Tag Archives: kpft

Beware The Last Days

dove-300x176

Originally posted May 12, 2015

Berkeley-Board chair Margy Wilkinson, who deposed her predecessor in March of 2014 and then served as Pacifica’s interim executive director for most of the last 15 months (briefly interrupted for 90 days by Bernard Duncan who departed for New Zealand), pulled a last-minute fast one a day and a half prior to new ED John Proffitt’s arrival in Berkeley by appointing former board member and factional crony Leslie Radford as the new permanent general manager at Pacifica’s LA station KPFK. Continue reading Beware The Last Days

Pacifica’s CFO Resigns

dove-300x176

Originally posted May 7, 2015

BerkeleyPacifica’s chief financial officer Raul Salvador suddenly resigned on May 6, 2015 at 10:00am. The resignation is effective May 15th, four days after new Executive Director John Proffitt begins work on May 11th. Salvador’s tenure at Pacifica was stormy, marked by the Board’s decision not to move ahead with his permanent hire in January of 2014. The decision was reversed by the new incoming board a month later, leading to the departure of most of the national office accounting staff. Continue reading Pacifica’s CFO Resigns

Petition: Tell the Pacifica National Board to Protect Whistleblowers, Not to Punish Them

Originally posted May 2, 2015

On April 30, 2015, the majority on the Pacifica National Board (PNB) voted in closed session to remove Kim Kaufman, a Director from KPFK who has repeatedly tried to get the PNB and management to investigate financial irregularities and missing/incomplete information supplied to the California Attorney General.

The retaliation against Kim Kaufman by the PNB is one in a long line of incidents where people trying to draw attention to fiscal mismanagement at Pacifica stations have been harassed, fired, run off and recalled. Continue reading Petition: Tell the Pacifica National Board to Protect Whistleblowers, Not to Punish Them

Pacifica’s Shame: From Battling Witch Hunts To Embracing Them

dove-300x176

Originally posted May 2, 2015

Berkeley-Consistent with their long-standing pattern of retaliating against staff and board members who blow the whistle on financial malfeasance, the rogue board majority joined by KPFA’s UCR representative Janet Kobren who cast the tiebreaking vote, kicked LA listener rep Kim Kaufman off the Pacifica National Board for the alleged crime of supposedly releasing financial data sent to California’s Attorney General in response to the state’s investigation of the radio network.

Continue reading Pacifica’s Shame: From Battling Witch Hunts To Embracing Them

KPFA: Radio Programs for Social Change or for Jobs?

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?

Pacifica Elections 2015: Guide from Grace Aaron

This twelve-minute video contains an explanation by 2009 IED Grace Aaron on the Pacifica elections process and how you can participate. The audio originally aired on “Connect the Dots”, an LA public affairs program hosted by Lila Garrett, and is now available on Youtube with added graphics.

While some of the information is LA-specific, much of it is applicable to the elections in all 5 signal areas and we highly recommend watching and sharing.

Remember, the membership deadline is July 14th, so if you have not pledged in the last year, please do so at your station’s website before July 14th. A pledge of $25 or more will earn you a vote.

Security Camera Clips – Ian Johnston Incident at KPFK

These are clips from the security camera in the lobby of Pacifica’s Los Angeles station detailing the before, during and after an incident of physical handling of a staff member by a board member, who was later suspended and then removed from the board and banned from the station.

New manager Leslie Radford, a factional crony of Johnston’s has “rescinded” the ban, introducing safety and security concerns for several KPFK employees.

These are three clips from the same 34 minute long security camera film. Date and time checks are on the video clips. This first one is a few minutes prior to the physical encounter with KPFK IT director Jonathan Alexander, an employee for more than 8 years. The second details the incident itself and the third is shortly afterwards.

Shutting Down While Breaking Even

dove-300x176

Originally posted April 18, 2015

Berkeley-On a sad note, long-time KPFA board operator and music host Wesley Burton was killed in an automobile accident in the early hours of the morning on Saturday April 18th driving home after hosting Sideshow Radio, a late night hip-hop show that ends at 2:00am. Burton leaves a wife and several children. Continue reading Shutting Down While Breaking Even

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

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

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

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