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While a volunteer and later as a staff member, I often thought Zane should be communicating with producers and volunteers on a regular basis. There was always an undercurrent of anti-Zane sentiment at the station, which I attributed to people misunderstanding Zane's decisions and initiatives. I thought that if Zane would be more open and discuss issues, people might understand better and their misconceptions wouldn't fester.
After I started as a Production Facilitator, I suggested that Zane schedule a monthly "Director's Report" as a live call-in show, using Nicole Sawaya's highly successful monthly live "General Manager's Report" on KALW 91.7 FM. He could report on the status of the facility, initiatives being undertaken to benefit the producers and the station, and take questions from the audience. I suggested that even the nastiest questions can be spined with a response that is stated in a positive manner. I also suggested we have prepared roll-ins that can be used as needed, that shows what goes on at Access SF. Zane said he didn't want to talk with producers, so I suggested having a board member host the show as a surrogate. This type of show would be very beneficial to show our goodwill with the communities we serve. It would show our efforts to make public access television more accessible.
Zane insists that he has no need to communicate with producers. He told me that years ago he held a meeting with producers and he was besieged with angry and embarrassing questions, and that he had no desire to repeat the experience. I suggested that if he held the meetings more often, that built-up anger and hostility would dissipate. He didn't agree.
Whenever Zane would direct the staff to enforce a new rule, I would ask Zane to communicate the new rule to producers and volunteers. He wouldn't bother, and insisted that we were obligated to enforce all of his rules, wether written or not. When we had equipment problems that effected may producers, I would want to send out a notice so producers understood. Zane would not do so, nor would he allow me to do so.
This lack of communications created many problems for me and other staff. When I had to enforce an unwritten rule, I would be accused of being arbitrary or on some sort of power trip. When shows would fail to play due to a hardware problem in playback, I would be accused of sabotaging programs. When people would complain to me, I just referred them to Zane. What I didn't know, was that Zane would blame me and promise to look into it. He is so two-faced, yet he seems to get away with it.
In my 16 months as an employee, I've only seen Zane reach-out to producers twice. The first-time was last summer (2005) when he tried to rally producers and volunteers to fight for SFCTC's funding at the Board of Supervisors. Mark Smolowitz did most of that work. The second time was (November 2005) when the Media Alliance asked Access SF to participate in the so-called "Snowstorm" call-to-action PSA. Zane sent out one note to the producers.
When Zane reached out last week (Reform Access SF - Zane's Email from January 25, 2006) in an attempt to discredit my outreach as ranting from a disgruntled ex-employee, it was because he feels his (personal) funding is in jeopardy. You have to imagine how he can keep his job.
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