Complaints have been answered with a claim that, basically, my tastes represent a minority of their listening audience. So be it - I've taken my ears and money elsewhere.
I do wish you well - but doubt the petition will have much impact. They rarely do - decisions are announced and policymakers almost never look backwards to see if what they did was the right thing or not.
– B** N***on, W**erv**le
++
It saddens me so much that MPBN's board cares so little, or understands so little, the meaning of freedom. It is just the last straw for me in what has happened to this once great country. M**t M***er 8*2 Ba** H**l Rd. W**ls, ME 04**0 ++ To whom it may concern, we have two names to add to the petition [to suspend all State funding to Maine Public Broadcasting]. K***** H**n 1** Gr**t St P**tl**d, ME 04**1
K****th H**n 1** Gr*** St. P**tl**d, ME 04**1 ++
Dear Humble, Please add our names to the petition to discontinue funding for Maine Public Radio.. R*** and C***** Wh*l*n, 414 Al**** L**e Road, H***, Maine 04*** Good luck, Rick and Carole Whelan
++ Sure, add me to the list. The interesting thing about this whole affair is that in the case of the perceived anti-Bush comment, I understand that Mr Bush was never mentioned. Bizaah, as they say here. Humble should have said that of course he was referring to Saddam in Gulf War I, in order to assist in shaping the "correct" set of perceptions.
I think I'll spend more time listening to radio over the Internet, and less over the MPBN controlled air for now.
St**** Sid**n 22 Bl**k P**nt R**d ** Sc**bor**gh, ME 040**
++
Sign me on to such a petition or complaint regarding the muzzling of TheHumbleFarmer. His unique style, entertainment, thought provoking commentary and format on the airways is sadly missed. Though I value the public broadcasting model, I know I will be withdrawing my future financial and volunteer support to MPBN due to this issue and the suspicion that this type of muzzling happens to others behind the scenes within that corporation.
I am shocked to hear this nonsense regarding removing the Humble Farmer from public radio. Robert Skoglund is a national treasure, and as such we should count ourselves lucky to have him on the air. As I understand it, public radio exists just for this kind of show. So if MPBN won't have Robert one wonders, what would they have instead?
Sincerely, G**** E******
++ Sign me up for the Petition to State Funding to Maine Public Broadcasting Network. Th***s H. M***e III P.O. Box ** Bi**ha*, Maine 04***-00** ++
The action taken by MPBN is reprehensible and indefensible. This country is steadily heading down the path of eventual dictatorship. Parallels can be drawn with the end of the Roman Republic. I would sign a petition to suspend funding for Maine Public Radio if MPBN does not revoke its censorship of the Humble Farmer.
Their censorship of him is illegal and unconstitutional.
Sincerely,
P*** N***osis Associate Professor of P*ys**s U********* of S******n Maine
++
i think mpbn radios funding should be removed until some of the more pigheaded managment is replaced by more reasonable people. S** a**en * hog heaven dr. w******, me 04*** ++
if fascists have taken over mpbn radio i think funding should be taken away from them until a democratic freedom orientated managment can be installed. sign me up! **** a*len 309 l****n p*** rd. w*ndsor, me 04***
++
Dear Governor Baldacci,
Seeing that "The Humble Farmer" has been removed from the MPBN Program Schedule, I am forced to withdraw my membership and oppose any effort by the state and federal government to fund what is becoming outright censorship by select persons in the MPBN, until Mr Dowd and Mr Beck are removed from Public Broadcasting in the Stat of Maine.
My elevated membership renewal, while withheld in part over this repeated effort to stymie this voice and his programming, is hereby canceled and my estate plans that included MPBN are revoked.
If the management of MPBN is interested in doing something for the people, it should stand by the United States while its image is being tarnished by an Administration that has little regard for the law or truth. It is only fitting that the Bush Administration and the Administration of MPBN be held to the same light and scrutiny. Sincerely, L**** W. M**es L*wiston, ME ++
I'm sure the letter is written by now, but if it helps, my 4 year old wants to know why humble doesn't tell funny stories anymore.... and so do I.
M*** E. P***ira 1*8 W****ngton Ave*** Po***and, ME 04**1 ++
E**** R*****on po box *** Sc*****ough, ME 040**70
[Petition to suspend State funding to Maine Public Broadcasting is] signed: sick of exploitation of my air waves waves by people who have enough money to think they should be able to tell me what to think. they already control all of the "commercial" radio channels so I guess they need to own the few public and community spots on the dial and we know they would like to squash the low power outlets too. well, you get the idea but you better not say it on the radio. maybe the fcc could put you in jail if you did. turn off that damn radio, I can't hear my cell phone over all the traffic noise. we need those fm frequencies for more cell phone channels anyhow.
++
I am a long-time and enthusiastic supporter of MPBN - for both its television and radio programming. But I, too, am incensed at the muzzling of the Humble Farmer as an act of cowardice in anticipation - or probably even as a result of - political pressure.
P**** B. J*****n 85 M***** St***t, #**1 Po******d, ME 04***
++ I've Bcc'd this to 46 people. I hope you hear from some of them. I've listened to the Humble Farmer a few times and really enjoy his program. I was floored to see he'd been removed from his position. I'll sign the petition to end funding for MPBN.
R** Du*** 5** O** B*** R**d B**ns**ck, ME 04**1 ++
Has MPBN delivered their codified rules for program content to Garrison Keillor for his signature? He has certainly been known to embellish his entertainment (as opposed to news or commentary) program with scathing quips about the Bush administration and politicians in general. By the way, doesn't such commentary - when it elicits uproarious laughter - constitute "entertainment"?
G*** H****nb****m P***l**d
++
for one am sick to death of the loss our right to speak. Humble, though far from it, always makes us think. Bahstids… K***n H******n 2* V***er St #* P***l**d, ME 04*** ++
I'd sign a letter urging withholding Maine tax money from MPBN until they rescind the gag order on opinions or "controversy." M*** B****in 5* C**ss R**d *u*ry ME 04*8* ++
I have known Robert Skoglund for 30 years, and his humor is as political as a petunia. He's a humorist, not a politician.
Maine Public Broadcasting demanding that he sign statement relinquishing his freedom of speech is not worthy of an agency receiving public funding. Please note my objections of "business as usual."
Sincerely, L*** F. N**ls*on
3*2 Hi****** Tr. P.O. Box 4*0 East B**thb*y, E 04**4
++ No More donations from my family to MPBN. W***er Ho*man
++ Dear Humble and friends, I enjoyed listening to your show on many a Friday night when I commuted from University of New England to home for the weekend during my years at college. (Physical Therapy 04) One night, I stopped to watch a moose on the back road, opened the window, turned up the music, and the moose decided he kind of liked what the humble farmer had chosen and came closer to the car. Think the radio station may play what it chooses, but only if it is not being supported by my tax dollar. E*BH***dg**n p.o. Box *98 B**hel, ME
++
No radio Censorship, not with MY TAX DOLLARS! Gov. Baldacci: Defund MPBN until they can agree to follow the US Constitution...
P*** Sh**idan 5* D****y Hi*l Road M**r*e, ME 04*** ++
Ar**** H**vey, 1*9* Main St, H***fo*d, Maine 04*20 If MPBN applied their "policy" to the Capitol Steps, Garrison Keillor or Click and Clack, they would be laughed clean out of the fraternity. This is mindless petty bureaucracy at work.
On another topic, the federal law governing organic foods was recently amended by lobbyists hired by some manufacturers. This will allow synthetic ingredients to be added to organic-labeled foods. If this is important to you, please visit my website, www.RestoreOrganicLaw.org
++
My wife and I are interested in signing the letter mentioned above to be sent to state officials [suspending all fudning to Maine Public Broadcasting]. How can we do that? E*** M****lsen – Wa***boro
++ J*** ****ela 2*9 Co*e*l Road Fa**fi**d, ME 049**
The Humble Farmer is not optional, he is mandatory.
++
L** Le*** *0 W. W***ngton rd. Washi*ton, ME 04*** ++ I hollered so loud when I heard the qoute they used in the brief, taken out of context of course, that I frightened my children and brought my neighbor running to see if I was OK. I can't believe this! I thought this was the last stronghold of truth left on my radio dial. l**
++
++ Dear Humble Farmer-- as summer residents of of B**** H*** P*** from A****** we want you to know our Friday nites on MPR are sad and lonely without your humor and choices of good jazz. Come back to us soon--we just missed you at the Common Ground Fair so had to communicate with you via E-mail. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR???!!!! A***** & L** C*v**lo, P*******, AZ.
++
Dear Humble,
I am writing to say that I am appalled at the censorship of the Humble Farmer radio show and subsequent dismissal! We should NEVER be apologists for fascism and there is no place for MPBN in this state if they continue down this track. The Excecutive Direcor, Mr. Dow should be fired! We have been long time contributors to this important radio format. Not Any More! Please fix this! M****** D******* * O***** A**.. C**** E********, ME. 04***
++
To: MPBN Contact me again when and if you reinstate Bob Skoglund's program.
R************** H*****@adelphia.net ++ Well thats taken care of... Glad
to see from your website there are a lot of Public Radio listeners
angry at their disrespect for civil rights inc. free speech anyone less
'umble than yourself would have them in Federal Court by now I'd guess. Some
of us (well myself and this W**********/Piscataquis County household) no
longer listen to Friday programs on Public Radio and if they think they
are getting money out of US.. they can forget it. I wonder if they
were curious as to why their latest fund raiser seemed to take a
while.. could be there are not a great number of happy listeners? (Your
case is not the only reason the #@$%@@ pi*s people off.. a couple
of years ago was it an 'announcer' 'Laura' ( a very knowledgable
person in the classical music area) who apparently was encouraged to
leave as a result of a conflict with an upper manager? or how about the
'promise' to provide more music in the afternoons? Basically one hour
per day weekdays is not much (more on Fridays yes true) so.. how many
are going to show up to the next public hearing? Could be a number of
us. If the roads are open I might get outside myself!! Congrats on not
signing away your civil rights on their @#$%#$ form.
best of luck ed aka d** of 'd*********/W********* ME 04*4* (Historian/Writer/Boats B****t and R*******!) ++
Dear Humble Farmer, I
don't know what's going on. You were the best thing on MPBN, and one of
things that I loved about Maine. I've let MPBN to take me off of their
call list, as I won't be contributing any more. Please don't stop talking. Humbly, M M Falmouth
++
Mr. Beck,
I sent the following message on August 10, almost a
month ago. I thought I would get some response, at least some sign that
you had read my message, but I have heard nothing. I thought of this
today, because I listened to "Wait, wait, don't tell me" which was
full of jokes about Republicans and their current difficulties, and then to
"Prairie Home Companion" which was also full of jokes about
Republicans and their current woes. It made me wonder again if MPBN
has more rigorous standards than its parent company, NPR, and if so,
how you can play these programs which mix politics and entertainment. Or, alternatively, why Mr. Skoglund was singled out for censorship.
Life's Not the Way It Should Be, Anymore. I only met Robert Karl Skogland once, at the Center Theater in Dover-Foxcroft, but I listened to him for over fifteen years on Maine Public radio. Every Friday night, for an hour, Mr. Skogland, The humble farmer, entertained me with really good mainstream jazz, which you don't hear too much of anymore, and, more importantly, his own brand of Downeast humor, which you don't hear any of, at least on the radio
Last night, he was gone. No, thank goodness, he didn't die, although there may be some that wish he did. He didn't move away, 'cause he loves this state too much to do so. And he didn't run out of material, 'cause you can't make this stuff up; his friends told him stories and he just told us.
No, humble's unpardonable sin was to stand up for the right to say things over the radio that some might construe as political. In the end, Mr. Skogland wouldn't -- nay, couldn't -- sign a set of guidelines that included detailed descriptions of what is and isn't acceptable on-the-air banter. It's another example of micro-management by bureaucrats who are either afraid for their overpaid jobs, or have been bought and paid for by contributions from politicians of the opposite ilk. When humble related the tale of TABOR-like legislation in another state, he was reprimanded for it. When he rattled off some of the characteristics of history's most infamous madman, some thought he was talking about our current fearless leader (fearless when he though the mission was accomplished, of course. What did you do in the war, daddy?). Well, I rarely contributed to MPBN anyway, even though I wanted to. I'm one of the unlucky ones who is a one hundred percent disabled veteran and has to check the 'under $15,000' category often found in nosy applications. But now, I wouldn't think of giving them a dime. Not that they care -- my $35 is made up a thousand-fold by some millionaire mucky-muck who likes the current administration, 'cause it's helping him get even richer. The administration doesn't need to be criticized, or even ridiculed. It needs to be impeached and imprisoned for their crimes against the people who didn't elect them. One of those crimes is our loss of The humble Farmer. Maine will never be the same. R*** M**** C*r***a
+
Humble,
here's my final
question:
i wonder, how many others,
like me,
started turning off MPBN after the
Humble Farmer
was put in a stall like a bad
animal...
and how many, like me, after
turning it off,
made it a habit...
and of those, how many, like me,
don't miss any of it,
except the "old shows' like
Humble's...
and how many more, like me, realize
that shutting it off,
does not mean shutting off the
world,
but shutting off the constant
drones of fear and
negativity that has become the news
business, or business of news...
and how many, like me, see the
infighting, and the silencing
of popular shows, as the projected
end result
of the tactics to minimize free
speech, and chuckle at how
well they work, and how very very silly and disappointing the
adult world of politics and big
business really is...
andi
wonder, how many, like me, realize that with all the
media choices available, that they
may never turn mpbn on again,
and will still be overwhelmed with
many many more
choices, many better
choices...
realizing then, that these
management types, and 'decider' mentalities,
don't choose for me or for us, the
consumer is the chooser,
Partisan Censorship on Public Broadcasting. The humble Farmer
great letter public radio needs to be returned to the public; it isn't Beck or the board's perogative to usurp it for their own agenda
+
Humble
As I wrote you before, the wife and I have completely dropped our contributions
to MPBN ( we were pretty big contributors). I emailed
them at the time to let them know why. Never got a reply.
I know I'm a conspiracy theorist, but do you suppose the plan is to make all us
liberal types so disgusted with public broadcasting that we withdraw our
support, thus hastening the demise of what was once the only outlet for free
opinion and genuine news?
Sigh.....
Yr fthflsvt
D***** P*****
++
Dear Friends,
I thank you for your invitation to
browse and purchase items from your website, but there is an unpleasant task I
must perform.
Since Maine Public Broadcasting
Network has chosen to abandon its responsibility to it membership by the firing
of the Humble Farmer aka Robert Skoglund, I am forced to abandon all support of
the management of MPBN. This unfortunately must include Public Radio Market,
until such time as current radio management leaves MPBN and or the Humble
Farmer returns.
It is my perception that MPBN radio
management, prefers to silence one who has been on their network for most of
the station's existence and regularly comments about issues and life situations
for better than 25 years, while mirrors my time as a listener. Perhaps age
discrimination is behind it as younger hosts are apparently filling in that
time slot. Perhaps it is over a request to receive a small sum for each program
that is smaller than a Family Membership of $35, where until this time has been
free of charge.
It baffles me that Humble would be
silenced, while they continue to air a program, in what could be a supper hour
in many households, that was very descriptive of an incestuous sex and
regularly contains obscene in language and content, when young children are
likely to be listening. MPBN defending Family Values?
What family could that be? Osmond or Osborne? I
suppose with the appearance of absolute power, standards could slip in order to
gain an objective eyed for many years and who could effectively challenge.
If I find another public radio
station in another state, I will certainly support them as well as return to
your website for the quality items I like and desire to own.
Until such time, please remove my
name from your listing.
Sincerely,
L W. M
+
Hum,
Did you see political cartoon [on the Editorial Page]in Maine Sunday Telegram 8/12/2007 ?
The issue of MPBN and the Humble Farmer continues to be misrepresented.I didn't read all of the letters on the Free Humble web site but the ones I
read made no mention of Beck's call to you regarding your robo
call. kb
We
have been active IN pointing out to MPBN the inconsistency of designing for
Maine a dumbed down
policy for Maine creative talent.
They would NOT DARE apply it to Garrison
Keillor or any national show that
they buy and broadcast to us!
No censorship test for the national public
radio hosts, only Mainers! Thus they seem to feel the need to treat both us
and their talent as children! The Beck and Dowe censorship team first wrote
a "policy" that appied to one person, sent it to the one person they wished to SECRETLY
silence, in the name of political
neutrality. They bullied him in the same letter, threatening him wth firing
if he talked to members or the public about his plight. Shame on them!
The letter was silly enough to say that he was forbiden to say or "be
perceived" to say or have said certain controversial expression. The
"perceived" repeated seven times made it a tour de farce effort at
censorship.
Next after allegedly listening to their critics at a Board
meeting in Lewiston ( they kept mum and answered no questions) they issued a
set of rules, the key section of which is one sentencee, forbidding
"derogatory"-expression on any subject whatsoever! Their Board went along
with it, as Boards go along with big corporate CEOS who choose their own
Board rather than vice versa. I add it here. Read it and weep: The
Censorship Sentence:
QUOTE: "Derogatory and Slanderous
Content On-air personnel should not make or include any derogatory remarks or
content directed at specific individuals or groups of persons or entity, or
make or include any slanderous statements that make a false claim, with or
without malicious intent, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that
may harm the reputation, character or good name of an individual, business,
product, group, government or nation."- UNQUOTE
Do they have no
understanding they are stifling what has been hailed as a national treasure?
What kind of humorist COULD sign it? Nothng derogatory about nation or government?
Which nationalistic or semi totalitarian state do we inhabit, Turkey or
fatwa-issuing Iran? IT's UN A-MAIN-E-CAN!
MPBN is UN-AMERICAN!
MPBN
wants a humorist with no edge: "No Mark Twains need apply in Maine. Keep it
all bland; introduce no bite; shut up and play music and be careful of
contexts even there". He was trying for awhile to please his bullying
inferiors, whose new rule muzzled him.
Please put MPBN back on track.
Humble has been there 28 years. MPBN officials are off the track, not
Humble. Told long ago they could cure their perceived problem with a
disclaimer, they refused to do
so. In secrecy at first, they now have imposed full blown functional
fascist censorship IN PUBLIC! But not in any of their publications; they are
silent! No in-house discussion needed.... by an allegedly member run and
responsive instittution? No thanks! Humble refused to humble himself in
silence anymore, and courageously refused to sign the above rule.
Maine needs no laughing-stock censors. The Dowe-Beck
Board have gone to an intolerable extreme. Please do your duty for Maine.
Curb them! Call them to
change or take them off ALL STATE TAXPAYER support. Remove Maine PUBLIC from
their CHARTER name, they have forfeited
it. MPBN requires your urgent action.
Thank
you.
Governor
John Baldacci State House Station # 1 Augusta, Maine
Dear
Cc: Congressman Tom Allen. Congressman Mike Michaud, Attorney
General Steven Rowe, Senate President Beth Edmonds and Speaker of the House
Glenn Cummings
Dear Governor Baldacci:
In light of the
extraordinary disregard by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network of
citizens' freedom of expression, over 100 Maine taxpayers have joined
together to ask that you immediately introduce legislation to the current
session of the Maine Legislature to suspend all Maine government funding to
the Maine Public Broadcasting Network
Chief Executive Officer James Dowe
has fired Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer. This action is an arrogant
abandonment and neglect of cherished freedoms: the right to free speech and
the right to free expression. The State of Maine should not provide funds
for organizations that do not honor fundamental civil liberties, including
the right to free speech. We further ask that this suspension be in place
until the Maine Public Broadcasting Network management rescinds the
politically motivated censorship imposed on Robert Skoglund, The humble
Farmer and other MPBN creative talent through the station's demand that
performers sign guidelines restricting statements about a wide range of
topics, including those considered political or controversial. Congressman
Tom Allen, Congressman Mike Michaud, Attorney General Steven Rowe, Speaker
of the Maine House Glenn Cummings and President of the Maine Senate Beth
Edmonds have also received copies of this letter. Please acknowledge and
respect the wishes of Maine people who collectively and individually support
this request for suspension of support for MPBN.
Thank
you
Sincerely, Signed and dated: June 19th 2007,
Rockland, Maine
Martha J. Clarke, 25 Suffolk St, #4, Rockland ME
04841
Gretchen and Jeremy Cuffe, 13 Clarendon St, Rockland, ME 04841
Diane H, Messer 64 Liberty Inn Rd, Liberty ME 04963
Peter
Haviland, 51 Maple Juice Lane, Cushing, ME 04563
Lionel Libsen 6 Blake St
Camden ME 04843
Mary Ann Bostwick, 155 Moody's Island Rd, Nobleboro, ME,
04555
Laz Perpelitt, 28 Mountain St, Camden ME 04843
Steve
Melchiskey, 26 Curtis Ave, Camden ME 04843
Carmen Lavertu 43 Beechwood
St. Thomaston ME 04861
Howard R Mc Cartney, 16 Mussle Ridge Lane Owls
Head ME 04154
Stanly S Levy PO Box 265 Tenants Harbor ME,
04860
++
Dear MPBN,
The Humble Farmer has in
the past year done what he has done for the nearly twenty seven years I have
been listening to MPR/MPBN, starting in the fall of 1979. He has commented on
many things over these years offering insight and /or humor to the personal,
local and more widespread issues that we have faced. The will of the people
spoke and you have decided to take a position that is tantamount to
retaliation. At one time listening regularly for more
than 17 programs, when my schedule and family time permitted. In that time my
contributions, small as they are, increased by 8 times and was expecting to more
than double that this year, but you went in defense of politics and failed
policies and defending the bloodshed that has been the result of following the
lead of someone who has more gall than common sense and who has injured this
nation by sheer stupidity and ignorance of the task at hand.
Living in Lewiston as I do, I wonder what you would do if I protested on
your doorstep about your steadfastness to keep this status quo and keep the same
kind of politics in power that has been so tragic for so many Americans and
their families, as you sit in you zone of comfort and perceived power to
override the needs and will of this nation.
We
realize that there are people with only the one goal to destroy us. More
sensibly handled, we as a nation would have had a better position to resolve the
issues with less bloodshed, but clearly the mind set was an eye for an eye,
killing as many as necessary to get those few who were responsible. A lesson we
all learned as kids is, if you want to catch big fish, you don't abandon your
major effort to focus on fish that are in a bucket and less likely to escape.
Bin Laden is still out there. When we had a chance to bring a mountain down upon
him and his immediate followers, we picked up our gear and went looking for
other fish. Clearly the powers to be at this moment are praying for Bin Laden to
just give up or do something as stupid as the American political powers have
been doing for 6 years, ie one bone head move after another.
In light of your promoting the a "disclaimered" program of incest,
pornography during the family dinner hour since this war began, you show a lack
of ethics for a family institution by falling on your own sword and protecting
bloodied hands and casting aside the Humble Farmer.
Self promotion is something you have always done and Humble's promotion,
we have always seen as promoting MPR/MPBN as well. Perhaps you all need to
examine your motives and your spin on the past ten years or so of preference not
to allow Humble to work for free or even the paltry sum he recently asked for.
I don't know your board very well, but you have
given me reason to investigate the personal reasons you want to curtail openness
at MPBN. Clearly you don't understand that I am no longer a member, which is
entirely your fault. when MPBN tends to and mends its own self inflicted
injuries, then Humble will be again on my cosponsored air time, with the old
theme as well. Until then, the shadow of MPBN will be as that of Fox, with a
hint of hostility towards rational thinking.
Sincerely,
L W. M Lewiston, ME Former MPBN member
++
Mr. Beck, I have been a paying member of MPBN for the 17 years I have lived in Maine. However, I have decided to terminate my membership effective immediately. This is for one reason only: your forcing Robert Skoglund,the Humble Farmer, off the air. Robert Skoglund has offered a personal, idiosyncratic, friendly and welcoming program for many years. His "rants" have been an essential part of his program. How anyone could take offense is beyond me. I have heard more incendiary, political pieces on "Prairie Home Companion", which is not, to my knowledge,restricted in the way Mr. Skoglund has been.
At worst, your capitulation is an appeasement of right-wing ideologues.At best, it is a neutral, safe, homogenization, a statement thatentertainment should have no values attached. Either way, it makes your programming something I cannot support. When the Humble Farmer returns to MPBN, rants and all, I will support the station again. Until then, Sincerely, D*****M** ++
Free Speech on the Public Airwaves
Justin Goldberg
National Coalition Against Censorship
Washington, DC
Robert Skoglund - "The humble Farmer," as listeners know him - was right not to accept the new guidelines imposed by MPBN station management last month to severely limit what he could say on the air. That this principled gesture cost him his show, ending his nearly 30-year tenure on Maine's public airwaves, ought to raise red flags for anyone who cares about free speech. MPBN's own mission statement expresses a commitment to "fostering an informed and active citizenry," and to "providing a forum for a broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives." How can these noble goals comport with speech guidelines that instruct the station's creative staff not to "include content or showcase views and opinions on sensitive or controversial issues?"
As The humble Farmer recognized, such a vague and broad category of forbidden speech would constrict his creative freedom, acting as a constant reminder to choose his words carefully. He refused to sign the guidelines on principle, knowing he would probably be fired, setting an example for his colleagues and standing up for his listeners, who deserve public radio programming that truly keeps them "informed and active" and includes a "broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives." MPBN's leadership maintains that the station offers a clearly designated forum for political discussion, and that for the rest of the day, its hosts are meant only to "entertain." Clearly, this scheme leaves no room for a Maine original like Skoglund, whose humor and insight ranged over many issues, and - like all good humor - sometimes tested the limits. MPBN says it's only trying to achieve "balance" in its programming, but the idea of "balance" is meaningless in this context. Humor and entertainment can't be "balanced," and commentary is worthless if it's always reduced to "on the one hand and on the other." The attempt to achieve balance comes at the expense of insight, creativity, and freedom, and will produce only bland, inconsequential programming. Nothing is more "balanced," after all, than silence.
