4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Will ‘new’ NAFTA be better for NW industries?
D
onald Trump says the United States is close to reaching a deal with Canada
and Mexico on changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement, but
there’s no word yet if the new and presumably improved pact will benefit
U.S. farmers, ranchers and other regional industries.
And now the president says he is open to another look at the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, another trade agreement popular with Pacific Northwest commodity pro-
ducers, but which Trump rejected.
There was plenty of opposition to the
increased from $8.9 billion to more than
$38 billion.
North American Free Trade Agreement
But not everyone is completely
even before it went into effect in 1994, and
satisfied.
Hillary Clinton shared Trump’s skepticism
Wheat growers, for example, say the
about the TPP during the 2016 presidential
pact has opened up the Mexican market,
campaign.
NAFTA was negotiated under President
increasing exports by 400 percent. At the
George H.W. Bush’s administration and
same time, they have a beef with Canada.
became an issue in his 1992 reelection
Canadian wheat sold at an elevator in
campaign. Independent candidate Ross
the U.S. is rated the same as if it were
Perot famously remarked that if NAFTA
produced here. But U.S. wheat delivered
was ratified American workers would hear
to an elevator in Canada is rated as feed
a “giant sucking sound” of their jobs going
wheat and priced accordingly.
south to Mexico.
There’s no incentive for U.S. farmers
Labor unions agreed. But to their
to take wheat to Canada, but Canadian
chagrin, President Bill Clinton supported
farmers are on an equal footing with U.S.
NAFTA and signed it once ratified.
producers when they sell here.
Unions blame NAFTA for destroying
Dairymen take issue with Canada,
U.S. manufacturing jobs. Trump picked
too. U.S. and Mexican dairy groups have
up on that riff as part of his campaign
a common interest in pressing for better
opposition to what he termed “unfair”
treatment when products go north.
trade deals. Last year the president
Producers of seasonal fruits and
threatened to pull out of the pact unless
vegetables say Mexican growers who can
Canada and Mexico renegotiated.
produce crops year-round can flood the
Agriculture, forestry and other regional
U.S. with cheaper product. They want new
industries have a big stake in NAFTA.
rules that will make it easier for them to
For example, since the pact took effect,
file anti-dumping complaints.
ag exports to Canada and Mexico have
Have any of these issues been
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
Roasted soybeans at Sankey’s Feed Mill in Volant, Pa. After the Trump administration
unveiled plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports, China lashed back,
matching the American tariffs with plans to tax $50 billion of U.S. products, including
soybeans, corn and wheat.
addressed? No one really knows.
Some Trump critics say the
administration, despite the president’s
bluster, is striking a more conciliatory tone
in order to close the deal and claim victory.
They note that Trump had harsh words
for a trade pact with South Korea, but
terms agreed to so far are not dramatically
different. They also say having entered
into an escalating trade tiff with China,
an opponent that can match his rhetoric,
he can’t afford to have NAFTA in the loss
column.
Whether true or not, maybe a deal that
more or less maintains the status quo is
for the best. Americans can’t afford to lose
NAFTA, and the TPP deserves another
look, too. It would be foolish to put the
political symbolism of throwing a lifeline
to old smokestack industries ahead of U.S.
farmers and many others who can profit
from free and fair trade.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
What does Chappy have to say?
S
ince broadcaster John Chapman’s
arrival in Seaside in 1989, he has
established himself as the voice of
the community.
Raised in England, he came to the
U.S. to be near his mother’s family in
Sacramento, where he met his wife-to-be,
Karen.
Chapman arrived in Seaside in 1989
as the Shilo Inn’s entertainment director
and entered local broadcasting soon
after. After years as an employee and
co-owner of KSWB with Cal Brady (“We
were peas and carrots,” Chapman said
in a 2013 interview), he
purchased the station in
2011.
Chapman now oper-
ates from offices on the
corner of Broadway and
Columbia.
R.J. MARX
Q: You’re the voice
of Seaside. At what
point did you get accepted as a true
Seasider?
Chapman: I hope by now, after
broadcasting Seaside sports for 24
years! I wouldn’t say I was “the voice,”
I would like to say a “good continuity of
voice.” I think I’ve been stable for quite
a while now. I haven’t come and gone.
Q: That’s important.
