Berkeley-Mozart did not make an appearance at the second disrupted national board meeting in a week, but while the sounds were less than musical, the outcome was the same: meeting interuptus. Doubling down on their outrageous stripping of all national voting rights from NY station WBAI and the seating of two bogus affiliate directors from non-affiliated stations, the rump majority did not even keep their promise to allow WBAI’s 2015 directors to “participate, but not vote”. They didn’t send WBAI the meeting codes and hung up on them when they called in. In fact they hung up on everybody, including duly elected directors from other stations as KPFT director Bill Crosier stated: “I was repeatedly disconnected from the call. I have not been making any interruptions, but tried several times to raise a point of order and was never recognized, but my call was disconnected several times. This is highly improper. Whoever is controlling the conference call has no right to just disconnect anyone they don’t want to talk, even when making valid points of order”.
Crosier provided a Skype log documenting 5 disconnections.
A sound clip of the meeting “highlights” can be heard here in a 26 minute version. The full meeting (of about two hours duration) has been posted on a NY-based blog “WBAI Now And Then” and you can access that sound file here.
New LA director Michael Novick, who anounced he had been appointed the “sergeant-at-arms” for the intended meeting, was inserted in place of the network’s technical employees and admitted he was randomly disconecting and muting participants throughout the call, with no idea if they were disrupting the call or not. At one point, there were at least 28 individuals on the call, although there are 22 directors and only 18 have been seated by the Siegel/Brazon majority.
The Pacifica Foundation is currently without an executive director, as the last volunteer former director Lydia Brazon, was appointed with an end date of January 31st. The nominal succesor would be the 2016 chair of the board, but the board has no permanent chair. The temporary chair, DC’s Tony Norman, has not accepted the ED responsibilties and has his own problems as he is one of several director/delegates elected in 2012 who extended their own terms from three years to four years, without the required authorization of the network’s members (Bylaws Article 17, Section 3(B)i). Network members who recently voted will recall their ballots contained no request for them to agree that half the network’s delegates could serve for an extra year through December 2016. Other directors sitting on unauthorized term extensions include KPFA’s Brian Edwards Tiekert and Jose Luis Fuentes, Houston’s Adriana Casenave, and NY’s Cerene Roberts.
How did the Siegel/Brazon majority deal with the no ED problem? They lied about it. After attaching the indefinite appointment of Brazon as volunteer ED to a completely unrelated motion, they pretended the motion had been voted on Thursday night, when no vote occurred, and at least three directors can be heard yelling over the cacophany that a) they can’t hear what the motion is and/or b) they’re objecting to it. Nonetheless, the board continued to pretend the vote occurred and declared the motion passed after the meeting in a descent into complete Orwellian surreality.
Possibly there should be no surprise that a fake board would stage fake votes. The rump group of 14 people that keeps declaring they are the Pacifica National Board and staging meetings that are disrupted, has no valid claim to be the PNB. This is what the organization’s bylaws say about the national board (Article 5, Section I(c)):
There shall be a minimum of twenty-two (22) and a maximum of twenty-three (23) Directors of the Foundation. The Board of Directors shall fix by resolution, from time to time, the exact number of Directors within the minimum and maximum numbers permitted herein. The Board shall have equal representation from each of the Foundation’s five radio stations.
The dispute that continues to render the national board toothless is the insistence of the NY wing of the Siegel/Brazon faction (the Justice and Unity Caucus) on preventing the seating of Kathy Davis as a staff delegate representative in order to deny a local majority to NY’s independents. The faction continues to try to overturn the 2015 election results by national fiat and has twice eliminated all WBAI national voting rights, possibly in order to facilitate a sale of the NY signal.
In other news:
At troubled KPFK in Los Angeles, where a massive arbitration is underway with the SAG-AFTRA union, Pacifica lost the first round, resulting in the immediate payment of at least 18 months of withheld seniority pay to almost two dozen unionized employees. The arbitration is continuing. Several union employees have attempted to voluntarily terminate their employment, but have been told severance pay agreements will not be honored, forcing them to consider sacrificing thousands of dollars in order to leave the network’s employ. (KPFK’s union contract entitles union members to 2 weeks pay for each year of employment as severance).
The LA station is experiencing a significant backlash from the unpopular late night program change that eviserated the Southern California station’s trademark late night programming curated by Roy of Hollywood. The station has been inundated with calls and emails of protest and dozens of member donors saying they will never pledge again, as well as a landslide election victory for the slate opposed to the direction of current general manager Leslie Radford.
The first two days of the LA fund drive showed the station’s listener’s voting with their pocketbooks. 6 hours of “Safe Harbor” broadcasts netted $145 in pledges. 6 hours of “Something’s Happening” broadcasts netted $2,983.
Here’s a sample of some of the emails/comments.
