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Concerned Listeners’ Solutions for KPFA
There’s a group on KPFA’s board—they run under a different banner every year—that is hostile to the station’s professional staff, enamored of conspiracy theories, doctrinaire in their approach to public affairs, and sectarian in their approach to internal politics–they’d rather attack KPFA than improve it. They have sucked up a tremendous amount of the station’s time and energy, when it really doesn’t have any to spare. They’ve bogged the station down in petty infighting, and tried to blame most of the station’s problems on the people who’ve been fending them off as they try to improve things.
If you’re a KPFA member, you should gotten a ballot by now from the Pacifica Foundation that asks you to rank 29 candidates for nine seats on KPFA’s Local Station Board. Here are the people I’m endorsing (I’ll explain why below). You can read more about them at ww.concernedlisteners.org. In no particular order: Conn Hallinan, Dan Siegel, Andrea j. Turner, Mike Smith, John Van Eyck, Jack Kurzweil, Virginia Rodriguez, Pamela Drake, Donald Goldmacher, Mark Hernandez.
Here’s the situation: KPFA, and Pacifica (the nonprofit network that owns KPFA) are on the brink. Literally. When the economy tanked, it decimated fundraising across the network. That compounded long-term trends in Pacifica—stagnant audiences, rising costs—and has rapidly drained the network’s cash reserve.
Our only hope is to rejuvenate Pacifica’s programming, bring more listeners into the fold, and start to re-build.
So the question is: whither KPFA? There’s a group on KPFA’s board—they run under a different banner every year—that is hostile to the station’s professional staff, enamored of conspiracy theories, doctrinaire in their approach to public affairs, and sectarian in their approach to internal politics–they’d rather attack KPFA than improve it. They have sucked up a tremendous amount of the station’s time and energy, when it really doesn’t have any to spare. They’ve bogged the station down in petty infighting, and tried to blame most of the station’s problems on the people who’ve been fending them off as they try to improve things.
Then there’s the slate I’m endorsing: “Concerned Listeners for KPFA.” They stand for professionalism, unity, inclusiveness, and diversity at KPFA—and bring an impressive range of professional and movement credentials to the table: Here’s what KPFA’s accomplished under the slate’s stewardship:
Programming
Special Broadcasts. KPFA organized the ground-breaking Winter Soldier broadcasts, which filled a national media vacuum, won a Project Censored Award, and helped point the way forward for online multimedia synergy during Pacifica broadcasts.
New Programs. KPFA brought to the airwaves some of the best programs from its sister stations: KPFK’s Uprising, and WBAI’s Behind the News—a left economics program much needed during this turbulent economic time.
Political Coverage. KPFA led the rest of the network in organizing national coverage of the 2008 election, from the primaries through the conventions.
Special Series. KPFA organized the nationally-distributed series “Letters to Washington”—just back this week—bringing to the air much-needed critical perspectives on the beginnings of the Obama administration.
Expanded News Operations. KPFA and KPFK (its sister station in Los Angeles) have integrated their news rooms into a statewide newsgathering operation—one soon joined by KFCF in Fresno, a direct outgrowth of an LSB meeting in Fresno organized by Concerned Listeners members.
Rejuvenated local programming. KPFA’s given its morning show a complete makeover, increasing its audience and fundraising.
Infrastructure. KPFA has undertaken the first serious upgrades in years to its physical and technical infrastructure. Thanks to drainage improvements made last summer, KPFA’s studios no longer flood during heavy rain. Structural retrofits have made the building more stable. Retrofit work on KPFA’s entrance has mechanized the doors for better wheelchair access. A new booster in Oakley has expanded the reach of KPFA’s signal. And an air-chain upgrade currently underway will improve the sound of KPFA’s signal.
Finances. Under Concerned Listeners leadership, KPFA has produced the most-detailed budgets in the Pacifica network, amassed the largest cash reserves in the network, and—even in the current economic crisis—kept more money in its bank accounts than any of the other Pacifica stations.
KPFA’s gotten there because its board majority has supported professional management, realistic budgeting, and accountability from Pacifica National. Specifically, the Concerned Listeners have:
Raised thousands of dollars to help KPFA expand its signal
Brought a much-needed breath of civility to KPFA’s often-rancorous board meetings
Brought an unprecedented level of transparency and detail to the budgeting process.
