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Analysis of Current Financial Crisis at Pacifica
The Pacifica financial statement through 6/30/2009 shows an alarming deterioration in net income which has only accelerated since the recent, precipitous management changes at the radio network. Pacifica interim Executive Director Grace Aaron's July 21, 2009 "Report to the PNB" is a public relations effort which totally fails to address the dire fiscal emergency.
Concerning the current financial crisis at Pacifica, I have read through the iED's Report to the PNB dated July 21, 2009 (see below) and have been comparing its account of the current financial status of the Foundation with the numbers contained in the 2009-07-24 P&L spreadsheet posted on the Pacifica website:
http://www.pacificafoundation.org/national/documents/task,cat_view/gid,42/dir,DESC/order,name/limit,5/limitstart,5/
Grace Aaron's report does not even mention, much less attempt to explain, the most startling and dire of the financial numbers contained in the 7/24/2009 (Pacifica Consolidated) Profit and Loss statement for the period October 1, 2008 thru June 30, 2009.
To begin with there's the FRIGHTFULLY ALARMING bottom line: Net Income for the Foundation from all stations and from all sources is 92% BELOW BUDGET; and 96% BELOW the same nine-month period one year earlier.
One would never guess this from Grace Aaron's report.
We are offered no clue as to what could account for Net Income having fallen off a cliff in the last twelve (12) months.
Net Income for this entire nine (9) month period (through June 30, 2009) is a puny, miserable $94.9 K.
That is approx. $1.2 M below budget, and nearly $2.4 M below the same period in the prior year.
Furthermore, the financial situation has clearly been DETERIORATING steadily from quarter to quarter; and the Foundation's finances are now in an accelerating free fall with no bottom in sight. Consider:
In the First Quarter, Net Income was actually a positive $321.5 K, but still missed the budget target by $89.3 K.
It's been all downhill from there despite Grace Aaron's blithe statement that the low point was reached last winter.
(The First Quarter ended 12/31/2008.)
In the Second Quarter, Pacifica posted an approx. $2.9 K Loss, missing budget by approx. $390.6 K.
And then in the Third Quarter, there was a whooping $223.6 K Loss, missing budget by a positively ASTOUNDING $624.6 K!
If this DETERIORATING TREND continues, Pacifica will end the fiscal year on 9/30/2009 with a STAGGERING LOSS totalling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; and Pacifica will be technically, or perhaps very overtly, INSOLVENT; or else it will be forced to liquidate or hypothecate some of its illiquid assets.
Any financial forecast which projects something like two weeks cash reserves at the end of the fiscal year clearly must be relying on Pollyanna-ish assumptions of the first order.
Grace Aaron's report makes it appear that all the stations, with the exception of WBAI, will come in either at, or slightly below budget, at the end of the fiscal year. Yet with the consolidated P&L $1.2 M below budget thru 6/30/2009, Pacifica (across all stations) would have to EXCEED BUDGETED NET INCOME by approx. $1 M in the Fourth Quarter to make Grace Aaron's wildly optimistic forecast a reality.
How likely is that? Let's just say about as likely as winning big in a lottery, or beating the house in Monte Carlo.
== John H. Reynolds
-----Original Message-----
From: Mitchel Cohen
To: mitchelcohen [at] mindspring.com
Sent: Mon, Aug 10, 2009 11:41 am
Subject: [friendsofwbai] Interim Executive Director's Report to the Pacifica National Board -- July 21 2009
Report to the Pacifica National Board from the interim Executive Director, July 21, 2009
The Pacifica Foundation is at a crossroads. We are meeting in New York this weekend to grapple with our current financial difficulties and plan for recovery and future stability.
This is an election year for us. The ongoing Local Station Board elections have resulted in strong, energetic participation by our listeners. At last count, we had a total of 146 listener candidates and 29 staff candidates. Four stations have many more candidates than open seats and all have ample candidates. This bodes well for the future stewardship of Pacifica. Les Radke, the National Election Supervisor, and all five Local Election Supervisors, Rene Peneloza of KPFA, Ann Shaw of KPFT, Michael Sanchez of KPFK, Lydia Harris of WPFW and Ethan Young of WBAI, have been doing excellent work and deserve special recognition.
There is also good news about the Pacifica Affiliate Network and the Pacifica Archives. I urge you to read the full reports written for this meeting about the Archives and Affiliate Program, as well as reports from the Technical Director, interim CFO, interim Human Resources Director, Interim Development Director and the reports from the General Managers of our five stations.
We have almost 150 affiliates presently. This means that there are stations all over the country, with some new ones added in Africa this year, that are airing Pacifica programs. This expands our reach to many of the nooks and crannies of our nation and beyond. The Affiliate Program is stable, expanding and has tremendous potential thanks to the good stewardship of Ursula Rudenberg, the Affiliates Director. Ursula is currently working out of Greenville, Mississippi, where, after work, she is volunteering to help develop of a new community radio station. Ursula says: "The Pacifica foundation is deeply appreciated by residents here, for supporting their effort to build a station. In this, one of the poorest communities in the United States, a community radio station will become a p ivotal force. Greenville is also positioning itself to assist what will hopefully be a chain of new southern community radio stations, including Clarksdale, MS, Lake Village, AK, Eutaw AL, Albany, GA, the Houma Nation in Louisiana, Port St. Joe, FL, and many others."
