All posts by Pacifica In Exile

Radford’s KPFK Shutdown

 

In this clip from KPFK’s 10-16 local station board meeting, GM Radford threatens that if she is forced to pay for the SAG-AFTRA arbitration loss caused by her union contract violations in 2015, she will turn off KPFK’s repeater signals in Malibu, Santa Barbara and Ridgecrest/China Lake, turn off the station’s transmitter altogether from midnight to 6am, and turn off the air conditioning.

Board members suggested instead reversing Radford-initiated program changes that decreased revenue and provided documentation that the changes had cost the station at least $137,000.

Radford replied that programmers whose hours were removed, Roy Tuckman and Sonali Kolhtakar had “refused” to return to their old on-air schedules. Later in the meeting, both Tuckman and Kolhatkar responded in emails that they had not refused and would be pleased to resume their previous broadcast schedules and fundraise for the station.

Turning off the transmitter from midnight to 6am would likely violate signed rental contracts in effect for the use of the station’s sideband signals, besides angering the large overnight audience cultivated by Roy of Hollywood for decades.

Financial statements released for the fiscal year that ended 9-30-2016 documented a KPFK listener support loss of $300K between 2015 and 2016, the largest in the network for the year.

As reported by the Pacifica National Office:

KPFK listener support  10-1-2014 to 9-30-2015: $3,000,802.

KPFK listener support 10-1-2015 to 9-30-2016: $2,701,054.

The $137,000 projected increase in listener support would pay for 65% of the cost of Radford’s union violations. A return to the pre-Radford listener support numbers in 2017 would pay for them entirely.

A Little California Fraud

 

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Berkeley –  Los Angeles station KPFK recently lost a large multi-grievance union arbitration with the station’s SAG-AFTRA bargaining unit after new manager Leslie Radford imposed unilateral work hour reductions, fired two employees and denied severance benefits. The settlement amount is at least $200,000 and will include back pay to approximately 20 employees whose hours were cut, the re-hire of two fired employees and the payment of at least four previously denied severance packages.

The preliminary decision and award from arbitrator Louis S. Zigman, Esq. was issued on May 31, 2016, after two arbitration hearings were held on January 21, 2016 and March 22, 2016. This is what it says.  Continue reading A Little California Fraud

Archive Shut Down Budget Motion

 

In Tuesday’s national finance committee, contention broke out when, in lieu of news about 50-year-old unique archival reel-to-reel Pacifica recordings being sold off on E-Bay after a storage container was auctioned for nonpayment, Save KPFA’s Barbara Whipperman proposed asking for a shut down and transfer budget for the network’s archives department. After much yelling (some of it here, but not all of it), the proposal failed on a 4-4 tie vote with Siegel/Brazonites Adriana Casenave, Cerene Roberts, Michael Novick and board chair Tony Norman voting it down.

PNB Meeting Disrupted Again

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Berkeley – Ballots mailed for Pacifica’s 2016 board elections from the East Coast on August 15th. Pacifica in Exile’s candidate endorsements for all stations can be found here. You will find online voting instructions inside your printed ballot envelope. The voting period ends on September 30 at 11:59pm in your own time zone. If you donated, but don’t receive a ballot or for any ballot-related question at any station, you can contact King Reilly, a KPFK member who has graciously agreed to assist folks, at [email protected].

For more on our endorsed slates of candidates, see the Committee to Strengthen KPFKMove KPFT ForwardUnited for Community Radio (KPFA), and WBAI Indy Caucus websites. Continue reading PNB Meeting Disrupted Again

Chair of the Board Diagnosis: Executive Officers Do Not Implement

 

In the September 20 meeting of Pacifica’s financial committee, three hours resulted in only a recommendation to create a task force. Along the way, chair of the board Tony Norman gave his diagnosis of the problem: the executive staff won’t implement the ideas of the board of directors. His comments are recorded below and transcribed.  Continue reading Chair of the Board Diagnosis: Executive Officers Do Not Implement

Radford on SAG-AFTRA: It’s All John Proffitt’s Fault

 

In this clip from the September 18th KPFK local station board meeting, GM Radford, whose salary cuts, layoffs and denial of severance pay actions in September and October of 2015 resulted in a $200,000 plus arbitration loss for violating the station’s SAG-AFTRA union contract, blithely proclaims her actions are not her fault at all and decides Pacifica should pay for her six-figure labor violations settlement. Continue reading Radford on SAG-AFTRA: It’s All John Proffitt’s Fault

The One-Page Financial Recovery Plan

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Berkeley – Ballots mailed for Pacifica’s 2016 board elections from the East Coast on August 15th. Pacifica in Exile’s candidate endorsements for all stations can be found here. You will find online voting instructions inside your printed ballot envelope. The voting period ends on September 30 at 11:59pm in your own time zone. If you donated, but don’t receive a ballot or for any ballot-related question at any station, you can contact King Reilly, a KPFK member who has graciously agreed to assist folks, at [email protected]. Continue reading The One-Page Financial Recovery Plan