Dear Leslie Redford and Alan Minsky, As a listener-member of KPFK since 1982, and a proud wearer of a KPFK bumper sticker for the past 22 years, I always knew that just like all other good things that must some day come to an end, Roy Tuckman’s exceptional line-up of nightly programs too would some day come to its end. But I never expected that this, or a severe reduction in its hours, would happen by someone’s choice, and while Roy is still very able and active. I can safely say this on behalf of countless other listeners that Roy’s choice of programs, and KPFK’s unique platform to air them, have changed the lives of so many of us for the better and made it richer. Please do not allow the Midight-to-6:00 AM program be cut. So far, the replacement has not been anywhere to the level, quality and substance of what Roy would choose to help us listeners help ourselves towards a better way of life and a better world. Please do not allow this program to suffer as a result of so much unpleasant things that have happened in the way Pacifica has been run, administratively and fiscally. I wish you all the best in rescuing this vital outlet –ever more important now that the programs are archived and could be accessed by so many others accross the country and around the world. Sincerely, Khasha
Hi Roy, When can we expect changes at KPFK now that the “candidate slate” group won most of the LSB seats? In fairness I thought I would listen to the trial program “Safe Harbor” from midnight to three. OMG!!! No humor, no insight, no fun, but lots of expletives. I miss your first three hours. Thank goodness you are still there. Vicki
Dear Leslie, I am surprised to realize that the removal of Roy’s show from 12-3 has turned me off sufficiently to change a longtime listening habit and switch to NPR during the day as well.The in fighting and dumbing down of the KPFK station add stress to my day rather than enlightenment. I can listen to Amy Goodman on the Democracy Now website, and will do so from now on. I share this with you because you can be sure that if one person tells you about it, at least ten others feel it and are acting accordingly. This is a big loss to Democracy….but honestly, I am done. Jane
Dear Roy, I don’t know just how valuable my vote for “Something’s Happening” is or how my endorsement may go over, but I certainly endorse your invaluable and continued voice. We do not need more exclusion. The history of KPFK has been largely defined, not by any effort to bring conflicting parties together for the purposes outlined in the Pacifica Charter, but rather by the encouragement of strident advocacy aimed at “solidarity” within each one of various sects – meaning, you express your agreement as to our line of the day, or we don’t let you speak – which is how KPFK has lost most of its member community, both present and future. How would you feel about a programming slot specifically aimed at exposing the roots of conflict, involving the listener community, and maintaining a record of the dialogs generated, so that an enduring structure of analysis and commentary could be accessed and referenced in the future? A dialog open to all parties willing to seriously participate and support… Good luck with your petition. Phil
I do support this petition. I have listened to Something’s Happening when I have been up probably since it began which I think may have been 1979. I started listening to KPFK around 1975 or 1976. On a personal note I believe some of the recent changes in the programming schedule are devastating. Dropping Sonali Kolhatkar’s Uprising from 5 days a week to 2 and 1/2 days a week, killing KPFK’s contract with Free Speech TV (FSTV), was counter intuitive and catastrophic, resulting in a misuse of funds raised by Sonali to build a TV studio at KPFK. For me that had an appearance of an attempt to destroy KPFK. The next big counter intuitive, catastrophic change came with cutting the hours of Something’s Happening by half to 3 am to 6 am. For those who have listened over the years to the general manager’s report to the listener, the often repeated praise by callers of Something’s Happening as the best programming on KPFK immediately came to mind. The obvious question is why would the general manager and the program director cut what many listeners describe as the best programming on KPFK? I just do not understand these cuts. What I do know and deeply feel is that KPFK is no longer my radio station. If others feel this way as I do, then I believe the general manager is doing a good job of destroying KPFK. On another personal note, I worry about you Roy. As a retired teacher from LAUSD, I know well what it is like to work for an institution that cares nothing about the hard work to inspire and educate. I just want you to know that you have made a huge difference in my life, and I am a better human being because of the programming you have provided for your listeners.As Jack Gariss use to say, Shanti, shanti, shanti, David
I listened to one of the first “new” shows from midnight to 3 am. It consisted of 2-3 people testing the lengths the FCC would go with a lot of “fucks'” and “shits” and the like, which is ok but not if it gets the station in trouble or shut down (ulterior motive??). They went on for about 1 hr and 15 mins then completely wasted the next 1 hr 45 mins with very dull elevator music. Programmers like that are not needed during a timeslot in which people like information (talk, not merely cussing) overnight. I am downloading the petition and will send it in. I also will ask the name of the genius who put that relatively worthless 3-hr bloc in a timeslot with many many devoted listners who cough up a lot of dough for the station. I would like to see the programmers i heard raise $100 over a week, without any of it coming from their mothers. Yours in spiritual health, Craig
