Community Radio at the Crossroads

from www.IndyRadio2009.org :

September 2009


Community Radio at the Crossroads:
The Significance of the KPFA Board Elections

by Joe Wanzala, Shahram Aghamir, Tracy Rosenberg and Anthony Fest

KPFA listeners know that the Local Station Board elections tend to be acrimonious. What many listeners might not realize is that the controversy of the LSB elections actually reflects a historical issue about the nature of community radio itself. The four of us founded the Independents for Community Radio affinity group of LSB candidates with the goal of ensuring that KPFA remains rooted in the communities it serves.

In October, 2008 nearly 90 KPFA staff members issued a statement articulating their goals for leadership at the station. They called for management committed to fulfilling the historic Transformation Proposal made during the 1999 KPFA Lockout. They also called for leaders who support the unpaid staff, maintain a respectful and collaborative approach to station operations, and understand that KPFA should include community representatives on its decision making bodies. (See link: "Open Letter on New KPFA Leadership")

These aspirations remain largely unfulfilled or have been undermined by the current management and its Concerned Listener allies.

The price of listener democracy
Jon Bekken, writing in, 'Community Radio at the Crossroads: Federal Policy and the Professionalization of a Grassroots Medium', (in Ron Sakolosky and Steve Dunifer, eds., Seizing the Airwaves, A Free Radio Handbook, 1998) defines community radio as being characterized by “access, public participation in production and decision making and, predominantly, by listener-financing. The intention is that management of the station is in the hands of those who use and listen to it.” He acknowledges that operating a station on such a model is difficult, but vital, as it is ensures accountability to the audience and wider community in a way that commercial stations do not.

The alternative is what happened at KQED in San Francisco, where the board marginalized progressive activists such as Henry Kroll, Sasha Futran and others. Eventually, in 2006 KQED sent out a ballot asking its members to relinquish their voting powers. They voted by 2 to 1 to do so.

This change at KQED was part of a trend that has placed community radio stations around the country under pressure to conform with the National Public Radio model. The two main groups running in the KFPA election, Independents for Community Radio and Concerned Listeners, represent sharply divergent visions of the station. The Concerned Listener slate in many ways represents a return of the ‘Healthy Station Project’ (‘HSP’) initiative that led to the Pacifica wars of the 1990s. HSP (which former KPFA General Manager Lynn Chadwick was involved in developing) was designed to move community stations toward commercialization and "professionalization," and supported the use of more paid staff and a reduced role for volunteer community programmers and listener-members in decision-making. The ensuing battle to save Pacifica was an expression of the community’s rejection of the HSP paradigm.

‘Healthy Station’ Project redux
The Concerned Listeners’ platform reflects key aspects of the HSP. They tout ‘professionalism’ and since taking control of the board in 2007, have supported efforts by management to marginalize the volunteer staff and reverse the post-1999 lock-out victories for listener democracy. They have shut down the Program Council, a body composed of staff, board members and community representatives which represented a successful system for making collaborative programming decisions. The CL also support an authoritarian management style, eschewing conflict resolution, one result being the tragic arrest of and injury caused to a young African American volunteer programmer Nadra Foster, after a manager summoned the police.

Independents for Community Radio are not opposed to ‘professionalism,’ in the sense of high-quality radio. Equally important, however, is preserving the ‘alternative’ culture of dissent within which KPFA operates. Jerry Starr, executive director of Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, has observed that “What is called the ‘professional’ model is really the commercial model, built on the unexamined assumption that professionalism precludes the participation of volunteers. Unfortunately, some stations have been plunged into the red by ditching their volunteers and pursuing the chimera of big time radio.” http://jerrystarr.info/cipbonline/secondary_pages/community_radio.htm.

The paradox of listener sponsorship
The tension between the participatory democracy, community radio model and the ‘professional’, pro-management model favored by the Concerned Listeners is perhaps best expressed by John Whiting in his essay, ‘Pacifica in Vincula: The Life and Death of Great American Radio’ in which he observed that an inexpensive, accessible, grassroots structure is incompatible with a “self-justifying hierarchy in which the preservation of personal and professional lifestyles must necessarily take precedence over all other priorities.” By following the latter path, he noted, “KPFA has changed from the station many people listened to but didn't support to the station some people still support but don't listen to."
(http://www.whitings-writings.com/pacifica_in_vincula.htm )


For the present
KPFA management, 'good' programming has become synonymous with 'programming that raises money' and listeners are viewed as a 'revenue stream'. KPFA now struggles to extract financial support from the listeners to cover spiraling operating costs, while simultaneously closing off meaningful avenues for community participation.

We believe that, instead of building a more costly infrastructure, KPFA can and should leverage its existing platforms and partner with independent media and community organizations. KPFA should be a “convener of community”, create meaningful roles for community leaders and contribute to civic leadership. The station should promote interactive journalism by bringing listeners into the newsmaking process - as the resurgent ethos of citizen journalism in the blogosphere is changing the role of the consumer of media from passive to engaged. The preservation of listener democracy is fundamental to the success of this vision.

