I am very concerned about KPFA, the Berkeley free speech radio station

[Barrie]

If you are concerned that the Pacifica Network has fired Aimee Allison, Brian E-T, and other from the very popular Morning Show and replaced them with day old Al Jezerra (sp?) and a weekly rotation of volunteer programmers, please pay attention to the situation. Very good information about what is really going on is posted on Save KPFA. Pacifica has been spending money like crazy and using the donations we give to KPFA to keep themselves and less supported stations a float. They are having their next meeting in January at the Houston Four Points Hilton, paying to fly the board members and staff from around the country to Houston, etc. Please go to the Save KPFA web site to get the details. This crisis is probably more threatening to the station than what happened in 1998.

Pacific went against union policy by firing Aimee, Brian, etc. They were not next in line to be fired. Pacifica is refusing to negotiate with the union and has hired expensive union busting attorneys. Does this sound right for a left community non-profit?

Project Censored, based in Sonoma County, is part of the volunteer rotation that has replaced the Morning Show staff. I have respected their work in the past but am disturbed that they don't understand what it means to undermine the union at a community radio station. If they help destroy KPFA, where will their air their work?

I would like to connect with other people who are concerned about KPFA to see how we can support Save KPFA. Barrie

["Mad" Miles]

Barrie,

The infighting at KPFA and Pacifica in general has been going on for a long time, it's complex and there's a deep history to it. The "Save KPFA" faction are the ones who have nearly bankrupted the station and the network. There is a real danger that the license might have to be sold in bankruptcy liquidation. Cuts had to be made, they should have been made several years ago, at least.

The information you're getting from the laid-off Morning Show staff, who had a couple of weeks to use the show as their own bully pulpit, is biased and incomplete. The voices of reason are available to read on the internet, but they're not taking up airtime to call the alarm in opposition to those doing so on air.

Here's some alternative info:

https://supportkpfa.wordpress.com/

The email I received this link in, is from 11/22/10. You're late to the party. Read it and weep.

Carol Spooner is one of the best informed and even handed voices on the internal politics and finances of KPFA/Pacifica. She's semi-retired from the fray, but weighs in when things get extremely hot. I give great credence to everything she has to say. She's the person who filed the lawsuit in '99 that when won, brought some semblance of democratic governance to the network. An opportunity that was wasted by the regime recently ousted. But they still hold power on the LAB and on the Pacifica Board. They were ousted, as you will find out if you read enough, because they have done more to threaten the existence and future of the station and network, than any other faction, by far.

By the way, I'm not invested in Pacifica/KPFA politics. I just read what I'm sent by various sources. Because of my frustration with the political mess there, and my own personal finances, I haven't donated to the station in the last two years. I don't follow every player, argument or faction closely. I did ten years ago, but as it became clear that the problems were endemic, the proverbial circular firing squad of the Left, I quit paying as much close attention. I sometimes despair and worry for it's very survival. That feeling is stronger and stronger lately. Until the recent moves by management and the jury is still out. Expensive lawsuits could be the coup de grace (less).

There has been a pattern of lying, misinformation, threats of physical violence at meetings, on the part of the Save KPFA faction. I've seen the videos and read transcripts of meetings and meeting minutes. This at an organization supposedly dedicated to Peace, non-violence and community. Aside from their cronyism along with their history of inept, destructive management, it's their behavior towards those standing up to their nonsense, that leads me to give them no sympathy or credence.

And I suppose I should disclose that I've met and socialized with Eileen Englehardt, Director of the Pacifica network, a few times in the last year. She rents a room at my oldest friend's house in Berkeley. But we mostly talk of other things, not the mess at the station. As of last early November, she received 150 emails per day, on average. I'm sure the volume is much higher since the layoffs were coming down and the screams of outrage on and off the air have escalated. When I see her, and it's been a couple of months since the last time, I assume she's busy and tired. We've met socially (only three or four times last year) because I'm hanging with my friend, and she happens to be joining us for dinner, or just passing through on her way to her room. Each time that has happened I didn't push her to talk about work.

She's a charming, savvy, older woman with a strong lifelong dedication to peace, community radio and inclusive, fair and sane professional management of community radio. I can assure you she has done nothing without consulting with others as much as possible, scrupulously following the bylaws and union contract and has made the best decisions available to her at the time. She is no union buster, corporate raider, or heavy handed authoritarian in any manner whatsoever. But she's not a pushover either.

Happy researching!

[Barrie]

If Pacifica's primary concern is saving money, why are they having their next national meeting at an expensive hotel in Houston Texas? They hire rooms for the meeting and fly all the board members and national staff to Houston. They have spent more money on union busting attorneys to fight the KPFA employee's union than they have saved by firing the Morning Show staff. They have engaged in illegal vote tampering within KPFA. Public officials are supporting SaveKPFA, not Pacifica. Like the other people in the Bay Area I support KPFA because I value the programming, not because I want to contribute to Pacifica stations in towns that don't support their stations. Also, why do Arlene Englehardt et al. need to be paid so much, I think $90K per year. Whittle down their own salaries if $ is the issue. People who work at KPFA, both paid and volunteer staff, are extremely discouraged and see this assault as probably more dangerous than all the craziness in 1998.

["Mad" Miles]

Barrie,

I take it you've read the various accounts on the website I've provided?

Don't drink the koolaid. Even though I've played my role as a rabble rouser off and on, sometimes the loudest voices are not the best informed, nor the most accurate. Adding fuel to an already blazing trash fire, that threatens to rage out of control (if it already hasn't) isn't the best way to help. There's a reason I've mostly washed my hands of the entire situation (not that I've ever been centrally involved, I haven't. But I used to pay more attention than I have in recent years.) and this exchange is indicative of that reason.

For a non-profit with the budget of Pacifica, $90K for the top executive is not unusual. In fact that is a low salary. Why the board chooses to meet face to face, rather than via the internet? I suppose they have their reasons. Do you know what they are?

When the people who blew the budget at KPFA, start screaming about wasted money once their oxe is gored, I find that disingenuous. To put it mildly.

Good luck with your campaign to "Safe KPFA". Given the people organizing that campaign, I can assure everybody, it's not working. It hasn't worked for the last five to eight years, and if you follow the numbers and the money, it's clear things aren't going to turn around anytime soon. "Union busting lawyers"? Look at the recent history. Who sued who first?

If wishes were horses...In the old Left the insults were, splitter, wrecker. The faction now called "SaveKPFA", which I think more of as "The Entrenched Staff", have shown they're excellent students of old Left tactics for infighting. And we've seen how successful the old Left has been in realizing its agenda over the years.

I'm done, read the opposition and neutral observer information on the website. Make up your own minds.

(Jeeze, has Glen Beck tainted that phrase!?)

[Dixon]

Hey Barrie (and other interested folks):

I went to the link provided by Miles and looked around. Even more than Carol Spooner's recent post there, the post that best helped me understand the situation is here:
https://supportkpfa.wordpress.com/20...cwa-job-trust/

I'm a long-time supporter of KPFA (the best station in the world--an invaluable resource and rallying point for progressives, and a showcase for a wide variety of music you'll never hear elsewhere. Check it out at 94.1 FM or streaming at KPFA.org). I've let my membership lapse for lack of $ while I'm unemployed, but I guess I'll have to scrape up a few bucks to send them. I urge everyone to do so.