Before we jump too hard on Ted Welch remember that this issue came up in public at least a month ago when it was rumored in the Nashville Scene (I believe it was "Desperately Seeking the News") that Ted Welch was hitting the streets for donations just to meet the Public Forum's payroll. I presume that Ted has worked the fundraising with gusto and that he's matching a percentage.

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS.

This is practically the ONLY FAIR AND BALANCED discussion of the issues, local and national, in the Media PERIOD. Nobody screams and yells. No one accuses no one of being anti-American, anti-God, or E-V-I-L because of their opinions. Strange and unusual, I know, but true.

THIS IS UNFORGIVEABLE OF THE DECISION MAKERS. Obviously political.

Karlen, Teddy -- you must have pissed off sumbody and this is their revenge.

Let's start a Petition. I'll be the first to sign! I'm 67 and still working to survive but I'll contribute $25.00.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNFORGIVEABLE.

Tell us who and what to boycott and we will.

Daily Loyal Liberal Listener

typical rich, you ante up, not me.

Bob is right,
Ted Welch was recently complimented by Teddy for making donation request calls in order to help the Public Forum out of its then budget problems.
I hope that Teddy and Karlen will elaborate on their show rhis morning, if there is any plan in which they can continue on the air.

[ Let's start a Petition. I'll be the first to sign! I'm 67 and still working to survive but I'll contribute $25.00 ... ]

Says one of the Round Tables' one hundred or so regular listeners.

I guess I should no longer be amazed at the OPM(other people's money) crowd's sanctimonious angst when they don't get what they want, when they wanted it, on a silver platter, with a side of caviar. All paid for by "them" of course. Particularly incredulous is graciously sacrificing half of their almost 100K(each) salary and getting praised for it! Are Phil and Johnny B making that much? Even if they are, it comes from the commercial value they generate from advertisers. Let Teddy and Karla do likewise or at least raise money from those who value their services!

As a regular listener of TBR, I've noticed that pundits on both the left and right speak frankly about TN politics, and that includes calling Bob Corker what he is, a moderate. Of course, you have the occasional Corker surrogate sitting in the chair on the right who will sing his praises as a "strong conservative." These assertions never go unchallenged though. Also, Corker has continually refused to appear on TBR, despite being sought as a guest.

As many know, the chairman of the non-profit Public Forum, Ted Welch is also a major Corker fundraiser.

There were other options on the table to cut funding and raise more money to save the show. There was only a $150,000 budget shortfall. Teddy Bart and Karlen Evins even offered to take a 50% pay cut to keep TBR alive. The board voted to kill the show anyway. Bart and Evins said they felt blindsided by the board's decision, and didn't even know ending the show was an option that was on the table.

I'm not saying the two are connected, but it's certainly interesting that the only media outlet (besides blogs) that has actually questioned Corker's claims of conservatism is being shutdown and the chairman of the board is a Corker supporter.

Why are those two making that much money anyway if their "Public Forum" is a non-profit? That sounds very fishy to me. I think we are going to hear more about this money mess in the weeks to come.

Let's face it, we don't know what this is, but we do know what it isn't. It isn't a Board of Directors looking to keep an interesting, truly balanced and sometimes shockingly honest show on the air. Any of the board members could have single handedly floated this boat.

Neither Karlen or Teddy deserve to be tossed aside in such a thoughtless, abrupt fashion and over what is, to this extremely wealth Board of Directors, a measly $150K.

I'm a solid member of the struggling middle class and I could raise $150K if I called in all my notes. So don't tell me this cast of characters couldn't have done the same.

There is more here than meets the eye and ear. I smell a political rat!

Carolyn

Those concerned about Bart's and Evin's salary are missing the point.

Teddy Bart's Roundtable was a place for Tennesseans to get quality political and public policy coverage. The show broke important news all the time.

Changing the subject from the show's demise to how much money the hosts made is irrelevant. Besides, if you didn't contribute to the Public Forum, I don't see why their salaries should even be of concern. Both could have made much more in the private sector.

I'm sad about the loss of the Roundtable because there's nothing else out there to fill the void the show will leave. Blogs come the closest, but even then you don't get the same give and take as on live radio, or the opportunity to hear from the wide variety of guests.

