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Turmoil Again at KPFA After Six Years of Peace
KPFA General Manager Roy Campanella II, on the job for a little more than half a year, is blamed for ignoring allegations of harassment. He’s even accused of harassing and demeaning women at the station and attempting to intimidate those who would report the abuse, charges he forcefully denies.
Turmoil Again at KPFA After Six Years of Peace By JUDITH SCHERR Special to the Berkeley Daily Planet
Six years ago hundreds of KPFA-FM listeners poured into the streets surrounding the downtown Berkeley studios minutes after drive-time programmer Dennis Bernstein cried for help on the air. The popular host was being arrested, hauled out of the listener-sponsored radio station on the orders of his bosses, the Pacifica Foundation Board of Directors.
Pacifica, which holds the licenses for KPFA, KPFK Los Angeles, KPFT Houston, WBAI New York and WPFW Washington, D.C., was commandeering the Berkeley station after months of conflict with local programmers and listeners. The national board had already removed a popular general manager and ousted staff with the temerity to denounce the manager’s termination on the air.
The July 13, 1999 arrests and lock-out at KPFA were followed by months during which thousands of people marched, picketed, broadcast via the Internet and camped out in front of the station. Staff, volunteers and listeners chanted in one voice: “Whose station? Our station!”
Three lawsuits and dozens of protests later, the old national board and management were out and a new national board, with new bylaws and a new national executive director – Dan Caughlin, a news director fired by the old board – was in. It was, as protesters had demanded: “our” station.
But the unity of “us” was short lived.
Today, both the Berkeley and New York stations are in turmoil. Once a hero, Bernstein is being sued, accused of a pattern of harassing female co-workers. KPFA General Manager Roy Campanella II, on the job for a little more than half a year, is blamed for ignoring allegations of harassment. He’s even accused of harassing and demeaning women at the station and attempting to intimidate those who would report the abuse, charges he forcefully denies.
A major issue that sparked the 1999-2001 fight was the right of listener-sponsors to access the network’s financial records. Now again a group of listener and board members contends that current national management refuses to allow inspection of financial records. They also say KPFA management is squelching democracy by ignoring recommendations of its Program Council. (The KPFA Program Council is made up of listeners and staff appointed by the Local Station Board, which is elected by KPFA’s listener-sponsors.)
Disabled listeners and programmers are threatening lawsuits, claiming the Pacifica stations may be legally accessible, but that practically, disabled producers face restricted access. And the national executive director has left – pushed out, some say, although he claims to have left voluntarily. At New York’s WBAI, where new local interim management has just been put in place, fundraising has plummeted and popular programmers have been fired.
Pacifica Without Peace
Listeners tune to KPFA to learn of efforts to stop war in Iraq and halt police violence at home. Aggressive behavior inside the radio station, however, generally hovers under the radar. Former Flashpoints co-host Noelle Hanrahan’s much-publicized lawsuit accuses Flashpoints Executive Producer Dennis Bernstein (who did not return calls) of sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, and the previous management of not taking the complaints seriously. It has brought listener attention back to the station.
Others besides Hanrahan have called KPFA a hostile workplace. One of those is Solange Echeverria, who has now left the station. She says in a memo posted online at KPFK Listener Forum that “unfair treatment, favoritism, abuse and hostile working conditions on the Flashpoints program (were) perpetrated by Executive Producer Dennis Bernstein...” Further, Echeverria alleges that when she reported the situation to Campanella, “I was met with complete disrespect and disregard.”
Though unwilling to comment on specific personnel issues, Campanella responded briefly to a question about what he could do about allegations against Bernstein. He said he is unable to judge the veracity of the claims of out-of-control behavior aimed particularly at females because Bernstein’s personnel files have been destroyed.
Complaints lodged against Campanella were to be discussed by the Local Station Board behind closed doors Sunday. However, because the meeting was not properly noticed, the board received a report from attorney Dan Siegel, who investigated the allegations, but did not deliberate, according to board members. The discussion will be held at a July 9 closed session; the board can recommend discipline or termination of a general manager, but the decision lies with the Pacifica executive director.
The board was also to look at a June 11 letter (acquired by the Daily Planet), where 15 paid and unpaid female staff accuse Campanella of “inappropriate, gender-biased, and disturbing behavior.” Allegations include asking female subordinates on dates, demeaning women, not supporting a woman verbally abused by her supervisor and retaliating against women who participated in a Pacifica investigation of his conduct.
The letter concludes: “Having such behavior take place at an institution committed to social justice and gender equality has been deeply disturbing to us. The union of paid staff workers, Communications Workers of America Local 9415, has officially demanded an end to a hostile work environment for the women of the station….”
The allegations are false, Campanella says, questioning why incidents that occurred in December, and which were investigated by Pacifica at the time, would be raised again six months later. Campanella concedes he asked staff – both men and women – to go to movies, but argues it was “never presented as a date.” He said he apologized and stopped asking staff to join him when he was told it made people uncomfortable. Further, he said he neither demeaned women nor queried them about their responses to a Pacifica investigation.
Money and Power
Program possibilities are limited by the number of hours in a day, and programming funds are determined by the economics of the 56-year-old listener-sponsored station. So it’s not surprising that tensions that boil over in KPFA’s hallways and production studios are often the result of maneuvers for airtime and funding.
Weyland Southon, executive producer of Hard Knock Radio, a five-day-a-week show aiming its mélange of “news, views, breaks, and beats” at the urban hiphop community, says management does not give his show the respect and funding it deserves.
“There needs to be a redistribution of the land and the wealth in KPFA,” Southon says, pointing to a five-year struggle for phone lines, computers, paychecks and office space.
Programmers go to their listeners for donations four times a year, but some shows attract wealthier listeners. “Our community doesn’t have deep pockets,” says Anita Johnson, Hard Knock programmer and co-founder. The younger crowd is more likely to contribute at fundraising concerts, she said.
Southon discussed the concert fundraiser idea with Campanella. His version of the story is that Campanella shot down the plan, saying funds raised must go back to the common station pot. Campanella told the Daily Planet that Hard Knock can fund-raise independently, pass funds through Pacifica, and get them back for their programming.