Please vote for the Independents for Community Radio (ICR) candidates.
In alphabetical order, they are:

Banafsheh Akhlaghi
Shara Esbenshade
Sasha Futran (incumbent)
Ann Hallatt
Adam Hudson
Lara Kiswani
Rahman Jamaal McCreadie
Henry Norr (incumbent)
Andrea Pritchett
Evelyn Sanchez
and Akio Tanaka (incumbent)

Read more at:
www.indyradio2009.org


Tracy Rosenberg and Joe Wanzala are long-time KPFA listener-activists;
Shahram Aghamir and Anthony Fest are unpaid KPFA staff members.
All four also serve on the KPFA Local Station Board.

August 22, 2009 KPFA Local Station Board Election First Candidate Forum 2009

From KPFA LSB Election 2009 weblog: http://kpfaelection2009.blogspot.com

The first 2009 LSB Candidate Forum was recorded live at KPFA and aired between 12 pm and 6 pm August 22nd, 2009. We celebrated a great turn out - with 27 of the 29 listener candidates running for the LSB participating in person or via phone. We had 4 moderators and many calls from the public. Here are the 6 hours of candidate forum. Four or 5 candidates participate in each hour.


  August 22 Election Forum - all six hours: one file
Click to play/download - August 22 Election forum



  August 22 Election Forum - in six separate one-hour segments:

PLAY NOW:
Hour 1: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Akio Tanaka
Richard Phelps
Dan Siegel
Mark Hernandez

Moderated by Renee Asteria



PLAY NOW:
Hour 2: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Shara Esbenshade
Rahman Jamal McCreadie
Stan Woods
Donald Goldmacher

Moderated by Kris Welsh



PLAY NOW:
Hour 3: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Jim Curtis
Sasha Futran
Conn Hallinan
John Van Eyck

Moderated by Joy Moore



PLAY NOW:
Hour 4: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Annie Hallatt
Mike Smith
Jim Weber
Gerald Sanders
Judith Gips

Moderated by Joy Moore



PLAY NOW:
Hour 5: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Lara Kiswani
Jack Kurzweil
Andrea Turner
Jaime Cader
Henry Norr

Moderated by Gregg McVicar



PLAY NOW:
Hour 6: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Andrea Prichett
Adam Hudson
Pamela Drake
Virginia Rodriguez
Steve Zeltzer

Moderated by Gregg McVicar



Absent Candidates:
Lara Kiswani
Banafsheh Akhlaghi


Visit Pacificafoundation.org for Candidate Statements.


Updated list of Candidate forums on
http://myspace.com/kpfaelection2009


KPFA Local Election Supervisor:
Renee Asteria
election@kpfa.org
(510) 848 - 6767 ext. 626 or (510) 230 - 8960


National Election Supervisor:
Les Radke
les@pacifica.org
(510) 798 - 8622<

Hour 1: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

The first 2009 LSB Candidate Forum was recorded live at KPFA and aired between 12 pm and 6 pm August 22nd, 2009. We celebrated a great turn out - with 27 of the 29 listener candidates running for the LSB participating in person or via phone. We had 4 moderators and many calls from the public. Here are the 6 hours of candidate forum. Four or 5 candidates participate in each hour.

PLAY NOW:
Hour 1: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Akio Tanaka
Richard Phelps
Dan Siegel
Mark Hernandez

Moderated by Renee Asteria



Podcast link attached

Hour 2: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

The first 2009 LSB Candidate Forum was recorded live at KPFA and aired between 12 pm and 6 pm August 22nd, 2009. We celebrated a great turn out - with 27 of the 29 listener candidates running for the LSB participating in person or via phone. We had 4 moderators and many calls from the public. Here are the 6 hours of candidate forum. Four or 5 candidates participate in each hour.

PLAY NOW:
Hour 2: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Shara Esbenshade
Rahman Jamal McCreadie
Stan Woods
Donald Goldmacher

Moderated by Kris Welsh


Podcast link attached

Hour 3: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

The first 2009 LSB Candidate Forum was recorded live at KPFA and aired between 12 pm and 6 pm August 22nd, 2009. We celebrated a great turn out - with 27 of the 29 listener candidates running for the LSB participating in person or via phone. We had 4 moderators and many calls from the public. Here are the 6 hours of candidate forum. Four or 5 candidates participate in each hour.

PLAY NOW:
Hour 3: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Jim Curtis
Sasha Futran
Conn Hallinan
John Van Eyck

Moderated by Joy Moore


Podcast link attached

Hour 4: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

The first 2009 LSB Candidate Forum was recorded live at KPFA and aired between 12 pm and 6 pm August 22nd, 2009. We celebrated a great turn out - with 27 of the 29 listener candidates running for the LSB participating in person or via phone. We had 4 moderators and many calls from the public. Here are the 6 hours of candidate forum. Four or 5 candidates participate in each hour.

PLAY NOW:
Hour 4: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Annie Hallatt
Mike Smith
Jim Weber
Gerald Sanders
Judith Gips

Moderated by Joy Moore


Podcast link attached

Hour 5: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

The first 2009 LSB Candidate Forum was recorded live at KPFA and aired between 12 pm and 6 pm August 22nd, 2009. We celebrated a great turn out - with 27 of the 29 listener candidates running for the LSB participating in person or via phone. We had 4 moderators and many calls from the public. Here are the 6 hours of candidate forum. Four or 5 candidates participate in each hour.

