Tracy Rosenberg Candidate Statement

My name is Tracy Rosenberg, I’m running for the KPFA Local Station Board as a listener representative and I hope that you’ll vote for me.

In eight+ years of involvement with KPFA and its community, I’ve served in a variety of ways: as the program coordinator on staff, as a listener representative on the program council (twice), as an activist and strategist and sidewalk camper in the lockout days, and as last year’s election supervisor. So I’ve been on the payroll, off the payroll, and in the streets - and I know the issues and the people in and around KPFA. I was honored to be chosen as the program council facilitator from 2005-2007 - by unanimous consent among paid and unpaid staff members, board members and other listeners. As we all know, unanimous consent to anything is not common at KPFA.

As a long-time staff member and now the Managing Director at Media Alliance, the longest-running regional media advocacy center in the country, I’m knowledgeable about the challenges KPFA will be facing as rapid change continues to alter the media landscape. I’m running for the board because I care about the strength of independent media and because KPFA’s 59,000 watt signal can not be replaced. There is no way for community-based media to recapture a media asset of such size and range. We can’t afford to lose it. But lose it we will, if internal battles continue to rip time and energy away from re-tooling to meet the challenges of the Bay Area’s demographic changes, the digital conversion, the lightening fast news and information from the blogosphere, the need to update programming from time to time, and the financial challenges inherent in the listener-supported model.

I’m proud that KPFA and Pacifica have turned toward listeners and not away from them, as San Francisco’s NPR-affiliate KQED did so famously a few years ago. The openness is admirable and all too rare. But it needs to be openness to really working together, not just lip service coupled with obstructionism and parliamentary politics.

I believe I have the track record of working with people on all sides, the knowledge of media policy, a deep commitment to more community-driven information, art and culture on the air, and the group facilitation experience to be an effective board member. I’m running as an independent candidate, not on a slate, but welcome endorsements from any of the existing board members or my fellow candidates.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions about my candidacy. I’d be happy to talk to you.

Tracy Rosenberg
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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

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

Aaron Fan believes TRACY would be a good choice.