Escalating tensions between Campanella and Southon were reported to have come close to blows early last month. Southon filed a grievance, and in support, the Communications Workers of America alleged that “Mr. Campanella was recently involved in an incident where he followed an employee, Weyland Southon, outside of the building apparently to commit physical violence. Such conduct constitutes an assault… Mr. Campanella, in his position as a General Manager representing KPFA, is expected to defuse possibly violent situations, rather than inciting or participating in them. It is our belief that this incident creates a potential for both criminal and civil litigation against KPFA.”
Siegel’s report on the incident was to be part of the board’s closed-door discussions Sunday. At that meeting, the board was also to receive memos supporting the general manager, including one from KPFA Business Manager Lois Withers that says she observed Campanella remain calm in the face of violent challenges from others. In another memo, KPFA’s chief engineer, Michael Yoshida, praises Campanella for keeping his door open to discussion in the face of hostility.
The interaction with Southon has been blown out of proportion, Campanella argues. The two never made physical contact, he says. “I’m a New Yorker,” he says in his defense, and asking Southon to go outside was a “sarcastic remark.” He added, however, “It shouldn’t have been made.”
Stephanie Hendricks, interim Sunday Salon producer, defends Campanella, even though their working relationship hasn’t always been easy. “He’s gruff. He needs to become more compassionate,” she said, noting, however, that when there have been disagreements, she’s found him open to working through the issues. “The attacks against Roy are not honest or forthright,” she says. “They are ego-driven.”
Hard Knock’s Johnson says support for the program has to come from the highest ranks of Pacifica. The highest ranks of Pacifica, however, are in some disarray with the June 15 exit of the executive director and his temporary replacement by Pacifica Board Chair Ambrose Lane, who has stepped down as chair while acting as the corporation’s chief executive. “We’re asking for a chance to develop and grow,” Johnson says. “We all love KPFA. We all want to support it. It needs to stay truly progressive. We need community support. Community is what makes the station.”
But attachment to the station is not enough. Because, in Southon’s estimation, KPFA is offering insufficient resources, he and his crew plan to create an independent entity and produce Hard Knock away from the station, similar to the model Amy Goodman constructed when she took Democracy Now! out of WBAI. (Goodman’s independently produced show airs on Pacifica stations and numerous other radio and TV outlets across the country.)
LaVarn Williams, local and national board member, expressed little sympathy for the plight of Hard Knock Radio and other programs asking for more funds. “Everyone wants more staff,” she said. “Roy (Campanella) has indicated that is not the best use of resources.” She thinks paid staff is “bloated” and needs to be reduced by attrition.
“Are we here to build up staff or are we here to build up programming?” Williams asked. “We need to bring ideas from those who are not paid, rather than building up fiefdoms.” Staff and equipment should be shared among shows to equalize resource distribution, she said.
Follow the Money — If You Can
Under the circa 1999 iron-fisted rule of Pacifica Chair Mary Francis Berry, network supporters had no idea how their donations were spent. Financial transparency became key to the reform movement.
But LaVarn Williams and other members of the People’s Radio listener group (http://www.peoplesradio.net) say financial data is still difficult to access. Earlier this month, some 15 people demonstrated in front of the Pacifica offices, calling for fiscal transparency.
“A director has the absolute right to inspect records (and) books at any reasonable time,” said Richard Phelps, local station board and People’s Radio member, and an attorney advising Williams and Patty Heffley, WBAI representative on the national board. “I don’t want to disrupt the institution; I want to make it responsible.”
According to CWA Shop Steward and Morning Show co-host Philip Maldari, part of the access problem is that personal information, including social security numbers, is filed with financial data. Files should be redacted before being made public, he said, adding that the employee union also wants transparent station finances. “Our only concern is confidentiality,” he said.
Satisfied with the financial data she gets at monthly meetings, KPFA board member Sherry Gendelman says that claims that Pacifica is hiding information stem from mistrust of the national organization built up during the 1999-2001 period.
Democracy When?
Unknown to many listeners, a battle has been raging at the station for a year or so concerning the Program Council’s proposal for a time change for the news magazine Democracy Now! The fundamental question is who makes the decision: the KPFA Program Council chosen by the elected board or a professional.
Richard Phelps says Campanella should implement the change as per the Program Council’s request. He asks: “Should (the general manager) do what is right for the station and the listeners… and implement the time change or should he capitulate to those ‘turf before mission’ staff… and let them continue to control major programming decisions despite our new bylaws that are designed to move us into democratic process and decision-making and away from patronage?”
Mary Berg, programmer and Local Station Board member, argues that the Program Council is advisory only, and that programming decisions must be left to the general manager, who should study data to determine the time most people are listening. Having taken a position on this issue in opposition to the People’s Radio group, Berg says “there are people I’ve know for 20 years who no longer speak to me.”
Seeds of Dissent
Gendelman, an attorney who led the local board during the crisis period, says mistrust hurts relations among board members and extends to mistrust of KPFA employees. The factionalism prevents the local board from doing its work of bringing in creative programming and outreaching to underserved communities, Gendelman said.
Historian Matthew Lasar, author of Pacifica Radio, discussed the People’s Radio movement in an e-mail to the Daily Planet: “I think that some of the dissident energy surrounding KPFA right now is fueled by a sense of nostalgia for the collectivist vision that characterized KPFA in the 1970s … [when various political groups] emphasized collective, consensus decision making, not only as a good way to get things done, but as a way of life.”
Over time, Pacifica has moved far from that structure, he said. “After years of bitter struggle, Pacifica's governors tended to see the organization’s active listeners and volunteers as their enemy, and often regarded professional consultants tied to mainstream public broadcasting as their friends,” Lasar wrote. Taken to the extreme, this trend helped provoke the 1999-2001 crisis, he believes.
The dissident movement captured station governance, instituted elections for Local Station Boards and created a representative national board. But tensions between democracy and professionalism run high. Lasar explains: “Substantial disagreements remain about the extent to which democracy should prevail at Pacifica and KPFA. It is one thing to put listener-subscriber elected Local Station Board delegates on hiring committees for the general manager and program director. It is another thing to allow them to appoint “community” and “listener” representatives to the Program Council, which makes decisions about what KPFA should broadcast. Does this system truly bring the “community” into the process? Or does it just expose KPFA programming to narrow-minded pressure campaigns?”
