Joe Wanzala Candidate Statement

I served on KPFA first elected Local Advisory Board and I am just completing a term on the Local Station Board (LSB). I am seeking another term because I realize that there are no quick fixes to the challenges we face. The Pacifica bylaws are designed to facilitate participatory democracy to ensure community input in decision making. There is a natural tension between this model and the interests of some radio professionals. Much of the tension around the station over the last few years is due to a failure to find a way to mediate this problem and channel it in a more positive direction.

There are those who may understandably feel that the democratic governance model is too unwieldy. I remain steadfastly committed to it, even while recognizing its flaws. There are several reasons why; among them, (1) in order to thrive and be relevant to the community it serves, KPFA needs to actively maintain a meaningful connection to its listeners, (2) the nature of journalism has undergone revolutionary transformation in the last decade and the emergence of the blogosphere has blurred the lines between journalists and consumers of information.

If am elected to serve on the KPFA LSB for another term, I shall focus on the following priorities: -Evaluating KPFA’s budget: KPFA needs to develop an operating budget that is more sustainable and better insulated from fluctuations in listener support. This would entail tapping more directly into community resources. KPFA already has a dedicated crew of volunteer staff who can be utilized more optimally. KPFA needs more long-range financial and strategic planning.

Better lines of Communication: I am currently on the General Manager Hiring Committee. The effectiveness of a manager is dependent on how well the LSB, the station management, the staff (both paid and volunteer), the community at large and entities such as the program council, (on which I have also served as an LSB representative) can work together. We need more clarity about the roles that these various entities play.

We need a better process for evaluating KPFA's programming: For example we should utilize mechanisms such as the currently inactive Community Advisory Board which can conduct community needs assessments and issue written recommendations to the station; a series of town hall meetings geared towards harvesting ideas from the community; well-designed membership surveys and so on. The station also needs to revive the Folio, both online and in print.

The idea of a radio station as a vehicle for the nonconformist currents flowing through its community is a unique and increasingly vulnerable one in a media environment increasingly dominated by market forces, and a wider political climate that is less tolerant of dissent. So we need KPFA now more than ever. KPFA is currently not realizing its full potential, but I believe it has the capacity to do so, especially if members of the community stay involved.

Endorsers: Carol Spooner; Carol Brouillet; Michael Parenti; Sepideh Khosrowjah; Tracy Rosenberg

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Aaron Aarons: Joe's a good guy, but People's Radio should be first in your preferences. http://kpfa.blogspot.com/

See my web site!

November 10, 2007

a2sfan: ... http://kpfa.blogspot.com/

Aaron Fan notes that SEPIDEH favors JOE WANZALA and the iTeam:

From: sepideh koosha
Date: October 31, 2007 4:07:05 PM PDT

Dear friends,
To understand what is happening inside KPFA please read this piece signed by a group of KPFA listeners and current board members published at SF Bayview yesterday. Per my previous notes please rank Joe Wanzala as # 1 in your ballot and Tracy Rosenberg # 2, Steve Conley # 3, Chandra Hauptman # 4, and Attila Naggy # 5.

Don't forget to vote!
Thanks
Sepideh

THE STRUGGLE FOR LISTENER DEMOCRACY AT KPFA

The situation at KPFA radio, some encouraging signs notwithstanding, remains grim. The idea of participatory democracy was conceived as a response to the crisis of the ?90s, but has yet to take hold. Many members of the KPFA staff, who embraced the concept when it helped save the station, do not support it now that listener members have been given real governing power. In other words, while the 'savepacifica' era was characterized by solidarity between staff and listeners, the 'save(d)pacifica' era has been characterized by polarization between these two groups.

The station management, as well as some staff, perceives KPFA?s listener members and the Local Station Board (LSB) as a threat to their control of the airwaves. Those in charge would prefer that the ?unprofessional? volunteers? who help run the station take no active role in station governance or programming decision-making. They function autocratically and consider such entities as the Program Council to be a mere obstacle they can easily bypass. When Larry Bensky retired the Program Council which had been making programming decisions at KPFA for the last four years was not consulted about what to do with his time slot. Out of a pool of over 60 candidates, mainstream political pundit Peter Laufer (another older white male) was selected. Apparently no thought was given to dividing up the time among younger, more diverse, non-white voices.

History is repeating itself and the agenda of the old Pacifica National Board (PNB) is still manifest among some who were ostensibly involved in the effort to save Pacifica. In October, 2005, Fred Dodsworth of the East Bay Daily News quoted current board member and Concerned Listener candidate, Sherry Gendelman as saying: "the board is bitterly divided??undemocratic' is the mantra they're using to bring the network down. They're attacking the paid staff. They want to reduce the staff and move in more esoteric conspiracy theorists. Nonprofit community radio is still a business and it needs to be run professionally, by professionals...".

Gendelman's advocacy against ?unprofessional volunteers? at the station suggests that she, and her allies on the LSB and on the staff, either do not grasp what the struggle to save Pacifica was about or have resolved, without irony, to lead the station down the same path that the old PNB tried but failed to do. In many respects, we are again where we stood a decade ago. This time the effort is to drive the ?community? out of community radio.