According to Brian DeShazor, Pacifica Archives Director, 'the Pacifica Radio Archives (PRA) is experiencing the most productive period in its 35 year history in areas of preservation and access, programming, premium development and publication.' Tens of thousands of dollars of grant funding has been secured by Brian and the Archives staff and much preservation work is ongoing. For example, the Pacifica Radio Archives has been awarded $10,000 to be part of Phase 1 of the American Archive Pilot Program (AAPP) which is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. There is a very good chance that PRA will receive a $100,000 grant soon as part of Phase 2 of this project!!
This winter was our weakest point in many years financially. Reserves that had been being depleted for years started to hit rock bottom. Large bequests and donations that had served to keep us afloat in the recent past have not been forthcoming. Fund drives came in below target, off-air fund raising did not meet expectations and our stations were feeling the impact of cuts in staff and expenses. The spring brought a mild recovery in fund drive performance, with particularly spectacular improvement at WBAI. KPFK came in about 6%=2 0below its winter drive. KPFA held steady and came in a tiny bit below budget in their spring drive but that was a big improvement over the 15% it was under budget in its winter drive. The shortfall at WPFW still hurt but although the drive came in 16% under the budgeted goal, but that was better than fall and winter drives. KPFT's decline also lessened. KPFK and KPFT expect to close this fiscal year at the end of September on budget. KPFA is working hard to come in on budget, although it may come in 5% to 12% under. WBAI will be under budget, but a lot less than was projected before the May fund drive. WPFW needs serious attention. We're not out of trouble - our cash reserves remain very low - but there are definite hopeful signs that we can continue this tenuous recovery, improve income substantially and weather both our internal financial challenges and those presented by widespread economic decline.
Unlike many other nonprofits, our financial problems began a number of years ago. Slowly eroding listenership has directly correlated to declining net income and declining membership at all our stations for the last 4 or 5 years. Although we have been impacted by the plunging world economy, our income has been more stable than many nonprofits. This is due to the enormous creativity of our staff, our mainly small donor funding base, our prudent austerity measures and our flexibility as an organization. We have a unique income stream=2 0consisting primarily of small donations. We can always do a bit more on-air fund raising if we're in an emergency. We don't like this option, as it creates donor fatigue and lowers listenership, but it's there as a last resort. Also, the fact that we don't depend on income from investments is also something that sets us apart from many Foundations. In fact, a recent issue of 'The Network', a newsletter from the Institute for Conservation Leadership, ref: http://www.icl.org/toolkits/benchmarking.php , explains that many foundations are cutting their giving after losing 20-40% of their assets.
Currently, the weakest income budget line items at all five of our stations is off-air fund raising. It's not surprising that our strongest income is currently coming from on-air fundraising. Donations are often seen as a luxury item in a family or individual's budget. However, we've been finding that premiums that address critical audience needs are bringing in a surprising amount of pledge dollars. KPFK's recent fund drive showed us the current strength of health-related premiums, for instance.
Our financial situation needs to be looked at relative to other segments of the nonprofit world. As an example, here's a quote from the New York Times, June 27, 2009: “The recession has led foundations, corporations, state governments and colleges themselves to reduce their support of providers of scholars hips, and in recent months programs have been reduced or canceled outright. The cuts come as economic conditions make it harder for families to pay for college and as more unemployed people look for financing for retraining. The result will probably be a greater role for federal aid programs in supporting students, instead of private scholarship providers and state governments, said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, whose members are colleges and universities."
A staff member at the Radio Resource Consortium, which provides Arbitrons to radio stations, including ours, said that many college supported radio stations have seen their budgets cut drastically due to sharp college endowment income declines.
I would like to take a moment to mention my appreciation for the hard work of all our managers and staff. I am acutely aware that austerity measures that were needed have increased the workload of most staff members. I continue to be impressed by the creativity and resilience of our staff. I would like to thank you all for your hard work and commitment to Pacifica.
Management changes were made in May at WBAI. Those changes resulted in a substantial increase in the latest fund drive pledge total, which exceeded projections by $292,000. Further, backlogs of premium fulfillment and membership database entry are being addressed and will be made current soon even if it takes a top to bottom restructuring of that department. Staff from KPFK were 'loaned' for a while to WBAI and this cooperation between two of our stations with the willingness of other stations to help out as well, plus help from the National Office, has shown what we can do when we work cooperatively as a network. The strong recovery at WBAI could not have been done without this. Much thanks goes to all the staff at WBAI, with special appreciation to LaVarn Williams, Pacifica iCFO who is doing double-duty as WBAI iGM, Kathy Davis, WBAI Public Affairs Director, and Tony Bates, interim Program Director who is a recent import from KPFK.
More recently, management changes have been made at WPFW. We have every assurance that that station, which has had sharp revenue declines in the last year, will also soon begin a financial recovery.
Every station, except KPFA, cut expenses in the fall of 2008. KPFA is going to make those budget adjustments shortly. But austerity measures are not enough. Our stations are at the point where further substantial cuts would be counterproductive.