While fires flare internally, listeners still tune to Pacifica to hear what’s really happening in Haiti and Iraq. There’s new women’s programming; the voices of disabled people, younger people and people of color are growing stronger on the air, and there are plans for a national Spanish-language news show.
“The conflict is not preventing us from doing our mission,” says Philip Maldari. “Democracy is a pretty difficult thing to do.”
Six years ago hundreds of KPFA-FM listeners poured into the streets surrounding the downtown Berkeley studios minutes after drive-time programmer Dennis Bernstein cried for help on the air. The popular host was being arrested, hauled out of the listener-sponsored radio station on the orders of his bosses, the Pacifica Foundation Board of Directors.
Pacifica, which holds the licenses for KPFA, KPFK Los Angeles, KPFT Houston, WBAI New York and WPFW Washington, D.C., was commandeering the Berkeley station after months of conflict with local programmers and listeners. The national board had already removed a popular general manager and ousted staff with the temerity to denounce the manager’s termination on the air.
The July 13, 1999 arrests and lock-out at KPFA were followed by months during which thousands of people marched, picketed, broadcast via the Internet and camped out in front of the station. Staff, volunteers and listeners chanted in one voice: “Whose station? Our station!”
Three lawsuits and dozens of protests later, the old national board and management were out and a new national board, with new bylaws and a new national executive director – Dan Caughlin, a news director fired by the old board – was in. It was, as protesters had demanded: “our” station.
But the unity of “us” was short lived.
Today, both the Berkeley and New York stations are in turmoil. Once a hero, Bernstein is being sued, accused of a pattern of harassing female co-workers. KPFA General Manager Roy Campanella II, on the job for a little more than half a year, is blamed for ignoring allegations of harassment. He’s even accused of harassing and demeaning women at the station and attempting to intimidate those who would report the abuse, charges he forcefully denies.
A major issue that sparked the 1999-2001 fight was the right of listener-sponsors to access the network’s financial records. Now again a group of listener and board members contends that current national management refuses to allow inspection of financial records. They also say KPFA management is squelching democracy by ignoring recommendations of its Program Council. (The KPFA Program Council is made up of listeners and staff appointed by the Local Station Board, which is elected by KPFA’s listener-sponsors.)
Disabled listeners and programmers are threatening lawsuits, claiming the Pacifica stations may be legally accessible, but that practically, disabled producers face restricted access. And the national executive director has left – pushed out, some say, although he claims to have left voluntarily. At New York’s WBAI, where new local interim management has just been put in place, fundraising has plummeted and popular programmers have been fired.
Pacifica Without Peace
Listeners tune to KPFA to learn of efforts to stop war in Iraq and halt police violence at home. Aggressive behavior inside the radio station, however, generally hovers under the radar. Former Flashpoints co-host Noelle Hanrahan’s much-publicized lawsuit accuses Flashpoints Executive Producer Dennis Bernstein (who did not return calls) of sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, and the previous management of not taking the complaints seriously. It has brought listener attention back to the station.
Others besides Hanrahan have called KPFA a hostile workplace. One of those is Solange Echeverria, who has now left the station. She says in a memo posted online at KPFK Listener Forum that “unfair treatment, favoritism, abuse and hostile working conditions on the Flashpoints program (were) perpetrated by Executive Producer Dennis Bernstein...” Further, Echeverria alleges that when she reported the situation to Campanella, “I was met with complete disrespect and disregard.”
Though unwilling to comment on specific personnel issues, Campanella responded briefly to a question about what he could do about allegations against Bernstein. He said he is unable to judge the veracity of the claims of out-of-control behavior aimed particularly at females because Bernstein’s personnel files have been destroyed.
Complaints lodged against Campanella were to be discussed by the Local Station Board behind closed doors Sunday. However, because the meeting was not properly noticed, the board received a report from attorney Dan Siegel, who investigated the allegations, but did not deliberate, according to board members. The discussion will be held at a July 9 closed session; the board can recommend discipline or termination of a general manager, but the decision lies with the Pacifica executive director.
The board was also to look at a June 11 letter (acquired by the Daily Planet), where 15 paid and unpaid female staff accuse Campanella of “inappropriate, gender-biased, and disturbing behavior.” Allegations include asking female subordinates on dates, demeaning women, not supporting a woman verbally abused by her supervisor and retaliating against women who participated in a Pacifica investigation of his conduct.
The letter concludes: “Having such behavior take place at an institution committed to social justice and gender equality has been deeply disturbing to us. The union of paid staff workers, Communications Workers of America Local 9415, has officially demanded an end to a hostile work environment for the women of the station….”
The allegations are false, Campanella says, questioning why incidents that occurred in December, and which were investigated by Pacifica at the time, would be raised again six months later. Campanella concedes he asked staff – both men and women – to go to movies, but argues it was “never presented as a date.” He said he apologized and stopped asking staff to join him when he was told it made people uncomfortable. Further, he said he neither demeaned women nor queried them about their responses to a Pacifica investigation.
Money and Power
Program possibilities are limited by the number of hours in a day, and programming funds are determined by the economics of the 56-year-old listener-sponsored station. So it’s not surprising that tensions that boil over in KPFA’s hallways and production studios are often the result of maneuvers for airtime and funding.
Weyland Southon, executive producer of Hard Knock Radio, a five-day-a-week show aiming its mélange of “news, views, breaks, and beats” at the urban hiphop community, says management does not give his show the respect and funding it deserves.
“There needs to be a redistribution of the land and the wealth in KPFA,” Southon says, pointing to a five-year struggle for phone lines, computers, paychecks and office space.
Programmers go to their listeners for donations four times a year, but some shows attract wealthier listeners. “Our community doesn’t have deep pockets,” says Anita Johnson, Hard Knock programmer and co-founder. The younger crowd is more likely to contribute at fundraising concerts, she said.
Southon discussed the concert fundraiser idea with Campanella. His version of the story is that Campanella shot down the plan, saying funds raised must go back to the common station pot. Campanella told the Daily Planet that Hard Knock can fund-raise independently, pass funds through Pacifica, and get them back for their programming.
Escalating tensions between Campanella and Southon were reported to have come close to blows early last month. Southon filed a grievance, and in support, the Communications Workers of America alleged that “Mr. Campanella was recently involved in an incident where he followed an employee, Weyland Southon, outside of the building apparently to commit physical violence. Such conduct constitutes an assault… Mr. Campanella, in his position as a General Manager representing KPFA, is expected to defuse possibly violent situations, rather than inciting or participating in them. It is our belief that this incident creates a potential for both criminal and civil litigation against KPFA.”