Taken strong stands in support of financial accountability at Pacifica, the nonprofit that owns KPFA
Completed the hire of a permanent general manager after years of interim management
We’re not out of the woods. KPFA is currently running a deficit, and facing some hard choices ahead. The rest of the Pacifica network is in still-worse circumstances, and giving indications they may raid KPFA’s accounts to pay some of their bills.
KPFA needs a board that can support it (rather than attack it) through hard times, and stand up for their station in national Pacifica politics. That’s why I’m endorsing the Concerned Listeners for KPFA. I know the candidates, and they will be good for KPFA. Check them out at concernedlisteners.org.
No doubt there are other worthy candidates in the mix—I don’t know everyone who’s running, and I won’t endorse someone I don’t know. I’ve seen too many people cloak personal vendettas and hidden agendas in reasonable-sounding candidate statements to do otherwise.
It is vitally important that you educate yourself about the election and vote. Your ballot is due October 14th—turn it in now so you don’t forget.
Brian Edwards-Tiekert is KPFA Environmental Justice Beat Reporter Free Speech Radio News collective member and Staff representative and treasurer, KPFA Local Station Board
Here’s the situation: KPFA, and Pacifica (the nonprofit network that owns KPFA) are on the brink. Literally. When the economy tanked, it decimated fundraising across the network. That compounded long-term trends in Pacifica—stagnant audiences, rising costs—and has rapidly drained the network’s cash reserve.
Our only hope is to rejuvenate Pacifica’s programming, bring more listeners into the fold, and start to re-build.
So the question is: whither KPFA? There’s a group on KPFA’s board—they run under a different banner every year—that is hostile to the station’s professional staff, enamored of conspiracy theories, doctrinaire in their approach to public affairs, and sectarian in their approach to internal politics–they’d rather attack KPFA than improve it. They have sucked up a tremendous amount of the station’s time and energy, when it really doesn’t have any to spare. They’ve bogged the station down in petty infighting, and tried to blame most of the station’s problems on the people who’ve been fending them off as they try to improve things.
Then there’s the slate I’m endorsing: “Concerned Listeners for KPFA.” They stand for professionalism, unity, inclusiveness, and diversity at KPFA—and bring an impressive range of professional and movement credentials to the table: Here’s what KPFA’s accomplished under the slate’s stewardship:
Programming
Special Broadcasts. KPFA organized the ground-breaking Winter Soldier broadcasts, which filled a national media vacuum, won a Project Censored Award, and helped point the way forward for online multimedia synergy during Pacifica broadcasts.
New Programs. KPFA brought to the airwaves some of the best programs from its sister stations: KPFK’s Uprising, and WBAI’s Behind the News—a left economics program much needed during this turbulent economic time.
Political Coverage. KPFA led the rest of the network in organizing national coverage of the 2008 election, from the primaries through the conventions.
Special Series. KPFA organized the nationally-distributed series “Letters to Washington”—just back this week—bringing to the air much-needed critical perspectives on the beginnings of the Obama administration.
Expanded News Operations. KPFA and KPFK (its sister station in Los Angeles) have integrated their news rooms into a statewide newsgathering operation—one soon joined by KFCF in Fresno, a direct outgrowth of an LSB meeting in Fresno organized by Concerned Listeners members.
Rejuvenated local programming. KPFA’s given its morning show a complete makeover, increasing its audience and fundraising.
Infrastructure. KPFA has undertaken the first serious upgrades in years to its physical and technical infrastructure. Thanks to drainage improvements made last summer, KPFA’s studios no longer flood during heavy rain. Structural retrofits have made the building more stable. Retrofit work on KPFA’s entrance has mechanized the doors for better wheelchair access. A new booster in Oakley has expanded the reach of KPFA’s signal. And an air-chain upgrade currently underway will improve the sound of KPFA’s signal.
Finances. Under Concerned Listeners leadership, KPFA has produced the most-detailed budgets in the Pacifica network, amassed the largest cash reserves in the network, and—even in the current economic crisis—kept more money in its bank accounts than any of the other Pacifica stations.
KPFA’s gotten there because its board majority has supported professional management, realistic budgeting, and accountability from Pacifica National. Specifically, the Concerned Listeners have:
Raised thousands of dollars to help KPFA expand its signal
Brought a much-needed breath of civility to KPFA’s often-rancorous board meetings
Brought an unprecedented level of transparency and detail to the budgeting process.