Chapman: It actually surprised me
when I sat back a couple of years ago
and thought, “I’ve been doing this 20
years.” (Former Seaside basketball star)
Byron Thompson graduated the year
before I started broadcasting Seaside
sports. Last year, his son Hunter was on
my soccer team. So now I am starting
to see the second generation of some of
those families.
Q: KSWB is celebrating its 50th
anniversary. Tell me about the station.
Chapman: When KSWB started it
was 980 on the AM frequency. It was
only a daytime station then. On its 13th
birthday, they moved it to 840-AM and
that became a 24-hour station. It was
1,000 watts during the day, 500 watts at
night. KSWB has primarily been a pop-
classic-hits station. FM came two years
ago. Jerry Dennon, who was a record
producer, was the original co-owner of
the station with the Brothers Four, from
Seaside.
Q: The Brothers Four?
Chapman: Listen back to the ’50s.
They had one big hit, “Greenfields.”
Q: How did you get involved?
Chapman: I had been working in
radio and wanted to stay working in
radio. There were only five stations at
the time: KVAS, KKEE, KAST-AM and
-FM, and KSWB. I popped into KSWB
one day and said, “I’ve been working
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
John Chapman is the voice of Seaside.
in radio, I’m interested in doing that.” I
met Ken Karge, who was the main part
of KSWB at the time. His programming
director Nancy Black was the one who
pulled the trigger.
Q: How did you get involved in
sports broadcasting?
Chapman: Because I had been
in sports as a referee and player. It
just seemed liked fun, though with an
English accent, people asked, “What do
you know about covering football?” It
was that fall we started covering Seaside
sports again. Which happened to be the
year that Seaside football went to the
state championship and won.
Q: Any secrets to share?
Chapman: One of the things I
learned going through broadcasting
school is that people want theater of
mind. Most people don’t understand a
game in its complexity. But they under-
stand enough, especially when you’re
talking about their kids. They want to
hear their name.
They want to hear what’s going on.
Even today, that’s still my way. Simple,
very clear. It’s about the kids, about
recognizing what they’re doing. Win or
lose, you have to try and keep that as
positive as possible.
Q: We’ve had some great years with
the Gulls lately.
Chapman: Yes, but we’ve had some
bad moments, too. We had a spell of
about five years when we only won
three football games. That was hard
broadcasting. Winning broadcasting is
easy. It’s not always good for the blood
pressure, but yes, we’ve had some great
success. We’ve gone to the state tourna-
ment with either the boys’ or the girls’
basketball team every year for the last
six years.
Q: Do you stream KSWB program-
ming on the internet?
Chapman: We got streaming going
this year. This year was the first season
we had basketball online. We finally got
into the 21st century, I guess, 18 years
later.
Q: How do you see the future of
small radio stations?
Chapman: I’m not ever going to get
rich. When there is an emergency, if the
tsunami warning comes, the newspaper
can’t tell you that. But a radio station
can. As long as you can stay on the air,
people will look for you for continuity.
Q: Have you thought about your
role in the tsunami?
Chapman: Last time we had a
warning, I called my wife and said,
“I’ve got to stay right here.” That’s my
job. As long as I am on the air I am
going to stay right here so people know
what’s going on. In a radio situation it’s
not just about the entertainment side.
You are there for a community benefit.
You’ve got to be one of those last peo-
ple on the line that says, “Before we go
off the air, this is what is happening.”
And I believe that. That’s what you
take home when you have a station, just
like you would as an editor when you
have a story.
Q: How has Seaside impacted you
over the years?
Chapman: When I got the oppor-
tunity to buy into the ownership of
the license in 2005, I knew I had
bought something valuable within the
community. No longer was I just a
broadcaster. I was committing to the
community for what goes across the
airwaves. And hopefully it’s true, it’s
real and people believe in that. I’d like
to think that’s why I’m still around
doing what I’m doing. In 2011, when I
made the move and purchased KSWB
outright, it became, “We’re here to
stay.”
In 2009 when I got sick with the
swine flu, this community gathered
around me. I’m not going to leave this
community. They were there for me
when I was nearly dead. I’ve got to be
there for them when they need me.
Hopefully we don’t have to go to that
extreme, but when they need something,
I’m hoping they can go, “What does
Chappy got to say?” “Where is he at?”
People think it’s a lucrative business, but
it is a labor of love.
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s
South County reporter and editor of
the Seaside Signal and Cannon Beach
Gazette.