Sir, It is an honor and a privilege to provide whatever support is necessary to return ‘Something’s Happening!’ to its rightful place. It is and has been fantastically helpful in many areas. In fact, the show provides valid help in addition to entertainment for tons of listeners ~ VY
Please sign me up as wanting to return to the 6 hr. format which is & has been wonderful. Some of the features I managed to listen in on during the 12-3 segment were truly pathetic eg. women working in porn or sex work. They weren’t even interesting!! I’m not saying all porn isn’t interesting as I have be known to watch the odd video on https://www.watchmygf.xxx/ from time to time. Some of the music did damage to the neurons in my ears! I look forward to the first LSB & CAB meetings – Sheila
After all these years of so much magnificent programming, please do not throw it away by cutting it back so severely. Barbara
More than the content, I was shocked by the incompetence and amateur production. Yes, this may fly on Sirius – but we’re not Sirius. We are a radio station that has the potential of reaching 12-15 million people. Based on the quorum number, we have barely 150,000 listeners (if you believe that number, which I don’t). While white privilege may be a worthwhile topic, I don’t see that taking the attitude that all y’all old, white listeners (assuming all our listeners are old and white, which is not accurate) are simply racist and if you don’t like this, go find something you do like is a winning message. Certainly, one caller didn’t think so. As far as I’m concerned, what they’re doing is a business decision – to get rid of the listeners we have for their own reasons – not a sincere effort to engage and educate listeners and potential listeners. Rap and hip hop music is not a discovery of some new and rare underground movement that KPFK is bravely bringing to the airwaves for the first time ever. It can easily be found on many commercial radio stations. Playing a rap song from 1989 with “fuck” in it is not revolutionary. While loud rap may be fine at 11 pm, as Roy knows, midnight to 6 am is a different kind of listening. K.
Something’s Happening on KPFK, here in Los Angeles can be heard streaming live anywhere in the world. On this show, Roy Tuckman has played recordings of Shinzen (and also Alan Watts and other great teachers later in the night) on Thursday evenings from 12-1am for decades. (His show actually has run from 12-midnight to 6am (Mon-Thurs evenings, for decades – but, of course, the main base of listeners are from 12midnight to 1am.) I know that this show on KPFK is HOW I FOUND SHINZEN. (Roy has also had Shinzen on the show many times.) And now KPFK wants to take away the 12-3am hours – making it only 3-6am (when a fraction of the listeners on on there) – as they want to “appeal to a younger” crowd (who, of course, would all be in bed by then because they’d have to get up for school or work – although, to be honest, I’d like younger listeners to hear Shinzen as well.) I cannot tell you how many people have told me that listening to Shinzen as they go to sleep on KPFK is where they were introduced to him (and where a lot of his teachings had become internalized for them.) No matter where you live – please sign this petition so we can help Roy introduce hundreds of more Shinheads to the clarity which we appreciate. Thank you! Stephanie
Roy’s program is absolutely priceless, a true gem amongst KPFK’s programs. Friends and I have listened to him for years and discovered and learned so much via the unique, intelligent, provocative, thought-full material he provides. I can’t imagine what you were thinking by cutting back his time on the air like this! I’ve lost a lot of sleep staying up to listen to him over the years, but I don’t regret that for a minute because I’ve gained so much as a result. I’ve truly tried listening to the program you’ve put in there now from midnight to 3:00 a.m., but it seems so self-referential, banal, truly ignorant of your audience, and so intent on conflating liberty with license that it does nothing to invite the listener to listen further. I pray you’ll provide safe harbor for it in a much more appropriate time slot. In the meantime, I’m getting a lot more sleep. Roy is an outstanding programmer, and you’re being quite foolish in trying to ease him out (Yes, “…your smile is a thin disguise….”) The Captcha code I’m to type in is “regret.” How fitting. I pray this sorry situation turns around soon–though the mind[sic] that thought this diminution was a good idea does seem hell-bent on sabotaging the station. Who’s next? Amy Goodman? I wish you the very best and pray to hear your wonderful voice at midnight ‘ere long, Hadley
This morning, I tuned in to listen to Somethings Happening. I couldn’t believe what was being presented. I don’t know what the hell is happening and I am beginning to believe that the staff at KPFK is out of touch with reality. I have been a longtime supporter of KPFK and am currently a Sustainer in which I donate $50.00 per month. This donation will be terminated unless Somethings Happening is reinstated to the old format.. Van
Thank you Roy. You are a real treasure, you know. I will do my best to help out, and I wish you smooth sailing on this endeavor. There are many people who have benefitted from your program for such a long time. For some of us, it has been the proverbial port in the storm. So, thanks again for all the work and dedication. Ellen
