Originally posted June 24, 2014

Berkeley-Alarmed by the abrupt removal of community-based programming at their sister station up north, the local station board at KPFK passed a motion on June 18th to prevent program rearrangement at their Los Angeles station. The motion by staff rep Jim Lafferty, ED of the Southern California chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, states “No programs shall be rescheduled or canceled based on how much money they raise, every programmer shall have access to all fund-drive premiums, and programmers shall be allowed to select and add premiums appropriate to their audience to the general list. The iGM shall have a conversation with the programmers to explain the fund drive process and discuss the programmers’ concerns.” It passed by a vote of 10-1-2. Continue reading Help Needed →

Originally posted June 20, 2014

Berkeley-At last night’s Pacifica National Board meeting, a number of unexplainable things occurred.

Despite a pronouncement by KPFA-affiliated director Jose Luis Fuentes (and Siegel and Yee employee) that the national board had passed a policy back in February that the executive director of the foundation was no longer permitted to hire station general managers without a vote of the board authorizing it,, a hire of Quincy McCoy as KPFA’s next general manager was announced by departing temporary ED Bernard Duncan. Without a vote by the board of directors ever having occurred. Inquiries to the board as to why they are not following their own policies were met with silence. Continue reading Incongruities →

Originally posted June 16, 2014

Berkeley-The Pacifica Foundation is swapping out executive directors again, as temporary interim Bernard Duncan prepares to depart to his native New Zealand, apparently to be replaced by board chair Wilkinson as the 4th executive director in the last 4 months. Wilkinson, who has cited her own lack of qualifications, is a disputed board chair, and a holdover on the national board as her elected three year term as a KPFA delegate ran out in December of 2013. Duncan has requested not to return to Berkeley from Los Angeles and to exit his appointed position totally by July 5th. Continue reading Musical Chairs →

Originally posted June 13, 2014

Berkeley-Members of the Siegel/Brazon faction, which sits in a slim majority on the Pacifica National Board, continue to express their enthusiasm for network breakup and the sale of one or more of the licenses of the smaller Pacifica stations, in informal online communications. In a Facebook discussion group, KPFA local station board member Kate Gowen called for the “amputation” of New York’s WBAI from the national radio network and former KPFA general manager Andrew Phillips declared “the East Coast stations are toast. Cut em loose”. Continue reading Amputation →