The Grover Norquist Solution at KPFA
by Daniel Borgström
If Grover Norquist had been a consultant for the gatekeeper group of paid staff that seems to run things at KPFA, he might've recommended something like: "You should reduce Pacifica Radio down to a size where you can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."
As it has turned out, Grover Norquist wasn't needed, at least not in flesh and blood. The members and supporters of the station's power clique have done it without him--they have "starved the beast." Today both KPFA and Pacifica are broke, sliding towards bankruptcy. I can't imagine why the clique is doing this, except to speculate that they might have plans for resurrecting KPFA with outside funding, and with themselves in total control.
The current financial crisis didn't start in the fall of 2010, or that summer either. It's the result of years of living beyond the station's means. Warnings were sounded at least as far back as a meeting in 2005 when several board members expressed concern that there were too many FTEs. I remember asking the person next to me what an FTE was. "A full-time equivalent," I was told, and it was afterwards explained to me that the station was acquiring more paid staff than it could afford in the long run. This was detailed in the local board’s Minority Report of September 17, 2005.
In those days the station was doing reasonably well financially. But, according to several local board members, LaVarn Williams, Max Blanchet and Marnie Tattersall (all with solid backgrounds in finance), the cost of so much paid staff was not sustainable. KPFA needed to slow down on the hiring, look ahead, and plan accordingly.
Year after year, warnings from the opposition were ignored, dismissed, disregarded. Those expressing them were sometimes even yelled at. The unsustainable budgets were promoted by the "Concerned Listeners," the slate of board members who represent the station's power clique. The "Concerned Listeners" formerly called themselves "KPFA Forward" and more recently they've again changed their name, now to "Save KPFA." (For the sake of simplicity in what follows, they will be referred to as "CL/mgmt group" or just "CL'ers.")
So the CL'ers refused to acknowledge publicly what was clearly going to happen. Why? An intriguing email from that same month, September 2005, turned up as sort of a one-email Wikileak. It's the email which infamously suggested "dismantling the LSB." An even more foreboding line in that same email read: "How do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?" The author was Brian Edwards-Tiekert, CL spokesperson and later longtime treasurer of the board.
It wasn't just the bloated budgets that caused the eventual crisis. During those same years, lawsuits against KPFA/Pacifica were poorly handled, costing hundreds of thousands of the listeners' dollars. Attorney Dan Siegel (then General Counsel for Pacifica) is considered a very smart lawyer, so why did he handle these legal matters so poorly?
There was also the CL'ers' unholy alliance with the JUC, the New York group which was then running WBAI into the ground, generating another financial drain on the Pacifica network. Interestingly, those two groups, the CL'ers and the JUC, seemed to thoroughly dislike each other. Their alliance appears to have been one of convenience, a mutual non-aggression pact, the deal apparently being: "We'll shield you from oversight and you shield us from oversight." Mismanagement at both stations bled the network--that was the result. But was it intentional, at least on the part of some of the players, at one or both of the stations?
Several years passed in this irresponsible fashion, but by 2008 the inevitable financial crisis was no longer deniable. Even the CL'ers were expressing concern; Brian Edwards-Tiekert called for layoffs throughout the network. These very necessary cutbacks were carried out at the rest of Pacifica's five stations, but strangely enough, not at KPFA, as we were to see.
It was always difficult, often impossible, to get accurate, detailed information from the management of KPFA. In 2005 & 2006, LSB members LaVarn Williams and Richard Phelps spent a over a year fighting for access to financial records. They won that battle, but the war went on. The power clique did not willingly share information; board members outside the inner circle continued to be denied access to records and information.
The station's then manager, Lemlem Rijio, (whose job it was to implement layoffs, and who never did) was also supposed to attend every LSB meeting and give a report, but she seldom did this either. On one of the rare occasions when she did attend, on March 14, 2009, opposition board members plied her with questions about the station's finances, and she answered evasively. When Staff Rep Shahram Aghamir asked, "How much is being spent on the consultants?" the manager at first tried to avoid the question, then said, "I will send you a confidential email." The confidential email never arrived.
