Fundraising, Improve programming?

We’ve been doing Spanish for years, it’s not a big success. How much more in to the hole do we have to go to admit it?

Like · Reply · 1 min

And you all keep blaming folks who came before for lack of money and listeners, while it’s Geo. W., the internet (and the aging and dying off of listeners, and the disappearing middle class that are to blame.

Among our other problems Why KPFK less money, vols

Before we start placing blame:

1. When Geo. W. Bush was in office, the donors, listeners, volunteers got all fired up and money was easier to raise. Since Obama got in, at first we thought, oh good, things will get better! I can stop worrying about politics (and about KPFK). But as time went by, the disappointments set in. And still some people think Obama is all good.
2. And the internet and other such as online and HD TV took a lot of the time of our audiences. For example Amy Goodman can be seen on KCET now.  Younger people are on Smart Phones & internet.
3. And the bad economy, the massive corporate bailouts and no taxes for them. The middle class in this country is disappearing.   And bad publicity about things at Pacifica national level. And we haven’t had someone good at marketing, branding, which is not the same as a development dir. (although it should be).

In about 1997, businesses started to catch on to the idea that they no longer had to hire ‘permanent’ full time employees with full benefits.  They started hiring through agencies and the employees did not even work directly for the companies.  Now this policy is almost pervasive.  So IMHO that’s the real reason that the middle class and lower financial class has no discretionary money.  Not to mention the rip-offs of college loans.

KPFK money decrease why

 

AGAIN, you victors can easily try to blame those who came before you for declining money.  And not to mention the minimum wage, wage-slaves.

• David LynchThis is off topic but it dawns on me that Pacifica would benefit by a Republican win or a new war. I’m afraid that this incredibly cynical view is true.

August 25 at 10:14am · Unlike · 1

Brian Edwards-Tiekert And well-documented. Matthew Lasar’s second book documents that within six months of the Vietnam War ending, WBAI’s income basically fell by half. Our recent financial history charts show KPFA’s revenues nearly doubled during the year of Gulf War I, KPFA struggled with deficits during the Clinton years, saw massive spikes in fundraising in the aftermath of September 11th, Afghanistan, and the Iraq invasion, plateaued, then started cratering around the time Obama took office (which, to be fair, also coincided with the onset of a major recession that pinched a lot of our listeners in the wallet.

August 25 at 10:20am · Unlike · 3

David Gans So war is profitable for us, too. Dang

August 25 at 10:20am · Like · 1

Richard Wolinsky It’s a story that goes further back. Income went up when Reagan replaced Carter. In fact we were able to counterbalance the steady loss of government funding because of the general stench of the Reagan years. In 2008 I was telling anyone who would listen that the Obama election was problematic for Pacifica finances.

August 25 at 10:26am · Edited · Like · 2

Edwin Joseph Jesús Johnston And yet, just yisstiday, the dang Dow Jones had its largest point drop in all of US history. People are out in the streets and the prisons are rioting. Oh, if only things were worse, we’d be doing so much better!

August 25 at 11:09am · Edited · Like

Richard Wolinsky If it was, that’s only because the market was so high to begin with. This is what they call a “correction.” In a broader sense, a lot depends upon how much you take Chris Hedges to heart: is the entire system crumbling, or not? And what does the rise o…See More

August 25 at 3:50pm · Like

Edwin Joseph Jesús Johnston If you haven’t had a chance yet, you might listen to the rap laid down by Amy Goodman’s economics guest this morning. If I had a hand in programming at Pacifica, I would initiate some shows aimed specifically at young men, because knowledge is power. I would even suggest providing Deray McKesson a show aimed specifically at young men. Save the males!

August 25 at 5:50pm · Like

Richard Wolinsky And you would (a) have to see if he actually wanted a show or had the wherewithal to do a show without a producer. Or (b) find someone else who is good with the proper skills who would do a weekly show for free and (c) in either case find someone who i s reliable and (d) dump another program to make room in the schedule. What I find amazing is how many Pacifica governance people have all these ideas that they haven’t a clue how to turn into a reality and expect some slave of their wishes to do for free

• 18 hrsLike

Sue Cohen Johnson Adam, who said they are against Spanish programming. I am against it if it is not done right and no Spanish speakers know that it exists. A volunteers union, especially like at other stations would be a big improvement, and a volunteer coordinator too. There is so much for them to do, like applying for awards, grants, etc. I have been advocating more volunteers in the stations for years. We have to have a balance of paids and unpaids to address everything. Paids for the morning strips and volunteers for everything else. At KPFK 25 years ago we had a much smaller paid staff. There were no paid board-ops for example.