So what do we do? Our listenership and market shares (the percentage of available radio listeners who are tuned in) at all five stations are very low. This delineates both the problem and the opportunity. Improved programming along with creative public relations, some advertising and just plain getting the word out will result in improved listenership. Our potential upside in listenership i s enormous!! We must focus on excellence in radio. Our programs must be relevant, speak to the needs of our audience in these troubled times and offer a positive vision both for individuals and this culture. As the general economy shows signs of further erosion, we must not only boost our listenership to prior levels, but beyond as that is the only way we will be able to both impact society and bring in needed resources to stay sustainable as a network.
This is not to say that our stations are not constantly broadcasting excellent content. They are!! But everything can and should be improved. For instance, KPFT is embarking on significant program improvement this week. I earlier mentioned the help our stations are giving each other. Collaboration between stations, such as KPFA and KPFK teaming up to produce the 6 pm news together, http://www.kpfa.org/press/kpfk-and-kpfa-launch-california-wide-newscast-while-news-outlets-shrink-across-us-stations-exp , is evidence of a sharing of resources that is beneficial to both stations. The excellent series, 'Letters from Washington, the First 100 Days', http://www.kpfa.org/short-run-series/letters-washington-first-100-days-obamas-administration , produced at KPFA and anchored by Mitch Jeserich,=2 0was picked up by other stations and affiliates, and is another example of excellence and cooperation. Also, Sonali Kolhatkar's 'Uprising' digest which is being picked up by other stations and affiliates, Michio Kaku's 'Explorations', etc. The recent broadcast of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings emanating from Washington, D.C. and the Noam Chomsky broadcast emanating from New York and other programming available network-wide continues the long tradition in Pacifica of bringing important in-depth coverage not found elsewhere. The plan at WBAI to create a very syndicatible hip hop/music news/political show featuring Chuck D of Public Enemy is another example of how we can provide perspectives not found elsewhere.
Jon Almeleh, Pacifica Technical Director, deserves special recognition for the special national broadcasts just mentioned. He makes sure our websites are being constantly worked on. Specific software applications have been written recently to assist with our elections, staff databases, and some of our calendar and meeting announcements are automated now, the Audioport is being updated and corrected, etc. Hardware improvements have also been made.
And, by the way, Radio is NOT dead. According to the Northern California Broadcaster's Association, ref: http://www.ncradio.com/ , radio listenership has grown by 16% since 1994 and has added 6 million listeners since 2005. ref: https://emd9.rdg.com/ncradio/att/ncradio-27745-2.html
In fact, “what Radio has going for it is a huge and stable audience, with some 90 percent of Americans listening at some point each week.” These words come from researcher Kevin Downey of Media Life Magazine. ref: https://emd9.rdg.com/ncradio/att/ncradio-2321-2.html
There is a hunger for our core message. Common wisdom has been turned on its head and our listeners and potential listeners want to hear new answers. Can we provide direction for the ongoing paradigm shift of this society? Can we rise to the occasion?
Here is a thumbnail sketch of the direction we plan to continue on:
1) Programming improvement at every station. Routine program evaluation will be implemented on a standardized model so that changes are decided in as objective and collaborative a way as possible. Market research and inexpensive advertising will be explored as options. Internships and mentoring will be considered as ways to improve program quality and enrich links to our listening communities. Volunteerism will be encouraged and supported. The Pacifica Mission, Principles and Commitment to Diversity will figure prominently in this process.
2) Standardized financial reporting. Unnecessary waste of staff resources has been caused by the lack of standardized book keeping and financia l reporting. Business Managers are now being trained to report in a timely fashion and in a way that can be digested easily on the National level.
3) Policy and procedures. Existing Pacifica policies and procedures are being unearthed, dusted off and put into use. On-line training that is extremely cost effective is being rolled out as we speak and will include sexual harassment and anti-discrimination training, employee evaluation training, etc. Where policies don't exist or have been lost on the National level, we will find workable local station policies and see that they are adopted nationally. Where even those aren't adequate, policies will be adapted from other sources or written from scratch.
4) Standardized management reporting. Standardized reporting will be put into effect so that an Executive Director will be able to evaluate managers and stations by performance criteria, not by rumor or narrative alone.
5) Liability Prevention. Measures will be taken to prevent legal liability and to fully comply with all legal requirements. This will include strengthening our Community Advisory Boards.
6) Good legal stewardship. Efforts are and will continue to be made to assess and settle or resolve legal cases and disputes.
7) Well run Elections. The Elections will be properly overseen and new boards will be seated at our 5 stations in December as we project no election timeline problems.
0A8) More permanent senior management. The search for a strong Executive Director and CFO is ongoing and will hopefully result in a smooth transition from interim to permanent management.
9) Improved web presence and expansion into other media platforms. Our websites and web presence will be upgraded as resources allow. As we regain our footing, start accumulating reserves, and have funding for advancement we will be able to expand Internet and digital broadcasting and improve our infrastructure. This may include obtaining a 24/7, 'Best of Pacifica' Sirius/XM station.
What have I left out? YOU. We need every one of you to put aside past grievances. Our Bylaws specifically state that Pacifica is committed to peace and social justice as well as diversity. Let's follow our Mission and make every effort to "contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors". And I would add between ourselves. Progress can't be made in the past, only the future. What do we want to see ahead of us? Let's decide and then move toward that vision.