++
hi humble i have cancelled my membership to maine public radio. i was giving them $10/week or $520 per year. i emailed dow, beck and moron about my decision which was based on 3 things. 1. senselessly letting you go and the freedom of speech issue. 2. deleting the last remnant of old jazz from mpbn. they used to have 4 or 5 shows that played your jazz and now they are down to 10 minutes on "down memory lane" the only good jazz show they have left is marian and somebody with money must have sponsored that one and got it back after so many years of it being gone. 3. letting a person who is tone deaf monopolize 7% of their air time (s*** w****) "toneless by ten" is the biggest collection of folks who sing in a monotone or who can't sing at all anywhere on the dial and they let that dummy have 7 hours of air time and won't let you have one. i support the concept of public radio and i still listen but they're not getting any more money for such blatant b******t. i get my 20's and 30's fix on the computer now. i thot maybe ** ************, mr dow would make things better after the last disastrous president they hired but he's trying to turn the place into bangor savings bank and has gone around the building sanitizing all offices and cubicles. He told one staff to take down her marilyn monroe -pictures -of her face only-and was told to take it down as it was in bad taste.she didn't as she don't think they are competent to judge taste - good or bad. mngment told her your demise hasn't made any dent in their funding. while mpbn may not have suffered monetarily their fundraisers sure have from the many folks who wouldn't renew since they removed you from the air. They are paid commission on folks who renew with a credit card and one staffer said it cost him over $100 this month alone.. multiply that by the 10 people who do the same thing. believe it or not, most of the folks who listened to your show are high-rollers who gave mpbn $120 or more dollars
per year. but mpbn steadfastly replies that your deletion didn't hurt
them financially and, they usually do it with a smirk on their face
just to justify their rightness. One staff was threatened with firing as she told her boss she had been letting you know the score of emails in favor and against how they were treating you. she was told that this was "secret proprietary data" and by her signing the thing you won't sign every night, she promised not to reveal these secrets. she pointed out to her boss that he was reading that paragraph wrong and that threat blew over. so, stiff upper lip. it sounds like you are weathering the storm and maybe marsha is right. women usually are. keep up your good work. probably won't make it down to your place this year as I am too busy dancing with my new man.
M Whiting
+
COMMENTARY
Portland Press Herald August 6, 2007
'Farmer' flap raises question about public radio's mission
Is its goal still to offer an alternative to commercial broadcasting that engages citizens?
— I love listening to jazz and public broadcasting, even more than I love homemade rum-buttered pecan ice cream. Ask anyone who knows me well.
Recently, the Maine Public Radio show, "The Humble Farmer," hosted by Robert Skoglund, was canceled after being on the air for almost three decades. The broadcast was a prominent part of Maine's jazz programming.
Some of Skoglund's asides and wry observations escaped me, not being a native "Mainah," but he certainly had a keen sense of what good traditional jazz is and a flair for mixing different artists.
Why was the show canceled? There lies a serious question. Understanding its demise is made more difficult by various conflicting reports.
Yet, some things are clear. Skoglund had been warned by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network about on-air opinions about companies, commercial products or organizations, and especially mentioning his affiliation with MPBN "without prior approval."
Part of the rationale behind these repeated warnings was that he was there only to provide humor and music to the listening public.
On the surface, this almost sounds like a reasonable request, especially since he was being paid the grand total of $30 per broadcast.
But shouldn't we be recognizing some red flags here?
After all, Skoglund was critical of the war in Iraq and the unsuccessful Maine Taxpayer Bill of Rights referendum.
Skoglund publicly stated that his asides were "just one man's reflections on life and the news," not unlike the tremendously popular "Prairie Home Companion" show from National Public Radio.
Letters from MPBN to Skoglund appeared on the Village Soup Web site and showed an administrative problem with his apparent unwillingness to comply with "our need to maintain political neutrality in our programming, real or perceived."
I've already indicated that many of the Humble Farmer's reflections weren't my cup of tea, but what is up with this political neutrality business?
We all have opinions, some of them very strong and even violent. Yes, I'm an opinion columnist. I write about what I believe in, yet I am always open to listening to other beliefs. But my 25 years in the journalism business tell me there is no such thing as totally fair and balanced.
It's a great goal, but perhaps an unrealistic one. Indeed the worst kind of bias to me is the bias of omission, the things that media leave out in a kind of veiled censorship.
I have read some of the most wrong-headed, mean-spirited, off-point e-mails imaginable in response to my writings.
One guy actually ran across a busy intersection, missing his bus, just to tell me what a narrow-minded idiot he thought I was.
I still contend he mistook me for some other columnist, but I also respect everyone's right to their opinions and thoughts, even if I don't agree with them.
In his book, "NPR: The Trials and Triumphs of National Public Radio," Michael P. McCauley, a former radio journalist and associate professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine, ponders the question of whether public broadcasting has lived up to its original goal.
That goal was to be a distinct alternative to commercial broadcasting, whereby listeners are treated as citizens rather than consumers.
Are they now more concerned about the "corporation" in public broadcasting, instead of being advocates of social change and serving a community that has been consistently ignored by commercial broadcasting?
I hope not, but it will always be up to the public to let them know.
Leigh Donaldson is a Portland writer. He can be contacted at:
leighd@lycos.com
To the Editor
Portland Press Herald
Dear Editor:
Maine Public Radio is in the midst of its summer membership campaign. Station personnel have likened the broadcaster to a public library. But if other public radio stations fit this metaphor, MPBN does not. Weeks ago MPBN canceled The Humble Farmer, a popular program of music and Maine humor that had aired for nearly thirty years. It did this because Robert Skoglund, the show's creator, would not sign a promise forbidding on-air personnel from expressing views or including content about politics or other matters that are controversial. Evidently all MBPN personnel are now required to sign this pledge. Violations are to be determined solely by MPBN's unelected management.
What public library requires its librarians to take an oath of silence? Or excludes books with political viewpoints from its collection? We urge other long-time supporters of MPBN to join us in withholding contributions until this new policy is abandoned.
Sincerely yours,
Scott and Kris Gould
Cape Elizabeth, ME
Commentary Maine Public Radio: Just Say No to James Dowe by Mike Connelly Coastal Journal contributor July 21, 2007
If Public Radio is not different, why have it all? Ah! Public Radio *is* supposed to be different, and it bears thinking about those differences.
Commercial radio exists to make money, which is accomplished through the sale of advertising. To do this, commercial radio generates programming it thinks will find an audience, measures the size of that audience, and can then sell advertising time.
Why then should there be such a thing as Public Radio? First and foremost, Public Radio exists to serve an audience that is not, and cannot, be served through the commercial method. Public Radio is like our system of streets and roads and highways. We need them, we use them every day, but the market can’t produce them. So it is especially worrisome when those in charge of a public radio station abuse their public trust and fail to meet the mandate that saw the need for Public Radio in the first place.
The recent cancellation of Robert Skoglund’s popular radio program, The humble Farmer, is an ominous precedent. A program mostly of music, interspersed with chit-chat, jokes, commentary and wry observations, The humble Farmer has been a cornerstone of MPBN’s jazz programming for nearly three decades. A recognizably-Maine voice, Skoglund produced and hosted his show gratis, until recently, when he began to receive the princely sum of $30 per show largely to defray his expenses. Whatever motivations beyond entertainment one might attribute to Skoglund, mercenary doesn’t make the list.
The motivations of the top brass at MPBN seem all too clear. Rooting through past newspaper articles, statements from Skoglund and quotations from station managers, it is obvious that the bosses wanted Skoglund out. Ignoring less drastic options that would easily have fulfilled their stated goals, they sacked Skoglund, and laid the blame at his doorstep.
And just why did the administrators of our public radio system, led by James Dowe, want to get rid of Skoglund? They didn’t like some of the pithy political observations many of his listeners have been enjoying for years. Getting rid of someone because of what they say is, what’s that called? Oh yes, censorship. And that is a practice not only odious in itself, but absolutely antithetical to the very heart of Public Radio.
Many programs airing on MPBN have hosts who give voice to personal points of view. The very popular host of A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor comes immediately to mind, but he is not alone on the stations of MPBN. No sanctions for him, no requirement that he sign waivers, swear he won’t say anything controversial, political, religious or dietary. He’s just there, week in, week out, doing his thing. Just like Skoglund has been doing for decades longer than Keillor.
But the MPBN brass have no stick to wave at Keillor – he’s the 800 pound gorilla, not them. Skoglund, with his smaller show, his smaller audience, was an easy target. And where does that leave us, those who depend on MPBN, those of us who need Public Radio? Where does it leave Skoglund?
It leaves us poorer, and it leaves us with the feeling that the “P” in Maine Public Broadcasting System now stands for Political. It leaves us with no choice but to keep our wallets in our pockets and our checkbooks closed when MPBN comes knocking, asking for donations, and telling us that it’s our station. If it were our station, it would not tolerate high-handed, mean-spirited, inappropriate abuse of the public trust. This week, when MPBN is knocking on our doors and pleading for money, I will be saying “no.” And I’ll be telling them why, that until Skoglund gets his apology and his show back, I can’t support a Public Radio system that doesn’t act like one. I hope you will be saying “no” as well.
MORE RANT CONTROL AND CENSORSHIP: LISTENERS WRITE ABOUT hUMBLE'S CENSORSHIP AND FIRING
+
It really s***, with a capital "S," the treatment you've received from MPBN. I frequently send gripes to them about the commercialization of the network and censorship etc., etc.. Unfortunately, their programming is better than the alternatives, so I begrudgingly continue to send support.
Your comments about G Dubya have been dead on... I'm reminded of a comment made by Steven King at a Kerry/ Edwards rally in Orono, "Nothing I've written about in any of my books is as scary as this bunch that's in office right now."
Courage, friend, and Keep on Truckin'...
A loyal fan, (always digging your taste in tunes, too) and keen on GK as well. I grew up in Wisconsin, so all that Lake Woebegone/Lutheran/Norwegian bachelor farmer stuff really rings true for me.
Best regards to you and your wife ..... +
If I ever get the chance I would like to meet you . I don't think that your show was ever a lost cause. You have allot of loyal fans that miss you. What you love you should always do, it will keep you young and will keep you thinking . The idiot executives will come and go, garbage in garbage out as they say.
+
Humble,
Smoke free I can understand, but now cat free as well? Eddie came to live with us as a kitten. I brought him home from the wharf where he was largely feral but had been befriended by someone who lived on their sailboat. He was not all that happy at first, but quickly came to understand that living indoors was safer, food was always there, and he was the King of the Roost, other than that annoying very small person-like presence that liked to grab his tail (our then baby son). Theirs was a tense standoffish relationship for many years, one that was finally cured by overtures from the cat to my son and wife, also not a cat person. What really fixed things between them was that the cat would go and sleep on my sons bed when he was sick, and would keep sleeping there until he was better, only then returning to his usual place on our bed. My British mother said that her family had cats like this when she was a child. Over all of the years and all of the cats, this is the first one like this. He waits outside the bathroom door as I shower, waits at the head of the stairs when I go to the basement, follows me down to kitchen for my breakfast, and always greets us at the door when we return home. More like a dog than a cat.
I remember when I had my show at W*** (**** Talk). They wouldn't pay me anything, telling me that I had to wait to see when the new ratings book came out to see if my ratings had gone up. I waited patiently, only to discover that the ratings book had come out months before, and that the Program Director had kept to himself that my ratings had gone up quite a bit. I politely gave my notice on the air. The fired me the day that the sales staff happened to come up with a major sponsor for the show, which meant they were about to lose big bucks. They then offered the show to the boyfriend of the Sales Manager, who happened to be a builder, and offered him $75.00 to do the show. He told them they were crazy and refused, and they ended up jamming someone else in the slot. MPBN certainly does not have a stranglehold on stupidity! We would all like to think they might learn from these mistakes, but we both know that is not true. They simply become more arrogant as the time passes.
I hope that the Almost Perfect Woman (APW) is doing well, and your summer is going along just fine, If you would, please remember me to your brother.
One last thing---I managed to make it to my 30th College Reunion this year, the first one I have ever attended. The President of the University rose to speak about the womens basketball team, about their great season, and, without ever mentioning Imus by name, the shabby way they had been treated. I thought the roar of the alumni was going to blow the roof off the dining hall!
Best regards, M*
+
Dear Humble:
Please do continue to do what is necessary to get yourself back on the air. Your program is unique in that it is the only one out there offering a Maine rural life approach to bigger or smaller topics.
The jazz music and history of jazz were always great. (The best structure feature was that sometime you didn't realize you were getting the history part of it...sort of like a talk about the guys back when!)
We're just one retired couple but we miss your show. Sorry, don't know too many folks down to Blue Hill.
With best wishes for continued success,
********************** ********** S. Gardiner, ME 04359-0275
+ :
+
Hi *****, I couldn't agree more. I think it is important to note that Humble is not a journalist and no listener could misconstrue him as such. I think there is absolutely no justification for this move. Humble humanized the station; I see this as evidence of the corporatization of the network. We are swiftly moving toward a world where opinions are prohibited.
I would also note that I used to volunteer for pledge drives but stopped as I was not permitted to count my time toward a membership. There seems to be little recognition that it takes more than cold- hard cash to maintain a public entity. R****** B*******
++
On Jul 26, 2007, at 4:58 PM, d**** o**** wrote:
...excerpt.... ......occasionally i hear a nugget that i must buy on sara willis' show on mpbn lite. ( our local maine public radio) "the pentangle" put out a spiffed up repackaging of great old tunes and bert jansch has a new one "the black swan". if it were not for her concert report i might have missed seeing kelly joe phelps at westbrooks sadly departed chickies fine diner. she's got one of the best and most varied music shows on her station. she does a great job as do the other hosts, despite the constraints they must work with. which brings me to the rant....
I must briefly rant about why i use the term "MPBN Lite" and why i am (at least temporarily... yes, charles, i want the "right" to complain) pulling the plug on my financial support of the station. I ( reluctantly) do this in protest of the recent debacle around the unceremonious cancellation of the humble farmer show. it seems.... ( please correct me if i'm wrong).... that as a result of bob skoklund pushing the limits of editorialism on his show.... that all the on- air staff were compelled in order to keep their contracts, to sign an agreement that states that they will refrain from ANY editorial commentary or "controversial content".... this to me smacks of censorship. + does this mean that we will never hear neil young sing "let's impeach the president"??? or rickie lee's "ugly man"??? i fear it does. any gutsy bruce cockburn??? or jonatha brooke's "war"...."every morning i get up and i watch the war.... watch the war... and every morning it upstages all my favorite shows..... donahue, hogans heroes....... i will tell you what is moral and what's just. cuz i want, cuz i will, cuz i can.... so will i kill.... oh say can you see, because i can...." + can she still say so on the radio???..... seems the answer is no. too controversial..... must not offend the delicate sensibilities of the membership. + when was the last time you heard a genuinely overt protest song on the radio??? it's not like there's a war on.. oh wait, i guess there is.....
it seems incongruous that NPR's dan shore can express editorial opinion, but the local folk cannot. i can understand the "logic" behind this decision .....somewhere in the realm of journalistic integrity.... yes there is a good amount of dissenting opinion to be found on mpbn... just not by the locals. or will there be a surruptitious disappearance of shows like those that might feature "radical" thought like that of noam chomsky??? have not heard him for some time..... I am also protesting MPBN's failure to adequately acknowledge my generous gifts of artwork to the mpbn auction. apparently the money that is earned (much more than the $35 minimum membership) does not count as money towards my membership. i was told by the auction folk that it would go towards my membership. as an artist i have precious little cash on hand. i find it insulting that my in kind donations do not count. bad p.r. folks.... ( my great respect for mpbn has slipped a notch)
so there it is kids, that's what's on my mind lately.
am curious as to your thoughts on this.
respectfully, d**** o****
+
curses! foiled again. I did, however, call mpbn during their membership drive and tell them that i would only be donating 50 dollars, to support car talk, while hte other 50 dollars i ahve graciously provided them for the past 20 years woudl remain in my pocket due to their shabyb treatment of "the humble farmer" I want my free CD! -p
Humble: The first two people to read this far and call by phone or email me their mailing address will get my latest CD.
Petition to Governor Baldacci that over 200 people signed- within days of humble's firing. FreeThehumbleFarmer@localnet.com Bath, ME 04530 June 14, 2007 Governor John Baldacci State House Station # 1 Augusta, Maine Dear Cc: Congressman Tom Allen. Congressman Mike Michaud, Attorney General Steven Rowe, Senate President Beth Edmonds and Speaker of the House Glenn Cummings Dear Governor Baldacci: In light of the extraordinary disregard by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network of citizens’ freedom of expression, over 100 Maine taxpayers have joined together to ask that you immediately introduce legislation to the current session of the Maine Legislature to suspend all Maine government funding to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network Chief Executive Officer James Dowe has fired Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer. This action is an arrogant abandonment and neglect of cherished freedoms: the right to free speech and the right to free expression. The State of Maine should not provide funds for organizations that do not honor fundamental civil liberties, including the right to free speech. We further ask that this suspension be in place until the Maine Public Broadcasting Network management rescinds the politically motivated censorship imposed on Robert Skoglund, The humble Farmer and other MPBN creative talent through the station’s demand that performers sign guidelines restricting statements about a wide range of topics, including those considered political or controversial. Congressman Tom Allen, Congressman Mike Michaud, Attorney General Steven Rowe, Speaker of the Maine House Glenn Cummings and President of the Maine Senate Beth Edmonds have also received copies of this letter. Please acknowledge and respect the wishes of Maine people who collectively and individually support this request for suspension of support for MPBN. Thank you. Sincerely,
Dear Humble
Just wanted to forward the text of an email I just sent to MPBN. Even though I and the wife were only occasional listeners to your show, we both enjoyed it. Best of luck in the future.
I'm sure you are heartily sick of this issue, but I felt I should let you know.
D MP Cape Elizabeth, ME
Text follows:
My wife and I have stopped donating to MPBN after being beacon supporters for a few years. I wanted to let you know why we have dropped our support.
We have supported public broadcasting for many years because we value FREE SPEECH and a FREE PRESS as critical to an enlightened and free populace. This has become even more important in the last few years with the assaults on our civil liberties by the current administration.
Your reasoning and actions regarding the humble farmer are incompatible with our understanding of public broadcastings mission.
We will be sending our contributions to WAMC, where free speech is truly valued.
Thanks for this D. Where is WAMC. Can I get my show on there? Humble
Come have supper with us when you can get up this way.
+
Dear M, etc. , I don't have a lot of time for this this week as my dad is coming in from Minnesota tomorrow, and I'm going to be doing my best to be a tour guide for the next six days. It's possible Humble and I can have a word or two at the Full Circle Fair in Blue Hill (my town) this weekend, but that's probably a bad place to have a focused chat about this. That's also my birthday, and I think we may just have a family day and skip the fair if that's what my dad wants to do. However, it WILL be a great place to exchange ideas with the WERU audience regarding this whole topic. I think there used to be a lot more overlap between listeners of MPBN and WERU/WMPG, but I think that venn diagram has narrowed considerably in the last couple of years. As you know, there are a lot of listeners to WERU who would love to have Mr. Skoglund on our station as a regular, and just leave the whole MPBN scenario in the past. It's definitely something for which I would advocate. At any rate, I know that Blue Hill is excited to have Humble at the fair.
As far as "taking back" MPBN, for lack of a better description, I think it's a lost cause, or at least so daunting that we would all have to quit our jobs and work on it full time for years. There are just too many big shots with money and influence who are so firmly entrenched at "public" radio in Maine, that insist on the Milquetoast programming , that it seems to me the best way to fight them is to simply focus on making our community radio stations, WERU and WMPG, stronger. The machinery is already in place, and that's where I put my efforts. I no longer give money to MPBN, rather I send $$ directly to Nat. Public Radio for what I listen to. As far as A Prairie Home Companion goes, it is a self sustaining entity, with budget that is bigger than any ten public radio stations combined. It is no longer an adjunct of Minnesota Public Radio, having experienced ten or twelve years ago what Humble is going through now, that is, too many know-nothing executive vice presidents and corporate nimrods with "ideas" about the show's content, and directives as to what the announcer's jaw should do. Keillor pulled the plug, formed his own production company ,and sells the show to whomever wants to buy it. There are about thirty stations other than NPR-affiliate public radio stations, which carry the show. GK and that show literally built Minnesota Public Radio into the behemoth that it is today, and in 1995 they thought they could treat their cash cow like a common milker. Not for long. As far as being of any help getting Garrison's help on anything, I wouldn't hold our breath, whether it's seeking him out as an ally in Mr. Skoglund's efforts at redress with MPBN, or regarding having Mr. Skoglund on the show next year. It's not that he wouldn't be interested in either arena, it's just that he's a monstrously busy guy, and I know that he is absolutely besieged with requests to get involved with local radio-politics, not to mention the two hundred-plus CD's and promo packets he gets EVERY DAY from musicians and the like who want to be on A Prairie Home Companion. I don't know if I can overemphasize the nature of how limited GK's time is for something beyond what he's already busy with. It's kind of awkward here, so often the first thing out of people's mouths is to find a way to "get to Garrison". Specifically, he's already aware of Humble, has the weblinks, and I think he's got the info that he needs.. I'm sure he has no clue who Charles Beck is, or anyone else at MPBN, and couldn't care less beyond the area of technical support. I thank you for listening to my comments, and I wish you all the best.
One more thing, regarding the mystery board member who called, I don't know . At least some mention was made of this at a meeting of the Supreme Soviet at MPBN.
Best of luck
++
+
Hey Humble
I'd like to get on that mailing list to recieve your script and your Whine & Snivel Newsletter. I just heard (since I was away for 6 weeks, it has taken some time to get through to me) that your show was canceled by MPBN. I will be expressing my disappointment to MPBN soon.
Looking forward to the emails.
P M p@gwi.net
+
Dear Mr. Beck,
Apparently there has been some controversy over some of Humble's comments during his show.
Certainly Maine radio does air controversial programs mid-day.
Why not simply introduce Humble Farmer as "An hour old fashioned music and opinion". Alternatively, schedule Humble mid-day if that is where you must place programs that stimulate thinking.
In any event, please do not muzzle this treasure of the airways.
Thanks for your consideration.
D C (member)
Hello, humble - Thanks for the answer which confirmed my suspicions that your program - and others I used to enjoy - were part of a systematic plan to destroy Maine Public Radio.
Do you want me to mail you that terrific article on your show from the Coastal Journal? (RSVP before I use the paper to wrap music rolls destined for Norway!)
I was demonstrating against the Iraq invasion before/after it took place, as part of the Bridges for Peace - mine being the Damariscotta span. (This is still ongoing and encompasses 30 bridges in Maine.)
About 75% of the motorists gave us thumbs up, waved, honked horns and some tossed out Hershey bars, each Sunday at Noon. (I quit after 4 months due to other obligations, like working for a living.) [The other 25% engaged in obscene gestures and words: a definite minority.]
Kevin Kelley on WCSH covered this event (early on) and said, "About 91% of the Maine people don't engage in protests for the war" (correction: 'invasion').
That was true, since most people have to work at their jobs. However, that didn't mean their sympathies were with Bush's illegal military actions.
That kind of "news reporting" caused me to turn off the local commercial channels.
It gave the impression that Mainers were pro-war.
I could cite similar false reporting for hybrid cars and other topics from our so-called Maine "news".
Public Radio was an antidote to this bias, for many years.
Let me know when your television programs air. We have basic cable for the 2-3 PBS programs we view/record on VHS. The rest of the time the cable plug is off the TV set, which runs on DVD/VHS/Hi8 decks, instead.
Keep up the good work.
Yours most cordially - D (still entirely on the Treo 'phone) Wiscasset ME 04578 USA +
Hello, humble -
I just learned of your exodus from MPBN today, via the cell 'phone browser (a Treo being 85% of my Internet activity, these days - with laptops for the "final download" every day or so).
Your program was THE REASON that I joined Maine NPR in its earlier years, and often made extra contributions beyond the pledge.
When Mr. Beck started cutting back on the good jazz (yours) and the classical music, replacing it with blather like THE SATELLITE SISTERS, I was the first to complain. His reply, "Some people like that show."
Outside of tuning you in, when I had the opportunity, I stopped supporting MPBN at that point.
Today, mp3 files from my CDs, play through this Palm Treo 650 'phone and are transmitted to FM radios in our cars/home, while my Public Radio donations go to Public Citizen, Truthout.org and the ACLU.
My news comes in via the 'phone, so outside of The Nation and Mother Earth magazine - plus Jim Hightower's Lowdown Newsletter, broadcasting doesn't inform me much, these days.
I read a great article on your situation in the Coastal Journal by one of their contributors. Do you want a copy? (RSVP)
If Will Rogers were alive today, he'd be banned from Maine Public Radio for similar reasons.
In my field, up to '95 when I dropped player clubs and switched to the Internet, a similar "document" was supposed to apply to my ********* articles and display advertising. The b******* in charge called it a "review". I said it was censorship, pure and simple, by people who have ZERO knowledge of music roll arranging (which was true). I also put the 'N***** at the Country Club' syndrome into print during the midst of this "review" situation.
What started it was a HR bill in Congress to censor music lyrics. I put out a display ad stating that many songs from the 'Teens through the middle 'Thirties would not qualify as being "wholesome". REEFER MAN by Cab Calloway and LOVE FOR SALE by Cole Porter come to mind - and BIGAMUS BLUES by Max Kortlander (of QRS), about a Mormon Negro - and his illigitimate children - who got "pickled in the Great Salt Lake" would be examples, here.
