[grc] KPFK?

[Tom Voorhees]

FYI

BERKELEY - A turbulent 21 months at KPFK in Los Angeles has come to an end
with a change in the station's general manager position made on February
27, effective immediately. Leslie Radford was hired in May of 2015 to be
KPFK's general manager by outgoing IED Margy Wilkinson on Wilkinson's last
day [1]. The hire was against the wishes of incoming executive director
John Proffitt, who was literally driving from Texas when Wilkinson made the
hire. Proffitt had asked Wilkinson to allow him to interview the KPFK
candidates, but she did not do so and hired Radford, a former
Siegel/Brazon-affiliated national board member, to the KPFK job. 

Radford's tenure was marked by a huge judgement for labor contract
violations, won by SAG-AFTRA in arbitration in mid-2016 [2]. The $285,000
assessment included back pay, severance awards and penalties in response to
dozens of grievances filed  [3]after Radford imposed involuntary pay cuts,
laid off two employees and denied severance benefits in the fall of 2015.
Proposed KPFK budgetary plans for 2017 (never approved by the national
board) further punished KPFK employees with the loss of all spousal and
dependent child health care coverage.   [4]

In a press release put out by the Pacifica Foundation [5], new interim ED
Bil Crosier commented: _"KPFK is an important part of the Pacifica
Foundation, and is our biggest and most powerful station in the second
biggest media market in the United States. The station has been through
some difficult times recently. I want KPFK to take a leadership role, both
within our radio network as it recovers, and in the Southern California
media landscape as the country meets the challenges presented by the Trump
administration. This change will position KPFK to do so” _

Long-time staffer Christine Blosdale has taken over the KPFK general
manager position on a temporary basis. 

The morning after the change in management at KPFK, the station's legendary
overnight host Roy of Hollywood, returned in a 40th anniversary celebration
that was extra joyous [6] due to the unexpected return to the midnight time
slot. The program's listeners responded with one-night donations in excess
of $4,000. _Something's Happening_ had been bifurcated to 3am to 6am for
the last year in order for Radford to put on a melange of new programs
under the name _Safe Harbor, _a reference to the FCC relaxation of rules on
broadcast profanity during the late night hours. _Safe Harbor_ took full
advantage, making a specialty out of indulging in as much on-air profanity
as humanly possible [7], generating numerous listener complaints and few
listener donations. Some of the new shows also had problems with plugola
[8] (on-air promotions) and copyright infringement, particularly volunteer
coordinator Adam Rice's _Music to Resist B_y, with Rice unaccountably
posting programs with copyrighted music on the Internet Archive [9] in
KPFK's name and ducking Soundexchange reporting requirements for Internet
streaming.  Rice has been suspended from KPFK until further notice. Other
displaced programmers from the year-old _Safe Harbor_ block have been
invited to submit requests for new time slots to interim program director
Alan Minsky. 

Pacifica received some great news from the Office of the California
Attorney General which gave a six-month extension to submit the fiscal year
2015 financial audit, which has not been started 9 months after it was due.
The extension follows a series of scary letters [10] in December and
January threatening the loss of nonprofit status and an AG meeting with the
board's 2016 officers in mid-January that was concealed from incoming
directors. The California AG requested the submission of a written plan for
re-establishing Pacifica's financial stablity and proof of replacement of
restricted funds used inappropriately by the previous regime, by the end of
March.

New IED Crosier has implemented a nationwide fundraising day on Thursday
March 2 to raise funds to immediately proceed with the delinquent audits
[11]. The "audit fundraiser", first proposed by the WBAI Community Advisory
Board in December, will feature voices of resistance from the Pacifica
Archives with original programming simulcast on WBAI, WPFW, KPFT and KPFK
all day. KPFA will maintain its regular fund drive programming, but donate
the day's proceeds to the dedicated fund. 

The special day of fundraising has been given a huge head start by a
generous $86K gift from a long-time WBAI supporter who is providing a match
fund for the whole day or until the funds are all used up.

SO EVERY DONATION UP TO $86K WILL BE MATCHED AT 100% OF ITS VALUE, NETTING
PACIFICA AT LEAST $172K TO DEDICATE TO CLEANING UP THE ACCOUNTING ONCE AND
FOR ALL AND PRESERVING THE NETWORK'S TAX-DEDUCTIBLE STATUS. 