In Peace,
Grace Aaron
Chair of the Pacifica National Board
Interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation
http://www.pacificafoundation.org/national/documents/task,cat_view/gid,42/dir,DESC/order,name/limit,5/limitstart,5/
Grace Aaron's report does not even mention, much less attempt to explain, the most startling and dire of the financial numbers contained in the 7/24/2009 (Pacifica Consolidated) Profit and Loss statement for the period October 1, 2008 thru June 30, 2009.
To begin with there's the FRIGHTFULLY ALARMING bottom line: Net Income for the Foundation from all stations and from all sources is 92% BELOW BUDGET; and 96% BELOW the same nine-month period one year earlier.
One would never guess this from Grace Aaron's report.
We are offered no clue as to what could account for Net Income having fallen off a cliff in the last twelve (12) months.
Net Income for this entire nine (9) month period (through June 30, 2009) is a puny, miserable $94.9 K.
That is approx. $1.2 M below budget, and nearly $2.4 M below the same period in the prior year.
Furthermore, the financial situation has clearly been DETERIORATING steadily from quarter to quarter; and the Foundation's finances are now in an accelerating free fall with no bottom in sight. Consider:
In the First Quarter, Net Income was actually a positive $321.5 K, but still missed the budget target by $89.3 K.
It's been all downhill from there despite Grace Aaron's blithe statement that the low point was reached last winter.
(The First Quarter ended 12/31/2008.)
In the Second Quarter, Pacifica posted an approx. $2.9 K Loss, missing budget by approx. $390.6 K.
And then in the Third Quarter, there was a whooping $223.6 K Loss, missing budget by a positively ASTOUNDING $624.6 K!
If this DETERIORATING TREND continues, Pacifica will end the fiscal year on 9/30/2009 with a STAGGERING LOSS totalling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; and Pacifica will be technically, or perhaps very overtly, INSOLVENT; or else it will be forced to liquidate or hypothecate some of its illiquid assets.
Any financial forecast which projects something like two weeks cash reserves at the end of the fiscal year clearly must be relying on Pollyanna-ish assumptions of the first order.
Grace Aaron's report makes it appear that all the stations, with the exception of WBAI, will come in either at, or slightly below budget, at the end of the fiscal year. Yet with the consolidated P&L $1.2 M below budget thru 6/30/2009, Pacifica (across all stations) would have to EXCEED BUDGETED NET INCOME by approx. $1 M in the Fourth Quarter to make Grace Aaron's wildly optimistic forecast a reality.
How likely is that? Let's just say about as likely as winning big in a lottery, or beating the house in Monte Carlo.
== John H. Reynolds
-----Original Message-----
From: Mitchel Cohen
To: mitchelcohen [at] mindspring.com
Sent: Mon, Aug 10, 2009 11:41 am
Subject: [friendsofwbai] Interim Executive Director's Report to the Pacifica National Board -- July 21 2009
Report to the Pacifica National Board from the interim Executive Director, July 21, 2009
The Pacifica Foundation is at a crossroads. We are meeting in New York this weekend to grapple with our current financial difficulties and plan for recovery and future stability.
This is an election year for us. The ongoing Local Station Board elections have resulted in strong, energetic participation by our listeners. At last count, we had a total of 146 listener candidates and 29 staff candidates. Four stations have many more candidates than open seats and all have ample candidates. This bodes well for the future stewardship of Pacifica. Les Radke, the National Election Supervisor, and all five Local Election Supervisors, Rene Peneloza of KPFA, Ann Shaw of KPFT, Michael Sanchez of KPFK, Lydia Harris of WPFW and Ethan Young of WBAI, have been doing excellent work and deserve special recognition.
There is also good news about the Pacifica Affiliate Network and the Pacifica Archives. I urge you to read the full reports written for this meeting about the Archives and Affiliate Program, as well as reports from the Technical Director, interim CFO, interim Human Resources Director, Interim Development Director and the reports from the General Managers of our five stations.
We have almost 150 affiliates presently. This means that there are stations all over the country, with some new ones added in Africa this year, that are airing Pacifica programs. This expands our reach to many of the nooks and crannies of our nation and beyond. The Affiliate Program is stable, expanding and has tremendous potential thanks to the good stewardship of Ursula Rudenberg, the Affiliates Director. Ursula is currently working out of Greenville, Mississippi, where, after work, she is volunteering to help develop of a new community radio station. Ursula says: "The Pacifica foundation is deeply appreciated by residents here, for supporting their effort to build a station. In this, one of the poorest communities in the United States, a community radio station will become a p ivotal force. Greenville is also positioning itself to assist what will hopefully be a chain of new southern community radio stations, including Clarksdale, MS, Lake Village, AK, Eutaw AL, Albany, GA, the Houma Nation in Louisiana, Port St. Joe, FL, and many others."
