Racist Audience of KPFA promotes "Professionalism"

Just because some listeners, including me, would like to see the return of The Morning Show does not make us racists or elitists. Your conclusion is not supported by the facts (listenership is way down during the Morning Mix and so is fund raising during that time slot). It simply isn't as good a program as the Morning Show. KPFA can certainly continue to support the Morning Mix and they can continue to lose listeners and money. Their call.

The solution to the budget problems at KPFA and the rest of Pacifica during this Great Depression is to CUT PAYROLL. Having 2/3 of the budget go to payroll IS OUTRAGEOUS FOR A CHARITY. The largest payroll is the "news" department, better known as Rip&Read wire services and Democratic Party promotionals and THE NEWS DEPARTMENT NEEDS TO BE CUT DOWN SO THAT THERE IS NO MORE DEFICIT. We only need a half hour news program at 6 p.m. as we have lots of public affairs programming all day long on KPFA. CUT THE NEWS DEPARTMENT STAFF TODAY.

This is yet another attempt to restore the reactionary and expensive Morning Show, and this time it is being done in the name of "professionalism," a reactionary, racist term. WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, THE 3 BLACK PROGRAMS ON THE MORNING MIX, THE TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY PROGRAMS, MUST REMAIN AS KPFA MUST BE LOUDLY ANTI-RACIST. We are not sacrificing any black programming for the till tapping thugs that back the reactionary Morning Show. CUT THE NEWS DEPARTMENT TODAY.

There is a difference between a charity and a non-profit. KPFA is a non-profit, not a charity.

"Anti-racist" you seem to be the reactionary one. The general manager called for listener input this morning and he got it. You can't call people racists and elitist when you don't know them. That makes you reactionary.

By definition, according to the tax code, a nonprofit is a charity. People who need to itemize get a tax deduction by contributing to nonprofits, thus makiing them a charity. KPFA is not a jobs program; it is a charity providing news and information from a radical, workingclass, anti-racist perspective. NEVER SHOULD KPFA SACRIFICE ANY BLACK PROGRAMMING IN THE NAME OF MAKING MONEY. By definition, that is racist. If the white audience learns nothing else from this experience, THEY BETTER LEARN THAT LESSON. It was certainly a good thought for Andrew Phillips to ask for listener input on this issue, but what we heard this morning was shameful racism. We never want to hear the term "professionalism" on KPFA and we never want to hear any suggestion about cutting black programming to make more money. CUT PAYROLL TO SAVE MONEY; CUT THE NEWS DEPARTMENT TODAY.

If a station isn't making enough money to pay the bills soon there won't be ANY programming. If you want to cut the news department I suggest you get a seat on the board. Your suggestion is just windsong that has no influence beyond this forum

In case you missed it, go here to see Pacifica’s Executive Director confirm that Pacifica voted to put union-buster Jackson-Lewis on a general retainer, and is using it for “non-litigation matters.” That is, not just lawsuits that Pacifica's insurance company has taken, but "general labor" issues. Gee, I wonder what those would be?

For more, read this: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/30/18710439.php?show_comments=1#18710617

KPFA has paid over $120,000 — and counting — to anti-union legal consultants under Engelhardts supposed "leadership." She and her allies have concocted a “budget crisis” to enable them to justify their actions. At the same time, they refused over $63,000 of pledges raised in good faith by SaveKPFA to restore the Morning Show and its paid and unpaid staff.

there is a lot of black programming on KPFA, its just not by JR and other guys (yes, mostly guys) who are defining themselves, self-interestedly, as the only people who can do it.

taking over the morning drive time and insisting that only you can do the program is the height of arrogance. if it doesn't have financial support from listeners then, why don't you do the program at another time? why not appreciate that the morning show brought in enough money to allow all sorts of interesting (if lesser listened to) programming around the clock?