As the mounting financial crisis became ever more apparent, the CL'ers began a disinformation campaign against the Pacifica national office. On August 6, 2009 there was a front page article in the Berkeley Daily Planet accusing Pacifica of improperly taking $100K from KPFA. That news leak came from Brian Edwards-Tiekert, the treasurer. But on investigation it was found that no such "raid" on KPFA's money had occurred. The newspaper printed a retraction the following week, but CL'ers continued to spread the story, despite its having been exposed as false. Later, Conn Hallinan, who certainly must have known the facts, since he was the LSB chair, wrote an email accusing Pacifica of "an old fashioned smash and grab" on KPFA's funds.
That was the beginning of a swiftboating campaign against Pacifica, in which the CL'ers are working to conjure up images of 1999, portraying Pacifica as the bad guy, the oppressor of KPFA, the beast which must be starved. In the recent 2010 election, the CL'ers even stole the name of an opposing group from 1993, and called themselves "Save KPFA." Members of the original 1993 Save KPFA group were outraged and objected strenuously. But the CL'ers are still using their new ill-gotten name.
At the end of 2009 it was discovered that a $375,000 check had been left in a drawer, left to expire. KPFA's former General Manager, Lemlem Rijio, took the fall for that. But it seems highly unlikely that she was the only one who knew about that "forgotten" check.
"How could anyone forget about a six-figure check!" KPFA activists have been asking; and some began connecting dots, wondering if it were intentional--that perhaps the CL/mgmt folks were deliberately working to bankrupt Pacifica in order to somehow acquire KPFA. Till then, the likelihood of the CL'ers deliberately acting in such a reckless manner had seemed so far-fetched that few expressed such suspicions. But as the spring of 2010 became summer, and then autumn, more and more connectable dots turned up. For example, we learned that during the last two years they spent the remaining $780,000 of the station's cash reserves rather than implement the layoffs.
Finally, in October, the new Executive Director of Pacifica, Arlene Engelhardt, stepped in and took the necessary action on layoffs. Some of the newscasters and show hosts--the core of the station's power clique--openly mutinied and launched an on-air campaign against Pacifica, attacking Ms. Engelhardt, trashing the network, and encouraging subscribers to withhold donations. They openly boasted of receiving non-donation pledges totaling $25K, eventually $55K. In effect, a defunding drive.
Much has happened during the two months since then, more than I can possibly fit it into this article, so I'm skipping numerous significant events including the LSB election, a series of rallies, forums, a canceled fund-drive followed by a successful one, a resolution taken to the Berkeley City Council, court appearances, a new Morning Show, a new general manager, and more. I'll talk about all that in a later article. Meanwhile, the CL'ers' intense and well-organized PR campaign against Pacifica continues as KPFA totters on the edge of bankruptcy.
So what do the CL'ers (now " Save KPFA") want? In their campaign statements, they present themselves as the champions of transparency, accountability, and democracy--the exact opposite of what they have been practicing all these years. More consistent with their practice is Matthew Lasar's call for a return to the system that was in place during the hijacker regime of the 1990's; in June 2010 he wrote: "I'd like to see governance go back to something like what it was around 1998--smaller, self appointed local station boards." Lasar is a high profile CL supporter who signs his name "Matthew Lasar, Pacifica historian" and is lauded as such by the CL'ers.
The CL'ers have recently become quite open with their desire to break with Pacifica. That would be their opportunity to rid themselves of the checks and balances, put a final end to any vestige of transparency and accountability, and openly run the station as an undisguised oligarchy. No elections, no Program Council, no UnPaid Staff Organization, and no more involvement from the community, except for financial support. While this might seem a more efficient way to run the station, it would open the door to corruption and manipulation by wealthy interests.
Exactly how the CL'ers might've planned to go about acquiring a bankrupt KPFA is less clear. Bankruptcy would result in the sale of the five Pacifica stations, including KPFA. The KPFA signal is reportedly worth $200 million, and such a sum would be difficult to raise. Some have speculated that the CL'ers might've made an arrangement with a major corporation to take over the station on the condition that they be left in charge. Or perhaps the CL'ers are "playing chicken" with the fate of the Pacifica network in the expectation that Pacifica may be willing to give them a deal on the station.
The CL'ers PR campaign is sophisticated and highly effective. They've invested a lot of time and effort in this. If they were not planning some such scenario, then it can only be surmised that they have been destroying both KPFA and Pacifica out of sheer stupidity.
