KGLP director Bosler steps down

Frank Bosler, shown in this file photo taken in KGLP's studios in the basement of UNM-Gallup, recently resigned from the radio station. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent file photo]

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Four years ago, the public radio station in Gallup was on the verge of collapse.

Today it's a different story and by all accounts, the credit for that should go to one person Frank Bosler, who has now resigned as director of KGLP, leaving board members surprised and pondering a future without him.

Linda Thornton, public information officer for the University of New Mexico-Gallup campus, said the parting was amiable but Bosler has a different story, saying that he felt he had no choice but to turn in his resignation after years of no support from the board.

"If I had gotten just one attaboy, I would have stayed," he said, adding that instead, he had to put up with years of criticism from board members.

During his years at KGLP, Bosler turned the station from one that basically rebroadcast shows from another public radio station (KSUT) to one that now broadcasts several hours of local programming a day. He is credited with raising the funds to purchase a wide range of new equipment and expand the station's broadcast signal.

But Bosler, whose last day on the job was Saturday, said he wasn't expecting to leave but decided a couple of days before then that his relationship with the board probably wouldn't be getting any better, despite the fact that a new board was taking charge.

In the past, he said, there were times he wondered if he would be fired.

He said that last May during a trip he took to Washington, D.C. to meet with other Public Radio station directors, the organization's executive board met to discuss firing him. Instead of firing him, he said, when he returned, the board gave him a list of expectations, which he said consisted of things he was already doing.

He and the board differed on a number of issues dealing with the radio station and he said he was hoping that with a new board president and vice president, a way could be worked out to settle some of the issues.

He met with Larry Sanderson, the new board president, about a week before his resignation and spilled out all of his frustration. Sanderson then said he would talk to him the following morning.

Bosler said he waited all day and Sanderson, who is director of communications for the college, never came around. When he checked, he discovered that Sanderson had taken a couple of annual leave days and then was gone for a day on college business. The following day Bosler turned in his resignation.

Sanderson said he wasn't aware that the two had planned to meet the day after the talk and he had made other arrangements for the following three days. On the day he returned, he said, he received an e-mail which consisted of Bosler's resignation.

Bosler said it was obvious that Sanderson didn't care and Sanderson said he regretted that Bosler had this perception, especially since Sanderson believed that Bosler was doing "a great job."

Several other people connected with the radio station said the same thing and when told of this, Bosler said that was not the impression he got from the board when he met with them. "If they had been more encouraging, I would still be there," he said.

Thornton said she had been at several board meetings where she heard the board members give Bosler "accolades for the job he was doing."

Bill Bright, who served on the radio's board more than a decade ago, said Bosler has to be given at least 90 percent of the credit for the turnaround that has occurred at the station since he came here.

Back when he was a board member, Bright said, the problem wasn't a dynamic general manager and a sluggish board. It was just the opposite and the board had to go through several general managers and a periodic crisis and near crisis that would shut down the station.

Bright, who left the KGLP board and then went on the college advisory board, knew Bosler who taught at Gallup Junior High and recommended him for the position as director of the station.

Thanks to Bosler, KGLP has become a true community radio station, Bright said.

He said that he can see a situation like this could happen when you have a person like Bosler and a board that doesn't show its appreciation. "If that's the case, it's the board's fault," he said.

Bright said he's worried that the momentum that Bosler has created will be lost as the college looks for a replacement. He said in the past the college would take several months to find a replacement.

It may not be easy finding a replacement for him, said Bosler, because the salary for the position is only $41,000 and its questionable about whether you can find someone with the energy and the background who would want to take it over for that amount of money.

What's more likely, he said, is that the college will have to settle for someone who would just occupy the job and not make the effort to improve on what is there now.

Sanderson said there is talk about removing the position out from under the college and have it directly funded by the radio station. For that to happen, however, the board would have to raise the funds to pay for the salary.

One good thing the radio station has going for it, he said, are the volunteers that Bosler has been able to recruit over the years to oversee the local programming.

"We had a meeting with them Tuesday night and all of them agreed to continue with the radio station," Sanderson said. "They all felt it was important to continue the progress that Frank had started."

Bright said another important factor, at least in the short-term, was how well the community of Gallup responded to this.

The station will shortly have a fund-raiser and lack of a manager could negatively affect the station. "I'm hoping that the community will respond," he said.

As for Bosler, he was packing on Thursday and getting ready to leave Gallup.

He expects that he will be staying in New Mexico since to leave the state he would suffer financially because of all of the years he has in the state retirement program.

While radio work was enjoyable at some times, he said he has missed teaching and plans to go back to that.

As for continuing in radio, he said he has no plans of doing that in the foreseeable future.