Siegel’s report on the incident was to be part of the board’s closed-door discussions Sunday. At that meeting, the board was also to receive memos supporting the general manager, including one from KPFA Business Manager Lois Withers that says she observed Campanella remain calm in the face of violent challenges from others. In another memo, KPFA’s chief engineer, Michael Yoshida, praises Campanella for keeping his door open to discussion in the face of hostility.
The interaction with Southon has been blown out of proportion, Campanella argues. The two never made physical contact, he says. “I’m a New Yorker,” he says in his defense, and asking Southon to go outside was a “sarcastic remark.” He added, however, “It shouldn’t have been made.”
Stephanie Hendricks, interim Sunday Salon producer, defends Campanella, even though their working relationship hasn’t always been easy. “He’s gruff. He needs to become more compassionate,” she said, noting, however, that when there have been disagreements, she’s found him open to working through the issues. “The attacks against Roy are not honest or forthright,” she says. “They are ego-driven.”
Hard Knock’s Johnson says support for the program has to come from the highest ranks of Pacifica. The highest ranks of Pacifica, however, are in some disarray with the June 15 exit of the executive director and his temporary replacement by Pacifica Board Chair Ambrose Lane, who has stepped down as chair while acting as the corporation’s chief executive. “We’re asking for a chance to develop and grow,” Johnson says. “We all love KPFA. We all want to support it. It needs to stay truly progressive. We need community support. Community is what makes the station.”
But attachment to the station is not enough. Because, in Southon’s estimation, KPFA is offering insufficient resources, he and his crew plan to create an independent entity and produce Hard Knock away from the station, similar to the model Amy Goodman constructed when she took Democracy Now! out of WBAI. (Goodman’s independently produced show airs on Pacifica stations and numerous other radio and TV outlets across the country.)
LaVarn Williams, local and national board member, expressed little sympathy for the plight of Hard Knock Radio and other programs asking for more funds. “Everyone wants more staff,” she said. “Roy (Campanella) has indicated that is not the best use of resources.” She thinks paid staff is “bloated” and needs to be reduced by attrition.
“Are we here to build up staff or are we here to build up programming?” Williams asked. “We need to bring ideas from those who are not paid, rather than building up fiefdoms.” Staff and equipment should be shared among shows to equalize resource distribution, she said.
Follow the Money — If You Can
Under the circa 1999 iron-fisted rule of Pacifica Chair Mary Francis Berry, network supporters had no idea how their donations were spent. Financial transparency became key to the reform movement.
But LaVarn Williams and other members of the People’s Radio listener group (http://www.peoplesradio.net) say financial data is still difficult to access. Earlier this month, some 15 people demonstrated in front of the Pacifica offices, calling for fiscal transparency.
“A director has the absolute right to inspect records (and) books at any reasonable time,” said Richard Phelps, local station board and People’s Radio member, and an attorney advising Williams and Patty Heffley, WBAI representative on the national board. “I don’t want to disrupt the institution; I want to make it responsible.”
According to CWA Shop Steward and Morning Show co-host Philip Maldari, part of the access problem is that personal information, including social security numbers, is filed with financial data. Files should be redacted before being made public, he said, adding that the employee union also wants transparent station finances. “Our only concern is confidentiality,” he said.
Satisfied with the financial data she gets at monthly meetings, KPFA board member Sherry Gendelman says that claims that Pacifica is hiding information stem from mistrust of the national organization built up during the 1999-2001 period.
Democracy When?
Unknown to many listeners, a battle has been raging at the station for a year or so concerning the Program Council’s proposal for a time change for the news magazine Democracy Now! The fundamental question is who makes the decision: the KPFA Program Council chosen by the elected board or a professional.
Richard Phelps says Campanella should implement the change as per the Program Council’s request. He asks: “Should (the general manager) do what is right for the station and the listeners… and implement the time change or should he capitulate to those ‘turf before mission’ staff… and let them continue to control major programming decisions despite our new bylaws that are designed to move us into democratic process and decision-making and away from patronage?”
Mary Berg, programmer and Local Station Board member, argues that the Program Council is advisory only, and that programming decisions must be left to the general manager, who should study data to determine the time most people are listening. Having taken a position on this issue in opposition to the People’s Radio group, Berg says “there are people I’ve know for 20 years who no longer speak to me.”
Seeds of Dissent
Gendelman, an attorney who led the local board during the crisis period, says mistrust hurts relations among board members and extends to mistrust of KPFA employees. The factionalism prevents the local board from doing its work of bringing in creative programming and outreaching to underserved communities, Gendelman said.
Historian Matthew Lasar, author of Pacifica Radio, discussed the People’s Radio movement in an e-mail to the Daily Planet: “I think that some of the dissident energy surrounding KPFA right now is fueled by a sense of nostalgia for the collectivist vision that characterized KPFA in the 1970s … [when various political groups] emphasized collective, consensus decision making, not only as a good way to get things done, but as a way of life.”
Over time, Pacifica has moved far from that structure, he said. “After years of bitter struggle, Pacifica's governors tended to see the organization’s active listeners and volunteers as their enemy, and often regarded professional consultants tied to mainstream public broadcasting as their friends,” Lasar wrote. Taken to the extreme, this trend helped provoke the 1999-2001 crisis, he believes.
The dissident movement captured station governance, instituted elections for Local Station Boards and created a representative national board. But tensions between democracy and professionalism run high. Lasar explains: “Substantial disagreements remain about the extent to which democracy should prevail at Pacifica and KPFA. It is one thing to put listener-subscriber elected Local Station Board delegates on hiring committees for the general manager and program director. It is another thing to allow them to appoint “community” and “listener” representatives to the Program Council, which makes decisions about what KPFA should broadcast. Does this system truly bring the “community” into the process? Or does it just expose KPFA programming to narrow-minded pressure campaigns?”
While fires flare internally, listeners still tune to Pacifica to hear what’s really happening in Haiti and Iraq. There’s new women’s programming; the voices of disabled people, younger people and people of color are growing stronger on the air, and there are plans for a national Spanish-language news show.