59 mins · Like

Sue Cohen Johnson AGAIN, you victors can easily try to blame those who came before you for declining money. 1. When Bush was in, everyone was fired up, they gave money, they came in to volunteer. 2. Everyone spends all their time on their smart phones or computers now and don’t listen to radio nearly as much. 3. The economy took a nose dive from which I don’t think it will ever recover, The former middle class is now in the Low class financially and can’t afford side money for KPFK.

KPFK money decrease why

1.  BUSH got us all fired up and we rallied around politics and KPFK, but that’s over, for now. If we could only hold out until a Republican becomes president, we would be ok. [I know, that’s horrible.]
2.  With the INTERNET, people spend time on line and also get news and videos, not radio so much any more, except in their cars.  Except when they just want to kick back and listen. (We need to reach them over their Smart Phones.)
   Somehow we need to better publicize the existence of the Pacifica App, so young people can listen to us on their smart phones. Folks don’t know it exists. (marketing!)
3.  After the big trillions bailouts and the ECONOMIC CRASH we don’t have money to contribute to KPFK/Pacifica any more. We should have carefully downsized earlier. It’s called SUSTAINABILITY.  The middle class in this country is disappearing.
4.  We have had some NEGATIVE PUBLICITY lately. Listeners can hear that there are funny changes going on behind the scenes.
5. The Health & Spirituality programming is HATED by the Political programming and vice versa.

5. We play too many RERUNS, and too many days IN FUNDRIVE. We are using and abusing the same pitchers ad nauseum.  All our eggs in too few baskets.
6. There is a DETACHMENT between the programmers and the listeners, during FunDrives, with the outsourcing of phone rooms, and other times too. The pitchers, producers, board ops, and phone room (and other staff) used to be a TEAM.  [That was then]
7. They leave us because we PROMISE great Thank-you Gifts but don’t send them.
8. We’re not doing Renewals & Direct MAILINGS, sustaining income every month. We should do fewer Thank-you Gifts, for less drag on the on-air Drives, less drag on the Membership Dir.
9. Everyone is not ON BOARD with helping with fundraising, like keeping in touch by taking calls in the phone room. Additional shows need to be developed (OUR REGULAR SHOWS) to help pitch and share the load during FunDrives.
10. If fundraising staff is working the phone room, they can’t do their OTHER FUNDRAISING duties.
11. The Membership Director has to be ON DUTY the whole drive because pitchers don’t enter their Thank-you Gifts until right before their shows are on. And they just tell him to his face instead of entering them into the computer or at least filling out a form. [This part was then]  And he has to email the Call Center EVERY HOUR to tell them what the upcoming Gifts are.
12. We have trained listeners that they have a right to expect a BRIBE/PREMIUM in addition for their donations, and, ADD-ONs. It’s morally wrong and fundraising stupid.  And stop promising that they will get Gifts “right away”.  It just pisses them off that they were lied to, and alienates them for the future.  Some of them often say they would have pledged without a gift, just don’t promise it if they’re not going to get it.
13. They say we didn’t have enough phone volunteers, that’s because we did everything to drive them away.
14. The momentum factor elected Obama. We used to make 3 times as much or more on the last, Grand Finale day of the Drive.  I think $86 k was the record, and that was more than 20 years ago.  We used to start having Fund Drive planning meetings starting just after each drive.  We used to have 10-DAY DRIVES, 3 times per year, making more money each drive,
15. If during simulcasts with KPFA they don’t pitch and ID KPFK and Brand KPFK, the KPFK listeners will not pledge (much). Goalbusters will tell you this is correct.  This affects KPFK and the network.  Democracy Now is on TV now, not exclusive to us, not the fundraiser she once was.  5 HOURS per day now are simulcast with KPFA.  This has a very negative affect on our income.  Yes I know we get our pledges from KPFA, but if you don’t Brand right the SoCal listeners just won’t give.  It’s bad for us AND the network.  [That was then]
16. KPFK is not the hippie station KPFA is.  San Francisco area has been one of the most LEFTY places in the world for almost 200 years. Of course it was the birthplace of the free speech movement. And all the hippies retired there. Los Angeles is in the belly of the beast, the second largest city in the US, with all kinds of people.
17. KPFK’s website doesn’t have a big box on the front page saying “Donate” or “Pledge”. It has one that says “Support”.  No one in Pacifica seems to know Marketing.  We need to “blow our own horn”, properly and completely.  We are the PEOPLES’ VOICE, we should be proud of it and tell everyone.  If were are not the Voice of the People, we are not doing our job, not fulfilling our MISSION.  We should exult in listener-sponsorship FunDrives, they are what empower, enable us.

