SHOULD KUNV BE LISTED AS A FULL-TIME JAZZ MUSIC STATION? • FINAL “AUTOPSY” ON DAN MULSHALKO & WCBE

In late June we published a story featuring the May Nielsen ratings for full-time Jazz stations in PPM markets. 

KUNV in Las Vegas did very, very well. (We’ve reprinted the ratings below.)

We heard from two station program directors that said KUNV [link] should not be listed with full-time Jazz stations. 

One PD said KUNV doesn’t play enough Jazz music to qualify. The other PD told us that KUNV is “a Smooth Jazz” station.” This was not a compliment.

So, we decided to listen to KUNV’s streaming audio [link]. You can see what we heard on the playlist shown on the right.  

Now we are asking our readers for your help. Should we keep KUNV on the full-time Jazz station list? Send us an email at publicradio@hotmail.com and tell us what you think. Thanks!

Almost half of the songs played are contemporary music oldies. 

The Jazz tracks tend to be Smooth Jazz. 

But, overall it sounded quite good. 

Since KUNV changed the music mix the ratings have roughly tripled. So, what is the problem?

We called and sent emails to the people in charge at KUNV: Acting Station Manager Kevin Stoker and Operations Manager Dave Nourse but neither replied. So we asked the employee who answered the phone, who asked not to be named, a few key questions.

We learned that KUNV’s ratings had languished for years and now people at the station know things have changed because in-coming calls requesting information or public service time have increased.

The KUNV employee we spoke with told us that the station is a small shop – only four full time employees. UNLV students do most of the air-shifts. To keep the sound as professional as possible the music is chosen by an out-of-station consultant.

Time will tell if KUNV is on a sustainable path and whether their new mix is an innovation for noncommercial radio. Or, will KUNV turn out to be an oldies station with plenty of listeners and few supporters.

COLUMBUS CITY SCHOOLS AUDIT PROVIDES FEW ANSWERS ABOUT $870,000 DEBT TO NPR

Hopefully this will be the final update on the situation regarding former WCBE GM Dan Mulshalko, his hidden $870,000 debt to NPR and a school district that was so clueless they allowed it to happen.

To recap the story, here is what happened: 

For around four years, Mulshalko altered invoices from NPR to reflect lower amounts due. 

The Columbus City Schools paid NPR the amount on Mulshalko’s fraudulent invoices without knowing they were not real. 

Mulshalko kept doing this over and over and the Columbus City Schools  never knew about it.

Dan Mulshalko

By January 2019, the amount owed to NPR had grown to almost a million dollars. NPR informed Mulshalko they were going to pull the plug on NPR programming. 

At that point, Mulshalko had no choice but to inform the school district. He was suspended and the  Columbus City Schools did an audit of the matter.

On June 27, 2019 the Columbus City Schools released the results of the audit. You can download the report here.  It is a fascinating read but it fails to answer the two key questions:

1. Why was Columbus City Schools oversight so poor it allowed the charade to go on so long?

2. What was Mulshalko’s motive for keeping the debt secret?

Regarding Question #1, the Columbus City Schools’ auditors wondered the same thing. No individual was found to be at fault. The system had failed. Lesson’s were learn and (hopefully) something like this won’t happen again.

Regarding Question #2, what was Mulshalko attempting to gain by hiding the NPR debt?  He didn’t receive any stolen money. In fact, the audit says he sometimes used his own money to pay vendors. Perhaps he thought if the debt became public it might cause people to question the veracity of his management.

Unless Mulshalko decides to tell his story, no one will know what he was thinking.