Don Campau reports on his KKUP s

10 April 2008

I would like to extend my thanks to General Manager, Dan Kind at KKUP for calling me and listening to my point of view regarding my suspension from KKUP for accidentally airing profanity. He realizes my anger was not about the suspension itself but the way it transpired. His reasonable and clear vision impressed me and his ability to hear both sides of the issue made me feel heard and understood.
He has informed me that I will be reinstated for my program at KKUP on May 25, 2008. We spoke about positive ways to move forward that will keep KKUP protected from incidents like this in the future . Some ideas include pre-producing the music parts of my show at my home studio and the acquisition and installation of an eight second delay at KKUP itself. In addition, in my mind, I still feel it would be wise to communicate to each other at KKUP to keep everything transparent and open. Not only should we be critical but we should also be supportive and do some backpatting for each other. I believe a simple email or call can be a very beneficial thing.

I would also like to thank the bands, artists, fellow DJs and friends all over the world for the hundreds of supporting emails and calls I received. This means a lot to me and it is the music and community that these artists provide that is the reason I continue to do my program. I feel in this era of corporate domination and strict formatting it is more important than ever to present independent and home produced music in all styles. In particular, I would like to thank
fellow KKUP volunteer, David Heymann, for his continuing support, guidance and friendship.

I would also like to extend an olive branch to Leo Murphy, one of KKUP's volunteer's on the Board Of Directors. I don't believe Leo ever meant to hurt me by reporting the profanity on my show without telling me first. I think he was only doing his best to protect KKUP in these difficult times. I took it as an insult and got angry. However, I am not angry now nor do I hold a grudge. Perhaps we can all learn something from this unfortunate incident. I still feel that open and honest communication is a key to a team's success and I hope we can strive to achieve this in the future.Let's continue to make KKUP a progressive voice for our community that we can all be proud of.

sincerely, Don Campau

Below is the original text of the incident. This entire page will be removed on 24 May, 2008.

This is what can happen when you air something with profanity, even accidentally on KKUP. This was not reported to KKUP management by a disgruntled or outraged listener but by a fellow KKUP volunteer ( and who I thought was a friend) without informing me of his intentions to do so.

31 March 2008

Today I was informed by Tim at KKUP that I am to be suspended for playing a song with profanities in it. The length of suspension time has not been determined yet but probably will be 3 weeks to a month. Tim told me that a member of The KKUP Board Of Directors had been in the studio when this violation happened and had been the one to report it. I would like to recount the facts I as remember them and my reactions to the suspension here.

This occurred during my program on 23 March 2008 at radio station KKUP in Cupertino CA. The song was "Ballistic" by English group, Deathsquad. The words were "shit " and "fuck" and although sort of buried in their "rap" version of the song were definitely there. In my pre-show screening I did not catch this. KKUP has a "Zero Tolerance" policy for profanities at this point and I was aware of this when it happened. At the time I couldn't believe that I had missed this in my extensive screening that I do before every show. I also make every band and individual that submits material for
my show clear about the fact that KKUP cannot play any profanities. They electronically "sign off" on this when submitting Cds for the show. However, it is up to me to make sure before I air their material. You can see that I post the "rules" of my show at the URL below and have everyone read and understand it before they submit material:
http://www.doncampau.com/npinfo.htm

If you are not familiar with my show , it is called "No Pigeonholes" and I play home produced and small studio, independent music from around the world. This is a collection of individuals and bands expressing themselves in whatever style they choose. Most of these are not "professional" productions. I also have a European edition of this show and as you might imagine, the European rules are somewhat less restrictive than here in the "land of free speech".
Offering this format since 1985, "No Pigeonholes" is the longest running program of home recordings in the world.

The violation happened close to 4 PM during the first hour of my two hour program. In the studio at the time with me were David Heymann and Leo Murphy. David is a fellow DJ and Leo is a member of the KKUP Board Of Directors. At the time, David said he had not heard the unacceptable words but Leo indicated he was sure it happened. To me, I heard "shit" but wasn't positive about the initial "fuck" uttered. I immediately found another CD and faded out the Deathsquad song as soon as possible and started the other CD. I had clearly violated the current KKUP policy. I should have
immediately reported myself to the KKUP management but did not. Leo did though and although I wish he would have at least informed me of his decision to do so, I do not blame him for reporting the incident. It does hurt and disappoint me though because I would prefer to be approached openly and honestly about a decision to report an incident such as this. I was not expecting Leo to just "let it go" but I did hope he would say something to me first. It might be good policy in the future to have fellow DJs/ Board Members consult and inform each other if similar infractions occur. To me, this
seems more of a team oriented approach.

I accept full responsibilty for this violation and will accept the consequences of my actions. I fully intend to redouble my pre-show screening efforts and if in doubt not play a particular CD. My apologies to anyone I may have offended by doing so. I understand in these difficult times we must all be responsible and totally conscious of everything we air to protect KKUP from actions to remove us from the broadcast airwaves.

Sincerely,
Don Campau

www.doncampau.com