By Akio Tanaka
[KPFA LSB Member 2006-2012]
Article as flyer: Peace to KPFA
Whenever there is a conflict, there is always an escalation in rhetoric, like when there was the divisive and inflammatory charge a few years ago that the Pacifica National Office engaged in union busting. We should avoid getting caught up in the rhetoric and address the real problems and concerns. Continue reading Bringing Peace to KPFA
Article from the Bakersfield Californian: March 28, 2011
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A wrongful termination lawsuit filed by one son of Cesar Chavez against another alleges various instances of malfeasance within an organization central to the legacy of the late civil rights and farm workers union leader.
But the legal action filed in Kern County Superior Court on Friday goes well beyond that, accusing the center’s executive leadership of various misdeeds — including potentially illegal behavior — ranging from retaliatory firings and age-based discrimination to nepotism. It further alleges that Paul Chavez refused to fire an unnamed former business associate accused of stealing $500,000 from the organization. Continue reading Background Info on Pacifica’s Controversial CFO
A comment posted in Current Magazine in April of 2014:
The Pacifica Foundation’s 1946 founding mission statement commits it to (in a small nutshell) delivering educational radio programming oriented to peace, social justice and conflict resolution, wide-ranging political, cultural and artistic expression, and to “the full distribution of public information”. Continue reading Cui Bono?
Originally posted September 27, 2014
Berkeley-The financial shenanigans at Pacifica Radio, which former ED Summer Reese referred to in this April 1 interview, have impacted one of the foundation’s two employee retirement plans as $92,415 has potentially flown the coop. An outside audit by Helin Donovan, required by the pension plan’s 3rd party administrator, revealed 2012 deposits (due 9-30-2012) were never made, despite an affirmation by Pacifica’s auditor Armanino that the 2012 payments *were* made. The $200,101 amount Armanino states was paid into the network’s two retirement plans matches the records in the CFO’s financial statements (Lines K112-113) exactly. Continue reading Pension Fund Cover-Up
What’s Causing Static at KPFA: Money, Power and People’s Radio
(News for a People’s World 1993 by Nick Alexander)
Berkeley-KPFA, the nation’s premier listener-sponsored radio station is in the throes of a crisis that is at once political and administrative. Both sides of the conflict accuse opponents of resisting changes needed to fulfill station founder Lew Hill’s dream to fight for the rights of the marginalized, downbeaten and voiceless elements of society. At the center of the turmoil are a dispute over organizational hierarchy and charges that KPFA’s national board of directors is trying to create a left-leaning alternative to National Public Radio” (NPR). Continue reading Wayback Machine: What’s Causing Static At KPFA (Nick Alexander)
Originally posted September 18, 2014
Berkeley-Apparently worried their slim majority is growing too slim, Pacifica’s rogue board has taken to individually targeting their “enemies” with local board trials to remove them from the 501c3’s national board of directors. The first to undergo the treatment was Richard Uzzell, a Houston-based retired architect and contractor who served on KPFT’s local station board from 2004-2010 and was re-elected in 2012. Less than half the local board in Texas supported the removal at a vote taken on September 17th, so Uzzell will serve out his one-year term, but undeterred, the rogue board turned their attention to Los Angeles, scheduling another “trial” for the minority director there, Kim Kaufman. Continue reading Witch Hunts
Originally posted September 16, 2014
Berkeley-The turmoil engendered at Pacifica Radio earlier this year sunk to a new low last weekend, with a shockingly deliberate exhibition of cooking the books by Upfront host and current treasurer Brian Edwards-Tiekert, distributed in an email newsletter by the “Save KPFA” group. Continue reading Why Is A Journalist Deliberately Cooking Pacifica Radio’s Books?
Originally posted September 13, 2014
Berkeley-Un-elected chair/IED/IED Margy Wilkinson launched into a bit of a plaintive wail at Monday’s national election committee meeting, stating in response to a question from Houston rep Teresa Allen that she “didn’t know how much money Pacifica has, and didn’t know how much the stations have in their budgets”. The audio clip of Wilkinson’s statement can be found here. Continue reading Nobody Knows
Originally posted September 7, 2014
Berkeley-At Thursday night’s PNB meeting, the national board approved on somewhat nebulous terms a loan to Pacifica Foundation Radio of $156,000 from Southern California real estate magnate Aris Anagnos, the employer of board member Lydia Brazon. The reason for the loan was the payment of employee taxes for severance checks for 19 employees laid off from NY station WBAI in July of 2013. The loan is against WBAI’s future revenues, with $25,000 payments due after every station fund drive for the next year. The loan would cancel out for the next year a significant part of the potential cost savings from the hoped-for relocation of WBAI’s transmitter and antenna from its prohibitively expensive spot atop the Empire State Building. Continue reading Racking Up The Debts
from “Z” Magazine, March 1994
Independent Radio’s Problems and Prospects
an interview with Peter Franck,
former President of Pacifica Radio
by Peggy Noton
with help from Curtis Gray
Peter Franck’s connection to KPFA, Pacifica’s Berkeley station, goes back to the 1950’s, when as a student leader in the new left movement at UC Berkeley and president of the campus student chapter of ACLU, he was interviewed by KPFA program director Elsa Knight Thompson. He did a monthly commentary on the station for a couple of years during the 1960’s, and in 1973 joined the local advisory board. Two years later he became a member of the national board of the Pacifica Foundation (the national board is composed of selected members of the local boards and in 1980 became president of Pacifica, remaining in this office for four years. Continue reading Wayback Machine: 1994 Interview with Peter Franck
