Category Archives: Articles

Articles

Some More Questions for Dan Siegel About The KPFA Foundation

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Dan Siegel’s response to the many inquiries regarding the establishment of the headquarters of the KPFA Foundation at his personal law firm office is below.

Pacifica National Board member Stephen Brown’s comments about Mr. Siegel’s statements having limited veracity are well-advised, but if taken at face value, here are some questions that arise:

1) “There is nothing “clandestine” about the creation of the KPFA Foundation”.

Dictionary.com: [klan-des-tin]. Characterized by, done in, or executed with secrecy or concealment, especially for purposes of subversion or deception; private or surreptitious: “Their clandestine meetings went undiscovered for two years”.

Continue reading Some More Questions for Dan Siegel About The KPFA Foundation →

Articles

Stealing Save KPFA: Erasing History

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by Jeffrey Blankfort, Maria Gilardin, Curt Gray, Marianne Torres

I have learned that a group that had formerly called itself the Concerned Listeners, a faction in the community that are partisan supporters of the status quo controlling clique that runs KPFA and which oppose accountability and participation of ‘outsiders’ in the station, is now calling itself Save KPFA. The choice of this name is an ahistoric action that speaks of an arrogant sense of entitlement, and a lack of knowledge or interest in how KPFA has developed and changed through its history as a ground-breaking community radio station.

Continue reading Stealing Save KPFA: Erasing History →

Articles

Lords, Ladies and Peasants at KPFA: An Allegory of the Struggle at KPFA

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by Daniel Borgstrom

Longtime KPFA listeners remember 1999 as the year of the Hijacking, the Lockout, and the massive response.  Ten thousand people marched through the streets of Berkeley chanting “Take back KPFA!” and “Save Pacifica!” And, as a matter of fact, KPFA and Pacifica Radio were rescued.  The good guys really had won, or so it seemed at the time.  But the struggle has continued.  Today, in 2015, the future of KPFA/Pacifica is more precarious than ever.

Sadly, this KPFA scenario is a common one in the affairs of humankind.  I missed the French Revolution, but I imagine it went much like the one at KPFA. The Bastille was stormed in a day, but what followed were meetings, meetings, and more meetings. That’s probably true of all revolutions: there’s a dramatic moment, then months, years, even decades of intense, parliamentary struggle. Issues get complicated, seemingly arcane, and the struggle is vicious; people are sent to the guillotine. Why the conflict? people ask, wondering why the former comrades can’t just be nice to each other and get along. Continue reading Lords, Ladies and Peasants at KPFA: An Allegory of the Struggle at KPFA →

Articles

KPFA: Radio Programs for Social Change or for Jobs?

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By Richard Phelps

Recently KPFA/Pacifica management abruptly cancelled the Morning Mix (MIX), 8-9 a.m. M-F, and replaced it with Uprisings, a program produced in Los Angeles by a person who lives in Los Angeles. The MIX was five (5) separate programs, primarily focused on politics in local communities, workplaces, and unions. They were produced by several volunteer programmers who live, work and are politically active in the Bay Area. Continue reading KPFA: Radio Programs for Social Change or for Jobs? →

Articles

What’s Up (or Down) with Pacifica? by Grace Aaron

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Published June 4, 2015 in the LA Progressive

Pacifica-logos

Pacifica is a nonprofit corporation that consists of 5 fm radio stations, a 60 year old archive and about 100 affiliated stations. The five stations are:

  • KPFA, 94.1 in the San Francisco Bay area
  • WPFW, 89.3 in Washington, D.C.
  • KPFT, 90.1 in Houston,
  • WBAI, 99.5 in New York City and
  • KPFK, 90.7 in Los Angeles.

Continue reading What’s Up (or Down) with Pacifica? by Grace Aaron →

Articles

Open Letter from Tracy Rosenberg: When Privilege Subverts: A KPFK Story

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KPFK is Pacifica Radio’s (the long-lived progressive radio network that started public radio in the United States in 1946), Los Angeles station. Currently going through a very difficult financial period and a controversial management transition, the station has become a flash point recently on questions of privilege, race and gender and has introduced some interesting questions about la causa of black and brown liberation. Continue reading Open Letter from Tracy Rosenberg: When Privilege Subverts: A KPFK Story →

Articles

Truthout: Crises At Pacifica

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Saturday, 31 January 2015 11:00 By Michael Corcoran, Truthout | News Analysis

Pacifica Radio, one of the most iconic and last remaining outlets for progressive voices on the radio, is facing an increasingly uncertain future.

The network, which consists of five radio stations and dozens of affiliates across the country, has been full of dysfunction in recent years. The dysfunction has been caused by heated infighting caused by two factions vying for control of the network, the loss of important grant money, dwindling listenership, and near-constant fundraising and accounting hiccups.

Continue reading Truthout: Crises At Pacifica →

Articles

The Attorney General Audit And The Real Emergency

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by Bill Crosier

I agree with Hank {Lamb} and Brian {Shiratsuki} that we should all welcome the AG audit and the corrective changes that will hopefully come from it. I also agree with Brian {Shiratsuki} and Nalini {Lazsciewicz} and others who have commented on how our bylaws, despite good intentions by a lot of people, have been a miserable failure in producing functional boards. Of course, people who like things the way they are now will be afraid of what the AG may find or what the AG may do, and are undoubtedly thinking about how they can convince the AG to leave Pacifica alone and let them continue fiddling while Rome burns. Continue reading The Attorney General Audit And The Real Emergency →

Articles

Board Member Resigns in Protest of Corrupt Hiring Practices

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Janis Lane-Ewart and the Pacifica National Board,

Although I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the Pacifica Personnel Committee Chair, I must hereby resign from the PNB Personnel Committee. I am unable to be part of a committee that reflects another deeply flawed hiring process.  Continue reading Board Member Resigns in Protest of Corrupt Hiring Practices →

Articles

Is KPFA Now Irrelevant?

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Posted by Thomas Payne on the Bay Area Independent Media Independent Center on December 8, 2014 

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/08/18765195.php

As riots erupt across the nation and in Berkeley – the home of KPFA – and is covered by every news outlet including MSNBC, CNN and the rest of the web but not on KPFA, we need to ask is KPFA irrelevant?

KPFA seems unable to cover breaking news or be a station that truly represents our community, and instead seems more interested in creating the illusion of being a community radio station by hiring a new marketing service to sell the concepts of community and authenticity.

Where was KPFA when riots were erupting in Ferguson, NYC, Oakland and Berkeley? Nowhere to be seen.

Continue reading Is KPFA Now Irrelevant? →