Berkeley – On Wednesday, Yatrika Shah-Rais became the third veteran programmer to resign on-air at Los Angeles radio station KPFK. Shah-Rais, the former music director of the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, announced her departure one day after Betto Arcos announced the airing of his final show, and two days after Derek Rath resigned on-air, all three of them long term producers of the station’s Global Village series. Former Doors drummer John Densmore called into KPFK during Arcos’ final show. You can hear Shah-Rais’ goodbye here. GM Radford is said to have tried to prevent the live on-air Global Village broadcast Wednesday morning.

An online petition containing a Letter of No Confidence in the new manager went online yesterday and collected 123 signatures on its first day. The letter cited legal, fundraising, programming and behavioral problems including work reductions not negotiated with the union, mishandling a worksharing application, releasing employee SS# numbers, losing a Free Speech TV contract, emptying fund drive rooms during pledge drives, obscenity and homophobia on air, withholding of seniority pay to employees and union dues to SAG-AFTRA, and profanity-laced outbursts towards staff. Most of these items have been described in previous editions of this publication.

Here are some of the comments from petition-signers:

Leah Knecht PASADENA, CA

I hate what she is doing to the station, and employees.

Jeri Lopez  TOLUCA LAKE, CA

I respect the rights and opinions of the staff and voters of this liberal rights for all station. I stand with them and their first-hand observations of the ineffective actions of the General Manager of KPFK.

Joe Tonan

I first gave to KPFK when in 1979. I am a long time supporter. However, the new management has taken the station to the edge of the cliff. Time to walk it back.

Dana Lubow MONROVIA, CA

I am signing because I am a long-time volunteer for Canto sin Fronteras and I am dismayed by the incessant fund drives. This has caused a marked loss of our listeners. Additionally, her lack of union solidarity and treatment of union contracts and union members makes me question her progressive values. I also question if she is the best choice for running this historic, long-lived station.

Ben White MONROVIA, CA

Life time listener and financial donator, since the ’60s. I don’t like what is happening to our station.

Maria LaBarrie TEMECULA, CA

One of the main reasons I support KPFK is the music. Now that Betto & Derek are leaving, who else will leave. Something is wrong here that needs to be fixed.

Steve Hayes LOS ANGELES, CA

It’s heartbreaking to see this once-great, one-of-a-kind radio station being destroyed by incompetence and greed, and its best broadcasters being forced off the air. Every decision and statement made by Leslie Radford so far has been inept or dishonest or both. If KPFK is to be saved, Ms. Radford must go.

Chris Bennett LOS ANGELES, CA

Pledging money to KPFK with Ms. Radford in the GM position is funding incompetence.

John Zuehlke SHERMAN OAKS, CA

KPFK-FM, as the only radio station in the Los Angeles area that allows viewpoints that challenge the corporate hegemony to be broadcast, is too valuable a resource to lose. By placing unqualified and inept management into top management positions, the un-elected Pacifica National Board is jeopardizing KPFK’s future more effectively than even the most reactionary wings both the Democratic and Republicans Parties, and their multi-national backers, could ever have dreamed.

Marie Nubia-Feliciano IRVINE, CA

I’m signing because KPFK is a public good that should be protected from incompetence. My children deserve to have this radio station.

Gerri McNenny FULLERTON, CA

I’m concerned about the direction that KPFK and Pacifica are taking AND the poor management that has led to the loss of millions for KPFK.

Rick Banales DIAMOND BAR, CA

I have been a volunteer at KPFK of and on for over 30 years, from when Mario Cassetta was a host. I have not volunteered for a while because the mismanagement of the station over the last few months is so evident that even with the best efforts of programmers, the air of a hostile work environment is palpable over the air.

William Reilly LOS ANGELES, CA

Station Manager selection should be transparent and listeners should have the major input and be able to vote on the candidates. I will no longer financially support KPFK until Radford is replaced with a competent GM.                                                                                       

Radford was appointed by Berkeley-based Margy Wilkinson on her last day as executive director.  Radford served on the local and national boards and was a crony of the Siegel/Brazon faction, replacing incoming executive director Lydia Brazon on the national board during the brief period Brazon was required to step down between consecutive board terms. Prior to taking the KPFK managerial job, she was an adjunct instructor in speech at some LA community colleges for the pasr decade and a half.

In Northern California, longstanding supporters of the Berkeley wing of the Siegel/Brazon faction appeared nonplussed at the Wilkinson-caused meltdown at KPFK. Long-time host Richard Wolinsky posted on Facebook that “he’d seen nothing to indicate  — nothing — that {Radford} had been anything other than a complete and total disaster for KPFK” and former KPFA news reporter John Hamilton posted on the petition site: “KPFK is too precious to be left in the hands of a manager so divisive and inexperienced. Let’s clean the slate and walk KPFK bank from the brink”.  It wasn’t clear if Hamilton was revoking his former endorsement of Wilkinson and the other Save KPFA-affiliated board members by suggesting the cleaning of the slate.

KPFK has been overcome by angry donors calling to demand refunds for premiums never received. (With a brief respite when the phone system and email systems went down). As an example, this woman began inquiring about a late premium on May 22, saying she had pledged in February and had yet to receive her gift. By September, she was beside herself, sending this communication:

From: Maria XXX
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 12:36 PM
Subject: RE: KPFK Refund Request

It’s been 7-months since my invoice has been outstanding.  My patience has reached its limit.  You didn’t even have the decency to respond to my email requesting my refund.  What kind of scam are you guys running?  I am a mother of 4 and work very hard on a daily basis to provide for my family.  I made a significant sacrifice to make a $365 dollar pledge.  I thought that we both would benefit from it.  Your pitch sold me on making this pledge; you would provide me with items that would benefit my children and me and my money would benefit your station.  I am requesting immediate reimbursement of my funds.

KPFK’s financial meltdown is having serious implications throughout the network, where the LA station’s formerly robust fundraising numbers helped with meeting expenses throughout the network. Statements were made at national governance meetings in the last two weeks about the significant difficulty of meeting station payrolls and paying for health benefits at the end of this month, but there has been no public statement to date as the end of the month passed.

The breaking events at KPFK have resulted in more frequent publication of Pacifica-in-Exile for the past few weeks. This publication will attempt if circumstances allow to do a more thorough financial review, as well as cover current news from all of the network’s stations, as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and concern about the welfare of KPFK. Should you be moved to do so, you can sign the KPFK No Confidence letter here.

The Progressive Commentary Hour once again discussed the state of Pacifica Radio on Tuesday. The program can be heard here.

Pacifica in Exile readers may write to the board at [email protected].

For readers who may wish to do more, any donor to a California-based not for profit organization like Pacifica may file a complaint to the open file at the Registry of Charitable Trusts at the Office of the CA Attorney General. Pacifica’s case number is CT011303. The form and instructions for filing may be downloaded here.

Complaint Form

To subscribe to this newsletter, please visit our spanking new website at www.pacificainexile.org

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Started in 1946 by conscientious objector Lew Hill, Pacifica’s storied history includes impounded program tapes for a 1954 on-air discussion of marijuana, broadcasting the Seymour Hersh revelations of the My Lai massacre, bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, going to jail rather than turning over the Patty Hearst tapes to the FBI, and Supreme Court cases including the 1984 decision that noncommercial broadcasters have the constitutional right to editorialize, and the Seven Dirty Words ruling following George Carlin’s incendiary performances on WBAI. Pacifica Foundation Radio operates noncommercial radio stations in New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 180 affiliates. It invented listener-supported radio.