“The conflict is not preventing us from doing our mission,” says Philip Maldari. “Democracy is a pretty difficult thing to do.”
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As far as many people are concerned, including this 50 year plus listener, the main reason we listen to KPFA is for the daily 6 p.m. news. Second in importance on KPFA is Guns & Butter, a 2 p.m. Wednesday show which should be repeated during prime time 7-9 p.m. weeknights or sometime on weekends between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Third in importance is Flashpoints. If any of the allegations is true regarding Flashpoints producer, Dennis Bernstein, I hope he is making a serious effort to change, as he does have a good program.
As to the morning programs, most of us make an effort to listen to Democracy Now and the Morning Show, always with the hope that they will not promote Democrats or religion, and make a serious effort to promote radical politics. If they are too bourgeois, this writer turns off the radio as listening to the radio while getting ready for work and waking up at the same time is a challenge, so the programs have to be stimulating from a radical point of view. David Bacon's labor program and Poor News Network's show, both on the Morning Show, need to be expanded and be more frequent as they are by far the best features on the Morning Show. Both Democracy Now and the Morning Show need to interview more socialists and more atheists, and demonstrate a positive attitude toward both. It is the two good Democrats who are the current hosts of the Morning Show who should apologize for being Democrats and not atheists.
The current turmoil at KPFA is nothing new; in my memory of KPFA, it has always been in a state of turmoil. I suspect most of the problems are caused by lack of money. The rest of the problems are definitely caused by lack of a socialist, workingclass perspective.
As to the morning programs, most of us make an effort to listen to Democracy Now and the Morning Show, always with the hope that they will not promote Democrats or religion, and make a serious effort to promote radical politics. If they are too bourgeois, this writer turns off the radio as listening to the radio while getting ready for work and waking up at the same time is a challenge, so the programs have to be stimulating from a radical point of view. David Bacon's labor program and Poor News Network's show, both on the Morning Show, need to be expanded and be more frequent as they are by far the best features on the Morning Show. Both Democracy Now and the Morning Show need to interview more socialists and more atheists, and demonstrate a positive attitude toward both. It is the two good Democrats who are the current hosts of the Morning Show who should apologize for being Democrats and not atheists.
The current turmoil at KPFA is nothing new; in my memory of KPFA, it has always been in a state of turmoil. I suspect most of the problems are caused by lack of money. The rest of the problems are definitely caused by lack of a socialist, workingclass perspective.
LaVarn William should be thrown off both Pacifica's national board and the KPFA Local Station Board for advocating that paid union jobs at KPFA be replaced by unpaid staff. Such anti-worker sentiment has no place at KPFA or Pacifica. Other Peoples Radio supporters should publicly disavow themselves from her. Union busting is disgusting anywhere, but particularly at a progressive institution like KPFA.
"LaVarn Williams, local and national board member, expressed little sympathy for the plight of Hard Knock Radio and other programs asking for more funds. “Everyone wants more staff,” she said. “Roy (Campanella) has indicated that is not the best use of resources.” She thinks paid staff is “bloated” and needs to be reduced by attrition.
“Are we here to build up staff or are we here to build up programming?” Williams asked. “We need to bring ideas from those who are not paid, rather than building up fiefdoms.” Staff and equipment should be shared among shows to equalize resource distribution, she said.
"LaVarn Williams, local and national board member, expressed little sympathy for the plight of Hard Knock Radio and other programs asking for more funds. “Everyone wants more staff,” she said. “Roy (Campanella) has indicated that is not the best use of resources.” She thinks paid staff is “bloated” and needs to be reduced by attrition.
“Are we here to build up staff or are we here to build up programming?” Williams asked. “We need to bring ideas from those who are not paid, rather than building up fiefdoms.” Staff and equipment should be shared among shows to equalize resource distribution, she said.
"Satisfied with the financial data she gets at monthly meetings, KPFA board member Sherry Gendelman says that claims that Pacifica is hiding information stem from mistrust of the national organization built up during the 1999-2001 period."
For me, a listener having possibly started to involve myself in trying to understand something of what's going on again at KPFA, Gendelman's quote gives the reason I have joined the ranks of the "overinvolved listeners" as one of the many recent cheap snide hit-pieces on KPFA called concerned listeners. Gendelman appears, from my having attended several listener board meetings lately, to be at best less-than-respectful towards listeners who are just trying to make sure their station does not get sold or experience some similar disaster as was threatend in '99. The quote of her above sounds perhaps neutral. Were it extended, I suspect she would be saying something sarcastic about such listeners. At least that is the way it appears when she cuts off legitmate or even annoyiing perhaps requests, motions, etc. by elected listener board members with no explanation whatever except that she has decided that they are out of order. Ok if we are mistrustful, would she like to let us know why we should not be? I suppose she believes she and others in her camp are smarter, have worked harder, care more (this is giving her the benefit of the doubt -- she may also just not give a fuck at all). This particular controversy at KPFA (I started to write "fight," why shouldn't I? It seems that way -- Robbie Osman and Larry Bensky not speaking to each other last I heard...) is about something real. That real something includes, still, concern by "mistrustful" listeners that we're about to be screwed again, in addition to the possible screwing of the moment, which might come to include the need for us to sacrifice A LOT just to keep the station. The controversy includes the hard-won bylaws, which are, whether "disasterous" as Sasha Lilly, (an airtime winner who knows many things but perhaps not enough wise things) has said, or whether they're a bandaid or whether ultimately something to build on,
they should, for now, be respected at least. They are, in part, I believe, one reason Sasha Lilly has a job at KPFA instead of reading ads for Walmart on KGO.
Re-reading this I realize I don't know Sherry Gendelman and don't want to make reactionary-sounding comments. I believe Gendelman did fight for the station in '99. So it appeared. I wither when the "other side," the "more involved-listener" side seems too shrill at meetings. But instead of fueling this with arbitrary-seeming dismissals, why not be big enough to enlighten those of us who have taken the trouble and care to find out: "how mistrustful SHOULD we be?"
I appreciate Judith Scherr for the work it took to interview many people, make some sense of a senseless-seeming tangle, edit and publish this article.