In our time we have a wonderful recording - musically speaking - of "Flaco" Jimenez on a diatonic accordion accompanying the composer singing THE FREE MEXICAN AIR FORCE (is flyin' tonight). It's a drug smuggling song with a great melody and accordion breaks.
The typical collector of 1982 said, "Nothing will happen, so who cares?"
Now, we have Bush Fascism and many of those Pianola roll complainers are dead.
I expect Mr. Beck to trash Maine PBS step-by-step as he did with MPBN.
Keep up the good work!
Your supporter and a 'humble' enthusiast for decades, D H +
Hi
The Boothbay Register ran my letter. I'll send you a copy. Also, the Coastal Urinal — oh, wait a minute, there's supposed to be a Jo n there somewhere — ran a guest column about your situation, asking people not to donate to MPBN. Obviously, it had a devastating effect.
What does tweak me about their fundraising is that they're using the public airwaves to do it. Kind of like a cross between drip torture and hostage-taking. We're going to keep on with this annoying drivel until you send us some money. Somehow they've convinced themselves that this is acceptable. Maybe their plan was taken from Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal."
I think it was Jonathan Swift, not his brother, Not Too.
TAPW seems to enjoy the John Deere. Be careful she doesn't mow down your obelisk.
I had a fantabulous time at your picnic. Great to see you and Marsha. Z
+
+
To the editor: Have you ever become so fascinated watching the message boards on local Channel 7 that you watched them twice, maybe three times? Of course not. I never used to — that is, until they started playing the humble Farmer program as accompanying audio. humble is a hoot!
And now, there’s an extra attraction: Last month, humble, a/k/a Robert Skoglund, was fired by Maine Public Broadcasting. Did he do something nasty?
What he did was refuse to sign their guidelines that would have placed severe restrictions on his free speech and his program. They had been running his program for 28 years, and now they say they can’t run it unless he signs their guidelines.
humble is a humorist, not a politician. His style is unique and that accent is just the way he talks. But somehow, they figured he was too political. Their actions show no regard for the principles found in the First Amendment.
So he’s not on Maine Public Radio any more. But you can hear him at noontime on local cable television, right here in the Boothbay Region. Enjoy some forbidden fruit with your lunch.
L East Boothbay
+
I plan to write to the Boothbay (doesn't) Register to let folques know that they can hear the humble Farmer program at noontime every day on the Boothbay Community TV, Channel 7, while the message boards and TV schedule are flipping.
humble is so bad, Maine Public Broadcasting Network fired him last month, for refusing to sign a contract that would have restricted what he could say on the air. He doesn't set out to be political, but sometimes, that's where it goes.
If this strikes you as a violation of his First Amendment rights, I would urge you to write to every official you can imagine, and send them a zucchini. z OK, now, time to confess. Doesn't it feel good be a rebel at your age? z
+
Humble, Heard about the Maine station cancelling the show. Their loss. To me, that's like CBS telling Andy Rooney to get lost, or Birdland taking a pass on Duke Ellington. You are a legend, and will continue to be heard in South Florida.
Speaking of which, my supply has run dry!
J C
+
Humble, we haven't sent to MPBN for several years since it refused to air Democracy Now. I also had asked if they would give my mother, in her late 90's and on very meager finances (she lived in subsidized housing) free membership at her age( she loved the programming and Masterpiece Theater) and they said no. To h... with them! S H
+
Robert:
Sorry the picnic didn't bring crowds. I, of course, planned to attend, and then a friend from Florida showed up a week before her scheduled arrival. I had to meet her in Portland. At least you get to charge people when they show up.
I'm recovering here. I had eye surgery in late March and total knee replacement surgery a few weeks ago. So, though all went well, I'm not up to my usual speed, if there is such a thing. I'm also teaching two courses at the university this summer, so there aren't enough days...
Thanks for the effort. I think if you'd announced that Jim Dowe would be present, and would be beaten with a stick, the turnout would have been larger. J G
+
I am going to try to give you a laugh... I will never again support Maine Npr (my wife sent them a check out of habit, I stopped that when I heard)... and I have made my calls... but here is a voice that you will remember, the voice of Front Line... and I pray it will make YOU laugh... My God they did it, at least for a clip, a good job... GET SMART!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=v8QtLSkg1vM
GJ. P HFo2
+
So much going on here ... must take a break and catch up. Back soon.
-- "As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety than ever before, even in the midst of war." The Civil War that was thus intended to expand our conception of human rights unfortunately was used by Big Business corporations to produce a sophisticated legal mechanism for limiting the rights of human beings instead. The countrymen that had sacrificed so much in obtaining victory for the union thus became the losers of the war." Abraham Lincoln, 1865
+
July 3, 2007 Judi Gardner Maine Public Broadcasting Network 65 Texas Avenue Bangor, ME 04401-4398 Dear Ms. Gardner: I’m sorry that I have not contacted you earlier and so saved you the trouble of mailing renewal notices to me. As you know, I have been a contributor to Public Radio for several years and still tune in as my main source of news and public affairs. However, I will not be renewing my membership at this time. My refusal is my small protest against the shabby treatment of the Humble Farmer and the restrictive policies that resulted from your squabble with him. I felt that his commentary was the most important feature of his show. I didn’t even care for much of the jazz and often disagreed with his point of view. What I valued was the interesting offering of original thoughts delivered in an authentic Maine voice. Robert Skolund is an intelligent person with an interesting background and outlook. For you to limit that voice in any way is to deprive your audience of some thoughts they can wrestle with. To me that is the most insidious form of censorship in a time when a free dialogue is discouraged from both ends of the political spectrum. I feel that in Maine we have always valued an independent voice and the right to divine for ourselves the difference between wisdom and damned foolishness. Rather than stifle the Humble Farmer, I wish that your network would foster more Maine voices offering their views on life and politics. Free speech means free speech. Sincerely, PH and J H
++
Robert:
Please add me to your newsletter list.Sometimes when one thing ends another even greater begins. Best wishes in your web adventure. I will be watching and following your continued success. Hope to drop in one of these days to say hello. I frequently download your shows and listen while I work. Beats the heck out of most anything on the radio.
D B
+ humble,
Let me put my 2 cents in. I have listened to your show for years and been a loyal supporter of Maine Public Radio (sometimes in spite of it). While I will continue to listen to their news, jazz, and opera programming, I can no longer contribute financially to the station until they rectify the mistake they made by giving you the boot. And it's not just the deplorable fact that they tried to gag you as they did when they issued you an ultimatum to shut up. So much for free speech! That's bad enough. Apparently they think music and satirical story telling don't mix. But it's pure hypocrisy to claim that you were entitled to entertain with music but not with the commentary that had been a mainstay of your show for years, then at the same time air The Capitol Steps, a musical and political satire review, and even wheel them out for MPBN fundraising events. This is an assault on both free speech and the public trust.
Far worse was the hypocrisy and the shoddy behaviour that followed your dismissal, after they unceremoniously gave you the bum's rush. No curtain call, not even the courtesy of telling the listening public know you weren't part of the lineup anymore. They just erased you from the schedule without a word. Nothing! And then the management has the gall to appeal to the listeners to support "all the programs that you've come to love and depend on". Hah! There's a serious cognitive disconnect here. And that's where the buck stops. While I value the valuable programming we get from NPBN, I am not going to subsidize the station until they give the humble farmer the decency of, at least, a proper burial. Anything less is uncivilized.
yours,
d w Portland
+
I wish we could come up to your place on Saturday, but it's a little too far to fit in with our current nap schedule. Definitely when our two year old twins are older. And if you ever find yourself down by Cape Elizabeth we would feel very honoured to offer your our hospitality. Whatever you need -- a bed, a meal, a glass of homemade lemonade -- or something hot if it's winter. A place to just to vent or take off your skin .... You'll know we're "from away" because we use our front door. (The front hall is the best place to take your shoes off.)
best always, ~e m
+ M S Winterport ME 04496 "I will no longer listen to MPBN radio or watch MPBN television due to the shameful treatment received from MPBN by Robert Skoglund.
His program of music interpersed with wry and witty commentary was a mainstay of MPBN radio Friday night programming for nearly 30 years, during which time it was valued primarily for the commentary, which set it apart from all other programming on the MPBN network.
Only when someone disliked specific commentary was it suddenly specifically viewed as only music programming, in order to muzzle Skoglund. When he omitted the commentary, MPBN was unhappy with him for doing so.
Clearly, the issue was never the presence of commentary in the program, but a desire to censor the content of that commentary.
This is a shameful abuse of the public airwaves in general, and of public broadcasting in particular.
I will no longer patronize MPBN programming, and will encourage everyone I know to do the same. In that vein, I am advising people how to find downloadable versions of PBS radio programming, along with The humble Farmer program.
Truly, MPBN's treatment of Robert Skoglund has helped show why MPBN really isn't necessary."
+
Thanks for your e-mail. Here is the message we submitted to MPBN:
We, too, had planned to open our checkbook to MPBN. But, since the humble farmer fiasco, ours remains closed. And, as a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, I object to your hiding behind the SPJ tenants. I have been a member for almost 35 years, joining when I was a political reporter/anchor at Channel 13 in Portland. There is nothing in my membership info that permits treatment such as yours of Robert Skoglund. You must have been influenced from pressures from lawmakers at the state and federal level who control a portion of your purse-strings.
Regards, S and RP
+
Way ahead of you. WMPG is a very nice station that can use MPBN's money.
We're writing Washington, DC, too. +
Well humble, we are slow movers, have to weigh everything. I hope this response to MPBN meets your approval, but of course, we don't need it. We had to take a back step and say "is only humble, or the overall principal"? The latter won out. Good thing too, given the chance Ginny might have golfed Beck a good one up side his head. She enjoyed you for your humor but more so, I think, for how much I appreciated your show and the missives we exchanged and the music we exchanged (Bix to me Django to you. Miss you already, hope your video adventure works out even though we will not be available to it. We do not have cable in the house. And, as a matter of fact, we only got electricity last week. Surprising what power can do for a refrigerator. Good luck, God bless and Peace J
The following is what I sent MPBN this evening. extremely well said and reflects my feelings to a tee (shirt).
in fact i plan to call daily during the fund raiser and tell the volunteer why i am NOT donating anymore (after 25 years of doing so).
maybe a little education of the volunteers would do some good since letters do not.
sincerely,
s p
+
Good morning, humble-- We returned MPBN's mailer with a note saying since you were ousted we will no longer support them and requested to be removed from their mailing list. We will continue to drain their coffers by soaking up their radio waves, however. Best, dr. p
+
Hi, In response to your email, I have requested that MPBN radio remove me from their mailing lists. I had sent them an earlier email on the matter and they Rodney Porter returned a very unsatisfactory reply.
+
Hi Robert,
P R here ( studio recorded & mixed the AL Corey CD) If you can use a hand to get up & running the tv show I'll be able to volunteer a couple of days to help.
If your guests find this area easier to get to - I could set up a studio here for you to use.
At any rate - best of luck with your new adventure.
P R Waterville ME
+
Hello Robert, Just put my check in the mail toward the TV camera. You're getting what MPBN would get...hope that'll teach 'em! Best wishes, E G & M P
+ Hi humble,
Last week I got the usual appeal from MPR, and on the outside of the envelope it asked "Does public radio enhance your life?" or words to that effect. I simply wrote "NO, we miss humble" on it and mailed it back without any $$. It was worth the stamp!
A conservative Republican fan of yours......who also believes in free speech.
+
Hi Robert, This isn't very well written, but I think they get the message. I am responding to the MPBN "Power Hour" letter they are sending out. I called WERU the other day (I donated money that was to go to MPBN, and I told WERU just that) and asked if they would interview you on air. The woman I talked to said I should send an email to make sure it goes to the right person. If you think it is a bad idea, let me know and I won't email them. I hope you are well. J-----Original Message----- From: : Friday, July 06, 2007 11:33 PM To: 'MPBNPowerHour@mpbn.net' Subject: remove j@gwi.net
In response to the Humble Farmer debacle, both L N and J C ask you to remove us from your mailing list and email also. I wrote emails to MPBN about the censorship matter a number of times and got no reply. I wasn't a huge fan of the Humble Farmer's show since Jazz isn't my thing, but I heard the rant referring to Hitler and got a kick out of it. While you folks were cowering from mentioning the "elephant in the room", and maybe worse (many of your board appear to have a conflict of interest), he dared to enter the forbidden realm. Isn't ironic now that at least 75% of Americans think Bush is doing a bad job? And it is commonly reported on most (except FOX) media? So all this bad handling of Mr. Skoglund is for what? You are protecting us from what I ask? I now see that the local programming you do is like Pablum. I listen to it, and after the show is over I realize it was all MPBN lite, just feel good content. I feel like someone I knew well has a dark side that has been hidden away and brought out into the open. I am dismayed that the situation at MPBN is so dire and entrenched. J C
+
Have been wondering were you went for the last month or so .... Since we have twin boys about to turn two it takes us a while to catch up on things. So when I could not find any explanation for your absence from MPBN on their website I turned to yours and a very disturbing picture gradually emerged. I am deeply troubled by what happened to you. I have written to MPBN to say that I will no longer support them. We will download and listen to your shows, but it just won't be the same as hearing you live every week. Please add me to your mailing list, and consider my husband and myself your devoted fans and friends. best, ~e& dm Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
+
Dear Humble,
I attended the FCC hearing, but somehow was more interested in getting inside to speak, that I missed the sign-up table to do so. As I was hobbled a bit by a lingering ankle problem, I couldn't stay beyond the intermission for any open mike period.
There was a lot to say by many of the smaller media providers about how good they were doing. Irwin Gratz gave a good talk, but stayed away from the controversy.
Sinclair Broadcasting got hammered. I put my comments in by email to the FCC. I don't know if that would carry the weight of two minutes at their microphone or not.
I never thought MPBN management would every go in for censorship!
Take care,
L +
recently sent you an email in which I asked you if you had read an article in the Portland paper. This article seemed, in general, to lend some support to your stance with public radio. Your reply was that you must have "deceived" me and that you were not among the, I think you said "elite," who read the Portland paper. I don't wish to be critical of the earnest souls who strive to make the Portland paper a success, but it is, essentially, a modest accomplishment. I do my grocery shopping at the local Shop and Save. Few customers have their Rolls parked outside. Nevertheless, if the shelf on which it is stocked is any testimony, the Portland paper sells well to the ordinary folks who frequent the store. If I remember your comment correctly, you said you were too impecunious to afford the paper. I don't buy it myself. It is lying around in every office etc. I visit. + humble, I stumbled across a few quotes that I thought you might appreciate, as they seem to say what they say so well.
"Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."
- Frederick Douglass
...and...
"All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." -Arthur Schopenhauer
...and...please note my sig for July, below.
Have a great day, P from P
*****************
A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government. - Edward Abbey
+
+
Dear Mr. Harper,
We thought you would be interested to know that Maine Public Broadcasting Network has been invoking your code of ethics for journalists to give credence to the network’s suppression of freedom of speech.
As former journalists who believe in the precepts of the Society of Professional Journalists and who adhered to the code of ethics during our journalistic careers, we find it reprehensible that MPBN is invoking the good name of your organization in its efforts to silence one of its humorists/commentators, Robert Skoglund.
Apparently, Skoglund—who performs under the name of the humble Farmer— made a comment on his Friday night radio show that offended the powers-who-be at MPBN. They required him to sign the station’s “on- air standards and legal guidelines,” which bar him from making political comments on his show. The guidelines include the following:
• On-air personnel should not make religious or political calls to action, editorialize, include content or showcase views and opinions on sensitive or controversial issues. • On-air personnel are not allowed to air personal grievances on MPBN services. This includes introducing content that endorses, compares or criticizes commercial products, institutions, companies, organizations, or individuals. In addition, on-air personnel should not dedicate programming or musical selections without prior knowledge of and approval from management.
While such standards should certainly apply to journalists who are reporting the news, it should not prevent commentators/humorists from expressing a point of view. That would be like barring Jay Leno from telling jokes about George W. Bush.
Skoglund, who on most programs talks about his wife, “the almost perfect woman,” and life as an old-time Mainer, is a humorist, not a news reporter. His show is a mix of Maine humor and jazz; his wry comments are often funny, sometimes thought-provoking, even bizarre at times—certainly nothing that merits censorship. Unfortunately, when Skoglund refused to adhere to the station’s demands that he sign the guidelines, MPBN took the program, which has aired for years, off the air. We as listeners complained about the action. In response, MPBN invoked your organization’s code of ethics, stating that the station “strictly adhere[s] to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.” The station’s response, by the way, was signed only “MPBN Audience Services,” with no personal signature.
First, we do not believe that the SPJ code has anything to do with MPBN’s censorship of Skoglund. Secondly, we believe that MPBN itself is violating the code, in particular the following tenets:
• Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so. • Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant. Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. • Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage. • Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.
Such strong-armed tactics to silence points of view that may not coincide with the mainstream corporate line jeopardize free speech and are particularly disturbing when employed by a publicly financed organization like MPBN that espouses support for freedom of speech. We urge your organization, as a well respected bulwark against such tactics, to speak out on this issue.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Sand J G
+
Dear Humble –
Just a note to let you know that we told MPBN that they won’t be seeing any more money from us until they put you back on the radio without any censorship “strings” attached.
Keep America Free!
Sincerely,
J & L M
+
thank you for forwarding your letters and ongoing struggles with the neoreich i feel deeply your very concerns and see the very same very frightening patterns and generally feel quite hopeless about a reversal in fortunes anytime soon.it's always the the same blather from the top down and i only hope there are indeed fresh new lincoln's and jeffersons and newtons out there to keep humankind head above the putrification of our ideals we've sunk to. i love your show and love your rants too you introduced me to a very pleasurabl genre of music i'm certain id've missed were it not so entertaining to hear you show each friday. keep heart and know we're out here in your corner and in uor thoughts in all of your recent tribulations. at least you get to live in a beautiful part of a beautiful state and have an almost perfect wife. Dr. V W
+ Hi Robert,
For some reason I'm not getting this newsletter, although Marta is and kindly forwards it to me. But please put me on your mailing list.
We're set to perform our string band music at the , so it looks like we ought to be able to get over to play for you on at least one of those days, if you'd like.
Good luck with the sly Fox. When my organization (the Society for Ethnomusicology) came out last year against our government's using music for torturing "detainees," the right wing tried to stomp all over us. Our group's president was interviewed by a radio talk show host from Orange Co. CA whose principal strategy was to ask "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" questions, which could only be answered by denial and indignation. There was no attempt on the radio host's part at a civil discourse. I hope you're prepared for that sort of thing Thursday.
All the best, J T
+ Dear MPBN,
I had wondered whence on your schedule the "Humble Farmer" had migrated, but the Bangor Daily News last week alerted me to the fact you are not airing him at all. Shame on you! I think he was one of the highlights of the MPBN programming week.
The BDNews further stated that the reason you silenced Mr. Skogland is because he refused to sign some "commentary guidelines". If, after more than 25 years of pithy, humorous and largely unobjectionable broadcasting, Robert Skogland tells you he cannot in good conscience sign some d***** letter limiting his freedom of expression, you should put up and shut up. The proven record of a person's integrity and restraint should carry more weight with you than whether he signs a little bit of paper. What are you worried about, that he would follow in Don Imus's footsteps and be slapped with a lawsuit for libel while you came in for a lot of bad publicity? Please give him more credit than that. I'm afraid you have done your reputation more harm by ceasing to broadcast him than he ever might have done with an objectionable broadcast. This is a case of MPBN cutting off its broadcast nose to spite its face.
We in our household have been loyal and enthusiastic supporters of Maine Public Radio for years, but your action may have changed all that. I could go on but you get the point. I urge you to case this petty, bureaucratically-inspired bet-hedging and backpedaling. If Mr. Skogland was good enough for you for the last 25+ years, he should be good enough for the next couple of decades as well, signature or no signature.
Sincerely,
D B Rant # 8. Dear humble, We live near DC and "tax cut" never means better control of pork barrel spending or programs that benefit corporations at the expense of everyman. It always means that the cuts will be in social services, humanitarian efforts, environmental issues, and all those "useless" programs that generally benefit the poor and middle class and not the wealthy. A tax "ceiling" was implemented on spending in nearby Prince George's County. The result - PG County is now one of the worst counties in the nation in terms of student achievement, even though it has had had a huge influx of higher paid residents. The folks who can afford it, even the minority residents, are sending their kids to private schools. Teachers have to buy their own supplies, books arrive three weeks after school starts because the school system's expenditures are slow. Fiscal responsibility is one thing. Tax cuts designed to "red tape" needy programs to death while expediting tax cuts to the wealthy (described as "beneficial to the economy") are another.
++ I
Dear MPBN,
I had wondered whence on your schedule the "Humble Farmer" had migrated, but the Bangor Daily News last week alerted me to the fact you are not airing him at all. Shame on you! I think he was one of the highlights of the MPBN programming week.
The BDNews further stated that the reason you silenced Mr. Skogland is because he refused to sign some "commentary guidelines". If, after more than 25 years of pithy, humorous and largely unobjectionable broadcasting, Robert Skogland tells you he cannot in good conscience sign some d***** letter limiting his freedom of expression, you should put up and shut up. The proven record of a person's integrity and restraint should carry more weight with you than whether he signs a little bit of paper. What are you worried about, that he would follow in Don Imus's footsteps and be slapped with a lawsuit for libel while you came in for a lot of bad publicity? Please give him more credit than that. I'm afraid you have done your reputation more harm by ceasing to broadcast him than he ever might have done with an objectionable broadcast. This is a case of MPBN cutting off its broadcast nose to spite its face.
We in our household have been loyal and enthusiastic supporters of Maine Public Radio for years, but your action may have changed all that. I could go on but you get the point. I urge you to case this petty, bureaucratically-inspired bet-hedging and backpedaling. If Mr. Skogland was good enough for you for the last 25+ years, he should be good enough for the next couple of decades as well, signature or no signature.
Sincerely, X
Well, we're through the looking glass now. Fox is the new "Liberal News Media" outlet ?? Amazing. At least they won't ask me for a check.
If you need a job reference for your new career Hum, I don't think anything you've done or said for the last 28 years is going to help. Fox
didn't get where they are by force of intellect. For them to hire one now.........doesn't square with "past history".
My response when I received the news that you were thinking of doing this was roughly akin to the sound that a tire makes when the air is
let out rapidly and unexpectedly. I still feel like a "one lungah".
kb
+
Dear humble, Remember me? the actress who stopped by with her friends from Portland ,two summers ago...i bought a hat for my friend,Craig,and also got a swell ride in your one of a kind " humble"farm vehicle. We are all distraught over the thought that you,a beacon of light and humour and wise thought ,should have been mistreated or abused in any way by the limited folks on the coast..... i hope it isnt true,and if it is....that you will forbear....its just one more step on the journeyof life...and it will all come around again,in you favour....keep the faith! your friend, H
+
Dear humble, we will be thinking of you and wish you all the best for the Fox interview on Thursday. I'm glad you're going to participate and confident that it will go very, very well! Wanted you to know that MPBN called us to renew our membership this week and we told them to take a hike. Would you do your show on WERU ? We miss you very much. Friday night just isn't the same. Love, your neighbors B and J
+
Dear Humble Farmer,
We miss your wonderful program -- and admire your courage in standing up for free speech.
Here is what I sent to MPBN:
"I seldom make pledges, although I contribute to many causes. (I am a parttime Maine resident, contemplating moving full time.)
My pledge: If you do not get the Humble Farmer back on the air, I WILL NOT GIVE YOU A NICKEL, AS LONG AS I LIVE.
If you do get him back, I will send you at least $100 per year when he is on the air."
Sincerely, B F + Got the message about the FCC hearing in Porkland next Thurs. I'd like to submit my comments in writing, but the instructions are on a site that won't open. I guess their program isn't compatible with my old L.C. Smith tripewriter. Strange, I have a letter my grandmother wrote on the L.C.S. and it's still quite legible.
If you would be so kind as to open that document, cut and paste it into a message, and then send it to me (main body, not an attachment), I'll write a letter. I'm really b.s. about what they've done, and it's as much about free speech as it is about humble.
Hang in there, friend. Maybe this will open some doors where you've never knocked. z
P.S. The zukes are looking right healthy.
+
Free Speech on the Public Airwaves
Robert Skoglund – “The humble Farmer,” as listeners know him – was right not to accept the new guidelines imposed by MPBN station management last month to severely limit what he could say on the air. That this principled gesture cost him his show, ending his nearly 30-year tenure on Maine’s public airwaves, ought to raise red flags for anyone who cares about free speech. MPBN’s own mission statement expresses a commitment to “fostering an informed and active citizenry,” and to “providing a forum for a broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives.” How can these noble goals comport with speech guidelines that instruct the station’s creative staff not to “include content or showcase views and opinions on sensitive or controversial issues?” As The humble Farmer recognized, such a vague and broad category of forbidden speech would constrict his creative freedom, acting as a constant reminder to choose his words carefully. He refused to sign the guidelines on principle, knowing he would probably be fired, setting an example for his colleagues and standing up for his listeners, who deserve public radio programming that truly keeps them “informed and active” and includes a “broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives.” MPBN’s leadership maintains that the station offers a clearly designated forum for political discussion, and that for the rest of the day, its hosts are meant only to “entertain.” Clearly, this scheme leaves no room for a Maine original like Skoglund, whose humor and insight ranged over many issues, and – like all good humor – sometimes tested the limits. MPBN says it’s only trying to achieve “balance” in its programming, but the idea of “balance” is meaningless in this context. Humor and entertainment can’t be “balanced,” and commentary is worthless if it’s always reduced to “on the one hand and on the other.” The attempt to achieve balance comes at the expense of insight, creativity, and freedom, and will produce only bland, inconsequential programming. Nothing is more “balanced,” after all, than silence.
