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→
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→
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→
Berkeley-At Thursday’s Pacifica National Board meeting, the growing extent of the financial disarray at Pacifica was revealed. In a brief question and answer session with auditor Armanino McKenna regarding the network’s last 990 annual tax return, significant problems were uncovered. As mentioned in a previous issue of Pacifica in Exile, the tax return is hundreds of thousands of dollars out of whack with income and expense totals on the audit, released only a few weeks later. Worse, the return contains a certification that missing Schedule B is not required because Pacifica is not a publicly-supported organization. A publicly-supported organization is one that receives at least 33% of its support from gifts, grants or donations from members whose basic purposes are to support the organization. Pacifica has always been one. Continue reading The Tax Man Cometh and The SF Labor Council Weighs In→
Berkeley-The first suspension has happened at Berkeley’s KPFA, with the rogue board majority and their supporters hitting 20-year volunteer news anchor Anthony Fest with a month-long suspension from the Sunday night news program, which he hosts. Continue reading Suspension→
Berkeley-The financial disarray at the Pacifica Foundation is increasing, and posing a serious threat to the continuing operations of the 5-station national network. The annual tax return (990 form) for the year ending 9-30-2012 has never been posted to the foundation’s website, as the return prepared under the supervision of fired then rehired CFO Raul Salvador, was filled with mistakes. Plans to amend the return within a year of filing have been delayed and possibly scotched by the new board majority regime which took over in February. Continue reading Lies and Deception→
Berkeley – A complete update on the national Pacifica scene will be out shortly. In the meantime, here’s some of what has been going on and some suggestions for action you can take.
Francisco Herrera and Andres Soto jammed together Friday at KPFA on-air in KPFA’s studio and sang The Ballad of the Morning Mix. Have a listen.
Berkeley– On Memorial Day morning at Berkeley’s KPFA radio, the AM hour did not go off as planned.
A sudden programming change was announced only five days ago to replace the Morning Mix, a programming collective including: Continue reading “The” Uprising at KPFA→
A Statement By Miguel Gavilan Molina, Executive Producer for La Onda Bajita, and Senior Producer for Flashpoints and Flashpoints in Espanol.
Broadcast between 5pm and 6pm at 94.1 fm on Friday May 23rd, 2014
“This is Miguel Gavilan Molina. It has come to my attention that this past Wednesday – the same day that Pacifica’s new interim executive director was introducing the staff of KPFA to the three finalists for the general manager position – KPFA’s outgoing interim manager was slashing and scattering the Morning Mix and removing it from the morning. Continue reading Stand Up And Fight Back For Free Speech Radio→