I love listening to Phil Valentine and Steve Gill too, but it's just not the same. They might get some good guests on occasionally, but there's never enough time to get as in depth on the issues as there is on the Roundtable. Also, too often, much more emphasis is put on national stories on talk radio.

Teddy Bart's Roundtable will be missed.

Jay and I are obviously on different ends of the political spectrum, since I have no affection for either Steve Gill or Phil Valentine, but we do have one thing in common, neither of us believe the salary of Karlen or Teddy is the point. The Roundtable is truly unique and extremely valuable programming that is unduplicated in local talk radio.

But there is also another point for those worried about the salary of Teddy & Karlen, not only are both of them worth every cent they're making, many people who work for NPO's can and do make very good incomes.

Anyone implying that there is something extraordinary or illegal or immoral about people making good salaries working for an NPO hasn't done his/her homework. People are entitled to make what they're worth and both of these people are worth every cent they've been paid.

Both Karlen and Teddy are talented people with healthy, impressive resumes in broadcasting and the community and state are fortunate to have such quality people working to bring balanced news to the public.

Carolyn

No doubt the issue of Teddy and Karlen's salaries is a huge issue here. On one hand they are begging for contributions from the public and hitting up the corporate sponsors for who knows how much. On the other hand, the two of them alone are taking home 40% of the earnings. WTF is that about? And who knows who the staff is that had to be paid?

I totally agree that something is extremely fishy here. Non-profits are just that, a community service that works to establish a trust between it's donors and the job provided. You can not tell me those two were deserving of near six figure incomes, and if you do then I wish I had your kind of disposable income.

Bottomline, The Public Forum catered to the country club crowd and made a mockery out of Joe Listener who believed in their cause and contributed. They deserved to be shut down sooner than this. Shame on Teddy, Karlen and whoever else had their hand in this till.

The Roundtable has been on several radio stations in town, and has been pulled from every one of them for various reasons. If they were employees of the station where it airs now, there is no way they'd be getting anywhere close to 96K a year each and probably not even half that. If they did something besides radio they might make more in the private sector, but for what they are doing now--no way. I've got friends in the local radio business here so I know how much the big dogs make. Ratings-wise, the Roundtable is not one of the big dogs.

I bet the board members were tired of being asked to bankroll something that was repeatedly losing money.

Teddy Bart is a talented man and might be able to do a show elsewhere, though.

Honestly, I was shocked at how low Bart's salary was, given his experience and local profile.

Remember, too, that Bart and Evins weren't just doing 2 hours of radio gab in the morning, they were running an entire non-profit enterprise seeking to expand the dissemination of public policy information and civil discussion statewide in a very meaningful way.

I was rather surprised to find out that the whole thing had such a paltry budget.

The good news is, that means someone with a good plan could revive the basic concept of the show, perhaps in slightly altered form, rather easily.

I have some ideas who and how... Are you listening Mike Sechrist or Mike Cutler...?

I don't know why some people are attempting to paint Karlen & Teddy as
evildoers but as I said on another blog, you can throw all the rocks you want into that pond and you won't get a single ripple.

It's important to remember that their not for profit wasn't supporting a charity but rather promoting a community service. I don't think there's any doubt that the Roundtable succeeded in that regard.

Both Teddy and Karlen are class acts.

Carolyn

The point is not about how much money they're making or not making; it's about how much of OPM they want to do what they think is good for the unwashed masses, if only they weren't so stupid they can't appreciate their superior wisdom and insight. If it's valuable get enough audience to support whatever budget and slaries the market will bear. Don't whine if for whatever reason their previous sugar daddys decide to get a new mistress. How much of their resources doesn't matter--it's theirs not yours!

Bill's right. I, too, was surprised at Karlen and Teddy's salaries--surprised they were so low. And further surprised at how small the entire organiztion's budget is. Yes, payroll is a big percentage of the budget, but what else do they spend money on? Their landlord is Tony Giarratana, one of their underwriters. So if they're not getting their space gratis, they're at least getting a deep discount. And they spend nothing on technology. Until just a few months ago Karlen was complaining that her on-air computer couldn't run both email and open links that she was sent by listeners like me.