For me, a listener having possibly started to involve myself in trying to understand something of what's going on again at KPFA, Gendelman's quote gives the reason I have joined the ranks of the "overinvolved listeners" as one of the many recent cheap snide hit-pieces on KPFA called concerned listeners. Gendelman appears, from my having attended several listener board meetings lately, to be at best less-than-respectful towards listeners who are just trying to make sure their station does not get sold or experience some similar disaster as was threatend in '99. The quote of her above sounds perhaps neutral. Were it extended, I suspect she would be saying something sarcastic about such listeners. At least that is the way it appears when she cuts off legitmate or even annoyiing perhaps requests, motions, etc. by elected listener board members with no explanation whatever except that she has decided that they are out of order. Ok if we are mistrustful, would she like to let us know why we should not be? I suppose she believes she and others in her camp are smarter, have worked harder, care more (this is giving her the benefit of the doubt -- she may also just not give a fuck at all). This particular controversy at KPFA (I started to write "fight," why shouldn't I? It seems that way -- Robbie Osman and Larry Bensky not speaking to each other last I heard...) is about something real. That real something includes, still, concern by "mistrustful" listeners that we're about to be screwed again, in addition to the possible screwing of the moment, which might come to include the need for us to sacrifice A LOT just to keep the station. The controversy includes the hard-won bylaws, which are, whether "disasterous" as Sasha Lilly, (an airtime winner who knows many things but perhaps not enough wise things) has said, or whether they're a bandaid or whether ultimately something to build on,
they should, for now, be respected at least. They are, in part, I believe, one reason Sasha Lilly has a job at KPFA instead of reading ads for Walmart on KGO.
Re-reading this I realize I don't know Sherry Gendelman and don't want to make reactionary-sounding comments. I believe Gendelman did fight for the station in '99. So it appeared. I wither when the "other side," the "more involved-listener" side seems too shrill at meetings. But instead of fueling this with arbitrary-seeming dismissals, why not be big enough to enlighten those of us who have taken the trouble and care to find out: "how mistrustful SHOULD we be?"
I appreciate Judith Scherr for the work it took to interview many people, make some sense of a senseless-seeming tangle, edit and publish this article.
the person attacking Lavarn Williams as a 'union buster' is pround to be a union member but not proud enough to sign his/her name s he/she 'defends' workers.
What Lavarn said is in no way 'union-busting'. It is ironic that this term should be used (by someone I strongly suspect to be a paid staff member at KPFA) since the KPFA staff, in the late 1990s voted to swtich from the United Electrical Workers to the Communication Workers of America in a deal negotiated by the union busting American Consulting Group - part of this deal was to have to the paid staff vote to remove the unpaid staff from the union. All the 'union members' now at KPFA who were there at the time are guilty of collaborating with union busters.
The older, and correct, in my view, definition of 'work' at KPFA was intellectual product that you do not necessarily get paid for. Mothers, for example, do a lot of work that they do not get paid for - it is work nonetheless. Having more unpaid staff does not mean less 'work' it does mean less paid work. The tradition at KPFA historically was for it to have a small paid, operational staff and a large unpaid pool of producers. This shifted in the 1990s.
Of course, people need to be paid for their work especially in todays economy. The problem is that KPFA operational model is not sustainable. There has been a 100% increase in the number of people on payroll in the last three years.
What Lavarn, (and I) is saying, correctly, is that we have to be realistic. KPFA cannot sustain itself with the current overhead costs and we have to take a cold hard look at the numbers.
There is lots of 'work' to be done and ways should be found to compensate people for it fairly. (It is also worth noting that many unpaid producers, like Guns and Butter raise a lot of money for the station and yet the program recieves no support from the station at all.)
Joe W.
What Lavarn said is in no way 'union-busting'. It is ironic that this term should be used (by someone I strongly suspect to be a paid staff member at KPFA) since the KPFA staff, in the late 1990s voted to swtich from the United Electrical Workers to the Communication Workers of America in a deal negotiated by the union busting American Consulting Group - part of this deal was to have to the paid staff vote to remove the unpaid staff from the union. All the 'union members' now at KPFA who were there at the time are guilty of collaborating with union busters.
The older, and correct, in my view, definition of 'work' at KPFA was intellectual product that you do not necessarily get paid for. Mothers, for example, do a lot of work that they do not get paid for - it is work nonetheless. Having more unpaid staff does not mean less 'work' it does mean less paid work. The tradition at KPFA historically was for it to have a small paid, operational staff and a large unpaid pool of producers. This shifted in the 1990s.
Of course, people need to be paid for their work especially in todays economy. The problem is that KPFA operational model is not sustainable. There has been a 100% increase in the number of people on payroll in the last three years.
What Lavarn, (and I) is saying, correctly, is that we have to be realistic. KPFA cannot sustain itself with the current overhead costs and we have to take a cold hard look at the numbers.
There is lots of 'work' to be done and ways should be found to compensate people for it fairly. (It is also worth noting that many unpaid producers, like Guns and Butter raise a lot of money for the station and yet the program recieves no support from the station at all.)
Joe W.
Very sad to read of "union busting".
Your (our) community radio station, KPFA, is overbudget on salaries by six figures. KPFA has over 100 people who get one kind of paycheck or another, WPFW and KPFT have 11 and 13 respectively, and we all program the same 168 hours a week. We also stick by our budgets.
Pacifica is built on volunteers, (that's what we tell everyone when we ask them to send money), yet I am now to understand that we are just IDIOTS at WPFW and KPFT for believing that?
I am certainly not out for anyone's job, but am curious as to what people think about what to do when your station cannot sustain itself. Do you then INCREASE salaries? Do you do that for YOUR show or MY show?
Do you do SOMETHING or NOTHING? Each choice includes villification. Sorry, but union busting is not included in either. Oh wait, we can just blame it on whoever inherits this mess by applying to be manager. I don't think so.
I think it's great that some programmers are paid for their time - people put their entire lives into producing life-changing programs for pacifica. Should they all be paid (how?) or just some of them (how could that be?) It is the age old question.
Looking forward to finding out the answer. Please do tell.
In the meantime please include advice on what to do right now - how could KPFA have million dollar funddrives yet not have enough money? Is continuing on that path worth bringing the network (and its hard working well meaning staff) down? Has anyone asked the donors?
KPFA enjoys incredible support from its community, and is FAR from bankrupt, but some changes will have to be made.
