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

Today at 6 PM on FRSC 101.1 FM & freakradio.org, we'll hear more about the cuts to Informativo Pacifica and the struggles for bilingual programming at Pacifica stations nationwide.

Hoy a las 6 PM en FRSC 101.1 FM & freakradio.org, escuchamos mas sobre los recortes al Informativo Pacifica y la lucha para programacion bilingue en radios de la red nacional Pacifica.

How can you state that bilingual programming is "Under Fire" at Free radio Santa Cruz when every bilingual/Spanish language programming you Daneilsan purposed has passed and FRSC has more bilingual programs than any pacifica station short of an all Spanish language station.
Why is it when a FRSC programmer questions or wants to include listeners in the debate is censored and called racist like you did at a recent FRSC collective meeting?
I feel as a co founding member at FRSC that the station its listener base programming that has defined FRSC for 15 years
is Underfire here at FRSC I also understand that you are purposing to add 6 more hours of Spanish language programming to FRSC and revise the entire schedule that listeners have come to rely on for years.
I don't like what is happening at Pacifica either but it is nothing in common to the ongoing debate at FRSC.
Please listen to Robert Norse's show about this issue and hear what the listeners think.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/12/18615440.php
Unfortunately this was posted in the Other news section for some reason.

As a free radio listener, I understand people wanting more Spanish, and more English. I sadly do not speak Spanish and I should learn it. However, I wish the ""collective" would just consider focusing on more local news , local music, and be more bilingual when you can, particularly for talk and news shows. I do not very often hear bilingual shows. If I do, they do not seem to last. I know many attempts have been made. I do not think 50% of SC speaks Spanish if you count those that are bilingual already. If Free Speech TV is aimed at marginalized people, then this debate should simply focus on trying to be bilingual when possible, but adhere to that goal and have a more local independent focus.

Although I enjoy Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, and Pacific Radio, etc. They are becoming big, I can hear her show on the net, on TV etc. That is not why I listen to SC Free Radio. I want to hear about SC. But sadly, few shows have any news on SC. I want to hear more new INDEPENDENT music, a more local focus. With all that said. I applaud all the people involved in Free Radio. You all keep it going. People interested in Global News can find it, on the net, On link TV or sometimes called FSTV. People who are struggling locally I think want to hear about local things. That's my humble semi admitted uniformed opinion.

Peace
Tim

Sorry for the Free Speech TV typo, meant FRSC obliviously.

I'm curious as to what KPFK, WBAI, and KPFT's reasons are for the change. Danielsan, have you asked them? There seems to be an assumption that this has been done out of bigotry, racism, or general white privilege. Are people who create and support independent media prone to being racist? Is that why they want an unfiltered view of how US foreign policy is creating poverty, hunger, and environmental disaster for other people?

Although I don't know the other stations' reasons, I wonder if they're asking the same question some of us are at FRSC - should one radio station serve two mutually-exclusive audiences? Someone who doesn't speak English seems unlikely to listen to an 80% English station, and those who don't speak Spanish will be driven towards all-English stations, like KUSP and KZSC. So the only people it serves 100% of the time will be bilingual activists, with a high tolerance for profanity and loud music.

Even a music station doesn't try to serve all people with 2 hrs classical, 4 hrs rock, 3 hrs rap, etc. They identify a target audience that's aligned with the founders' interests and never give them a reason to change the channel. In SC, no station besides FRSC plays unbiased, non-commercial, independent news that's produced by a national network of volunteers. KUSP does BBC or PBS "personality-type" programming. KZSC produces their shows in-house.

The promos, and fundraising pleas at FRSC focus on the independent global news. Listeners surveyed at events cite indie-news as their reason for listening. It's fraudulent for a faction of programmers to change FRSC's purpose, and drive out the programmers who were serving the interests of the founders, donors, and listeners. It is, in the words of one programmer, a hijacking. Is FRSC community radio? Is the community that built, defended, and funded FRSC owed anything for their support? If donors bail out and FRSC folds, like the three Spanish-language pirate stations FR helped start, do you write the community off as racist and find another station?

I listened to FRSC before I became a programmer, because it enabled me to understand what people were saying who spoke Spanish, Quechua, Kuna, Sanskrit, or Bangla, even though I didn't speak the language. I joined FRSC because of my respect for those dedicated journalists and translators who provide this for free. I donated to FRSC in order to help bring that great programming they promise on the schedule. But the Spanish-language faction has driven out the volunteers who were fulfilling that promise, without taking responsibility. I feel that my donations should be applied towards paying someone to provide the consistency and reliability that this push towards Spanish disrupted.

Informativo sounds like a well-produced show that deserves an audience. 5:30 am seems like a time when a Spanish-language station would want a great news show like it. It would get a wider Spanish-speaking audience on a Spanish-language station...yes? FR's first obligation is to the audience it already has - not to ditch them like last year's girlfriend, while she pays the bills for him to woo a new one. Let's do a good job of serving one audience, rather than the current lousy job of courting two.

Paragraph for paragraph, Tereza's ignorance, privilege, and prejudice shine through. It can be painfully frustrating to listen to Tereza. One could spend hours replying to all the inaccuracies on the air and online, but here's one regarding KZSC and their mission:

"BILINGUAL PUBLIC AFFAIRS
KZSC Needs you! In over 27% of the homes in Santa Cruz County, English is a second language. In San Benito County, that figure is over 37%; in Monterey County, over 47%. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that almost half the population in Monterey and San Benito county consider themselves Hispanic or of Latino origin. KZSC radio is dedicated to providing programming and access to those traditionally underrepresented in the media. This includes unique bilingual programming for our Central Coast listeners in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties. Let your voice be heard-become a volunteer at KZSC. UCSC students can receive academic credit for their participation. No previous experience is necessary-just bring your ideas and energy."

It's almost incredible that Tereza makes statements like these with clarity and confidence:

"...should one radio station serve two mutually-exclusive audiences? Someone who doesn't speak English seems unlikely to listen to an 80% English station, and those who don't speak Spanish will be driven towards all-English stations, like KUSP and KZSC. So the only people it serves 100% of the time will be bilingual activists, with a high tolerance for profanity and loud music."

As for Informativo Pacifica, it is the best radio program there is to hear first-hand accounts of what's happening in México, Central and South America, and within immigrant communities in the U.S.

Yes, a community-supported radio station should absolutely serve more than one language and demographic, assuming there are more than one language and demographic present in the community.

Thanks, pirata, for the compliment on the clarity of my statements ;)

By the data from KZSC, 27% of SC County households have English as a second language. ESL doesn't mean they don't speak English. KZSC is dedicated to serving the Spanish-speaking population, but they don't carry programs (except Pacifica news) created outside their studio. Therefore, they don't air Informativo Pacifica, and neither do they air Alternative Radio, Between the Lines, Unwelcome Guests, Media Minutes, Uprising, Counterspin, This Way Out, Making Contact, Shortwave Report, Sprouts, TUC Radio, or Law and Disorder. These are all excellent shows produced by volunteers or low-budget non-profits. No other radio station in SC plays them.

The aggression and hostility of the pro-Sp language faction, which you gave an excellent example of, has meant that FRSC doesn't air these shows either. FR isn't funded by taxes. If it were, you could argue that the programming should be representative of the population. It also isn't funded by programmers, who pay less than the monthly rent. The equipment and remainder of expenses is subsidized by individual donors - not businesses or institutions. This is the community that FR serves.

If you wanted to start a Spanish-language station honestly, you should gather a community and fundraise for it. But what you're doing instead is taking away the station that others built. Maybe you'll succeed, or maybe you'll run out of money and fail. Either way, the station has been stolen from those who founded it and funded it.

It is well known that WBAI has had little or no time whatsoever for bi-lingual programming and if they ever aired Informativo Pacifica that would be news to me and all those who have watched that place go to hell, my friend Fernando could sing many a corrido on that place

Informativo Pacifica was cancelled at KPFT a month ago, just ahead of a major re-tooling of the entire schedule, it was a sitting duck because as a drive time news program for Spanish - only listeners, it didn't come in early enough for drive time, which for Mexican laborers is 6 am at the latest, KPFT had to play the program from the former day, so if you're going to revamp your schedule, a morning show day late is going to go first.

However none of the Spanish nor bi-lingual locally produced programs have suffered at KPFT, and Proyecto Latino-Americano is something worth listening to if your a fan of revolutionary thought in Spanish-only


Fernando's Informativo Pacifica is a good program, and I recommend it, however KPFT took it out because it couldn't raise money playing yesterday's news, WBAI doesn't give a shit about Mexicansand never will, and as far as KPFK, that's a local batlle, and, meh,who gives a shit about KPFK?

Listen to it .

I also find it appalling that you use the Free Speech photo in this so called article when you and your ilk have stated that FRSC is NOT a free speech station in order to censor Tereza's psa asking the listening audience what they think.
STOP THE HIJACKING OF FRSC!!!

1. Free Radio Santa Cruz is an open-source radio station, and their logo is part of the creative commons. Nobody "owns" it, Skidmark.

2. Why should there be ANY english programming? White people are all on stolen land and that land and the airwaves should be returned to the indigenous spanish-speaking population.

better?

Fernando and others (including WBAI and KPFA producers) appeared at a panel discussion in Berkeley on Sunday. Video below, from an indybay.org/eastbay post.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/31/18620342.php?show_comments=1#18620433
http://blip.tv/file/2543328

I recommend that commenters actually view the video and listen to the earlier posted interview before commenting on what has actually been said in this post. The information requested is actually part of my interview with Fernando in some cases.

Further, please write letters of support for Informativo Pacifica as requested. My intention is not to discuss FRSC factionalism here, but to call attention to the present threat to Informativo Pacifica. Without the Spanish language programming that we get from Fernando and all of the volunteers at KPFK, FRSC's programs in Spanish will be cut back to two programs on Monday nights (The Global Local & Yomer's Sideshow), Todo Es Musica con DJ Chilango, and a new show, Junior's Jams, Sundays at 8 PM. While all of them broadcast some important information, none of these programs are primarily news/public affairs but rather music programs.

Therefore, without Informativo Pacifica, Centro America Sin Censura, Insurgencia Feminina, Nuestra Voz, or any of the other Spanish language independent global news programs that are produced at KPFK, Free Radio will lose a valuable tool for education and outreach, and return to what it has always been: a fantastic resource for just one sector of the population, 'last-year's girlfriend' analogies aside.

But we are not alone--many other stations will lose these tools as well, not to mention countless listeners who simply cannot get this information from anywhere else. Univision and Telemundo are multinational conglomerates owned by right wing oligarchs. Watching Mexican news programs or listening to Spanish Language Radio is much like listening to Fox News en espanol.

Informativo Pacifica is an extremely important resource for people looking for a different voice and perspective. Please support them in staying on the air at a time allows them to be a resource to others, as well as listeners in the broadcast range of KPFK in Los Angeles.

For FRSC listeners, I very much regret that our internal debate has disrupted the schedule. I too would very much like the news to play in the morning, and I do in fact make it happen once a week and sometimes more, in addition to an afternoon news shift. And I do very much appreciate hearing your thoughts and comments: There are so many of you out there that we don't hear from except in times of crisis. When the station was raided we heard from listeners on five continents and received an amazing outpouring of support, financial and otherwise. When DN! doesn't play we hear that you miss it. I miss it, too, and have gone to great lengths to encourage greater participation in the 'work' of running a station, but with mixed success. FRSC is an operation run by a small handfull of people who are involved beyond programming their own shows, and even that number is at a historic low.

To be clear, the concerns voiced about Tereza's listener survey from the start were:
*It mixed public interest event announcements with opinion and editorializing
*It did not encourage listeners to contact the collective, but rather an individual programmer
*Some programmers did not want our own debate about the programming schedule to be aired
*The language implied that the programming schedule be linked to donations, which many in the collective strongly oppose.
*The language was deemed by some including myself to be racist, by others to be leading and at the very least non-neutral

For these reasons the collective decided not to air it as a Public Service Announcement, but that Tereza continue to broadcast her opinions during her own show.

I encourage you to get involved, to contact us with positive feedback and negative, and to understand that your input really is appreciated. The station voicemail is 427-4523. You are always welcome to leave your thoughts, for the air or for the collective. Thanks for caring, and thanks for listening.

Yo, La Raza
Spanish is NOT Indigenous to Santa Cruz County the Spanish invaded this area and forced their language and religon on tribes like the Aloni and those who did not assimate were slaughterd.
Remember your history!

I think it's time for another radio station maybe in Watsonvile where mostly latino people like myself live. I think that would solv the problem.

I appreciate Pedro's observation that another pirate station in Watsonville would make sense. FR programmers, according to founders, helped start three Spanish-only pirate stations in Watsonville, donating equipment, I believe, and getting them up and running. FCC raids ended their broadcasting, but maybe there's a way around this. Perhaps a low-power FM station would make sense.

Danielsan's post is titled "Bilingual Programming Under Fire: At FRSC, etc..." I'm not sure how he can say that he didn't mean this to apply to the debate at FRSC. Perhaps not wanting "factionalism" means that he didn't intend for anyone who disagrees with his view to speak up. If only your side is considered valid, I guess there are no "factions."

