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Uprising LA Faces Uprising In Berkeley-Producers/Community Oppose Cancellation of MM
After the unilateral action of interim manager Richard Pirodsky backed by the new Pacifica interim executive director Bernard Dunan who was appointed by Pacifica Board Chair Margy Wilkinson, the locally produced Morning Mix was canceled for the LA based show by Sonali Kolhatkar called Uprising
Listen now:
Acting unilaterally, the interim manager of both KPFK an KPFA cancelled the locally produced daily program Morning Mix. He acted after telling the Project Censored producers that there would be no changes until the new manager was hired. This was supported by the new interim executive director Bernard Duncan who was hired by the Pacifica Chair Margy Wilkinson and backed by lawyer and Oakland city mayoral candidate Dan Siegel and his firm's attorney Jose Fuentes who took his seat when he resigned. Bernard Duncan had previously been fired at KPFK for financial malfeasance and Margy Wilkinson was aware of why he was previously discharged.
This blatant attack on locally produced community programming at KPFA is opposed by a growing number of staff unpaid and paid and the community which wants more locally produced programming at KPFA. This attack on local community programming at KPFA has angered activists and others who see this as a effort to turn Pacifica and KPFA into and NPR type operation.
Cross Roads at Pacifica Radio and KPFA
5/25/2014
By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff
Co-hosts of the Project Censored show on the Morning Mix at KPFA Berkeley
Late in the evening on Wednesday May 21 the volunteer hosts for the Morning Mix show (8:00-9:00 AM weekdays) were sent an e-mail stating that the program was being permanently replaced by a daily show from KPFK in LA. This was a total surprise to Mix producers as just the previous Friday the Interim General Manager of KPFA/KPFK told us in his office that program changes would be discussed and reviewed by the new KPFA manager to be hired in June and nothing would happen until a new manager was in place.
Instead, we received a top down administrative command without explanation or discussion, that provided alternative times slots for some of the Morning Mix producers but reduced our overall time on KPFA from five hours in the morning drive time to two and half hours in afternoon time slots. The Project Censored show fared the best with a one hour time slot on Fridays from 1:00 to 2:00 P.M., but the Tuesday and Wednesday Morning Mix hosts were not offered any additional air time. The three other Morning Mix hosts were scheduled for a half hour each later in the afternoon.
The Morning Mix has been on KPFA at 8:00 A.M. for three and half years. As the Morning Mix, we are men and women; black, white, and brown; we are gay and straight; radical scholars and labor activists; young, old, retirees, and we are all volunteers in service to the mission of KPFA and Pacifica as founded by Lew Hill for community free speech radio.
We are part of a KPFA Mix of volunteer programmers across the programming schedule here in Berkeley and other Pacifica stations around the county. Volunteer producers at KPFA are culturally diverse, socially just, and rooted in the Northern California community. Some of our programs are carried by Pacifica affiliate stations all over the country. We firmly believe Pacifica was established for community-based programming, not just establishment professionals. We are every bit as professional, yet unpaid, and we are as fully committed to the future of KPFA as those who would have us disbanded or replaced. We have a voice, we are the community, and we are the Mix.
We do not think that bringing in a daily program created in LA is what KPFA and Pacifica is about for a drive time program. There are procedures for program changes in place through our local democratically elected station councils. The current board of directors of Pacifica is seriously divided into two contentious factions. The factions at KPFA are Support KPFA—United for Community Radio; and Save KPFA (formerly “Concerned Listeners”). Each faction has allies and/or representatives on the board from the collective stations with the Save KPFA faction recently obtaining a small majority. It was this slim majority that lead to the late-night firing of Pacifica’s recently appointed Executive Director, Summer Reese, on March 13. Now this faction representing a small clique is acting undemocratically, non-transparently, and in violation of organizational by-laws and rules by eliminating the Morning Mix show.
We believe that openness is needed in Pacifica, not top down commands without discussion or transparency. We also believe that community based programming is the foundation of KPFA and Pacifica therefore any move in the direction of national-NPR style programs is a violation of our deep traditions. We need dialogue and understanding, we need cooperation and kindness, not sniping, not circular firing squads, not behavior that mirrors right wing agit-prop attacks, not from any side. We at KPFA and Pacifica have common goals, and our attention needs to be focused on the plutocratic corporatocracy that is killing our country, the world, and literally the planet. There is work to be done...and it is not about any of us as individuals. Together, at KPFA, we are strong, we can be the change we want to see. We are the Mix, and we need to work as one.
________________________________________________________________________
Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and President of Media freedom Foundation/Project Censored
Mickey Huff is a Professor and Department Chair of History at Diablo Valley College and Director of Project Censored
This blatant attack on locally produced community programming at KPFA is opposed by a growing number of staff unpaid and paid and the community which wants more locally produced programming at KPFA. This attack on local community programming at KPFA has angered activists and others who see this as a effort to turn Pacifica and KPFA into and NPR type operation.
Cross Roads at Pacifica Radio and KPFA
5/25/2014
By Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff
Co-hosts of the Project Censored show on the Morning Mix at KPFA Berkeley
Late in the evening on Wednesday May 21 the volunteer hosts for the Morning Mix show (8:00-9:00 AM weekdays) were sent an e-mail stating that the program was being permanently replaced by a daily show from KPFK in LA. This was a total surprise to Mix producers as just the previous Friday the Interim General Manager of KPFA/KPFK told us in his office that program changes would be discussed and reviewed by the new KPFA manager to be hired in June and nothing would happen until a new manager was in place.
