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KPFA: Community Radio at the Crossroads
Community Radio at the Crossroads: The Significance of the KPFA Board
By Joe Wanzala, Shahram Aghamir, Tracy Rosenberg and Anthony Fest
Berkeley Daily Planet
Thursday September 17, 2009
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-09-17/article/33766?headline=Commentary-Community-Radio-at-the-Crossroads-The-Significance-of-the-KPFA-Board
KPFA listeners know that the Local Station Board elections tend to be acrimonious. What many listeners might not realize is that the controversy of the LSB elections actually reflects a historical issue about the nature of community radio itself. The four of us founded the Independents for Community Radio affinity group of LSB candidates with the goal of ensuring that KPFA remains rooted in the communities it serves. In October 2008, nearly 90 KPFA staff members issued a statement articulating their goals for leadership at the station. They called for management committed to fulfilling the historic Transformation Proposal made during the 1999 KPFA Lockout. They also called for leaders who support the unpaid staff, maintain a respectful and collaborative approach to station operations, and understand that KPFA should include community representatives on its decision making bodies. These aspirations remain largely unfulfilled or have been undermined by the current management and its Concerned Listener allies.
Jon Bekken, writing in “Community Radio at the Crossroads: Federal Policy and the Professionalization of a Grassroots Medium” (in Ron Sakolosky and Steve Dunifer, eds., Seizing the Airwaves, A Free Radio Handbook, 1998) defines community radio as being characterized by “access, public participation in production and decision making and, predominantly, by listener-financing. The intention is that management of the station is in the hands of those who use and listen to it.” He acknowledges that operating a station on such a model is difficult, but vital, as it is ensures accountability to the audience and wider community in a way that commercial stations do not. The alternative is what happened at KQED in San Francisco, where the board marginalized progressive activists such as Henry Kroll, Sasha Futran and others. Eventually, in 2006 KQED sent out a ballot asking its members to relinquish their voting powers. They voted by 2 to 1 to do so.
This change at KQED was part of a trend that has placed community radio stations around the country under pressure to conform with the National Public Radio model. The two main groups running in the KFPA election, Independents for Community Radio and Concerned Listeners, represent sharply divergent visions of the station. The Concerned Listener slate in many ways represents a return of the Healthy Station Project (HSP) initiative that led to the Pacifica wars of the 1990s. HSP (which former KPFA General Manager Lynn Chadwick was involved in developing) was designed to move community stations toward commercialization and "professionalization," and supported the use of more paid staff and a reduced role for volunteer community programmers and listener-members in decision-making. The ensuing battle to save Pacifica was an expression of the community’s rejection of the HSP paradigm.
The Concerned Listeners’ platform reflects key aspects of the HSP. They tout “professionalism” and since taking control of the board in 2007, have supported efforts by management to marginalize the volunteer staff and reverse the post-1999 lock-out victories for listener democracy. They have shut down the Program Council, a body composed of staff, board members and community representatives which represented a successful system for making collaborative programming decisions. The CL also support an authoritarian management style, eschewing conflict resolution, one result being the tragic arrest of and injury caused to a young African American volunteer programmer Nadra Foster, after a manager summoned the police.
Independents for Community Radio are not opposed to ‘professionalism,’ in the sense of high-quality radio. Equally important, however, is preserving the “alternative” culture of dissent within which KPFA operates. Jerry Starr, executive director of Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, has observed that “What is called the ‘professional’ model is really the commercial model, built on the unexamined assumption that professionalism precludes the participation of volunteers. Unfortunately, some stations have been plunged into the red by ditching their volunteers and pursuing the chimera of big time radio.” The tension between the participatory democracy, community radio model and the “professional,” pro-management model favored by the Concerned Listeners is perhaps best expressed by John Whiting in his essay, “Pacifica in Vincula: The Life and Death of Great American Radio” in which he observed that an inexpensive, accessible, grassroots structure is incompatible with a “self-justifying hierarchy in which the preservation of personal and professional lifestyles must necessarily take precedence over all other priorities.” By following the latter path, he noted, “KPFA has changed from the station many people listened to but didn’t support to the station some people still support but don’t listen to.”