AGAIN, you victors can easily try to blame those who came before you for declining money.  And not to mention the minimum wage, wage-slaves.

Friends & Enemies

From the GM OCTOBER FUND DRIVE

Our fund drive came in at 80% of goal. Although that’s not enough, it is better than recent fund drives.  I previously distributed a spreadsheet of the amounts raised by each show per day to the LSB.

Looking forward, we will continue to ask our unpaid staff to take more of a role in the fund drive. The drives are particularly demanding on unpaid staff because they need to acquire premiums and prep for pitching, in addition to their regular contributions to the station. We also need to find ways to maximize fund raising in our overnight hours. We tried putting health and spirituality premiums in that stretch, but it didn’t result in enough revenue to keep the phone room open overnight.

Thanks to two volunteers, the copy room where stationary is stored, has been organized so that we can inventory what we have and what we need in advance of the tax season mailings

The Halloween Monster’s Ball essentially broke even, but it did open up a solid connection with The Airliner for future events. Batacuda, organized by one of our unpaid collectives, was last night.

[Why should the phone room be open overnight on weekdays, it’s not open overnight on weekends.]  

Now that Something’s Happening the overnight show has built up a big audience, the largest “share” on KPFK 24/7,

Like · Reply · 44 mins

“During opening remarks at the local board meeting yesterday, LSB member Chuck Anderson accused Roy of Hollywood, Ian Masters & Sonali Kolhatkar of being racists and suggested that the LSB “pull the plug” on the station – here’s what he said: “There’sreal racism going on at KPFK, and it’s all being overlooked… when they’re on the air – the racists – Roy of Hollywood, Ian Masters, and Sonali – maybe we should unplug KPFK – us – thank you”

Like · Reply · 29 mins

To a friend: You’re talking about beefing up the fundraising of the Something’s Happening show.
I’m talking about their threat of replacing his show with something that would make less money, anger off more people.
(Hip hop maybe?)
It’s not about his fundraising, it’s about how he went on the air and talked about the situation, urging people to vote. 2015-11-1

NOV12

Article on the continuing struggle Volunteerism vs Paids

Posted on 2015-11-12 by 3rd1000yrs

Standard

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/10/31/how-the-kpfa-morning-show-almost-killed-me-and-why-i-want-it-to-live/

How the KPFA Morning Show almost killed me (and why I want it to live)

Brian Edwards-Tiekert assuming a typically optimistic pose.

About a year ago I was driving to work along the 17 freeway, which winds through the mountains of Santa Cruz, California, and listening to Brian Edwards-Tiekert on listener supported KPFA-FM in Berkeley’s Morning Show. He was interviewing someone about the political situation in Turkey, and how politics in that country affects women. It was just after seven AM.

The interview was so absorbing—serving up intricate and very personal details on how religious, ethnic, and gender issues inform Turkey’s tense political present…..

Controversy in the network

30

Article KPFK current controversy-from The Guardian

Posted on 2015-10-30 by 3rd1000yrs

Standard

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/sep/10/pacifica-leftwing-radio-kpfk-wbai-financial-collapse

‘This is the end’: leftwing Pacifica Radio

affiliates enter protracted death spiral

Veteran broadcasters accuse the board of promoting bizarre conspiracy theories as network puts pressure on staff to reduce their hours and pay

Ian Masters said KPFK has frittered away its credibility with ‘discount versions of Radio Havana’. Photograph: Tetra Images/Corbis

Rory Carroll in Los Angeles

@rorycarroll72

Thursday 10 September 2015 12.08 EDTLast modified on Friday 11 September 201510.49 EDT

Feuding and ideological extremism have driven some of the US’s flagship leftwing radio stations to the brink of collapse, according to two veteran broadcasters.

Ian Masters and Sonali Kolhatkar, hosts of the Los Angeles-based KPFK, said its parent network Pacifica Radio, the country’s oldest public radio network, was putting pressure on staff to reduce their hours and pay, leave or work for free, alienating listeners and approaching a point of no return.

“This is the end. They’re running out of road,” Masters told the Guardian. He accused managers and board members of promoting conspiracy theories – including those related to the “truth” about 9/11 and claims about cancer and HIV. “They’ve run this place into the ground.”