PLAY NOW:
Hour 5: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Lara Kiswani
Jack Kurzweil
Andrea Turner
Jaime Cader
Henry Norr

Moderated by Gregg McVicar


Podcast link attached

Hour 6: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

The first 2009 LSB Candidate Forum was recorded live at KPFA and aired between 12 pm and 6 pm August 22nd, 2009. We celebrated a great turn out - with 27 of the 29 listener candidates running for the LSB participating in person or via phone. We had 4 moderators and many calls from the public. Here are the 6 hours of candidate forum. Four or 5 candidates participate in each hour.

PLAY NOW:
Hour 6: Broadcast of KPFA LSB Candidates Forum - Aug 22 2009

Andrea Prichett
Adam Hudson
Pamela Drake
Virginia Rodriguez
Steve Zeltzer

Moderated by Gregg McVicar


Podcast link attached

KPFA LSB Candidates Forum: broadcast 22 August 2009

KPFA Broadcast Election forum:
Candidates for the KPFA LSB - August 22, 2009

All six hours in a single file:
KPFA LSB Election Forum Broadcast - August 22, 2009

The participating candidates were scheduled as follows:

Hour 1: (12 noon)
Banafshed Akhlaghi, Dan Siegel, Mark Hernandez, Richard Phelps, Akio Tanaka

Hour 2: (1pm)
Shara Esbenshade, Rahman Jamal McCreadie, Sasha Futuran, Stan Woods, Donald Goldmacher

Hour 3: (2pm)
Jim Curtis, Ann Hallatt, Conn Hallinan, John Van Eyck

Hour 4: (3pm)
Jim Weber, Mike Smith, Judith Gips, Gerald Sanders, Evelyn Sanchez

Hour 5: (4pm)
Lara Kiswani, Jack Kurzweil, Andrea Turner, Jaime Cader, Henry Norr

Hour 6: (5pm)
Steve Zeltzer, Virginia Rodriguez, Andrea Prichett, Adam Hudson, Pamela Drake

Women's Magazine Back on Air!

http://kpfawomensmag.blogspot.com

Thanks to all your emails, calls and pledges, Women's Magazine producers have been told that we will be going back on air on Monday, June 1. We are very excited and are planning a live show for that date, so please tune in between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m. on June 1, or anytime after that on this website or at www.kpfa.org/womensmagazine!

Due to this victory, we have decided not to go forward with the planned demonstration on May 21, but we are continuing to work with other unpaid staff and LSB members to pressure for an open, democratic and accountable decision-making process.

We still need your support, so please keep checking this blog or sign up for our RSS feed.


http://kpfawomensmag.blogspot.com/2009/05/
womens-magazine-back-on-air.html

Protest at KPFA May 21, 5 p.m.

http://kpfawomensmag.blogspot.com

Protest at KPFA May 21, 5 p.m.
Tell everyone you know! Come out come out wherever you are!

When: Thursday, May 21, 5:00-6:00 pm
Where: KPFA Studios, 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley




PROTEST at KPFA to

-- Save Women's Magazine
-- Restore the Program Council
-- Demand Democracy, Accountability and Community Programming Controlled by the Community at our radio station!

It is not only feminist/womanist voices that are being silenced. There is no specifically African American show. Many other communities are ignored or marginalized at KPFA. Unpaid staff have been harassed and prevented from organizing. The program council, which is mandated by bylaws, has been disbanded.
Demand that community radio be accountable to the community!

http://kpfawomensmag.blogspot.com/2009/05/protest-at-kpfa-may-21-5-pm.html

it's a darn "sham" - radiopoetics.org

http://radiopoetics.org

it's a darn "sham"
Mon, 05/11/2009 - 12:47 — bard

Folks,
I thought you'd like to know we have "sham/runaway" majority LSB board that doesn't believe in democratic process let alone fairness. Below are some examples from the 5/9/09 LSB Meeting:

_"DIS-ACTION" 1: _
LSB Chair Conn Hallinan refused to allow Noelle Hanrahan to regain her seat as an LSB listener rep, even though the PNB voted that "change of status", from listener to staff, or vice versa does not disqualify someone from continuing to serve out her/his term on the LSB. His ruling was appealed and the majority on the LSB voted to uphold the ruling. Bonnie Simmons, Sherry Gendelman, Warren Mar and others, on this, and on a few other occasions yesterday, asserted that the "PNB cannot tell the LSB what to do" even though these people know full well that the LSB is a committee of the PNB.

Bonnie also informed the LSB that she introduced a motion to rescind the prior motion allowing Noelle back onto the board. The rescindment motion doesn't count since it is a pending motion. The prior motion, allowing Noelle to be re-seated, which was already passed, is currently the “law of the land”.

_WASTE OF TIME "DIS-ACTION" 2: _

In addition, the majority KPFA LSB made and passed a motion, to tell the PNB that they do not support the new election policy and feel it is too cumbersome and unworkable and will take too many hours away from regular programming.

_PROGRAMMING MOTION:_

Joe Wanzala introduced a motion that the LSB create a program committee, made up of 4 listeners and the iPD and GM, to work together to ensure that KPFA programming conforms to the Pacifica bylaws. He brought this motion in response to one recently passed at the PNB.

In another action, contrary to the bylaws, a member of the majority board amended this motion to give the LSB chair the authority to appoint the 4 listener members of this committee, even though the bylaws clearly state that all committee members are elected using STV. This was also challenged but lost to the majority.

So, in summary the undemocratic majority of our LSB is out of control. Stay tuned to hear more about this in the future.