According to Brian DeShazor, Pacifica Archives Director, 'the Pacifica Radio Archives (PRA) is experiencing the most productive period in its 35 year history in areas of preservation and access, programming, premium development and publication.' Tens of thousands of dollars of grant funding has been secured by Brian and the Archives staff and much preservation work is ongoing. For example, the Pacifica Radio Archives has been awarded $10,000 to be part of Phase 1 of the American Archive Pilot Program (AAPP) which is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. There is a very good chance that PRA will receive a $100,000 grant soon as part of Phase 2 of this project!!
This winter was our weakest point in many years financially. Reserves that had been being depleted for years started to hit rock bottom. Large bequests and donations that had served to keep us afloat in the recent past have not been forthcoming. Fund drives came in below target, off-air fund raising did not meet expectations and our stations were feeling the impact of cuts in staff and expenses. The spring brought a mild recovery in fund drive performance, with particularly spectacular improvement at WBAI. KPFK came in about 6%=2 0below its winter drive. KPFA held steady and came in a tiny bit below budget in their spring drive but that was a big improvement over the 15% it was under budget in its winter drive. The shortfall at WPFW still hurt but although the drive came in 16% under the budgeted goal, but that was better than fall and winter drives. KPFT's decline also lessened. KPFK and KPFT expect to close this fiscal year at the end of September on budget. KPFA is working hard to come in on budget, although it may come in 5% to 12% under. WBAI will be under budget, but a lot less than was projected before the May fund drive. WPFW needs serious attention. We're not out of trouble - our cash reserves remain very low - but there are definite hopeful signs that we can continue this tenuous recovery, improve income substantially and weather both our internal financial challenges and those presented by widespread economic decline.
Unlike many other nonprofits, our financial problems began a number of years ago. Slowly eroding listenership has directly correlated to declining net income and declining membership at all our stations for the last 4 or 5 years. Although we have been impacted by the plunging world economy, our income has been more stable than many nonprofits. This is due to the enormous creativity of our staff, our mainly small donor funding base, our prudent austerity measures and our flexibility as an organization. We have a unique income stream=2 0consisting primarily of small donations. We can always do a bit more on-air fund raising if we're in an emergency. We don't like this option, as it creates donor fatigue and lowers listenership, but it's there as a last resort. Also, the fact that we don't depend on income from investments is also something that sets us apart from many Foundations. In fact, a recent issue of 'The Network', a newsletter from the Institute for Conservation Leadership, ref: http://www.icl.org/toolkits/benchmarking.php , explains that many foundations are cutting their giving after losing 20-40% of their assets.
Currently, the weakest income budget line items at all five of our stations is off-air fund raising. It's not surprising that our strongest income is currently coming from on-air fundraising. Donations are often seen as a luxury item in a family or individual's budget. However, we've been finding that premiums that address critical audience needs are bringing in a surprising amount of pledge dollars. KPFK's recent fund drive showed us the current strength of health-related premiums, for instance.
Our financial situation needs to be looked at relative to other segments of the nonprofit world. As an example, here's a quote from the New York Times, June 27, 2009: “The recession has led foundations, corporations, state governments and colleges themselves to reduce their support of providers of scholars hips, and in recent months programs have been reduced or canceled outright. The cuts come as economic conditions make it harder for families to pay for college and as more unemployed people look for financing for retraining. The result will probably be a greater role for federal aid programs in supporting students, instead of private scholarship providers and state governments, said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, whose members are colleges and universities."
A staff member at the Radio Resource Consortium, which provides Arbitrons to radio stations, including ours, said that many college supported radio stations have seen their budgets cut drastically due to sharp college endowment income declines.
I would like to take a moment to mention my appreciation for the hard work of all our managers and staff. I am acutely aware that austerity measures that were needed have increased the workload of most staff members. I continue to be impressed by the creativity and resilience of our staff. I would like to thank you all for your hard work and commitment to Pacifica.
Management changes were made in May at WBAI. Those changes resulted in a substantial increase in the latest fund drive pledge total, which exceeded projections by $292,000. Further, backlogs of premium fulfillment and membership database entry are being addressed and will be made current soon even if it takes a top to bottom restructuring of that department. Staff from KPFK were 'loaned' for a while to WBAI and this cooperation between two of our stations with the willingness of other stations to help out as well, plus help from the National Office, has shown what we can do when we work cooperatively as a network. The strong recovery at WBAI could not have been done without this. Much thanks goes to all the staff at WBAI, with special appreciation to LaVarn Williams, Pacifica iCFO who is doing double-duty as WBAI iGM, Kathy Davis, WBAI Public Affairs Director, and Tony Bates, interim Program Director who is a recent import from KPFK.
More recently, management changes have been made at WPFW. We have every assurance that that station, which has had sharp revenue declines in the last year, will also soon begin a financial recovery.
Every station, except KPFA, cut expenses in the fall of 2008. KPFA is going to make those budget adjustments shortly. But austerity measures are not enough. Our stations are at the point where further substantial cuts would be counterproductive.
So what do we do? Our listenership and market shares (the percentage of available radio listeners who are tuned in) at all five stations are very low. This delineates both the problem and the opportunity. Improved programming along with creative public relations, some advertising and just plain getting the word out will result in improved listenership. Our potential upside in listenership i s enormous!! We must focus on excellence in radio. Our programs must be relevant, speak to the needs of our audience in these troubled times and offer a positive vision both for individuals and this culture. As the general economy shows signs of further erosion, we must not only boost our listenership to prior levels, but beyond as that is the only way we will be able to both impact society and bring in needed resources to stay sustainable as a network.