Kolhatkar, who hosts a daily show called Uprising, accused KPFK of betraying its progressive heritage and violating a union agreement by replacing paid employees with volunteers. “It’s Walmart-isation. It’s up to listeners to save this network from ruin.” . . . More here:  http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/sep/10/pacifica-leftwing-radio-kpfk-wbai-financial-collapse

This article articulates that point of view.

On factions

http://www.richardwolinsky.com/subscribers2010.html

October 26th, 2010

“Bookwaves

A LETTER TO KPFA SUBSCRIBERS FROM RICHARD WOLINSKY
 
An All-Volunteer KPFA: A Recipe for Disaster

On Tuesday, October 26th, 2010, on the KPFA Morning Show, Arlene Engelhardt, Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation, made the curious comment that (to paraphrase) KPFA needed to get back to its volunteer roots. The wording was vague enough to suggest pretty much anything, but there are some folks out there who believe eliminating the on-air paid staff, and their off-air support staff as well, could be right way to go.After all, bringing back volunteerism and ending the tyranny of staffers who stay forever sounds like a pretty good prescription for renewal. Nice philosophy, but is that what Arlene is really saying?

First, let’s look at the history of KPFA…..”

On Factions

Patty Heffley Sectarian has been going on forever. I’ll just blame Bob Lederer and his associates from around the network years ago when the Foundation should have been building up its assets and ideas to be viable in the internet age. Instead there was all this anti-racist propaganda and accusations to silence those who were very concerned about good radio and management. At that time one faction was about keeping people in their jobs with paychecks so they would keep these talentless people on the air and so on and so forth. Add incompetence and subsequent lawsuits by Lonnie Hicks, Bernard White, Eva Georgia, and others, all very expensive situations that were supported by one faction and these people are still a faction. I don’t know all the facts of today but it is the same old shit, and it has been impossible to recover and Dan Siegel is not the savior, trust me.

Alison Davis

Here’s an interesting Counterpunch article, “The Battle for Pacifica: Time to Remove an Inept and Sectarian leadership,” by civil rights attorney Dan Siegel (former Pacifica counsel and a SaveKPFA supporter) that came out during the 2012 election cycle. It gives a good understanding of what a disaster the United for Community Radio group created was when it was in power starting in 2009. Ex-scientologist Grace Aaron chaired the foundation at that time, closely allied with Tracy Rosenberg. As with years of Republican rule, SaveKPFA is now having to clean up their mess. It doesn’t happen overnight.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/05/the-battle-for-pacifica/

Telling Facts and Naming Names
Since 1993

• NOVEMBER 5, 2012

The Battle for Pacifica

by DAN SIEGEL

Ballots are being mailed for elections to the Local Station Boards at the Pacifica Foundation’s five radio stations across the nation. The result of these elections could determine whether Pacifica survives or continues its slide into bankruptcy.

First a bit of background. Each of Pacifica’s five stations – KPFA in Berkeley, KPFK in Los Angeles, KPFT in Houston, WPFW in Washington, D.C., and WBAI in New York – has a 22 member Local Station Board (LSB). Half of the seats are up for election this year. Each LSB sends four of its members to the Pacifica National Board (PNB), which wields absolute control over the network, including hiring national staff, approving national and local station budgets, and setting programming priorities.

Pacifica has always been fractious, back to when KPFA was founded as its first station in 1946. Its current bylaws were adopted 10 years ago, following a mass uprising and several lawsuits directed at a leadership group that attempted to create a self-perpetuating PNB. The new bylaws have brought democracy to the network, but they need revision to create a more streamlined and efficient structure that absorbs less of the organization’s time and money. But that is a conversation for another day.

The current majority has controlled the PNB since January 2009. When it took control it fired the Foundation’s long-time Chief Financial Officer, Lonnie Hicks, and replaced him with  former KPFA LSB member LaVarn Williams. In the absence of an Executive Director, PNB chair Grace Aaron, a Los Angeles peace activist and veteran of Scientology’s  internal wars, assumed political and organizational leadership.

Since 2009, the PNB’s inept and politically sectarian leadership has brought the Foundation to its knees. It has spent down all its reserves, incurring cumulative deficits of $5.7 million in the last four fiscal years, according to its 2012 audit report. The National Office, which receives 20 percent of each station’s on-air fundraising, has fallen far behind on its bills, including payments for Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!, Free Speech Radio News, and legal costs. But for its creditors’ patience, Pacifica would be in bankruptcy already. The audit reports raises doubts about Pacifica’s ability to continue as a “going concern.”