For listeners, it would be useful to recap what's caused FRSC to lose functionality. Two key programmers - a founder and the person who did two morning downloads a week plus kept up the website - left over related issues before my time. This left one volunteer (Skidmark Bob) doing six download shifts a week. At one meeting DS proposed adding Informativo at 9:00 am. Bob and I objected because of the programs it would displace. He changed it to 5:30 pm, which passed.

This displaced the only English-language news airing after 5:30. The same programs airied in the am, but were inaccessible to anyone who worked. After some weeks, I proposed moving Informativo to 1:00 pm, which would only reduce one show by 1/2 hr. This was blocked from discussion.

At the same time, I realized that one unpaid person had inherited all the work that I intended my donations to support. Instead of donating further, I started paying Bob a small amount to even out the disproportionate responsibility he was taking on. I asked the collective for dues credit for previous donations. This was blocked and my private payment of Bob was sanctioned, unless I was willing to also pay DS for one morning a week.

As a voluntary service, I had been announcing a weekly calendar of events after my show on Sunday, which Bob would edit and re-air weekday mornings. When all attempts to return some English-language news to evenings were blocked, we started asking listeners what they thought. If the survey was leading, it wasn't clear to respondents, whose opinions were on both sides. Unlike the FR promos for SL programming, it didn't present one side as if it represented the whole collective. It opened the debate to the public and asked their thoughts.

At the next meeting, the survey was denounced as racist, offensive, ignorant, hate speech, coded right-wing propaganda, and skin privileged. The term "politically-correct" was cited. I was accused of "fear-mongering" to say that the independent news was hanging by a thread, which has since been borne out. There was an attempt to kick me out of the collective based on a probationary period that, alas, had passed. My inflammatory words were quoted: that "FR programming is moving increasingly towards Spanish-language." Currently, a unanimous motion would add six more hours of SL programming. After three hours, it was voted that the survey be forbidden, with Bob threatened if he violated the ban. We left with a programmer still yelling at us.

To answer Danielsan's issue on responding to an individual, I was acting in an individual capacity and not pretending to represent the collective. But also, responses to the FR email aren't forwarded to the programmer list. Offers to update our website go ignored. On the voicemail there are currently 3-4 messages from listeners objecting to the increase in SL programming while expressing their support for the Latino community. Will those be recorded and played at the next meeting? I offered to send the results of my survey to the list, but no one was interested. It was also suggested that FR do its own survey of what listeners think. That was never followed up.

For readers, the question of what's happened to FRSC EL news is more relevant than what's happening to KPFK SL news. A one-sided approach doesn't do justice to the issue, in either case. I'd like to know what other members of KPFK say about it.

Skidmark asked:

Why is it when a FRSC programmer questions or wants to include listeners in the debate is censored and called racist like you did at a recent FRSC collective meeting?

The answer to this is quite simple Padwan-Skidmark, 'because it works'. If you get a really strident bully who knows how to work the pinkBoys, these fair-weather progressives will run for cover if they are accused of stepping on, or pointing to, somebody's polka-dots. Doesn't matter if polka-dotted listeners and colleagues are trampled alongside the pinkBoys in the process of the power grab, because they are not proper revolutionary people's polka dot warriors, they are Uncle Dots, or tools of the pinks. The old school progressive polka dotted supporters, will also cave, because they fear being labeled Uncle Dots, or 'House Dots'. What breaks down is the meritocracy of anarchistic movements, where you have to show up, do the work, support the movement, learn some chops and not suck. The real irony is that these revolutionaries are usually from the suburbs, still blogging in Mom's basement and they are gonna show you how to stick it to the man, because they went to a protest, and they boycotted Taco Bell, except when it was the only thing open, in solidarity with the Immokalee Farm Workers. But in order to be down with the Immokalee farm workers, you have to do better than boycott Taco Bell, you have to call them, you have to get all the way down into the story, you have to work. You want to be in solidiarity with workers you have to work. -scooter PS I know a skin blaster that could fade those polka-dots for ya, she used to work for Michael Jackson, referred by Ted Kennedy and oh yeah, Sarah Palin also. I fixed it for you, Heysus Fuckin Christo Padiwan -Bob if you're gonna do a press release, put some celebrities in it!!!

The struggle at FRSC is being reduced to the airing of Informativo Pacifica, which is not the battleground, the lede is buried, the story is bullshit shenanigans.
I call Shenanigans.

Everybody go to their nearest Town Hall Meeting on Health CARE!!!

"But also, responses to the FR email aren't forwarded to the programmer list."

I don't know about the "programmer list," but none of the emails I've sent to FRSC have ever gotten a response. Not a "thanks" or an answer or anything. It just falls into a big hole, for all I know. I offered to help out with the website that was outdated, but never heard back from anyone. Now, I'm not sure I'd want to.

I used to listen to FRSC a lot, often 6-8 hrs/day, most days M-F. I would wake up to it in the morning, 7:30am, Skidmark Bob would be playing Al Jazeera and drug war news, and some other ones I liked a lot. I actually started setting my alarm to go off a few minutes earlier, just so I could hear more of the morning news, which was the perfect lead-up to Democracy Now!

I don't do that anymore. I've given up on you guys.

My radio alarm comes on, 7:30am, and once again it's the same Spanish music as the last time, same as was playing last night, and my guess is that it was playing ALL night. (Creative, guys, really creative. And it shows that dedicated Activist Spirit, too.) Al Jazeera does not sound through my speakers, informing me of the latest world events w/o the "US/Israel Uber Alles" bias found on NPR and BBC. The theme song for DN does not ring out at 8am (Instead, it's still the same fucking music en espanol as before.) Does DN eventually play on FRSC some time that morning? I'm not sure. Maybe yes, maybe no. But I don't care, at that point, because I listened to it at 9am on KUSP. And that's what I do now. I listen to DN on KUSP. And then I turn off the radio and put on my own music. But I just don't listen to FRSC almost ever, anymore. At this point, the only exception is on Tuesdays because Skidmark Bob apparently does all the morning and afternoon programming on Tuesday. I think so. I hear him come on and talk about stuff, and he plays Al Jazeera in the morning and throughout the day. I like that very much. Thanks.

And days like today, S Cruzan, we can listen to KUSP's National Propaganda Radio talking about Jay Leno, followed by a scintillating show on excellent french bread at a Farmer's Market. That's while waiting for DN to come on at 9. I'm low-tech, and I don't know how to program my kitchen radio to switch between 101.1 and 88.9 easily. So I keep one radio tuned to FRSC just in case. I want news from independent Bethlehem back. I want the Worker's Independent News Report. I want to know what radical things happened on this day in history. I want the 420 Drug News. Not Leno and french bread.

Today, my Sunday program on socio-economist Vivek Chibber and Undermining Empire should be airing at 10. But even if I go put it on, who's going to be tuning in after 3 hours of space music (playing currently)? I'd rather listen to DN. But it's a good show, archived at http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/Third+Paradigm, if you're interested. People hear it in Canada, Indonesia, New Hampshire, Maryland, and Minnesota, but not in Santa Cruz.

Scooter is right - it's not about Informativo Pacifica. Although 9 pm, frankly, seems like a better time than 5:30 am - it's just as fresh, everyone can listen, and it's done the night before so even the East Coast could play it first thing in the morning. But I don't really know the issue.

Someone calling themselves "pirata" (oh, I wonder who THAT is?) said that "Tereza's ignorance, privilege, and prejudice shine through." Pirata then showed how ignorant it was of Tereza to say that KZSC is an all-English station, by quoting a section of the KZSC mission statement.

Very nice. Except Pirata doesn't actually listen to KZSC. And Pirata didn't bother to check the KZSC schedule (which took me about a minute).

If Pirata had bothered to fact-check his claims (like journalists are supposed to do) he'd have noticed that KZSC's programming is currently ENTIRELY IN ENGLISH.

So, Pirata, I recommend you start doing some yoga. If you practice regularly, you might eventually be able to pull your head out!

It's unwise that this all has to divide everything into brown and white. We all bleed red. I'm a programmer, and checking messages this week, 4 out of 5 total callers said they would tune out if more Spanish were added to the schedule at FRSC. The 5th said for the "collective" to cooperate and be more willing to to negotiate about the schedule. As a member/ programmer there, I know that some people are telling me they are tired of hearing rehashed Spanish on in the morning. That's because there are not willing people to go in after the programming at night and program English for the next day. The Bilinguals at night are supposed to be fined for not programming the correct schedule. If there would be be more participation and cooperation, there might be nothing to argue about. It still takes physically going in and putting in the data to play the next day and it takes going in the morning of the next day to put in the programs for that day which aren't available the night before.
Is this enough detail for everyone?

I can do my part but maybe IF I lived in town I would go down there more and put in what I want. Except what I want is what is on the schedule there already established plus mixing it with a little variation. We say- More news, more music, more live flesh. The schedule is sometimes functional and the proposals are just proposals so far. It's basically at a stand off. What were we thinking the last meeting?(the one where everything changed) I mean, based on fear and power and ruthless pride. Use with caution.

It's unwise that this all has to divide everything into brown and white. We all bleed red. I'm a programmer, and checking messages this week, 4 out of 5 total callers said they would tune out if more Spanish were added to the schedule at FRSC. The 5th said for the "collective" to cooperate and be more willing to to negotiate about the schedule. As a member/ programmer there, I know that some people are telling me they are tired of hearing rehashed Spanish on in the morning. That's because there are not willing people to go in after the programming at night and program English for the next day. The Bilinguals at night are supposed to be fined for not programming the correct schedule. If there would be be more participation and cooperation, there might be nothing to argue about. It still takes physically going in and putting in the data to play the next day and it takes going in the morning of the next day to put in the programs for that day which aren't available the night before.
Is this enough detail for everyone?

I can do my part but maybe IF I lived in town I would go down there more and put in what I want. Except what I want is what is on the schedule there already established plus mixing it with a little variation. We say- More news, more music, more live flesh. The schedule is sometimes functional and the proposals are just proposals so far. It's basically at a stand off. What were we thinking the last meeting?(the one where everything changed) I mean, based on fear and power and ruthless pride. Use with caution.

Bravo to Indybay for keeping us ALL informed on the many injustices that have been done and to present against the Latin People..California was taken from the Latin People through coercion and Genocide..
Even statistics list white,black asian but do not mention my people..Why are we continually treated as if we are invisible?
"With These Hands"
Bless those poisoned in our fields
beat at our borders,for they
bring the food to our tables. Soul 1993

So When your eating that delicious,scrumptious tossed salad remember who brought it to you! The Latin Children,Women and Men..Oh and enjoy the wine-Smile-.....

Are we really shocked that those who control radio media would pull such an important resource from the listeners.. I feel being in Radio and dedicated to true Free Speech,how much droll can the listeners be force feed..25 hours on air is appalling when so many quality Shows could be put in those slots..If he needs to hear himself all day,he can tape himself and sit at a park and feed his EGO..
What a waste of good air time... Getting tired of the garbage that continually comes from Pacifica Radio..They are not Free Speech Radio and that Statement should be removed from their publicity...I find it an insult to those who are truly standing up for the Platform in our communities.. Micro Radio is the true Free Speech of Radio.
Pacifica Radio acts as a Corporate strangle hold in the guise of Free Speech!