This is not to say that our stations are not constantly broadcasting excellent content. They are!! But everything can and should be improved. For instance, KPFT is embarking on significant program improvement this week. I earlier mentioned the help our stations are giving each other. Collaboration between stations, such as KPFA and KPFK teaming up to produce the 6 pm news together, http://www.kpfa.org/press/kpfk-and-kpfa-launch-california-wide-newscast-while-news-outlets-shrink-across-us-stations-exp , is evidence of a sharing of resources that is beneficial to both stations. The excellent series, 'Letters from Washington, the First 100 Days', http://www.kpfa.org/short-run-series/letters-washington-first-100-days-obamas-administration , produced at KPFA and anchored by Mitch Jeserich,=2 0was picked up by other stations and affiliates, and is another example of excellence and cooperation. Also, Sonali Kolhatkar's 'Uprising' digest which is being picked up by other stations and affiliates, Michio Kaku's 'Explorations', etc. The recent broadcast of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings emanating from Washington, D.C. and the Noam Chomsky broadcast emanating from New York and other programming available network-wide continues the long tradition in Pacifica of bringing important in-depth coverage not found elsewhere. The plan at WBAI to create a very syndicatible hip hop/music news/political show featuring Chuck D of Public Enemy is another example of how we can provide perspectives not found elsewhere.
Jon Almeleh, Pacifica Technical Director, deserves special recognition for the special national broadcasts just mentioned. He makes sure our websites are being constantly worked on. Specific software applications have been written recently to assist with our elections, staff databases, and some of our calendar and meeting announcements are automated now, the Audioport is being updated and corrected, etc. Hardware improvements have also been made.
And, by the way, Radio is NOT dead. According to the Northern California Broadcaster's Association, ref: http://www.ncradio.com/ , radio listenership has grown by 16% since 1994 and has added 6 million listeners since 2005. ref: https://emd9.rdg.com/ncradio/att/ncradio-27745-2.html
In fact, “what Radio has going for it is a huge and stable audience, with some 90 percent of Americans listening at some point each week.” These words come from researcher Kevin Downey of Media Life Magazine. ref: https://emd9.rdg.com/ncradio/att/ncradio-2321-2.html
There is a hunger for our core message. Common wisdom has been turned on its head and our listeners and potential listeners want to hear new answers. Can we provide direction for the ongoing paradigm shift of this society? Can we rise to the occasion?
Here is a thumbnail sketch of the direction we plan to continue on:
1) Programming improvement at every station. Routine program evaluation will be implemented on a standardized model so that changes are decided in as objective and collaborative a way as possible. Market research and inexpensive advertising will be explored as options. Internships and mentoring will be considered as ways to improve program quality and enrich links to our listening communities. Volunteerism will be encouraged and supported. The Pacifica Mission, Principles and Commitment to Diversity will figure prominently in this process.
2) Standardized financial reporting. Unnecessary waste of staff resources has been caused by the lack of standardized book keeping and financia l reporting. Business Managers are now being trained to report in a timely fashion and in a way that can be digested easily on the National level.
3) Policy and procedures. Existing Pacifica policies and procedures are being unearthed, dusted off and put into use. On-line training that is extremely cost effective is being rolled out as we speak and will include sexual harassment and anti-discrimination training, employee evaluation training, etc. Where policies don't exist or have been lost on the National level, we will find workable local station policies and see that they are adopted nationally. Where even those aren't adequate, policies will be adapted from other sources or written from scratch.
4) Standardized management reporting. Standardized reporting will be put into effect so that an Executive Director will be able to evaluate managers and stations by performance criteria, not by rumor or narrative alone.
5) Liability Prevention. Measures will be taken to prevent legal liability and to fully comply with all legal requirements. This will include strengthening our Community Advisory Boards.
6) Good legal stewardship. Efforts are and will continue to be made to assess and settle or resolve legal cases and disputes.
7) Well run Elections. The Elections will be properly overseen and new boards will be seated at our 5 stations in December as we project no election timeline problems.
0A8) More permanent senior management. The search for a strong Executive Director and CFO is ongoing and will hopefully result in a smooth transition from interim to permanent management.
9) Improved web presence and expansion into other media platforms. Our websites and web presence will be upgraded as resources allow. As we regain our footing, start accumulating reserves, and have funding for advancement we will be able to expand Internet and digital broadcasting and improve our infrastructure. This may include obtaining a 24/7, 'Best of Pacifica' Sirius/XM station.
What have I left out? YOU. We need every one of you to put aside past grievances. Our Bylaws specifically state that Pacifica is committed to peace and social justice as well as diversity. Let's follow our Mission and make every effort to "contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors". And I would add between ourselves. Progress can't be made in the past, only the future. What do we want to see ahead of us? Let's decide and then move toward that vision.
In Peace,
Grace Aaron
Chair of the Pacifica National Board
Interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation
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As John surely must know already, WBAI lived beyond its means for many years.
As John surely must know, listeners at other Pacifica stations were contributing enough to defray SOME of WBAI's excessive expenses (i.e. excessive because annually they were greater than WBAI's revenue).