The reasons for Pacifica’s financial decline are complex, including both the world wide financial crisis that has impacted almost all nonprofits and the aging of Pacifica’s core listenership. But rather than responding to these challenges, Pacifica’s leadership has accentuated them. Before his termination, Hicks had for years warned of the financial decline and urged Pacifica to develop new fundraising strategies instead of relying on more and longer on-air fund drives that frustrate and alienate listeners. Almost nothing has been accomplished to improve fundraising at either the local or national level since 2009.

Pacifica’s annual budget is about $14 million. The budgets of the member stations vary widely: In the year ending September 30, 2011, KPFA raised $3.3 million, KPFK $3.7 million, WBAI $3.2 million, WPFW $1.6 million, and KPFT $1.3 million. While the other four stations have been able to meet their expenses and pay their share of the National Office expenses, WBAI has not been able to do so for several years.

The PNB has refused to address WBAI’s financial crisis, which has required an annual subsidy of $500,000 to $1.0 million. Most of WBAI’s shortfall is due to the $720,000 it pays annually for its Wall Street office and Empire State Building broadcast tower. The PNB has failed to insist that WBAI find cheaper facilities, at least in part because its PNB members are a critical part of the current board majority. Instead, WBAI’s financial problems have threatened the stability of the entire network.

For Pacifica to survive, its leadership must address its financial problems, particularly the WBAI situation, diversify its fundraising, and develop a strategy for developing Pacifica’s Internet presence and digital media. Pacifica is far behind most mainstream media outlets and free-standing web sites in presenting its content to the growing part of the population that relies less and less on traditional radio broadcasting.  Comparing Pacifica’s web presence with that of Democracy Now! proves this point.

Instead of focusing on the critical big picture issues, the PNB has developed a new strategy of intervening in local station affairs. KPFA has born the brunt of the PNB’s attacks, perhaps because three of its four PNB members, who are members of the Save KPFA caucus, oppose the direction of the Board majority. Last year the PNB rejected the station budget developed by the KPFA staff and LSB, even though it was realistic and balanced, including required payments to the National Office. The PNB also backed now former Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt in her unprecedented rejection of all three candidates proposed by the KPFA LSB to serve as KPFA’s station manager. The PNB recently intervened in the selection process for the selection of KPFK’s program director. A PNB committee has proposed a new “code of conduct” that would allow the expulsion of people from membership in the Foundation for bad mouthing or attempting to undermine the PNB’s decisions. Remember that Pacifica calls itself “Free Speech Radio!”

In the interests of full disclosure, you may conclude that I have an axe or two to grind here. I was the Foundation’s general counsel from April 2006 through January 2009, when I resigned over the Hicks firing. When I took office as an LSB member at the beginning of 2010, I was greeted at my second meeting with a libel lawsuit filed by Grace Aaron, LaVarn Williams, and a few others. We had that case dismissed and recovered $20,000 in sanctions. A few months later, some of our opponents filed a new case against me and three other KPFA LSB members for the offense of raising $68,000 in pledges to keep KPFA’s Morning Show on the air after it was removed due to the machinations of Engelhardt and Tracy Rosenberg, the sole KPFA PNB delegate who is not a member of Save KPFA. (Needless to say, the removal of the Morning Show was a catastrophe for KPFA fundraising, a concern that has yet to be fully remedied two years later.) That case remains pending. The final part of the litigation tri-fecta came about when the PNB voted to expel me because I was a “political appointee” as the volunteer legal advisor to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. The superior court ordered that I be reinstated, which finally occurred when the judge threatened to hold the PNB chair and secretary in contempt. The PNB voted to appeal the decision, although the term from which I had been expelled ended a year ago, which coincides with my resignation from my post as the mayor’s legal advisor over disputes concerning her handling of Occupy Oakland.

Sorry for the digression. The bottom line here is that we need to create a new PNB majority by winning a minimum of two to three more seats than we now have. Practically, that means keeping the three current KPFA seats and adding a few more reasonable delegates from the other stations, particularly increasing the number from KPFK from one to two or three.

A new PNB majority will take the focus off petty politics and instead address (1) Foundation finances; (2) Digital media and the Internet; and (3) national programming. It will also have the responsibility early next years to hire a new Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer for the Foundation. The new CFO should focus on fundraising rather than bookkeeping. The PNB should limit its activity to setting policy, rejecting the temptation to meddle in staff and local station decisions.

