Brian Edwards-Tiekert endorsed cuts

The Morning Show was never canceled. Two people on the Morning Show were laid off, in accordance with the union contract, because they lacked seniority.

Something that SaveKPFA and Brian Edwards-Tiekert never mention is that it was Brian who first called for the layoffs. Don't believe it? Listen for yourself, starting at about 5 minutes into this recording.

Or read the transcript of what he said.

Below are excerpts from Brian Edwards-Tiekert’s report to the Pacifica National Board made in September 2008 when he was the treasurer of the KPFA Local Board and member of the Pacifica National Finance Committee:

05:00 – “We have spent, and budgeted,
as if a one-time spike in listenership and listener support was long term growth, which it was not.”

06:40 – “We have a lot more people on payroll; and it hurts to cut jobs … it hurts us as social-justice people. …

“And you get pushed back, you get politicking, you get coalitions to block any kind of job cut, so the path of least resistance is to first spend down your savings, as long as you got money to pay the bills, and then go, ‘Oh my god, we’re headed over a cliff now,’ which is where we are now.”

11:25 – “So we’ve gotten ourself to a place where there’s not just a spending crisis, where we’re out of balance, but where there’s a cash crisis. There is not the money in our accounts that affords us the flexibility to take some of the steps we need to get the [Pacifica] Foundation back in balance.”

12:00 – “The income you have coming in, the revenues in that budget has to be proven. You have to be able to demonstrate that you’ve raised that kind of money by that kind of means in the past, or you can’t count on it.”

13:50 – “Stations without any cash in the bank, who are starting the year with zero, or as in the case with a couple of our stations, in the hole, negative money, have to budget a surplus …

“What I’m aiming at is not having the foundation go belly up in three months, because that’s what we’re heading for right now.”

20:55 – “What I dread even more is the day that everybody at the five stations [that comprise the Pacifica network] and Pacifica shows up to work to collect their paycheck for their last two weeks of work, and hears, ‘Sorry, we don’t have the money for you, our bank account’s empty.’ …

“And if we don’t make the cuts now, and honestly some of these cuts should have been made one or two years ago, that’s the real prospect we face, because we’re running out of cash.”


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KPFA 94.1 FM is one of five stations of the Pacifica radio network which are located in major cities across the country. The other stations are WBAI 99.5 in New York, WPFW 89.3 in Washington DC, KPFT 90.1 in Houston, and KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles. There are also about 160 affiliate stations.