Justin Goldberg The National Coalition Against Censorship www.ncac.org
+
humble: Miss you greatly. After hearing the nonsense put out by MPBN rgarding your departure I was made ill by it all....shame on them!!! I think your story may be of interest to the folks who'll be gathering at the FCC hearing in Portland on June 28. Come on down and help stir up the powers that be. Thanks for all you've done through the years to entertain and educate. Best Wishes, K W.
+
Dear Humble:
As jazz enthusiasts, my wife and I have enjoyed the Humble Farmer (aka Robert Skogland) for a number of years. His humor is truly "Down East" but yet contains much food for thought...surreptitiously targeting important issues of the day in a laidback Maine manner.
It's too bad that a station which projects itself as liberal and open minded...really isn't. Apparently, when you don't share the views of the management you're doomed on that network. This and other modus operandi on MPBN make us question the use of our donations.
If "Humble" finds another spot on the dial, my wife and I will gladly follow.
We will miss you,
R C R S. Gardiner, ME 04359
+
Dear ,
My name is K B. Please add my name / address to your petition. It is:
KB Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107
Thank you for your help and active interest. Please also consider copying the head of the Maine Democratic Party with the petition as this issue
was a direct result of a "robo-call" placed by Mr. Skoglund in support of the Democratic election effort during the Fall '06 campaign.
I appreciate your help.
kb
+ Oops...I figured that you'd know I'm the same D who participates with M C in the weekly Tuesday Coffeehouse discussions (the same one that you've attended, and discussed unsavory dealings with MPBN). As follow-up to these discussions, I've also exchanged a couple of e-mails with you on the subject of your radio show. But suppose I still should have listed my last name because there could be "other" D with whom you regularly share e-mail.
So, you didn't specify whether you have joined the ranks of WERU (regardless of which Bob signed the station's e-mail). (Did you overlook that, or intentionally not respond?) I hope you'll also get justice with MPBN. Your faithful listeners, myself among them, want to continue hearing your show!
Thanks, DH. M Liberty, Maine
+
can't believe that pbn took you off the air.
your program was the only one I listened to on pbn.
b c
e
+ Mr. Skoglund: So sorry to hear that you won't be on MPBN anymore. I listened to you every Friday night. I'll continue to listen to you on the internet though and will look forward to seeing you at the CGF this fall. My wife (another "almost perfect woman") hope to stay at your B & B sometime also. Thanks so much Humble. You are a true treasure to the listeners in Maine and elsewhere. M A Lewiston, Maine
+
Dear Robert,
A good friend passed on to me that your show on MPBN has been cancelled because you refused to sign an agreement that you wouldn't have political content on your show. I hope it isn't true, but assuming that it is, I will rant on your behalf. What a ridiculous state of affairs. The ghost of McCarthy lives. Alas, poor Yorick, I thought he was dead. What the managers of MPBN fail to see is that maintaining so-called political neutrality is in and of itself a political statement. To wit, "I'm okay with the way things are; everything is hunky dory; nothing needs changing." Who knew that Pollyanna and Joe McCarthy were kindred spirits?
Good luck to you Robert. I am confident you will do well, in spite of current obstacles.
S G
+
Life's Not the Way It Should Be, Anymore.
I only met Robert Karl Skogland once, at the Center Theater in Dover-Foxcroft, but I listened to him for over fifteen years on Maine Public radio. Every Friday night, for an hour, Mr. Skogland, The humble farmer, entertained me with really good mainstream jazz, which you don't hear too much of anymore, and, more importantly, his own brand of Downeast humor, which you don't hear any of, at least on the radio
Last night, he was gone. No, thank goodness, he didn't die, although there may be some that wish he did. He didn't move away, 'cause he loves this state too much to do so. And he didn't run out of material, 'cause you can't make this stuff up; his friends told him stories and he just told us.
No, humble's unpardonable sin was to stand up for the right to say things over the radio that some might construe as political. In the end, Mr. Skogland wouldn't -- nay, couldn't -- sign a set of guidelines that included detailed descriptions of what is and isn't acceptable on-the-air banter.
It's another example of micro-management by bureaucrats who are either afraid for their overpaid jobs, or have been bought and paid for by contributions from politicians of the opposite ilk. When humble related the tale of TABOR-like legislation in another state, he was reprimanded for it. When he rattled off some of the characteristics of history's most infamous madman, some thought he was talking about our current fearless leader (fearless when he though the mission was accomplished, of course. What did you do in the war, daddy?).
Well, I rarely contributed to MPBN anyway, even though I wanted to. I'm one of the unlucky ones who is a one hundred percent disabled veteran and has to check the 'under $15,000' category often found in nosy applications. But now, I wouldn't think of giving them a dime. Not that they care -- my $35 is made up a thousand-fold by some millionaire mucky-muck who likes the current administration, 'cause it's helping him get even richer.
The administration doesn't need to be criticized, or even ridiculed. It needs to be impeached and imprisoned for their crimes against the people who didn't elect them. One of those crimes is our loss of The humble Farmer. Maine will never be the same.
RM Corinna
+
Geliefde Nederige Boer,
Het spijt mij zeer te horen dat de show niet langer bestaat op MPBN. Ik heb daarom mijn jaarlijkse contributie aan MPBN nog steeds niet ingezonden en zal dat ook niet doen zolang Lou Morin daar nog werkt. Dat MPBN zo’n persoon als communicatie manager kan tolereren is onbegrijpelijk voor mij.
Met dank voor de vele jaren van luistergenot en met de beste wensen.
B Z
+
Mr. Skoglund - would you elaborate on how H***** R*** is involved in this? He's a pretty scummy character, from what I know of him, and the web link you sent to us confirms that quite solidly. We're very concerned about the implications of this beyond just your position with MPBN (our position on that is clear to you, I think). We'd like to pursue this further if it won't create more problems for you. Thanks, JB +
Greetings, Robert.
Wow. That attachment was quite a read! Which items would I sign? Well, I have no problem with the one that says, "all pre-recorded programs should be produced in advance" or the one that warns against leaving the men's room with your fly open without management'ss (sic) written permission (ok, I made that one up). Some of the other items are harmless house-keeping stuff but the rest could be from an early germinal draft of of a Yankee Mein Kampf, but, it being hard to tell the difference, I think I'll go with just the two I cited.
I understand your frustration. I'm mired to my jowls in CATV, another facet of the same issue having to do, I believe, with freedom of speech and expression. In my dotage I've become convinced that, in America, it is corporatism and not fascism that is the enemy. While they have some things in common, the bottom line is the bottom line and that's corporatism. MPBN fits the 'ism' nicely. They profess to be non-commercial and neutral, but their underlying motivation is funding, and anything that's perceived as a threat to funding (read 'profits') is verboten and that puts them right in there with General Motors and Microsoft. The difference is only a matter of scale.
I'm kicking up all possible dust in an effort to stir some interest here in Gardiner in restoring authentic Public Access television. Our town fathers are a doit behind in negotiating a new Cable Franchise Agreement with Time Warner. Ours ran out in April 200six. I didn't expect to become an activist at eighty, but that seems to be the way it's going. The prospects of anything useful coming of it looks grim. Straight out opposition I can handle, win or lose, but indifference? Man, that's frustration.
There are still a few ways to craft an environment favorable to freedom of expression. I expect that the Community Television Association of Maine will be examining that at its annual meeting June 26 in Wiscasset. It would be great if you were planning to attend. There would be at least two of us there to raise a little, um, awareness.
I've closely observed the phenomenon of my own aging and - funny thing - when you get to the point where you're older than almost anybody you know, your real usefulness is exactly offset by your publicly perceived uselessness, leaving you in a kind of limbo where, in order to be equal, you have to be better (where have I heard that before?)
Harassment? It's entirely possible to ignore it and get on with one's muse. Ten years ago I didn't know that. Now I do.
But I rant.
As always it a pleasure to hear from you, Robert.
God Bless.
/b d
+ Dear humble,
Sounds like you have a fun trip planned. By the way, I was so incensed when I heard the piece on Maine Things Considered about your show no longer running that I took to the typewriter, a great stress releaser, and wrote a scathing editorial about MPBN's treatment of independent producers, of which I am one. I didn't mention you by name, but you can be assured that readers will see there is a pattern here and will connect the dots. The good news is, Todd Benoit, editorial page editor, has said he would print it. I just need to cut back on few words, which I can do without losing the sting. When I read the editorial aloud to A, my "almost perfect husband", he said "Boy, you really let 'em have it!" And I replied "They deserve it!"
No doubt I will end up on the _hit list along with you, but that's where I've been for the past three years anyway since B R left and after seeing how you were treated I really see no point in holding back any longer.
So keep an eye out for my piece in the Bangor Daily News. I will try to email it to you if I can.
Hope to see you sometime this summer. Enjoy yourself and I will try to listen to your show via your website.
All the best.
B
+
I hope that MPBN gets bought out by Clear Channel and the airwaves are filled with another dose of rap music and used car commercials! Public radio has certainly changed over the years....I get sick with the commercials called "corporate sponsorship" and middle of the road programming. Have been listening to you on and off since the beginning....and I like the music too! Guess you and I are both anacronisms, my friend! Be well,
S S Harrington, ME
+
Dear Humble,
Please send me a copy of the aformentioned publication each week from now on, ( back issues welcome). I believe that public radio has made a great error in your case, especially for a group that eschews liberal viewpoints. We do need your humor and appropriate sarcasm voiced to the people in your audience area and further into the American heartland,
Thanks, r.
+ Sir:
You are one of the very few who makes listening to the PC drivel of Maine Public Broadcasting. You gave it a Maine flavor.
I will never listen or contribute again - ever.
I hope their soon-to-sag donations wake them up.
R B (a summer resident of Bridgton)
++
I have been dismayed by MPBN's treatment of you and your program - especally now that they have seen fit to drop your program all together. For many years I have looked forward to spending early Friday evenings with you - and especially your commentary.
So sorry to not have that to look forward to any more.
Thanks for all the great shows!!
FK Carmel
+
Dear Robert:
We're longtime fans of yours and are horrified by what MPBN has done. I just want to pass along what I sent to the corporate weasels at MPBN (although I'm sure you've been swamped with similar comments). Good luck and I hope that if MPBN comes crawling back to you on their knees, you'll consider coming back -- Friday nights aren't the same without you.
Sincerely,
J G
To MPBN: We have watched the controversy regarding Robert Skoglund's show over the past months with growing frustration and concern. As former journalists we recognize the importance between news and commentary. However, we have never considered "The Humble Farmer" to be a news source. His show was pure entertainment and a critical part of that entertainment was the airing of his views on a wide variety of topics.
We are horrified by your decision to remove Mr. Skoglund from the air. His show was one of the things which made Maine, Maine Public Radio and Friday nights special. Listening to The Humble Farmer made me proud to live in this state. Your decision to censor him has all the appearances of the same cowardly, corporate, bottom-line mentality that pervades commercial radio.
We have been long-time MPBN supporters because we believed in your mission and enjoyed the news and entertainment you provided. However that has changed and we can no longer support you.
Sincerely,
J S G
++
I just read about your show getting dropped from MPBN. Now, I can't say I'm the best and most faithful listener, but I always knew that if I was on a trip across the state and I caught The Humble Farmer on the radio, I was in for a treat and the miles would fly by. I'm very sad to hear you won't be on in the future.
Good luck with everything!
Z
++
Hey, humble. I've been a member of SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists - since the mid 70s. I don't recall that its code of ethics had anything to do with censorship. Hope your MPBN stipend of $30/show isn't going to put you in a lower income bracket for tax purposes. We miss your lobstah feeds. Saw the price of lobstah was $5.50/lb on Commercial St., Portland. Wife S says they probably mean the price of one-claw or "chicken" lobster. What the h-e-double hockey sticks is that?
Best,
R P Cape Elizabeth
++
Hi Humble,
Sign me up for your newsletter. just heard about the MPBN thing -- silly, insane, and they won't be getting my money any longer.
Will you continue your show in another venue? Podcast? WERU?
++
Dear Humble-like everyone else I am shocked and angry at the outcome of your situation. They have not heard the end from your many fans. Good Luck-the Or*n*s ----- Original Message ----- From: f. t m To: E G ; J H ; A M ; J M ; M N ; T O ; D P ; J. S ; C S ; D W Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 1:42 PM Subject: Fwd: Telephone Problem
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:13:11 -0700 From: B B Telephone Problem
A Kansas farm wife called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to ring when her friends called and that on the few occasions, when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang. The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile lady. He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:
1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar. 2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose. 3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called. 4. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate. 5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.
Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning.
Just thought you'd like to know.
++
Dear Robert, I was deeply saddened to hear that NPR had given you the "Heave Ho." I listened to you every friday night on the way to my AA meeting. Your rants would improve my spirits and keep my mind off drinking til I got to the meeting and that's all they talk about there. I hope you get another show. I will miss hearing your rants if you don't. I was also saddened that WLVP dumped Air America for ESPN, "All Sports All the Time." You are a likeable and clever fella. I know. I met you face to face at the Common Ground Fair the year it rained. Can't you kill two birds with one stone and bring back Air America to Maine and have your own uncensored show again? We Mainers have to have our voice back on the radio.
Sincerely,
P
Yes, I voted to end the war in Iraq.
++
Sent to MPBN today.
“Re: Censorship of the Humble Farmer
Intelligent citizens listen to both conservative and liberal voices with the same discerning ear. Whether I’m listening to Bill O’Reilly, John Stewart or Angus King I’m looking for perspectives that shed light on issues of the day. I don't care what time of day I get the message or if it comes during "entertainment." Still, I can be wrong, like dutifully supporting an invasion of Iraq while I’m being lied to by my government.
The Humble Farmer is part of the American satirist tradition of dry humor and political commentary. Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Garrison Keillor, Stephen Colbert – should these satirists be censored?
How disappointing to watch MPBN bow to the latest conservative political fad and silence the Humble Farmer - a voice I've enjoyed for almost thirty years.
I guess I will continue to pay for cable and reconsider my donation to public radio.
Are you going to report me?”
I heard their piece on Tuesday. It p***d me off.
Keep the faith.
G I Yarmouth, ME 04020 ++
Dear humble,
I am so sorry that I will not be listening to your wonderful show tonight. I can't imagine how MPBN will fill the void. Probably some expensive imported jazz show from national PBS. I get the impression that MPBN wants to feature as little of authentic Maine as it can. What a pity!
You certainly fought the good fight and I am sorry that it has come to this. I will truly miss you and so will thousands of others. Your show and Prairie Home Companion were my two favorite shows on MPBN.
I can't imagine what MPBN thinks it has gained by alienating loyal listeners and treating so shabbily a person who has given so much for so many years to the MPBN network.
Please know that your audience certainly did appreciate you and we thank you for all you have done to make our lives joyful on a Friday night -especially after a long, hard week at work.
All the best and hope to see you sometime over the summer!
BJ
P.S. And please give my warmest regards to your almost perfect wife, Marcia. This ordeal must have been just as difficult for her.
P.P.S. Please keep us posted if you do any live events. Your fans would be there I am sure and we would pay good money to hear you again.
++
June 14, 2007
Barry McCrum, Trustee Chairman MPBN 65 Texas Ave. Bangor, ME 04401
Dear Mr. McCrum:
I was quite disappointed when I tuned in to “Maine Things Considered” yesterday to learn that “The Humble Farmer” will no longer be on the air. Imagine my dismay when I learned why.
People look to public radio as a paragon of free speech and open-mindedness. For the station to require its non-news staff to sign an agreement promising not to express their personal views on the air because their shows are merely “entertainment” flies in the face of that. The fact that none of the shows on Public Radio is generic and “dumbed down” – be it news or entertainment – is precisely the reason I have been such a loyal listener and supporter for so many years.
Do you honestly believe that anyone, anyone, listened to “The Humble Farmer” for decades only for the music? We listened for his commentary and his wit; we listened because he was like an old friend, with his own quirks and foibles and, yes, his own point of view. To ask him to promise, in writing, to squelch that uniqueness is like asking him to play only one song over and over forever. It’s absurd and shameful, and smacks of Sinclair Broadcasting, not Public Radio.
For that reason, my husband and I will no longer financially support Maine Public Broadcasting. It’s not so much because we were loyal listeners of “The Humble Farmer,” but because we believed that you were loyal to the cause of Public Radio. I’m sorry that we were wrong.
Sincerely,
L W
cc Erik Jorgensen, Community Advisory Board Chair
+
Dear humble, Well, this is a very sad situation, however trying to stop funding is not the answer, despite the heartfelt sentiment. Better to ask all MPBN members to voice strong opposition/disapproval/disappointment to MPBN directly, which I will do. Anyway, trying to stop funding wouldn't work and we do need MPBN for sure. They do many good things - what's the alterntive? But this is a huge disappointment, and a huge loss to have your great program go off the air.
I'm going to write the Maine Civil Liberties Union Director and nominate you for some kind of award from them - and would you be willing to do some kind of a "performance" for them as a fundraiser, while we support you in your stand for free speech?? I'm a member of both MCLU and MPBN, so will be in contact with both.
Still would like to take you up on your supper offer sometime. Bob and I visited you several years ago one afternoon; remember me - I'm the one with relatives on Smogen??? You've probably never met anyone else in Maine with relatives from Smogen! My mother was born there. We were there in 2002 to visit my cousin, which may have been right before we came to see you. Anyway, best wishes for the future, and keeep up the efforts for free speech. What I don't understand is why are things allowed like Michael Feldman and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" with all their anti-Bush bias (i.e., good humor - just telling the truth)? You've had a lot less political commentary than they have. Anyway, take heart - only a year and a half left of GWB! Won't it be a relief when he's gone?? All the best, K J
++
From: "J and S To: "Audience Services" <Asap@mpbn.net> Subject: Re: 161834 humble Farmer Date: Friday, June 15, 2007 12:14 AM Hi Mr. Skoglund, This is the email that we have sent to MPBN. We have also contacted 30 of our friends who I think will help with this issue. Let's not go down without a fight., I am very encouraged ! I know the Director of the Maine Civlil Liberties Union. Do you want me to call her about this? I would be happy to do it, if you want. Thanks again for tking a stand against tyranny. S R
Mr. Skoglund is an entertainer and a satirist. He took a courageous stand against a tyrannical management who, like the current American President, feels entitled to tell the entire world how it must think and act. This policy nationally has cost Americans 400 billion dollars, three thousand American lives, thirty thousand injured soldiers, and the wrath and enmity of the entire free world. MPBN management is running the radio station like it is private property, not public property. Perhaps management might consider running The Maine Mall , where free speech is not protected. This is a sorry day for Mainers. We will contact the MCLU , the Governor's office and our Congressional delegation. If public radio is not a forum for free speech, then it serves no purpose and deserves to be off the air. At any rate, we will encourage our friends and associates to stop pledging to MPBN until this policy, worthy of the Politburo or the Taliban, is changed. With great sadness, J B and SJ. R +
Dear Humble Farmer, We continue to listen to, and love, your Friday evening broadcasts. A few weeks ago, our drive to Blue Hill was warmed splendidly by your Errol Garner gems, which we enjoyed in rapt silence. Then last Friday (the 8th) we listened to your excellent program while riding at anchor in Galley Cove on Bartlett's Island, in our sailboat. 'Twas our 45th wedding anniversary, and we were very happy with the music you provided--but we missed your commentary! It's as good as the music, for sure.
Keep it up!
D D
++ Has MPBN delivered their codified rules for program content to Garrison Keillor for his signature? He has certainly been known to embellish his entertainment (as opposed to news or commentary) program with scathing quips about the Bush administration and politicians in general. By the way, doesn't such commentary - when it elicits uproarious laughter - constitute "entertainment"?
G H Portland ++
Dear Humble,
So glad I was able to find your web site. You are nearly a non-person thru MPBN already!
I just thought you'd like to know I wrote after I heard you were gone last night. Shame on management. Silly cowards.
I wrote: I am angry that you have chosen to censor Humble Farmer and that he has decided to leave. This bit of down east humor cannot be replaced. NEVER, no never - did I feel harrangued (sp?) by Robert Skoglund as Farmer.
There is nothing so sacred about Friday night that a little politics couldn't be mixed in with jazz...I will miss Humble's retelling of his conversations with the almost-perfect woman.
It is certainly your loss - as well as ours.
I am also sorry I just renewed my radio membership. I'll be rethinking my loyalty to you and your policies.
-SFB ++
Do you mind if I bring the MPBN policy to the attention of the Maine Civil Liberties Union legal panel? It's possible the MCLU might write a letter to MBPN, and possibly the governor, expressing concern about the policy.
S
There are many people who are concerned about the loss of freedoms in our country. Some of them are doing what they think should be done. You are welcome to join them.
I think the greatest good that came out of my censorship is alerting more people to the fact that we are sliding very slowly into a police state.
You can’t buy a bus ticket in Rockland to Boston without having your papers in order. You can’t buy a bus ticket for your wife unless she is standing there beside you. I mentioned this last night to a 30 year old girl. She had no idea that you had to have an ID to buy a bus ticket. Younger people will quickly take it for granted without considering the ramifications.
Everything Hitler did when he started was to Protect the People.
This is what I attempted to read on air. I submitted the show, and because of this letter from a radio friend, the show was pulled. You might agree that this is kind of a scary thing. Does the name Howie Rich mean anything to you? Howie Rich has friends and they have long fingers and each finger drips money. H***** R*** and his friends don’t want letters like the one below read on any radio station, and obviously they have the means to stop it.
Rant # 8. Dear humble, We live near DC and "tax cut" never means better control of pork barrel spending or programs that benefit corporations at the expense of everyman. It always means that the cuts will be in social services, humanitarian efforts, environmental issues, and all those "useless" programs that generally benefit the poor and middle class and not the wealthy. A tax "ceiling" was implemented on spending in nearby Prince George's County. The result - PG County is now one of the worst counties in the nation in terms of student achievement, even though it has had had a huge influx of higher paid residents. The folks who can afford it, even the minority residents, are sending their kids to private schools. Teachers have to buy their own supplies, books arrive three weeks after school starts because the school system's expenditures are slow. Fiscal responsibility is one thing. Tax cuts designed to "red tape" needy programs to death while expediting tax cuts to the wealthy (described as "beneficial to the economy") are another.
+++++ S
++
Dear Humble -
This is why I've dropped my MPBN membership, after being one of the Founding Members and supporting public TV and radio since the early 1970s, in Maine since 1982. One by one, every good program has been dropped, replaced with drivel like "car talk" and "Whadya know." Complaints have been answered with a claim that, basically, my tastes represent a minority of their listening audience. So be it - I've taken my ears and money elsewhere.
I do wish you well - but doubt the petition will have much impact. They rarely do - decisions are announced and policymakers almost never look backwards to see if what they did was the right thing or not.
- B N Waterville
Both Mike and I sent our names in to freethehumblefarmer. Hope this does some good. Censorship is afoot other places too. AlterNet prints an article about how highschoolers in Wilton, CT, were prevented from performing a play about Iraq that they had written themselves ...eventually it was performed in New York! E G
+ Dear humble:
What a bummah. It's better this way than to have you cave to those right wing kooks. Hope we can still listen to your show on-line or elsewhere.
Peace, B +
Good Evening. I was sorry to learn of your difficulties with MPBM. I totally support you in this and have called the radio to state my concerns. It is unfortunate when a valued Maine entertainer falls victim to the censorship culture that has swept the country since 911. I will tell my friends about this and hopefully, with enough people behind the issue, you will again be able to be a part of MPBN. If not, I won't be either. I will continue to listen, but I will not support the station. Thanks for taking a courageous stand. S R
+
E R
signed: sick of exploitation of my air waves by people who have enough money to think they should be able to tell me what to think. they already control all of the "commercial" radio channels so I guess they need to own the few public and community spots on the dial and we know they would like to squash the low power outlets too. well, you get the idea but you better not say it on the radio. maybe the fcc could put you in jail if you did. turn off that damn radio, I can't hear my cell phone over all the traffic noise. we need those fm frequencies for more cell phone channels anyhow.
+
Dear Humble,
I have been a fan of your show for many, many years. Now I am outraged and heartbroken to hear that MPBN has decided to silence you by their fascistic policy of cencorship. Their behavior reminded me of the "loyalty oaths" which many people were forced to sign in the McCarthy era. I admire you for your courage in standing up to this shabby and reprehensible policy on the part of MPBN.
Still I am saddened that you will no longer be there to brighten our Friday evenings with your wonderful commentary, wit, and music.
Below is the text of an e-mail I have just sent to MPBN to express my outrage.
Perhaps there is another way for your voice to still be heard?? I can only hope. In the meantime, I wish you the best, and thank you for all the years of delightful, intelligent and enlightened entertainment you have provided to the people of Maine.
B F South Portland, Maine
Here is the e-mail I sent to MPBN:
I am writing to express my outrage at the decision to end Robert Skoglund's excellent program, The Humble Farmer.
I find it unthinkable that a Public Radio station, which by definition is responsible to its listeners first and foremost, should deprive them of this wonderful program, and personality (Mr. Skoglund is a Maine treasure). Most of all, I am outraged that MPBN should engage in the kind of censorship which is reminiscent of the behavior of Mass Media under repressive, fascistic regimes, such as occurred in Nazi Germany, in the McCarthy era of blacklisting (and under the current repressive political atmosphere in our country). This behavior on the part of MPBN is cowardly, reprehensible, and unbecoming of a publicly-funded station. What are you people afraid of?? Loss of funding because of complaints of right-wing politicos, or funding sources?