Chandra


http://radiopoetics.org

Why Has Women's Magazine been cancelled by KPFA Management?

http://kpfawomensmag.blogspot.com

• Without prior notice or consultation Sasha Lilley, interim Program Director, informed Women's Magazine (WM) on 1/20/09 that the show would be taken off the air for 3 months and replaced by “Letters from Washington” hosted by Mitch Jeserich. She stated the reason being that a 1pm public affairs slot was needed for this show but did not explain why their show was the one selected to be replaced.

• Over 50 listeners complained to KPFA mgmt about the abrupt cancellation

• A requested meeting with Sasha and Amelia Gonzalez occurred on 2/19/09. Sasha affirmed that the show would be back on the air at the end of 3 months.

• At the March LSB mtg., when asked when the Women’s Show would return to the air, Lemlem also affirmed that the show would be back on 5/4/09.

• In compliance with a request by WM, a cart was prepared, just prior to the end of the 3 mo period, informing listeners that WM would be back on the air beginning 5/4/09.

• At the above meeting some concerns were raised about the level of programming, and WM reps agreed to work with Amelia to complete a self evaluation.

• The staff were never given a written evaluation or informed of any corrective action plan or timeline in which to improve their programming.

• The staff were never informed that their show may be taken off the air due to its “spotty” programming.

• In fact, after special programming for International Women's Day, WM asked for and got feedback from Amelia.

• In response the show came up with a new format, some new approaches to woman's issues, and laid the groundwork for reorganization.


• The return date was also posted on the KPFA website

• On May 4th, just prior to the show being aired, with the hosts and guests sitting in the studio, with no prior notice or consultation, the board opp informed the WM hosts that Sasha had pre-empted their show for a previously aired program.

• Reps of WM met with Sasha that afternoon to discuss the situation. She was apologetic, and said she had no idea the show was scheduled to be back on the air on that date. She still maintained that she had misread an email from Amelia confirming the May 4th air date for the show.

• even though KPFA has speakers throughout the station that air live programming, including the carts;
• and even though Sasha, as the interim PD, should be fully aware of the KPFA programming schedule.

• At this same meeting WM reps asked Sasha when the show would be back on the air. She indicated, for the first time, that it would depend upon their upcoming program evaluation.

• The WM requests support from the LSB and the KPFA listening community for continued programming of the only program on KPFA specifically serving the women’s community and other marginalized communities, in conformance with the Pacifica mission.

• The WM further requests that there be open and transparent communication between KPFA mgmt and WM staff.

• The WM welcomes feedback from mgmt regarding a critical evaluation of its programming and suggestions for corrective action.

• The WM requests that the LSB use this experience as a template to guide its recommendations to KPFA mgmt in its oversight role regarding programming policy that is fair, open and transparent.

• The WM requests that KPFA mgmt reconstitute the Program Council which did develop a fair, open and transparent policy regarding KPFA programming and evaluations.

• And WM reminds the LSB that there are system-wide power imbalances in the broader Pacifica family, and that these need to be addressed as well.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

The Women's Magazine

* * * * *

The below motion was approved by the PNB on 4/26/09

"Motion: That the LSB’s are to work with station management to ensure that station programming fulfills the purposes of the Foundation and is responsive to the diverse needs of the listeners (demographic) and communities (geographic) served by the station, and that station policies and procedures for making programming decisions and for program evaluation are working in a fair, collaborative and respectful manner to provide quality programming” We recommend to the PNB that they request, in writing, an explanation from the LSBs, GMs and PDs on how they are implementing this bylaw."

Les Radke National Election Supervisor

Pacifica Foundation.org

Les Radke Chosen as National Election Supervisor

"I am happy to announce that I have engaged Les Radke as National Election Supervisor. His qualifications, reputation for fairness and impartiality, past experience with Pacifica elections and dedication to the Pacifica Mission and Bylaws make him an excellent candidate for this position.

"I am grateful for the hard work, diligence and persistence of National Election Committee members and hope that this Committee will continue to meet to support the NES, Local Election Supervisors and the election process."

In Peace,
Grace Aaron
Interim Executive Director of
The Pacifica Foundation

PLEDGE DON'T GIVE to Save Women's Magazine

http://kpfawomensmag.blogspot.com:
Save Womens Magazine

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

Dear Friends,

In January, KPFA management made a decision to preempt Women's Magazine, the only hour of programming on its airwaves focused on women's and gender issues, which has aired three times a month for the last four years. Listeners and programmers were assured that the show would go back on the air at the end of the first 100 days of the new administration. However, now it appears that management may permanently remove Women's Magazine from its lineup. This is unacceptable. The Program Council comprising listeners and staff, which is mandated by the Pacifica bylaws and represents the only accountability for programming decisions, was unilaterally dissolved by the Interim Program Director several months ago.

This fund drive, we are asking you to flex your money to save Women's Magazine. If you can, call during WM's regular slot - Monday, 1:00-2:00 pm, but if you can't call then, call any time during the fund drive and make a pledge but do not pay it yet. Tell the person who takes your pledge that you will pay it when Women's Magazine is back on the air and the Program Council is reinstated. (The person will say they can't write it down, but it's good to say it anyway.) If WM and the Program Council have not been reinstated when you get the bill in the mail, write on it that you are waiting until they are and send it back.