Taken strong stands in support of financial accountability at Pacifica, the nonprofit that owns KPFA
Completed the hire of a permanent general manager after years of interim management
We’re not out of the woods. KPFA is currently running a deficit, and facing some hard choices ahead. The rest of the Pacifica network is in still-worse circumstances, and giving indications they may raid KPFA’s accounts to pay some of their bills.
KPFA needs a board that can support it (rather than attack it) through hard times, and stand up for their station in national Pacifica politics. That’s why I’m endorsing the Concerned Listeners for KPFA. I know the candidates, and they will be good for KPFA. Check them out at concernedlisteners.org.
No doubt there are other worthy candidates in the mix—I don’t know everyone who’s running, and I won’t endorse someone I don’t know. I’ve seen too many people cloak personal vendettas and hidden agendas in reasonable-sounding candidate statements to do otherwise.
It is vitally important that you educate yourself about the election and vote. Your ballot is due October 14th—turn it in now so you don’t forget.
Brian Edwards-Tiekert is KPFA Environmental Justice Beat Reporter Free Speech Radio News collective member and Staff representative and treasurer, KPFA Local Station Board
For more information:
http://www.concernedlisteners.org/
Add Your Comments
Comments
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Dan Siegel
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/06/18621084.php
Conn Hallinan is almost as good
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/20/18622611.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/06/18621084.php
Conn Hallinan is almost as good
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/20/18622611.php
There was another article about Brian Edwards-Tiekert's solutions in the week's Berkeley Daily Planet
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/issue/2009-09-10/article/33708?headline=KPFA-Let-s-Get-Real
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/issue/2009-09-10/article/33708?headline=KPFA-Let-s-Get-Real
For more information:
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/issue/2009-09...
The Concerned Listeners may be proud of consolidating KPFA and KPFK news but how do folks in LA feel about it? What happened to KPFK's news staff? KPFA's news broadcasts are almost unlistenable, with the announcers either unable to read any story without stumbling over words, speaking in a pseudo poetic sing song, whispering faintly from Sacramento, or subjecting listeners to every breath-snort-hack-and-vocal tic (don't they have mute buttons on those mics or train people how to keep the mics at a comfortable sounding distance?). If the Concerned Listeners are so proud of the professionalism of the news casters, why do they continue to sound so unprofessional? The diversity of voices of the stringers is OK, but a far cry from the heyday of Pacifica National News in the 1980s and 1990s. Bring back Verna Avery Brown, please!
Do we really want to sign on to a Faustian Bargain?
There have been several candidate forums thru out the KPFA Listening area .Alameda , Marin, Sf, Solano,Santa Clara and Sonoma counties . Except for the every first one in Berkeley the CL have been No shows . Almost. One candidate showed up three times and another one at one event . In contrast all the Peoples Radio , Voices for Justice , and the Indys for Community Radio slates have all been out in force , with all PR candidates showing up for all events except one .
Bybasicially boycotting these events the "" Concerned Listeners'' aren't too ''concerned '' about the time and energy the audience took to show up.
Why won't they appear and answer questions ? Maybe they feel they already have the election locked up by virtue of their far superior $ and contacts with Mainstream Liberals . They also were helped by the e blast that was sent out by the Labor council . (Too bad it was a lie ! )
Bybasicially boycotting these events the "" Concerned Listeners'' aren't too ''concerned '' about the time and energy the audience took to show up.
Why won't they appear and answer questions ? Maybe they feel they already have the election locked up by virtue of their far superior $ and contacts with Mainstream Liberals . They also were helped by the e blast that was sent out by the Labor council . (Too bad it was a lie ! )
One more transparent attempt to maintain control while admitting "literal" failure. Why not just admit the cold hard truth about why KPFA is failing: incompetent management. Period. Brian if you want to fix something, fix that. Or is present management an important part of holding onto your position?
Why support a professional staff that does not encourage community involvement in a station created to empower the community? Why work yourself into a position of power, ingratiate yourself with staff and then, ignore the principles that guide the station you claim to support? Either you do not realise that you support an inept staff and therefore are also inept or you know you lie, and are certain you can get away with it.
THE PACIFICA FINANCIAL CRISIS!