You should be more afraid of loss of support from members like me. I have been a staunch public radio and television supporter for over thirty years. But no more.
My wife and I will no longer be supporting MPBN financially until it rescinds this horrific decision, amends its repressive policy, and restores Robert Skoglund to his rightful place--on the air, and free of cencorship!! We will also be urging our many friends who also support MPBN to take similar steps.
As a faithful and long-time public radio supporter, I urge you to reconsider this terrible decision!
R C. F +
+
Well, it seems they've gone and done it. I just saw a bit on the news about the cancellation of your show. What are they thinking? Or maybe they're not thinking at all.
I don't think it's a right wing thing. It sounds more like a bureaucratic CYA thing to try to avoid making any waves. Just keep sending us the money, please.
The funny thing about the perceived anti-Bush comment is that you never in fact mentioned Mr Bush. Why did they think you were talking about him? Says a lot about mind-set. And you didn't even mention global warming, stem cell research, same-sex marriage, or creation science. Imagine the uproar if you had made a direct comment on the way things are going. Maybe you should have just read Mark Twain's War Poem, and watched them have a conniption over that.
Hope you are ok otherwise.
SBS +
I am sorry to hear the news tonight. Evidently Chas. Bug & Co. have become a serious case of constipation.
I'm really sorry that my friend humble has lost his show on MPBN. I hope that you can continue in other venues as long as your heart desires.
You're right, and they're wrong, as wrong as wrong can be.
Here's a letter I've composed, and will send, unless you stop me.
To Maine Public Broadcasting: Congratulations. I don’t really know what you’ve won, but evidently you won something. You’ve silenced the humble Farmer.
In reality, we've all lost. The MPBN network has lost the integrity that comes with freedom of speech, a concept that seems to escape management.
I'm very disappointed in Maine Public Broadcasting.
The listening public has lost a very entertaining program. humble‘s humor sometimes left us scratching our heads, but more often laughing on the floor. It’s truly a Maine style of humor. Other people tell jokes and put on a phony Maine accent. humble is the real thing.
So what if humble’s humor occasionally bordered on political? He’s a humorist, not a politician. Most of his humor is not on a political line, and it is probably less political than the jokes told among staff in your office. Much less. Other humor programs broadcast on your network contain political remarks, but I’ve never heard of any efforts to force “codification” contracts on programs bought from other NPR entities. In fact, you pay large sums to the entities that produce them, while humble worked humbly for a quarter century, for nothing.
I cannot imagine what purpose your “codification” of program standards serves. How on earth did you manage to broadcast humble’s program for nearly 30 years without them?
The bottom line: What we’re looking at here is a network that I cannot support. If what you stand for is censorship, then you are on the wrong road, and not on my radio.
Good-bye.
That good-bye does not apply to you, humble. Take strength in knowing you have a lot of friends and support. Z
+
humble, Well, we knew this was coming, didn't we...
I'm of course signing the letter and am forwarding Susan's instructions to several people who I believe will also sign. I am asking them to in turn forward to everyone they know who believes that the kind of censorship you faced is wrong and intolerable.
Thank you for refusing to buckle to MPBN's ridiculous, capricious, infuriating demand that you either sign away your freedom of expression or be fired.
I'm certain that your many friends and all who support what you're doing won't let this stand without a fight.
See you soon, T
+
I would sign a petition to suspend funding for Maine Public Radio if MPBN does not evoke its censorship of the Humble Farmer.
Their censorship of him is illegal and unconstitutional. Sincerely,P N
+
Dear MPBN, We are not renewing our MPBN Radio Membership when it comes up for renewal this July. While we do this reluctantly, as we value the radio programming we receive via MPBN, we do so in protest against the shameful way MPBN handled the situation with the Humble Farmer. Robert Skoglund is one of the unique Maine voices, the kind of voice that MPBN ought to cherish and celebrate. Rather , you attempted to smother that voice for fear of offending someone or in service to some misguided notion of journalistic standards. Who are you afraid of offending? Listeners? Corporate underwriters? If you're concerned with the delicate sensibilities of the listeners, then record another ridiculous warning like that at the beginning of "This American Life." If you're concerned with corporate underwriters, then you're as co-opted as the rest of the world. We are disappointed in you and are sad to see MPBN smothered by the soporific velvet glove of NPR.
Fortunately, most of the programming we enjoy via Maine Public Radio is national programming and can be gotten via podcasts or via the signals of WBUR or NHPR. So we needn't feel guilty indulging in programming we don't pay for. To remind ourselves we live in a unique part of our country, we'll have to rely on WMPG.
Sincerely, AW & J D
+
i will sign and forward, etc. that spineless b****** beck didn't even have the nerve to go on the news with this story himself - he sent that syncophant lew morin to spew the party line on tonight news. fight on humble, altho you've got a long row to hoe. the "public" radio powers that be are very entrenched, esp jim dowe, and comfortable with the status quo. b
+
It brings great sadness... great loss... Humble we are so sorry for these events... we hope that you are able to maintain the other stations and Whine & Snivel... we also hope that you and Marsha are doing alright ... we've been enbattled with bureaucratic hogwash befoe and we now how exhausting it can be... please take time to let this drivel wash out and get back into the sunshine... you both deserve it!... hope to see you at the fairs... and our son is hosting his ValhallaFest July 21st... I believe he emailed you to see if you were available... whatever the case... we will catch up... enjoy some peace!... W and L
+
I would rather sign a partition that would help get rid of James Dow.
D M
+
Dear humble-- Each week I listen to your show from your website while I do my AM stretches. Usually twice through your program gets me seven stretching sessions until your next show. I sincerely hope you will find another sponsor to help you maintain the lifestyle to which you have been accustomed, especially to maintain the extravagance of your "almost perfect woman". Sincerely, the issues MPBN has had with you seem like a "tempest in a teaput", and I intend to communicate my distain for the small-mindedness of their management once I build up a good head of steam. I promise you I will be as erudite and as clear as the model you have presented over the airways to me. We will decline to support their programming in the future. I hope you will be continuing your webcasts (if that's the right expression). I hope you will be informing your listenership if you need direct financial support. Perhaps we'll meet again at Owl's Head Transportation Museum this summer. Best, dr p
+ Dear humble, Driving home today, listening to Maine Public Radio as I normally do (yes, I am that rare breed of high schooler that listens to public radio...), I heard that you will no longer be a part of the programming on Friday nights. I was so disappointed, and felt compelled shed a single tear for humanity right there. As a practically life-long listener, I had only begun to understand what the heck you were talking about in the last few years. Of course, I have also just written a letter to MPBN explaining my vast displeasure at their belief that they should restrict free speech. Although I am sad that I will no longer hear your wonderful music and commentary on my Friday nights any more, I support your decision entirely.
Thank you,
S D
+
I write as a Beacon society member, who is appalled at what sounds like the first degrees of prior restraint that led to the blacklist. suppose Garrison Keillor shouldn't make fun of our president; Will Rogers couldn't have been on MPR. I think that the "codification" of this policy of prior restraint is stupid, small minded, and petty, and it reduces my world, and I am appalled that the public radio station that I have happily contributed to for over a quarter of a century has decided to make a bureaucratic gag rule for an op ed writer, which is what THE HUMBLE FARMER should be listed as in your news/entertainment slot. Anyone who is uncomfortable with his between music comments NEEDN'T LISTEN. And now, you have instead barred me from having the opportunity to listen at all. I cannot say strongly enough what a diminishment of the pleasures of intelligent life this is. N C Vinalhaven
+
Neighbor Humble,
I read sadly in the Citizen about the demise of your weekly radio show. I believe you made the right decision in refusing to compromise. Your show was special because it was done the way you chose. It could never be the same when constrained by repressive guidelines. I hope you'll find another outlet (WERU?) for your radio broadcasts. I'll miss hearing you Friday evenings.
All the best to you and Marsha.
C G Belfast + Hi Robert: Well, after all winter and spring, we knew the handwriting was on the wall. I guess the people have given up and the government is no longer of the people if it ever really was. I typed a rant but you can be thankful that the edit features of this program make mass deletion possible, you really didn't want to read it because you already know. I should feel guilty about driving my old "bum shack on wheels" since at 8 1/2 miles per gallon, I'm squandering the oil reserves, polluting the planet and wasting my kids' inheritance. I think I'll go anyhow. I feel a rant coming on so I'll quit. Sorry the show won't be on anymore, all the shows I really liked are no longer aired anyhow. I'll just have to make do with my store of mp3s and spend more time trying to learn tunes on the banjo (old time). I'll never be more than a wannabe picker but it's fun to try. My friend Alice from Apopka, FL is calling a dance in Fairfield Center Saturday night and I hope to make it up there but not in the motor home. I won't be playing but I might try to learn to dance which is probably about as likely as teaching a moose to look both ways before crossing the road. Anyhow, the folks who show up for such events seem to be unpretentious people who just want to have a good time. No need to talk politics. Anyhow, love ya and hope to stop by some time if I get up that way. Happy trails; E
+
Our country deserves better leadership, but I guess the citizens of this country deserve what happens as a result of their electing the gov't officails. I have hope that as of Nov. 2008 the country will take a new direction. I honor your steadfast commitment to do what was right and take the consequences. I hope to meet you in person some day. RS. B MD
+
Hi I am sorry to hear that you have left but for your own peace of mind....it seems like the thing to do.... Here is the rant I sent this am. B
I just received news that the Humble Farmer Show is history and I would like you all to know that my contributions to Public Broadcasting are history too. I still consider this political and censorship and until the board is smart enough to change managers I will not be at all interested in giving you money. I fully intend to pass this information on to all my friends. Even if I did not listen to Humble every week he has a right to express his opinions. This is America and we still have a constitution that quarantines the right to free speech although it seems that the people at Public Broadcasting have decided to revert to the McCarthy era. Next thing you know we will be required to sign a loyalty oath to listen. I will also be using more of my own personal music collection to amuse myself. I find this whole affair absurd. It is obvious that someone at the Bangor site needs to resign and go into preaching or some other restrictive profession where they can control people's thoughts. B
+ You are a dangerous man! M
+
Humble, please go on YouTube! Work up a short (5 -- 10min ?), pithy format. Do programs in series. Keep your fans informed via e-mail. People would flock to it: what you're saying is the truth and people are eager to hear it. And your style is very entertaining. Could be bigger than your MPBN thing ever was. We need you! Best, D
Thanks D,
+
Robert, I'm sorry, but not too sorry. MPBN ought to know better. D S
Dear [or Deahh] Humble: I sorely regret the loss of your show. As you may know, we radio addicts come to value you "radio personalities" almost as personal friends. First it was D P, who really left us, then you. For me it is worse, because my computer, for which Verizon is unwilling to extend their special wire a few more feet down from Route 1 in East Belfast to my house, only gets dial-up. So I am unable to listen to WERU's "archives," and have never even tried listening to your shows because of that. Do you happen to know if those of us restricted to old time dial-up can in fact hear your show from your website? I will miss you, an understatement. J G East Belfast
*I really missed out on Dave P's rants. I had the habit of listening to Tony Boutellier's show on Maine Public Radio until the music lost it's ole time flavor, then switching to "Talking Furniture." [Both shows ran from 2 to 4 on Fridays] Thus, it wasn't until Dave died that I learned that his famous "rants" usually occurred in the first part of his show. Not being a local newspaper subscriber, I missed his editorials also. Surely you must know who I'm talking about. If not, look up some of his material on WERU's archives, or try to find some of his editorials. J
+
Brother Humble,
It saddened me to read the article concerning the end of your show. I've been listening to your program for several years now, and am shocked by the censorship you've had to confront. The music you play is wonderful, but it's the commentary that ties your show together. You have the ability to say the things many people think. That's why we love your program. I hope you'll keep up the website. Will it be possible to listen to archived shows?
The last time we exchanged emails I was living in the mountains of western North Carolina. I'm now teaching to poetry to at-risk teens in the Mississippi Delta. It's challenging, but rewarding.
W G Memphis, TN
+ Dar Humble: I am very sorry the way things turned out. I will miss your messages. I saw and heard you several times in Maine. I admire your standing up for your principles, unlike the station, which does not seem to have any. I agree with you about Bush. I just returned from England, where the English are afraid of what he will do in Iran next. Best wishes, R HR, Westminster, Vermont
+
Dear Humble, Thank you for the several years I listened to your show. I wish I could say something witty or wise right now, but it would just be contrived. May I also say I wish I had been able to do more to stand up for you. Unfortunately, I've had my own battles to fight in the last year. Your show was unique Humble. I certainly don't know any other old-time jazz shows with subtle, sophisticated humor and commentary. My only hope for all this now is that your show will not be the last of its kind. There will never be another Humble Farmer, but if there are other shows as unapologetically different than the herd, then ClearChannel will not have won. I hope to be able to see you at Common Ground this year. Many thanks, and much luck.
M +
humble,
Just heard about the show. Sorry to hear that you won't be continuing on MPBN. The show set the tone for the week when we vacationed in Maine. We continued to listen on-demand, and over the air when the "winds blow just right".
I'll look for your programs on your website. Have you considered setting up a podcast? Your programs would be automagically delivered to your listeners without them having to visit your website.
C
+
Dear humble,
Sorry to hear the sad news. As soon as I read the news I called MPBN Audience Services to give them a piece of my mind (not that I have much to spare). At any rate I thought you would like to know that I was told this whole thing had to do with your not signing the guidelines agreement. When I said that I thought the agreement was created to help push you out I was told that this document had "been around for years". I replied that I found that odd since I had requested a copy of the guidelines months ago and never received it. It's a sad day for free speech!
Your friend,
JR
+
You're an American hero, Robert! Thank you for not signing something you don't believe in. My son (also named Robert) recently refused to sign a parking permit form at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School that said that his car could be searched at any time, without his consent or knowlege, by the administration (not even the police - we're talking about the school administrators - in fact, the South Paris police would require a search warrant) if they had a "reasonable" cause to do so. This pretty much violates his constitutional right against unlawful search and seizure so he refused to sign it and we, as parents, backed him up on it. The principal threatened to tow his car - Rob said, "Go ahead, I'm not signing away my rights." He further made the point that just because other kids in the school might have drugs or weapons in their cars didn't mean that his rights should be compromised when he was clean and minding his own business. The car has not been towed.
I know that story is a much smaller thing than actually losing your radio show, which is a pretty big thing. But you can sleep at night knowing you didn't compromise your principles and that's refreshing in today's world. Will your show perhaps appear on another station anytime soon? We hope so.
Best wishes - B M
+
Hi, Humble , you have asked on your program what is a playstation. When I was about 20 there came on the market a device that one could attach to a television and one could see a very simple pattern of a verticle line dividing the screen and two small rectangles on opposite sides representing "paddles".and a dot representing a ball . with a simple contol stick attached to the device one could play a game called pong on the tv. Well a playstation is an elaberate version of this but now instead of simple lines and dots there are elaberate video representations; these are made into games one can play with hand held controls like the pong game.Generally they are called video games.There are car racing games ... War games. There is a popular game called Grand Theft Auto in which you can steal cars, run over people, kill cops, cut peoples heads off with a chain saw , have sex with a prostitute and then kill her ,and then take her money, all in a vitural game sort of way.And no I am not making this up . I am Also aware of children as young a six playing this paticular game . I hope I was able to enlighten you ,
S
Thanks S, +
+
The situation with the MPBN guidelines stinks, obviously; stinks as in "something rotten in the State of Maine", one might say. I'm really disappointed that Jim Dowe took this gutless and deceitful way out, and can only hope that all those who went to bat for you, for free speech and for the code of ethics public broadcasting is supposed to represent will now have learned exactly what their opinions and support are worth in MPBN's view: nothing.
Clearly, MPBN doesn't need the contributions of the average viewer, it's all a matter of corporate donation these days. I guess the pledge weeks have to be retained for the sake of appearances, but I see no reason for any individual to donate one red cent to MPBN absent the understanding that it won't exert one iota of effect on MPBN's programming policies.
They've put in place the tools necessary to vacate your Friday evening timeslot whenever they so desire, on pretty much any pretext; after all, as you've said, it will all be a matter of how they decide to interpret whatever you say, and not what you actually say that will drive the process.
It seems to me that the question now is whether it is worth the time and effort to produce a program for MPBN that is as entertaining as you think you can safely be, while producing the high-quality show for the other stations and web posting. Only you can answer that, only you know the overhead involved. Either way, the fact that the "real" show is downloadable needs to be well publicized, at the very least the PayPal donation button needs to be very conspicuous and other venues for in-state airplay probably ought to be investigated. I'm betting other stations would be happy for you to plug your appearances and products within the show, too. Would it be excessive to suggest on your site that a $30 donation underwrites the production of a program? I'll pledge a week a year, and gladly, and bet 51 other would, too.
I'm looking seriously at a website of my own - a place to start posting my writing, for one thing - and will certainly want to include links to point people your way, supposing I can get anyone to look at my own site.
Things change, certainly, and too often not for the better. One thing that won't change: you will continue to have more friends than anyone in the State of Maine.
I'm proud to be one of them. M
+
dear neighbor humble,
the whole thing is obfuscatory boilerplate, in my considered opinion, but the provisions i have the most trouble with are these:
under "political/religious neutrality" i wonder who gets to decide what constitutes a "personal agenda" and whether there is not somebody looking over his or her shoulder determining if he or she has a "personal agenda?" for christ's sake, who doesn't have a personal agenda, which is just another a way of saying, "who doesn't have opinions." hold it, i tried to interview sarah nicks once, before she was an mpbn employee, and she didn't even seem to have any thoughts, let alone a personal agenda, so maybe that's why she's so indispensable to management.
the whole "derogatory/slanderous" thing is indefensible bullshit, from just about every angle, which has never stopped lawyers from trying to defend or prosecute these kinds of cases, hence the need to include this kind of bullshit in the guidelines.
robert, i run a little community tv station on a little neck of land here in the midcoast. if i put anything on the air that even seems to hint at a "bias" in a liberal/libertarian direction i get phone calls telling me how much jeopardy i'm putting my little organization in in terms of financial support from the local citizenry. never mind that we are not a commercial station and that most of what we run is produced by volunteers who live in this very community, the ideals of tolerance, understanding, compassion and brotherly love embodied in every enlightened pronouncement from the sermon on the mount to the bill of rights, mean nothing to the vast majority of our fellow citizens and i am truly saddened, amazed and frightened by the depths to which my fellow americans have sunk as a result of piss-poor public education, too much television and cynical, greedy, lying corporate/politicos who can pull the wool over their eyes without even trying hard.
i'm also sorry for the run-on sentence, but, god damn it, this means too much to me, and to you, i have a feeling, to just let it go unmentioned...
R
+
Robert,
I read the proposed guidelines. What are "skimmers?" Most of the provisions are unobjectionable, as I am sure you agree. Some are irksome: The requirement for an annual signature by employees feels like a loyalty oath. Some directly implement Beck’s guidelines, including MPBN’s ability to exercise prior restraint, and its exclusive power to decide when its standards have been violated.
The most relevant provision for your purposes is the one stating that "on-air personnel are not allowed to use this public resource to further personal agendas of any kind. On-air personnel should not make religious or political calls to action, editorialize, include content or showcase views and opinions on sensitive or controversial issues." Under terms of the guidelines, management gives itself final authority to decide what is a personal agenda, what constitutes editorializing, when a call to action ("be sure to vote") is political, and what qualifies as showcasing. That said, it may not be possible to prove that the restrictions violate MPBN’s public trust unless they are selectively applied. The sadness, as I’ve expressed to you before, is that MPBN ostensibly forbids any political viewpoint during a time that cries out for public discussion about the course the country has taken.
I think you should at least take advantage of the invitation to ask management for clarification before signing. You might be able to ask enough hair-splitting questions to demonstrate that the policy is arbitrary, or to give you cover if you overstep. You might also ask MPBN to explain if it intends to demand an annual signature by Garrison Keillor, in that he appears to satisfy MPBN’s definition of personnel as readily as you do. Or, maybe suggest that you will sign right after MPBN obtains signatures from K and IG.
I’ve taught a course that covers some of the principal cases dealing with First Amendment rights of broadcasters, so I’m aware of constraints the Supreme Court has upheld concerning people in your position. But I have never studied FCC criteria concerning public broadcasting. I would point you to a specialist in this area of law if I knew one. Have you asked the Maine Civil Liberties Union for advice?
S +
Thanks, we'll shoot you a review and perhaps you can mention it on your show.
all the best
b
+
I like Tim Rhys' idea of screwing MPBN and not signing the agreement.
Is your old show format on other stations like WERU, or the low power stations here in Camden and Rockland? When? Your web site does not say so.
I'd also encourage you to reach out to the commercial stations in the state . . . hell, there are hundreds of stations throughout the US that would even pay you for your political satire and your taste in jazz.
Do not tie your hands . . . or your mouth . . .
D H. L
+
humble,
Two parts of the mpbn guidelines for not pissing anyone off struck me as something that someone who might want to say something probably wouldn't want to sign. They were; the Political and religious neutrality section, how are we supposed to make sensible decisions if nobody is allowed to say what they think on public radio, who are they worried about pissing off anyway. If listening to you rant is the price some people have to pay to listen to the good music and it makes them uncomfortable, good, maybe they might learn something.
and the derogatory and slanderous section, broadly interpreted that could keep you from saying much of anything worth saying.
once in a while I'll leave the left of the fm dial and as you may know a lot of what comes over the radio is slanderous, partisan lies from people who measure human accomplishment only by the volume of money flowing around.
on the up side this muzzeling should give you ranting fuel for some time, as if there weren't enough already. It is nourishing to hear constructive critisizm of the current fascist administration, they sure need a heap of it. It seems to me that the only way to start to regain our credibility as a nation is to repudiate this administrations policy's by cutting their term short.
please rant on, we need you to. j
+
Hi Humble,
Speaking of restrictions on travel, we just recently returned from a trip to Europe. We traveled freely in and through Germany, France and Switzerland and were only asked to show our passports or ID twice, upon arriving at the airport and departing the same airport. Our baggage only received a cursory check, and we were allowed to keep our shoes on.
I get to good ole USA and was subjected to three security checks at one airport. At one security post, I saw a woman that had to have been at least 80 pulled aside, made to stand with her arms out for over 5 minutes while a female "security" person went over and over her with the wand, and THEN did a pat down. The security person then just walked away without ever saying something like "sorry I have to do this, but its procedure." The woman's elderly female companion stood by clearly distressed over this treatment, as was I. These two women were terrorized. I was appalled and disgusted. But if either of us had even uttered any kind of disapproval or objection, we would have been detained by gun toting rent-a-cops with delusions of grandure that they are actually doing something useful. What a sight for people coming to this country for the first time. Do I feel safer? NO! I'm not worried about terrorists. I'm worried about this country becoming a police state. Welcome to Amerika. R
+
News Personnel Code of Ethics What does this document say? I cannot find it on MPBN's website. It should be APPENDED to the personnel guidelines. You cannot sign what you cannot read.
GENERAL: Program Content and Style This provision obviates the need for talent, and makes on-air personnel mere mouthpieces for management.
Competition/Exclusivity The evaluation criteria for "case by case disallowing" need to be spelled out.
MISCELLANEOUS OPERATIONAL: Technology There needs to be a statement added that management will not make arbitrary or unnecessarily expensive requirements.
Program Guide and/or Web Listings Define what constitutes "program guide listings." What level of detail is sought here?
On-Air Station Business Material On-air personnel should not be required to air promotional materials with which they disagree. I'm sure there would be an uproar if, for example, Planned Parenthood abortion clinic ads were to be promoted! Similar objections may arise on the part of on-air personnel to other types of material from different political or social perspectives, such as (for example) ads by Plum Creek or Monsanto, however profitable they may be to MPBN.
Community Calendar Written approval of station management required for community calendar announcements if station personnel are involved in the event? This is taking micromanagement to a whole new level!
Political and Religious Neutrality Editorializing in news reporting should be disallowed. (Note, "editorializing" SHOULD include biases toward certain stories that do not get covered, or get covered to the exclusion of important happenings.) However, editorial opinion that is clearly labeled as such should be freely allowed at any time and on any program.
Personal use of MPBN Services Management must, by this provision, approve of the dedication of a birthday song! See comment on micromanagement above.
Derogatory and Slanderous Content As is well known, ALL humor can be construed as directing a derogatory remark at some group or other. This provision as written bans humor from MPBN.
+ Hi Robert,
It's not likely we'll be there on Friday, but we should be there Saturday and Sunday, playing in the Maine Folklife Center tent. We have to schedule the times there. Have you scheduled your times yet? What are they? Maybe we could schedule ours so we can get over to your site and play a tune or two for you as well.
I've got to consult with Marta also but I'm sure she'll be glad to do it, as I am, assuming we can figure out a non-conflicting schedule.
On the old note, I thought I heard you doing your rants on the MPBN air a few weeks ago, but everyone told me I was mistaken, and last Friday your program was aired sans rants, so maybe I was hearing things.
Regarding the new guidelines, my point in my communications with MPBN is that you should be regarded not as MPBN personnel but as someone like Garrison Keillor whose show is offered on more than one station. Maybe I'm wrong in that. Maybe GK has to sign a similar set of guidelines as Minnesota Public Radio personnel. It would be worth your finding out. If he doesn't have to sign guidelines, why should you? Maybe you should syndicate your show the way he does his?
Best, J
+ Dear humble...