DANIEL BORGSTRÖM
January 21, 2011
*** *** ***
Related articles:
Scenarios of bankruptcy & sale of Pacifica stations by Steve Brown, WBAI
Why are CWA and the "left" trying to take down KPFA? by Carol Spooner
financial graphs & articles
10 Years of KPFA Finances in TABLE FORMAT
and, presented as a GRAPH, the same data:
10 Years of KPFA Finances GRAPH
Minority Report Re KPFA Budget Approved By LSB Sat. Sept.17, 2005
A Few Comments on the Financial Crisis at Pacifica by Max Blanchet, January 10, 2011
for more information and updates please visit Support KPFA at www.supportkpfa.org
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
The below article looks at how stations could be taken away and sold.
Scenarios of bankruptcy & sale of Pacifica stations
by Steve Brown, LSB member at WBAI
January 25, 2011
The Pacifica bylaws state that "all members" shall have the right to vote on the transfer or sale of a station (or any other major asset of the foundation). Thus any sale would have to be approved by a ballot sent to the entire Pacifica membership. That does not, of course, make such a sale impossible, only very difficult. (Although it would not be the first time in history that large numbers of people were persuaded or deceived into voting against their best interests.)
However, a more likely scenario is this.
(a) Pacifica could be forced into a Chapter 13 (involuntary) bankruptcy by its creditors [as few as 3 creditors can do it, or even 1 creditor, depending on how many creditors we have], in which case the bylaws will no longer be operative, and the court will appoint a trustee empowered with making all of Pacifica's governing decisions. He would probably sell one or more station licenses to pay off the creditors, unless the FCC beat him to it by simply declaring Pacifica an "unfit parent" and revoking its 5 licenses by fiat. Or
(b) Pacifica could file a Chapter 11 (voluntary) bankruptcy, staying any creditor actions and allowing the foundation to continue in business, on a cash basis, provided that it came up with a reorganization plan and repayment timetable approved by the court and the creditors. In this case, too, the bylaws would be inoperative, or at least superseded by the court-approved reorganization plan. And that plan is likely (almost certain) to include a provision for selling one or more licenses, especially given the known agendas of several factions at KPFA and WBAI that have been deliberately attempting to "starve the beast" (i.e., their own stations) by hiding or diverting monies, and by crippling local and national board effectiveness -- all as part of a plan to break their stations off from Pacifica and set them up as separate entities, which, they believe, they would then be able to control, for whatever purposes they had in mind.
None of this looks good. How could it, with Pacifica management having its hands tied for so long by outright insubordination on the part of some station personnel (and their powerful allies on the local and national boards), who are more interested in preserving their power and prerogatives than in protecting the foundation. This is not to say that Pacifica management Knows What to Do and is magically capable of turning the foundation around if only it were allowed to operate more effectively. That remains to be seen.
But at least management is working for Pacifica, not against it. I know most of our national management personally, and it is ludicrous (actually malicious) to suggest that any one of them is seeking to "dilute the Pacifica mission" or "cleanse it of minority programmers" or "de-radicalize our message," not to mention the usual slurs describing them as "fascists," "agents," or "corporate shills."
There are a many people who feel that they know exactly how to fix Pacifica's problems, but whose recommendations have not been adopted by management (I am certainly one of them, and am therefore not pleased with much of what management is doing, or not doing). But I nevertheless support management's current and increasingly desperate efforts to ward off possible bankruptcy as being, at least, coherent and, most important, in good faith. Whereas those who have been putting banana peels under management's feet are incoherent, and certainly not acting in good faith. I have yet to see a real plan -- even an idea -- from those whose only goal is to break up Pacifica in service of their own preferment and private personal agendas.
I call your attention to the fact that, at WBAI, management has made a strong commitment to revitalize programming, which--despite the national economic downturn, and the competition we face from the proliferation of left-leaning venues on television and the internet--is the real underlying “cause” of Pacifica’s financial woes. Although WBAI and Pacifica have many good programs, obviously we do not have enough of them, or more listeners would tune in--that is so obvious it is almost a tautology. But an attempt to improve our programming is what has caused virtually all of the conflict at Pacifica--past, present and, I am afraid, future.