In Solidarity,Struggle and PEACE,Soul
Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1fm

Trying to force your agenda upon your collective is Fascism none the less

FRSC Listeners speak up on purposed increase of Spanish language programming
Listener call in live on Spanish language purposed increase on FRSC featuring new music by Rodrigo y Gabriela' s new release 1111 also plea for English language Independent news continuation on FRSC Listen here:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/08/18621300.php

As a longtime listener of Free Radio Santa Cruz, i have a pretty good idea of what is happening: You have a couple of guys, thieves really, who want to turn KFRSC into a mostly Spanish station, and instead of buying and installing their own transmitter, and doing all the hard work necessary to build a listener base, they would rather just walk into the collective, with a clear agenda, playing on the political correctness and tolerance of decent and undiscriminating (if not a little too accommodating) collective, and undo what has taken over a decade to build. Totally disregarding the wishes of a listener base that is 99.99 % percent English speaking, a base that has contributed, defended and funded their community pirate radio station through thick and thin. And to make it even more vulgar, they pull the same crap we've all seen before, pulling the race card as many times as possible, whining about how 'their people' have been oppressed by the evil white man, calling people intolerant and , and so on. YAWN!!!
It has a particularly sinister aspect to it, when you consider the political affiliations of the programmers at KFRSC: mostly anarchists, or hard core liberal and progressive folk, devoted to bringing diverse and alternative opinion and news to the listening base ( which is 99.99% English speaking, i might add again).
It is the type of tactics Fox News would admire.
There shouldn't be even ONE MINUTE of spanish programming on KFRSC, simply because it is located in a community where virtually everyone speaks English, and every time you play a show in spanish, that listening base disappears.
Who are these guys to do this to KFRSC?? They seem to be like little babies, concerned only with their desire to broadcast in a language comfortable to them and their friends, one that hardly anyone else speaks, and has virtually NO AUDIENCE . Or if it does, will come at the expense of replacing the longtime listeners and supporters.
They have poisoned and divided the collective, accused good people of being being intolerant and cried censorship over and over. Now, they are getting their way and adding six more hours of their un-listened-to broadcasting to prime slots. Disgraceful.
KFRSC, please pull your heads out of your politically correctums, and vote these guy out of your station, or make them air their shows in English where the entire community can listen to them and judge if they are even fit to be aired. When i say ENTIRE community, i am talking about the audience you have fought so had to win over: The white people, Blacks, Palestinians, Arabs, Asians, Russians, Latino's, gays and lesbians, hippies, rednecks, working class, Cocker Spaniels! ...few of whom speak or understand Spanish, all of whom are counting on your continued news and info, entertainment and love

...the population of the city of Santa Cruz is about 50,000. Less than 10,000 are Hispanic. Thats about 20% of the city's population. While catering mainly to the English speaking majority, KFRSC is still strapped for cash. Each 'Spanish only' show is reaching one fifth as many people at best (not to mention discriminating against four fifths of it's listeners), therefore, you can count on receiving only 20% of your current per show funding, and even less if the 'English only' audience becomes frustrated by tuning in and hearing more and more Spanish programming. By my math, that equals total destruction of your station, unless you all decide to start growing marijuana in your free time and raffling it off to your audience. Either way, good luck with that!

am i out of line to keep reminding you guys that we are not commercial radio FOR A REASON???? at what point did our programming debate begin to be framed around who is donating the most money or who is likely to donate the most? at what precise meeting did diversity of programs get cut out of the mission statement?

if we need more money, there are other routes to go: more benefits, more psa's as outreach to listeners, among other things. if we need democracy now to go on at 8am, we need more programmers who are willing to schlep down to the station at 7am every morning m-f. neither of these things mean that we need to eliminate spanish language programs.

can you folks please take a step back and look at the frsc mission statement to remind yourselves of some of the basic premises that are repeatedly being totally overlooked in this argument?

that last comment was only one of us. maest@s was on auto-pilot.

Here, Here for wasentmedude's comments good points as for maestr@s without the listeners donations we would simply not be on the air. After the FCC raid in 2004 the LOCAL listeners donated over 3 thousand dollars in the first two weeks then Utah Phillips R.I.P. got an all all star benefit together at the Rio theater that generated even more donations from mostly LOCAL listeners that lasted us till now.
Those same listeners we're listening to a mostly English language station.
Nobody is debating who is donating the most $ but if FRSC continues to take away the programming that those listeners/donors have relied on for 15yrs then I am sure the donations will stop I already notice a drop in donations since the big push to Spanish language programming.
As for more benefits where are they? more psa's for what? donations? An as for our "Mission Statement" What are you talking about? In my 15 yrs with the station have NEVER seen one.
And due to the failure of FRSC programmers to "schlep down to the station at 7am every morning"
for the last 3 mos I have returned to doing Tuesday - Thursday morning programming due to the listener plea's.
A radio station needs it's listeners a non-commercial rs needs it's donors they go hand in hand and our tiny 100 watt rs only transmits primarily to the city of Santa Cruz which is and has been overwhelmingly English speaking.
People shouldn't try to fix what aint broken.
I like Pedro's comment take the Spanish language to where the people can actually hear it like in Watsonville.

from http://takebackkpfk.org/
Informativo Pacifica: Something’s Happening at KPFK

"Fernando Velasquez, former KPFK News Director, produces “Informativo Pacifica,” a Spanish-language morning news program, and broadcast from it three Pacifica stations and across four countries. The budget axe of November 2008 swung at KPFK’s news department, and Fernando was jobless, but he continues to produce “Informativo” as a volunteer.

The New York station’s WBAI Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee is under ferocious attack from the new interim WBAI General Manager, LaVarn Williams, who was installed after Pacifica Executive Director Grace Aaron removed the management from that station. On July 15, the USOC wrote a letter to performers at a WBAI fundraiser, mentioning, “In Berkeley, after a baseless, public smear campaign, Chief Financial Officer Lonnie Hicks was fired. In Los Angeles, KPFK Program Director Armando Gudiño has been fired, as have News Director (and “Informativo Pacifica” producer) Fernando Velasquez, and programmer Jerry Quickley. In Washington, D.C., General Manager Ron Pinchback was fired and humiliatingly escorted from the premises.”

In response, Williams inflamed the situation when she asked the Pacifica National Board and others for help, “in countering this contra appeal to the Staff at WBAI that encourage Staff insubordination with an intent to also deleteriously impact Staff morale.”

Velasquez was the only one of the four mentioned by the Unpaid Staff Union still affiliated with Pacifica. Six days later, “Informativo Pacifica” disappeared from its daily slot at Houston station KPFT, and the time slot remained empty of regular programming until August 19, when the decidedly English BBC World News took over the time slot.

On July 23, Velasquez spoke at an event with Tim Wise in New York City criticizing the racism in progressive media and at WBAI. At WBAI, the show disappeared from live broadcast for several weeks, although it still appeared in the station archives, until local pressure by Take Back WBAI forced its return.

On August 27, Velasquez was informed by KPFK’s interim Program Director Alan Minsky that “Informativo Pacifica” would be reduced to a 4-day broadcast and moved to 9:00 p.m. from its 5:00 a.m. timeslot to make more time for Roy Tuckman’s “Something’s Happening.” The new time meant that “Informativo Pacifica” would be “yesterday’s news fresh to you today” for it’s international affiliates morning news shows.

Tuckman regularly broadcasts Gary Null, who promotes his Natural Living methods and, by extension, his Natural Living products. Speculation is that Null will fill Tuckman’s new half hour, perhaps, ironically, with more of his rants against unintellectual, demented Latino Program Directors and screams that ethnic- and race-identified programs are, “Wrong, wrong, wrong!”

The Pacifica National Board established “Informativo Pacifica” in January 2005 at the urging of its Committees of Inclusion and listeners from across the network. Motions to fund the program were never implemented, but, nevertheless, the program’s staff made the transition from the bilingual “Pueblos sin Fronteras” to the Spanish-language “Informativo” and continue to arrive at the station at 3:00 a.m. to prepare for the early morning broadcast."

"the city of Santa Cruz which is and has been overwhelmingly English speaking."

Why does the newly designed CVS (formerly Long's) in downtown Santa Cruz have their aisle signs in both English and Spanish?

Why Bob?

Tereza, you can ask that CVS have signs in Quechua, Kuna, Sanskrit, and Bangla too. Because if you offer Spanish, then you have to include every language, right??

http://muckraker-gg.blogspot.com/2008/07/planet-pacifica-inside-story.html

To "downtownsantacruz"....you just made my point without, i am sure, even trying to. I personally have not even the slightest bit of problem with a store catering to a large percentage of their shoppers in anyway they see fit. And while i do not know Tereza, i cannot imagine she would either....by the way, whats with all the attacks on her? Have you never listened to her show and realized what a thoughtful, tolerant and compassionate individual she is? I guess not, too busy listening to your amigos to know whats being played on the schedule perhaps. Anyway, where the hell was i? Oh yeah, ...signs...When you are walking down an isle at a store that has bilingual displays looking for that pack breath freshener or can of Red Bull, or those Poptarts that are half off, you have, and here's my point so pay attention por favor, a CHOICE: you can read a sign thats in YOUR language (the accepted and widely spoken language that most polite people try to learn upon immigrating here), or someone elses language (in this case Spanish, which CVC'S has so spinelessly and foolishly installed to seem more ...more whatever) Whats happening at KFRSC is sort of as if CVC'S (or whatever the geniuses at Longs are calling themselves) closed the doors, and put a sign in the window that read: "To our longtime Long's shoppers and friends, we are closed from 1pm till 3pm to allow only Hispanic shoppers" Imagine walking down there and seeing such a thing And then imagine seeing it ever increasing throughout the week. Now you get it? The signs in Longs (sorry, i like that name better), written in both Spanish and English, provide a choice for people and should serve as a metaphor to the Spanish programming supporters : GET YOUR OWN STATION

I have e-mailed the commenters on here about this question but have gotten no response. Is the proposed change going to add six hours per day or six hours per week of spanish language programming? This could make all the difference in the world.

Greetings FRSC listeners,
John, thanks for your years of support and for your interest,

To address concerns voiced by both listeners and collective members, I proposed creating Spanish language programming blocks for two hours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That's a total of six hours of programming, however that would replace Friday's Spanish Language news block that currently runs 10-12. Therefore, only four additional hours weekly of Spanish Language News programming are proposed: Shows such as Feminine Insurgency and Central America Uncensored are proposed. This is not a huge deal, and the response therefore illustrates the conflict that is an alarmist backlash against something that I think we should all support: extending the 'voice of the voiceless' to include Spanish speakers on a pirate radio station.

This proposal was designed to address two totally valid concerns about existing Spanish language programming on FRSC: 1) Having only half an hour in Spanish makes it hard to attract Spanish speaking listeners when it's only a tiny island of Spanish in an overwhelmingly English programming schedule. 2) Several popular English language programs that previously were broadcast twice a week, once in the morning and once in the evening, were being scheduled only in the mornings to make room for a daily spanish language global independent news broadcast. Therefore, I proposed that we also restore those programs to the evening schedule at 6 PM. As a consequence, Informativo Pacifica and FSRN would be swapped in order to have a Spanish language news block followed by an English language news block, again, only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

This proposal is obviously affected by the issues marginally being discussed above, i.e. Informativo Pacifica's future at KPFK. But I'll give an update from the Pueblos Sin Fronteras collective in a subsequent post. For the moment, let me say that
1) From the start many of us have wanted to have these discussions within our collective rather than air divisive tirades against fellow programmers. Not to hide behind closed doors, but to make our decision as a collective and get to the root of some of the resistance rather further expose our own petty infighting. Oh well.
2) It is odd to hear such vehement dismissals of our claims--that spanish language programming is *not* under attack, that we're 'pulling the race card,' crying wolf, playing the victim, etc. when there has been such virulent and public attacks in this forum, on the air, and on station communication, with wild accusations and personal attacks.
3) I am disappointed in our collective for not stepping up to maintain our agreed upon schedule and allowing a single programmer's 'strike' to disrupt our morning news broadcasts. But I am also disappointed in some of our listeners who have been encouraged to voice their own intolerance. I understand that some of you might spin the dial when a language that you do not understand comes on. Doing so makes you racist or intolerant. However, if you angrily mutter about 'them' 'taking over,' if you proclaim that 'they' shouldn't be on 'our' radio station, if you want to maintain Free Radio English-only or marginalize Spanish speaking collective members into these hours but not these, if you call the voicemail and spit hatred and vitriol ('you guys suck... have fun with your mexican friends'),... I'll allow each of you to come to your own conclusions. Mine are my own, but are likely fairly obvious in this forum.

I have heard from other listeners, spoke with friends, supporters, former programmers,... and it is hardly the case that all of you out there feel this way. Most of you are not hostile to Spanish language programming, you just think it should be programmed intelligently and thoughtfully. I agree.

Most of you wouldn't accuse 'them' of trying to take over or 'steal' or 'highjack' FRSC. Most of you do not feel that 'they' are lazy. Most of you do not presume to tell everyone in Watsonville what they need or what they need to do based on whatever generalizations you want to make about Watsonville, or to demand that 'they' 'get their own station,' which is simplistic at best and arrogant at worst, especially when voice in ALL CAPS. Most of you will not be threatened by or feel ditched if we broadcast global independent news (in Spanish) sometimes, as long as we stick to our morning schedule and have dependable broadcasts. Most of you don't think that Santa Cruz is 99% English speaking. Most of you support Free Radio in principle and know from years of listening that it sometimes takes a while to get our shit together. Right?

On the topic: As for not answering emails, the truth is none of us know the password. Lame, huh? I don't know it. I used to but it was changed. No one in the collective can access our email. Sorry. We're *that* dysfunctional sometimes (obviously).

Thanks for your patience. And thanks for supporting Free Radio through thick and thin. We need your support and yes, we need your input. We'll discuss all of it when we meet again as a collective.

Los Angeles, California, 15 de septiembre del 2009.

Estimados compañeros:

Como nos lo anunció verbalmente el pasado 28 de agosto el programador interino de la Radio KPFK, Alan Minsky, el Infomativo Pacifica, que por los últimos 3 años se transmitió de 5:30 a 6:00 de la mañana en la Radio KPFK de Los Ángeles, fue cancelado este martes para darle 2 horas mas a el programador Roy Tuckan que ya tenia 23 horas de programacion a la semana.

Por las ultimas tres decadas el señor Tuckman ha mantenido un programa llamado “Something’s happenning” en la radio KPFK que inicia a la medianoche y hasta el 2003 finalizaba a las 6 de
la mañana. Ese año la gerencia abrió un espacio para un noticiero bilingüe llamado Pueblos sin
Fronteras, que en el 2006 se convirtió en el noticiero en español llamado Informativo Pacifica.

Desde que empezamos a producir el programa bilingüe hace 6 años de diferentes maneras se nos hizo saber que no eramos bienvenidos.

