KPFA Manager Lemlem Rijio Please Explain

Subject: Lemlem, Please explain!
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:55:35 -0800
From: April Hurley, MD
To: gm(at)kpfa.org

Dear Lemlem Rigio,

Gutting Flashpoints is a very unwise move. Please try to explain; what
are you thinking?
Why would anyone promote the travel expense for unremarkable "Letters
from Washington" or minimize local reporting by combining KPFA and KPFK
news? Why send Brian Edwards-Tiekert, of all people, to Copenhagen for a
useless front row seat using precious grant money? On your watch,
Evening News and segmants through the day echo mainstream media's
talking points. Your Morning Show spends a good deal of its 2 hour time
pitching books, little info of critical importance. During prime captive
audience commute time, prime listener recruitment and pledging
opportunities, no less!

Your advisor, Brian E-T, makes ridiculous excuses for the precipitous
drop in KPFA funding; but he's so part of the problem! While Bush,
Obama, and the Democratic Congress have trashed the world and unraveled
our society, KPFA has been mostly white noise. Sabotaging the Local
Station Board, dismissing the Unpaid Staff Organization, and eliminating
the Program Council, to maintain a neutral format has been
unconscionable during these endless, brutal eight years. I've withheld
all but a pittance of the thousands of dollars I've donated yearly. I
used to enjoy the Craft Fair too. I can no longer sponsor this shameful
corruption of Lew Hill's vision.

Managing a Pacifica Station and staff should be a labor of love; people
feel frustrated for good reason. On your watch, policies have
constrained station activism, disabled Pacifica's Mission, and narrowed
Lew Hill's vision. Flashpoints is one of very few programs delivering
compelling, essential, cutting edge information not available elsewhere.
Listener-sponsors of KPFA demand this bang for their buck! Why are other
programs so complacent during these critical times?

KPFA is a precious, radically independent station with untapped power
and unlimited audience. Why keep archived treasures in mothballs? Why
not allow debate, analysis, forums, provocative talks and hard
questioning interviews on air? The Bay Area is teeming with independent
journalist, researchers, volunteers and activists willing to assist on
exceptional programs and contribute time and ideas you could use as
general manager. But you have persisted with deaf ears and dead wood.

Have an epiphany, Lemlem! Do one thing wise; manage on your own for a
change!!
Find the funds, restore staff to Flashpoints, and support the work of
this team.
Encourage me to donate again to a KPFA that is not complacent!
Lead KPFA to excellence or let someone with a conscience replace you as
manager!

Sincerely,
April Hurley, MD
Santa Rosa
Radio and online