The Crisis at KPFA & Pacifica - a Forum

It has been known for a long time that both Richard Phelps and Steve Zeltzer are agent provocateurs and it's evident from their disruptive actions at KPFA. They are working hard to see that this myth of a "crisis" is perpetrated in the press so the listeners of KPFA get confused and stop supporting the station. They wish to bankrupt the Pacifica network so that the licenses are sold and Pacifica no longer exposes the people these two work for. This is the real conspiracy.

I feel they may succeed since most listeners of KPFA seem to want to work to make it a better place rather than try to respond to these sad and dangerous people. They do not represent the listeners. They do not represent the community. They are only in it for their egos and the money they get paid. If there is a crisis it's these distruptive people who prevent ANYTHING from ever happening at KPFA except to give the station a bad name in the press.

And no, I will not use my real name. I do not wish to be added to your enemies list.

I do not like Steve Zelzer. He has a harsh abrasive style that can be very hard to deal with. But he certainly isn't an agent of any sort . He comes from a well known Bay Area Socialist family and has been active since the San Francisco State student strike in 1969 .
He may be difficult but he is a tireless activist. He in no way fits the profile of an provacteur . I may or may not attend the rally sunday but if not it won't be because i don't know that there is a crisis at Pacifica.I know more ex listeners than listeners of the station . Why have many stopped listening ? It isn't because of Steve Zelzer or Richard Phelps . Are they responsible for the mainstreaming of the news or more often than not lackluster programming ?
I hope that in the future people will refrain from this sort of rumor mongering . I for one am far more suspicious of those making such attacks than i am the victim of those attacks .

To parphase FDR Steve Zelzter and Richard Phelps may be pains in the ass but they are our pains in the ass! Some have said that Phelps has a hair trigger temper . Maybe but not when i saw Phelps in action when he was the co-chair of the KPFA board. He had a very lawyerly style about him but he was very fair to his opposition (too fair according to some of his allies ) and he was very accurate with his facts . Nothing that he did was the actions of someone bent on destroying KPFA.
Some of his opponents weren't so well behaved . Once this crazy old man shouted that Phelps was ''like Hitler''! Phelps's side of the aisle erupted in protest but not the Concerned listeners. Dead silence .
Angela summed up the general attitute many of the Bay Area left have about Steve Zelzter . Difficult but not impossible .
Whomever KPFA listener is you better put up or shut up . Spreading dangerous false rumors is a common tactic of real agents .

> They are working hard to see that this myth of a "crisis" is perpetrated in the press so the listeners of KPFA get confused and stop supporting the station.

and stop voting in kpfa elections, so that the fringe margin of "peoples radio" supporter votes will weigh more heavily.

Dozens of listeners and staff are supporting this speak out . Even if those charges against Steve and Richard were true , and i do not believe for a second that they are, that doesn't change the fact that there is a real crisis at the network we love .
It's worth noting that our audience isn't easily scared away by ''crisis ''. In 1999 people united to save KPFA and Pacifica .
That may need to occur again .

the real subverting elections
by another listener
Friday Apr 4th, 2008 9:18 AM

>another listener: They are working hard to see that this myth of a "crisis" is perpetrated in the press so the listeners of KPFA get confused and stop supporting the station.
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RP: The finances of Pacifica are in serious trouble partly because of WBAI losing money (this has been allowed to continue by the collusion of PNB members loyal to themselves and an agreement to not interced against the various tyranny of the majority actions by local station boards that violate our bylaws and progressive principles of transparency and accountability, the "CL/Dismantler PNB members have refused to vote to hold WBAI accountable on many issues) and the lawsuits that are costing hundreds of thousands of dollars caused mostly by putting in management positions "loyal" people who were not qualified to manage and have caused several suits that cost us big money and some are still out there not finished yet.
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another listener: and stop voting in kpfa elections, so that the fringe margin of "peoples radio" supporter votes will weigh more heavily.
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RP: This ignores the Bylaws requirement of meeting quorum or the election doesn't count.

It also ignores all the evidence showing that the CL/Dismantler KPFA Mgt. has gone out of its way to discourage people from voting. Bensky's dishonest repetitive rants attacking the process did nothing to encourage more folks to vote. Bensky only did that illegally with station resources in violation of election rules and fair play, when he sent out his recommendations under the radar, he thought. He got caught and KPFA Mgt refused to abide by the weak penalty given by the National Election Supervisor. Just compare the way they promote the elections with the way they promote their ALTERNATIVE HOME SHOPPING NETWORK, aka the fund drives.

Also anybody that has followed the elections has observed that PeopleRadio and other listener activists have always encouraged listeners to vote. We don't spend $8,000 to send a democratic party style mailer to voters like CL did, while their Mgt allies stop any mention of the election on the air, as their mailer arrives with the ballots. We go out and talk to people and encourage them to vote.

Thanks to Angela and Brendan for their comments. The slander from the status quo usually increases when they feel we have touched a nerve, and we have. The nerve is the truth about what they are doing that they don't want people to know. Sort of like all the yellow and red alerts in October 2004, that somehow just stopped after the November election.

Come to the Forum and find out what they don't want you to know. Why did they censor the First Voice program that wanted to have a discussion on the air of some KPFA/Pacifica issues?

By the way I have offered to set up a public debate and go head to head with any of them. Bensky, Hallinan, Sarv, Hernandez, Gendelman, Siegel, BE-T, etc. and they are all afraid to publicly debate these issues on the air or at a forum. Not that I am a great debator, it is just that I know where the skeletons are hidden and I am not afraid to speak truth to power, and they don't want the facts to get out. So much for transparency! A basic progressive value which they don't support.

So one of them or their allies sends out an anonymous hit piece full of lies and slander to distract people from the Crisis their patronage and cronyism have caused. If they were principled progressives they wouldn't allow or condone such slander.

Richard Phelps