by Daniel Borgström
For the last month we’ve been occupying the Pacifica National Office, barricaded in, 24/7, taking turns standing watch, resisting the rogue board. We’re KPFA listeners and programmers, United for Community Radio members, with help from our allies at other Pacifica stations.
Here’s how this came about: Continue reading Cutting The Gordian Lock At Pacifica
By Paul Jackson, Listener-Sponsor KPFK-FM
The song changes, but the name remains the same: Save KPFA, formed in 1999 for the purpose of addressing the station’s needs vis-a-vis the Pacifica network of which it’s a valued part was a respectable organization in its own right. Savekpfa.org is a site whose current owners had little or nothing to do with those events of 15 years ago. Cleverly borrowing the name, they seek to reawaken the memories of that deeply unsettling conflict and to re-invoke the us-versus-them, station autonomy-versus-oppressive network paradigm. Continue reading Straight “majority” rule? Lewis Hill would be disappointed
Originally posted April 11, 2014
Berkeley-Confusion reigned at the national Pacifica Radio network when board member Hank Lamb from Houston (one of the 12 directors being sued for breaching the executive director’s contract) sent a muddled email to network employees.
Lamb’s April 10th email assured staff the “legal” executive director was *not* Bernard Duncan, but was instead alleged chair of the board, Margy Wilkinson. Lamb’s email stated, “Until a court says otherwise, if they ever do, you are an employee of the Foundation and there is a direct heirarchy [sic] to be followed. You follow the bylaws and job description and wants and needs of the iED, Margy Wilkinson. She is the legal IED”. Continue reading Rogue Board Swapping Out Executive Directors Again?
On April 7, 2014 Pacifica Radio’s Executive Director Summer Reese was interviewed by Heather Gray of WRFG-89.3FM in Atlanta which is an Affiliate of Pacifica Radio. Ms Reese discussed her accomplishments, the challenges of community radio and her ideas for future development of community radio overall in America and specifically about the Pacifica Radio network.
by Eric Jacobson
This is an except of a longer article. For the full text, click here.
. . .Ms. Reese has the unstinting support of 9 members of the PNB who have coalesced in the Pacifica Directors for Good Governance (PDGG) group, the plaintiff in the pending Alameda County Superior Court lawsuit before Judge Petrou. Their lawsuit seeks, among other things, to enjoin the Board majority from breaching Ms. Reese’s employment contract.
So, what (on earth) is really going on? It turns out to primarily involve “battle fatigue” on the part of a small group of aging baby boomers involved with Berkeley’s Pacifica station KPFA and their counterparts on the PNB, who have given up on the Pacifica Foundation’s union of 5 stations in one national network. A case in point is Carol Spooner. (See here for a statement from Carol Spooner in response to this article) Continue reading Summer Reese is the Pacifica Foundation’s Abe Lincoln
Originally posted April 9, 2014
Berkeley-The hearing at Department 15 of Alameda Superior Court booted the referendum on the breaching of the executive director’s contract into May. A procedural requirement to individually serve 12 defendants in 5 different cities (including one with no established place of residence) was virtually impossible in the abbreviated time frame between the filing on April 3rd and the hearing on the morning of April 9th. Continue reading A Longer Occupation and January Back Door Plans
The Pacifica National Board Majority announced the appointment of Bernard Duncan to be the disputed interim Executive Director in the first week of April, 2014. Board members report he was the only candidate and they did not interview him prior to the board vote. Some members of the board have never spoken to the person they “voted” to appoint. Continue reading Bernard Duncan: Disputed Interim Executive Director
Originally posted April 8, 2014
Berkeley-Pacifica’s payroll administrator received a letter from Oakland law firm Siegel and Yee on March 28th instructing them to provide online access to Pacifica’s payroll accounts to three individuals: Raul Salvador, the former probationary CFO terminated by the board of directors on January 2, 2014, disputed board chair Margy Wilkinson, and Bernard Duncan, who was publicly reported hired as an interim ED on April 3rd, one week after the date of the letter. Continue reading Impersonating The Corporate Counsel
Originally posted April 7, 2014
Berkeley-A community meeting hosted by the Berkeley station’s Community Advisory Board was held at the South Berkeley Center Center at 2939 Ellis Street in Berkeley on Sunday April 6th and attended by about a hundred people. The vast majority expressed great concern about the abrupt attempted firing of the executive director and the prospect of the network breaking up via the sale of one or more radio licenses. People asked for clarity about KPFA and Pacifica’s finances as they talked about the upcoming audit. Continue reading Community Concern Rises & Who’s On First? Pacifica Board Meeting
