Appeal yields 90-minute 'Martin Dzuris Live!' show

By John Gunner Gooch
For The South County Gazette

THREE OAKS - The "Martin Dzuris Live!" show began airing on Radio Harbor Country (106.7 FM) in its new 90-minute format on Monday, Dec. 29.Dzuris and the WRHC Board of Directors were able to reach a compromise on the talk-show host's appeal of a Dec. 8 Programming Committee decision to reduce the air time of his weekly program from two hours to one.Dzuris made the appeal to get his full air time restored during a Dec. 13 Radio Harbor Country general membership meeting, stating that he felt the decision was based on his conservative political views and political associations, and not because of the technical quality of his broadcasts, as had been claimed by the Programming Committee.During a special meeting of the Board of Directors on Dec. 27, a majority of those voting on the issue decided to give Dzuris back a half-hour of air time, which means his show can now be heard on Mondays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Rebroadcasts are scheduled for Saturdays from 7:30 to 9 a.m.Peg Kohring, co-chair of the Board of Directors, said that members of the board who also serve on the Programming Committee abstained from taking part in the vote.She also said that board members felt it was not a political decision on the part of the Programming Committee to cut Dzuris's air time in half."Overall, I think the feeling of the board members was that the decision to reduce the time Martin was given for his show was done because of the quality of the show's production, and not because of its political content," Kohring said. "Since we felt his more recent programs had shown a significant improvement in quality, we were now willing to give him 90 minutes on the air instead of 60 minutes."While Dzuris held firm to his belief that the Programming Committee's decision was based more on his political views than anything else, the show host said he and his engineer/producer, Nathan Lumsford, could live with the compromise."I was told that the original decision to reduce the time of my show wasn't politically motivated, but I still don't agree with that," Dzuris said. "I think the petition I presented with my appeal that was signed by so many people asking the board to reverse the Programming Committee's decision was very helpful to me in this process, and I'm very thankful to everyone who took the time to support me by signing it."While I still feel this was politically motivated, for the good of the radio station, and so we can all keep moving forward with it, I'm not going to fight it any more," Dzuris continued. "A compromise decision has been made that both sides can live with, and in a compromise both sides give a little and get a little, and that's what happened here."Kohring said a voice like Dzuris's helped add to the eclectic mix of programming that WRHC had become known for."I think we realize that as a community radio station we need a good balance of liberal and conservative views to be freely aired," she said. "Those who lean toward being right wing or left wing should be allowed to be heard on our broadcasts, and, in my opinion, what Martin does on the air helps give us some of that balance."