IS KPFA PUTTING FUNDRAISING BEFORE ITS MISSION?

WHEREAS, the primary goal of our Mission is to air news, public affairs and culture that is directed toward peace and social justice, and is of interest to the diverse communities in our broadcast area and not generally aired by the corporate media, and,

WHEREAS, a basic use of radio is to allow people to be present at an important event when not physically possible or to hear the event as soon as possible after it happened and it is still timely, and,

WHEREAS, broadcasting speeches, debates etc. of interest live or closely after they occur has greatly contributed to the goodwill and progressive reputation of KPFA , and

WHEREAS, fundraising is important to support the Mission and for no other reason, and,

WHEREAS, it is contrary to our Mission to make some news, public affairs and culture available only to those with money to purchase it, and

Thus it is Resolved that KPFA shall offer no programs for donation that it has not played in its entirety prior to said fund drive or has scheduled it for play, and does play it in its entirety, within thirty days of its offering. The airing of such programs must be done within the broadcast day starting no earlier than 7 a.m. and finishing no later than 10 p.m. Each such program must be promoted no less than ten times in the two weeks before it is played during the times that it will play and the times that it will be or was offered for donation and at least four times from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

It is also Resolved that speeches worthy of airing should be played live when possible or as soon after being given as possible and in no event held back for weeks or months to use in a fund drive.


MOTIVATION: It has come to my attention that for some time now KPFA has been holding back speeches and public affairs programs until fund drives. Also, most of the programs being “sold” to listeners during fund drives have only 25-30 minutes of the program played and for listeners to hear the entire program they must purchase it, generally for $100 or more. We are turning public affairs programs into commodities. We are supposed to be non-commercial and in the broadest sense this practice violates that principle.

I became acutely aware of this problem when a client of mine, a middle school teacher at an urban school, who is a single mother of two, told me of how she enjoyed KPFA and wished she could afford to hear the programs played during fund drives in their entirety. We have created a class system. And that is not in the spirit of our Mission.

I have no problem with “selling” public affairs programs to those that can afford them as long as we also play the entire program for our listeners who can’t afford to purchase them. I have bought many over 30+ years listening to KPFA.

I believe that the latter is our Mission: getting the information out to as many people as possible, not just tho$e with the money to buy it!

Richard Phelps
KPFA LSB Listener Representative
2-24-07