Email kpfawomensmag@gmail.com and tell us that you pledged. No pressure, but if you're willing to tell us how much you pledged, it will help us keep track of how much virtual money we've raised so we can prove that we can in fact fundraise.

Finally, ask everyone you know to join this campaign for democracy, accountability and women's expression at our station!

Women's Magazine is off the air but on the web! Check out breaking news and audio clips on our blog http://kpfawomensmag.blogspot.com/.

Join our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=79430924351 .

Introducing... Media Justice: KPFA

Welcome to Media Justice: KPFA, a portal of information and perspectives from inside Pacifica flagship station, KPFA FM.

Articles and links on this site include contributions from a broad-based cross-section of producers and staff (paid and unpaid), independent journalists, board directors, volunteers and community supporters across the KPFA service area in Northern and Central California.

The rise of the Media Reform movement in response to FCC policies resulting in increased consolidation and corporatization of media resources, has also raised public awareness about accountability of broadcasters to their local communities. The issue also examines approaches, policies and systems to promote and acheive equitable representation and direct access by all sectors of the community to the media resources and outlets. Much of this is aptly described under the term "Media Justice".

Quoting from the organization "Reclaim The Media":

" Media Justice speaks to the need to go beyond creating greater access to the same old media structure. Media Justice takes into account history, culture, privilege and power. We need new relationships with media and a new vision for its control, access, and structure. Media Justice understands that this will require new policies, new systems that treat our airways and our communities as more than markets. "

The Media Justice: KPFA portal is geared towards promoting a community-friendly, healthy, productive and democratic internal work environment that facilitates these goals. Contributors are participants who are working on the inside to improve KPFA, committed to enlightening and engaging community participation through Active Pacifism, rather than armchair Passivism; while applying concepts of Media Reform and Media Justice to advance the Pacifica Mission.


    Media Justice: KPFA
    mediajusticekpfa @ gmail.com

"Pacifica Launches California Newscast" between KPFA & KPFK...who knows ?

16 April, 2009 - 17:24 — maryjanie

QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED - - - - - - - - - - of ""Pacifica Launches California Newscast" general article written 4/14/09 [see]

#1 Who dares to make this claim and be believed "crucial information ....which they won’t find elsewhere" ?? How exclusive are any Pacifica reporters and what makes them provide information not available to all & any other media and reporters?
"Exclusive" ? not.
Interesting ? maybe.
Current ? probably.
"trailblazing idea" ? not very new or different than other cooperative stations do. "not beholden to commercial interests" ? but beholden to certain political groups interests and their limited viewpoints and actions. probably.

#2 What happened to the person and position called Nathan Moore who was the program coordinator for Pacifica ? Has this position been refilled to help coordinate an effective and fairly-shared selection of programs ? Why did he write on Pacificana.org that his position was eliminated about 4-5 months ago ?

#3 If the prior news staff at KPFK were released or removed or fired or sidelined, and possibly for ethical or 'good' reasons of which The Community KPFK serves knows not... if that staff was not-good-enough, how is this new version of newsreporters and their findings going to be evaluated and selected as being "better" ?
What criteria are those decisions based upon ?
Who makes those decisions ? Is it a single person ? group? or who then approves those decisions?

#4 The Community who have no or little access to what occurs within our KPFK station. These stakeholders will again just be the same passive audience, just waiting breathlessly to be told what is good, what is "news", whose news is serving them, and having to again trust that Pacifica's own image-building version of itself will really play out this time...

as Pacifica is said to be, "people powered" or is this meaning "more people" rather than the same old group in another uniformed fashion as other radio stations ?
The uniform can be be politically 'left' or 'radical' or 'Green" or even "those struggling" ....

What makes that promotional PR blurb believable ? huh ?

Of course, we will dutifully wait to decide how helpful this shared task will be and if we the payees of the news at Pacifica receive our fair and full share back. Maybe yes ?

We will all wait to the news to sound clear and fair. California here we are !

http://kpfcommentators.blogspot.com/

KPFA's Manager Attends A Board Meeting

www.intergate.com/~daniel41:  
Between the Minutes on March 14, 2009

by Daniel Borgström

KPFA's General Manager, Lemlem Rijio, paid a rare visit and gave a manager's report at the public Local Station Board (LSB) meeting of March 14th. Actually, it's part of the manager's job to attend every LSB meeting.

Some of the board members seem to have no problem with Lemlem Rijio's noncompliance in this and other matters. The Sherry Gendelman faction, which call themselves the "Concerned Listeners" (CL'ers), give uncritical support to Lemlem and the rest of the KPFA management.

But not all of the board is inclined to sign blank checks. There is an opposition, members who see themselves as continuing the legacy of 1999, and they began raising issues and asking penetrating questions. These were, in order of speakers, Gerald Sanders, Shahram Aghamir, Chandra Hauptman, Tracy Rosenberg, Joe Wanzala, Aki Tanaka, Anthony Fest, Henry Norr, and Sureya Sayadi.

"You can't spend money you don't have," cautioned Listener Rep Gerald Sanders. Gerald was referring to the financial mess that KPFA/Pacific is now in. Warren Mar, the CL'er who chaired this meeting, cut in and spoke for Lemlem: "She already knows that!" he said. "Knowing it isn't enough," said Gerald, "You need to act on it."