The Concerned Listener group has sought to increase their power and influence on the KPFA LSB by cultivating ties to the local Wellstone Democratic Club. For the second year in a row they are running a slate of candidates for the LSB. While some LSB members who were part of last year?s Concerned Listener ticket seem to be charting their own paths, there remains a core group who are closely linked to KPFA?s interim General Manager (iGM) Lemlem Rijjio and interim Program Director (iPD) Sasha Lilley. Significantly this latter group abstained when the LSB, at its August, 2007 meeting, voted to support a resolution requesting that the iGM rescind her decision to de-certify KPFA?s 17 year old unpaid staff organization.

(cont'd in next comment)

November 01, 2007

a2sfan: ... http://kpfa.blogspot.com/

Aaron Fan notes that SEPIDEH favors JOE WANZALA and the iTeam (cont'd)

Beyond seeking to eviscerate democratic governance, the Concerned Listener group has also sought to re-write the history of the Program Council. The 'Orientation Packet for Concerned Listeners,' a document apparently put together by the group's leaders, contains talking points which misinform the otherwise uninformed Concerned Listener candidates about recent station history. For example, the packet tells the candidates that the Program Council never had decision-making power, and that the dispute between the iGM and the unpaid staff organization has been resolved. Both pieces of this false mantra have been repeated on the air and elsewhere by Concerned Listener candidates who do not appear to have performed their own independent due diligence about what is really going on at the station.

In closing let us urge you, who are eligible to vote in this election, to support independent, progressive-minded candidates. It is important that you select independent candidates who best epitomize listener democracy and who want to achieve it through collaboration and consensus with those on both sides of the political divide.

Please consider voting for the I-Team: Integrating Independence and Integrity (names listed in alphabetical order): Steve Conley, Chandra Hauptman, Joe Wanzala and Tracy Rosenberg. For more info check out their website:

http://www.radiopoetics.org/

Adrienne LaubyHenry Norr
Akio TanakaPerrine Kelly
Hep InghamSepideh Khosrowjah

References:

http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Pacifica/endgame.htm
www.counterpunch.org/pacifica.html

November 01, 2007

Carol Spooner: ...

If you haven't already received it, you soon will receive your ballot for the KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) 2007 election.

I'm endorsing -- in alphabetical order:

Steve Conley, Chandra Hauptman, Tracy Rosenberg & Joe Wanzala.

I'm endorsing those four, and those four only, because they are people of good heart and mind who know their way around KPFA, are not part of the opposing factions at KPFA, have demonstrated through previous volunteer work around the station and LSB and LSB Committees that they focus on issues and bringing people together and getting things done, rather than personalities and stopping things from getting done. They are running as a mutually supportive "I-Team" -- "I" for "Independents" -- and you can read more about and from them at RadioPoetics here http://radiopoetics.org/

Steve Conley served on the first elected LSB for 9 months in 2004 and previously on the old elected LAB -- Steve was tireless in organizing the first and only successful KPFA Town Hall Meeting which resulted in citations for excellence from the San Francisco Bd of Supervisors. He's never involved in his own ego, and is just plain good folks who works amicably with everyone for the greater good. Steve has years of media and radio experience, as well as a lifelong commitment to community activism. Steve has a web page here http://blackhawkemedia.blogspot.com/
Chandra Hauptman has served on the LSB since December 2004 -- and she served as a KPFA rep on the Pacifica National Board (PNB) for the past year. She has been exemplary in focusing on the tasks at hand and doing the work. It was largely through her efforts on the PNB Personnel Committee that the successful hire of former KPFA GM Nicole Sawaya as Pacifica's new Executive Director was recently announced. Chandra is a work horse, tireless, tenacious, willing to listen and work with everyone to meet their concerns & get the job done.
Tracy Rosenberg currently serves as Managing Director of the Media Alliance ( http://www.media-alliance.org/) she has served for the past 3 years on KPFA's Program Council as a community representative. The Program Council unanimously chose her to act as their facilitator because of her fairness, good organizational skills, and ability to keep people on task while treating everyone with courtesy and respect. Tracy's clarity and integrity are also big strong points.
Joe Wanzala has served on the KPFA LSB since December 2004. Before that he served on the KPFA LAB. As a member of the LSB GM Search Committee this past year he worked diligently and successfully to move that committee beyond its previous sectarian stalemate to the point where they will be making recommendations to the full LSB in November. Joe's openness, congeniality and willingness to find common ground with others is a real plus. He's also one of the most intelligent people I know, and has dedicated years to KPFA without getting caught up in the bitterness and grudges that turns so many people sour. He's a keeper!

I don't know in what order I will rank them yet -- but I will rank them as my top 4 choices. They're all very good and will be good for KPFA. I'd like to rank them all #1, but I'm not sure how the vote-counting machine would handle that. If all 4 of them are elected, they will make up a center of civility around which others on the LSB can gather to find common ground.

I also don't know if I will actually vote for and rank anyone else. There are some other good people running -- but they're all running on slates that have taken negative positions towards each other, and I'm just tired of the polarization. These "factions" just tend to be mutually self-canceling, and grind things to a standstill on the LSB -- hour-long debates about the order of the agenda, followed by 1/2-hour long debates on whether to extend the time for an agenda item. It's crazy-making. And slate-members report a lot of pressure on them to vote the "party line" regardless of what they believe is best for the station.

So, I hope you will rank the four "Independents" as your first four choices, and then consider some of the other candidates.

Best regards,

Carol Spooner
Pacifica National Board Member - Jan 2002-Jan 2005
KPFA LSB Member - March 2000-March 2005
Lead Plaintiff - Listeners' Lawsuit to remove the old Pacifica Board - 1999-Dec 2001

October 30, 2007

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