Finally, I want to address what I view as a few of the false issues that have been injected into the campaign for the KPFA LSB. First is the claim that members of Save KPFA are simply stooges for the Democratic Party. In truth, several of my friends in Save KPFA are active in the Wellstone Democratic Club, which probably represents the most progressive wing of that party. Some Save KPFA members, including me, are extremely alienated from the Democratic Party and support the Greens, Peace and Freedom, etc. Period.

A second canard is that we are also stooges for KPFA’s paid staff and want to eliminate volunteers from the airways. That is another canard. What Save KPFA wants is good programming, presented by paid and volunteer staff, that will attract new people to our station. We want Pacifica to grow itself and contribute to the development of a powerful progressive movement in this country. If anyone thinks that is a crime, please do not vote for us.

Dan Siegel is an attorney in Oakland.

More articles by:STCLAIR

The Battle for Pacifica

Time Remove an Inept and Sectarian Leadership Email

COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Telling Facts and Naming Names
Since 1993

• NOVEMBER 9, 2012

The Battle for Clarity

by TRACY ROSENBERG

In his Nov 5th Counterpunch op-ed titled “The Battle for Pacifica”, Oakland attorney Dan Siegel exhibits a severe case of amnesia. While chronicling a presumed series of deeds he claims occurred since 2009, Mr. Siegel mentions nothing at all that happened prior to 2009.

As if Pacifica were a tabulae rasa born shiny and new at the exact moment Mr. Siegel and his cronies lost their 6 year grip on the foundation’s national board of directors.

Siegel was the Pacifica attorney from 2006-2009, and at all times a powerful player in internal affairs and prime financial backer of the Concerned Listeners group that now calls itself Save KPFA. It is disingenuous for Siegel to pretend to a lack of culpability for some of the unfortunate circumstances he presents.

The Internet, at last report, existed well before 2009, so one must ask why in the decade prior no technology upgrades were made by the group Siegel now wishes to return to leadership. Who does he think failed to invest money — when Pacifica had money to invest — in digital technology throughout the 2000’s?

Well …. um….. himself?

In fact, his crew didn’t even maintain the radio transmitters, which in 2012, failed in both Houston and Los Angeles.

As the legal adviser to the board of directors in 2006, Siegel had every opportunity to point out the unaffordability of the Empire State building lease for WBAI-FM’s transmitter, which was signed in 2006 for 20 years with rates that increase by 15% a year. Instead, he recommended that the board sign it, and sign it they did.

Or perhaps the WBAI lease at Wall Street which was signed repeatedly by him and his cronies in what the then-minority knew even then was financial insanity? That’s not even mentioning a totally nutty balloon loan proposed in 2008 that would have endangered foundation buildings and licenses and was averted by one solitary vote from the contingent he ridiculously insults.

This kind of raw hypocrisy is the problem.

Siegel fails to mention his role in actively supporting a number of managers in extracting significant legal settlements from Pacifica after termination, greatly exacerbating the financial chickens that came home to roost in 2009-2010. Siegel served as an attorney for fired KPFK manager Eva Georgia and testified  on behalf of Lonnie Hicks after he was let go as the CFO. These legal shenanigans are his responsibility and his alone. They’re usually defined as malpractice.

Siegel’s Save KPFA contingent described unpaid workers at KPFA-FM as “clowns” on Michael Krasny’s Forum radio program, needlessly insulting the workers who create 75% of the program content and raise more than 1/2 the operational funds.

The point is, the last thing Pacifica needs is more of the same. Economic pressures are what they are. Like Pacifica, San Francisco’s public radio station KALW-FM also has a going concern alert on their audit. It’s endemic in this age of financial catastrophe. Very few of us besides wealthy lawyers  are a going concern these days.

Siegel is so desperate to keep control of Berkeley’s KPFA-FM that he ran a lawyer from his own firm, Siegel and Yee, for the KPFA board in 2010 and now proposes to add a third lawyer from Siegel and Yee, Jose Fuentes Roman, to the local board. This will make more than 10% of the local board his current and former employees. Does Siegel and Yee think KPFA-FM is their personal property?

Reject this nonsense and vote for candidates who are not a part of the Siegel machine.

Http://www.votecommunityradio.org in Berkeley
http://www.candidatelslate.orgin LA and
http://TakeForwardWBAI.netin New York.

Pacifica will thank you. Its survival depends on not repeating the mistakes of the past decade.

Tracy Rosenberg is the executive director of Media Alliance and a current local board member at KPFA-FM in Berkeley.

