Aimee Allison v Andrea Lewis: One Woman of Color Played Against Another at KPFA

Just a few short years ago, popular Morning Show host Andrea Lewis accepted a Fellowship to Stanford University, and was able to arrange to come back to the Morning Show after her studies.

But while she was away, another backdoor action was put on a fast track: Aimee Allison was somehow hired under dubious circumstances, and seated into the Morning Show in Andrea's place. Ms. Allison's on-air presence and inexperience was so painfully obvious, she was actually sent to private voice coaching lessons, all paid for with KPFA/Pacifica funds. Those who worked on the Morning Show know that questions were prepared for her. Allison's early interviews were so stiff and embarrassing, they were actually deleted from the KPFA archives.

Andrea Lewis returned, with the expectation that she was to rejoin Morning Show as agreed. However, she'd soon learn that a decision had been made to instead keep Allison in the Morning Show slot, completely circumventing the KPFA/CWA contract. Andrea Lewis did file a grievance with the union, but it was not dealt with very well by the CWA. Instead, Andrea was bounced around aimlessly to other jobs and assignments, until she was put out to pasture on Sunday mornings, the least fitting or deserving timeslot for someone of her skill and experience. According to those who knew Andrea well she was very unhappy about the overall situation, and heartbroken about being slighted and treated in such a manner by the station management, union, and even certain colleagues.

Now the chickens have come home to roost with the current state of affairs at KPFA. Unlike the room for 'flexibility' the CWA 9415 and KPFA's Union workers have shown in regards to the rules of Andrea Lewis and others (like Nora Barrows Friedman), Local 9415 and many of its entrenched KPFA Workers (not all) are suddenly so concerned about demanding 'fairness' for KPFA Paid Workers, peddling lies to fellow union workers, asking local governments to intervene in KPFA's internal program decisions, scaring and intimidating guests from appearing on a Morning Show without Aimee and Biran, even advocating for its members to go on air and make all kinds of one-sided or even false statements about Pacifica management and board members at will, while demanding that Pacifica should hire back the violators immediately above all other priorities, despite the station posting more than $1M of losses over the last two years.

Never mind that the so-called 'SaveKPFA' aka Concerned Listeners crowd on the Local Station Board are on record as actually having opposed a Resolution to conduct layoffs according to the KPFA-CWA Union contract. Never mind Mr. Brian Edwards-Tiekert, the celebrated former host of the Morning Show, who was said to raise "Three times what the 'Morning Show' cost, ended up costing KPFA and Pacifica more than Twenty times more while serving as Treasurer. With his Oversight as a 'responsible' board member, Edwards-Tiekert allowed and protected his favored Manager Lemlem Rijio to spend the operation into serious debt.

Ironically, Brian saw the financial crisis coming and described it accurately, here in his own words: http://bit.ly/arOma8

Fortunately, the station, programmers and Listeners have demonstrated that there is still plenty of Support for KPFA, as evident by the last funddrive, mostly without Brian having to 'help' or pre-empt other programs. In fact, several programs did much better without him.

Perhaps coincidental, but nonetheless interesting to notice how the downward spiral of KPFA's drop in listenership happens to coincide with the elimination of Andrea Lewis from the Morning Show, made even worse after her death. The treatment of Andrea Lewis and other programmers was characteristic of KPFA's former Management and the LSB Board Majority of the time.
Of course, with Brian Edwards-Tiekert's recent hiring of Election-busting Bush-Cheney/Heritage Foundation affiliated attorneys Dhillon Smith, the Concerned Listeners/'SaveKPFA' group have brute-forced their way back into the KPFA Station Board majority. And so there is a real possibility that more damage can and will be done.

Hopefully KPFA's new Management will show some resolve to make the station live within its means, keep paid staffing at 2003 levels, and see to it that any new funds brought in are first used to take care of any outstanding debts before making any new hires, or bringing back any laid off staff.

And maybe, just maybe, the new KPFA Management, even future Boards and perhaps the Union, will eventually do right by Andrea, by treating those who follow with more fairness and respect, without having to pit another Aimee against them.