Assuming that gutting Roy of Hollywood’s program by 50 % was not his decision: Roy’s radio program is very possibly the most incisive, varied and thought-provoking one of its kind in the United States – dealing widely and in depth with politics, economics, the climate, metaphysics, music, old-time radio, astrology, investigations, and many other topics, and carrying two of the most important broadcasts imaginable, i.e., Tom Hartman and Ralph Nader. The replacement of this invaluable material with the nauseating slop that you have put on the air means that, from midnight to 3:00 AM, I now listen to NPR, classical music, country and western or ANYTHING I CAN FIND that is NOT KPFK and that won’t make me throw up. Your programming decision was, in my opinion, unimaginably stupid and probably due to pressure from those in your organization with self-serving and ignorant points of view. If you keep engaging in these kinds of incomprehensible blunders, your station will DESERVEDLY lose all of its funding and achieve oblivion. I am disgusted with your action. Gerald Long-Time Listener, Day and Night
Beloved Roy! Where are you? This is outrageous I’m speechless about this change. Missing you madly. Love, Nassim
Really miss the old scheduling/format. I’m an old dog and have for decades, scheduled my life around the show, especially Thursday nights for Alan W. I just don’t get bureaucracy sometimes and probably never will. I’m not afraid of change, however, should it be a forward move. II understand corp thinking, as I swam in that swill for years, yet some things are best kept as they are when they work. I feel the brass at kpfk are swinging wildly and spiraling out of control. I pitched in a lot the last couple of years hoping to make a difference in times of need. Boils down to management, though, and if they can’t get it together then it makes me sad to see your devotion, loyalty and life’s work/passion disregarded. You are a gem in a rock tumbler. Should things not work out there, thenthere are alternatives in this high tech world where it could work for you and your loyal supporters. I’d be more than honored and happy to help you with those alternatives to keep you in the pipeline and know there are many others that feel as I do. Peace and love, Dave
Dearest Roy, I am furious, indeed, livid with the moronic program management there at KPFK. What the hell do they think they are doing grabbing the first three hours of your fabulous, enlightening, iconic show? They have replaced you with the worst idiocy and crap imaginable. This is an abomination. I would really like to know the names of those responsible for this disloyal, irresponsible, moronic move. I have sooooo much to tell them, including that they are new upstarts who have their damn nerve stepping up above you who has been there through thick and thin with that station for decades. There is no show more enlightening, diversified and conscious than yours. If they don;t reinstate your hours, I think we will have to hold a huge protest in front of the studio. Maybe that has already been done and I didn’t hear about it, but it needs to be ongoing until we get what we want (need). Please let me know what’s happening with Something’s Happening. Love, Sandra
The reduction of hours of the Something’s Happening show blows hard! The first Iraq war I tuned in to Something’s Happening I got a taste of the truth of what is was all about. I subscribed with no premium, I volunteered, I answered phone during fund drives. It’s a shame what’s happening to KPFK, I haven’t subscribed in a while … I tune in at midnight now and say WTF !? Walter
I have written three separate emails to KPFK with no response whatsoever. The 12-3 slot is terrible. I miss Roy. I miss the sophisticated programming. Please share this with the program manager and director: I have supported your station for years and it’s because of Roy of Hollywood. KPFK is shortsighted in burying it under the pandering stuff that’s airing from midnight to 3 a.m. Just what we DON’T need at midnight: more noise like the 20-something posturing and psycho babble on “In Session” such as: “Let’s process the stages of grief…as they relate to the current program changes.” How lame does it get? Patronizing bs. Oh, and then there’s the acting out of DJs who curse because now they can on the air if it’s sanctioned under whatever the sanction is… and throw their shit against the wall on the air just to hear it hit. Self satisfied, shallow material that applies to maybe 1/100th of your listening audience. You guys used to be a class act, if misguided administratively… SO blame your fundraising on Roy’s show and see what happens. You will lose more than my support, I guarantee you. Whoever went with this took a wrong turn. Lame decision — and any pandering you intend to do with “Talkin’ Poetry” and “In Session” is a pale, plastic attempt at what Roy has already been doing authentically. P.S. YOUR HOSTS ARE (right this very minute) TALKING ABOUT DOG SHIT RIGHT NOW. THEY’RE ACTUALLY SAYING THE WORD: SHIT — ON THE AIR. OVER AND OVER AGAIN. NOW THEY’RE SOLICITING FOR MONEY?!? THIS IS A JOKE. WHAT A FUCKED UP MISTAKE YOU ALL HAVE MADE. Jane
WBAI host and alternative health author Gary Null, filed a copyright infringement, piracy and premiums fraud lawsuit in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York (federal court). The civil action #1:16-CV-241 was filed against the Pacifica Foundation and individually against WBAI general manager Berthold Reimers, former ED Lydia Brazon, former ED Margy Wilkinson, former ED John Profitt and former local station board chair Mitchel Cohen. The suit requests injunctive relief, statutory fines and says the behavior has been ongoing for at least a decade.
The complaint can be read here.
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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.