My name is Antonio Ortiz and I am a staff candidate for the KPFA Local Station Board. I have been involved in community media for over 8 years and I am a true supporter of community access to the airwaves. I truly believe that public access to media serves our community and our nation. I also believe KPFA produces great radio. It has done so in the past and I believe it will continue to do so in the future. I've been at KPFA/Pacifica for over 4 years, starting off as a First Voice Apprenticeship volunteer then working at FSRN as a Tech Producer. I am now the Assistant Engineer/News Tech in the Operations Department providing technical support to producers. Through my experience working with and assisting a diverse group of people, I've come to realize that supporting people's talents allows for growth and improvement.

Now I want to be on the LSB because the board executes important functions that allow KPFA to continue in it's objective of producing insightful and relevant programming. I believe that my experience gives me an intimate insider view of what the Staff and Volunteers need to improve the current programming and also what needs to be done to expand our audience and relevance to all the communities KPFA is here to serve. KPFA has been here 60 years and I want to do my part to help it continue 60 more years. People need to catch the baton at one point in time and now is the time for me to catch that baton and help take KPFA to the next stage.