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction in March of 2009. 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 $1,100,000.00 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 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. Bonnie Simmons, CL endorser, made a motion to rescind the required election coverage. It didn’t pass. And we will have a more inclusive election this year. No thanks to CL and its allies.
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.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB
Vote for the people that have the insight and courage to bring you the truth and this analysis, PeoplesRadio.net candidates: Richard Phelps, Stan Woods, Gerald Ssnders, and Jim Curtis.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction in March of 2009. 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 $1,100,000.00 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 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. Bonnie Simmons, CL endorser, made a motion to rescind the required election coverage. It didn’t pass. And we will have a more inclusive election this year. No thanks to CL and its allies.
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.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB
Vote for the people that have the insight and courage to bring you the truth and this analysis, PeoplesRadio.net candidates: Richard Phelps, Stan Woods, Gerald Ssnders, and Jim Curtis.
KPFA: TEN YEARS AFTER THE 1999 HIJACK ATTEMPT
After mass listener support rescued KPFA and the Pacifica Foundation from a self appointed Pacifica National Board (PNB) that was planning to sell KPFA or one of the other stations and take the “community” out of the network, new democratic Bylaws were written and adopted. The Bylaws process was long and difficult and like all new progressive ideas on governance they aren’t perfect. Neither is the U.S. Constitution, which has 27 amendments and still needs some major work. You can read the Bylaws at http://www.pacifica.org/governance/PacificaBylaws-new.html . Pacifica’s Bylaws state a commitment for peace and social justice, Article One, Section 3. It seems inconceivable that peace and social justice can even be approached with out a democratic process with transparency and accountability. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
What has become clear, as Pacifica embarked on a new democratic path, is that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! Most listener activists and some staff supported the new democratic process and welcomed the involvement and input of the listener/subscribers who are the regular audience and the financial supporters of the station and Pacifica.
At KPFA some staff and their listener supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who gets air time and jobs. This latter group has used the power of the stations progressive reputation and the power of the microphone to maintain control and frustrate the new Bylaws in many ways. The staff/ listener group I am referring to was identified by an e-mail from Brian Edwards-Tiekert to the other “insiders” that became public in 2005. You can read the e-mail at http://peoplesradio.net/Dismantle.htm. The author acknowledged its authenticity and the group now claims that it never met to discuss “dismantling the Local Station Board (LSB)”, aka the democratic process, or “how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?”
The other members of this group were a mix of listeners, paid staff, unpaid staff and management in 2005, when the e-mail was written. Most have moved up in the power hierarchy: Lemlem Rijio, then Development Director, now General Manager; Sasha Lilley, then paid staff, now Interim Program Director appointed by Lemlem Rijio; Bonnie Simmons, then LSB staff representative, now PNB; Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, then unpaid staff, now paid Director of Arts and Public Affairs; Sherry Gendelman, then Listener LSB, now PNB; Lisa Rothman, paid executive producer of the Morning Show, Lisa had a beautiful baby and in 2006 left KPFA. This group has been supported by their electoral counter parts, first called KPFAForward in the 2004 election and now Concerned Listeners (CL).
Let’s see what these folks have done to “dismantle the LSB”. In 2003 the KPFA Program Council, made up of paid and unpaid staff and listeners, voted to move Democracy Now! (DN!) to Prime time, 7-8am and move the morning show to 8-10am. There had been significant listener demand/support for this time change and having worked several years in radio, AM & FM, I know the following, it is common practice and common sense to put your most popular/dynamic program in prime time. Lisa Rothman didn’t want “her” program moved from “its” prime time position and her allies in the control group made sure it didn’t happen.
In May 2004 the LSB voted to move DN! to prime time as per the Program Council’s prior vote and set up a protocol on how to deal with program changes with management and the Program Council. The new interim GM, Jim Bennett, refused to make the time change and ignored the LSB Resolution. Dan Coughlin, the Executive Director (ED) of Pacifica, appointed Jim Bennett. Coughlin was an ally of the KPFA control group and worked closely with them to stifle transparency and Director’s Inspections of the financial records. Director’s Inspections are an “absolute right” given to Corporate Directors to facilitate their fiduciary responsibilities, California Corporations Code Section 6334 and Article 12, Section 3 of the Pacifica Bylaws. For more information on why the PNB allowed this to happen see my May 14, 2009 article http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-05-14/article/32873?headline=The-Pacifica-Financial-Crisis-Who-is-Responsible- .