More articles by:STCLAIR

On Factions

http://bookwaves.homestead.com/2015_Endorsements.html

Excerpt:  “….Their platform says “Restore Local Community Programs.” What this means, in real terms, is returning “Morning Mix” to the 8 am slot, and the elimination of “Uprisings.” UCR tried to de-fund the KPFA News Department during the September 2015 Local Board meeting. They failed; this time they would succeed. This would mean the elimination of both the KPFA Evening News and “Up Front.” Larry Bensky would most likely leave if UCR took over, which means the end of “Piano.” Sasha Lilley and Philip Maldari have long been in the sights of the leaders of UCR. This time they could succeed in removing them from the airwaves. As for “Letters and Politics,” Mitch Jeserich has long stated that he won’t remain if other programmers are removed for political reasons….”

https://www.laprogressive.com/kpfk-and-pacifica/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20laprogressive%20(The%20LA%20Progressive)

Excerpt:  “….They have enacted a “Shock Doctrine” maneuver: creating a financial crisis of their own making and then offering their own solution. The first thing they did is break the SAG-AFTRA union contract by cutting salaries 50% with less than two weeks warning while not cutting their job responsibilities for running a radio station. Long-time employees have been terminated for no reason and some of your favorite programmers have had their programs cut (even when they were willing to work 100% for 50% pay). While these new replacement programs may or may not be worthwhile, breaking a union contract is not the way to change programming. The staff at KPFK are devastated and totally demoralized, not only by the firings and pay cuts but by the attitude and actions of management and the board majority. Three music programmers, Betto Arcos, Derek Rath and Yatrika Shai-Rais, recently quit on air and here is their public and principled statement….”

On one point of view

[At KPFK] I AM desperate. I’m still desperate. I got out of the hospital myself a week ago now, and they are still not asking for phone answerers on the air, and we are losing money every hour for lack of phone answerers and computers (notebooks).  And we could really use more phones after that.  Especially during FunDrive rushes, you have to be prepared in case.  We used to have 15 phone stations and when Background Briefing (Ian Masters) was on Sunday mornings we filled them all (and more waiting).  But that was then, this is now.

I want to condition a couple of things I said:

#20  I have mixed feelings about current management. They have done things I hate and think are extremely destructive to KPFK. But I just can’t know what they are thinking. Have they learned anything from their 4 1/2 months in power? I think a lot. But has it brought them around to common sense about KPFK? I just can’t know what they are thinking! They called us NPR light. And they talked about how non-violent people impinge their ideas upon their neighbors. But have they learned to be part of La Lucha, The Struggle, and that there is more to Pacifica radio than The Revolution? And have they learned that throwing on new youth onto the radio is no guarantee of success. And have they learned that strip programming during drive times is successful and works, and can give the listeners what they want? etc. etc.

I want to condition a couple of things I said:
#5 Unapproved and unbudgeted expenses. The biggest thing was that staff were not laid off when the boards said they should. Because the series of managers we have had knew that this was wrong and counter-productive, and did everything they could, not to lay off.

David L. Surely you don’t believe everything you are told: “I believe that Lydia’s ties with Anagnos were a factor in getting a debt of about $150,000 forgiven. The conspiracy theory is pure Rosenberg/Kaufman fiction. I know this because I have discussed this in detail with unimpeachable sources deep inside SaveKPFA.”

Lydia is Anagnos’ property manager. Yes that resulted in the $150 k “loan” being forgiven. It was announced during the PNB meeting to make sure everyone knew. And it’s also the factor that will let Anagnos and Lydia swoop in and rescue/take over KPFK when it fails. So, to you, sources ‘deep inside SaveKPFA’ are unimpeachable just because they are a part of that faction? What about the other faction? They are about 50-50% of Pacifica. You assume that they are all wrong because they are in the “other” faction? Neither faction has clean hands at all. Don’t be gullible.

KPFA has lots more ‘hippies’ and should play hippie stuff, that’s their community, their constituency. And they play stuff for Oakland and other ethnicities too, as it should be. (Just don’t try to assume that it will all just smoothly transfer to the other Pacifica stations. Or vice versa.)

Our employer, KPFK and Pacifica are sabotaging the station quite well enough, see the fundrive just over. We are trying to keep it running in spite of current management. Those like me (I have been there 30 years).

I, Sue, still want to remind us all that Arbitrons are racist and classist, and don’t give a realistic look at what the “have-nots” are listening to.  Plus at KPFK we are terrible at “branding’.  Listeners focus on the particular show names and don’t always identify KPFK, Powered by the People.  And the Arbitron ratings depend upon a few perfect matching names and slogans only.]

