Berkeley-Pacifica Radio, the nation’s oldest and first listener-sponsored noncommercial radio network finds itself on a precipice as FM radio moves steadily towards increased digital distribution. The network’s Sound Exchange discount, which permits the financially troubled network to stream copyrighted music on the Internet , will not continue for long if Pacifica does not recover grant funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The 2006 Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) established Sound Exchange to collect fees and discount programs available to CPB-funded stations insulate the network from additional operating costs. Continue reading The Day The Music Died→
Berkeley- At the Pacifica National Board meeting on Thursday night, the final seven bylaws amendments proposed by national board members bit the dust, with only one surviving of the dozen proposed – an amendment that would allow a 2nd bylaws amendment process later this year (because the first one was so successful). Continue reading Running Round A Hamster Wheel→
Berkeley- Houston listener representative Hank Lamb has introduced a motion to the Pacifica National Board to remove Margy Wilkinson as the PNB board chair and two-time interim executive director of Pacifica Radio. Lamb excoriated Wilkinson in an email he made public saying she had abused her authority as chair, withheld documents from the board, forced illegitimate votes, and “blackmailed the board”. Lamb also stated “Our majority is surreptitiously holding secret meetings to determine outcomes of official meetings in advance and illegitimately controlling agendas and acting in concert to prevent equal Directors a fair opportunity to have their issues discussed and solutions found”. Continue reading Removing The Unelected Chair→
Berkeley-The Pacifica Radio Network is entering its second week with no paid executive director. There is no board meeting scheduled to select one, leaving unelected retiree board chair Margy Wilkinson doing a dilettante job as the network struggles to survive. At the KPFA local station board meeting on July 12, director Jose Luis Fuentes, an employee of former corporate counsel Dan Siegel, said the volunteer ED was a “cost-saving measure” and suggested the job would not be filled until “there was less bad PR”. Fuentes previously made the motion to terminate the executive director (twice) and the job has been filled by two individuals for three intervals over the past 4 months, none for longer than 10 weeks. Continue reading No ED Until The Bad PR Stops→
Berkeley-The rogue majority on the Pacifica National Board declined to appoint an executive director at Thursday nights board meeting. In fact, they declined to talk about the executive director vacancy at all. Unelected board chair Wilkinson, after failing to receive a majority of votes as chair of the board in February, has inserted herself into the executive director position at Pacifica twice in the last four months. The board also failed to discuss or provide any information on the attempt to relocate WBAI’s antenna to the Conde Nast building, the replacement of KPFT’s declining transmitter before the 5th temporary stay runs out in November, the now 18-month delay in Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds, the erroneous tax returns filed in 2013, and the audit that has not begun 9 1/2 months after the close of the last fiscal year. Continue reading The DIY Employer→
Berkeley-The purges continue at Pacifica Radio.The latest victim is KPFK/KPFA interim general manager Richard Pirodsky, a 30-year radio operations veteran who was summarily removed from his position by the departing interim executive director Bernard Duncan, who executed Pirodsky’s termination in his last three minutes on the job. In the last week, the organization has seen the departures of the payroll and benefits manager, the administrative manager, the KPFK manager and the ED, with three of the four positions lacking a successor. This chaos creates a huge vacuum in an organization whose New York station is in crisis, whose public funding has been cut off, and which has not produced financial statements in months. Continue reading And Then There Were None→
Berkeley-The last two days of the tenure of Pacifica Radio’s 3rd executive director of the year are passing with no replacement named. Despite a 3-hour secret session on Monday night, the Pacifica board majority took no action to transition the organization’s leadership, which will be basically be defunct through the July 4th holiday. The board also took no action regarding the latest missed deadline to begin the 2012-13 financal audit, which passed on June 30th without comment. The radio network has now missed all deadlines to submit annual financial reports for 2014 Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding. Continue reading Every Game They Play→
Originally printed in Oakland Local http://oaklandlocal.com/2014/06/kpfa-community-radio/
Reprinted in SF Gate
Is KPFA Community Radio Going Extinct?
With its recent street protests, office occupations, and renegade broadcasts, Berkeley’s community radio station KPFA (94.1FM) typifies what people mean when they use the word “Berserkeley.” However, these confrontations are not merely some beatnik brouhaha, but in fact represent an existential threat to the future of community radio, and implicate one of Oakland’s current Mayoral candidates, Dan Siegel. Continue reading KPFA Community Radio Going Extinct? by Eric James Anderson→
Berkeley-The continued shuttling of the Pacifica Network’s legal business to the law firm of board member Jose Luis Fuentes has incited the rage of Texas listener rep Hank Lamb. Siegel and Yee, the law firm run by Oakland mayoral candidate Dan Siegel, his partner Alan Yee – the campaign treasurer for Oakland mayoral candidate Jean Quan – and former Oakland City Council member and failed 2012 candidate for Oakland City Attorney Jane Brunner, has taken on 3 legal matters for Pacifica since the March 25th resignation of corporate counsel Terry Gross. None of them have been voted on by a majority of the currently-seated board of directors as required by California Corporations Code Section 5233, when a public benefit corporation enters into a contract which financially benefits a member of the board of directors. Continue reading Cut The Crap – Says Former Board Majority Member→