As John surely must know, there was collusion between the Pacifica CFO who departed last year (Lonnie Hicks, now suing Pacifica) and a series of WBAI managers (also now departed) to obscure this.
As John SHOULD know, but perhaps does not (it's "ancient history", hidden in the only-recently-opened archives of the WBAI Finance Committee), the previous CFO gave lip service to a need to control finances, but year after year imposed an unrealistic budget on WBAI -- eagerly ratified by "Justice & Unity" members of the committee,who vilified those of us who said listener-support projections were unrealistically high and expense projections unrealistically low.
These "Pollyanna-ish" budgets were ratified and sent to PNB by LSBs dominated by the JUC, year after year -- except for one year whn the non-JUC had a majority and sent a more realistic budget to the PNB. What happened? It was RE-WRITTEN by Lonnie Hicks and accepted by a JUC-ally-dominated PNB: one more year of an unrealistic budget that pretended there was NOT a continued decrease in net revenue.
John MOST surely should know THIS: when the interim CFO/inteim GM of WBAI arrived on the scene, she discovered how badly WBAI was in arrears for MANY accounts. So much in arrears to the landlord that we were threatened with eviction: http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/evictionnotice.html
Even after that was revealed, it took some time to discover that this was NOT the FIRST time this had happened: http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/wbairentnoticedec2008.html
Now, here's where Tony Riddle contributed to the ACCELERATED decline in net revenue: instead of REPORTING either of these threats to his superiors (particularly the iED), Tony tried to hide this by working out his own amateurish emergency deal with the landlord (instead of getting advice and help from national office). This deal required WBAI to pay arrears at the rate of TWO MONTHS' RENT every month -- with revenue which could not manage to pay even ONE month's rent every month. Who really paid this double bill? Listeners at other stations, transferring the accelerated decline in net revenue to PACIFICA.
There's more, worse: we have had to catch up on our arrears in rent of the TRANSMITTER ROOM & ANTENNA -- else lose something which is irreplaceable and which we could NEVER be able to get back if we lost it.
And of course there's non-payment of the company hired to mail out some of our 6,000 backlogged premiums -- last summer, Ayo Harrington (one of those "unfairly" laid off -- NOT by LaVarn Williams but by TONY RIDDLE) told the mailing house to "recycle" those premiums which they had not mailed out.
Also, arrears to AP and IDT. Etc.
It is because years of "Pollyanna-ish" budgets and stiffing creditors (I think Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! is one) have finally caught up with Pacifica and Pacifica is FINALLY forced to pay-up or shut the doors that Pacifica's net is going down more rapidly now.
The reason for Grace Aaron's optimism? For the first time in the past 6 years or more, we have people in charge who have sufficient sense of reality and sufficient devotion to fiduciary duty to do what needs to be done. This may not be enough to reverse the multi-year decline (in EVERY area: membership, listeners, financial support), but it gives us a better chance of doing it than we'd have if the old PNB mutual-protection turf-holders were still in charge or if -- lord help us! -- any of them manage to "take back" what JUC thinks is "their station".
As John surely must know, listeners at other Pacifica stations were contributing enough to defray SOME of WBAI's excessive expenses (i.e. excessive because annually they were greater than WBAI's revenue).
As John surely must know, there was collusion between the Pacifica CFO who departed last year (Lonnie Hicks, now suing Pacifica) and a series of WBAI managers (also now departed) to obscure this.
As John SHOULD know, but perhaps does not (it's "ancient history", hidden in the only-recently-opened archives of the WBAI Finance Committee), the previous CFO gave lip service to a need to control finances, but year after year imposed an unrealistic budget on WBAI -- eagerly ratified by "Justice & Unity" members of the committee,who vilified those of us who said listener-support projections were unrealistically high and expense projections unrealistically low.
These "Pollyanna-ish" budgets were ratified and sent to PNB by LSBs dominated by the JUC, year after year -- except for one year whn the non-JUC had a majority and sent a more realistic budget to the PNB. What happened? It was RE-WRITTEN by Lonnie Hicks and accepted by a JUC-ally-dominated PNB: one more year of an unrealistic budget that pretended there was NOT a continued decrease in net revenue.
John MOST surely should know THIS: when the interim CFO/inteim GM of WBAI arrived on the scene, she discovered how badly WBAI was in arrears for MANY accounts. So much in arrears to the landlord that we were threatened with eviction: http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/evictionnotice.html
Even after that was revealed, it took some time to discover that this was NOT the FIRST time this had happened: http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/wbairentnoticedec2008.html
Now, here's where Tony Riddle contributed to the ACCELERATED decline in net revenue: instead of REPORTING either of these threats to his superiors (particularly the iED), Tony tried to hide this by working out his own amateurish emergency deal with the landlord (instead of getting advice and help from national office). This deal required WBAI to pay arrears at the rate of TWO MONTHS' RENT every month -- with revenue which could not manage to pay even ONE month's rent every month. Who really paid this double bill? Listeners at other stations, transferring the accelerated decline in net revenue to PACIFICA.
There's more, worse: we have had to catch up on our arrears in rent of the TRANSMITTER ROOM & ANTENNA -- else lose something which is irreplaceable and which we could NEVER be able to get back if we lost it.