Empleados, personal del staff pagado y voluntario con mucha influencia en la radio KPFK y en algunos círculos del partido demócrata, no son amigos de los programas en Español, ni consideran que la Radio deba servir a la comunidad latina que vive en el área dentro de la señal de la radio. Su rechazo a la programacion en español no ha sido un secreto todos estos años.

Por ejemplo puedo citar a un veterano programador que al menos en 2 ocasiones cuando entrabamos a la radio a preparar el Informativo nos pidió “papeles por favor”, en referencia a que podíamos ser migrantes indocumentados.

Para el, por supuesto, fue un chiste que nosotros preferimos ignorar porque ya teniamos suficientes
conflictos. En numerosas ocasiones se ha acusado a la programación en español de provocar que “se pierda la audiencia de habla inglesa”. Los que se oponen a la programación alegan que ellos no
entienden español por lo que deberíamos traducirles el contenido del programa, que al mantener programas en español hacemos self apartheid, etc, tambien se cuestiona la existencia de los colectivos latinos.

Queremos informarles que por el compromiso que tenemos con otras radios comunitarias de Estados Unidos y Latinoamerica continuaremos produciendo en la madrugada el Informativo Pacifica, como lo hemos venido haciendo a nivel de voluntarios, para asi tenerlo listo de lunes a viernes a las 5:30 am.

Reiteramos nuestro compromiso de continuar produciendo cada mañana un programa con las noticias mas relevantes del dia anterior para que otras radios en Estados Unidos y en otras regiones del mundo continuen presentando a sus comunidades con un programa comprometido y de calidad.

Creemos que la decision de la gerencia interina de KPFK de cancelar el Informativo Pacifica los viernes y moverlo a un horario nocturno de lunes a jueves, para complacer a el señor Tuckman, y a todos aquellos que rechazan los programas en español, tiene como proposito continuar castigandonos por las denuncias publicas que hemos hecho sobre el rumbo que esta tomando la Red Pacifica.

Nuevamente reiteramos nuestra profunda preocupación por los cambios que vienen ocurriendo en las 5 emisoras que conforman la Red Pacifica. Bajo el pretexto de que estamos en una crisis económica la directiva interina de la Red, con un poder absoluto y sin consultar a sus cientos de voluntarios y su staff pagado, viene despidiendo personal, cancelando programas y orientando la programacion hacia
un espectro mas derechista.

Esta situación públicamente la hemos venido denunciando desde principios del año en diferentes foros como en las reuniones de la Mesa Directiva Nacional.

Creemos que como resultado de estas denuncias en los últimos meses hemos sido objeto de represalias.

En KPFT de Houston, el Informativo fue cancelado y en su lugar se transmite ahora las noticias de la BBC en ingles; en WBAI de Nueva York por 2 semanas, sin explicacion alguna, se suspendió el noticiero y se transmitió la repetición de un programa de noticias en ingles.

Ahora en KPFK, la estación de Pacifica en Los Ángeles , el Informativo fue cancelado los viernes y
movido a un horario nocturno impreciso.

Les pedimos que continúen enviando cartas de apoyo y llamen por telefono pidiendo se restituya el
Informativo Pacifica a su horario de las 5 y media de la mañana de Lunes a viernes o en un horario
mas accesible para que los trabajadores latinos puedan escuchar noticias relevantes de las luchas de los pueblos de Estados Unidos, latinoamerica y el mundo, que no se escuchan en ningun otra radio de
California.

Un abrazo desde Los Ángeles, California.
Norma Martinez.
Informativo Pacifica

http://www.kpfk.org/kpfknews/164-newsaboutkpfk/2547-statement-from-kpfk-interim-program-director.html

http://www.kpfk.org/kpfknews/164-newsaboutkpfk/2547-statement-from-kpfk-interim-program-director.html

http://www.kpfk.org/kpfknews/164-newsaboutkpfk/2547-statement-from-kpfk-interim-program-director.html


sorry they're jpegs not text

http://www.kpfk.org/kpfknews/164-newsaboutkpfk/2547-statement-from-kpfk-interim-program-director.html


3 pages, posted in bad order (2, 3, 1) by danielsan. Sorry.

INFORMATIVO PACIFICA” REPLIES TO KPFK’S INTERIM PROGRAM DIRECTOR

By: Fernando Velazquez

ENGLISH: KPFK’s Interim Program Director Alan Minsky has taken valuable space at the station
web site in this time of economic hardships to respond to criticism regarding “his decision” to change the broadcast hours for “Informativo Pacifica” from 5.30 AM Monday to Friday, to week nights at 10.30 PM Monday thru Thursday (starting September 15, 2009), to let us know that he cares deeply about
the Latino community and that he respects informativo’s news team.

He also has taken the time “to explain” to us how important it is for his political ally Roy Tuckman
to get two extra hours of air time ( hours that Minsky is taking from “Informativo Pacifica” to give them to “Roy of Hollywood”), on top of the 23 he already has, to raise money for KPFK.

And to tell us that Informativo’s change in no way will have a negative effect on the program’s distribution, its audience, or the producers. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Let’s start with the effects on its local audience. KPFK broadcasts its signal in Southern California.

This is the home of the largest Mexican, Central and South American communities, and the largest concentration of Spanish Language speakers in the country.

This Spanish speaking community goes to bed early because it needs to get up early in the morning given its work needs. They will be the first hit, as well as Northern Mexico’s “Radio Bemba” who airs Informativo simultaneously by taking every morning the signal off the Internet.

No one disputes that there is an economic crisis in the world (according to most economists, a crisis created by the US), at KPFK and Pacifica Radio.

But to strike a the Latino community by sending them to the back of Alan Minsky’s bus, to the hours when most Spanish Language speakers are sleeping, because the Los Angeles white middle class needs to stabilize “their station” sounds a bit punitive and in line with the anti-immigrant, anti Latino
times we live in.

Let us remember that the unequal distribution of wealth in the US favors the Middle class by setting up a salary scale that discriminates against the Working class, leaving Latinos at the bottom in charge of subsidizing the upper classes in their houses, businesses, restaurants and elsewhere, thus making it
easy for the Middle class to have “some extra bucks” for Pacifica Radio.

Minsky’s explanation directly contradicts Roy Tuckman’s own statements ( and documents I hear) where he (Roy) in his efforts to fight Eva Georgia and Armando Gudino’s change of his air time
hours, allegedly showed (six years ago) proof that he fund raises over 80 per cent of the money between 12.00 Midnight and 1.00 AM. Then why is Minsky arguing that Roy makes a lot of
money between 5.00 AM and 5.30 AM?

Any one with a bit of common sense and “deep respect for the Latino Community” would ask Roy Tuckman to call on his “largest and committed audience” to go to KPFK and answer the phones between 12.00 Midnight and 5.30 AM or pledge early, because they care about the Latino community. Unless they have already joined the anti–Latino fever, so pervasive in the Lou Dobbs and Gary Null’s world.

Minsky argues that having “two strong programs” Roy Tuckman and Amy Goodman’s shows back to back in the morning will generate a larger audience because as of now, informativo ( in Spanish) in the middle, inhibits growth. I’d like to ask, where is the empirical data to prove that “Democracy Now” s
audience is racist and refuses to tune in to 90.7 FM because they just heard something in Spanish?

Minsky says changing Informativo’s broadcast time will not have any negative impact on its national and international distribution because its producers could continue having the show ready at 5.30 as usual. Then upload it to a web site or two, and bingo, problem solved. And if the news team feels reluctant to air old news late at night (as it should) then they can update it during the day.

Although he says he has a great deal of respect for the full time six nights a week volunteers responsible for Informativo’s production, he has no problem expecting them to work extra hours during the day in order to satisfy “Roy of Hollywood”s whim of “getting back his hours Eva Georgia-Armando Gudino management took from him six years ago.”

And all at the expenses of more free labor from the Latinos Minsky cares so much about. With those kind of friends who needs enemies, really!.

Fernando Velazquez is the Projector of “Informativo Pacifica,” a Spanish Language news program aired in radio stations in Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and the United States every day, Monday through Friday.

ESPANOL
INFORMATIVO PACIFICA” RESPONDE AL DIRECTOR DE PROGRAMACION INTERINO DE KPFK

Por: Fernando Velazquez

El director de Programacion Interino de la radio KPFK ha tomado valioso espacio en el sitio
web de la emisora en estos momentos de crisis economica para responder a la critica respecto a “su decision” de cambiar la hora de transmision del “Informativo Pacifica” de las 5.30 AM de Lunes a Viernes a las 10.30 PM de Lunes a Jueves *empezando el 15 de Septiembre de 2009), y para informarnos que el apoya a la comunidad Latina y respeta al equipo de noticias del informativo.

Tambien se ha tomado el tiempo para “explicarnos” cuan importante es para su aliado politico Roy
Tuckman contar con dos horas adicionales en el aire (horas que Minsky quita al informativo para darselas a “Roy of Hollywood”) encima de las 23 que ya tiene, con el fin de recaudar dinero para KPFK.

Y para decirnos que el cambio de horario del Informativo no tendra ningun efecto negativo en la
distribucion del programa, su audiencia y los productores. Nada podria estar mas lejos de la verdad.

Empezemos con el efecto que tendria en la audiencia local. La radio KPFK transmite su senial en el Sur de California, lugar de residencia de las mas grandes comunidades Mexicana, Centro y Suramericana y el lugar donde mas se habla espanol en este pais.

La comunidad de habla hispana se acuesta temprano en la noche porque sus necesidades laborales les obligan a levantarse temprano en la manana.. Ellos serian los primeros en ser impactados. Al igual que “Radio Bemba” en el norte de Mexico quien toma la senial todas las manianas desde el internet.

Nadie disputa que hay una crisis economica en el mundo (de acuerdo a la mayoria de economistas, creada por Estados Unidos), en KPFK y en Radio Pacifica.

Pero golpear la comunidad latina moviendo uno de sus mas dinamicos programas a la noche cuando ellos ya estan dormidos porque en la “vision del mundo “ de Alan Minsky la clase media blanca necesita estabilizar “su estacion de radio,” parece una medida punitiva en acorde con la atmosfera anti latina y anti inmigrante reinante en el pais.

Recordemos que la distribucion desigual de la riqueza en Estados Unidos favorece a la clase media al tiempo que discrimina contra la clase obrera, dejando a los Latinos a cargo de subsidiar a las clases de arriba trabajando por bajos salarios en sus casas, negocios, restaurantes y demas.

Eso hace posible que la clase media tenga “unos cuantos dolares extras” para la Radio Pacifica.” La
explicacion ofrecida por Minsky contradice directamente la posicion expuesta (y documentos, me dicen) de Roy Tuckman hace seis anios.

En un esfuerzo por bloquear los cambios en la programacion hechos por Eva Georgia y Armando Gudino, el (Roy) supuestamente mostro documentos que prueban que mas del 80 por ciento del
dinero que el recauda, ocurre entre la media noche y la una de la maniana.

Entonces porque Minsky argumenta que Roy hace una gran cantidad de dinero entre las cinco y cinco y media de la maniana?

Cualquier persona con sentido comun y “con gran respeto hacia la comunidad latina” pediria a Roy Tuckman que llame a su “inmensa y comprometida audiencia” a que vayan a KPFK a contestar telefonos y a donar dinero a la emisora entre la media noche y 5.30 AM porque ellos se preocupan por el bienestar de la comunidad latina.

A menos que ellos ya esten unidos a la fiebre anti latina que predomina en el mundo de Lou Dobbs y
Gary Null.

Minsky argumenta que poniendo “dos programas fuertes” en la maniana generara una mayor audiencia, porque ahora un programa en espaniol (el Informativo Pacifica) en medio de Roy y Amy reduce el interes de los radio oyentes.

Me gustaria preguntar ? en donde esta la informacion empirica que muestra que la audiencia de “Democracy Now” es racista, y rehusa suntonizar 90.7 FM porque acaba de escu char algo en espanol?

Minsky dice que el cambio de horario del informativo no tendra ningun efecto negativo en su distribucion nacional e internacional porque sus productores continuaran terminando el programa a las 5.30 AM, subiendolo a un sitio web o mas, y !bingo,! el problema esta resuelto.

Y si ellos se sienten incomodos de poner noticias viejas al aire en la noche ( como deberian), entonces deben actualizarlo durante el dia.

A pesar de que Alan Minsky afirma tener un gran respeto por el equipo voluntario que labora seis noches a la semana produciendo el Informativo Pacifica, el no tiene ningun problema pidiendoles que trabajen horas extras durante el dia para asi poder satisfacer el capricho de “Roy of Hollywood” de
“retomar sus horas que la administracion de Eva Georgia y Armando Gudino le quito hace seis anios.” De verdad, !con esa clase de amigos quien necesita enemigos.!

Fernando Velazquez es Director del Proyecto “Informativo Pacifica,” programa de noticias en espaniol que se transmite todos los dias de Lunes a Viernes en emisoras de radio de Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela y Estados Unidos.

one more try

There's a typo in my recent post. It's really obviously incorrect. My apologies.