In 2007 GM Lemlem Rijio and her appointed Interim Program Director, Sasha Lilley, quietly ended the Program Council after some months of describing it as “advisory.” The LSB under CL majority control ignored the previous Resolution codifying the Program Council and did nothing to save the Program Council. The CL majority didn’t vote to overturn the prior resolution since that would have exposed their undemocratic nature. They just looked the other way.
In 2007 GM Rijio took away the official status of the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO). UPSO existed to represent the unpaid staff at KPFA, more than 200 people. These are the people who do the majority of the work that goes on the air. After a two-year struggle UPSO is now being recognized after a change in Pacifica leadership and a directive to GM Rijio to do so. See the May 14, 2009 BDP article for more details on the change in leadership.
The vote on UPSO recognition at the LSB in 2007 was one of the very few times the CL didn’t vote in lock step to support Rijio’s consolidation of power. However the few defections didn’t change anything since at that time they controlled the PNB in collusion with some others local tyrannical majorities. This collusion elected Sherry Gendelman Chair of the PNB in 2008 and she did nothing to change the UPSO denial by the KPFA GM. Only after a change in the PNB majority, with the CL collusion losing control did the new PNB Chair and Interim ED, Grace Aaron lean on the KPFA GM to reinstate the UPSO.
The CL slate literature for the 2006 and 2007 LSB elections was silent on the issues of the Program Council and the DN! move to prime time. http://www.PeoplesRadio.net and most listener activists have consistently supported a Program Council with listener participation and the DN! move to prime time.
In January of 2009 the CL LSB majority voted to meet only once every other month. This despite the backlog of work to be done and how it effected the selection of LSB members to important PNB committees. All the stations elect the committee members in February. This year KPFA didn’t elect their committee representatives until March, despite my bringing this up to them during the January meeting before the vote to meet half as often and not in February.
How has the CL maintained its slim majority on the LSB. Here are some of the dirty tricks they have used to dominate the elections. In 2006 and 2007 GM Rijio refused to allow any election information to be broadcast when the ballots were sent out. Rijio’s justification was that there was, coincidently, a fund drive in progress. Election information was broadcast during fund drives at other stations. Each year CL spent thousands of dollars and sent out a slate mailer to arrive with the ballots during the election black out imposed by their ally Rijio. To top that off, in 2007 when they finally did run some candidate carts, they ran all 22 at once and Sherry Gendelman was first. After the election there was only one news story on KPFA about the election. Interviewed were Sherry Gendelman, a CL candidate, Matthew Lasar, a CL endorser, and Dan Siegel and Larry Bensky both CL allies and supporters and both guilty of using station or Foundation resources to support CL or attack their opponents in violation of election ethics. No listener activist candidates were interviewed.
In the upcoming election there will be ample airtime for the election since the new PNB majority has resolved that it will be so. Bonnie Simmons a CL/Rijio group PNB member recently made a motion to rescind the Resolution to require ample airtime for the election. As of this writing her motion hasn’t been up for debate and vote. However it comes out, the CL/Rijio group’s desire to limit information about the election and the candidates is clear and stands in stark contrast of the Mission of Pacifica.
Over a year ago Rijio took the visible link to the LSB page off the front page of the KPFA web site and hid it under “ABOUT”. They don’t announce the LSB meetings on the front page of the web site and often don’t announce them on the air as required by the Bylaws.
When they did the 60th anniversary celebration for KPFA and Pacifica this year they held a $300 dinner. I support having fundraisers and there also should have been a celebration open to the majority of our listeners. There was nothing official about the 10th anniversary of the struggle against the Hijackers, which brought 15,000 people to a rally and ended with new democratic Bylaws.
What is clear from the actions described above is that the CL/Rijio/Lilley regime has sought to eliminate democratic centers of power at the station and reduce listener input and concentrate power and control in their hands contrary to the Bylaws. At a LSB meeting in 2007 Rijio referred to the Bylaws when addressing the LSB as “your” Bylaws. Sasha Lilley has also made comments attacking the Bylaws.
“Our leadership elite may still want to believe in democratic principles-they certainly profess that they do-but in practice they have shown themselves all too willing to violate those principles in order to gain or retain power”,
Cornel West from his book Democracy Matters. And if democracy matters for you, it is time for a new majority on the KPFA LSB.
