Save KPFA/Concerned Listeners Will Kill KPFA

Let's really remember 1999.

Through years of mounting tension, listener-activists begged long-time station staff to take action, and they never would. As with this decade, the unpaid staff took the brunt of the punishment and the paid staff looked away (much as they did when Nadra Foster was arrested in 2008). Programming purges were fine and dandy with then when they booted unpaid programming and replaced with it strips at prime times of the day. The joint union was pitched and replaced with a paid-staff only union.

The only time the entrenched paid staff looked up is when the purges and NPR'ization touched one of their own: the station's manager Nicole Sawaya. Even then, one of the few to take action was Robbie Osman, who they now insult for remaining true to his convictions, then and now.

When an email was misdirected and sent to then-Media Alliance director Andrea Buffa, MA could not get any KPFA staff to read the email over-the-air, except Dennis Bernstein. Also frequently insulted and subjected to unfair cuts and targeting from these same people who are now taking credit for the guts and bravery he showed - and they didn't.

When Dennis read that email on-air, KPFA was locked down and the movement began. It ended when Carol Spooner's listener lawsuit was successful in getting then-Attorney General Bill Lockyer to approve the democratization of the Pacifica network.

So one thing I can tell you:

If Carol Spooner, Robbie Osman and Dennis Bernstein all advise voting for Independents for Community Radio:

Then that is exactly what voters should do to "Save KPFA".

Concerned Listeners/Save KPFA don't have a clue. They are just working for the same crew that closed their eyes last time until they were locked out on the sidewalk and then begged the listeners for help to get them back inside. And once that happened, they did everything they could to obstruct and interfere with the democratic governance structure set up to protect the station.

Save KPFA/Concerned Listener Dan Siegel - Sued in Cohen vs. Pacifica for interfering with the 2007 elections in NY. Leveled charges of "ethnic cleansing" for the replacement of failed managers at WBAI. Threatening to sue Pacifica now for pumped up legal bills from his days at corporate counsel - when he never won a single case for Pacifica in a decade.

Save KPFA/Concerned Listener Sherry Gendelman - Advocated in 2008 for a balloon loan that would have lost the KPFK building in Southern California. The stupid loan was defeated by one vote on the Pacifica National Board.

All Concerned Listeners 2008-2009

Did not vote to recognize the unpaid staff organization. Did not vote to reinstitute the program council. Dis not investigate the Nadra Foster arrest and beating. Did not investigate the failure to deposit a $375,000 for over a year. Did not require the manager to follow the budget.

Presided over a loss of 1.1 million dollars between October 2008 and August 2010.

Presided over the reduction of KPFA's cash reserves from $987,000 to $0.

Their name change should have been from Concerned Listeners to Kill KPFA.

Vote for Independents for Community Radio. http://www.voteindyradio.org