"I understand that some of you might spin the dial when a language that you do not understand comes on. Doing so makes you racist or intolerant. However, if you angrily mutter about 'them' 'taking over,'..."

Shit. That should (obviously) read: "Doing so *does not make* you racist or intolerant. However, if you angrily..."

As for what kind of statements I'm referring to, here's a gem from Tuesday's voicemail responses to Skidmark's show.

"Great, so this is the chance I have, the little beep there I guess that's when I get to talk and leave a msg. I'm trying to say... that I'm spending this time, my days, my minutes on my phone, so this is costing me, this radio station is costing me. I've got to wade through all this Spanish. and I'm against the Spanish, all this Spanish language on our English soil, and if they want to learn spanish, er if they want to speak spanish, fine. But speak it in their home. Whatever. Let 'em learn how to speak English. I betcha, You complain, or you go to Mexico and 10 to 1 says they won't speak English for you. No Spanish No More. Thank you."

So my respect to all the listeners who've voiced calm and thoughtful critiques, weighed in for measured discussion, but when that's the result of our programs that are encouraging people to make their voices heard, I hesitate to further submit our programming schedule to the whims of the sample of listeners who get stirred up by programmers who don't want to share.

That's it at its simplest--some people don't want to share a radio station based in Santa fucking Cruz (Saint's Crossing or Holy Cross, for those of you who don't know any Spanish) with the locals who happen to speak Spanish. Some folks can't find enough hours in the schedule to allow raza any space. A couple hours. Some news, some live shows. Nope. They're gonna fight it.

Informativo Pacifica, I might add, did not air today.

Nice try putting a happy face on your discriminatory agenda Danielsan. But lets put the shoe on the other pie......so, imagine theres a pirate radio station in a small town in Mexico, been there for 15 years, put together as a collective by the liberal and tolerant founders who very generously decided not to 'own' it. No charter, no real mission statement, slightly anarchist in ideology, always financially struggling but somehow scraping by with the help of devoted programmers and listeners who love it's wide range of worldwide news and entertainment. It goes out of it's way to provide quality programs covering as many cultures and opinions as possible, including to the struggles of the poor, oppressed white people of the U.S. It's listening base is predominately Hispanic (it is Mexico you see), and all is well for many years in this quiet diverse village.
Then one fine day, some white programmers decide to come into the station and express their interest in broadcasting English only shows. The collective, being generous and polite people, and not wanting to be intolerant, grant them their wish. But it becomes clear that the new shows are reaching only a few of the community's listening audience, (those who never took the time to learn the common language of the country i might add), and inconveniencing and cutting out the rest of the listeners, who then started feeling left out and confused as to why this was even happening in the first place. So as they began to hear more English Only shows, some of which canceled out long established and well listened to programs, they made their opinions heard, some politely, others not, but almost all were unanimously opposed to any further disruption in their stations programming. Completely and utterly disregarding the wishes of the still tolerant and generous, though increasingly fed up listening base, the new American programmers began to launch campaigns on the air and on the Web, accusing the collective of intolerance and racism, causing disharmony and confusion, making phone calls to the Mexican programmers on the air and harassing them....all of which began to disgust and frustrate the listeners, who began finding other stations to listen to........you see where this is going? How well received do you think these English Only programmers would be? My guess is not very well

To all of you Spanish Only programmers, I am curious: if serving the needs of the Hispanic community is so high on your agenda, why then are you not willing to do the necessary work, raise the funds, find a location, install a transmitter, buy the computers and equipment, etc, and GET YOUR OWN STATION? You could build your own listener base, and have the station that could be a sister to Free Radio, each supporting the other, and the world would be right again, and we'd all eat rainbows and crap butterflies! In other words, do all the work, put all the blood sweat and tears, love and angst, ups and downs, in a station that would truly be of service to the Hispanic community....but i have a feeling all that work involved may have been the answer to my question, so much easier to just come and co-opt another isnt it?

Los Angeles, California, 9.15.09

Esteemed comrades:

As we were verbally notified on August 28th by the Interim Program Manager of KPFK, Alan Minsky, Informativo Pacifica, which for the past three years has been broadcast between 5:30 and 6 AM in the morning on KPFK Los Angeles, was canceled this Tuesday to give two more hours to Programmer Roy Tuckman, who already had 23 weekly programmed hours.

For the last three decades, Mr. Tuckman has done a show called "Something's Happening" on KPFK, starting at midnight and, until 2003, ending at 6 AM. That year management opened up a space for a bilingual news show called "People without Borders" which in 2006 evolved into the Spanish Language Informativo Pacifica.

Since we began to produce the bilingual program six years ago, in many ways it's been made known to us that we were not welcome.

Some employees, paid staff, volunteers with influence at KPFK, some with influence in the Democratic Party, are not friends of Spanish language programs, nor do they believe the radio should serve the Latino community that lives within the broadcast range. Their rejection of Spanish language programming has not been a secret during all these years.

For example I'll cite: a a veteran programmer who at least twice when we entered the station to prepare for our morning broadcast said "Papers please" inferring that we are undocumented immigrants.

For him of course it was just a joke, which we preferred to ignore, picking our battles. On numerous occasions, Spanish language programmers have been accused of causing a loss of English speaking listeners. Those who oppose our programming allege that we should translate the contents of our programs, that by maintaining our show in Spanish we self segregate and maintain "auto-apartheid," etc. and they also question the existence of the Latino collectives (Latin American radios with whom we cooperate).

We want to tell you that because of our commitments to other Community Radios in the US and Latin America we will continue to produce Informativo Pacifica in the mornings, as we've been doing as volunteers, in order to have it ready (to share) Monday through Friday at 5:30 AM.

We reiterate our commitment to continue producing the show each morning with the most relevant news of the previous day, so that other radios in the US and other regions of the world can continue to broadcast a high quality program to their communities.

We believe that the decision of the interim KPFK management to cancel IP on Fridays, and to move it to late night Monday-Thursday, to placate Mr. Tuckman and all those who reject Spanish language programming, has as its goal our continued punishment for our public denunciation of the conflicts at Pacifica.

Again we reiterate our profound worry for the changes that have been happening at the five stations of the Pacifica network. Under the pretext that we're in an economic crisis, Pacifica management with absolute power and without consulting the hundreds of volunteers and paid staff, is firing personnel, canceling programs, and orienting the programming more towards an right wing perspective.

This is the situation we have been publicly denouncing since the first days of the year in different forums like the meetings of the National Board of Directors.

We believe that the result of these pronouncements has been the last three weeks of repression.

In KPFT Houston, Informativo was canceled. BBC English took its place. At WBAI in New York for two weeks the show was suspended without explanation. In its place, WBAI broadcast news in English.

And now at KPFK, LA's Pacifica affiliate, the Informativo was canceled on Fridays and move to an undetermined late night slot.

We ask for you to continue sending letters of support and making calls to demand the restoration of IP to its 5:30 slot Monday through Friday--or, to a slot that is more accessible to Latino workers who can listen to relevant news about the struggles of US communities, Latin America, and the world, which can't be heard in any other radio station in California.

A hug from Los Ángeles, California.
Norma Martinez.
Informativo Pacifica

After having my question answered my position is now clear: It is not too much to ask for a total of 6 hours per week of FRSC air time be devoted to spanish language programming. I doubt most listeners will even know it is there. Maybe don't put in prime time/drive time at 5PM, but somewhere closer to 3PM might be better. Then archive the shows simillar to Bathrobespierre's Broadsides so that people who are at work at 3 PM can still hear the shows online.

KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles - 98.7 FM Santa Barbara
3729 Cahuenga Blvd. West - N. Hollywood, CA 91604
Main phone: (818) 985-2711 - Fax: (818) 763-7526 - Studio phone: (818) 985-5735

Roberto Duran if you are the co founder of a radio station why wouldn't you want spanish to be a part of your station, and recognize that part of you is raza,indigenous. Why deny access to those from your community for so long that only English listeners have been considered. you can try to deny those roots that are a part of you by changing your name to skidmark bob, but you are where you come from. Now the collective has enough people from bilingual backgrounds to propose these types of program, and people from the community dedicated to making it happen every week. FRSC doesn't just run on money, it also runs with volunteers who pay their dues, and put in their time as well at the meetings, programs, and are putting their freedom on the line as well. Therefore roberto or bob why has it taken 15 years for this to happen, and you yourself are from spanish/ indigenous roots. Just because you don't speak your language it is never to late to start, and others who do speak it do not have as many outlets of information like they do english already. The reality is that the majority is becoming spanish speakers, and if they keep being used by mainstream corporate English only media we will end up in a worst situation than what it is.

Bob you said pedro has a good suggestion, maybe you can help cofound a spanish station. Roberto is your name, and you know where you come from, who you are, and where you want to go. Remember your roots, and your ancestors languages. Teach them to your kids, and let them know as well where they come from. Did the native americans really speak english only? Just because Bob and his listeners have spoken english this last 15 years it has excluded many programmers, and has taken this long to actually get bilingual folks to become a part of the collective to even take part in the decision making process at FRSC. Specifically people of diverse backgrounds who got involved in the meetings, and as you know roberto there is a process for making decisions at these meetings. The dollar doesn't only speak english, and frsc is a community station that has now become a part of the Diverse community of all of Santa cruz, and not just robertos closet anymore.

September 16, 2009
Dear Friends and Listeners of KPFK:

I believe that KPFK is in real danger of losing its political soul. My fear is that the current national leadership, perhaps out of a sincere desire to solve Pacifica’s very real financial problems, is prepared to turn the station, programmatically, into another KCRW. Now, KCRW is a perfectly fine public radio station. But it is not KPFK. L.A. does not need another KCRW, but it surely needs at least one KPFK! KPFK must continue to bring the “voice of the voiceless” to our airwaves. It must continue to host shows with a decidedly left, anti-establishment, anti-government, anti-racist, anti-sexist, etc., view point. It must use its ability to reach out to all the diverse populations in L.A. by broadcasting from the union halls and churches and meeting rooms of the rainbow of working class neighborhoods in and around L.A. so that their voices are heard and so that the progressive causes that concern them
are known and advanced.

Another basis for my fear is that while it was a fight from the very beginning to get some Spanish language programming on the air at KPFK, it now appears that we are retreating on our committment to Spanish language programming at a time when we ought to be increasing its time on our station. After all, Spanish speakers represent the majority population in Los Angeles. Other Spanish language stations do not air the sort of left political programming that KPFK does. KPFK should be making a special effort to recruit the best new on-air Spanish language hosts it can find; work to improve the skills of current Spanish language programmers (just as it should be working to imrove the on-air skills of every non-Spanish language programmer at the station, myself included!); and, make every effort to employ more people of color, in general, at the station.

Internally, there must be transparency and true due process when any host, or any show is cancelled. While I was interim General Manager of KPFK it was always my position that all members of the station, be they employees covered by the union contract or volunteer programmers, had
the same rights to due process when their status was to be altered. That should continue to be the case.

If we are to honestly still call KPFK an “alternative radio station,” and a “community radio station” that is true to the mission statement of Lew Hill, then we must be willing to do these things. We must stay
true to our principles even as we tighten our financial belt.

One way to save KPFK, keep it true to its heritage, is for our listeners to chose the next Station Board carefully. I am not by this statement necessarily endorsing any candidate on any slate, or any candidate running as an independent (nor should this statement be taken to suggest otherwise). However, I do strongly urge our listeners to listen carefully to the on-air candidate forums, read the candidates’ statements, consider their personal backgrounds and expressed goals for the station, and where you find them to be consistent with what I have suggested KPFK must do and be if it is to have a bright, principled, future, vote for those candidates and urge your friends to do the same!

In Solidarity,
Jim Lafferty
host, The Lawyers Guild Show

thanks Danielsan for posting that letter by Jim Lafferty....i have seen the light! Last night i had an epiphany and believe i can change my ways. I dont watch alot of television, so as i was channel surfing for the first time in a while, i noticed something: none of the stations were bilingual! I know! its hard to believe that there could be such intolerance and censorship out there. Especially within the L.A based radio and tv broadcasting areas, where Spanish and English are equally spoken. As hard as it is to believe, they all seem to be in either Spanish, Tagalog, Mandarin or English. Such racism!!! So, following the inspiring lead of the 'Spanish Only' programmers of FRSC, i shall march into the studios of Telemundo, and DEMAND my voice (and the voice of my soon-to-be-a-minority people) be heard! I too, deserve to have my evening weather report brought to me by a big breasted, scantily clad supermodel! I too, have the right to notice the bare legs of the bombshell hostess under the table while i watch the Morning Show! I want to produce shows on Telemundo, or perhaps on one of the hundreds of Spanish radio stations in the state. After all, they are within range of many English speaking people (remember, this used to be OUR land once, before it was stolen from us) who are missing out on the espectacular programs they have to offer. And once again relying on the brilliant and effective tactics of the FRSC crew, i shall fling the race card at all who resist the change, i will call into the shows while they are live on the air and banter away loudly in English, so they cant understand! Heehee. A few hours a week of English programming on Telemundo, thats all i ask, so i can build a viewer base, i am sure the current audience wont mind unless they are intolerant, and if thats the case, well, who cares what THEY think! (Maybe we shouldnt even ASK the longtime viewers of Telemundo, that way, there will be less debate)! Now, these Latino radio and tv stations i am talking about are NOT collectives in politically correct Santa Cruz, and will be infinitely more difficult to penetrate and harder for me to recruit my English speaking friends, but that is not going to stop me!!! Wow, i am really good at this revolucion stuff, maybe i got a little Zapata, or Paul Revere in me

wasntmedude is a troll.

