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KPFT CANDIDATE STATEMENT
IT WOULD BE PRESUMPTUOUS OF ME to come into this election assuming that all of you would select me as your first choice for the listener position on the Local Board of KPFT-Pacifica Radio. For that reason, I sincerely hope that the following will impress you to the extent that you will select me as your 5th to 8th favorite candidate.
I am running for the local board because I Love Radio. Specifically, I love locally produced radio that is thought provoking and community motivating. I grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri, where back in the 1950’s a guy named Robert Hyland invented listener call in talk radio. Mr. Hyland was the antithesis of my views on politics, social interaction, and community affairs. However, I am grateful to him for inventing listener driven talk format which has the capacity to mobilize a community for change.
I live in Alvin, Texas. Alvin is a primarily rural community in Brazoria County. I believe it is important to bring a rural perspective to the Local Board. Rural folks have different approaches to problem solving and task completion. In my experience it is more efficient and effective than some ‘big city” approaches. It has to be. In the rural areas there are fewer people to call on and fewer resources to draw upon. If you want to do something big, you have to get your friends together and make your own fun, so to speak. This resourcefulness is an attitude I will bring to board and committee work.
I am an attorney. I spent the majority of my professional life working as an Executive Director, Litigation Director, Managing Attorney and Staff Attorney for Legal Aid. I have been quite satisfied in providing needed legal assistance in cases involving fighting government for deserved Social Security disability, public assistance and housing services. However, I believe my greatest efforts have been my services assisting not for profit agencies in securing funding and resolving legal disputes to carry on their important work. I have assisted churches fighting government trying to close down their sanctuary homeless shelter in their church. I have assisted in the creation and funding of a shelter for women who have been abused. I have organized not-for-profits to provide housing assistance to victims of the great Mississippi flood of 1993. I have written grant proposals to secure funding for arts education to minority children in rural communities. I once wrote a grant and secured half a million dollars from the Kellogg Foundation to provide rural youth enrichment programs. This was sent to me at the 23rd hour when the local United Way and other established charities had decided the grant was too incomprehensible to complete and manage.
And, as a member of Board of Directors of an all volunteer community development agency, I assisted in the creation of KHBL, a 1000 watt independent community radio station. I believe my expertise and experience will be a valuable asset to KPFT.
ROBERT L. MARK
KPFT Candidate Questionnaire
1. Why do you want to be on the local station board?
Because I love locally produced radio programming and because I would like to make
a positive progressive impact on this community.
2. How do you envision the Local Station Board working with the Pacifica Foundation, KPFT and the community?
I believe that there should be a symbiosis between Pacifica, KPFT and the Listener
Community at Large. Pacifica should continue to assist in capital campaigns and to
provide programming that will allow us to grow listenership and membership. In
addition, Pacifica programming should generally be an enhancement and supportive
of the locally produced radio programs. The community should look to KPFT as the
communications hub for community projects, initiatives and entertainment. The
community should assist KPFT in growing membership. KPFT should continue
financial support of Pacifica programming and by expanding the base of listeners to
Pacifica programming.
3. How could the station better serve its listeners?
The best way to serve the listeners is to serve the community as a whole. Partnering
with community groups for events throughout the listening area and providing support
and information about community events that listeners care about. In addition, the
news department should be expanded to provide more local coverage of events and
news that are important at the local level. Encouraging volunteers to provide this
service would be ideal. If volunteers cannot be found, then securing funding for this
purpose should be a priority. Community reporters should be provided essential
training and support for their efforts.
4. Describe some actions you would take to increase the diversity of the listening audience?
My best answer to this is my answer to Question 3 above. However, those efforts
should include identifying and targeting efforts to underrepresented groups and
communities.
5. What sources of funding, other than listener donations, do you feel KPFT should
solicit?
If KPFT would become task oriented instead of just general revenue oriented, then I
believe foundation grants are a likely source of funding. I would also look at
fundraising events like concerts (I produced concerts in Northeast Missouri as a
member of a not for profit organization) to neighborhood chili suppers. I would
encourage folks to turn off their TV and forego the big game to roll up their sleeves and
get involved in the community and specifically KPFT.
6. Please state briefly the skills, experience, educational background, work history,
organizational affiliations, areas of community service, areas of interest and expertise
that you would bring to the Pacifica network as a member of the Local Station Board.
I believe I answered much of this in the Narrative. However, I will embellish. I put
myself through school working with I.A.T.S.E. Local 6 in St. Louis as a stagehand. I
was involved in lighting, sound, set building and as a grip at the “Muny Opera” and
other venues in St. Louis.
I was graduated in 1975 from Blackburn University in Carlinville, Illinois with a degree in political science and from St. Louis University with a Juris Doctor degree in law. I have been an assistant public defender, an Executive Director, Litigation Director, Managing Attorney and Staff Attorney Legal Assistance agencies in Missouri and Texas. I have also worked in the private sector.
I have served on the legal panel of the Sabine Area chapter of the ACLU. I have been the chair of the Beaumont Chapter of the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. I have attempted in vain to organize a Galveston Brazoria Chapter since moving to this area. I have served on community organizations that have constructed an outdoor performance amphitheater (kind of the Hooterville version of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion); produced musical performances as well as an appearance by Pope John Paul II, I have funded and constructed community housing for flood victims, funded minority arts programs, programs to teach school children to report inappropriate touching, reorganized the Jefferson County Pro Bono Project and sat on their board of directors.
I was one of the few people ever to be appointed to Missouri State Boards by both former Governor and Attorney General John Ashcroft and the late former Governor Mel Carnahan for my work in advocating for the rights of people with disabilities and people with mental illness. As a reward for my service, John Ashcroft refused to shake my hand. I am second most proud of this.
I write grant proposals, represent not for profits and serve on boards of directors. I help bring focus to the tasks that those groups seek to accomplish.
I am most proud of the fact that in 1972 I personally caused President Richard Milhous Nixon to trip and fall on his face by negligently tacking down a carpet on a stairway. Not a skill necessarily, but a qualification.
My apologies for the lack of brevity.
7. On which Local Station Board committees are you interested in actively serving?
I believe the outreach committee is the committee best suited for my stated vision. I
believe creating KPFT Community Partnerships will serve as the best way to “grow the
brand”, if you would please pardon the expression. I would be willing to attend and
advise the finance or development committees as well.
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