Vote for people with a consistent history of support for democratic process, transparency and accountability. Do not vote for any Concerned Listener candidates or anyone they endorse. Vote for http://www.PeoplesRadio.net candidates.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber, former AM & FM radio announcer. July 6, 2009.
After mass listener support rescued KPFA and the Pacifica Foundation from a self appointed Pacifica National Board (PNB) that was planning to sell KPFA or one of the other stations and take the “community” out of the network, new democratic Bylaws were written and adopted. The Bylaws process was long and difficult and like all new progressive ideas on governance they aren’t perfect. Neither is the U.S. Constitution, which has 27 amendments and still needs some major work. You can read the Bylaws at http://www.pacifica.org/governance/PacificaBylaws-new.html . Pacifica’s Bylaws state a commitment for peace and social justice, Article One, Section 3. It seems inconceivable that peace and social justice can even be approached with out a democratic process with transparency and accountability. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
What has become clear, as Pacifica embarked on a new democratic path, is that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! Most listener activists and some staff supported the new democratic process and welcomed the involvement and input of the listener/subscribers who are the regular audience and the financial supporters of the station and Pacifica.
At KPFA some staff and their listener supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who gets air time and jobs. This latter group has used the power of the stations progressive reputation and the power of the microphone to maintain control and frustrate the new Bylaws in many ways. The staff/ listener group I am referring to was identified by an e-mail from Brian Edwards-Tiekert to the other “insiders” that became public in 2005. You can read the e-mail at http://peoplesradio.net/Dismantle.htm. The author acknowledged its authenticity and the group now claims that it never met to discuss “dismantling the Local Station Board (LSB)”, aka the democratic process, or “how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?”
The other members of this group were a mix of listeners, paid staff, unpaid staff and management in 2005, when the e-mail was written. Most have moved up in the power hierarchy: Lemlem Rijio, then Development Director, now General Manager; Sasha Lilley, then paid staff, now Interim Program Director appointed by Lemlem Rijio; Bonnie Simmons, then LSB staff representative, now PNB; Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, then unpaid staff, now paid Director of Arts and Public Affairs; Sherry Gendelman, then Listener LSB, now PNB; Lisa Rothman, paid executive producer of the Morning Show, Lisa had a beautiful baby and in 2006 left KPFA. This group has been supported by their electoral counter parts, first called KPFAForward in the 2004 election and now Concerned Listeners (CL).
Let’s see what these folks have done to “dismantle the LSB”. In 2003 the KPFA Program Council, made up of paid and unpaid staff and listeners, voted to move Democracy Now! (DN!) to Prime time, 7-8am and move the morning show to 8-10am. There had been significant listener demand/support for this time change and having worked several years in radio, AM & FM, I know the following, it is common practice and common sense to put your most popular/dynamic program in prime time. Lisa Rothman didn’t want “her” program moved from “its” prime time position and her allies in the control group made sure it didn’t happen.
In May 2004 the LSB voted to move DN! to prime time as per the Program Council’s prior vote and set up a protocol on how to deal with program changes with management and the Program Council. The new interim GM, Jim Bennett, refused to make the time change and ignored the LSB Resolution. Dan Coughlin, the Executive Director (ED) of Pacifica, appointed Jim Bennett. Coughlin was an ally of the KPFA control group and worked closely with them to stifle transparency and Director’s Inspections of the financial records. Director’s Inspections are an “absolute right” given to Corporate Directors to facilitate their fiduciary responsibilities, California Corporations Code Section 6334 and Article 12, Section 3 of the Pacifica Bylaws. For more information on why the PNB allowed this to happen see my May 14, 2009 article http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-05-14/article/32873?headline=The-Pacifica-Financial-Crisis-Who-is-Responsible- .
In 2007 GM Lemlem Rijio and her appointed Interim Program Director, Sasha Lilley, quietly ended the Program Council after some months of describing it as “advisory.” The LSB under CL majority control ignored the previous Resolution codifying the Program Council and did nothing to save the Program Council. The CL majority didn’t vote to overturn the prior resolution since that would have exposed their undemocratic nature. They just looked the other way.