They are a pretty lean organization. I hope that somebody realizes that and parlays their success into something bigger. As has been mentioned on this blog and others, there are partnership opportunities for the Roundtable/Public Forum. Folks who should be exploring this are: MTSU's journalism department, local radio and tv stations, local papers, Siegenthaler's First Amendment Center, and Belmont's journalism/blogger extraordinaire.

And if you're still hung up about the money, follow that good conservative/capitalist rule: don't complain about how other people spend their own money, but bitch up a storm when they try to spend yours.

There has to be more to the story. Who will figure it out? Those who argue is was the pro-Corker faction have been listening too long to Karlin's sophomoric "beyond reason" theories. Those who argue is was the rich Belle Meade snobs don't understand the real world. Something happened. Hasn't anyone felt the really weird vibe on this show the last few months? The last time Marke Tipps was on you could cut the tension with a knife. Something happened that sent the Board over the edge, and it wasn't related to programming. This is a heck of an interesting story that will probably never be told.

I just want to make two points. It was my understanding that the last station that Teddy and Karlen got "kicked off of" was their own. They tried owning a station and couldn't make a go of it. Also, some of you act as if they set their own salaries. Based on the way TPF was set up, I don't think that was the case. If the hosts set this up to line their own pockets, there were several people in on the scam who had nothing to gain.

MHJ

People are surprised their salaries are so LOW? Come on! The only radio hosts in this town that make comparable or higher salaries are on shows that make money and bring in higher ratings.

The board probably just got tired of being asked repeatedly to cover shortfalls.

A quality radio show can be done with a smaller budget. It has been done many, many times. From what has been written on this website, it appears this program and the "Public Forum" are anything but lean when it comes to budgeting.

We'll find out a lot more once the show is gone. Some of it may not be too pretty.

Great comments Jimbo, MHH, and Reason.
I totally agree that something is fishy here and is definitely not as cut and dry as presented. Perhaps Karlen and Teddy were actually surprised at the results? Maybe not when one looks back at what has built up to this point. I have a feeling that we may very well find out more IF the local media is willing to investigate it and not let personal relationships (ie. being a former guest) get in the way.

Sounds like all the rest of the politics over on that side of town. I hate that Karlen and Teddy may be the victims of more disgruntled politics but that's the name of that game. When one sleeps with dogs, one can get fleas.

And bottom line, the show jumped the shark long ago and was basically too uninclusive of the listener (except for the same 3 e-mailers). Just as operations run like this can't exist forever, a good story like this can't stay hidden forever.

Interesting blogging about this going on here.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of finding out the real story behind this debacle. And I call it that only because they solicited for funds from the public and sponsors and evidently did not fairly use them as they were entrusted to.

It is interesting to me that the people alleging - without a single shred of evidence - that there was some impropriety involved in this story, imply their allegations rather anonymously, while many of us defending Bart and Evins and trying to find a way to revive a very valuable program are doing so with our identities well-known.

Further comments implying improprieties without a shred of evidence will be deleted.

And also any more comments that treat $96,000 as if it a whopping huge salary for running a non-profit foundation and radio program with statewide TV distribution. It isn't.

Have any of the people defending the 96K salaries ever worked in radio or for a non-profit?

The Roundtable is no more valuable than any other radio show.

Ah yes! The beauty of censorship!
Spoken like a true fan of Libs and The Round Table. Fuhgedaboutit.

Leo, I'm not censoring anyone. If you or Reason want to publish your allegations-without-evidence, you are free to start a blog - just go to Blogger.com or TypePad.com. Or you can rent a billboard, or graffiti it on a wall, or stand on the streetcorner with a bullhorn.

What you DON'T have a right to is to repetitively make the same accusations, without evidence, on server space and bandwidth that I pay for.

My comments policy states: Your comment is subject to deletion if it is off-topic or includes foul language or personal attack.

Allegations of wrongdoing made without evidence by anonymous posters certainly qualify as "personal attack."

As for their 96K salaries, the board knew about and approved them, so what's the problem?

The Public Forum was not a charity soliciting funds to help the poor. It was a not-for-profit organization owned by its founders and governed by its board - who have every right to pay whatever they wish to pay, and spend the remainder as they see fit.