As an example of a truly bilingual media outlet, consider DW-TV, which originates in Germany, has shows alternating between German and English. It is shown on ch 32 locally in San Jose (you have to enter ch 32 manually using 3 and 2 on the remote to get it to show up on cable for some reason). Only the DW-TV English shows are broadcast on ch 32, but occasionally there will be Vietnamese language programming on ch 32 from yet another station. Also the music videos on ch 32 are often opera pieces in who knows what language with English subtitles. Ch 32 is also commercial free.

America is an English speaking country. If you cant speak it, learn it. I would make every attempt to learn the language of my new country, if i made the huge decision to relocate. I think people who don't are being intentionally disrespectful. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. If someone moved into your country, and refused to speak a common language that unites everyone and gives us a common bond, you would think they were just being a bit racist i am sure. I know for a fact that many Mexicans have a deep resentment for Americans. And speaking Spanish can be a sort of a weapon for them. It says, ' i don't care to be unified with you, i know there is a device to do so (english) but i openly refuse to apply it out of too much pride and resentment'. There is nothing nice about trying to turn this station into a foreign language outlet. Spanish is just a way to isolate yourselves and exclude others. And please don't assume i am white

I'd like to clarify a few things that I saw while catching up on this comments list.

To answer John Thielking, what was proposed at FRSC was the addition of 6 more hours per week, not a total of 6 hrs per week. Although it passed unanimously at the last programmer meeting, for the purposes of getting "buy-in" further discussion was deferred to the meeting tonight. At that meeting, my position will be that FRSC has misrepresented its priorities to donors. Promos, fundraisers, donation solicitations, and the posted schedule represent FRSC as primarily an (English) independent news station. But programming decisions over the last 10 months (my tenure) have given first priority to Spanish independent news, second priority to local programmers, and have treated English news the way the colonists treated native land: "So no one owns this? Well, it's ours now." If I count the hours in a week that are Spanish language, Spanish-language programmers or Spanish-language agenda (Danielsan's) there are currently 36 out of 115 daytime hours in the week. Our website is out of date, so that's an estimate. Adding six hours would bring it to 40. Most of them are in the evening, while English news is given the morning hours that no one else wants.

At the meeting, I'll be representing donors, including myself, who feel that this is fraud. We'll be asking FRSC to either return our money into a separate fund, give us the equivalent in equipment to start a new station, or fulfill the obligation they accepted with our donations by dedicating 5.5 hrs/day to English ind. news, with 1.5 of that time in the evening. I'm forming a board of donors who will support independent news at $5/hr, which will enable us to pay someone to reliably program it without interruption by promos excessively using the word "fuck." At least, that would be my preference. If anyone would like to join me in this, please send me an email.

This programming time would be charged against past donations at the minimum operating cost of the station ($5/mo. per weekly hour). When past donations have been used up, FRSC can decide if it wants to go forward as a Spanish-language station and solicit funding under that premise. Or be an all-programmer station like KZSC, funded by programmer dues and listeners who support them. This would give donors, listeners, and programmers whose motive is English news the time to start a low-power fm station. In the long-term, the station's programmers and donors should share the same goal.

In the short term, FRSC needs to be everything to everybody, but decide what its priorities are. If I were to design my own station, I'd have 2/3rds of the time be global network news and 1/3rd local programmers. But that's not why FRSC was founded. I think they should prioritize 60% of programming for FRSC programmers. As a second priority, until global news donations are used up, we'd use 33% of programming. That leaves 7% or 8 hrs/week for Spanish independent news. However, to be fair, this would need to be funded at the same rate English-language donors pay FRSC for the time, and they'd need to take responsibility for getting it on. As maest@s points out, this shouldn't be a problem.

But the issue that really alarms me here are the personal attacks. I don't hold Danielsan responsible for what anyone else on "his side" says, although I've been the brunt of some very offensive personal remarks. I think that taking responsibility for ourselves is daunting enough. The person who concerns me is the one who talks about FRSC programmers "risking their freedom" and then applies an actual name to someone he calls a co-founder. I'm not verifying that any of these allegations are true, but the obvious intent of the poster is to cause serious legal harm to someone at FRSC he doesn't agree with. Informativo Pacifica talks about a "joke" in poor taste about someone asking for their papers. This act, however, is the equivalent of calling immigration and giving them a name.

After seeing the vitriol and malicious intent of this act, I'm not sure that I feel safe continuing at FRSC. Obviously, there are people willing to hurt anyone who gets in the way of their "superior" ethics. Maybe it would be better if FRSC just gives us donors back our money or equipment and lets us start something legal with a clear mission from the start. Fighting the existing paradigm is enough to take on without fighting with each other.

Go start something somewhere else, good luck with that! ¡Adios!

Bilingual Programming @t Free Radio Chukshon

"Welcome and Bienvenidos! We are gradually adding more information about our programming and DJs here on this new website, and building our schedule. Until we're done, thanks for your patience.

Estamos actualizando el sitio pa' que puedas encontrar mas informacion sobre los horarios de programas y los DJ's. Poco a poquito vamos construyendo este sitio web. Puedes escuchar la transmision por internet y echarle el ojo a los blog's y noticias y demas!"

Agarra la Onda 16 septiembre
http://freeradiochukshon.org/node/611
http://freeradiochukshon.org/audio/download/611/agarra+la+onda+16+septiembre.mp3

"Tonight the show is a tribute to our deaths. 1 year ago, Marcella Grace "Sali" was killed in Oaxaca, we have some words in her memory. Also we have a tribute for Rockdrigo Gonzalez who died 24 years ago in the earthquake of 1985 in Mexico City. The last words of Salvador Allende who died in the coup in Chile in 1973.

Hoy por la noche rendimos tributo a nuestrxs muertxs. Marcela Grace "Sali" fue asesinada hace 1 ano en Oaxaca, tenemos unas palabras en su memoria. Tambien rendimos un tributo con las rolas del cantautor Rockdrigo Gonzalez quine murio durante los terremotos del 85 en la Cd de Mexico. Y las ultimas palabras de Salvador Allende durante el golpe de Estado en Chile en 1973."

adelante

Check the information on this link to see more of free radio, and how it got started. it also breaks down how the fcc acts against these small micro radio stations, and some of the consequences.

Six hours per day (42 divided by 7) is too much Spanish language programming.

Donors who have supported FRSC in bringing independent global news to the English-speaking SC Community feel that their funds have been falsely solicited. At the October 4th programmer meeting, I'll present the donors' viewpoint, programmers will present theirs, and both groups will decide to work on the marriage or get a divorce.

As both a donor and programmer at FRSC, I've added an agenda item representing donors at the next October 4th programmer-only meeting. Our contention is that FR falsely solicited donations by advertising a schedule they don't support, through misleading political fundraisers like Michael Parenti, and by playing promos by Amy Goodman, etc., that misrepresent their priorities. While promoting FR as a global independent news station, FR has considered "canned programming" (nationally-produced independent news) as empty hours that can be claimed at will, unless other programmers object. Listener and donor preferences are ignored or demeaned as "catering" to moneyed interests. No responsibility is taken by the collective for programming the advertised schedule in any reliable and systematic way.

We're asking for one of the three following choices:

1. Our money, ongoing and past, to be put into a separate account under the control of a committee of donors, programmers, and supporters who prioritize the independent news.

2. The equivalent of our money in equipment so that an independent low power fm station could be started that prioritizes the global news.

3. 6 hours per day of programming to be at the discretion of a committee of donors, etc, at the rate of $5/mo. per weekly hour (the minimum operating cost of the station), with 1.5 of these hours between 5 and 9 pm, until our past donations are used up.

Also, after three months of unreliability, FR is back to "normal" because Skidmark Bob is again voluntarily programming five days a week. It is NOT FAIR that one person is taking responsibility for the global news we love and thought that we donated to support. Funding ongoing programming at $5/hour would be enough to pay a minimal rate of $20/day for consistent, professional-level programming.

Are there others who would like to join me in asking FRSC to fulfill the obligation they accepted with past donations, and in creating an outlet for well-produced independent media in the future?

For the Oct. 4th meeting, it was requested that I survey donors and bring quotes to represent their point of view, for which a list of donors and their contact information will be provided. Although this action is being brought by donors, we welcome the views of listeners also.

The questions are these:

1) Is FRSC representing a different agenda to donors than they're practicing?
2) What agenda do FRSC programmers want to have going forward?
3) Should donors and FRSC stay together or work out an amicable divorce?

Representing donors, I've made it clear that a divorce doesn't mean that they would get to keep the whole house that donors have paid for. Maybe it's finding a way to live together while another house (station) can be built.

To answer #3, it would be useful for listeners, donors and supporters to consider the following questions, which would be also posed to FRSC programmers at the meeting:

How would you prioritize time between the following alternatives (adding to 100%)
Independent news in English:
Independent news in Spanish:
Local talk radio/ English:
Local talk radio/ Spanish:
Music and entertainment/ English:
Music and entertainment/ Spanish:

Do you have concerns when recommending FRSC to other people?

Do you feel that high-listener hours (5:30-9 pm) should go to the highest bidder, should be used for the most popular shows, or should be divided according to the overall mix of the station, i.e. 33% English-language news, 60% live programmers, 7% Spanish-language news?

Thank you for helping us keep independent news on the air in Santa Cruz.

John, I'm sorry, I counted wrong. Between Spanish-language programmers, Spanish-agenda programs, and Spanish-language news, there are 22 hrs on the FRSC schedule. But at least one of those programs is out-of-date, and one program would be moved to make up the 3 2-hour blocks of Spanish that Danielsan is proposing. So the total would be 24.5 hrs a week of Latino-oriented programming, or 21% of the schedule. However, 16 hrs of Latino programming are in the evening, which makes them 42% of evening programming.

According to FRSC policy, the last programmer at night is supposed to put on a mix of FRSC-produced programs. A surprising number of people listen to late-night radio. I'll often get comments on my shows after R Duck puts them on Friday night. But, as listeners know from the mornings when Democracy Now never played, most nights play Spanish music only. If these hours between 11 pm and 7:30 am are added in 6 days a week, it brings the total percentage of Spanish-oriented programming to 40%. This issue, and FR's refusal to deal with it, cost the station the dedicated programmer who kept up the website and programmed two mornings a week. This led to the current dependence on Bob.

I've been surprised to learn that Danielsan's proposal - of moving Informativo Pacifica to create Spanish-language blocks - is the same thing he's calling "Bilingual Programming Under Fire." When I first read about Informativo Pacifica's move at KPFK, I wondered why they considered it a slight. 9 pm seems like a good time to capture that day's news and have it up in time for any East Coast station to take as early as they want. News doesn't usually happen overnight. When I read Alan Minsky's response about the 2-hr Spanish blocks KPFK is creating, it made sense to me. Danielsan is proposing to move Informativo at FRSC for the same reason - so it wouldn't be a half-hour island of Spanish in a sea of English. However, Danielsan is also adding 4.5 hours so it wouldn't be an island, which changes the issue.

I feel that Danielsan is enflaming simple, practical issues by turning them into a race war. At FRSC, Spanish-news and English-news have been made competitive by Informativo replacing 50% of the only independent news in the evening. Those who are pro-independent news have been presented as anti-Latino. His stance is "if you're not for us, you're against us" but "for us" means a subset of the global news, rather than equal attention to all oppressed people.

But it seems time to move the FRSC debate to its own thread. See Donor Revolt at FRSC at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/22/18622772.php.

Tereza, you want to pay someone to do work at FRSC? Maybe you should re-read the FRSC programmer application, particularly the second sentence of the first paragraph... Here it is...

"Free Radio Santa Cruz (FRSC), is a community-based broadcast station that has been operating without a license since the spring of 1995. Our
**all-volunteer collective** offers commercial-free news, public affairs and music programming 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. As part of the larger
micro-radio movement, we are actively engaged in the struggle for community access to the airwaves."

Like it or not, the Santa Cruz community includes a large percentage of Spanish speakers.

It seems like this is teresas, and bobs issue on spanish programming because the schedule shows many more people than just these two individuals who oppose spanish programming. If there is spanish programming it is because the collective decided to bring spanish speaking folks into frsc, and it doesn't depend solely on teresa, or bobs opinion, or for that matter donors. That is why there is a collective process, and not a donor based agenda. Also if there is any donors that support free radio collective, then they support the collective not just english programming only. Therefore, teresa is in violation of the collective rules which is never to bring up collective programming issues on the airwaves, and actually attacking other programmers on the air. This would have been terms to cancel your show, but i guess since the cofounder skidmark bob is your ally for some reason you can get away with it even though he is from spanish speaking/ native descent. Tell teresa to go join NPR if she wants to work with donors and fulfill their needs, and to comply with fcc rules

Does everyone get to talk to donors, or is it only you that knows all the donors.