Most of the KPFA programming is volunteer including the public affairs programming at night after the news, the entire weekend news program, all of the music programming and much more. When we finally got rid of the garbage morning show due to the fact that it was draining KPFA of funds causing the almost immediate end of KPFA and Pacifica, we all saw the budgets on this website and others. The most obvious thing about the budgets is the fact that payroll dominates the $3 million annual budget. This is ludicrous. KPFA is simply community radio, a nonprofit receiving charitable tax deductible contributions. The morning show was so reactionary that I stopped listening to it years ago; I have been listening to KPFA at least since 1956, if not longer; early childhood does not provide memory. Here is the latest budget we can view:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/25/18710097.php?show_comments=1#18710415

We finally have 3 programs that clearly, from the the handful of calls yesterday April 2, 2012 from the black community, and at least one comment on this website by YO editor Kevin Weston, at
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/31/18710486.php
are listened to by the black community. That is more than sufficient cause to keep them on the air. The other reason is of course that they are volunteer. WE ARE NOT PAYING FOR ANY MORNING PROGRAM other than Democracy Now.

Clearly, the racist Hate Pacifica Gang that is making endless non sequitur comments here have nothing to offer but their Republican Party lawyers, Dhillon & Smith, to sue Pacifica on behalf of their former morning program reactionaries, in particular Brian Edwards-Tiekert, who now sits in the news department with his fellow reactionaries, which lawsuits caused Pacifica to hire lawyers to defend itself, which it did successfully both in lawsuits and in numerous NLRB charges. There is NO RADICAL PERSPECTIVE IN THE NEWS DEPARTMENT. It could easily be on any other non-commercial radio. Tiekert clearly wants his paid job in the morning; it is gone forever.

A black perspective by definition provides a radical perspective in this backward, rotten, racist society. We also need a socialist perspective, which will come as people face the choice to fight or starve. One of many reasons to keep the urgently needed volunteer black programming in the morning is to GET RID OF THE RACIST CAREERISTS who want to use KPFA as a jobs program for reactionary hustlers like Tiekert and their supporters.

We went through a similar change in the 1960s-70s, and the radical perspective prevailed so that we no longer have the John Birch Society (a fascist organization) having a program on KPFA, and the like. For the survival of KPFA and Pacifica, we must turn left, to volunteer programs, to cut the news department to a half hour at 6 p.m., to black programming, labor programming and socialist programming.

This radical perspective is clearly the view of the Anti-Recall endorsers. That honor roll is here so you can see the future. It is from http://www.stopthekpfarecall.org/?page_id=25

Shahram Aghamir – Co-Producer, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa.

Nick Alexander - longtime reporter, producer; member of API (Asian Pacific Islander) Specials radio collective.

Joseph Anderson - KPFA Listener.

Austin Airwaves – Jim Ellinger, Austin, TX.

David Barsamian – Founder, director, host, Alternative Radio. His latest books are How the World Works and What We Say Goes (both with Noam Chomsky) and Targeting Iran. David’s interviews and articles appear in The Progressive, Z and other publications.

Khalil Bendib - political cartoonist and co-host of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa.

Mary Berg – Producer & Host, A Musical Offering, former Secretary of the PNB and KPFA LSB, and member of the Program Council, among many other things.

Rivian Berlin - former producer Women’s Magazine, Listener.

Dennis Bernstein – Executive Producer of Flashpoints.

Max J. Blanchet – Former KPFA Local Advisory Board (LAB) and Local Station Board (LSB) Member.

Jeff Blankfort - co-founder of the original SaveKPFA in 1993 and of Take Back KPFA in 1995.

Gail Blasie - former KPFA LSB member.

Bonnie Bone – Early Morning Music Host, programmer, engineer.

Tanya Brannan - KPFA Listener.

Eric Brooks – Environmental, social justice, consumer, and global justice movement activist since 1985; currently Sustainability Chair – San Francisco Green Party.

Carol Brouillet – Community Currency.org, and Co-Founder, International Media Project.

Virginia Browning – KPFA Listener.

Linda Champagne – KPFA Listener.

Richard Clifford – KPFA Listener.

Coalition for a democratic Pacifica

George Coates – Producer, Twit Wit Radio.

Mitchel Cohen – Chair, WBAI Local Station Board, Brooklyn Greens.

Michael Costello – North Bay for KPFA Folio in Exile 2000.

Vicente R. Cruz II – Oakland Green Party Outreach Committee.

Gavin Dahl – KPFA Listener/supporter, Board Member community radio advocate and activist engineering outfit Common Frequency, News Director of Pacifica Affiliate Station KYRS in Spokane.

