Community Radio’s Town Square
September 27, 2019
“I knew I wanted to be in radio when I was 6 years old,” said Dayle Ohlau, now 59 and soon to take over as general manager of KDPI, the local nonprofit community radio station based in Ketchum.
Ohlau, who had previously earned a master’s degree in human behavior, decided to return to academia. She enrolled at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco to pursue a Ph.D. in the School of Transformative Studies.
Two and half years later, she has completed her coursework and is preparing an 80-page thesis proposal titled “Homo-Spiritus: Radical Compassion, a New Paradigm for Spirit-Based Journalism.”
“My work is theoretical rather than quantitative,” Ohlau said. “It traces our history from the end of World War I to today, and studies media biases that led us to where we are now, with a distrust of the media and a weakening of the Fourth Estate [journalism]. We have become so tribal. Due to our confirmation biases we only listen to or read what we already believe.”
A recent $11,000 donation from 100 Men Who Care, a local philanthropic group, drew Ohlau back to the nonprofit station that she had helped General Manager Mike Scullion get started in 2013. She will be able to draw a small salary putting together new ideas for the station.
“For me this will be a synergy between my studies and my radio career,” she said. ‘It’s an opportunity to generate compassionate and ethical communication in our community. I think of it as harkening back to the days of the town square.”
Free Press/Fourth Estate: Ukraine
[A college newspaper broke this story.]
The State Press:
Executive Director of the McCain Institute Kurt Volker resigned from his position as the U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Friday, following reports he collaborated with Ukraine and President Donald Trump.
An ASU official confirmed Volker’s resignation Friday, and said the University could not speak about his future at ASU because the University does not comment on personnel matters.
Volker met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday to announce he would be resigning, the official said.
Volker’s name was mentioned in the recent whistleblower complaint, which has sparked an impeachment inquiry for Trump. Trump has defended his actions, including a phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky where Trump requested dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.
The complaint details that Trump told his staff to cut aid to Ukraine unless they helped find information on presidential candidate Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
According to the complaint, Volker helped organize meetings with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Ukrainian officials.
The complaint also alleges that Volker went to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, to help guide Ukraine officials on how to handle Trumps’s demands.
Editor’s Note: This is a breaking story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Reach the reporter at ajhowar6@asu.edu and follow @andrew_howard4 on Twitter.
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