Firefighters have said for weeks that a Jan. 5 fire at the KOOP radio station was arson.

On Monday, they said it was more than that -- they said it was the work of an unhappy volunteer who quit just five days before sneaking in and setting two fires about 10:40 p.m. on Jan. 5.

Arson investigators charged 24-year-old Paul Webster Feinstein with arson, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

"We are shocked," said Kim McCarson, KOOP executive director. "We are saddened and we're just very surprised by this.

Feinstein was a volunteer at the radio station for a year, until he quit in December after becoming unhappy about the way some of his work was handled. Station officials say while at the station, Feinstein helped programmers load music onto the station's digital library. They say he apparently became disgruntled after a disagreement with another producer over which music was to be included.

AFD

Paul Webster Feinstein

KOOP president Andrew Dickens had trouble coming up with words to express how he was feeling after news of Feinstein's arrest was made public.

"Shock .... total shock ... confusion," he said.

Arson investigators say Feinstein started two separate fires after using a key he copied to let himself into the offices after hours.

"Mr. Feinstein says he was very unhappy about changes that the management in the station or other people who had access to his work product were making in his work product," said Greg Nye, arson investigator with the Austin Fire Department.

"He certainly confessed to us that he intended to take the radio station off the air," Nye said. "He knew that where he poured it it would do the maximum interruption to the radio station, so I don't think he thought much beyond that, what the consequences were of his actions."

The radio station is back on the air in temporary quarters. Officials have to have the burned-out space renovated within about three months, but it will take longer than that to restore the trust that's been shaken by the arrest.

"He seemed to be responsible," Dickens said. "This just comes as a complete shock."