KPFA Staff & Management Banning Mumia Rally Announcements?

From: CStephenKinder [at] aol.com
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2006 00:35:22 EDT

To: kpfa-lsb [at] lists.kpfa.org, traffic [at] kpfa.org

Subject: To KPFA; PSA re Mumia Rally

Radio Station KPFA
1929 MLK Jr Way
Berkeley CA
(by email & copy by mail):

Dear Staff at KPFA,

My name is Chris Kinder, writing on behalf of the Labor Action Committee To
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (LAC).

I have to protest in the strongest terms your apparent refusal to run the PSA
which I recorded last Friday (the 25th of August 2006), to promote the Rally
To Free Mumia, which is being organized by the Labor Action Committee for
September 15th.

After recording the PSA with technician M. Mays (sorry, unsure of spelling),
I was told that PSAs are only allowed for groups holding benefits in which
money is collected for a 501.3c non-profit organization. When I explained that
this was for a political rally for the defense of death-row political prisoner
Mumia Abu-Jamal, I was told that "We don't do political rallies"! To hear
that from a KPFA staff person almost rendered me speechless.

The LAC (rally organizer) is not a 501.3c organization. However, money being
collected at the rally will go to Mumia's legal defense, at the National
Lawyers Guild Foundation, in care of the Committee To Save Mumia in New York City.
The NLG Foundation is a 501.3c. I tried to explain this both at the time,
and in numerous phone calls and emails to both M. Mays, and to William Walker
at the traffic department at KPFA (which I was told had to rule on anything
that went out on the air).

In the week since I made the recording, I have not heard back from either
Mays or Walker as to whether the PSA is to go on air or not. If the PSA is
running and I just haven't heard it on the air yet, please accept my apologies.
However, the silence of your lack of response to my phone calls and
emails--after what I heard from your technician last Friday--is deafening.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is not just another innocent death-row prisoner, of which
even one is too many. He is one of the foremost messengers of honest,
uncompromising, and I might add, unselfish leftism that we have in this imperialist
heartland called the USA. He is at the apex of a tradition of black liberation
fighters extending back through the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, Robert F Williams
and more. And his case--in which mountains of evidence of his innocence has
gone unheard by a racist, corrupt court system--is now on "fast track" to a
possible new death warrent. Hence, the urgency of the LAC-initiated rally.

KPFA and other Pacifica stations have been defending Mumia and running his
trenchant commentaries on the war, racism and other issues for years. And KPFA
is also supposed to be part of that honest, uncompromising and unselfish
left--a voice for the voiceless, like Mumia.

KPFA was the first public radio station, determined to serve the public and
remain non-commercial. KPFA opposed the McCarthyite witchhunt in the fifties
(unlike KQED-public television). And KPFA has exposed numerous domestic and
international crimes of the US over the years. KPFA (and its numerous
supporters who marched in the streets of Berkeley, myself among them) also fought back
a vicious take-over attempt a few years ago by a corrupt ex-Pacifica Board,
which had shut down KPFA for a time in a mad drive to privatization. Is all
this now for nought? Is KPFA bent on turning itself into another version of
National Public Radio (NPR)?

In the late 1990s, Mumia Abu-Jamal's commentaries, after careful preparation
for national air time, were cancelled at the last minute by NPR. This
censorship came after complaints in the Halls of Congress from right-wing politicians
like Bob Dole. NPR showed us at that time whose tune they were dancing to.

Who's tune is KPFA now dancing to?

We in the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia eagerly await your reply.

Fraternally yours, Chris Kinder for the LAC

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=09-01-06&storyID=24976
Labor Collective Fights KPFA Ban
By Judith Scherr (09-01-06)

The name of its parent foundation is Pacifica. Nonetheless, during the more-than-half-century of progressive radio programming, KPFA has often been home to interpersonal tensions that periodically boil over into public view.

The most recent clash is between the station’s Program Council and the KPFA Labor Collective. The collective has created ad hoc programming on labor issues for the last several years.

The Program Council is a body of 14 people, including representatives of the paid staff, the unpaid staff, department heads and listeners. It meets weekly to review programming and to evaluate proposals for new programming.

Citing “deteriorating relationships with the station staff,” in March the council banned the Labor Collective from offering program proposals for a year. The collective will hold a picket outside the station at 1 p.m. on Labor Day to protest the ban.

“They say we can’t submit proposals. I’ve never heard of this before,” said Steve Zeltzer, Labor Collective chair.

The collective has produced numerous shows, including those airing on Labor Day, May Day and International Women’s Day. While continuing to submit proposals for special programming, Zeltzer said his collective were also lobbying the council for a regular labor show.

Much of the tension at the station over the years has been due to finite limitations in time and resources. Zeltzer pointed out that some people have had their programs for years.