Susan da Silva - Former Chair KPFA LSB.

Justine Daniel - Social Justice Center of Marin.

Lisa Dettmer – Women’s Magazine KPFA.

Barbara and Barry Deutsch – KPFA/Pacifica subscribers since 1963.

Ivar Diehl – KPFA Listener, Occupier, Business Owner.

Ariel Dougherty - KPFA Listener.

Neil Dunaetz - KPFA Listener.

Laurie Edwards – KPFA Listener, Educator.

Bob English – Pacfica/KPFA Listener from the ’60s, active in the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica (CdP), Peoples’ Radio, KPFA Election Committee. UFW San Francisco Support Committee, SEIU 790 elected chapter rep/negotiation team, Public Employees for a Democratic Union 2006.

Carolyn Epple - Retired Professor, Sonoma State University.

Bonnie Faulkner - Producer, Guns & Butter.

Jane Fehlberg – KPFA Listener.

Denise Ferry – KPFA Listener since 1982.

Anthony Fest – Producer, KPFA Weekend News, KPFA Local Station Board Staff Representative.

Vickie M. Fouts – KFCF board member.

Peter Franck – Former President of the Pacifica Foundation (1980-1984).

Ann Garrison - Reporter KPFA Weekend News and Host, producer, WBAI Afrobeat Radio.

James P. Geraghty - Marin Peace and Justice Coalition.

Maria Gilardin - Producer, TUC Radio.

Pam Gill – KPFA Listener.

Steve Gilmartin - KPFA Listener.

Terry Goodman – KPFK Listener/former LSB Member.

David Greene – First KPFA Elections Coordinator.

Noelle Hanrahan – Producer, Prison Radio.

Michael Hardesty – KPFA Listener

Roger D. Harris – Vice President, Task Force on the Americas.

Carol Harvey – KPFA Listener.

John Harwayne – KPFA Member.

Rose Hauer – KPFA Listener.

Chandra Hauptman – Former KPFA LSB and Pacifica National Board listener-representative.

Dave Heller - KPFA Listener.

Jack Heyman – Former Executive Board Member ILWU Local 10, longtime labor activist.

Linda Hewitt – KPFA/Pacifica Listener since 1968; active in Coalition for a democratic Pacifica (CdP) and Peoples’ Radio.

Kane Hoffman – KPFA Listener.

Valerie Hood - KPFA Listener and phone room volunteer.

Mickey Huff – Associate Professor of History at Diablo Valley College, director of Project Censored, Co-Host with Dr. Peter Phillips of the Project Censored Show.

April Hurley – Listener, MD for the uninsured in Santa Rosa.

Mesha Irizarry - Executive Director, Idriss Stelley Foundation to Combat Police Violene, Co-Director, Education Not Incarceration, and Online Admin, Occupy Da’ Hood SF.

Jon Jackson – KPFA Listener.

Cynthia Johnson – KPFA Local Station Board member, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Ecumenical Peace Institute.

Kahlil Karn - KPFA listener.

Jena Katz – KPFA Listener, left activist.

Kim Kaufman – KPFK Local Station Board Treasurer, member Pacifica National Finance Committee.

Carolyn Keddy – KPFA Listener.

Dorothy Kidd - Professor, Dept of Media Studies, University of San Francisco, and long-time community radio producer and advocate.

Alice Diane Kisch – KPFA Listener.

Robert Knight – Anchor, Five O’Clock Shadow investigative newsmagazine on WBAI; Correspondent, “The Knight Report” on Flashpoints.

Janet Kobren – KPFA LSB Listener Member, activist around the Occupy movement, Palestine, democratic media, election integrity, environment, housing justice, and other issues.

Monique Koller - KPFA Listener.

Marilyn Langlois - KPFA Listener, Richmond Progressive Alliance Steering Committee, Haiti Action Committee.

Adrienne Lauby - Host/producer, Pushing Limits, KPFA unpaid staff.

Clay Leander – Unpaid Staff Program Council Representative.

Sandy LeonVest – Editor & Publisher of Solar Times; Radio Host-Producer for the Progressive Radio Network.

Kenya Lewis – Save KUSF volunteer.

Barbara Lubin – Executive Director, Middle East Children’s Alliance; Friends of Free Speech Radio (1999-2001).