And of course there's non-payment of the company hired to mail out some of our 6,000 backlogged premiums -- last summer, Ayo Harrington (one of those "unfairly" laid off -- NOT by LaVarn Williams but by TONY RIDDLE) told the mailing house to "recycle" those premiums which they had not mailed out.
Also, arrears to AP and IDT. Etc.
It is because years of "Pollyanna-ish" budgets and stiffing creditors (I think Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! is one) have finally caught up with Pacifica and Pacifica is FINALLY forced to pay-up or shut the doors that Pacifica's net is going down more rapidly now.
The reason for Grace Aaron's optimism? For the first time in the past 6 years or more, we have people in charge who have sufficient sense of reality and sufficient devotion to fiduciary duty to do what needs to be done. This may not be enough to reverse the multi-year decline (in EVERY area: membership, listeners, financial support), but it gives us a better chance of doing it than we'd have if the old PNB mutual-protection turf-holders were still in charge or if -- lord help us! -- any of them manage to "take back" what JUC thinks is "their station".
For more information:
http://takeFORWRDwbai.org
Frank LeFever is simply wrong on several counts:
(1) Frank apparently has not even looked at the Pacifica P & L spreadsheet for the nine-month period ending 6/30/2009; in any event, he does not account for the YTD variance of $2.3 Million compared to the prior year's first three quarters (a drop of 96% in Net Income).
(2) Catching up on the back studio rent and antenna rent at WBAI MIGHT account for $300,000 (at the very outside) of the variance from the prior year; paying down the arrears to AP, IDT, Democracy Now! and other creditors MIGHT account for another $200,000 (supposing those arrears actually have been paid down); that would still leave a DROP in Net Income of $1.8 Million MINIMUM compared to the prior year. That is a 75% decrease in Net Income EXCLUSIVE of the WBAI back rent issues and other overdue bill issues.
(3) A P&L Statement reports Net Income (or Loss). Merely recognizing overdue bills has no effect on the P&L Statement other than to the extent that those bills are actually paid down.
(4) Frank is more interested in pointing fingers than in identifying problems and finding solutions. "Some of the acceleration at WBAI is directly due to Tony Riddle's [actions]...", Frank writes.
(5) Unless someone can demonstrate otherwise, the financial numbers in the P & L Statement strongly suggest that a majority of the 2008-2009 year-to-year drop in Pacifica's Net Income is not related to WBAI's problems.
== John H. Reynolds
Non-Aligned Candidate for the WBAI LSB
(1) Frank apparently has not even looked at the Pacifica P & L spreadsheet for the nine-month period ending 6/30/2009; in any event, he does not account for the YTD variance of $2.3 Million compared to the prior year's first three quarters (a drop of 96% in Net Income).
(2) Catching up on the back studio rent and antenna rent at WBAI MIGHT account for $300,000 (at the very outside) of the variance from the prior year; paying down the arrears to AP, IDT, Democracy Now! and other creditors MIGHT account for another $200,000 (supposing those arrears actually have been paid down); that would still leave a DROP in Net Income of $1.8 Million MINIMUM compared to the prior year. That is a 75% decrease in Net Income EXCLUSIVE of the WBAI back rent issues and other overdue bill issues.
(3) A P&L Statement reports Net Income (or Loss). Merely recognizing overdue bills has no effect on the P&L Statement other than to the extent that those bills are actually paid down.
(4) Frank is more interested in pointing fingers than in identifying problems and finding solutions. "Some of the acceleration at WBAI is directly due to Tony Riddle's [actions]...", Frank writes.
(5) Unless someone can demonstrate otherwise, the financial numbers in the P & L Statement strongly suggest that a majority of the 2008-2009 year-to-year drop in Pacifica's Net Income is not related to WBAI's problems.
== John H. Reynolds
Non-Aligned Candidate for the WBAI LSB
THE PACIFICA FINANCIAL CRISIS!
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Previous WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,000,000.00 in back central services contributions. Each station contributes 20% of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.
Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB. The current affiliate reps are Mission oriented.
The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.
Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.
Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.
Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director. The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.
At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.
So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Conn or Matthew Hallinan, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.
To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belongs to all of us, and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained and unaccountable power.
Vote for http://www.peoplesradio.net candidates. Do not vote for anyone running on the CL Slate or endorsed by CL candidates or allies. TAKE BACK KPFA.
Richard Phelps, candidate for the LSB, former Chair, KPFA LSB, former AM & FM radio announcer, currently attorney/mediator with 45 years of peace and social justice activism.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Previous WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,000,000.00 in back central services contributions. Each station contributes 20% of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.
Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB. The current affiliate reps are Mission oriented.
The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.
Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.
Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.
Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director. The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.
At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.
So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Conn or Matthew Hallinan, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.
To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belongs to all of us, and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained and unaccountable power.
Vote for http://www.peoplesradio.net candidates. Do not vote for anyone running on the CL Slate or endorsed by CL candidates or allies. TAKE BACK KPFA.
Richard Phelps, candidate for the LSB, former Chair, KPFA LSB, former AM & FM radio announcer, currently attorney/mediator with 45 years of peace and social justice activism.
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