“They feel the space is their own personal time slot,” he said.

While the Program Council voted 12-2 to support the ban, the two dissenters, Joe Wanzala and Sepideh Khosrowjah, both of whom represent the Local Station Board on the Program Council, pointed to resource allocation as the underlying factor in the dispute.

In March they wrote: ”It is our opinion that the expressed concerns about the behavior of the Labor Collective mask a real problem at the station—a failure to re-assess KPFA’s entire programming grid to create more space for new programming and reduce the tensions and frustrations associated with access to airtime which is an artificial scarce resource at KPFA.”

Program Council facilitator Tracy Rosenberg supports the ban. In a phone interview, Rosenberg accused the Labor Collective of overwhelming the council with work.

“They submitted 16 to18 proposals in a 12-month period,” she said, noting that the council approved some proposals, modified some and rejected others.

Furthermore, Rosenberg said that reports came to her of negative interpersonal interactions with station staff. She was more specific in a letter written to the Local Station Board, accusing the collective of “rude and confrontational language.”

The complaints merited a 12-month “time out” she told the Daily Planet.

No mediation has occurred, Rosenberg said, noting however: “That might be a good idea.”

As a volunteer group, the Program Council does not have the time and resources to address interpersonal issues, she said.

“No doubt had there been a stronger general manager, there would have been leadership on the issue,” she added. After the resignation of embattled General Manager Roy Campanella in January, there were a few months without a general manager; Lemlem Rijio was named acting general manager in April.

Rijio said she did not want to comment on the Labor Collective situation at this time, but noted “a human resources consultant is looking into it.”

In their letter to the local station board, dissenters Wanzala and Khosrowjah did not condone the negative behavior of some of the collective members, but said they were signaled out in an unfair way.

“Many instances of such behavior remain unaddressed by the relevant authorities—making this action by the Program Council appear discriminatory and hypocritical,” they wrote.

They concluded that rather than taking action to ban proposals, a complaint should have been lodged with KPFA management.

Adding another layer of complexity to the picture, Acting Program Coordinator Vini Beacham said that, in fact, last week he accepted a proposal from the Labor Collective but returned it for more information, as is common with such proposals. In his role as program coordinator, Beacham said he turns completed proposals over to the Program Council for its consideration. The next step, he said, will be up to the council.


Labor Day Picket/Protest Speak-Out At KPFA Radio
Rescind the Ban Now!
Protest Banning Of Labor Programming From KPFA Labor Collective

Monday September 4, 2006 1:00 PM
1929 Martin Luther King Drive/University Berkeley CA












On March 8, 2006, the KPFA Program Council with the support of management voted to ban labor programming proposals from the KPFA Labor Collective for one year. They did this without a hearing allowing for a democratic process before the banning. Even the Taft-Hartley only bans the right to strike for 80 days. The KPFA Labor Collective has been producing labor programming at KPFA on Labor Day, May Day, Workers Memorial Day for more than three years. It’s web site is at http://www.kpfalaborcollective.org
The collective which has members from SEIU 1000, NALC 214, SEIU 616, IBT 70, IUOE 39, SEUI UHW, and other locals has gained support from the entire labor movement for more regular labor programming at KFPA. Hundreds of trade unionists have signed petitions for more regular labor programming and support for a weekly one hour labor show called "Workweek". The San Francisco Labor Council, the Contra Costa Labor Council, SEIU 790, SEIU 616 and other locals have also endorsed the proposal for more labor programming. At present, KPFA only has 20 minutes a week of regular labor programming.
The banning of even presenting labor programming proposals to the KPFA Program Council is unacceptable and inexcusable for a station that calls itself "Free Speech Radio". We call all supporters of "Free Speech Radio" to join the picket line and speak out to protest the banning of labor programming proposals to KPFA.
You can send letters to KPFA Local Station Board at 1929 MLK, Berkeley CA 94704 or go to http://www.kpfa.org to send email to Local Station Board. Also email the manager at igm [at] kpfa.org with copy to KPFA LC We will also be urging supporters to attend the upcoming KPFA Local Station Board meeting on September 16, 2006 at 1:00 PM at Freight and Salvage Club which is located at 1111 Addison/San Pablo to support the removal of the ban.


Endorsed by
Mary Ann Ring, President UCSF CUE, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, Peace And Freedom Party of California, Jack Heyman ILWU 10, Jeffrey Blankfort KPOO Radio, Gray Brechin, Ralph Schoneman & Mya Shone, KPFA Labor Collective, JR Block Report, Larry Cafiero, Green Candidate For Insurance Commissioner. PEdU, Peoples Radio, Labor Action Coalition

kpfalaborcollective [at] yahoo.com http://www.kpfalaborcollective.org