Nobody is making unfounded allegations. People are asking legitimate questions about a non-profit that claims to be a public service. If people want to fund it, that is fine. But save the "it's a public service" bit. The show is no more of a public service than any other talk show.

Reason - who also posts anonymously under the names "Voice of Reason," and "Evangelist" and "Evangelist of News" - claims "Nobody is making unfounded allegations" re The Public Forum.

So, I pulled up a list of every comment "Reason" has posted. In two of them he/she implies that there was some sort of impropriety going on. Here they are...

1. Why are those two making that much money anyway if their "Public Forum" is a non-profit? That sounds very fishy to me. I think we are going to hear more about this money mess in the weeks to come.

2. ...We'll find out a lot more once the show is gone. Some of it may not be too pretty.

In a third comment, Reason writes, "...Ricky, you may be right on the money with your prediction of an audit..."

But "Reason" isn't the only one implying wrongdoing without offering evidence.

"Sue" posted a comment that said, in part, "Something is fishy here and is definitely not as cut and dry as presented."

Definitely? That word implies knowledge of evidence of wrongdoing. But, again, no evidence is presented.

"Leo" posted one comment that said we aren't hearing "the real story behind this debacle," and charges that The Public Forum "solicited for funds from the public and sponsors and evidently did not fairly use them as they were entrusted to."

"Evidently?" implies evidence, but none is offered. Memo to Reason: Leo made an unfounded allegation.

"Leo" also posted another comment linking to another blog's comments page, where various commenters made all sorts of allegations without evidence.

So, "Reason," spare me your silly contention that "Nobody is making unfounded allegations." You did, Sue did, Leo did and others have.

Well, I will just have to disagree with you while I still have that right. I've talked to my friends in the radio biz and they all, to a person, say the questions about the funding are legitimate.

Why don't the Roundtable people talk to Nashville Public Radio if this show is supposed to be non-profit? They have 2 stations and would probably love getting some money to air the show on their AM station.

Karlin was president, right? Where does the buck usually stop when an organization fails, with the president, right? She is now seemingly claiming that funding was the Board's fault and their action was a "surprise." Yet, I always assumed her role was to run "the business" since she had no on-air role other than to read emails and ask a few questions now and then. Teddy carried the show, to be sure. No, in fact, Teddy was the show. Having said that, if anyone ever bothered to read an Arbitron book, you'd note that this show never had enough listeners to even register an Arbitron rating! Vietnamese polka music would have scored better on that station. But, I'm betting they'll end up over on 1430AM, where even fewer people will be listening.

Well it seems that REASON has unnamed "friends in radio here" and is quoting unnamed sources in "the radio biz" to make the case that Teddy and Karlen weren't worth the money they made. Reason has used several posts just to proffer unsubstantiated accusations which rely on no named or reliable sources.

BLOND is attributing statements to Karlen like "She is now seemingly claiming that funding was the Board's fault". That statement is not only unsourced but untrue I've listened to the program and read interviews with Karlen and never has she said that "funding was the Boards fault". In fact she's said the opposite. As for Arbitron.....who cares? There are published reports concerning the reliablity or unreliability of Arbitron ratings.

SUE, sounds as if he/she is promoting a personal vendetta and exhibits a penchant toward insinuating impropriety where no evidence for such exists.

LEO, has also implied impropriety with apparently nothing to hang his/her hat on but a HUNCH. Leo also seems to be grinding some sort of personal axe.

Bill this has been a good thread but I think it has outlived it's usefulness. Cut the thread Bill.

Carolyn

It's your site, Bill. With many others it seems that you also want the Round Table on the air. It is hard to believe the abruptness with which this all has come about . . and a loss for many people.

No need to answer so considerately the negative posts.

Weird negative minds haunt the internet anonymously opposing whatever they can without knowledge and with no significant achievenments of their own.

As for criticizing the hosts, we all know what kind of character deficit afflcts those peons who want to hit at folks when they seem down.

I wish we could run a tracer on the vultures and post their own credit reports for the public to view alongside their comments. Probably cool them out quite a bit.

No real purpose in engaging them; I learned long ago to accept that Peons 'is' Peons BECAUSE They'Is'Peons.