In 2007 GM Rijio took away the official status of the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO). UPSO existed to represent the unpaid staff at KPFA, more than 200 people. These are the people who do the majority of the work that goes on the air. After a two-year struggle UPSO is now being recognized after a change in Pacifica leadership and a directive to GM Rijio to do so. See the May 14, 2009 BDP article for more details on the change in leadership.
The vote on UPSO recognition at the LSB in 2007 was one of the very few times the CL didn’t vote in lock step to support Rijio’s consolidation of power. However the few defections didn’t change anything since at that time they controlled the PNB in collusion with some others local tyrannical majorities. This collusion elected Sherry Gendelman Chair of the PNB in 2008 and she did nothing to change the UPSO denial by the KPFA GM. Only after a change in the PNB majority, with the CL collusion losing control did the new PNB Chair and Interim ED, Grace Aaron lean on the KPFA GM to reinstate the UPSO.
The CL slate literature for the 2006 and 2007 LSB elections was silent on the issues of the Program Council and the DN! move to prime time. http://www.PeoplesRadio.net and most listener activists have consistently supported a Program Council with listener participation and the DN! move to prime time.
In January of 2009 the CL LSB majority voted to meet only once every other month. This despite the backlog of work to be done and how it effected the selection of LSB members to important PNB committees. All the stations elect the committee members in February. This year KPFA didn’t elect their committee representatives until March, despite my bringing this up to them during the January meeting before the vote to meet half as often and not in February.
How has the CL maintained its slim majority on the LSB. Here are some of the dirty tricks they have used to dominate the elections. In 2006 and 2007 GM Rijio refused to allow any election information to be broadcast when the ballots were sent out. Rijio’s justification was that there was, coincidently, a fund drive in progress. Election information was broadcast during fund drives at other stations. Each year CL spent thousands of dollars and sent out a slate mailer to arrive with the ballots during the election black out imposed by their ally Rijio. To top that off, in 2007 when they finally did run some candidate carts, they ran all 22 at once and Sherry Gendelman was first. After the election there was only one news story on KPFA about the election. Interviewed were Sherry Gendelman, a CL candidate, Matthew Lasar, a CL endorser, and Dan Siegel and Larry Bensky both CL allies and supporters and both guilty of using station or Foundation resources to support CL or attack their opponents in violation of election ethics. No listener activist candidates were interviewed.
In the upcoming election there will be ample airtime for the election since the new PNB majority has resolved that it will be so. Bonnie Simmons a CL/Rijio group PNB member recently made a motion to rescind the Resolution to require ample airtime for the election. As of this writing her motion hasn’t been up for debate and vote. However it comes out, the CL/Rijio group’s desire to limit information about the election and the candidates is clear and stands in stark contrast of the Mission of Pacifica.
Over a year ago Rijio took the visible link to the LSB page off the front page of the KPFA web site and hid it under “ABOUT”. They don’t announce the LSB meetings on the front page of the web site and often don’t announce them on the air as required by the Bylaws.
When they did the 60th anniversary celebration for KPFA and Pacifica this year they held a $300 dinner. I support having fundraisers and there also should have been a celebration open to the majority of our listeners. There was nothing official about the 10th anniversary of the struggle against the Hijackers, which brought 15,000 people to a rally and ended with new democratic Bylaws.
What is clear from the actions described above is that the CL/Rijio/Lilley regime has sought to eliminate democratic centers of power at the station and reduce listener input and concentrate power and control in their hands contrary to the Bylaws. At a LSB meeting in 2007 Rijio referred to the Bylaws when addressing the LSB as “your” Bylaws. Sasha Lilley has also made comments attacking the Bylaws.
“Our leadership elite may still want to believe in democratic principles-they certainly profess that they do-but in practice they have shown themselves all too willing to violate those principles in order to gain or retain power”,
Cornel West from his book Democracy Matters. And if democracy matters for you, it is time for a new majority on the KPFA LSB.
Vote for people with a consistent history of support for democratic process, transparency and accountability. Do not vote for any Concerned Listener candidates or anyone they endorse. Vote for http://www.PeoplesRadio.net candidates.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber, former AM & FM radio announcer. July 6, 2009.
I have observed the KPFA management clique at work. This article is an acccurate representation of the power grab by entrenched staff and managers: they say they believe in the spirit of KPFA and its mission, but they sure do not live it.
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