Laura MacDougall – KPFA Listener from the South Bay.

Jeff Mackler - Director, Mobilization to Free Mumia abu Jamal; West Coast Coordinator, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee; Member, Administrative Council, UNAC (United Nations Antiwar Coalition).

Neil Maclean – KPFA Listener.

Neal Madnick - KPFA Listener.

Abby Martin – Founder & Editor in Chief of Media Roots.

Signe Mattson – KPFA Listener since 1957, former outreach and frequent phone volunteer.

Cynthia McKinney – Green Party Candidate for President (2008); 6-term member of the US House of Representatives.

Jim McWilliams – KPFA Listener.

Barbara Michel – KPFA Listener since 1972.

Adam David Miller - African-American poet, writer, publisher, and radio programmer and producer.

Jenny Miller – KPFA Listener.

Nicole Milner – KPFA Listener, Coalition for a democratic Pacifica.

Evangeline Mix – KPFA Volunteer receptionist for the past 4 months.

Stephanie K. Miyashiro - KPFA Listener.

Miguel Gavilan Molina - Producer/Host La Onda Bajita; Flashpoints Roving Producer & Producer of Flashpoints En Espanol.

Aimee Murray - KPFA Listener.

Jonathan Nack – Veteran activist and journalist based in Oakland.

Attila Nagy – North Bay for KPFA, Santa Rosa Occupy, former KPFA Local Station Board member.

Marilyn Naparst - Long-time listener.

Henry Norr – Retired journalist, member of the KPFA LSB since 2006, activist around Palestine, torture, ending wars, labor solidarity, and other issues.

Oakland Greens – See statement.

Lucienne O’Keefe – Long-time Listener and supporter.

Robbie Osman - Host, Across the Great Divide.

Michael Parenti – Author & Lecturer.

Jean Pauline - KPFA activist listener since 1959. Bound Together Bookstore
Collective member.

Peace and Freedom Party of Alameda County

Ed Pearl - Founder/Operator of the Ash Grove in LA, organizer with the “Take Back KPFK” Campaign, served two terms on KPFK’s first elected board.

Gail Penso, RN – KPFA Listener, BFUU, Bach, Earth.

David Peterson - Writer, Chicago.

Richard Phelps – Chair, KPFA LSB 2005-2006.

Peter Phillips - Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, former Director of Project Censored, Co-Producer of Project Censored heard Friday mornings on The Morning Mix.

Thomas Plagemann – Save KUSF, Plagemann Design & Building.

Paul Platt – SF Green Party County Council, long-time KPFA listener/supporter.

Stevyn Polk – KUSF in Exile Program Director.

Andrea Prichett – LSB Current Listener Representative, teacher and co-founder of Berkeley Copwatch.

Mary Prophet - Listener, Steering Committee USLAW, member Alameda Co. Central Labor Council, & co-chair California Teachers Assoc, Peace & Justice Caucus.

Fran Rachel - KPFA Listener.

Les Radke – Co-Host Bill Mandel’s Soviet Union Program, Vice President Richmond Federation of Teachers for several years, Member of the Contra Costa Labor Council for several years, Co-Founder of Coalition for a democratic Pacifica, Education Chair of KPFA’s former Education Collective, Member of Californians for Electoral Reform for 10 years, KPFA Local Election Supervisor for 2003, Pacifica National Election Supervisor for 2006 & 2009.

Mary Ratcliff – Listener and San Francisco Bayview Editor.

Willie Ratcliff – Publisher, San Francisco Bayview, Former member for six years of the KPFA Local Advisory Board and Local Station Board.

Malihe Razazan – Co-host & Producer, Voices of the Middle East & North Africa, and Producer of Your Call on KALW.

Aaron Reaven – KPFA Listener.

Mara Rivera – KPFA Listener-supporter since 1962.

Lillith Rogers – KPFA Listener.

Colleeen Rose - Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas.

San Francisco Green Party

Jan Santos – KPFA listener, former Pushing Limits collective member.

Marc Sapir, MD, MPH, public sector primary care doc and “Mad as Hell Doctors for Medicare for All” activist.

Oriana Saportas – Community Organizer with ACCE in Oakland, former KPFA Local Election Supervisor (2010).

