Bilingual Programming Under Fire: At FRSC, at KPFK, at WBAI and KPFT...

Recently, a conflict has erupted between programmers at Free Radio Santa Cruz over the programming of a Spanish language news program, Informativo Pacifica. Now we understand that the show has been pulled from the airwaves of KPFT Houston and replaced with BBC English programming; that KPFK has notified the unpaid collective that produces Informativo at 5:30 AM in LA so that stations in México and Latin America (and Santa Cruz) can rebroadcast it, that the show will be cut to four days a week and will no longer broadcast in the morning.

---
Los Angeles, California, 28 de agosto del 2009.

Dear compañeros and listeners,
With sorrow and disbelief I want to inform you that last Thursday interim Program Director Alan Minsky notify us that starting next September 15, the national and international Spanish newscast Informativo Pacifica broadcast Monday through Friday at 5:30 am will being re-scheduled to 9 pm Monday through Thursday.

The reason Mr. Minsky gave us is that he is restoring the half hour to Roy Tuckman's show "Something's Happening," currently broadcast Tuesday through Friday, from midnight to 5:30 am.

As you may recall, some 6 years ago, half an hour of Mr. Tuckman's 6-hour slot was assigned to a bilingual show called Pueblos sin Fronteras, which later turned into the Spanish newscast Informativo Pacifica.

For people not familiar with KPFK's programming let me explaining to you that for the last 32 years Mr. Tuckman produced "Something's Happening" broadcast Tuesday though Friday from midnight to 5:30 am. And also on Sunday he produces the Alan Watts show from 8 to 9 am.

So, he is actually in charge of producing 23 hours a week at KPFK. And now Mr. Minsky is planning to give him back 2 hours more and at the same time cutting Informativo on Fridays.

I salute Roy Tuckman's hard work and commitment to the station, but I think to give a person 25 hours of programming would be very hard to justify in the corporate media. How can community radio Pacifica explain this? We know he had built, in 3 decades, a very loyal audience, but we also want to bring to the station other communities living in los Angeles, neglected by the private, corporate media.

Let me explain to you how the changes at the time slot and the cut of half an hour for Informativo will be very harmful for our program.

We produce Informativo Pacifica in a daily basis as volunteers working during the night to broadcast at 5:30 am at KPFK.

At the same hour in Mexico (7:00 am there), Radio Bemba picks up the internet signal to broadcast Informativo in Hermosillo City in the state of Sonora.

Also at least a dozen community radios in the US, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico [including FRSC -d.san] broadcast Informativo Pacifica, which we put together every morning with the most relevant news of the day before.

Our newscast covers stories from the US and Latin America, as well as other regions of the world with un special emphasis on the people's struggles and the social and political challenges in the global south. Also we cover issues related to war and peace, discrimination and persecution against the migrant community.

With the cancellation of Informativo on Fridays and a new slot at nights, our collaborative effort with other community radio stations will be severely damaged.

Not only that, but we don't even receive much publicity during the day on KPFK, like the entire Spanish language programming block, but we starting to be able to build an early morning listenership, consisting mostly of Latino workers preparing for work or on their way to work, as some people have let us know. Those listeners will irremediably lose.

For those not familiar with Informativo Pacifica, please don't hesitate to listen Monday though Friday at 5:30 am or in the KPFK audio archives

We will keep you posted on the future developments for our show.

Gracias.
Norma Mtz.
Informativo Pacifica
5:30 am Monday though Friday
KPFK Radio Pacifica
90.7 FM Los Angeles
98.7 FM Santa Barbara
http://www.kpfk.org
Email: pwithoutborders [at] yahoo.com

---

KPFK has recently shutdown their news department and is in the process of eliminating Spanish speaking community programming.

Los Angeles Pacifica programmer and former News Director Fernando Valezquez and KPFK community media activist Lawrence Reyes spoke in the bay area about the situation in Los Angeles at KPFK. The KPFK news department has been shutdown and their news show has been merged with KPFA and Spanish speaking community shows have been eliminated and replaced with "personality" type shows. Pacifica is in crisis with a declining listenership, financial losses and a growing top down centralized operation. In Los Angeles, the news department has been shutdown and the continued failure to bring new community programming on to the stations is one reason that listeners are being driven away.