At WBAI, each program change--replacement, experiment, termination, whatever -- has sparked ugly warfare. Aggrieved programmers assemble their allies from among other programmers, board members, and listeners--then launch them in waves of invective, character assassination and, sometimes, violence and sabotage in order to make life as miserable as possible for the General Manager and Program Director, and hopefully blackmail them into backing down.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But this kind of guerilla warfare makes successful change difficult and slow. For example, Gary Null was recently brought back to WBAI (as, in my opinion, he deserved to be). He has been literally doubling and tripling his audience every month, and breaking every fundraising record at the station. This new revenue will enable WBAI to make its payroll and continue to function. Yet there is a coordinated campaign to kick Null off the air--not because his program is unworthy of Pacifica (it has won more broadcasting awards than all of Pacifica’s programs put together)--but because a tiny but powerful group does not like his opinions about AIDS. So a slander and defamation campaign against Null and WBAI management has been mounted across the network. A few weeks ago there was a staged pseudo demonstration at KPFK to bring pressure on the ED and national board to overturn the judgment of WBAI’s GM and ED about Null. But this was clearly not for the benefit of Pacifica, but for the advancement of their own ideological agenda.
Pacifica is still its own worst enemy, especially when it comes to tolerating those who will not debate the merits of their positions based on reason and evidence, but choose to engage in vitriolic slander and sabotage that harm Pacifica in order to serve their own interests.
That is what may ultimately doom Pacifica.
STEPHEN M BROWN is a member of the Local Station Board at WBAI, the New York sister station of the Pacifica network.
*** *** ***
Related articles:
Why are CWA and the "left" trying to take down KPFA? by Carol Spooner
financial graphs & articles
10 Years of KPFA Finances in TABLE FORMAT
and, presented as a GRAPH, the same data:
10 Years of KPFA Finances GRAPH
Minority Report Re KPFA Budget Approved By LSB Sat. Sept.17, 2005
A Few Comments on the Financial Crisis at Pacifica by Max Blanchet, January 10, 2011
*** *** ***
for more information and updates please visit Support KPFA at www.supportkpfa.org
.
If Grover Norquist had been a consultant for the gatekeeper group of paid staff that seems to run things at KPFA, he might've recommended something like: "You should reduce Pacifica Radio down to a size where you can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."
As it has turned out, Grover Norquist wasn't needed, at least not in flesh and blood. The members and supporters of the station's power clique have done it without him--they have "starved the beast." Today both KPFA and Pacifica are broke, sliding towards bankruptcy. I can't imagine why the clique is doing this, except to speculate that they might have plans for resurrecting KPFA with outside funding, and with themselves in total control.
The current financial crisis didn't start in the fall of 2010, or that summer either. It's the result of years of living beyond the station's means. Warnings were sounded at least as far back as a meeting in 2005 when several board members expressed concern that there were too many FTEs. I remember asking the person next to me what an FTE was. "A full-time equivalent," I was told, and it was afterwards explained to me that the station was acquiring more paid staff than it could afford in the long run. This was detailed in the local board’s Minority Report of September 17, 2005.
In those days the station was doing reasonably well financially. But, according to several local board members, LaVarn Williams, Max Blanchet and Marnie Tattersall (all with solid backgrounds in finance), the cost of so much paid staff was not sustainable. KPFA needed to slow down on the hiring, look ahead, and plan accordingly.
Year after year, warnings from the opposition were ignored, dismissed, disregarded. Those expressing them were sometimes even yelled at. The unsustainable budgets were promoted by the "Concerned Listeners," the slate of board members who represent the station's power clique. The "Concerned Listeners" formerly called themselves "KPFA Forward" and more recently they've again changed their name, now to "Save KPFA." (For the sake of simplicity in what follows, they will be referred to as "CL/mgmt group" or just "CL'ers.")
So the CL'ers refused to acknowledge publicly what was clearly going to happen. Why? An intriguing email from that same month, September 2005, turned up as sort of a one-email Wikileak. It's the email which infamously suggested "dismantling the LSB." An even more foreboding line in that same email read: "How do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?" The author was Brian Edwards-Tiekert, CL spokesperson and later longtime treasurer of the board.
