By Brian Daly
CKLN FM, the voice of Toronto’s disenfranchised, is reeling after the abrupt resignation of its station manager, programme director and news directors last month.
In a Feb. 9 letter addressed to the station’s board of directors, Programme Director Vashti Persad, and news Directors Alok Sharma and Iliana Sztainbok wrote that “this is not a safe work environment for us or any women. We are completely aware of the implications of our immediate resignation.”
The (letter) was signed by Persad, Sharma and Sztainbok, as well as Station Manager Carianne Leung, who had initially decided to stay on to help find a replacement. In the letter, however, Leung joined the other three and left the Ryerson-based station for good.
None of the four ex-core staffers would agree to an interview with The Eyeopener, but partial minutes from the board meeting show that they appeared before the board to deal with a complaint that alleged verbal assault against a volunteer by a core staff member. The board informed the four that their concerns would be dealt with after a private board session. A few minutes after the four core staffers were asked to leave, they sent a note to the board informing them of their resignation.
In the wake of the resignations, the board appointed an interim management committee to run the station until new directors are hired.
Datejie, the training outreach coordinator at CKLN, is the lone remaining core staffer. She sees the resignation as a mixed blessing.
“It’s unfortunate, but you have to deal with it,” she said. “Spring is coming up soon, and I see (the resignation) as spring cleaning. It’s time for the station to move forward.”
Arnie Achtman, president of the board of directors, does not understand the ex-core member’s reluctance to speak to the media.
“This whole thing is as much a mystery to me as it is to you,” he said. “They seem to want to have their side (of the story) heard, but they don’t want to tell it.”
Punam Khosla, who served as CKLN’s station manager from 1987 to 1990, is working with Datejie, Victor Bains Marshall, Denise Benson, and Brian Wright McCleod on the interim committee. She would not comment on the details surrounding the resignations, but says that they mark a turning point in the station’s evolution.
“CKLN has tried to have a strong role in bringing out communities that don’t have a voice in the mainstream, (so) expectations are high. The question for us in 1995 is, how do we re-evaluate our mandate?” she said.
A Feb. 22 general staff meeting was convened to deal with these issues. A four-point mandate was drawn up by the board and the interim staff. The mandate promised to keep the station running and choose a news Director and Station Manager by the end of the month.
Khosla says that managing a community radio station is not easy, and the interim committee “just wants to go back to their own lives.” She is optimistic that the core staff resignations will not snuff out the station, which as served the community for 11 years.
“We regret that this process has been so painful, but it’s part of the growing pains of a community organization. The station is bigger than any one person.”
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