As I promised, I just checked the point that I couldn't quite wrap my head around earlier, something about "alternative views". I located this in PROGRAM CONTENT & STYLE in the following: "On-air personnel are encouraged to actively participate in program development and evolution by presenting ideas and offering alternative views." (However the management retains all decision-making...not surprising.) This "alternative view" thing nags at me because it was the original mission of public radio and television to present alternative views and voices not heard in the mainstream media. That was the goal. These people have totally abandoned their purpose and impoverished all of us in the process. Now it would appear that anything or anyone controversial, out of the mainstream (as defined by whom?), or remotely antagonistic to the government or status quo, is too hot to handle on MPBN. That pretty much eliminates alternative views and diversity.
These people are fascists of the worst ilk.
I appreciate your phone call which I'm sorry I missed. I merely wanted to add another two-cents, for whatever it's worth...and because I am mad. As Robert Shetterley said, "If you're not mad as hell, you're not paying attention!" And yes, the democracy, ever frail and imperfect though it was, has devolved into a military/corporate police state. The irony is it still retains the illusion of choice, of diversity, of democratic institutions, but the core is hollow and gutted out, barely functional. It's been a great experiment, but unless there's a revolution such as that envisioned by Jefferson every generation or so, it's over.
Thanks for your original and always on the mark voice, for caring as you have and for speaking truth.
+
Hello Humble,
I had gathered that things were not going well with MPBN. I agree with you that we are in a very dangerous time. I have been reading Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason", and in general think he has it nailed. What you have experienced, and suffered through, seems like the "trickle down" effect—as intended by its source.
What to do? Hope that the disasters brought on by current policy happen faster than Bush can amass power, and that they are not disasters of overwhelming magnitude? Keep speaking where we can? Better to speak in the alley-ways than not to speak at all?
It seems to me that Bush's approach will surely fail—the question is what will be the nature of its failure?
My guess, and it is only that, is to sign the form in its entirety, keep doing your show on MPBN as you have been recently, that is, just music and the names of the tunes. It is itself a loud statement. Then, keep your show going on the internet, and keep your email lists going.
I find it as easy, if not easier, to listen the the downloads of your show, than to always tune in at 7 on Fridays. . .
These are my thoughts at the moment. Thank you for your voice in these dangerous times.
Best Regards,
+ Dear humble, I have not lost interest in your plight and, in fact, have followed it with keen interest.
It seems evident that you will have no choice but to sign this thing as many have to sign employee handbook affidavits stating that they have read and will abide by it. Being the clever man you are I have no doubt you will find ways to say what you need to say in spite of this. I am delight ed to know that you have found other venues that allow real freeness of speech. I myself abhor the Imus type of freeness of speech, but treasure my right to listen or not.
You are quite correct in saying that the good coming out of this mess, is that many long time listeners and supporters of MPBN were not aware of the kind of censorship exerted on it by large corporate supporters. We actually believed them when they said they listened to us first since we made up 64% of their funding. I am heartily disappointed to know the truth.
Rather that growing stronger, I feel that the direction this country is taking is making us hated throughout the world and we are loosing power rapidly. Because of our hypocrisy, corruption and injustice, while proclaiming ourselves to be the nation of God and savior of the world, we have lost the respect of most of it. How pompous we are!! The world is indeed becoming like the feet of clay on the giant statue in Nebuchadnezar's dream, totally fragmented into a lot of small less powerful countries, and we too are headed in that direction. I hope you will continue to say what you can on your regular show, and the rest in other venues where we can find you. Take heart. Regards and thanks, + If there are such staffers on the board, I would add a requirement to my "signing statement" that says in any administrative hearing wherein questions of political or opinion speech are at issue, all board members with any ties to any politician (or corporate sponsor if that's the issue) shall recuse themselves and not participate in the discussion or decisions.
+
Dear Humble,
I am very sorry that you have been made to bear the brunt of undeserved anger and unprofessional behavior on the part of MPBN management.
There is no bright side to this sorry affair for me. It is depressing and distressing. I would have walked away from the problem months ago were it me on the receiving end. I am not sure why you are soldiering on. I have ceased supporting the network financially.
I have no advice as to what might be edited out of the guidelines. To sign them is to justify pathetically childish behavior. I found the restriction about criticizing MPBN the most revealing as to how insecure the management truly is. It reinforces my belief that Charles Beck has zero sense of humor.
You have been very generous in your estimations of Jim Dowe as a reasonable fellow. The reality of the guidelines however, suggests otherwise.
It is not possible to believe that these guidelines were implemented without his knowledge. That being the case, and the fact that this issue has been allowed to drag on so long without comment from his office indicates that he tacitly supports the guidelines without getting his hands dirty.
If you want your life and sanity back Humble, it might be time to cut your losses and move on. That is a painful reality for me. I love your work.
++
Dear humble,
MPBN's treatment of you makes me sick (still). Not only is it deeply disturbing for the reasons you so pertinently state, but I no longer have a radio show to listen to on Friday nights. You see, I'm not really a big fan of jazz (though I do enjoy some of the music you play). I tuned in to your show solely for your humor and commentary. I've been disappointed every Friday night now for far too long.
It is easy to see which sections of the MPBN guidelines target you personally. If I were in your shoes, I would tell MPBN to take a hike (or perhaps even something more forceful) and take your show to WERU or perhaps even Pacifica Radio Network. I'm sure they would love to have you, and it's not like you're earning any money at MPBN. It is criminal that Charles Beck and Company are muzzling you this way.
All good wishes,
++++++++++
This is a pretty authoritarian and coercive piece of contractual garbage that makes a mockery of free speech. I find it particularly odious under "GENERAL", that "management will make suggestions or REQUIRED DIRECTIVES" in order to "meet organizational goals to serve our listeners"...goals which are nowhere defined in the contract. Further, who are the "listeners" and what presumed service is being provided? As if to further compound the assumption of the unexpressed goals under "ON-AIR STANDARDS AND LEGAL", "management will (then) in its sole discretion determine whether these (undefined) standards have been violated." Again, what standards? What goals? And is there no arbitration by a competent third party? Apparently MPBN is a communication fiefdom of some banana republic.
It seems to me that at some place there is mention of addressing "alternative views" (I can't find it as I didn't make a copy of the contract, but will look again), however under POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS NEUTRALITY it is clear that "no sensitive or controversial issues, views, and opinions" may be expressed. Well, that's not only a baffling contradiction but a recipe for utter irrelevance. MPBN will contract itself into oblivion.
I suggest you run this past a good attorney and civil liberties advocate like J H. To me, it seems the whole thing is going way beyond normal concerns for slander or appropriate programming. If this contract were published and in the public domain, people could see what the station they are giving money to support is really about. They would be as disgusted as am I.
+++++
Dear Humble
Having read the new contract I am wondering what exactly CAN you do? It seems that every topic and possible scenario is at the discretion of management - and so doesn't that further management’s personal agenda?
I am assuming that this document only applies to programming generated at MPBN and not programming brought in from NPR and other sources. In the event that it applies to those programs as well not only will be losing Humble Farmer but Prairie Home Companion, What Do You Know, Fresh Air and This American Life as well.
You are correct in your assumption that I am tired of this, I am tired of MPBN in general. My family did not renew our pledge this year for radio programming - I am not planning on renewing any time soon. My intention was to double my pledge when MPBN decided this issue in a democratic fashion and let your show air as is. Think of the money I am saving!
To be honest I rarely listen to MPBN at all anymore, my heart just is not in it and that makes me really sad, I feel living in Maine that MPBN belongs to me and someone has stolen it away with no hope of return, also sad.
Thanks for your time and commitment, things do not change without individuals like you Humble. Please keep me posted.
++++++++++++
If there are such staffers on the board, I would add a requirement to my "signing statement" that says in any administrative hearing wherein questions of political or opinion speech are at issue, all board members with any ties to any politician (or corporate sponsor if that's the issue) shall recuse themselves and not participate in the discussion or decisions.
+++++++++++
I think the opportunity for management (i.e. Beck) to fire anyone unilaterally and arbitrarily, without recourse even to a hearing, is written all over this document. Signing it merely gives Beck the opportunity to do so with your permission! I have actually never seen anything like this in my private sector life, but it was naturally understood that one didn't badmouth one's employer. I guess MPBN is "employed" by its sponsors, and you are employed by MPBN, so you mustn't say anything negative about corporations or the government (same thing these days.)
I guess the decision to sign or not sign isn't so much a question of what sections are objectionable, as whether you can stomach the censorship, or whether you can afford to quit. If you can't stomach the censorship but can afford to quit, you could refuse to sign it and make a huge ruckus when you are inevitably fired. If you can't afford to quit, you can sign and shut up while searching other opportunities. If you decide to refuse to sign or adhere to certain sections, I guess you could append a "signing statement" (all the rage these days) that would say in effect that subjective judgment on the part of management as to what constitutes unacceptable or biased political speech or expressions of opinion on any subject whatsoever, is unfair and potentially arbitrary, and you would demand a hearing before the board if you are accused of violating any of those provisions. (unless the board is a bunch of rubber-stamp wimps.) I wouldn't have problems with the payola and vulgarity clauses, or the technical stuff I guess, but I'm ignorant on those matters. ++
This whole thing is so absurd. I would ask for a raise, if I were you, due to the burden imposed by this form of rant control.
++
All Our International Rants
look
at the Holmodar, the famine in Ukraine in the 1930's which was carried
out by the Soviets entirely through censorship and silencing of
individuals. An entire population was led to believe that there was
widespread famine because of crop failure.
The truth was suppressed. Voices were silenced, the press censored, by the government.
Speaking truth to power
is, and always has been, a tool of democracy.
We sadly remember what happened in Ukraine.
We are deeply disturbed that Maine Public Radio silenced and censored a Maine writer and an artist.
Censorship in Maine now or in Ukraine 75 years ago undermines the freedoms we all cherish, that our democracy honors.
++
Activist raises Holodomor awareness with art
by Mark Rachkevych, Kyiv Post Staff Writer Kyiv Post, UKRAINE
Nov 29 2007, 00:36
Q&A with US lobbyist and art collector Morgan Williams
Morgan
Williams, a collector of artwork on Holodomor subjects and genres,
chats at Ukrainian House, where the largest exhibition on the tragedy
is running until Dec. 5 and includes 350 pieces from his private
collection.
Morgan Williams is the director of government
affairs for the Washington, DC office of the SigmaBleyzer Emerging
Markets Private Equity Investment Group, the president of the
US-Ukraine Business Council and member of President Viktor Yushchenko’s
Committee for the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor 1932-1933.
Over
the years, he has collected artwork depicting the Holodomor. He lent
350 works that are part of an exhibit of art, declassified documents,
testimonies, statistical data and other archival materials that are on
display at Ukrainian House until Dec. 5. When it comes to the
Holodomor, Williams told the Post that numbers are less important than
efforts to raise awareness, educate, and research the subject.
KP: Why is a foreigner at the forefront of raising awareness on this topic in Ukraine?
MW:
I come from Kansas, a major agricultural state, and grew up learning
about agriculture. Later I worked for US Senator Bob Dole in Washington
on agricultural and food policies. I knew that in the late 1800s there
was a massive exodus of German and Ukrainian emigrants from Ukraine who
came to seek a better life in the US and Canada. Many came with hard
red winter wheat seeds sewed into their jackets and coats. Kansas is
indebted to them for this. Plus I have worked internationally in the
development of food systems, from field to table, producer to consumer.
Agriculture is also very political with price caps, production controls
and support programs. Politicians have always been concerned about the
price of bread in the cities - it’s a crucial economic and political
indicator.
KP: So your background set the stage for your interest in the Holodomor?
MW:
One could say that, although I hardly knew anything about Ukraine prior
to coming here first in 1992 since for me the country was just lumped
together with the rest of the Soviet Union. When one works in
agriculture, one learns and studies famines and food shortages. So when
I lived in Kyiv for four years starting in 1997 and really discovered
what Ukraine went through in its collective history, especially about
the 1932-33 Holodomor – induced famine, death for millions, genocide –
I took an immediate interest. I sought out specialists and met Dr. Jim
Mace who was the leading US scholar on the Holodomor and living in Kyiv.
KP:
Your Holodomor art collection numbers 350 works and you are an advocate
for the erection of a Holodomor Memorial Complex, something many
government officials, despite countless promises, have failed to
deliver. Why is it taking so long?
MW: Keep in mind that the
artistic community was totally stifled and controlled in the Soviet
Union from 1918 until the Perestroika period. Many people knew little
about the famine – their grandparents were afraid to speak about this
period with their grandchildren out of fear of being sent to the Gulag.
This all changed in 1989-1993, when Ukrainian artists were really free
to express themselves – a first in 70 years. Artists began organizing
their own exhibitions and were not afraid to touch upon such topics as
the Holodomor, the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, destruction of culture,
the Great Terror of 1937 and other such topics. I decided I could
contribute by telling the world about the Holodomor by finding artistic
works that depicted the Holodomor – a visual continuation of the
storytelling about what transpired. You have to remember that work on
this subject was somewhat dated outside of the Soviet Union. In
addition, many visuals were wrong as most of them were photographs from
the 1921-22 famine along the Volga River in Russia taken by
international relief agencies.
KP: Have any actual photographs of the Holodomor surfaced since?
MW:
This I took upon myself. I offered every collector and antique dealer I
met $100 if they could provide me with an authentic or authentic copy
of a photograph of famine victims in Ukraine. I still have yet to give
out $100. There are only around 25 documented photographs and they were
taken in Kharkiv.
KP: How far does your collection go? Are you only raising awareness? Is that the end-goal?
MW:
You have to understand the Holodomor is the central event of Ukraine’s
history. The Diaspora used it as the main focal point in their protests
against the Soviet Union – the Soviet occupation of Ukraine, as it was
called. It is the apex event to tell people. I’m for continued
research, education, and telling the true story about the entire Soviet
period and not just about the number who died. As Jim Mace said,
millions died, it was a great human tragedy, let’s not argue over
numbers.
KP: Why just ‘millions?’
MW: The period of
1918-1938 was entirely a genocidal action against Ukraine. Private
wealth and businesses were completely wiped out. Seven thousand
churches were destroyed. Millions were murdered, sent to the Gulag.
Private education was abolished and educational institution leaders
were vanquished. The same goes for cultural, artistic and religious
leaders. Language and culture were repressed. We should not just talk
about 1932-33. What happened to this country over a 20 year period was
absolutely shocking. The number of 10 million victims includes
auxiliary and other deaths from repression during this period. We
shouldn’t only include starvation; many who escaped died of poor health
or suffered traumatically. Besides, a lot of records were destroyed so
it is hard to have an absolute number.
KP: What if Moscow opened up its archives for research? It has refused to do so thus far.
MW:
In general, I support the opening of archives anywhere in the world –
the truth about a lot of tragedies needs to come out. Nevertheless,
this is why I support the new National Institute of Memory because it
is supposed to set up a research center, a single place where a history
of Ukraine under the Soviets could be written. There are many different
books out there with various viewpoints on Ukraine’s history. In this
sense, all the archives available could be located under one roof. The
Institute of National Memory, over time, is to tell the story of what
happened in the Soviet period in Ukraine. The Holodomor was not an
isolated, accidental event.
KP: Recently, President Yushchenko
and SBU Chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko called for criminal responsibility
for those culprits who deny the Holodomor and the Holocaust. What is
your opinion?
MW: There’s no question that President Yushchenko
and first lady Kateryna Yushchenko are leaders in raising the issue of
the truth about Ukrainian history, that is, it’s visibility in Ukraine
and on the global stage whenever they visit a foreign country.
He’s
certainly doing and has done a lot. He’s serious about the topic and
has made a great contribution to the issue of historical truth. One
difference here is the criminal issue. I don’t agree with criminalizing
actions related to what people say regarding historical issues. I am
for protecting free speech and freedom of the press in Ukraine and
anywhere else in the world.
KP: Would it put closure to the
matter if Russia as the legal successor state to the Soviet Union
publicly apologized to Ukraine for the Holodomor as for example, Bill
Clinton did when he apologized to Native Americans or to African
Americans for America’s past treatment of them?
MW: I welcome
societies, governments, or entire nations who take responsibilities for
their historical actions. President Yushchenko has stated his work is
not to blame present-day Russia.
The Russian government still
has a very difficult time acknowledging the crimes against humanity
that happened during the Soviet period. This will probably continue for
many years. Take for instance their reaction when Estonia moved a
single Soviet-era statue. The Communist government and leaders in the
Soviet Union were out of control, and millions suffered and millions
more were murdered.
++
“The majority of Ukrainians in all parts of the country agree on the causes of the Holodomor.”…Khmelko said that …the
changes in opinion are due to an active media campaign that has
increased awareness of the artificial nature of the famine….In November
2006, the SBU state security service completed a four-year program of
declassifying archives from 1932-33. The documents include government
orders, statistical reports and criminal case files – more than 5,000
pages in total…The documents clearly showed that the forced famine was
unique within the borders of what was the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist
Republic. They showed that the predominantly Ukrainian rural population
was targeted, agricultural produce was requisitioned, property was
seized, and valuable possessions (gold, icons, and the like) were
exacted in exchange for grain through a network of state-owned
pawnshops….
“There were Holodomor ghettos long before Hitler,” Yushchenko said on Nov. 24.
++
Holodomor commemoration marks breakthrough
Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine
by Dariya Orlova, Kyiv Post Staff Writer Stephen Bandera, Kyiv Post Editor
Nov 29 2007, 00:33
Seventy-five
years after a Soviet-engineered famine took the lives of millions,
Ukrainian society is coming to terms with the darkest episode from the
last century.
A taboo topic in Soviet times, today more than 60
percent of Ukrainians want to make Holodomor-denial a crime and think
that the United Nations should recognize the Holodomor as an act of
genocide against the Ukrainian people.
A nationwide campaign to
collect eyewitness and survivor testimonies has helped increase
awareness and will continue through 2008 – designated as the year to
honor the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-33.
Ukrainians
endured three manmade famines in the 20th century, with the Holodomor
of 1932-33 considered the deadliest. Twenty-five thousand people lost
their lives every day at its peak, according to President Viktor
Yushchenko.
Yushchenko led the country in honoring victims on
Nov. 24, when thousands gathered in Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Square to
light 33,000 candles. They were joined nationally and globally in the
“Light a Candle” initiative that encouraged people wanting to honor the
memories of the dead to simply put a lit candle on their windowsills.
International appeal
“We
appeal to the world to recognize the Holodomor of 1932-1933 a genocide
against the Ukrainian nation and believe that such recognition is
inevitable,” the president said in his address on St. Michael’s Square.
Efforts to secure international recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide have produced mixed results.
Parliaments
of 14 countries have recognized the Soviet-engineered famine as
genocide, but a recent UNESCO resolution on the tragedy stopped short
of using the word. Instead, 193 signatory countries agreed that the
“Great Famine” was a “national tragedy of the Ukrainian people caused
by the cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian regime.”
Efforts
to secure international recognition have been stonewalled by Russia,
whose Foreign Ministry stated earlier this month that Ukraine’s
recognition of the Holodomor as the genocide is “a unilateral
distortion of history” and may be interpreted as a sign of disrespect
to other nations that suffered famine.
The statement followed an
attack on a Holodomor exhibit in Moscow by Union of Eurasian Youth
activists two weeks ago. The activists and Russian officials, including
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, accused Ukrainian politicians of inflaming
inter-ethnic hatred between Russians and Ukrainians by insisting the
Holodomor was an act of genocide.
“The time has come to proclaim
the request and the appeal for universal condemnation of Communist
terror, which has been killing us and other nations on this land –
Russians, Crimean Tatars, Belarusians, Jews, Poles, Bulgarians,
hundreds of nationalities,” Yushchenko said in his 14-minute address.
“We
are not doing so out of a desire for revenge or to make a partisan
political point. We know that the Russian people were among Stalin’s
foremost victims. Apportioning blame to their living descendents is the
last thing on our minds,” Yushchenko wrote, explaining Ukraine’s
striving for international recognition of the famine as in an article
to Wall Street Journal, published Nov. 26.
As for Ukrainian
opponents of genocide recognition, they appear limited to Communists
and other marginal leftwing parties. The Party of Regions did not
support the Yushchenko-sponsored genocide bill in the parliament last
year, but Regions leader and acting premier Viktor Yanukovych did
attend a memorial service for the victims at St. Sophia Cathedral on
Nov. 24.
Opponents of recognizing the Holodomor as genocide
argue that the tragedy was due to poor harvests or was aimed at wealthy
farmers as a social class, rather than at Ukrainians as a separate
nation.
Valeriy Khmelko, the president of the Kyiv International
Institute of Sociology (KMIS), said that “sociocide” may be a more
palatable term, but stressed that the UN has no definition concerning
what constitutes “sociocide.”
Polls show progress
More
than 72 percent of Ukrainians think that the Holodomor was caused by
the Soviet government, according to a poll conducted by KMIS at the
beginning of November.
That number is up compared to the 65 percent who responded the same way last year.
In
the country’s heavily-industrialized and Russified eastern regions, the
number of respondents who said the Holodomr was the Soviet government’s
fault jumped more than 10 percent from 46 percent a year ago to 57
percent in 2007.
Only 12 percent said that the Holodomor was caused by natural circumstances in the poll of more than 2,000 respondents.
In
2007, more than 63 percent of Ukrainians supported or were inclined to
support parliament’s designation of the Holodomor as genocide. In
November 2006, only 38.5 percent supported the immediate adoption of
the genocide resolution.
In most regions, more than a half of
respondents expressed support for genocide recognition. In the
industrialized east, only 35 percent said they support the measure,
while 44 percent said they did not.
According to the most recent
poll, 60 percent of Ukrainians think that the United Nations should
recognize the Great Famine as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian
people.
“Generally speaking, a certain level of consensus has been reached,” Khmelko explained.
“There are some differences across Ukraine, but they are not critical.”
“The majority of Ukrainians in all parts of the country agree on the causes of the Holodomor.”
Khmelko
said that the changes in opinion are due to an active media campaign
that has increased awareness of the artificial nature of the famine.
Stanislav
Kulchytskiy, deputy head of the Institute of History at Ukraine’s
National Academy of Science, said KMIS’ poll findings show that
historical awareness is still lacking among Ukrainians and that
informational and research campaigns need to proceed further.
Laurels to Yushchenko
Vladyslav
Verstiuk, a historian and department head at the Institute of National
Memory in Kyiv, attributed increasing awareness to President
Yushchenko’s consistent policy on Holodomor recognition and information
campaigns.
“Yushchenko is a ‘molodets,’” said Roman Krutsyk, director of the Museum of Soviet Occupation in Kyiv.
“He’s
done a great job and there can be no turning back.” Krutsyk and his
museum are currently working on an exhibit of the peasant revolts of
the 1920s and 30s.
Holodomor survivor Ivan Brovko, 92, expressed thanks for the efforts to get the truth out.
“Yushchenko has shown the world the truth and now the world will understand that genocide really happened here.”
Testimonies sway opinion
The
dynamics of how Ukrainians’ opinions can change with increased
information, including hearing firsthand testimonies from survivors,
were illustrated by the popular Svoboda Slova political talk show that
aired on Ukraine’s leading television channel Inter Nov. 24.
During
the show, an audience of 200 people selected by KMIS to represent the
national demographic, voted on various questions posed by host Savik
Shuster.
Prior to the show, 91 percent said that they require
more information about the Holodomor; nearly 60 percent said they had
lost family members in the Soviet famine. Members of the audience were
asked whether they support making Holdomor denial a crime. Before the
show, only 49 percent supported the measure. After the show, which
featured live testimonies from survivors and eyewitness, was over, 85
percent of the audience voted to support criminal liability for
Holodomor denial.
Last year, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law
designating the Holodomor as genocide against the Ukrainian people and
introduced minor administrative fines for denying the forced famine.
Yushchenko wants parliament to go one step further and introduce
criminal responsibility for Holodomor denial, similar to Holocaust
denial laws in Austria, Germany and Israel.
Students meet survivors
On
Nov. 23, Yushchenko presented awards to the finalists of a national
contest that encouraged students to collect testimonies from Holodomor
survivors. More than 50,000 schoolchildren took part in the contest
that saw 237 films, articles and other projects qualify for five
categories during the contest’s final stage. The government approved Hr
60,000 ($12,000) for 15 prizes within the framework of the contest.
Yushchenko’s
presidential secretariat has spearheaded efforts to collect eyewitness
and survivor testimonies. In Mykolayiv Region, one of the hardest hit
by the Holodomor, the names of 12,000 victims were established by 600
groups working in the region.
Yushchenko said that nationwide,
10 percent of those who provided testimonies refused to sign their
names out of fear of being persecuted.
Access to archives
In
November 2006, the SBU state security service completed a four-year
program of declassifying archives from 1932-33. The documents include
government orders, statistical reports and criminal case files – more
than 5,000 pages in total.
The documents clearly showed that the
forced famine was unique within the borders of what was the Ukrainian
Soviet Socialist Republic. They showed that the predominantly Ukrainian
rural population was targeted, agricultural produce was requisitioned,
property was seized, and valuable possessions (gold, icons, and the
like) were exacted in exchange for grain through a network of
state-owned pawnshops.
“There were Holodomor ghettos long before Hitler,” Yushchenko said on Nov. 24.
Holodomor
researchers hope that other law enforcement agencies, including the
Internal Affairs Ministry, will follow the SBU’s example.
Former
KGB colonel and SBU head Yevhen Marchuk urged researchers to look into
the archives of the “convoy army” that was responsible for transporting
grain requisitions in 1932-33. Speaking live on national television on
Nov. 24, Marchuk said that “a huge mass of documents is in Russia,” but
efforts to gain access have proved fruitless.
A government order
has instructed the Foreign Ministry and the State Archive Committee to
hold talks with Russia on granting archive access by February of next
year.