KPFK one side

2015-11-1 Roy on Elections on Watts

Like · Reply · November 4 at 3:16pm

Sue Cohen Johnson Roy said that, ‘one slate is infinitely better than the other. He did not say which one. He said that $400k was taken by KPFA that actually belonged to Pacifica. He said that 2 people created a corporation: KPFA Foundation, for the express purpose of catching the stations as they/Pacifica went bankrupt. “Your vote is crucial, even if you just vote for one person, it will help us make quorum.” more

Like · Reply · 8 mins · Edited

Sue Cohen Johnson He said that, ‘4 programmers are paid out of 90. He said the paid programmers including himself bring in much more in pledges and have to work full time to produce their programs. He said those programmers and Christine keep the station going [true]. That day was 1/2 hour of Health & Spirituality and not so much in the future days. He said that his show gets the largest Arbitron “share” of any shows on the station, 24/7.’ more

Like · Reply · 9 mins · Edited

Sue Cohen Johnson He said, ‘that inundating the airwaves with Watts or any, any particular thing is stupid. Imperiative we clean out this board. Who will not saddle us with $100s of thousands, saying, well we’ll just to have another FunDrive to make it up, Ha Ha.
Some destructive on purpose, some out of stupidity.
While living in Oahaca, a neighbor fed wild dogs, and when they fought over the food, she would beat them with a stick. The boards treat us the same way, make us fight each other over program time.’

Like · Reply · 10 mins · Edited

Tim Fromla Thanks Sue, you heard it too. The person beating the dog in Oaxaca Mexico was a nun.

Like · Reply · 18 mins

Tim Fromla Goodnight fellow lefties. Sweet dreams and this is my lullaby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK1hmDpa8bo…See More

Like · Reply · 16 mins

Sue Cohen Johnson He said: ‘clean out the board, most have termed out but not turned out, nor resigned, as some did. The ballots are out, it’s imperative that you vote. Support us so we will be here in January when the new board takes over. It’s as if we are infiltrated. There wasn’t enough money, so they say, to send the ballots out before, but now they have been mailed. A lot of us pay attention to the listeners we respect, even those who disagree with us. Staff members have been cut to 50% but some still are working full time. more

Like · Reply · 15 mins

Sue Cohen Johnson Roy also said, jumping back to the beginning of what he said,: ‘wants to speak to current members, please vote, we cannot afford to not make quorum. The last 2 elections did not happen because on one we did not make quorum and on the other they just didn’t have the election.
Boards have been sitting in office for a 3rd terms and now want a 4th. The ones who were termed out were replaced by unelected people, like those who were 14th, or 15th, or further down, were seated. K was given a budget with a $500,000 deficit. They are working on one with a million dollar deficit for next year. Stupid or destructive, make your choice. We are having more fundraisers now? look to the local board. 2 years ago KPFK was regarded as a powerhouse in Pacifica. For some, this is a plan. ….KPFA Foundation…’

Like · Reply · 1 min

Sue Cohen Johnson I have to say that Summer is on record saying that she was doing everything she could to prevent more elections. Want the link? Again?

Like · Reply · 1 min

Elect people who know something about radio.

Doing a show is a full time job.  You have to read the books or brush up on the doings of the person you are going to interview, etc.

We’ve got to get the stupid, ignorant and/or corrupt people off the board.

Please support so that in January when the new board takes over, we can start building the station back again.

Lew Hill was kicked out of KPFA station at one point.  They later had to call him back to put the station together again.

The other stations have a necessity of corporate profit.  Decisions are easy.  There are words and things you can’t say on the air, TPP, pharmaceuticals, etc.

We fight against each other but we respect each other as we do so.

Some say get rid of Alan Watts, I don’t agree but the fight goes on.

Many of you cannot afford any contribution, but you are welcome to continue to listen.  No one will be turned away for lack of admission fee.

The board this year has saddled us with a budget with a $500k deficit budget which is crazy but they are crazy.

We have this big signal transmitter but we can barely afford to stay on the air.  Something’s wrong with that.

3 years in a row we are again not going to get our million-dollar CPB grant because the bookkeeping was not done or done in time.

Don’t give up!  We are still fighting here at KPFK. Don’t give up!

Roy said-Jack Garriss was the most money-making show on KPFK, and his show was about spirituality and meditation.

The local board wants more fundraising and less audience.  They volunteered to raise $5000 themselves, generously.

Pacifica struggles one faction Link from 9/04/01

https://app.box.com/s/l7iymc0puh5qxvcppybuluk5a98kuk9j