Staff Rep Shahram Aghamir asked if the station is still employing consultants. "Yes, we still have consultants," Lemlem replied. "How much is being spent on the consultants?" Shahram asked, and, not getting a satisfactory answer, he repeated his question. Finally, Lemlem said: "I will send you a confidential email." She did not explain why the amount spent on consultants had to be confidential.

Listener Rep Chandra Hauptman requested that management not schedule CAB meetings at the same time as the LSB. Some people wished to attend both, Chandra told her, so the two should not be in conflict. Lemlem said okay and asked when the LSB meets--a question that elicited a few laughs since the manager receives all notices of meetings.

"Looking at the budget," said Listener Rep Tracy Rosenberg. "Have we touched our reserve to pay for the deficit the station is running?" Lemlem's answer was "Not yet."

Tracy also asked about the station's personnel policies. She reminded Lemlem that the LSB had, in October 2008, passed a resolution requiring that the information be made available to the board. The manager replied that she would need to consult the corporate counsel to discuss what role the board played in personnel matters and in changing such documents.

"You're not answering the question!" Tracy said in a loud clear voice that needed no microphone. "I asked to see the documents, not change the documents."

Listener Rep Joe Wanzala asked Lemlem about the abrupt three-month suspension of "Women's Magazine," which had been replaced by "Letters from Washington." Lemlem responded that it would return at the end of Obama's first 100 days. She made no reference to the insult to the unpaid staff of "Women's Magazine" and the program's listeners. Nor did she mention the firestorm of critical letters and phone calls from listeners in support of Women's Magazine. Her decision to preempt KPFA's only women's program had been made in a totally opaque manner, without consulting the Program Council or, possibly, anybody else.

When Anthony Fest, a KPFA newscaster and staff rep, asked Lemlem why the Program Council was no longer meeting, her reply was surprisingly revealing. "Well," she said, "the Program Council was spending time discussing whether or not it had decision-making power and of course it doesn't--that's management's job--so we stopped it." In May 2004 the LSB had passed a resolution reaffirming the Program Council's decision making powers so that abrupt, secretive programming decisions like this wouldn't take place, but management has in effect disbanded the Program Council.

Anthony also brought up management's de-recognition of the UnPaid Staff Organization (UPSO), and got the usual excuse--that UPSO was "disorganized." The 1999 lockout had inspired the unpaid volunteers into wrestling themselves into a fairly successful organization until polarizing efforts actively worked against it. It was in August 2007 that Lemlem issued a memo withdrawing recognition. The LSB at that time passed a resolution calling on management to recognize UPSO, but the resolution was ignored. The Pacifica National Board also passed such a resolution, also ignored.

In addition to Anthony Fest, several other board members also asked Lemlem about UPSO and the Program Council, but did not get satisfactory replies. Finally, Henry Norr, a listener rep and former SF Chronicle science columnist, spoke. "Your non-responsiveness to this board--" Henry began, and frankly told the manager she was showing disrespect to the board by not attending these LSB meetings, and by not giving straightforward answers to questions asked. He summed up what had been said by other board members, and added another example--the ongoing difficulty of getting announcements for demonstration and community events aired on KPFA--despite a board resolution to simplify that process. "Nothing has changed," Henry said, and laid the mike back on the table.

The audience--about a dozen listeners and staff--burst out with spontaneous applause. Before Lemlem could respond, Warren Mar, the CL'er who was chairing the meeting, cut in and barked out angrily, "That was a personal attack!" then added, "That was a speech, not a question!"

A moment later Vice Chairman Mar was engaged in a yelling match with members of the audience. Then he called a ten minute break.

The session with the General Manager resumed after the break. Listener Rep Sureya Sayadi took up the mike and rebuked Vice Chairman Mar: "Lemlem has a right to speak for herself," Sureya told the chair. "You don't need to protect her. You minimize her when you try to speak for her. You minimize her when you try to protect her."

Lemlem Rijio was appointed General Manager of KPFA last October--less than a month after a "Statement of No Confidence" in her management style was signed by 74 members of the KPFA staff. Before that Lemlem had been the interim GM for two and a half years, since April 2006.

Access Issues at Ad Hoc Activist Meeting in the KPFA Community

Access Issues at Ad Hoc Activist Meeting in the KPFA Community

Last fall, the three of us, Adrienne Lauby, Jan Santos and Shahram Aghamir, organized an informal ad hoc meeting of people who want to improve KPFA. We shared a sense of urgency and scheduled the meeting in a private home after a local station board meeting the next day on September 13. This is an apology to everyone for our lack of consideration of wheelchair and other accessissues in the planning and implementation of the meeting. Because our lapse was serious, we want to share our deeper understanding with a wider group of people in the hope that all of us will hold each other to a higher standard as we go forward.

Although we wanted a confidential meeting and so met outside the station, we did not consider the steps into the house, the inaccessible bathroom and the animal dander of the private home we chose. This ignored a basic tenet of the disability rights movement. It also made it impossible for a member of the unpaid staff council, an unpaid staff producer and a local station board member to attend. There was a hurried attempt at the time to provide some reasonable accommodation and we met in the yard so the person who is allergic to animals was able to be present. Other accommodations were either not made or not carried out as arranged.