Is it union busting to use volunteers in the volunteer network? Is it bad for Directors of the Foundation to actually attempt to find out some of the answers as to what exactly is happening and what we can actually afford? We who have stuck our necks out to do just that have been villified as well. Followed around with video cameras and accusations while we do the jobs the listeners elected us to do, and accused of other things after the cameras are turned off.
So far it is damned if you do and damned if you don't. The strong women on the pnb refuse to accept that. This strong woman IS asking for advice from those who "surely" know better.
So far all I have heard is please don't find out too much, and NEVER suggest that volunteer radio use volunteers. If you do, someone might employ propaganda tactics, like union buster.
KPFA and Pacifica absolutely support labor unions, and I challenge you to find one person on staff who will say that saving the budget and the station is anti union, and actually sign their name.
wendy schroell
pnb director from kpft houston
Your (our) community radio station, KPFA, is overbudget on salaries by six figures. KPFA has over 100 people who get one kind of paycheck or another, WPFW and KPFT have 11 and 13 respectively, and we all program the same 168 hours a week. We also stick by our budgets.
Pacifica is built on volunteers, (that's what we tell everyone when we ask them to send money), yet I am now to understand that we are just IDIOTS at WPFW and KPFT for believing that?
I am certainly not out for anyone's job, but am curious as to what people think about what to do when your station cannot sustain itself. Do you then INCREASE salaries? Do you do that for YOUR show or MY show?
Do you do SOMETHING or NOTHING? Each choice includes villification. Sorry, but union busting is not included in either. Oh wait, we can just blame it on whoever inherits this mess by applying to be manager. I don't think so.
I think it's great that some programmers are paid for their time - people put their entire lives into producing life-changing programs for pacifica. Should they all be paid (how?) or just some of them (how could that be?) It is the age old question.
Looking forward to finding out the answer. Please do tell.
In the meantime please include advice on what to do right now - how could KPFA have million dollar funddrives yet not have enough money? Is continuing on that path worth bringing the network (and its hard working well meaning staff) down? Has anyone asked the donors?
KPFA enjoys incredible support from its community, and is FAR from bankrupt, but some changes will have to be made.
Is it union busting to use volunteers in the volunteer network? Is it bad for Directors of the Foundation to actually attempt to find out some of the answers as to what exactly is happening and what we can actually afford? We who have stuck our necks out to do just that have been villified as well. Followed around with video cameras and accusations while we do the jobs the listeners elected us to do, and accused of other things after the cameras are turned off.
So far it is damned if you do and damned if you don't. The strong women on the pnb refuse to accept that. This strong woman IS asking for advice from those who "surely" know better.
So far all I have heard is please don't find out too much, and NEVER suggest that volunteer radio use volunteers. If you do, someone might employ propaganda tactics, like union buster.
KPFA and Pacifica absolutely support labor unions, and I challenge you to find one person on staff who will say that saving the budget and the station is anti union, and actually sign their name.
wendy schroell
pnb director from kpft houston
That was quite an underhanded -- and typically hypocritical -- slur for some anony*MOUSE* (typical of some always self-interested PAID entrenched anti-democratic/anti-transparency senior staffers in the station and their station board collaborators) to slanderously call LaVarn Williams a "union buster". None of those throw-from-behind anonyMOUSES are *EVER* willing to use their names/initials and be morally accountable.
If only KPFA -- with its **MILLION-DOLLAR** pledge donations from, collectively, *OUR* listeners' money -- could at least video/audio webcast the Local Station Board (LSB) meetings -- to let we financial doners know what's going on -- we pledge doners could SEE &/or HEAR some of what the pro-democracy/pro-transparency forces are up against vs. the entrenched anti-democratic/anti-transparency 'Dark Side' at KPFA.
I, for one, will *NOT* pledge any more of my hard-earned money until the appropriately concerned people on the LSB can at least *SEE* the financial books so that we pledge doners know just *WHERE* the 3 or 4 times a year *MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR* collective pledges are going. (So, I guess that would, indirectly, open *me* up to accusations of "union-busting", or supporting "union-busting", too!)
Joe W.: "(It is also worth noting that many unpaid producers, like Guns and Butter raise a **LOT** of money for the station and yet the program recieves no support from the station at all.)" [emphasis, JA]
What's more, some of these UNPAID volunteer producers, like Bonnie Faulkner of Guns & Butter, who put in their time for a quality progam for FREE, and who (like she) may travel a relatively great distance to produce the program, and work long hours, don't even get a reasonable travel & meal allowance (especially in these days of higher and higher gas prices), as well as for necessary miscellaneous supplies not found in the station. Any support from the management and ACTIVE advocacy from the station union for that minimal financial support (particularly so that many more marginally middle, working-class and, especially, lower income people could even afford to regularly volunteer to produce programs)???
A previous poster wrote:
"Re-reading this I realize I don't know Sherry Gendelman and don't want to make reactionary-sounding comments. I believe Gendelman did fight for the station in '99. So it appeared. I wither when the "other side," the "more involved-listener" side seems too shrill at meetings."
Sherry Gendelman's participation in the struggle to defend KPFA from the 1999 Pacifica board is not an appearance, it is a fact. Gendelman was one of the plaintiffs in Adelson v. Pacifica, a lawsuit that challenged the old board's decision in 1999 to become a self-appointing body. She ardently supported Juan Gonzalez's Pacifica Campaign and the listener boycott associated with that movement. Sherry attended countless demonstrations calling for the resignation of the old board, and picketed at the offices of key board members. She is one of the original signers of the Settlement Agreement of December 12, 2001, which represented the legal capitulation of the remnants of the Mary Frances Berry board.
/ml
"Re-reading this I realize I don't know Sherry Gendelman and don't want to make reactionary-sounding comments. I believe Gendelman did fight for the station in '99. So it appeared. I wither when the "other side," the "more involved-listener" side seems too shrill at meetings."
Sherry Gendelman's participation in the struggle to defend KPFA from the 1999 Pacifica board is not an appearance, it is a fact. Gendelman was one of the plaintiffs in Adelson v. Pacifica, a lawsuit that challenged the old board's decision in 1999 to become a self-appointing body. She ardently supported Juan Gonzalez's Pacifica Campaign and the listener boycott associated with that movement. Sherry attended countless demonstrations calling for the resignation of the old board, and picketed at the offices of key board members. She is one of the original signers of the Settlement Agreement of December 12, 2001, which represented the legal capitulation of the remnants of the Mary Frances Berry board.