It wasn't just the bloated budgets that caused the eventual crisis. During those same years, lawsuits against KPFA/Pacifica were poorly handled, costing hundreds of thousands of the listeners' dollars. Attorney Dan Siegel (then General Counsel for Pacifica) is considered a very smart lawyer, so why did he handle these legal matters so poorly?
There was also the CL'ers' unholy alliance with the JUC, the New York group which was then running WBAI into the ground, generating another financial drain on the Pacifica network. Interestingly, those two groups, the CL'ers and the JUC, seemed to thoroughly dislike each other. Their alliance appears to have been one of convenience, a mutual non-aggression pact, the deal apparently being: "We'll shield you from oversight and you shield us from oversight." Mismanagement at both stations bled the network--that was the result. But was it intentional, at least on the part of some of the players, at one or both of the stations?
Several years passed in this irresponsible fashion, but by 2008 the inevitable financial crisis was no longer deniable. Even the CL'ers were expressing concern; Brian Edwards-Tiekert called for layoffs throughout the network. These very necessary cutbacks were carried out at the rest of Pacifica's five stations, but strangely enough, not at KPFA, as we were to see.
It was always difficult, often impossible, to get accurate, detailed information from the management of KPFA. In 2005 & 2006, LSB members LaVarn Williams and Richard Phelps spent a over a year fighting for access to financial records. They won that battle, but the war went on. The power clique did not willingly share information; board members outside the inner circle continued to be denied access to records and information.
The station's then manager, Lemlem Rijio, (whose job it was to implement layoffs, and who never did) was also supposed to attend every LSB meeting and give a report, but she seldom did this either. On one of the rare occasions when she did attend, on March 14, 2009, opposition board members plied her with questions about the station's finances, and she answered evasively. When Staff Rep Shahram Aghamir asked, "How much is being spent on the consultants?" the manager at first tried to avoid the question, then said, "I will send you a confidential email." The confidential email never arrived.
As the mounting financial crisis became ever more apparent, the CL'ers began a disinformation campaign against the Pacifica national office. On August 6, 2009 there was a front page article in the Berkeley Daily Planet accusing Pacifica of improperly taking $100K from KPFA. That news leak came from Brian Edwards-Tiekert, the treasurer. But on investigation it was found that no such "raid" on KPFA's money had occurred. The newspaper printed a retraction the following week, but CL'ers continued to spread the story, despite its having been exposed as false. Later, Conn Hallinan, who certainly must have known the facts, since he was the LSB chair, wrote an email accusing Pacifica of "an old fashioned smash and grab" on KPFA's funds.
That was the beginning of a swiftboating campaign against Pacifica, in which the CL'ers are working to conjure up images of 1999, portraying Pacifica as the bad guy, the oppressor of KPFA, the beast which must be starved. In the recent 2010 election, the CL'ers even stole the name of an opposing group from 1993, and called themselves "Save KPFA." Members of the original 1993 Save KPFA group were outraged and objected strenuously. But the CL'ers are still using their new ill-gotten name.
At the end of 2009 it was discovered that a $375,000 check had been left in a drawer, left to expire. KPFA's former General Manager, Lemlem Rijio, took the fall for that. But it seems highly unlikely that she was the only one who knew about that "forgotten" check.
"How could anyone forget about a six-figure check!" KPFA activists have been asking; and some began connecting dots, wondering if it were intentional--that perhaps the CL/mgmt folks were deliberately working to bankrupt Pacifica in order to somehow acquire KPFA. Till then, the likelihood of the CL'ers deliberately acting in such a reckless manner had seemed so far-fetched that few expressed such suspicions. But as the spring of 2010 became summer, and then autumn, more and more connectable dots turned up. For example, we learned that during the last two years they spent the remaining $780,000 of the station's cash reserves rather than implement the layoffs.
Finally, in October, the new Executive Director of Pacifica, Arlene Engelhardt, stepped in and took the necessary action on layoffs. Some of the newscasters and show hosts--the core of the station's power clique--openly mutinied and launched an on-air campaign against Pacifica, attacking Ms. Engelhardt, trashing the network, and encouraging subscribers to withhold donations. They openly boasted of receiving non-donation pledges totaling $25K, eventually $55K. In effect, a defunding drive.