At radio KPFT Houston, a couple weeks ago Informativo Pacifica was canceled without warning and BBC-English put in its place.
---

Stay tuned for more information. This is a huge setback for the communities who have been opening space for spanish language independent media, for the people who have supported bilingual access to technology, who have allowed immigrant communities to tell their own stories, who have fought back the forces that keep spanish speakers marginalized and invisible, and who have kept even progressive projects dominated by the same ol power structure.

---

INFORMATIVO PACIFICA, cancelado de WBAI y KPFT.

Los Ángeles, California, 28 de agosto del 2009.

Estimados companeros y radioescuchas quiero notificarles que como lo
temíamos, este Jueves se comunicó que el Informativo Pacifica, noticiero en
español que desde hace 3 años sale de Lunes a Viernes a las 5:30 am en la radio
KPFK, sera movido a las 9 de la noche a partir del 15 de septiembre y sólo saldrá de Lunes a Jueves.

La razón que nos dio el director de Programación Interino, Alan Minsky, es que le regresara la media hora diaria extra a el programador Roy Tuckman, que hace 6 años se le quitó para abrir un espacio para el programa bilingüe Pueblos sin Fronteras y más tarde para el Informativo Pacifica.

Para quienes no estén familiarizados con la programación de KPFK queremos recordarles que el señor Tuckman desde hace 32 años tiene un programa que se llama “Something is happening” que se transmite de Lunes a Jueves de
12 a 5 y media de la mañana.

Además de que los domingos produce otro programa de 8 a 9 de la mañana llamado Alan Watts.

Es decir Roy Tuckman tiene asignadas 23 horas de programación a la semana en KPFK y ahora le piensan dar 2 horas más. De esa manera controlaría 25 horas de programación a la semana.

No creo que eso sea posible de justificar en una radio corporativa, mucho menos se entiende de una radio comunitaria.

El Informativo Pacifica que producimos diariamente como voluntarios se transmite en KPFK a la 5 y media de la mañana y a la misma hora Radio Bemba transmite la señal del internet en su radio comunitaria en la ciudad de Hermosillo, en Sonora, México.

De igual manera una docena de radios en Estados Unidos, Colombia, Venezuela y México usan el programa que ponemos a su disposición diariamente y que tenemos listo todas las mañanas. La información que ponen al aire son noticias del día anterior, todavía relevantes a esas horas.

Nuestro noticiero cubre noticias de Estados Unidos, latinoamerica y otras regiones del mundo y pone un especial enfasis en las luchas de los pueblos y los cambios politicos y sociales en Latinoamerica. Asi como la guerra, la discriminación y la persecución del trabajador migrante en Estados Unidos.

Con esta cancelación del programa de los Viernes y un nuevo horario en la noche, se nos complica la colaboracion con otras radios que aprecian el trabajo que diariamente hacemos, lo que no se puede decir de la Red Pacifica.

No sólo eso pero, pese a que el Informativo no recibe mucha publicidad durante el día en la radio KPFK, asi como la barra de programas en espanol en general, estamos lentamente forjando una audiencia obrera que nos escucha cuando se dirige a su trabajo o ya se encuentra laborando, como nos han expresado algunos personas, radioescuchas que terminaremos perdiendo.

Para quienes no esten familiarizados con el Informativo Pacifica por favor no duden en sintonizarnos a las 5 y media de la mañana o escucharnos en los archivos en http://www.kpfk.org

Los mantendremos informados de la situación.
Gracias.
Norma Mtz.
Informativo Pacifica
Lunes a Viernes 5:30 am
KPFK Radio Pacifica
90.7 FM Los Angeles
98.7 FM Santa Barbara
http://www.kpfk.org

--

Que mantenga tu atencion en este discurso para mas informacion. Es un paso atras para las comunidades que estan abriendo espacio para los medios independientes en espanol, para la gente que apoya el aceso bilingue a la tecnologia, para los quienes quieren que la comunidad imigrante tiene voz, y su propia voz, y los quien estan luchando contra las esfuerzas que mantenga a la comunidad de hispanohablantes marginalizado, invisible, y los que han dominado aun projectos radicales con la misma bola.