KIXE's Smith resigns after one year as general manager

Philip Smith, g.m. of KIXE in Redding, Calif., has resigned after a year in the job. Board member Marlene Grant confirmed to the local Record Searchlight newspaper that Smith's last day was Aug. 4. Smith told the paper that his mother-in-law has Alzheimer's disease and her physical health had recently taken a critical downturn. Board member Mike Quinn, who owns Redding station KLXR AM 1230, is taking on the g.m. post temporarily. "We are in an interim place right now, and we have things we are working on," Grant said.

Smith made headlines twice in his short tenure: When he canceled Democracy Now! (and later reinstated it, after station members voted overwhelmingly to bring it back) and when he pointed out that the Republicans' push to defund public broadcasting would hurt rural stations located in predominantly conservative areas.