For the present KPFA management, good programming has become synonymous with “programming that raises money” and listeners are viewed as a revenue stream. KPFA now struggles to extract financial support from the listeners to cover spiraling operating costs, while simultaneously closing off meaningful avenues for community participation.
We believe that, instead of building a more costly infrastructure, KPFA can and should leverage its existing platforms and partner with independent media and community organizations. KPFA should be a “convener of community,” create meaningful roles for community leaders and contribute to civic leadership. The station should promote interactive journalism by bringing listeners into the newsmaking process - as the resurgent ethos of citizen journalism in the blogosphere is changing the role of the consumer of media from passive to engaged. The preservation of listener democracy is fundamental to the success of this vision.
Please vote for the Independents for Community Radio (ICR) candidates. In alphabetical order, they are: Banafsheh Akhlaghi, Shara Esbenshade, Sasha Futran (incumbent), Ann Hallatt, Adam Hudson, Laura Kiswani, Rahman Jamaal McCreadie, Henry Norr (incumbent), Andrea Pritchett, Evelyn Sanchez, and Akio Tanaka (incumbent). Read more at http://www.indyradio2009.org
Tracy Rosenberg and Joe Wanzala are long-time KPFA listener-activists; Shahram Aghamir and Anthony Fest are unpaid KPFA staff members. All four also serve on the KPFA Local Station Board.
Berkeley Daily Planet
Thursday September 17, 2009
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-09-17/article/33766?headline=Commentary-Community-Radio-at-the-Crossroads-The-Significance-of-the-KPFA-Board
KPFA listeners know that the Local Station Board elections tend to be acrimonious. What many listeners might not realize is that the controversy of the LSB elections actually reflects a historical issue about the nature of community radio itself. The four of us founded the Independents for Community Radio affinity group of LSB candidates with the goal of ensuring that KPFA remains rooted in the communities it serves. In October 2008, nearly 90 KPFA staff members issued a statement articulating their goals for leadership at the station. They called for management committed to fulfilling the historic Transformation Proposal made during the 1999 KPFA Lockout. They also called for leaders who support the unpaid staff, maintain a respectful and collaborative approach to station operations, and understand that KPFA should include community representatives on its decision making bodies. These aspirations remain largely unfulfilled or have been undermined by the current management and its Concerned Listener allies.
Jon Bekken, writing in “Community Radio at the Crossroads: Federal Policy and the Professionalization of a Grassroots Medium” (in Ron Sakolosky and Steve Dunifer, eds., Seizing the Airwaves, A Free Radio Handbook, 1998) defines community radio as being characterized by “access, public participation in production and decision making and, predominantly, by listener-financing. The intention is that management of the station is in the hands of those who use and listen to it.” He acknowledges that operating a station on such a model is difficult, but vital, as it is ensures accountability to the audience and wider community in a way that commercial stations do not. The alternative is what happened at KQED in San Francisco, where the board marginalized progressive activists such as Henry Kroll, Sasha Futran and others. Eventually, in 2006 KQED sent out a ballot asking its members to relinquish their voting powers. They voted by 2 to 1 to do so.
This change at KQED was part of a trend that has placed community radio stations around the country under pressure to conform with the National Public Radio model. The two main groups running in the KFPA election, Independents for Community Radio and Concerned Listeners, represent sharply divergent visions of the station. The Concerned Listener slate in many ways represents a return of the Healthy Station Project (HSP) initiative that led to the Pacifica wars of the 1990s. HSP (which former KPFA General Manager Lynn Chadwick was involved in developing) was designed to move community stations toward commercialization and "professionalization," and supported the use of more paid staff and a reduced role for volunteer community programmers and listener-members in decision-making. The ensuing battle to save Pacifica was an expression of the community’s rejection of the HSP paradigm.