Mace memory
The “Light a Candle”
initiative was the brainchild of the late professor James Mace – a US
Holodomor researcher who lived and taught in Ukraine before his death
in 2004. President Yushchenko gave the initiative nationwide impetus
while an opposition political leader in 2003 when he called on
Ukrainians to honor the millions of victims of forced Soviet famines by
placing lit candles on their windowsills.
Mace led a US
congressional investigation into the famine. He conducted more than 200
interviews with Holodomor survivors and told Ukrainians, “Your dead
chose me,” to explain his commitment to ensuring the world knows the
truth about the Holodomor. Plans to erect a monument to Mace in Kyiv
are expected to be realized next year.
++
++
We remember.
++ ++ Censorship and Indifference to Silence
Russification in wake of Holodomor
Nov 29 2007, 00:45 Kyiv Post Op-Ed
Kyiv, Ukraine
By Ivan BROVKO
My
worldview was defined by an episode encountered during the terrible
year 1933. I was working as a teacher of the Ukrainian language in a
seven-grade school in the village of Rudky, Dnipropetrovsk Region. The
village was located in the Tsarychansk district, neighboring my native
Kobelets district in adjacent Poltava Region.
On one May day hot
meals were delivered to feed the schoolchildren. The school director
wanted to report that nearly all students were regularly attending
school, handing in their lessons, and that rumors of a famine were
nothing more than propaganda from enemies of the working class. A young
girl named Marika Khaylo sat in the first row of my class. She had a
younger sister who attended the school, a mother and a father – who
lost his leg in the civil war. After fighting for Soviet rule, he was
left with a stump for a leg.
The hot meals were handed out after
lessons. Marika took her spoon to eat, but it fell from her hand. She
placed her head upon the desk and then her body slid off her chair onto
the ground. Her legs began twitching.
I understood this is death
– it was clear from the eyes and face. For me, a 17-year-old teacher,
this was the first death I ever encountered.
The other children
grew quiet. I could not speak, lost and shocked by what just happened.
Only Vladimir Ilyich [Lenin] was smiling from the portrait hanging over
the chalkboard, sporting a cap and red-ribbon lapel, his hand waving a
greeting. From across the room Taras Shevchenko gazed solemnly down
upon the children with sad and tearful eyes. All the while a woman’s
Russian voice sang cheerfully from the radio speaker mounted on a
schoolyard post: “We’ll live happily today and even more happily
tomorrow!”
This was not a dream or a frightening fairytale, and
it wasn’t occurring somewhere beyond seas and oceans. It happened when
nature was joyously growing and flowering in springtime and songbirds
praised life. But on that day, Marika bid farewell to her little life,
never knowing why her precious gift from God was snatched away in such
a barbaric and predatory manner.
On her last day of school, no
one came to take her home for burial like a Christian. Her mother did
not come because she was lying alone at home, famished and demented…
her younger sister did not come because she died a hungry death a month
earlier. The father did not come, because his corpse was picked up from
the yard a day earlier and dumped into a mass grave for famine victims
in the cemetery. Marika eventually followed her father into that
anonymous pit.
This episode reflects Ukraine’s fate in a drop of
water. So much evil and cruelty! And if you consider the fact that
Marika’s father fought for the Soviets in the civil war and came home a
paraplegic… the Communists thanked him by strangling his children, wife
and himself with famine.
I was aghast. Marika was at the top of
her class, sang beautifully and recited poetry. I ran to the
principal’s office and yelled in despair, “You’re sitting here while
children are dying in class!” The principal yelled back in Russian,
“Why shoot off your mouth? What famine, what death? Nothing of the
sort!” A teacher was seated in the office, her own feet swollen from
hunger.
I began to express my anger and openly blamed the
government and the principal himself, to which he responded by yelling
accusations of slander.
Before sunset that evening, a fellow
teacher came and said that the principal had reported me to the
district authorities and secret police. They said they would come and
take care of the matter. My colleague urged me to leave if I wanted to
avoid arrest.
I gathered about 10 kilos of grain (we were
paid 16 kilos plus breakfasts), some books, threw the sack over my back
and rushed off to cross the Orel River back to Mayachka, to my mother
and sister in our native village… Famine raged at home. I gave my
mother and sister all I had and they rationed it for the next month.
When
the month was over, I left for Kharkiv Region, Sakhnovshchansk district
to a school where my former classmates worked. By summer of 1933, I was
teaching Ukrainian language and literature in the seven-grade school in
the village of Kokhanivka. The village had been decimated and there
were many empty homes. There were very few children left to parents and
there were many vacant seats in the classrooms. I remember teaching a
class in May of 1934 when I heard thumping in a hallway. Upon opening
the door, I saw some 30 children wearing reed sandals with wooden heels
to keep the “lapti” from getting wet.
After the lesson, I
learned that the children were from Sverdlovsk Region in Russia. Their
families were being resettled into the abandoned homes of famine
victims.
A separate class for the Russian children was not
introduced, because they differed in age. They were included into the
Ukrainian classes. District authorities issued instructions for
teachers to begin instruction in Russian. This worked against the
Ukrainian students.
The artificial assimilation of Ukrainians
after the famine by making schools Russian-language angered me. When I
began to openly voice my discontent, the principal called me in and
suggested I write a resignation. I was fired at the end of the school
year. The principal told me to be happy because matters could have been
far worse.
From there I went on to teach in Donbas (I was told there was no famine there) and was then enlisted by the Red Army…
These
events came to define my worldview. Propaganda about “the bright
future” could not convince me. There was, nor can there be, any
justification for Communist brutality.
More than 75 years have
passed since those times and the Communists have never apologized
before the people. Their cruelty and evil knows no bounds. And there is
no conscience in their words.
This article is a translation of
two episodes recalled by Ivan Brovko in his memoirs “Dobrom Nahrite
Sertse” (“Heart Warmed with Goodness”) reproduced with the author’s
permission. After surviving two wars and two famines, Brovko went on to
take Berlin as a long-range katiusha artillery officer. He worked with
Soviet space rocket pioneer Serhiy Korolyov in the post-WW2 race to
launch the first ballistic missiles to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight.
Throughout Soviet rule, Brovko remained steadfast in his condemnation
of Stalin and communism, suffering persecution as a university
professor accused of nationalism. Brovko, 92, resides in Kyiv. ++
We remember
We
call upon the world’s leaders to recognize the genocidal nature of the
Ukrainian famine, Holodomar, and, in doing so, help break the
information blockade isolating Russians
Editorial , Kyiv Post Nov 21 2007, 22:20
At
4 p.m. this Saturday [November 24, 2007], Ukrainians will honor
the memories of millions of victims of three Soviet-engineered
terror-famines, the most devastating of which began 75 years ago with
the Great Famine of 1932-33.
The government is urging Ukrainians
to light a candle in honor of the victims of Soviet repressions and
place it on their windowsills as a sign of solidarity. Memorial
services will be held nationwide and around the world.
Ukraine’s
political and religious elites have largely recognized the Holodomor as
genocide. Even the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow
Patriarchate, Volodymyr Sabodan, did not mince words when he wrote in
an encyclical last year that “this genocide was an attempt to destroy
the very soul of the people, to spiritually enslave the people.” He
used words like “hell, diabolic, anti-Christ” to describe Soviet rule.
Thus, all four major Ukrainian Christian prelates agree that the
Holodomor was genocide – a rare instance of ecumenical consensus among
church leaders.
All three of Ukraine’s presidents since
independence agree that the Holodomor was genocide. President Leonid
Kravchuk drove the final nail into the coffin of the Kremlin-sponsored
“bad weather and harvest” disinformation campaign regarding the
Holodomor in his autobiography. Kravchuk, who as a Communist ideologue
was responsible for denying the Holodomor in the 1980s, proved that
rainfall levels were normal in 1932-33.
President Leonid Kuchma
was the first to ask the world to recognize the Holodomor as genocide
in 2003. The declassification of State Security Service archives began
in the last years of Kuchma’s rule, a process that is continuing by
leaps and bounds under President Viktor Yushchenko today.
Since
2003, Ukraine’s parliament has twice voted on condemning the Holodomor
as genocide. Both times the votes passed with slim majorities with the
support of the Socialist Party, which was hesitant, but whose ties to
the countryside made it impossible to deny the truth.
The
Communists aside, the only hold-out on the genocide issue is the Party
of Regions, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. If Ukraine’s
efforts to secure international recognition are to be successful, then
this political force must add its voice to the condemnation. We hope to
see this party’s leaders standing with the president and other national
leaders on St. Michael’s Square Saturday to honor the victims.
As
for Moscow’s recognition of the genocide, while Ukraine has made
significant progress in dealing with its Soviet past, Russian leaders
are still in a state of denial, or defensive paranoia. No one is
blaming Russia’s current leadership or the Russian people for the
Holodomor. Rather, it is the Kremlin’s former rapacious leaders who are
to blame. Yet, the Kremlin’s current leadership has stubbornly opposed
recognizing the genocide, labeling it as fear-mongering with Kyiv roots.
Last
week’s attack on a Holodomor exhibit in Moscow and the Russian Foreign
Ministry’s subsequent accusations that political forces are
“speculating” on the famine, are signs that the Kremlin still prefers
to look at its record through rose-colored glasses. In fact, the
Kremlin’s record is blood-colored, and the sooner Russian society
recognizes that fact, the better.
The Kremlin’s claim that
Ukraine is somehow trying to monopolize the Soviet terror-famine is
essentially recognizing that Ukraine has done a far better job in
shedding light on the darkest episodes of Soviet rule. Instead of
criticizing Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin should open up
Russian Federation archives on the terror years. There is no denying
that the Soviets forced famines in other regions of Eurasia in the
1930s, including areas of modern-day Russia and Kazakhstan. But the
campaign within the closed borders of Ukraine was ruthless in its
efficiency and organization and targeted the rural population that was
primarily Ukrainian.
The histories of all Soviet forced famines
need to be addressed the same way the Holodomor has been handled in
Ukraine. From Russia, Kuban to Kazakhstan, the bitter truth deserves to
be known.
Ultimately, promoting awareness of the crimes of
Communism is in the national interests of Ukraine and Russia. Given
Russia’s current denial, Yushchenko has rightfully appealed to other
countries to recognize the famine as genocide, one that Kremlin spin
doctors and powerbrokers can’t deny. We call upon the world’s leaders
to recognize the genocidal nature of the famine and, in doing so, help
break the information blockade isolating the Russian people.
++
"Ukraine as Russia’s Older Brother"
Nov 14 2007, 22:54
By ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI
From The Kyiv Post Op- Editorial Pages
The Ukrainian people
should be congratulated for the political maturity they once again
showed in the recent elections. They can truly be proud, because they
are part of the universal political culture of democracy; namely, being
able to agree to disagree and debate fiercely within an enduring
constitutional process.
In fact, Ukraine should not hesitate to
say to its younger brother, Russia, that it should learn from Ukrainian
political culture.
“Younger brother?” Russia is the younger
brother of Ukraine to anyone who knows history. And politically,
Ukraine has shown maturity and ability to compromise the way Russia has
yet to demonstrate. Look at the presidential and parliamentary
elections in both countries in terms of one very simple test of
democracy: If you can’t be sure who is going to win, and if your
predictions turn out to be wrong, you know it’s a democracy. There is
no difficulty in predicting Russian elections, and that tells you
something.
So the younger brother should learn from the older
one. When Ukraine came into being, there were dire predictions. Some
very competent intelligence analysts told us the country would split
into two, that it is inherently unstable, that western Ukraine might
end up independent, but the rest would probably not.
But voting
patterns are increasingly cross-cutting regional divisions: In the last
elections, Yulia Tymoshenko made significant successes in the east,
while Viktor Yanukovych gained a few votes in the west.
Another
example of unity were the brief days of the mini-crisis surrounding
Tusla in 2003, the little island in the Sea of Azov, which by some
peculiar logic, the Russian Federation tried to draw into its own
terrain by transforming the island into a peninsula attached to Russia.
Ukraine reacted immediately: then-President Leonid Kuchma flew back
from Brazil and stood on the shores of Tusla, proclaiming fiercely,
“This is Ukrainian territory!” The parliament’s near-unanimous
resolution fiercely defended Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Ukraine
has succeeded as a nation-state and is here to stay. There’s no doubt
that Ukraine is part of Europe. That is an enduring reality, to which
everyone has to adjust. And in adjusting, rid oneself of ignorance.
A
nation is a reality when it has a profound historical awareness of
itself. A country without a memory is like a person without a brain,
without self-awareness. A senior associate of President Kuchma did not
know about the mass graves in Bykivnia when I paid a personal homage
several years ago. I suspect that many Ukrainians were not aware of
Bykivnia. It is important to know these things. This is why the
resolution in the parliament about genocide is a historical and
political landmark. It reminds people of the importance of being
independent and in charge of your own country. And that is taking place
in Ukraine.
There has to be a vital, thriving, politically
successful Ukraine for it to be part of Europe. And Europe has to
adjust its own vision of the East to realize that the frontiers of
Europe do not end at the Buh River. The fact is that Europe is a
dynamic reality and Ukraine is a part of that history and that culture.
After
the recent elections, Ukraine has a chance to demonstrate its political
maturity in practice. The Orange Revolution actually put the final
stamp on the the issue of whether Ukraine is going to endure or not.
But that was several years ago.
Now, the political leadership
must prove its maturity, showing that it has a clear understanding of
responsibility and accountability for political decisions and programs.
The whole notion of democracy is competition of programs and
leadership, and leaders’ accountability and responsibility for
performance – these issues must be clearly defined.
President
Viktor Yushchenko has a real opportunity to put in place a serious and
effective system of responsibility and accountability based essentially
on two parties – a majority formation and a minority formation. The
majority formation may be a two-party coalition; it can even be a
partial grand coalition if some members of the opposition want to join,
but it should not be a government that obscures accountability and
responsibility by blurring the division between the programs and the
elites with alternative programs, because that absence creates
political cynicism. It creates the impression of “we the nation” and
“they the elite” and reinforces the belief that the elite is corrupt
and can never be held accountable.
Yulia Tymoshenko now has an
opportunity to show that she is a genuine national leader after the big
boost she received from the elections. She has the opportunity to
govern and demonstrate that she is not an electoral populist, but a
responsible national leader, who can formulate policies for the long
run - without passion, but with commitment, with firmness, but without
vengeance - in a manner that gains support and enduring respect. She
has shown enormous political talent. Now she has an opportunity to
translate that into enduring leadership.
Viktor Yanukovych has
an opportunity to show himself as a responsible opposition leader, not
the preferred choice of a major neighboring country. He can show
himself to be a genuine national leader who partakes of Ukraine’s
general thrust into Europe. That commitment has to be demonstrated not
only verbally when in office, but in practice even as an opposition
leader, to remain a participant in the larger European adventure.
In
different ways, all three political leaders today have a historical
chance to prove that Ukraine is not only a national success, but that
it is closing the inevitable gap between itself and the West. That gap
is not Ukraine’s fault. It is a consequence of the absence of freedom
and independence, of the presence of Communism for so many decades and
of subjugation by an empire for centuries. Given the causes for the
gap, you have to be impressed how narrow it is today.
One can
talk endlessly about problems, criteria, standards and shortcomings,
but the fact is that the momentum is in the right direction. And Europe
is also changing its view of Ukraine. The ignorance about Ukraine 15
years ago in the United States was equally widespread in Europe. Today,
that’s dramatically changing, and the picture of Ukraine as a normal
European country is gradually becoming predominant.
In all, this
there is another, longer-range and further hopeful perspective. As
Ukraine moves toward Europe, the imperial option for Russia closes
forever, leaving it only one option – to follow its older brother’s
suit.
Eventually, Russia will have no choice because of its vast
space, demographic crises and the rising power of its Eastern
neighbors. If Russia doesn’t move toward Europe, a different promise
will be fulfilled. A promise, which was once made allegorically, but
which has an ominous geographical definition today: General De Gaulle’s
“Europe to the Urals.” He wasn’t suggesting that Russia be partitioned;
he actually meant Russia in Europe.
Russia in Europe to
Vladivostok may seem attractive to Russians, but if they fail to
exercise this option, they face an ominous uncertainty. So Ukraine
offers not only a lesson, but a hopeful avenue for Russia – one that
all of us in the West should hope that Russia will pursue.
Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski is a counselor and trustee for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.
++ Denying Free Speech
by "Editorial" Kyiv Post Kyiv, Ukraine (formerly part of the Soviet Union) Nov 07 2007, 22:57
President
Viktor Yushchenko wants deniers of the Holodomor, the 1932-1933
state-sponsored famine that claimed the lives of millions in Soviet
Ukraine, and the Holocaust to carry criminal responsibility. When the
new parliament convenes, the head of state expects legislators to enact
appropriate laws.
Although we agree that denying the historical
facts of the Holodomor and Holocaust is despicable, we cannot ignore
the downside of criminally codifying acts of denying crimes against
humanity as encroachments on the freedom of speech.
We do,
however, support initiatives to better educate Ukrainians about the
darkest episodes of European history in the last century. We applaud
the State Security Service of Ukraine’s opening of archives concerning
the true nature of Soviet rule, and encourage other state agencies,
including the Ministry of the Interior, to follow suit. All
documentation concerning the period of Nazi rule in Ukraine should also
be subject to the same public scrutiny.
Immediate efforts need
to focus on saving survivors’ recollections for the sake of posterity.
Opportunities should be taken to make films and present the horrors of
those years. Educators should be provided with the necessary teaching
materials to ensure that subsequent generations of Ukrainians condemn
all acts of genocide as something that will never be repeated on the
territory of Ukraine.
It is far more important to condemn all racial and ethnic violence than condemning those who deny that it exists.
++ Journalists stage protest pledging to eliminate paid-for news From the Kyiv (Ukraine) Post
Ukrainian journalists on Nov. 6 staged a protest in Kyiv against the widespread practice of paid-for news.
Around
50 journalists and activists of the “We Don’t Sell Ourselves!”
initiative held a symbolic demonstration on Oct. 6 against the broad
practice of paid-for news reports and pledged to prevent their
production and dissemination in the media.
Journalists
said they would monitor 10 leading Ukrainian national TV channels for
airing made-to-order reports, called “jeansa” in Russian, which is
slang for “money in the pocket.”
“Paid
stories in news broadcasts, guests buying airtime, and wholly ordered
TV programs are no longer just a few cases. They have become a
widespread phenomenon, a well-managed industry, which drives out real
news, analysis and discussions,” read the journalists’ statement.
Ihor
Sobolev, protest leader and news presenter at Ukraine’s 5 Kanal
(Channel 5), said that “jeansa” is currently rampant in broadcasting.
“Today there are more paid-for materials in the mass media than at any other time,” Sobolev said.
Protesting journalists signed a pledge to not take part in the proliferation or presentation of pre-paid news.
Sobolev
also said that each case of purchased journalism should be made public.
“We hope that by the end of the month we will have accurate information
on paid-for materials broadcasted through TV channels.”
Journalists plan to award a monthly “anti-hero” prize of Hr 30 ($6) to their colleagues caught in the act.
The rise of “jeansa” is associated with the recent elections.
“On
some TV channels, all broadcasted election video materials were paid
for. In most cases, it was a conscious TV management policy,” said
Viktoria Syumar, director of the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass
Information, a media watchdog.
Speaking
at a conference devoted to paid-for reporting several weeks ago,
Natalia Ligachova, chief editor of the Telekritika media watchdog
publication, said that “during the [parliamentary] election campaign,
some TV station owners made $30-40 million. Television became a mere
mouthpiece of messages from big business and politics, whose interests
usually diverge from those of civil society.”
Paid-for reports were present on all TV channels during the election campaign, albeit in varying degrees, according to experts.
“We’ve
been fighting with censorship from the authorities for so long that
we’ve eventually been censored by money,” noted Syumar.
Commenting
on the journalists’ protest, Syumar said, “We would rather have heard
this statement not today, but during the peak payment period of the
election campaign. It would have been more appropriate then, but we
still welcome this statement.” ++
Recently,
on December 12, 2007, Marta Daniels sent a letter to Vice President for
Radio Programing, Charles Beck in which she decried the firing of
Robert Skoglund, "The humble Farmer." Hundreds have written to support her letter. Read the rants below and go to www.humblefarmer.com to read her letter.
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck. Bring The Humble Farmer back!
B O'D
St. George, ME 04860
+++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
I think I modified this in my previous email. In case you need it exactly, here it is.
K G
++
Dear Martha Daniels:
I support your 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck. This is an excellent letter!
Additionally, having moved to Maine only last fall
(2006), I was delighted to find Robert Skogland and "the humble farmer"
as part of the local lineup. It made me miss WNYC & WFUV (New York
City public radio stations) a bit less to find that there were shows
here that I hadn't gotten there, especially as I can't get high speed
DSL here to get archived versions of my favorites from NYC. And living
here in rural Maine, I was nervous that there were lots more
conservatives. What a delight to find Skogland and his clear-minded
views!
When he was fired, I wrote right away, but got the usual
nonsense from MPBN about the signature. I have told every fundraiser
since then that I'm not renewing because of "humble's" firing, and I
won't renew until I get a better answer. Most of the fundraising
callers know what I mean, and are matter of fact about it, as if maybe
they sympathize, or at least have heard it enough that they don't argue
with me. As you say in your letter, I have ALWAYS been a public radio
& t.v. supporter wherever I am, and it is painful that I'm not
doing what I want to do here in Maine, but I am standing on the
principle. You've articulated even more reasons for me.
Thanks again. I hope I'm not too late to add my name to the letter. Feel free to append these comments to anything you send.
K Gl
++
"I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck."
L N
++
Dear Fellow Friends of Humble,
While I feel the sentiment of the letter suggesting that Robert Skoglund
"did was wrong" is well intended, I strongly disagree with the premise that
he violated some unwritten rule of non-partisanship. As a professional
journalist, award-winning editor and former college teacher of journalism, I
feel that the role of public broadcasting is misunderstood, as is so called
media "balance." Defense of "balance" almost always strengthens the hand of
the status quo, no matter how well intentioned.
Robert's program, The Humble Farmer, has always been a social commentary program, not a political program per se, nor does it claim to be a news show, which you might argue should be held to journalistic standards of "objectivity" (although that word in itself has long been
meaningless--Edward R. Murrow knows what I mean.)
As many legal cases involving the media have successfully argued, commentary is commentary--and protected speech--whether it's political, social, moral,
religious or just plain crazy. MPBN's role is not to defend the status quo, or the views of the majority, or the views of the government. It's role is to provide ACCESS to the airwaves for THE PUBLIC. Even if Robert's program
were to become completely "partisan" in the sense of constantly challenging the current government, politicians, social order (and the Farmer is far from that part of the spectrum), he would have every right to expect his
show to play on any public broadcasting channel. The public has the right to hear impassioned points of view, whether or not MPBN's management happens to
agree with them.
Balance, it should be noted, must be looked at from the micro level as well as the macro level. We can all agree that Fox News is unbalanced on the Macro level. My own program, Liberty News TV, is also "unbalanced" at a
Macro level in the opposite direction, in that we are far more critical of the government than we are supportive. I would argue that we are not
"biased" in that we are not distorting facts to make our points--simply presenting facts that are ignored by status quo media. But that's off the topic.
Listen carefully to MPBN and their national parent, and you will begin to see on the MACRO level that public broadcasting has already betrayed our trust. It wasn't always this way, but the organization has been cowed by
Republican threats to cut its funding, and an increasing reliance on corporate funding from shady operators such as Monsanto corporation.
National stories typically quote theWhite House and other high-level sources as fact, with no follow-up analysis or contrary opinions. Organizations such as the right-wing think tanks are routinely quoted without identifying them
as such. On the Macro level then, public broadcasting is already deeply partisan--pro big business, a mouthpiece for sitting politicians, with increasing numbers of "fear-based" programs such as "Pandemic."
While MPBN and national programming may be less openly politically charged than cable TV, on many of their programs, the right-leaning politics is ever
present--embedded in the content (read Marshall McLuhan). Will "Marketplace," for example, argue that we should drastically curb our consumption to save the environment? Of course not. They'll tell us instead
about the next "must have gadgets" to buy for Christmas.
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17601015&ft=1&f=1001)
Yet you won't find an NPR program called "BuyNothing" to refute the Marketplace framing that consumption is king.
Will "Living on Earth," the soft-sell environmental program, urge us to get out of our cars and move our fat rear ends by bicycle to save the environment? Never. Instead they'll try to sell us "green cars" and technology that allows us to live without Sacrifice.(http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=07-P13-00046). Yet you won't see a counter-program called "Earth in Revolt," where radical sages such as Robert Jensen
(http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Dissent-Radical-Margins-Mainstream/dp/0820456519/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b)
argue that we must undertake drastic, painful changes in how we get around--or face human extinction.
In other words, public broadcasting is already deeply political, increasingly aligned with corporate ideology, not the "non-partisan" fantasy painted by so many supporters. Do we need Humble Farmer back to tip the balance toward true balance? Absolutely. My only complaint would be that
he's just one man--a micro force up against a macro institution--not NEARLY radical enough to really shake things up the way they NEED to be shaken--to
bring public broadcasting back into the hands of the public.
M P
Portland, Maine
++
From: F K
I always enjoyed the humble farmer; for years it was an anticipated
part of my weekly ritual to cook a late dinner while laughing along
with Robert. I agreed with the positions Robert expressed, and was
fired for expressing. However, that enjoyment and agreement doesn't lessen the fact that what he did was wrong and if he could not restrain himself, he should not have the access to the show. MBPN should be balanced and non-partisan. Robert violated that principle. Restoring balance would require MBPN to air opposing
viewpoints, which would push other good programming off the air and lead down a path to a very bad place. We already have many partisan talk radio stations; there is only one MPBN.
