Tag Archives: budget

Documents and Meetings In Hiding

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For Immediate Release

Documents and Meetings in Hiding

Berkeley –  IED Lydia Brazon has failed to respond to a directors inspection request filed by KPFK listener representative and attorney Jan Goodman requesting the final SAG-AFTRA arbitration results at LA station KPFK. Goodman’s request was filed on October 14. Brazon had not replied as of the close of business on Tuesday October 25, much less provided the requested information.  California Corporations code section 6334 provides every member of the board of directors the absolute right to inspect and copy all books, records and documents of every kind. Members of the board of directors have not seen the SAG-AFTRA settlement signed by Brazon and unofficial corporate counsel Dan Siegel more than a month ago. Until recently, they had not even known the amount of money Pacifica was responsible for paying and when it had to be paid.

Continue reading Documents and Meetings In Hiding

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.

Legal Bills For Procedural Quibbles

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Berkeley-In bicoastal court appearances this week, Pacifica relied on procedural feints to further delay hearings on two requests for injunctive relief filed against them by their own members. In Northern California, Yeakey vs. Pacifica requests the removal of 7 national board members whose elected terms expired in December of 2015 and who were not re-elected, and the removal of two Pacifica affiliate representatives who are not affiliated with current Pacifica affiliated stations. The complaint can be seen here. In New York, Young vs Pacifica requests the seating of national board representatives from WBAI-FM who have been prevented from voting or participating on the national board for four months by the Siegel/Brazon majority faction. The East Coast complaint can be seen hereContinue reading Legal Bills For Procedural Quibbles

Double Standards: All Budgets Are Not Equal

 

A snippet from Tuesday’s national finance committee meeting, which displays the Siegel/Brazon majority wiggling out of Bill Crosier’s sensible motion that requirements for Texas station KPFT to have reality-based budget numbers be applied to the other four stations as well. Continue reading Double Standards: All Budgets Are Not Equal