Michael-David Sasson – Union Steward, CUE-IBT Local 2010 (former president of the Berkeley chapter).

Art Sato – Host, In Your Ear.

Doyle Saylor – KPFA Listener, former host & producer, Pushing Limits.

David Schonbrunn - Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund (TRANSDEF).

Wendy Schroell — Pacifica National Board Member 2004-2005, 2007-2009; KPFT Local Station Board 2004-2009.

Sharon M. Scott – President, WRVU Friends & Family.

Shelly Scribner - KPFA Listener.

John Sheridan – KPFA Listener.

Ruthanne Shpiner – Unpaid staff KPFA Weekend News Reporter.

Keith Harmon Snow – KPFA Listener.

Sally Sommer – Active with KPFA/Pacifica since 1999 with the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica. Served on the KPFA elections committees over the years since then.

Carol Spooner - Former PNB member (Jan 2002-Jan 2005), former KPFA LSB member (Apr 2000-Apr 2005), former lead plaintiff in the “listeners’ lawsuit to remove the old Pacifica Board (1999-2001).

Alex Steinberg – Pacifica National Board Member and LSB Member from WBAI. (See statement on additional statements page.)

Rick Sterling – KPFA Listener.

Roger Stoll – Secretary, Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas.

Irwin Swirnoff – Spokesperson, Save KUSF

B. Emily Sykes – KPFA Listener, Marin Peace and Justice Coalition.

Akio Tanaka – KPFA Local Station Board member.

Kate Tanaka – KPFA Local Station Board member.

Steve Taylor-Ramirez – KPFA Listener.

Richard Uzzell – Former KPFT LSB and Pacifica National Board listener-representative.

JR Valrey – Host/Producer the Morning Mix & Block Report Radio.

Marsha Vas Dupre, Ph.D. - City Councilwoman Santa Rosa, CA.

Tom Vorhees – KPFA Listener, early-on engineering volunteer.

Lindsay Vurek – KPFA Listener.

Joe Wanzala – Former KPFA LSB and Pacifica National Board member.

Elaine Wellin – Sonoma State Univ./Media Freedom Foundation.

Laura Wells - Green Party candidate for the 2010 California Governor’s race.

Dave Welsh - Labor organizer, journalist, musician, letter carrier, S.F. Labor Council delegate. Member of Occupy Oakland, Freedom Song Network, Haiti Action Committee.

Sue Wilson – Producer, Broadcast Blues.

Candace Wolf – Pacifica listener, storyteller, Washington, DC.

Betsy Wolf-Graves – KPFA Listener.

Gregory Wonderwheel – KPFA Listener.

Stan Woods - former KPFA LSB member, Member Occupy Oakland/Labor Solidarity Committee.

Steve Zeltzer – Labor journalist.

When people express opinions or assertions of fact whose value and/or credibility depend on the integrity and/or reliability of the person(s) making the statements, those statements, when made anonymously, constitute noise, and sometimes toxic noise. This applies as much to those I more-or-less agree with as it does to those I oppose.

However, assertions that can be verified independently and arguments (like this one) that aren't based on unverifiable assertions can reasonably be made anonymously, since their value doesn't depend on the credibility of the person making them. Nevertheless, perhaps out of vanity, I am attaching my name to this as I do to almost everything I post that's not likely to wind me in jail or on the blacklist of some ISP or retailer.

Gimme a Break on the snow job. KKKPFA is the largest donation gold mine of the five Pacific stations and it helps the other stations in financial sinkholes (like Houston). This fake financial is to further assault the value of the few shows left like Poor Magazine which actually bring more validity to the shrinking news value. How ridiculous KKKPFA has become as when the fund drives (begging for money) is when the station actually gets good and hard hitting news (like 9-11 was an inside job). Please stop reporting on the Republican (NAZI) party and do more third party news or outreach. KPFA needs saving as it is in the hands of the oppressor but by who? That is the real question as when DJs of the station feel that their storytelling is the heart of the movement something is very wrong. Simply put it just do the reporting not the censoring that is going on. Oh by the way KKKPFA most important show at this critical time (Hopi Prophecy and Mayan Calendar) would be Bay (Broken) Circle. It is a garbage show which Janine Antione is controlling and not letting the entire Native community have a voice.