Something that is wrong is wrong even if the act is done by a politician we agree with, a close friend or a loved one... or
ourselves for that matter. I am always disheartened when I see
people of generally good character be willing to throw stones at the
other side when they violate a principle, but then turn a blind eye
when an ally violates the same principle. I suspect if another MPBN
entertainment radio host started spouting conservative views supporting the war, you would be outraged. I know I would.
I really hope I get to hear Robert's excellent program again before I die. I hope he finds a widely available venue where he can freely slam the Bush administration and this evil war. But that venue is not MBPN. Using your donations to sway MBPN in a particular political direction is a dangerous, and I believe unethical, decision. Don't you think the other side can bring more money to
bear if you are going to use money to influence MBPN's programming decisions? Using the political process to accomplish the same thing is even more dangerous and down right sleazy. Ejecting politics
into Public Radio funding is one of the many terrible errors of the Bush Administration. Don't repeat it at the state level. If you do, and in years to come a different administration with views you oppose makes MPBN their mouthpiece, you have only yourself to blame.
Please carefully consider your actions.
Finally, I believe using this forum to build support for this course of action goes against the principles to which I believe the forum is dedicated. I believe that this course of action, by harming and politicizing MPBN, will result in less diversity of views and less freedom of expression. It is certainly not my call, but I believe this discussion belongs elsewhere.
with respect and sincere regards,
f
++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
DG
Belfast, ME 04915
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
d
D F
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
+++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
DG
Belfast, ME 04915
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
D F
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
+++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck- wholeheartedly.
HA
Portland ME 04103
+++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
My husband and I supported MPR until they fired Mr.
Skoglund, at which point we stopped giving donations to MPR pending his
reinstatement.
DRBarrington, RI 02806
++
i support Daniel's letter of 12/12/07 to Charles Beck
n t
++
We fully support Daniels' 12/12/07 letter to Charles
Beck. We are among the many who wrote directly to MPBN and did not
receive so much as the courtesy of an acknowledgement of our letter. We
have ceased our contributions to MPBN radio and explained our reasons
to volunteers who have contacted us asking us to renew our pledges.
A suggestion: It would be a real coup to get Prarie Home
Companion to cancel their appearance in Maine and attribute that
cancellation to MPBN's dropping of Humble.
R S
PS
R+ P S
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
++
yes I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
M A
Orono, Me. 04473
Thanks
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
Nice job! Thanks,
B B
Windham, ME 04062
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
It's a longer form of letters i've already sent, to no avail...
nc
vinalhaven
me 04863
++
I support Daniels' 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
Let's get The Humble Farmer back on MPBS!
N & S B
Vinalhaven, Maine 04863
++
J F
Windsor, Maine 04363
++
from: D.C.
Portland, ME
04103
I support the 12/12/07 Daniels letter to Charles Beck.
++
B M
PO Box ***
South Paris, ME 04281
Paris Hill, Maine
"It is character that tells."
"In great deeds something abides." - Joshua Chamberlain
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
++
I have listened to Robert Skoglund's radio shows for
some 20 years, and have known Robert personally for the last five or so
of those years. I have a great appreciation for traditional Maine
culture and for Maine vernacular storytelling and humor; indeed, I have
performed in this vein myself occasionally for a number of years.
Robert exemplifies the humor and independence that is at the heart of
Maine culture, qualities that are increasingly being diluted by the
culture of mass media. If public broadcasting is indeed to serve the
public and the indigenous culture,
then people like Robert should be the exemplars of what
public broadcasting can do best.It was Robert who took up the cause of
John Gould, perhaps Maine's greatest modern writer of vernacular
narrative and a man whose
intelligence and literary abilities went well beyond his
Maine roots. As a lover of Gould's work, an interest inherited from my
father and grandfather, I was delighted to learn of Robert's plan to
honor John. I was especially privileged when Robert asked me to draft
the gubernatorial proclamation designating John Gould Day, an honor I
could
never have dreamed of, but one typical of Robert's generosity, openness and appreciation for friendship.
In this connection we should look at how Robert
benefited MPBN. There was, I think, no one else broadcasting on the
network who took the "public" in public broadcasting so literally. It
was Robert who voluntarily promoted MPBN wherever he appeared, who
spoke again and again on the radio of his pleasure in meeting his
listeners at the
Common Ground Fair and elsewhere. And what other MPBN
radio personality has ever reached out as he did? "Come visit; come to
supper," he says at the end of every program and every email message.
Is this not the
kind of attitude that public broadcasting should be
encouraging?Robert's treatment by Charles Beck and the other MPBN
officials was disgraceful and unconscionable; they have never
acknowledged this behavior, much less apologized for it.
And it seems to me that your intention of raising these
issues in the Legislature is very sensible and appropriate. Here are
the representatives of the public, the men and women who connect
government with the ordinary people Robert spoke to. Please contact me
if there is anything I can do; thanks for your effort.
NOTE NEW EMAIL:
D S
East Waterford, Maine
++
Let us stop the outrageous censorship at Beck's PBS I support Daniels 12/12/2007 letter to Charles Beck.
NO MORE CENSORSHIP TO CURB DIVERSE OPINION!
L Hud***
++
Please add my name to your letter.
B EM
Belfast good luck. I don't think they care about listeners anymore
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
As a broadcaster whose career spans over 33 years (and
counting!), I find Charles Beck's actions as supported by MPBN
management to be a repugnant abuse of the public airwaves.
M*** St***s
P.O. Box ***
Winterport ME 04496
(home)
++
Dear Marta,
Thank you for the opportunity to support your letter. I
have been a listener, and a personal acquaintance of Robert for some
years, and have written to Mr. Beck on his behalf several times before.
I agree with your assessment, and sincerely doubt that MPBN has any
interest in hearing what we have to say, but I too feel that the
disrespect shown Robert, and us, his listeners, is sufficient for me to
withdraw my support.
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
++
Marta,
I support your (Daniels) 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
S*H
Waldoboro, ME04572
++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
R M
Corinna, ME 04928
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck. Well said!
J G
Fairfield, ME 04937
++
Thank you for writing such an articulate letter. We miss humble a lot!
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
D C
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
++
Hi Marta,
Many thanks for the chance to Help Robert get back on the
air. I just happen to be his fartherest away listener up here in
north west New Brunswick. I have been enjoying his down east
maine humor for over 22 years, and I have been to many of his
former lobster picnics, and he and Marsha have been here to my
home town to see the Fiddles on the Tobique.
I do miss his show very much, and would love to see it reinstated.
I have been a past supporter of Maine Public radio, and will
support it again when they bring him back, but not a penny until
they do.
My name and address is
BM
Nictau, NB E7G 3A9
I want to thank you for your effort and hope this works.
b m
++
We support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck. So say:
D S G
Trevett, ME 04576
Former members contributing about $300 per year. We miss
Humble and agree with everything that Ms. Daniels says in her letter
that we have read thoroughly. (We disagree with only one detail: Toby
LeBoutlier WOULD be missed if replaced!! )
Please bring back Humble -- show a little respect!
I support Daniels' 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
DA
Belfast, Maine 04915
++
I heartily support Marta Daniels effort to re-instate "The Humble Farmer" to MPBN. Tom W******, Sullivan, Maine 04664
We support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
J G & V
Shapleigh, ME 04076
++
See attached email to Beck & Dowe. Our 2nd and after
a ridiculous "packaged" response to our 1st. No response to this one so
a 3rd went out reducing our monthly pledge with a reason-specific
statement. (The week before the fund raiser) All correspondence cc'd to
humble.
Regards,
J&G
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
G.
Searsport, Maine; USA
++
I support the Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck. I certainly
have stopped giving to MPBN because of the Humble incident.
D P., Wiscasset, ME 04578
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
J R
Rome, ME 04963
++
C D
Norridgewock, Me 04957
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
Friday night is not complete without the Humble Farmer
CharlieD
++
I support Danile's 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
R Cl
Newry, ME 04261
I support Martha Daniels and the effort to restore
Robert Skoglund's "The Humble Farmer" to regular Friday evening
broadcasting on MPBN. I will withhold my regular contribution until
this matter is satisfactorily resolved.
Why should not a full investigative report of the Skoglund affair be broadcast on MPBN?
C W. A
++
I support the Daniels letter to Charles Beck of
12/12/07. The silencing of the Humble Farmer program, one of the few
MPBN radio offerings that actually had something to do with Maine is
one of the most disgraceful events in public broadcasting. I have
stopped giving any membership money to either MPBN television or radio.
Similar with additional amounts I gave when solicited. It is time to
end legislative funding of MPBN, and as a Maine taxpayer I resent being
forced to fund the salaries of Bangor's MPBN clique.
J G
Hallowell 04347
++
Thanks for writing that letter to Beck. I hadn't noticed
the purloined paragraphs from the SPJ Code of Ethics. I had a copy of
it on the wall at the Town Crier, and I deliberately left it there when
I retired, hoping someone might read it. But they moved it downstairs,
and then left it behind when the paper moved to a new office. I'll have
to retrieve it.
It had occurred to me to approach Irwin Gratz, asking
that SPJ take a stand on the censorship issue. But now, realizing that
the SPJ Code was used to cook that foul document, I REALLY want to drag
SPJ into this. I am no longer a member, but I will raise a ruckus.
Also, I wonder if Columbia Journalism Review might be interested.
Strange how the paths of journalists and humorists cross on the issue of censorship.
Larz
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
D. E C
Wellington Maine 04942
I support your 12/20 letter. Good luck (seriously). Happy holidays. John C88888
++
Ms. Marta Daniels
Charles Beck
I support completely the letter and appeal to have "The
humble Farmer" - and humorist Robert Skoglund - again carried on the
MPBN's programming.
Since the early '70s, when I would publish Mr.
Skoglund's wit and humor column, as managing editor of The
Courier-Gazette, for readers in Mid Coast Maine (which may not have
been the exact "moment of conception" from which his writing and
entertaining career took off, but it certainly was in the earliest
stages), I have always realized that his "stories" and anecdotes were a
hit with readers. As I moved along to other newspapers and larger
newspaper companies around the country. I would introduce "The humble
Farmer" to other "readerships". The down-home "Maine" yankee
satire/humor played as well in suburban Maryland, up-state Minnesota,
and Grand Forks, ND, as it did in Rockland, Maine.
And, of course, that popularity carried over into
Skoglund's radio show, when he first aired on MPBN, which had the
concurrent mission of providing some "old-timey jazz" entertainment to
the listeners. Being an accomplished musician and jazz band performer
himself, his weekly program produced from the Bangor studios of MPBN,
kept the "old-time" music/ jazz buffs doubly entertained !
I won't spend any more of your time on my 'two cents
worth", other than to say I've been a financial contributor in the past
to MPBN, primarily in donating several thousand $$ worth of items to
the annual MPBN auction. This can be verified through Margie Oxman
(Oxton?), if she's still with MPBN, or under the business donor name of
ITEX, or AIC, Inc., or just John Hammer.
I have not, and will not, contribute anything again,
while current management at MPBN continues to ignore the public/member
reaction to this "cancellation" decision, and apparently refuses to
review the actions or decisions that have led to this travesty.
Yes, I have read and reviewed all "facts and
chronological data" in this case; or, all facts and data that were
available. I will send a copy of this to current MPBN admistration, and
if there are other facts, errors, or omissions they wish to bring up,
I'm willing to receive them.
Pending any other information to the contrary, I would
say that this is one of the most ridiculous and ludicrous screw-ups (if
not cover-ups)
that I've ever seen, at this level of public-supported
agency. And, I've seen my fair share, after 30+ years in the
journalism/newspaper field.
J H
Fruitland Park, FL
34731
and, home/property owner at:
Camden, Maine and
Cape Rosier, Maine
+++
Hi Marta,
I was stunned when I read your letter. I didn’t know The
Humble Farmer wasn’t on anymore, and had no idea he had been fired.
When we moved to New Hampshire 6 years ago, started flipping through
the stations on the radio, and discovered The Humble Farmer on Friday
night, my husband and I were just delighted and became regular
listeners. In fact, the only reason our radio stayed tuned to that
station was because of The Humble Farmer on Friday night. We absolutely
loved him, particularly his rants because he was so very, very sharp,
so human and so honest. You don’t often get to hear satire quite like
that—words that make you laugh out loud but also make you want to cry
because of the painful truth behind them. The only reason we stopped
listening to him was because of a change in our Friday night schedule,
and not long after that we started listening to NHPR since The Humble
Farmer had been our only incentive to stay tuned to MPBN. So that will
tell you how much we valued him and his program—and we were just
newcomers to the area (I’m from New York and my husband’s from
Pennsylvania), two people out of God-only-knows how many New Hampshire
residents who were born and raised here and maybe listening to The
Humble Farmer for the full 28 years he was on the air.
Before I got to the part of your letter where you
mentioned Garrison Keillor, I was already thinking to myself but MPBN
airs Prairie Home Companion and no one is more political than Garrison
Keillor, who never misses an opportunity to poke fun at the current
administration. So why is what Garrison Keillor has to say okay but not
Robert Skoglund? It just doesn’t make any sense to me at all, and it
really does seem hypocritical. I suppose if The Humble Farmer was a
syndicated radio show like Prairie Home Companion with fans across the
United States and Canada MPBN would’ve been less inclined to take it
off the air. But as The Humble Farmer was merely a Maine phenomenon and
MPBN obviously disregarded the program’s local fans, I guess it didn’t
seem worth the risk. But MPBN was wrong. Programs like The Humble
Farmer are indeed worth the risk, and voices like Robert Skoglund’s are
worth being heard.
Excuse my language but things like this really get my
New York up and I just have to say that the folks who’re running MPBN
are a complete bunch of ***h*les.
I completely agree with your letter, Marta. You couldn’t have said it any better.
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck,
A G
New Durham, NH 03855
++
Dear Mr. Beck:
I believe you have already received correspondence from
me regarding the termination of the "Humble Farmer" program. I would
like to reiterate my objection to this act, and to further state that I
remain in support of Robert Skoglund's fine program, and as a member of
MPBN, I object to the unannounced end of this excellent and
long-running radio "show."
I have read the letter to you written by Marta Daniels,
and I agree 100% with the points she makes therein, particularly the
matter of the disclaimer announcements which would have absolved MPR of
sharing Mr. Skoglund's point of view.
If consideration may be given to reinstating this program to your schedule, I urge approval.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
B A
Dedham Maine 04429
++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
B J
Silver Spring, MD
(We listened to Skoglund on the Internet.)
Let me put my 2 cents in. I have listened to the humble
farmer's show for years and been a loyal supporter of and contributor
to Maine Public Radio. While I will continue to listen to their news,
jazz, and opera programming, I can no longer contribute financially to
the station until they rectify the mistake they made by giving him the
boot. And it's not just the deplorable fact that they tried to gag him
as they did when they issued him an ultimatum to shut up. So much for
free speech! That's bad enough. Apparently they think music and
satirical story telling don't mix. But it's pure hypocrisy to claim
that the humble farmer was entitled to entertain with music but not
with the commentary that had been a mainstay of his show for years, and
then, at the same time, to air The Capitol Steps, a musical and
political satire review, and even wheel them out for MPBN fundraising
events. This is an assault on both free speech and the public trust.
Far worse was the hypocrisy and the shoddy behaviour
that followed the humble farmer's dismissal, after they unceremoniously
gave him the bum's rush. No curtain call, not even the courtesy of
letting the listening public know he wasn't part of the lineup anymore.
They just erased him from the schedule without a word. Nothing! And
then the management has the gall to appeal to the listeners to support
"all the programs that you've come to love and depend on". Hah! There's
a serious cognitive disconnect here. And that's where the buck stops.
While I value the valuable programming we get from NPBN, I am not going
to subsidize the station until they give the humble farmer the decency
of, at the very least, a proper burial. Anything less is uncivilized.
I completely agree with and wholeheartedly support Marta Daniel's letter (dated 12/12/07) to MPBN Station Manager Charles Beck.
Sincerely,
DW
Phippsburg, Maine
++
I support the Daniels letter regarding The Humble Farmer.
H K
Berwick, ME 03901
++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
Thanks Marta!
JS
FRYEBURG, ME 04037
++
support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
S G
J Ga
Burnham, Maine 04922
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
J P.
farmington, me 04938
++
support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
M M
Falmouth, ME 04105
++
Marta.
Thank you for all the work that has gone into this letter and your support of humble.
I strongly support your letter of 12/12/2007 to Charles
Beck in support of humble. We also have stopped donating to Maine
Public Radio in protest.
Sincerely,
S T
Exeter, NH 03833
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
Daniel Dennett
Blue Hill Maine 04614
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
In the past we have been Beacon level supporters of
MPBN, but we completely stopped solely because of the ridiculous
treatment of the humble farmer.
If he is FULLY reinstated, with no censorship, we will once again become supporters.
Our repeated emails to MPBN on this subject have gone
unanswered. However, they seem to be able to find us when it is pledge
time.
D P
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
Excellent letter, Marta.
++
Too bad logic, clear thinking, forthright expression and honesty seem to be
so out of favor all over this country currently.
D P
++
Support,
L Ha
I support the Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
Rt T. L
Round Pond, ME 04564
++
J M C
Freeport, Me. 04032
Thank you for your great letter. I never got a real response to my
questions, and so have had to communicate with my lack of financial
support this year.
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
Don't really want MPBN to get my address.
T C
Shapleigh, Maine
++
I fully support any effort to return the Humble Farmer
to the Maine airwaves, if not on MPBN then on a more enlightened
station.
D M. H Spruce Head, ME 04859, 594-4119.
++
WE support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
E Ho
AH
Oakland, ME 04963
Thank you for taking the time to write this letter. We
greatly appreciate you taking the time to lay everything out so nicely.
We have missed Humble very much! Please keep us updated on your
progress.
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
J S
Hulls Cove, Maine 04644
I, too, cancelled my MPBN membership in protest of losing the humble Farmer.
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
P F
Trevett, ME 04571
++
Great and about time! I miss the Friday night Humble Farmer show. I have not supported MPBN since it was removed from the air.
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
R E C
Eliot, ME 03903
++
"I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck."
We both do. Wholeheartedly.
E A. M
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
++
AM. M
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
++
Good for you for doing this Marta. We did cancel our
membership, and have not renewed our financial support of WMPBN. I also
emailed explaining that we would not give another penny unless they
brought back the Humble Farmer, but of course we got no response.
Good Luck, and happy new year,
eden
mp , whiting, me - i support the marta daniels letter of
12/12/07. i cancelled my $500 a year membership with a letter to beck
and dow - i requested a personal response instead of their form letter
- none was given. my friend works in the section that calls members
and renews their memberships. since humble's demise, she has lost $100
to $150/ mo in commission at 5%. So, while it may not sound like much,
she sure misses it and it represents $2000 per month in lost membership
money. There are 8 of them in the unit so that means a minimum of
$15000 per month or $180000 per year. management said it wouldn't
affect their bottom line but the staff BBQ and Christmas party were
cancelled this year. Also, while my friend had was out, management
came down from Bangor and queried the members of her little group the
major reason for decreasing income and member numbers and everyone
answered the same - humble farmer.
i appreciate the erudition and passion of your letter
and only fear that c beck is too dumb to get it but hope springs
eternal. my friend has to sign that fascist document every time she
turns on her computer. my friend was also threatened with firing as she
was letting humble know how feeling was going when this first happened
by telling him the ratio of "for vs against" letters on the audience
services phone line. fortunately, my friend let humble know via her
home computer so they had no case but that's the extent that matters
have gotten too.
also, many many of the folks not renewing are out of
staters so it isn't just us and several have used the "felt like a
friend had died" line. keep up the good work and good luck. as red
green would say, "we're all in this together"
While I would love to hear Robert back in his Friday
slot, with his eclectic selection of traditional jazz and big band
music, along with his humor and political opinion, I fear your letter
is too long and rambling to be of any real effect. I another writing
letter campaign might be more effective.
++
I would like to know more about the process by which we, the listeners, have effect in programming at MPBN.
So . . . I add my name to your effort, if not your letter.
Please keep me posted on your progress. I too feel
Robert's firing, if that is the proper term for his dismissal, was
inappropriate . . . especially in light of other "politically" oriented
programs MPBN carriers.
DH. L
Rockport, ME 04856
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
My name is F R; Phippsburg, Maine 04562
++
We support Daniels letter re: the Humble Farmer Radio Show.
G and J S
Skowhegan Maine 04976
++
Hi Marta –
Thank you for the time you spent in writing a
well-crafted and eloquent letter. I wrote to the station objecting to
Humble’s termination and believe I got a stupid form letter back. I
fully support your 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck (the “Daniels
letter”) and will forward your e-mails to others.
My office address is below and home is: Richmond, Maine 04357
Thanks again.
- Alice
++
We support Daniel's letter to Charles Beck.
D and G G
Manchester
Maine 04351
++
To whom it may concern;
I support Marta Daniels' 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
JR. B
Falmouth, Maine 04105
++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
M S
Rome, ME 04963
++
Why are we still fighting for The Humble Farmer? He's a Maine
tradition, and Charles Beck is a bloody ridiculous bureaucrat. And
what is a bureaucrat? Someone who is stupidly attached to the
arrangement from bland nothing. Who cares a hoot about Charles Beck
and his "values"? Not I, nor anyone I know. BRING BACK THE HUMBLE
FARMER!!! AND DISMISS CHARLES BECK!!!!!!!!! C Bt
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
Better. Chas. Beck should spend the rest of his life, without companions, on the driest of the Dry Tortugas.
J M
Brunswick ME 04011
++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
Also, you might like to know, before she died, a True Maine Native,
Luci Venno, whose family inhabits land given to them by the King of
England in the 1600's, was a devoted fan of the Humble Farmer. She
loved the jazz and she loved the commentary. In her memory, and the
interest of all those who appreciate a wry look at the foibles of
mankind, I say MPBN shoule relieve Charles Beck of his
responsibilities, and restore Humble!
AM
Harborside, ME 04642
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
J A
Portland, ME 04103
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
G Cl
Bridgton, ME 04409
++
I support Daniels' letter of 12/12/07 to Charles Beck.
GCh
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
++
“I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.”
yes I do!
L B
Topsham, Maine 04086
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
J Mu
Bath, ME 04530
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
LM
Bath, Maine 04530
++
support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck
W S
Palermo, ME 04354
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
Right on Marta!
Thank you for taking the time to research the story
behind this issue, and to so eloquently and thoroughly express our
feelings and thoughts on the matter of Humble Farmer's removal from
MPBN.
We, too, have wondered about the issue of syndicating
and creating a revenue stream from the Humble Farmer show. I don't
imagine Robert Skoglund would be averse to this, though he may wish to
be paid from the revenue. I think this is a point to make with the
legislature as these are difficult times for anything funded by
taxpayer dollars--to overlook a possible source of income is foolish.
I also think you should send a copy of your letter to
Garrison Keillor, perhaps he'll invite Humble for a guest appearance,
or at least address the issue in his own commentary.
Again, thanks; I am glad you are doing this.
I will copy the letter to my reps in Augusta, and other Humble fans.
Let's hope for some positive result.
A
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
L W Audrey Z
Cary, ME 04471
++
Right on Marta!
Thank you for taking the time to research the story
behind this issue, and to so eloquently and thoroughly express our
feelings and thoughts on the matter of Humble Farmer's removal from
MPBN.
We, too, have wondered about the issue of syndicating
and creating a revenue stream from the Humble Farmer show. I don't
imagine Robert Skoglund would be averse to this, though he may wish to
be paid from the revenue. I think this is a point to make with the
legislature as these are difficult times for anything funded by
taxpayer dollars--to overlook a possible source of income is foolish.
I also think you should send a copy of your letter to
Garrison Keillor, perhaps he'll invite Humble for a guest appearance,
or at least address the issue in his own commentary.
Again, thanks; I am glad you are doing this.
I will copy the letter to my reps in Augusta, and other Humble fans.
Let's hope for some positive result.
Audrey
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
++
D K
North Grosvenordale, CT 06255
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
++
I support Daniels' 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
++
I no longer contribute to MPBN radio as a result of this fiasco, which never should have occurred.
DR
Brewer ME 04412
++
To whom it may concern: I support Daniels 12/12/07
letter to charles beck, regarding the termination of Robert Skoglund's
radio program, The Humble Farmer. I will no longer financially support
mpbn until this issue is resolved and apologies are made. The insult to
Mr. Skoglund and his listeners has been profound, and needs to be
rectified. If anyone needs to leave maine public radio it might be mr
beck and mr dowe. I think listeners and supporters would not miss them
in the least.
Respectfully,
S B
Lee, ME 04455
++
I too support Marta Daniels' letter of 12/12/07 to
charles beck regarding the issue of Robert Skoglund's radio show, The
Humble Farmer.
D B
Lee, ME 04455
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
OD R
Casco ME 04015
++
We support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck.
AWh & J De
Portland ME 04102
We did cancel our MPR membership this year as a result
of the handling of the Humble Farmer situation. We have yet to receive
any acknowledgement or follow-up from MBPN. WE elected to send
donations previously earmarked for MPR to stations in other states that
produce the programs we enjoy (WBUR, WBEZ, etc.)
++
Dear Marta,
I have read your letter regarding Robert Skoglund's case and commend you
for taking this initiative. I have treasured his 'take' on life in Maine
and truly miss his show. I'm glad to add my contact information.
"I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck."
S P
Islesboro, ME 04848
++
I support Daniels 12/12/07 letter to Charles Beck. This e-mail serves as a signature of support to the letter.
K G-B ( formerly K B ( also former member of MPBN )
Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107