It is not a standard of progressive behavior to ignore basic access needs even in ad hoc, informal situations. To exclude people from meetings due to circumstances of physical and mental disability excludes members of our community with valuable insights and talents. Entrances, bathrooms, and air quality are critical areas to evaluate in choosing a meeting place. As organizers we also should attempt to provide materials in advance for blind participants, and make requests for a scent free environment and that the discussion be loud enough for the hard of hearing. There are many different kinds of disability and a multitude of access needs but the difficulty of making every meeting and event completely accessible should not be an excuse to ignore common and relatively easy-to-overcome barriers to access. The people with disabilities who we know should be considered as the individuals they are and specific needs they have expressed should be taken into account in planning decisions.

It’s also important to make community events and discussions available for people with disabilities who we may not know yet. And we need to support those among us who are struggling to be more open about their disabilities. As progressive media workers at KPFA, we need to develop a better list of potential meeting venues

Perhaps our bad example can serve as a preventative lesson to other organizers in the KPFA community.

Given the historical segregation of people with disabilities and the slow pace of access accommodations in our society, we believe that progressives should go the extra mile. If people with access needs are known participants in a group, it is a matter of principle, as well as respect, to make every effort to include them.

We deeply regret that people active in this group were discriminated against because we didn’t consider access needs. We also regret not considering people who may have attended the meeting if it were more accessible. We apologize to these individuals and the larger community.


Adrienne Lauby
Producer, Unpaid Staff Member, Pushing Limits
KPFA Access Committee

Jan Santos
Producer, Unpaid Staff Member, Pushing Limits
KPFA Access Committee

Shahram Aghamir
Producer, Unpaid Staff Member, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa
KPFA Local Station Board Member

A Benefit for Nadra Foster: A Party and Celebration to Raise Legal Defense Funds

For Immediate Release                Contact: Tracy Rosenberg  (510) 684-6853

January 8, 2009                                  E-mail: tracy@media-alliance.org

 

A Benefit for Nadra Foster: A Party and Celebration to Raise Legal Defense Funds             

Event Announcement:

La Pena Cultural Center

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Berkeley, CA

January 22, 2009       7:00 – 9:30pm

 

Berkeley, CA – The KPFA Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO), First Voice Media Action, Media Alliance, The San Francisco Bay View, Poor Magazine and Critical Resistance are joining together to sponsor a benefit and fundraising event for KPFA programmer Nadra Foster.

Notable authors, poets, and performers scheduled to perform at the benefit include

devorah major, former poet laureate of San Francisco, PEN-Award winning author Cecil Brown (Dude, Where’s My Black Studies Department?), Attorney, activist and artist Osha Neumann (Up Against the Wall ) and artist, cartoonist and satirist Khalil Bendib. 

Foster, a KPFA volunteer producer and host of 12 years duration, was roughly arrested by the Berkeley Police Department on August 20th, 2008, after KPFA management called the police to enforce a nebulous “banning” imposed on the long-time volunteer in a dispute over copy machine usage.

During the arrest, Foster was restrained, and suffered a severe wrist sprain and bruising. The Alameda County DA filed multiple charges and she is still facing 5 charges including trespassing, resisting arrest and multiple charges of assault on a law officer. Proceeds from the benefit will be used to pay attorney’s fees for the young single mother.

On an August 21st edition of Flashpoints that discussed the incident, Hard Knock Radio producer Weyland Southon, who witnessed the latter part of the arrest stated: “This is a place where we report on police brutality. This is a place where we hold the police accountable for wrongdoing. To bring the cops willingly into KPFA to deal with a situation like this was shortsighted. Situations like this get us killed”. Today’s headlines only confirm the truth of that statement.

Come celebrate independent media, mourn for those who pay too high a price for the divides in our society, help out a woman in need and honor the spirit of resistance to police brutality whenever and wherever it occurs.

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The KPFA That Can't Say Yes - Fresno Community Alliance Newspaper

source:
Fresno Community Alliance Newspaper - January 2009
www.fresnoalliance.com

The KPFA That Can't Say Yes
By Anthony Fest

This is in reply to the article by my KPFA Local Station Board colleague Conn Hallinan in last month’s issue. I’m a KPFA newscaster and one of the staff representatives on the Local Station Board (LSB). Like Hallinan, I’m not a "neutral" observer, but rather a participant in the struggles at the station. The LSB is divided (quite sharply) into two factions, with Hallinan and I on opposite sides of the aisle. I invite KPFA/KFCF listeners to consider and evaluate both our opinions.

Curiously, Hallinan expressed his views on the state of KPFA without identifying the individuals who actually wield power at the station. This would be somewhat like discussing U.S. politics over the past eight years without mentioning George Bush and Dick Cheney. The current powers that be at KPFA are General Manager Lemlem Rijio and Program Director Sasha Lilley. In my opinion, these two managers also are responsible for many of the problems that now afflict the station.

How did they come to power? Rijio was appointed interim general manager in early 2006 by Greg Guma, at that time the executive director of KPFA’s parent organization, the Pacifica Foundation. Guma says he and Rijio had agreed then that she would hold the job no longer than nine months; he recently wrote on an e-mail list, "I wish she had stuck to the arrangement we had made." Late in 2006, Rijio, in turn, appointed Lilley as interim program director. In September 2008, Guma’s successor, Nicole Sawaya, elevated Rijio to permanent-status general manager. Sawaya acted on her last day on the job at Pacifica (for more about this, see my article, "September Surprise," at mediajusticekpfa.blogspot.com).

As Rijio and Lilley have now been in office more than two years, it’s appropriate to look at what they have and haven’t done.