Much has happened during the two months since then, more than I can possibly fit it into this article, so I'm skipping numerous significant events including the LSB election, a series of rallies, forums, a canceled fund-drive followed by a successful one, a resolution taken to the Berkeley City Council, court appearances, a new Morning Show, a new general manager, and more. I'll talk about all that in a later article. Meanwhile, the CL'ers' intense and well-organized PR campaign against Pacifica continues as KPFA totters on the edge of bankruptcy.
So what do the CL'ers (now " Save KPFA") want? In their campaign statements, they present themselves as the champions of transparency, accountability, and democracy--the exact opposite of what they have been practicing all these years. More consistent with their practice is Matthew Lasar's call for a return to the system that was in place during the hijacker regime of the 1990's; in June 2010 he wrote: "I'd like to see governance go back to something like what it was around 1998--smaller, self appointed local station boards." Lasar is a high profile CL supporter who signs his name "Matthew Lasar, Pacifica historian" and is lauded as such by the CL'ers.
The CL'ers have recently become quite open with their desire to break with Pacifica. That would be their opportunity to rid themselves of the checks and balances, put a final end to any vestige of transparency and accountability, and openly run the station as an undisguised oligarchy. No elections, no Program Council, no UnPaid Staff Organization, and no more involvement from the community, except for financial support. While this might seem a more efficient way to run the station, it would open the door to corruption and manipulation by wealthy interests.
Exactly how the CL'ers might've planned to go about acquiring a bankrupt KPFA is less clear. Bankruptcy would result in the sale of the five Pacifica stations, including KPFA. The KPFA signal is reportedly worth $200 million, and such a sum would be difficult to raise. Some have speculated that the CL'ers might've made an arrangement with a major corporation to take over the station on the condition that they be left in charge. Or perhaps the CL'ers are "playing chicken" with the fate of the Pacifica network in the expectation that Pacifica may be willing to give them a deal on the station.
The CL'ers PR campaign is sophisticated and highly effective. They've invested a lot of time and effort in this. If they were not planning some such scenario, then it can only be surmised that they have been destroying both KPFA and Pacifica out of sheer stupidity.
DANIEL BORGSTRÖM
January 21, 2011
*** *** ***
Related articles:
Scenarios of bankruptcy & sale of Pacifica stations by Steve Brown, WBAI
Why are CWA and the "left" trying to take down KPFA? by Carol Spooner
financial graphs & articles
10 Years of KPFA Finances in TABLE FORMAT
and, presented as a GRAPH, the same data:
10 Years of KPFA Finances GRAPH
Minority Report Re KPFA Budget Approved By LSB Sat. Sept.17, 2005
A Few Comments on the Financial Crisis at Pacifica by Max Blanchet, January 10, 2011
for more information and updates please visit Support KPFA at www.supportkpfa.org
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
The below article looks at how stations could be taken away and sold.
Scenarios of bankruptcy & sale of Pacifica stations
by Steve Brown, LSB member at WBAI
January 25, 2011
The Pacifica bylaws state that "all members" shall have the right to vote on the transfer or sale of a station (or any other major asset of the foundation). Thus any sale would have to be approved by a ballot sent to the entire Pacifica membership. That does not, of course, make such a sale impossible, only very difficult. (Although it would not be the first time in history that large numbers of people were persuaded or deceived into voting against their best interests.)
However, a more likely scenario is this.
(a) Pacifica could be forced into a Chapter 13 (involuntary) bankruptcy by its creditors [as few as 3 creditors can do it, or even 1 creditor, depending on how many creditors we have], in which case the bylaws will no longer be operative, and the court will appoint a trustee empowered with making all of Pacifica's governing decisions. He would probably sell one or more station licenses to pay off the creditors, unless the FCC beat him to it by simply declaring Pacifica an "unfit parent" and revoking its 5 licenses by fiat. Or
(b) Pacifica could file a Chapter 11 (voluntary) bankruptcy, staying any creditor actions and allowing the foundation to continue in business, on a cash basis, provided that it came up with a reorganization plan and repayment timetable approved by the court and the creditors. In this case, too, the bylaws would be inoperative, or at least superseded by the court-approved reorganization plan. And that plan is likely (almost certain) to include a provision for selling one or more licenses, especially given the known agendas of several factions at KPFA and WBAI that have been deliberately attempting to "starve the beast" (i.e., their own stations) by hiding or diverting monies, and by crippling local and national board effectiveness -- all as part of a plan to break their stations off from Pacifica and set them up as separate entities, which, they believe, they would then be able to control, for whatever purposes they had in mind.