Ignorant people once again, I have NEVER have been opposed to Spanish programming on FRSC and for the record FRSC has always had and invited Spanish or Bilingual programs since 1995 well before the people pushing this agenda and some I have promoted personaly like Hombre Bala who did a kick ass Bilingual Punk, Ska, Rock show way back in the day.
I just want fairness and equality in programming if nobody is listening and there is no Spanish listeners then it should be removed I also think we should take into account the longtime listeners and donors who without FRSC would never to have shows, if all our time is taken up no community members can have shows.
As for Roberto Duran yes, you've found me out! I gave up my boxing career to be a self loathing Mexican NO MAS NO MAS!! I got a stomach ache! LOL!!

Corrected statment:
I just want fairness and equality in programming if nobody is listening and there is no Spanish listeners then it should be removed I also think we should take into account the longtime listeners and donors who without FRSC would never be here today and alot of them have stated that they don't want an increase in Spanish language programming to me.
No Mas! No Mas!

Roberto mentions one program in fifteen years that he has supported, and thinks is "kick ass". As you can see that roberto hasn't really been open to spanish programming, and he wasn't the reason why their is spanish programming now, because it is a collective effort that is why there is spanish programming. Bob aka roberto, talks about spanish programs that have been there or are there as if they are not up to his "kick ass" taste, and if they are not up to his taste then he wants to remove them. Therefore, because the collective effort brought spanish speaking programs, now bob doesn't want to look like he doesn't want spanish programming as part of frsc, and making it appear that he doesn't want certain shows because he thinks their not "kick ass". This is why it has taken 15 years to even get spanish programming on frsc, and to actually go to the meetings and have spanish speakers represented.

When bob say's there wouldn't be room for community programmers if there is more spanish programmers, we know that bob comes in everyday to download prerecorded programs from the internet, and plays them at certain times of the week. These prerecorded programs have been prioritized taking up time, and making it difficult for local, and community members to get involved as well. Remember Democracy now gets broadcasted already in over 300 stations already, and about three times a day nationally. where spanish news and information on mainstream corporate media is one hour a day, and they don't get the truth on commercial radio,tv, or newspapers.

As for bobs comment on Mexicanos, you know who you are, where you come from, and who you want to be

The question here is whether FRSC donors should be refunded their donations so they can start a new station. Before and after the summer we've experienced the news as brought to us by Bob. During the summer we experienced the news as brought to us by the all-volunteer collective, with Bob merely doing his share. The summer was the level of commitment to the news that our donations are funding, with the single exception of Bob.

As a programmer and donor, I know that the collective runs at a monthly deficit for ongoing costs: rent, phone lines, DSL. None of these are necessary for an all-news station from the independent network. Except for legalities, it could be run out of any house with a big tree, with no more equipment than an antenna and two computers. This would enable it to operate at a very low cost, even with a budget to supplement a consistent, reliable volunteer with a small token of our esteem.

In fact, the only use of our donations that has supported the global news has been Bob's dues credit for vacuuming out the computer that downloads and schedules networked programs. That's $20/mo. What does the collective use the rest of our donations for? Dues credit to distribute Spanish schedules in Beach Flats, replacing broken equipment we don't use, or unpaid dues from shows we don't support - not because they're in Spanish but because of the lack of effort put into them.

FRSC receives no money from the community, as you know. It's also not a legal nonprofit, so donors can't deduct donations from their taxes (which is not accurately represented by some solicitations). If it were, it would have an obligation to report to donors how the money's spent. What does that make it? Technically, it's a business. A business is under obligation to provide a product in return for payment. If they don't, it's a scam.

Donors are currently subsidizing programmers for their own shows. Logically, they're also buying every piece of equipment that FRSC has. Some programmers, in turn, have said that they don't consider donors to be part of the FRSC community, and that they should have no representation at meetings or voice in decisions. What does that make us? Second-class citizens there to pay the bills and shut up.

When I realized that my donations weren't supporting the news but Bob was, I started paying Bob $40/wk ($10/day) for early morning downloads. But I asked the collective to either return my $300 donation or apply it as dues credit for the remainder of the year. This was blocked by the Latino faction unless I was also willing to pay one of their own members out of my own pocket for doing downloads one day a week. So the collective's refusal to "allow" me to pay Bob, coupled with the Latino faction's personal attacks later, deprived listeners of the news - the inverse of supporting it.

Having trained to do downloads over the summer, I know they're not easy. Coordinating a volunteer staff could be done, but that would be a full-time job in itself: writing out a guidelines book, having support on-call, and a training program that wasn't just one-time. And people who have no stake in it tend to not be committed, so new people have to be trained. Plus, there needs to be a system so that announcements can be edited for currency and broadcast, and fund drives or sponsorships for other stations can be edited out. Whether someone does it themselves or creates an intern program like this, I think they should be paid either way.

In answer to the question about the donor list, donors have called into the station line or responded directly to my listener survey. One person donated to support my show, and others supported FRSC through the Michael Parenti dinner I organized. But as a collective, we all have the same access. At the last meeting, it was suggested that donors be asked systematically what they donated to support. I asked for the list of donors and their contact information so I can ask them. But there's no reason you couldn't contact them also. In my experience, donors have been happy to find that someone cares.

I'm not claiming to represent all donors. I'm certain that some donated to support particular shows, or just whatever FRSC wants to put on. What I'm representing are a subset of donors who are best described as "news junkies." They're very specific in their focus on global independent news.

Often, they're retired but still active activists. Some are people who work a flexible schedule, or in a non-public setting where they can listen to the radio. Because there's no English-language news past 5:30, I don't know any who work in traditional jobs. Also, because the use of expletives is unpredictable, FRSC can't be broadcast in public venues, and there are no businesses. As far as I know, there are no parents of young children besides myself, maybe for the same reason. I see these as problems, not just in attracting donations, but in how we've limited the independent news audience.

By the way I used to be a programmer on FRSC as V-Man and bob drove me out of the collective for being a control freak glad I didn't speak spanish.

For the record, listeners are aware of programming decisions, don't you think? That's what they hear. What they don't hear is that not all programmers are in agreement. So it's my own dissent with programming decisions that I voiced. If you'd like the transcripts of my listener surveys, I can post them. They never mention any programmer by name, and only quote comments made in meetings as being from "a programmer." The only quotes using their radio name were ones the person made on the air, which seems fair game. How absurd is it to say that pirate radio can talk about anything except where they disagree with the pirate establishment?

It is absolutely true that Bob and I had been the only ones left attending the meetings who objected to Spanish-language news replacing English independent news. However, most donors and listeners I talked to very much missed the programs that were lost. That's why I think there's a rift between the station and the donors now, and maybe they should go their separate ways.

This is the response I gave to this issue on the other thread: Donor Revolt at FRSC http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/22/18622772.php :

The question here is whether FRSC donors should be refunded their donations so they can start a new station. Before and after the summer we've experienced the news as brought to us by Bob. During the summer we experienced the news as brought to us by the all-volunteer collective, with Bob merely doing his share. The summer was the level of commitment to the news that our donations are funding, with the single exception of Bob.

As a programmer and donor, I know that the collective runs at a monthly deficit for ongoing costs: rent, phone lines, DSL. None of these are necessary for an all-news station from the independent network. Except for legalities, it could be run out of any house with a big tree, with no more equipment than an antenna and two computers. This would enable it to operate at a very low cost, even with a budget to supplement a consistent, reliable volunteer with a small token of our esteem.

In fact, the only use of our donations that has supported the global news has been Bob's dues credit for vacuuming out the computer that downloads and schedules networked programs. That's $20/mo. What does the collective use the rest of our donations for? Dues credit to distribute Spanish schedules in Beach Flats, replacing broken equipment we don't use, or unpaid dues from shows we don't support - not because they're in Spanish but because of the lack of effort put into them.

FRSC receives no money from the community, as you know. It's also not a legal nonprofit, so donors can't deduct donations from their taxes (which is not accurately represented by some solicitations). If it were, it would have an obligation to report to donors how the money's spent. What does that make it? Technically, it's a business. A business is under obligation to provide a product in return for payment. If they don't, it's a scam.

Donors are currently subsidizing programmers for their own shows. Logically, they're also buying every piece of equipment that FRSC has. Some programmers, in turn, have said that they don't consider donors to be part of the FRSC community, and that they should have no representation at meetings or voice in decisions. What does that make us? Second-class citizens there to pay the bills and shut up.

When I realized that my donations weren't supporting the news but Bob was, I started paying Bob $40/wk ($10/day) for early morning downloads. But I asked the collective to either return my $300 donation or apply it as dues credit for the remainder of the year. This was blocked by the Latino faction unless I was also willing to pay one of their own members out of my own pocket for doing downloads one day a week. So the collective's refusal to "allow" me to pay Bob, coupled with the Latino faction's personal attacks later, deprived listeners of the news - the inverse of supporting it.

Having trained to do downloads over the summer, I know they're not easy. Coordinating a volunteer staff could be done, but that would be a full-time job in itself: writing out a guidelines book, having support on-call, and a training program that wasn't just one-time. And people who have no stake in it tend to not be committed, so new people have to be trained. Plus, there needs to be a system so that announcements can be edited for currency and broadcast, and fund drives or sponsorships for other stations can be edited out. Whether someone does it themselves or creates an intern program like this, I think they should be paid either way.

Why has Indybay erased my factual post about donors' demands that FRSC respect their rights or refund their money? Instead, the comments have been redirected here, where they make little sense without the topic. It also puts them in the middle of a thread whose title positions radio stations as attacking Spanish-speakers. I feel like I'm at a FRSC meeting. Curiously, one of my last episodes was "You've Been Framed!" about how the question is changed to control the answer. It will play tomorrow at 10:00.

I'd like Indybay to at least redirect the original post here also, if donors demanding independent news at FRSC doesn't warrant its own thread on a Santa Cruz independent media board.

For those of you engaged in debate with Teresa, I would highly advise a gander at her website.

1. She is all about Teresa.
2. She is a lunatic, to put it politely.
3. She is an anti-semite who is trying to use ancient Jewish history to attack modern Jews and put all blame for Mideast conflict on them.

http://thirdparadigm.org/3p_016.html

If not crazy, I definitely think the possibility that she is a provocateur should be considered. Her demand that donations be refunded is either the demand of a crazy person, or possibly a provocateurs attempt to destabilize FRSC. The pro-Palestinian movement is HEAVILY infiltrated by CIA, FBI, and other. Something to consider...

As for the issue, I don't even really disagree with her. The vast majority of FRSC listeners speak english primarily, and they should have a say in the number of hours. Take a poll, find out how many listeners are primary spanish speakers, and allot the time accordingly. Pretty simple and fair. However, her hysteria and strongarm tactics are as bad as "Danielsans" on the other side, and seem purely intended to enflame the matter, rather than to resolve it...

observations said:
"...Therefore, teresa is in violation of the collective rules which is never to bring up collective programming issues on the airwaves, and actually attacking other programmers on the air..."

Wrong.
There is no "rule" against discussing programming issues on the air.
There is no "rule" against discussing collective issues on the air.

Programmers are strongly encouraged to not air "dirty laundry" on the air (personal disputes) and should not make personal attacks against another programmer on the air.

But discussing which/when programs should play on FRSC, is DIRECTLY relevant to the listeners.

And mentioning another programmer by name (their "radio name," not their legal name) on the air is not necessarily a personal attack, even if you're explaining why you disagree with them regarding programming.

Now, instead, if you openly call them a "racist," then you're probably engaging in a personal attack. You certainly better have a lot of clear, direct, well-reasoned evidence for such a claim. Something more than just not liking what they say, or who they are.

Or if you openly use their legal name (when they always use a pseudonym) then that is a type of personal attack.
That is an intentional attempt to place them in danger.

Fact check must be making these rules up as him and bob and teresa go along because if you look on the website at freakradio.org you can see it clearly states "We do not air advertisements, we do not do pledge drives, <b>we do not have sponsors or underwriters.<b>". Therefore, this issue about sponsors having problems with spanish speaking program has been made up to be a scam from someone who wants to infultrate this organization, and didn't bother even to read the brief mission statement on freakradio.org.

However, right before this very statement it say's
"We go on the air to protest corporate control of the airwaves, to bring local control and local accountability to our community media, to produce and broadcast a diversity of programs that are simply unavailable on corporate controlled stations.
How is english programming for over 15 years diverse?

Thanks to Hombre Bala who was the one who actually invited and mentored many of the spanish programers that came into frsc since 1995, without him there probably would not be any other spanish programs today.

There is no "rule" against discussing programming issues on the air, now.
There is no "rule" against discussing collective issues on the air, now.

Free Radio Santa Cruz has been on the air for over twelve years without a license. We broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, in defiance of federal regulations. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with regulating the airwaves in the public interest. We believe that it has failed to do so and has proved itself to be controlled by monied interests.