Special Programming
Pacifica Radio Archives
Voices of Resistance
From
The Pacifica Radio Archives
and
KPFK, KPFT, WPFW and WBAI

Thursday, March 2, 2017
6:00 AM ET to Midnight ET

As we enter a new world of the Alt-right and alternative facts, the
Pacifica Radio Network is more committed than ever to bringing you news
that is fact-based, speaking truth to power, and documenting the
revolution.

Radio is the perfect medium to change hearts and minds, and Pacifica Radio
has been at the forefront of progressive, listener-powered radio since its
inception in 1946 by pacifist journalist Lewis Hill. He believed that
people would support media that aligned with their core values.

Won't you be in solidarity with this critical work, and help us preserve
Lewis Hill's vision by listening to, and supporting, Pacifica Radio - Radio
for the Resistance!

You can call Pacifica at 800-725-0230 to help keep free media alive.

The next national board meeting is scheduled for the evening of March 2. 

**

A timeline of the 35-month long coup by the Siegel/Brazon faction can be
seen here. [12]

**

If you value being kept up to speed on Pacifica Radio news via this
newsletter, you can make a little contribution to keep Pacifica in Exile
publishing [13] . Donations are secure, but not tax-deductible. (Scroll
down to the donation icon).

Pacifica in Exile readers may write to the board at pnb at pacifica.org.

To subscribe to this newsletter, please visit our website at
www.pacificainexile.org [14]

###

_Started in 1946 by conscientious objector Lew Hill, Pacifica's storied
history includes impounded program tapes for a 1954 on-air discussion of
marijuana, broadcasting the Seymour Hersh revelations of the My Lai
massacre, bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, going to jail rather than turning
over the Patty Hearst tapes to the FBI, and Supreme Court cases including
the 1984 decision that noncommercial broadcasters have the constitutional
right to editorialize, and the Seven Dirty Words ruling following George
Carlin's incendiary performances on WBAI. Pacifica Foundation Radio
operates noncommercial radio stations in New York, Washington, Houston, Los
Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 180
affiliates. It invented listener-supported radio._​

> So why was Cynthia McKinney's show taken off. And what about Safe Harbor?
> 
> Qapla
> 
> Yaney LA MacIver
> 541-829-9788
> http://owensvalleygirl.wordpress.com
> 
> On Mar 2, 2017, at 7:51 AM, Tracy Rosenberg <tracyrose at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Management change. A good one. There were serious problems with third
> party fundraising, copyright infringements, plugola and premium defaults.
> 
> 
> A block of late night programs based around on air profanity were taken
> off after a year on air. Some will get new time slots, some won't. Some
> affected programmers upset. 
> 
> On Mar 2, 2017 7:47 AM, "Yaney LA MacIver via grc"
> <grc at maillist.peak.org> wrote:
> So what's going on at KPFK?
> 
> Qapla
> 
> Yaney LA MacIver
> 541-829-9788
> http://owensvalleygirl.wordpress.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> grc mailing list
> grc at maillist.peak.org
> http://maillist.peak.org/mailman/listinfo/grc
> 
> _______________________________________________
> grc mailing list
> grc at maillist.peak.org
> http://maillist.peak.org/mailman/listinfo/grc
 

Links:
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[1] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=JVY%2Bzrs29skENIZAwQSWL2gbNqAHfBRx
[2] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1UcZNXkoxr4BLUMlo%2FKy%2FWgbNqAHfBRx
[3] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=o3DY5BuaZvAxlJt%2F6%2FqMQ2gbNqAHfBRx
[4] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nDvNd5gtvzPnwJ17u3NQBGgbNqAHfBRx
[5] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=g9rI85zVYrYpgZIQ6ywOtWgbNqAHfBRx
[6] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=KpEXtLUVpr4VkpN5MANpkmgbNqAHfBRx
[7] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1ZuHylj0vw%2FxupBeMVw5HGgbNqAHfBRx
[8] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=AFRv0tyWR%2FNQozaA8fDiOr7us7OA%2BSAI
[9] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=GRi40i28tbKX9K1bV2ItGWgbNqAHfBRx
[10] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=88BU77DvxkI2KbFVsPILVWgbNqAHfBRx
[11] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=myVzBSx6%2FAz4sKYjjYq3bWgbNqAHfBRx
[12] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iTytpok7LvAg7L48kgVr3WgbNqAHfBRx
[13] http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=B3oBoApLenTwvgMCKENv42gbNqAHfBRx
[14] http://www.pacificainexile.org/