None of this looks good. How could it, with Pacifica management having its hands tied for so long by outright insubordination on the part of some station personnel (and their powerful allies on the local and national boards), who are more interested in preserving their power and prerogatives than in protecting the foundation. This is not to say that Pacifica management Knows What to Do and is magically capable of turning the foundation around if only it were allowed to operate more effectively. That remains to be seen.
But at least management is working for Pacifica, not against it. I know most of our national management personally, and it is ludicrous (actually malicious) to suggest that any one of them is seeking to "dilute the Pacifica mission" or "cleanse it of minority programmers" or "de-radicalize our message," not to mention the usual slurs describing them as "fascists," "agents," or "corporate shills."
There are a many people who feel that they know exactly how to fix Pacifica's problems, but whose recommendations have not been adopted by management (I am certainly one of them, and am therefore not pleased with much of what management is doing, or not doing). But I nevertheless support management's current and increasingly desperate efforts to ward off possible bankruptcy as being, at least, coherent and, most important, in good faith. Whereas those who have been putting banana peels under management's feet are incoherent, and certainly not acting in good faith. I have yet to see a real plan -- even an idea -- from those whose only goal is to break up Pacifica in service of their own preferment and private personal agendas.
I call your attention to the fact that, at WBAI, management has made a strong commitment to revitalize programming, which--despite the national economic downturn, and the competition we face from the proliferation of left-leaning venues on television and the internet--is the real underlying “cause” of Pacifica’s financial woes. Although WBAI and Pacifica have many good programs, obviously we do not have enough of them, or more listeners would tune in--that is so obvious it is almost a tautology. But an attempt to improve our programming is what has caused virtually all of the conflict at Pacifica--past, present and, I am afraid, future.
At WBAI, each program change--replacement, experiment, termination, whatever -- has sparked ugly warfare. Aggrieved programmers assemble their allies from among other programmers, board members, and listeners--then launch them in waves of invective, character assassination and, sometimes, violence and sabotage in order to make life as miserable as possible for the General Manager and Program Director, and hopefully blackmail them into backing down.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But this kind of guerilla warfare makes successful change difficult and slow. For example, Gary Null was recently brought back to WBAI (as, in my opinion, he deserved to be). He has been literally doubling and tripling his audience every month, and breaking every fundraising record at the station. This new revenue will enable WBAI to make its payroll and continue to function. Yet there is a coordinated campaign to kick Null off the air--not because his program is unworthy of Pacifica (it has won more broadcasting awards than all of Pacifica’s programs put together)--but because a tiny but powerful group does not like his opinions about AIDS. So a slander and defamation campaign against Null and WBAI management has been mounted across the network. A few weeks ago there was a staged pseudo demonstration at KPFK to bring pressure on the ED and national board to overturn the judgment of WBAI’s GM and ED about Null. But this was clearly not for the benefit of Pacifica, but for the advancement of their own ideological agenda.
Pacifica is still its own worst enemy, especially when it comes to tolerating those who will not debate the merits of their positions based on reason and evidence, but choose to engage in vitriolic slander and sabotage that harm Pacifica in order to serve their own interests.
That is what may ultimately doom Pacifica.
STEPHEN M BROWN is a member of the Local Station Board at WBAI, the New York sister station of the Pacifica network.
*** *** ***
Related articles:
Why are CWA and the "left" trying to take down KPFA? by Carol Spooner
financial graphs & articles
10 Years of KPFA Finances in TABLE FORMAT
and, presented as a GRAPH, the same data:
10 Years of KPFA Finances GRAPH
Minority Report Re KPFA Budget Approved By LSB Sat. Sept.17, 2005
A Few Comments on the Financial Crisis at Pacifica by Max Blanchet, January 10, 2011
*** *** ***
for more information and updates please visit Support KPFA at www.supportkpfa.org
.
Labels: Concerned Listeners, Pacifica Radio, Save KPFA, The Grover Norquist Solution at KPFA
