Tag Archives: pacifica

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Censoring Arun Gupta

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On November 10, 2015, supporters of the Berkeley wing of the Siegel/Brazon faction (Save KPFA) targeted an interview between Flashpoints host Dennis Bernstein and Indypendent editor Arun Gupta.

Gupta, who writes for The Nation, The Progressive, Al-Jazeera America,  and The UK Guardian  and has been a Democracy Now correspondent, was accused by Save KPFA supporter Sheila Sexton of being anti-union. This was quickly echoed by SaveKPFA-affiliated local station board member Kate Gowen and former Pacifica IED Margy Wilkinson, who asked for complaints to be filed with KPFA’s general manager and program director over Gupta’s interview. Continue reading Censoring Arun Gupta →

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Collateral Damage

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Snippet from October 22 Pacifica affiliates program committee. Affiliates Director Ursula Rudenberg reports being told she is probably going to lose her health insurance as of November 1st and national board members discuss. In order, the speakers are affiliates director Ursula Rudenberg, PNB member Janis Lane Ewart, PNB member Teresa Allen and Siegel-Brazon-affiliated board member Adriana Casenave. Continue reading Collateral Damage →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Board Elections Edition

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Berkeley-This edition of Pacifica In Exile is devoted solely to endorsements for the upcoming board elections. We will return to news and updates in a day or two.

Overview

In the year and a half since Pacifica in Exile began publication, the Pacifica Foundation has toppled into critical condition after a series of board coups, loss of Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding, an investigation by the California Attorney General of  accounting irregularities, the establishment of nonprofits by board members to privately secure Pacifica’s broadcasting licenses, and severe declines in membership and revenues. Under “volunteer” executive director Margy Wilkinson, the network could not complete timely financial audits, borrowed from and did not repay restricted funds, relied on temps who embezzled and “damaged” accounting systems, and hired an inexperienced board crony to lead its largest station and most powerful broadcasting signal in Los Angeles. Pacifica’s democratic system, put into place after Northern California subscribers petitioned the California Attorney General for membership rights, allows current donors to kick the board out. That time has come. Continue reading Board Elections Edition →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Weapons At Work

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News and Information about Pacifica Radio

Berkeley-At this evening’s Pacifica National Board meeting, NY listener representative Stephen Brown notified the board he was in receipt of a statement from a KPFK employee about a volunteer who said “they had brought a gun into KPFK” and their “friend outside in KPFK’s parking lot was also packing a gun”. The assertions were reported to a senior employee, who reported them to outgoing executive director John Proffitt on Monday, October 12th and and received no response at all. Brown stated on the board’s Internet  stream that KPFK’s former web director Ali Lexa, who was laid off in September, had let him know today of the lack of response from Pacifica to the report of firearms at the station. Continue reading Weapons At Work →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Loans at 20% Interest

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Berkeley-In the wake of Pacifica’s latest executive transition from permanent ED John Proffitt who resigned after 4 months, to Siegel/Brazon faction leader Lydia Brazon, information out of Pacifica’s national office (which is supposedly on the block for mortgage according to Brazon, who had earlier shown the property to real estate brokers in 2014), has slowed to a trickle. Despite apocalyptic statements from controller Efren Llarinas at the last national board meeting about bills due at the end of September, it appears enough money was borrowed to clear paychecks and preserve employee health benefits. However Llarinas continues to sound the alarm, telling the finance committee: “It is really unpredictable if PNO can fund its own PNO employees’ salaries this October 15 payroll ” and “There is no assurance right now that PNO will be able to advance the November healthcare bills (approx. $65K) which are all due on Oct. 31“. Meanwhile, the Pacifica Archive is desperately trying to collect money owed to it from stations, including “PRA Days” at LA and NY, premium billings from DC, and thousands owed from LA for the use of their bookeeper after the last temporary KPFK bookkeeper was terminated for embezzling and the sucessor quit in less than a week. Continue reading Loans at 20% Interest →

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Dominos Fall at KPFK: Betto Arcos Announces Last Show Today

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Global Village founder Betto Arcos announced his last day on-air at KPFK on September 29th, one day after colleague Derek Rath did the same. Arcos founded KPFK’s Global Village music strip in 1997.

Doors drummer John Densmore called in to say goodbye to Betto during the broadcast. Continue reading Dominos Fall at KPFK: Betto Arcos Announces Last Show Today →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

How To Terrorize Your Employees

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News and Information about Pacifica Radio

Berkeley – Several KPFK employees were greeted Monday morning with anonymous letters in their company mailboxes with a September 23rd postmark from Santa Clarita, CA. The anonymous letters contained an email sent from their fomer interim general manager and long-time operations manager Zuberi Fields to interim ED Margy Wilkinson and CFO Raul Salvador.  The email, dated December 15, 2014, consists of an inquiry into the costs of layoffs for a number of employees specified by name as: Mark Maxwell, Grant Fitzgibbon, Daniel Fritz, Rita Neyter Skiles, Bridgette Ramasodi, Janee Taylor, Ian Masters, Ali Lexa Al-Hilali, Kevin Walker, Margaret Prescod, Sonali Kolhatkar, Bipasha Shom and Margaret Le Pique. Continue reading How To Terrorize Your Employees →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Margy Wilkinson’s Pacifica Skids Off The Rails

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News and Information about Pacifica Radio

Berkeley– 22 months after scheming to depose her predecessor and replace her with herself and secretly setting up a nonprofit corporation to scoop up one or more Pacifica broadcasting licenses or other assets, Pacifica’s lame duck board of directors is facing the consequences and moving to mortgage real estate. In a startling national board meeting last night, reality overcame fraudulent financial statements trumpeting a “profit” for the year and chirpy election propaganda from Wilkinson’s faction sent out just a day prior. Continue reading Margy Wilkinson’s Pacifica Skids Off The Rails →