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.
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Summer Reese is the Pacifica Foundation’s Abe Lincoln
by Eric Jacobson
This is an except of a longer article. For the full text, click here.
Is the Pacifica Foundation Board Trying to Dissolve
the Foundation’s Five Station Union,
Place Each Station’s Broadcast License under Local Ownership,
Sell WBAI into the Commercial Marketplace and
Distribute the Proceeds as “Endowments”
to the Remaining 4 Stations?
. . .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
A Longer Occupation and January Back Door Plans
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
Bernard Duncan: Disputed Interim Executive Director
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
Impersonating The Corporate Counsel
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
Community Concern Rises & Who’s On First? Pacifica Board Meeting
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
Lawsuit Filed To Uphold Reese Contract, Rogue Board Paralyzed
Originally posted April 4, 2014
Berkeley- Nine members of the current Pacifica Foundation board of directors (Pacifica Directors for Good Governance) have filed suit to try to bring to an end the self-destructive spiral of the nation’s first listener-sponsored radio network. The complaint alleges irreperable harms resulting from the board’s reckless termination of Reese and succeeding actions, and requests intervention to protect the nonprofit from uninsurability and operational gridlock. The suit requests preliminary and permanent injunctions enjoining the board from continually violating the nonprofit’s bylaws, breaching the director’s contract and taking further actions absent documentation of properly noticed meetings and the issuance of approved minutes. Continue reading Lawsuit Filed To Uphold Reese Contract, Rogue Board Paralyzed
Save Pacifica Network Zipper Song “We Shall Not Be Moved”
(Save Pacifica Network Zipper Song – Make up your own verses!)
Chorus:
We shall not! We shall not be moved!
We shall not! We shall not be moved!
Just like a tree that’s standing by the water
We shall not be moved!
Continue reading Save Pacifica Network Zipper Song “We Shall Not Be Moved”
Auditor’s Management Letter to Pacifica Board Demands Accountability
Originally posted April 2, 2014
Berkeley-Armanino McKenna, the auditing firn which recently delayed Pacifica’s 2013 audit due to the inability or unwillingess of Berkeley station KPFA to provide reconciled accounting records, issued a management letter to the Board of Directors. In it, they observed that “the communications process and governance structure relating to individual divisons and the national office appears less than optimal. The overall success of the Foundation requires a collaborative operating mechanism between the national office and the individual stations. This was particularly in evidence with regard to the general lack of responsiveness during the audit from certain divisons in response to document requests from the national office”. Continue reading Auditor’s Management Letter to Pacifica Board Demands Accountability
Pacifica Directors For Good Governance To File Suit Today
Originally posted April 1, 2014
Berkeley-A lawsuit will be filed in Alameda County today by Pacifica Directors for Good Governance against the 12 Pacifica Foundation board members who have engaged in a series of illegitimate actions to destabilize the 65-year-old public radio network. The lead plaintiff is current board member Heather Gray, who is one of two representatives for Pacifica’s 180 program affiliate stations and is associated with WRFG (Radio Free Georgia). The 16+ page brief requests injunctive relief to protect Pacifica from adverse impacts resulting from the board majority’s illegal actions. Continue reading Pacifica Directors For Good Governance To File Suit Today