We go on the air to protest corporate control of the airwaves, to bring local control and local accountability to our community media, to produce and broadcast a diversity of programs that are simply unavailable on corporate controlled stations. We do not air advertisements, we do not do pledge drives, <b>we do not have sponsors or underwriters.<b>

We are able to remain on the air because of the commitment by our collective members and the help of our community. If you are a listener of Free Radio Santa Cruz, please help us maintain the public airwaves by making a donation.

FRSC is part of a growing micro-radio movement, supporting the work of other independent media and other pirate and noncommercial web and broadcast stations. To find out more, listen to this history of Free Radio Santa Cruz.

RECLAIMING THE AIRWAVES
(one frequency at a time)

Get your facts checked out like every journalist should

Misinformation can cause division</b></b></b></b>

"...Therefore, this issue about sponsors having problems with spanish speaking program has been made up to be a scam from someone who wants to infultrate this organization, and didn't bother even to read the brief mission statement on freakradio.org."


Yeah, that's it. Skidmark Bob is making this whole thing up just so he can infiltrate the group.

Yora farkeen gene yes.

But nobody (except you) has ever said anything about "sponsors having problems," because there are NO sponsors. Duh.

But guess what? There ARE a number of donors, listeners, and programmers who really don't want to lose any more hours of programming to a language that they don't understand.

This is all so stupid and juvenile. If it's not the "race card" being played, then it's the "government infiltrator" card. And why? Because you don't have any real arguments. You just want more. Sure, you're taking it from the current listeners. But you don't mind that, because you know that your way is Right and True. And you're giving it to the... what? To the hypothetical "future" listeners? Who, exactly, do you think is going to hear (and understand) your Spanish-language broadcasts? Do you think that a new, Spanish-speaking audience will just magically appear?

Why is it so unreasonable to suggest that you should go organize directly within the communities you wish to reach? Talk with them. Teach them. Get them excited about having their own radio station. And then get everyone together to pitch in some money and hard work and many long hours of dedicated struggle... so that you can have your own radio station that broadcasts in Spanish!!! That would be a wonderful thing. Sister stations: one in English, the other in Spanish.

DO. IT. YOURSELF.

Other people worked for years and years and years to create and maintain Free Radio Santa Cruz. Respect that.

Go do your own work. Your own struggle. Create your own station. Why is that so impossible for you?

Are you seriously telling us that with all your skills and knowledge, with all the Brown Beret community organizers (with their comrade brother on the Watsonville City Council, no less), and so many other resources, that you couldn't put together your own little pirate radio station? Give me a fucking break.

That is right beltway people have been sacrificing to keep the station running, but it wasn't only Bob or all only english speaker. Get over yourself, and yeah it is not an english only station or else they would have bother to put that as part of the mission statement. If money is what you, bob, teresa, fact check are about, then look at your mission statement again, because it say's

"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with regulating the airwaves in the public interest. We believe that it has failed to do so and has proved itself to be controlled by monied interests.."

which is exactly where you guys are coming from, your saying money should decide what programming there should be at frsc if you agree with bob, teresa, beltway, and fact check. Once again this why free radio says they became a pirate radio station, not a public, or corporate station.

if you really want a station with donors, and english only why don't you start your own.

"...people have been sacrificing to keep the station running, but it wasn't only Bob..."

In recent years, Bob has put more time and effort into the station than everyone else combined. And there are more than a few people at the station who like to tell a whiny story about how much they've struggled and sacrificed for the station, but that's all it is -- a story. Because when it actually comes time to wake up, show up, and do the chores, most of them are nowhere to be found.

But maybe you have better information? Tell us all about these other people and their big sacrifices.


"...it is not an english only station or else they would have bother to put that as part of the mission statement..."

What language was that "mission statement" written in?

But you don't even know what you're talking about. This so-called "mission statement" you keep referring to... Do you mean the "Brief Explanation" on the FRSC website? If it actually constituted a defining Mission Statement, do you really think they'd describe it as a "Brief Explanation"? I love how you just decide that it's a mission statement, and that it somehow proves some ridiculous point you're trying to make. You need to think a bit harder before you push that "Publish" button.


"...If money is what you, bob, teresa, fact check are about..."

Tereza focuses on donors and money too much, in my opinion, but that's a bit off-topic. But for you to suggest that Bob is all about the money?!?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!
You've just proved to all of us that you really have absolutely NO IDEA what the fuck you are talking about. Just blowin' it out your ass, aren't you?


"...then look at your mission statement again, because it say's"

It's not mine. And it isn't a "mission statement."


"...your saying money should decide what programming there should be at frsc..."

I've heard Tereza say things about donors that felt, to me, too focused upon money. But tell me this: Does money influence your decisions? Of course it does, because you have to pay the bills. (Well, I don't know if you have to pay any bills. Maybe someone else pays them all for you.) And like any household, business, or organization, there are bills that FRSC has to pay. Bob has mentioned a number of different bills that they have to pay: rent, internet, electricity, and some others, too.

It is the huge donations from the Santa Cruz community that allowed FRSC to quickly get back on the air after they got raided by the FCC. Donations from the community. In other words... MONEY. Without that money from the community, the station probably wouldn't exist today. Why did they donate that money? Why have other people donated money since then? You can't simply declare that money doesn't matter.


"...Once again this why free radio says they became a pirate radio station, not a public, or corporate station."

And once again, you only see what you want to see. FRSC was created for a number of different reasons. Money was but one of many issues.


"...if you really want a station with donors..."

I'm quite certain that FRSC has donors right now. And, I think, they've had donors for quite a long time.

Of course, all this talk about money is somewhat of a distraction. I think the real issue is that almost all of the long-time listeners of FRSC speak English. And many of them -only- speak English. They like hearing alternative national and global news shows that can't be heard on any other station around here. That's definitely what I listen for, and I don't think I'm alone on that.

I have donated... about $200 in the last two years, which for me is allot of money. I don't speak Spanish. I however don't mind the level of Spanish spoken wold news that was on before this all erupted. I consider it important to our Spanish speaking populace.

With that said, I have great respect for Skidmark Bob and whatever opinions he may hold regardless if we disagree. Many donors are anonymous yes? Most of mine were. Being there is no contract with donors, or is there? The issue is simple to me, donors with stipulations should not even be taken, as that constitutes more than a donation to me. The hosts pay dues and they are donors too!
keep the discussion civil folks, the free exchange of thoughts and opinions can break down quickly.
T

Good point about the Spanish invading here & knowing your history. However, as much as I respect you and your opinions and all you do at the station -- there are Spanish speaking people here, and I think they deserve some world news on the station. How much and how long I believe should be left to the to the collective to figure out, the hosts who as you know donate time and Money. My concern is more about if donations are taken with Stipulations. If that's the case... It makes my own hard earned donations seem... less worthy or unimportant. if that makes sense. Regardless of this issue, you are a tremendous part of free radio and I respect your opinions, even if we disagree, not sure we really do.

I hope this can be resolved and some clarity about donors and where theire role in forming decision on broadcasts begins and ends. If there is a role, it should apply to all Donors. and that is not really a donation in my mind. Its more like... a bribe. Donations for non hosts should not decide the fate of programming on Free Radio. The collective simply need to listen to its audience and make wise decisions.
T

To answer T, this issue isn't about money. It's about respect. There are a lot of people in SC who are really passionate about the independent news. They want to hear it, they want to support it, they want to participate in bringing it to a larger community. When I've run into people who listen to FRSC, I've been so impressed by their dedication and intelligence. Some of them sit in their cars at lunch so they can hear Amy Goodman a second time. I hear KUSP-listeners rave about DN, and I think, "but there's so much more!" But those other extraordinary programs are only available to people who are retired, or who work flexible hours, since they only play in the morning.

Listeners also have a lot of great suggestions. They pick up on new shows on the internet that would be great to play. Many have skills they've offered, from website design to being a "go-fer." The time that people like Bob have put in far exceed what anyone's given monetarily. But some people don't have the time or the skill, but can chip in a little money. I don't think FR has any deep-pocket donors - I think it's all people who really believe that independent media makes a difference.

The people that I've talked to, though, are offended that FR considers them to be not part of the community. They'd like to be more deeply involved in helping to publicize and widen the audience for the news. But they don't want to deal with this kind of conflict. They'd like a place where they can be simply FOR the independent news without being considered against anything.

The lack of structure at FRSC has pitted live programmers, English-language news, and Spanish-language news against each other. There isn't any mission statement that determines how we prioritize, and share different agendas in the same schedule and space. Since programmers' time slots are reserved, any new addition of Spanish-language news is at the expense of English-language news. The original proposal was for Informativo Pacifica to replace Sonali Kolhatkar's Uprising, This Way Out: Global LGBT News, David Barsamian's Alternative Radio, Making Contact, and the Shortwave Report, all at 9 am weekdays. These are some of the best shows around, and they don't play on any other station - Amy Goodman I can get. Bob and I blocked it, and it was changed to 5:30. But this wiped out the only alternative news after 5:30.

I think there should be somewhere that working people can go to hear the truth. I met with someone from KZSC today, and there are only two public affairs shows there besides Pacifica News. The public affairs class has no enrollees. UCSC doesn't have a journalism or communications major. For all the activism here, there's very little global media. I got a note from a new listener to my show in Vancouver complaining about the same thing. As a listener and a donor, do you care if FRSC does the KUSP thing and only keeps Amy Goodman as the cash cow, replacing the rest with music and Spanish news? If FRSC goes back to the summer (lack of) programming, will you continue to support it?

Hosts at KZSC have to be enrolled, volunteer 20 hours, and pass a class in order to get a 3 am time slot. Hosts at FRSC have to fill out a form and pay $20/mo. for prime evening time. Do the people in Palestine, Honduras, Liberia or Afghanistan, who we'd never hear about, deserve to be buried so we can be "nice?" Are the journalists risking their lives in these countries for nothing, since they'll never be heard? I think we owe them a voice.

Teresa trying to make not about money is a false advertisement, and to make it seem like these programs will be lost forever is lying. it took me a minute to find all these websites fro each program that you mentioned, and to notice they have various archives, and archive their shows everyday. Which means that people can go and listen at any time, and could be downloaded at any time after their regular programming on their main affiliate stations. Therefore, they already have a radio program on another station which you are just rebroadcasting from their archives, and taking from the internet. So all those reporters in the middle east do have an outlet already, and these websites look as if they have been around for a while which makes me think they also have their own donors. Therefore, you started out saying it is not about money and yet your only concern is what the donors think, and not what the actual process of how the decision making happens as a collective at frsc. Yes it is about respect, and you need to respect the process of the collective decision which has been in process before you even became part of it. Also respect the diversity that has grown into frsc is what it really comes down to, and acknowledging the need for developing spanish listenership and to help inform their communities as well.

If it's the decision of the collective at the next meeting that they don't care what listeners and donors want, then independent news supporters know where they stand. I'm curious as to what gives you the authority, however, to speak for the collective that was there before me. Are you a founder? Except for Bob, I thought all the founders had been driven out by this antagonism. It seems pretty cowardly to be attacking me in the "voice of the collective" without even stating your name or pseudonym.

I'm not sure that all FRSC members are as blithe as you are about dissing donors. But if the collective does want us to go away, that's their choice. I'll wait to hear it from them, however.

When I met with the UCSC Intro to Radio instructor, he thought that radio was on its way out, to be replaced by Pandora or other internet options. The same access, of course, is true for Informativo Pacifica or any other Spanish-language news or music. I made the point that I think radio's community-forming. You can be doing something outside or in the kitchen or walking around - not stuck in front of a terminal. It's cheap - you don't have to own a computer. Other people are listening to the same thing at the same time, so you can talk to them about it. Intelligent people are finding good sources and bring them to you, so you don't have to know where to look for them.

I guess I don't get your point, though. If radio broadcasting doesn't matter, because everything's available on the web, why do you want to replace the English independent news with Spanish?

"it took me a minute to find all these websites fro each program that you mentioned, and to notice they have various archives, and archive their shows everyday"

You have amazing internet skills. I'm going to name my children after you. All of them.

Could you please share these archives of daily shows that you found? Particularly for the shows that don't broadcast daily. And also for the shows that don't provide a public archive, but instead only SELL their past shows.

You talk like you're part of the collective, but obviously that doesn't mean you know anything about the programs, or how those programs are obtained.

So all those reporters in the middle east do have an outlet already, and these websites look as if they have been around for a while which makes me think they also have their own donors.

Curiously, Spanish-language shows such as Informativo Pacifica also have donors and websites and internet archives. So, following your logic, those shows don't need to get played on FRSC either.

And Democracy Now can be heard online. And watched, too. And you can hear it on other stations. So I suppose Democracy Now should be eliminated from FRSC, too?

If we go along with your brilliant standard, essentially any show good enough to have a website and archive will be disqualified from deserving a space on the FRSC schedule. (Oh... unless it's in Spanish, of course.)

Or perhaps there is something else I'm missing? Something you know that I don't?

Since you suggest that people could just go get their English-language global news from the internet, but you don't apply the same standards to Spanish-language news/programming...

What does that suggest as to your presumptions about people who speak Spanish?

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/30/18623921.php