Instead, we received a top down administrative command without explanation or discussion, that provided alternative times slots for some of the Morning Mix producers but reduced our overall time on KPFA from five hours in the morning drive time to two and half hours in afternoon time slots. The Project Censored show fared the best with a one hour time slot on Fridays from 1:00 to 2:00 P.M., but the Tuesday and Wednesday Morning Mix hosts were not offered any additional air time. The three other Morning Mix hosts were scheduled for a half hour each later in the afternoon.
The Morning Mix has been on KPFA at 8:00 A.M. for three and half years. As the Morning Mix, we are men and women; black, white, and brown; we are gay and straight; radical scholars and labor activists; young, old, retirees, and we are all volunteers in service to the mission of KPFA and Pacifica as founded by Lew Hill for community free speech radio.
We are part of a KPFA Mix of volunteer programmers across the programming schedule here in Berkeley and other Pacifica stations around the county. Volunteer producers at KPFA are culturally diverse, socially just, and rooted in the Northern California community. Some of our programs are carried by Pacifica affiliate stations all over the country. We firmly believe Pacifica was established for community-based programming, not just establishment professionals. We are every bit as professional, yet unpaid, and we are as fully committed to the future of KPFA as those who would have us disbanded or replaced. We have a voice, we are the community, and we are the Mix.
We do not think that bringing in a daily program created in LA is what KPFA and Pacifica is about for a drive time program. There are procedures for program changes in place through our local democratically elected station councils. The current board of directors of Pacifica is seriously divided into two contentious factions. The factions at KPFA are Support KPFA—United for Community Radio; and Save KPFA (formerly “Concerned Listeners”). Each faction has allies and/or representatives on the board from the collective stations with the Save KPFA faction recently obtaining a small majority. It was this slim majority that lead to the late-night firing of Pacifica’s recently appointed Executive Director, Summer Reese, on March 13. Now this faction representing a small clique is acting undemocratically, non-transparently, and in violation of organizational by-laws and rules by eliminating the Morning Mix show.
We believe that openness is needed in Pacifica, not top down commands without discussion or transparency. We also believe that community based programming is the foundation of KPFA and Pacifica therefore any move in the direction of national-NPR style programs is a violation of our deep traditions. We need dialogue and understanding, we need cooperation and kindness, not sniping, not circular firing squads, not behavior that mirrors right wing agit-prop attacks, not from any side. We at KPFA and Pacifica have common goals, and our attention needs to be focused on the plutocratic corporatocracy that is killing our country, the world, and literally the planet. There is work to be done...and it is not about any of us as individuals. Together, at KPFA, we are strong, we can be the change we want to see. We are the Mix, and we need to work as one.
________________________________________________________________________
Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and President of Media freedom Foundation/Project Censored
Mickey Huff is a Professor and Department Chair of History at Diablo Valley College and Director of Project Censored
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that's not many. and they're mostly white. interesting.
To find out more, go to unitedforcommunityradio.org
And actually there were more like 100 people at this morning's protest, which started around 7:00 am .
And actually there were more like 100 people at this morning's protest, which started around 7:00 am .
I'm not sure what you mean by mostly white? I fully believe in the importance of community representation that is authentic and genuinely covers all residents, but what you've done is white-wash a group which includes a large number of people of color. Here's a partial list of what will be cancelled:
Andres Soto from the Richmond Progressive Alliance,
Project Censored, authors for more than 30 years of the “Censored” collections of the year’s most-neglected news stories and the nation’s most prominent media literacy educators,
Hard Knock Radio’s Davey D morning programs,
Steve Zeltzer’s Work Week ,
Poor News Network,
Strike Debt Audio Essays and interviews,
Mumia Abu Jamal’s reports,
Anthony Fest,
Sabrina Jacobs
If you want to look at mostly white, look at the current morning schedule minus the morning mix eh? Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Amy Goodman, Mitch Jeserich. Sonali Kolhatkar will be the only person of color left. Which isn't to say that they aren't great journalists. I think they are - they just don't fully represent the community of the east bay. Where is the local programming? Who in that cast will tell the stories of people in Oakland and Berkeley and the surrounding communities during one of the most important programming periods of the day?
Andres Soto from the Richmond Progressive Alliance,
Project Censored, authors for more than 30 years of the “Censored” collections of the year’s most-neglected news stories and the nation’s most prominent media literacy educators,
Hard Knock Radio’s Davey D morning programs,
Steve Zeltzer’s Work Week ,
Poor News Network,
Strike Debt Audio Essays and interviews,
Mumia Abu Jamal’s reports,
Anthony Fest,
Sabrina Jacobs
If you want to look at mostly white, look at the current morning schedule minus the morning mix eh? Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Amy Goodman, Mitch Jeserich. Sonali Kolhatkar will be the only person of color left. Which isn't to say that they aren't great journalists. I think they are - they just don't fully represent the community of the east bay. Where is the local programming? Who in that cast will tell the stories of people in Oakland and Berkeley and the surrounding communities during one of the most important programming periods of the day?
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