/ml
Matthew, why did you side with the entrenched station interests (people who gave up the fight for democracy once their jobs were secure) and not with the PeoplesRadio.net interests for a more democratic and transparent KPFA (and who won 6 of the 9 listener representative board seats, and would have won 7 out of 9 if one candidate didn't have to drop out for a family medical emergency) in the last board elections?
See http://PeoplesRadio.net
6 seats were won by People's Radio candidates, only 3 were taken by KPFA Forward candidates (i.e. those who support the entrenched status quo at the station and oppose listener involvement). The KPFA Forward entrenched station interests still have an overall slim majority on the board, but as far as the last election goes, the People's Radio slate won hands down! I'd say the People have spoken. But, just as with the Bush White House (and its slim majority in the Congress), the KPFA administration and its party of self-interests are not listening to the people.
See http://PeoplesRadio.net
6 seats were won by People's Radio candidates, only 3 were taken by KPFA Forward candidates (i.e. those who support the entrenched status quo at the station and oppose listener involvement). The KPFA Forward entrenched station interests still have an overall slim majority on the board, but as far as the last election goes, the People's Radio slate won hands down! I'd say the People have spoken. But, just as with the Bush White House (and its slim majority in the Congress), the KPFA administration and its party of self-interests are not listening to the people.
From 1946 when Pacifica incorporated with 5 Board member up until Nov 2001, when the Board had 16 members, the number of seats and election of Board members was the exclusive right of the Board. In other words, for over 50 years Pacifica was a "self-selecting Board." The fact that local advisory board nominated people to that Board never changed the authority to actually "elect" or "seat" them. That was only done by the sitting Board itself. The original bylaws never limited the seats to five members, either. Pacifica's governing documents were in full compliance of the "historic" Corporations Code which allowed any Corporate Board to enlarge their number by a successful resolution of the Board.
There is an ironic twist today, under the new Bylaws. We actually have some unelected members that are voting members of the National Board committees who have been "appointed" to those Board committee.
Several station local boards are having a hard time finding people willing to be the Treasurer or Secretary and so they are appointing people who did not stand for election for those local Officer positions. They are non-voting members of their own local Board, but they become voting members of National Board committees they serve on. Intersting twist. I wonder if Dave Adelson is preparing another lawsuit?? Just kidding.
And finally, even though Adelson launched that lawsuit which cost the Corporation hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in legal fees and depositions, the fact is that the case never went to trial. It was scheduled for January 7, 2002. He had come to an agreement and was willing to drop the case, but apparently Carol Spooner convinced him to keep it open to cause more financial pain and force the old Board to settle under a stressful campaign of harassment and threats.
But keep in mind, the Settlement did not prove ANY of the many claims in the three Lawsuits....it only put an end to the nightmare and gave a hollow victory in the sense that Pacifica lost it's entire governance and management team, and with it alot of important historical knowledge and people who had supported the network for decades. Some people think that was a good thing...and others think it might have signaled the end of the entire project. Time will tell!
You can read some of the depositions of the Adelson vs Pacifica lawsuit in the files section of:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LewHillproject
Nalini Lasiewicz
Lasiewicz Foundation
Member, Pacifica Foundation
http://server.com/WebApps/db-view.cgi?db=115801
What are your hopes and fears for the Pacifica Foundation? Please add your thoughts as we prepare to recognize Pacificas' upcoming Sixty Year Anniversary.
There is an ironic twist today, under the new Bylaws. We actually have some unelected members that are voting members of the National Board committees who have been "appointed" to those Board committee.
Several station local boards are having a hard time finding people willing to be the Treasurer or Secretary and so they are appointing people who did not stand for election for those local Officer positions. They are non-voting members of their own local Board, but they become voting members of National Board committees they serve on. Intersting twist. I wonder if Dave Adelson is preparing another lawsuit?? Just kidding.
And finally, even though Adelson launched that lawsuit which cost the Corporation hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in legal fees and depositions, the fact is that the case never went to trial. It was scheduled for January 7, 2002. He had come to an agreement and was willing to drop the case, but apparently Carol Spooner convinced him to keep it open to cause more financial pain and force the old Board to settle under a stressful campaign of harassment and threats.
But keep in mind, the Settlement did not prove ANY of the many claims in the three Lawsuits....it only put an end to the nightmare and gave a hollow victory in the sense that Pacifica lost it's entire governance and management team, and with it alot of important historical knowledge and people who had supported the network for decades. Some people think that was a good thing...and others think it might have signaled the end of the entire project. Time will tell!
You can read some of the depositions of the Adelson vs Pacifica lawsuit in the files section of:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LewHillproject
Nalini Lasiewicz
Lasiewicz Foundation
Member, Pacifica Foundation
http://server.com/WebApps/db-view.cgi?db=115801
What are your hopes and fears for the Pacifica Foundation? Please add your thoughts as we prepare to recognize Pacificas' upcoming Sixty Year Anniversary.
For more information:
http://www.kpfkchat.org
see: by ???? Sunday, Jul. 03, 2005 at 11:44 AM
Please everyone stop with the name calling and scapegoating and please at least make an attempt to understand all perspectives. Really try to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Nothing is as clear cut as it seems. The environment at KPFA is uncomfortable, not hostile. And I would bet that it is most uncomfortable for Mr. Campanella. Mr. Campanella has been professional, understanding and generous. He walked into a new job in a new city with hope that he could do good work at KPFA. He has remained dedicated to his job and has held up well especially with this attack on his character. And also try and remember that he is also an employee as well as a human being, he has to answer to others and some of the decisions that he has to make are based on something bigger. He has also remained open to talk with anyone about anything he has done that could make one feel uncomfortable. So don't believe everything you may hear or read. It is all too easy to release slanderous information to the public based on a misconception, just look at the state of the news today. Let us stop acting like we are in Junior High spreading rumors, let us be understanding, rational and open. Conflict stems from misunderstadings. There are different ways to handle conflict: Avoidance, Confrontation and Problem Solving. Let us try and be progressive and actually problem solve instead of contributing to the "divide and conquer" mentality that will eventually destroy us if we are not pro-active and honest with ourselves. I suggest that we read or re-read "The Prophet".
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