| Statement |
I am running for re-election to the KPFA Local Station Board. I nearly chose not to. When I first ran three years ago, I had a long list of proposals - based
on my decades of experience as a journalist, a techie, and an activist - to
strengthen the station and make it a more effective voice for peace and social
change. I’ve managed to get only one of those ideas implemented - I helped
push the board to hold meetings around the listening area, not just in
Berkeley - but now the board seems to have retreated from even that modest
advance.
It wasn’t for want of effort (I haven’t missed a meeting since I was elected),
nor because I’m some kind of hardline factionalist (I’m actually pretty
accommodating). The problem is that the board is divided between two
tendencies that represent very different views about how KPFA and Pacifica should work.
My view, unfortunately a minority one on the current LSB, is that the station
and network will do better at fulfilling their progressive mission if all parts of
the community, including listeners and unpaid as well as paid staff, have a real say in shaping policies and programming. Yes, strong management is essential, but strong doesn’t mean arbitrary - consulting the various
constituencies and paying respectful attention to their suggestions and feedback would make management more, not less, effective.
The other view, reflected in the recent practice of KPFA management with full
support from the current board majority, led by the Concerned Listeners
group, seems to be that the station should be run corporate-style, strictly from
the top down, and that the various institutions designed to give a voice to
other parts of the community are at best a waste of time. Witness the
changes we’ve seen over the last few years: the Program Council
dismantled, the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO) “derecognized” (eventually restored, but only grudgingly), and LSB resolutions routinely ignored. Management even denied the board’s request to see written station
personnel policies - an elementary function of an oversight board.
The current CL majority on the board has collaborated in this drift. When management summoned the police into the station and they beat volunteer programmer Nadra Foster, the majority blocked the board from even
discussing this horrifying incident and trying to establish policies that would prevent a repetition. And this year, with station finances, listenership, and staff morale in steep decline, the majority’s response was to move from monthly to bi-monthly meetings.
All in all, it’s a pretty depressing story, but I finally decided to run again
because I still have hope that we can turn things around. There’s new leadership and new energy at the national level of Pacifica. Now what we need is a new majority on the LSB that’s committed to bringing the station back in line with the letter and spirit of the Pacifica by-laws. Please check www.indyradio2009.org and cast your votes for Independents for Community Radio.
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