The Concerned Listeners’ platform reflects key aspects of the HSP. They tout “professionalism” and since taking control of the board in 2007, have supported efforts by management to marginalize the volunteer staff and reverse the post-1999 lock-out victories for listener democracy. They have shut down the Program Council, a body composed of staff, board members and community representatives which represented a successful system for making collaborative programming decisions. The CL also support an authoritarian management style, eschewing conflict resolution, one result being the tragic arrest of and injury caused to a young African American volunteer programmer Nadra Foster, after a manager summoned the police.
Independents for Community Radio are not opposed to ‘professionalism,’ in the sense of high-quality radio. Equally important, however, is preserving the “alternative” culture of dissent within which KPFA operates. Jerry Starr, executive director of Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, has observed that “What is called the ‘professional’ model is really the commercial model, built on the unexamined assumption that professionalism precludes the participation of volunteers. Unfortunately, some stations have been plunged into the red by ditching their volunteers and pursuing the chimera of big time radio.” The tension between the participatory democracy, community radio model and the “professional,” pro-management model favored by the Concerned Listeners is perhaps best expressed by John Whiting in his essay, “Pacifica in Vincula: The Life and Death of Great American Radio” in which he observed that an inexpensive, accessible, grassroots structure is incompatible with a “self-justifying hierarchy in which the preservation of personal and professional lifestyles must necessarily take precedence over all other priorities.” By following the latter path, he noted, “KPFA has changed from the station many people listened to but didn’t support to the station some people still support but don’t listen to.”
For the present KPFA management, good programming has become synonymous with “programming that raises money” and listeners are viewed as a revenue stream. KPFA now struggles to extract financial support from the listeners to cover spiraling operating costs, while simultaneously closing off meaningful avenues for community participation.
We believe that, instead of building a more costly infrastructure, KPFA can and should leverage its existing platforms and partner with independent media and community organizations. KPFA should be a “convener of community,” create meaningful roles for community leaders and contribute to civic leadership. The station should promote interactive journalism by bringing listeners into the newsmaking process - as the resurgent ethos of citizen journalism in the blogosphere is changing the role of the consumer of media from passive to engaged. The preservation of listener democracy is fundamental to the success of this vision.
Please vote for the Independents for Community Radio (ICR) candidates. In alphabetical order, they are: Banafsheh Akhlaghi, Shara Esbenshade, Sasha Futran (incumbent), Ann Hallatt, Adam Hudson, Laura Kiswani, Rahman Jamaal McCreadie, Henry Norr (incumbent), Andrea Pritchett, Evelyn Sanchez, and Akio Tanaka (incumbent). Read more at http://www.indyradio2009.org
Tracy Rosenberg and Joe Wanzala are long-time KPFA listener-activists; Shahram Aghamir and Anthony Fest are unpaid KPFA staff members. All four also serve on the KPFA Local Station Board.
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THE PACIFICA FINANCIAL CRISIS!
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction in March of 2009. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,100,000.00 in back central services contributions. Each station contributes 20% of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.
Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB.
The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.
Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.
Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.
Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director. The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.
At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air. Bonnie Simmons, CL endorser, made a motion to rescind the required election coverage. It didn’t pass. And we will have a more inclusive election this year. No thanks to CL and its allies.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.
So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Conn or Matthew Hallinan, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.
To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belongs to all of us, and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained and unaccountable power.
Vote PeoplesRadio Candidates, Richard Phelps, Stan Woods, Gerald Sanders and Jim Curtis. The people that had the courage and insight to bring you the true history of the last few years.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction in March of 2009. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,100,000.00 in back central services contributions. Each station contributes 20% of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.
Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB.
The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.
Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.
Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.
Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director. The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.
At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air. Bonnie Simmons, CL endorser, made a motion to rescind the required election coverage. It didn’t pass. And we will have a more inclusive election this year. No thanks to CL and its allies.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.
So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Conn or Matthew Hallinan, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.
To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belongs to all of us, and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained and unaccountable power.
Vote PeoplesRadio Candidates, Richard Phelps, Stan Woods, Gerald Sanders and Jim Curtis. The people that had the courage and insight to bring you the true history of the last few years.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB
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