Certainly, they’ve excelled at instigating conflict and controversy. In January 2007, Rijio cancelled the program Youth Radio, after one episode of the program aired a song containing FCC-prohibited words that the program producers had neglected to edit out. The blue language certainly needed a firm response, given the possibility of the station being hit with a huge fine. But it was hardly sufficient reason to permanently eliminate a program, particularly one tailored for the next generation of listeners.

In August 2007, without any preceding negotiation or discussion, Rijio withdrew management recognition of KPFA’s long-established Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO). Although most of the station’s paid employees belong to a union, the more numerous volunteer workers ("unpaid staff") were thus left without officially recognized collective representation. By a surprisingly lopsided vote (13 yes, 0 no, 5 abstaining), the KPFA Local Station Board directed Rijio to rescind her action. The Pacifica National Board, which oversees the entire network, passed a similar resolution three months later. Rijio has ignored these directives.

(By the way, Hallinan’s claim that the UPSO’s "criteria for membership violate Pacifica bylaws" is false. See the Pacifica bylaws at www.pacificafoundation.org. The relevant portion is Article Three, Section 1B, which expressly recognizes that unpaid staff organizations may set their own membership qualifications.)

Last summer brought the shocking act of KPFA management summoning Berkeley police to have unpaid programmer Nadra Foster thrown out of the station. Rijio and Lilley were not the ones who called the cops, but neither has apologized to KPFA’s community of listeners, many of whom surely found it disgraceful that an organization founded by pacifists would take such action. An eyewitness account of the police action, from KPFA’s Anita Johnson, can be found at www.blockreportradio.com.

Following the uproar over the police action, management did announce a mediated "healing" meeting for staff. That meeting was set for September 30 but was cancelled one day beforehand and has never been rescheduled.

Meanwhile, about 75 KPFA staff members have signed a no-confidence statement calling for a new general manager at the station. Those signing include music hosts, news reporters and public affairs programmers. Although most of us do not receive paychecks for our work, we do want respect and fair treatment.

Another ominous management action, albeit less well-known, is the effective suspension of KPFA’s Program Council, which is historically the body that was responsible for programming decisions. With members from the paid staff, unpaid staff, the listener community and the Local Station Board, the Program Council was a working example of representative decision making.

But after becoming program director, Lilley disputed the decision-making authority of the Program Council and instead claimed that power for herself. Under her direction, the Council, which formerly met weekly, now has not met for months. Being an organization that talks about democracy, KPFA ought to be able to practice participatory decision making in its own affairs. Instead, the decisions most vital to listeners are now being made autocratically. Rather than becoming more democratic, the station has regressed in the past two years, with top-down commands replacing discussion and voting.

Is management contemplating another 1995-style purge of programmers? Or do they simply want to preempt unwelcome attempts at change, like the 2003 effort to move Democracy Now to a better time slot?

Certainly, adding new local programs seems not to be on this management’s agenda. To date, all they’ve done is take a show (Youth Radio) off the air. Lilley has imported programs from KPFA’s sister stations in New York and Los Angeles, but there have been no new locally produced public affairs programs created during her tenure. Important communities such as African-Americans, Filipinos, LGBT people, seniors and veterans still do not have dedicated programs, and there’s not enough coverage of labor, the environment or the "justice" system and its prisons. Occasionally, there is a notable special program, for example, the coverage of the Winter Soldier assembly last March, which was certainly a vital broadcast. Yet one-time specials are no substitute for a long overdue reevaluation of the overall program schedule and a democratic process for updating it.

As Hallinan notes, money is tight at KPFA these days. However, that need not be an obstacle to enhancing the programming. Most of KPFA’s existing programs are already produced entirely by unpaid staff; these include some of the station’s most popular and innovative programs, such as Voices of the Middle East and Guns & Butter.

With training and dedication, new volunteers can create new shows. Indeed, it is precisely by engaging with the many communities that merit more attention, and by adding fresh programs, that KPFA could help alleviate its financial crunch—by attracting more listeners and more subscribers without expanding the payroll. But adding new community-based programs and programmers is apparently not the intention of the current regime. One staffer says he’s been ordered out of meetings after suggesting that one way to attract more subscribers is to broadcast better programs.

And what has been the role of the Local Station Board in these conflicts? Hallinan’s faction on the board, the "Concerned Listeners," has stood by the present regime almost 100%. But given the record of this management, KPFA/KFCF listeners should ask what it is that the Concerned Listeners are concerned about. Is their goal to promote the well-being of the radio station or only to defend the power of the incumbent management? It’s insincere to call for an end to infighting at KPFA while at the same time supporting those who set off the clashes in the first place.

If the present management could abide by its own words and engage in dialogue and consensus building, instead of issuing directives, KPFA might not be a house divided against itself. But because this management continues to follow an inappropriate command-and-control style of doing business, scores of staff members say the station needs new leadership. Until that happens, the station will likely remain mired in conflict.

But Hallinan and I are in agreement on one matter: It is indeed high time for a discussion about the future of KPFA and Pacifica and how to make the station and the network relevant and important to more people. That discussion should take place in multiple forums, including KPFA’s own airwaves.

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Anthony Fest has been a KPFA reporter since 1994. He is also a staff representative to KPFA’s Local Station Board (LSB). He can be reached at ADF55@yahoo.com