Pacifica is accused and maligned by an anonymous 'person ?' and info in response to those words are here:

This is a reposting from an article in http://www.la.indymedia/ that was in response to allegations and accusations made by another author who chose to remain anonymous - while freely making declarations against both the PNB, specific staff and board members, and named individuals who may need to realize their names are thus used.

Title of that article is :
"Pacifica’s Current Board Structure is Destroying the Network"
written by Concerned Pacifican [ but who is this ????]
Monday, Sep. 28, 2009 at 5:19 PM {URL is below}

The freedom to make statements and not be called on them, or to accuse specific people and not be known for making those statements, and to repeatedly claim racial discrimination factors without factual confirmation in that article gives rise to the ways many prefer to operate [ in the dark, hiding behind a cute name, with the freedom but NO RESPONSIBILITY for their words or the effects ].

the article can be found at :
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/09/230683_comment.php#230721

the response copied from that same site is provided below to expose and inform the 'rest of us'. It was written by a long-time volunteer and contributor to the KPFK radio station and it's associates. In addition, another comment on the same URL above discusses the easy abuse of race as a way to accuse, defend, pretend and get gains, and how the census does not bear out the proportionality of USA populations to give fair and equal representation. That is not copied here due to lack of space.

This is the informative and hopefully helpful explanatory response:

Title: "Network"
by Terry Goodman written on Wednesday,Sep. 30, 2009 at 4:05 PM
tgoodman4@roadrunner.com

As is typical of anonymous Indymedia acticles about Pacifica, the piece "Pacifica’s Current Board Structure is Destroying the Network" is biased, presenting misinformation as fact to manipulate opinion. Such articles reflecting a narrow ideological interpretation of historical events commonly appear in the middle of each Pacifica delegate election period. This refutation attempts to balance those distortions with accuracy.

There is certainly little doubt that Pacifica’s current board structure has problems or that the network is in distress, but the true causes of the network's disfunction actually predate its democratization. The original article is also generally correct in its central claim that a long-sought purge is underway. But what those primarily responsible for the network's problems now call an assault on everything good and decent is viewed by others as the long-delayed remedy to persistent mismanagement and the long-needed implementation of needed reform -- i.e, the success of the democratic governance model.

>"Carol Spooner's finger-wagging review of the current state of Planet Pacifica ignores the crushing impact of the new 122-member National Board structure."

The Pacifica National Board has only 21 or 22 Members who serve as a Board of Directors. The others in the "122-member" figure are locally-elected delegates who choose the Directors and have very little power beyond that. Spooner criticizes the democratized PNB for its years of inaction in delaying assumption of its management oversight role.

>"Top-heavy, hugely expensive, conflict-ridden and racially polarized, this five-year old Board system was instituted to assure greater democracy and prevent the corporatization of Pacifica. "

The Foundation itself is run by an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer chosen by the Pacifica National Board. These officers have some staff (fewer now, after layoffs, than in prior years), so it is not really "top-heavy." The Board, which has been afflicted by the "racial polarization" of a particular faction in the years since democratization, provides nominal oversight over the activities of the Executive Director (CEO) and the CFO.

The Board is "conflict-ridden" by design, since Pacifica's democratization uses methods of proportional representation in voting that assure voice to several minority factions among stakeholders, and this has allowed for roadblacks to progress and substantial governance disfunction.

The "hugely expensive" portion of the structure is the local delegate elections which occur in two out of every three years at a cost of about $200,000 each. The cost of elections could be substantially reduced through a transition to internet voting.

The remaining costs of governance could be substantially reduced by boards focusing their attention on the policy revision and management oversight roles rather than wasting meeting time on contentious matters beyond the boards' scope of authority. The current PNB has significantly cuts meeting costs as compared to the arrangements previous left to the now exiled prior management.

>"this five-year old Board system was instituted to assure greater democracy and prevent the corporatization of Pacifica. "

The system was instituted to assure greater democracy in governance, and that has occurred. "Preventing corporatization" is problematical as an identified objective, because Pacifica is unambiguosly a California nonprofit corporation. In the minds of many who fought to achieve governance democratization, the purpose of this step was to protect the Foundation's Mission, since the general membership from whom Pacifica's financing is primarily obtained was perceived to be more generally dedicated to that Mission than the "old boy's network" that had produced a Board of Directors by means other than election by the project membership now identified as listeners and staff.

>"But instead of protecting Pacifica, the new governance structure is destroying Pacifica. "

Actually, the new governance structure is only just beginning to accomplish long-needed reforms and repair the damage caused by previous management. To make Pacifica's democratization evolutionary rather than revolutionary, stakeholders such as staff were guaranteed one-fouth of the seats in governance, and the power of managers was protected by prohibiting their dismissal without joint agreement between the Executive Director and the Local Station Board. Where management and staff found common interest, such as in maintaining the status quo, reform by governance was roadblocked or delayed.

>"It's bred factionalism, dysfunction, self-dealing, a plethora of litigation and staff purges network-wide. "

Factionalism actually existed prior to democratization, but it has been given a more formal shape through Pacifica's electoral politics. Pro-management and anti-management factions have appeared, as have pro-straff and anti-staff factions. There have also been factions for and against various sorts of programming, though many in governance still recognize that station programming needs protection from meddling by Pacifica's internal politicians.

Governance dysfunction has been encouraged by management and staff, as this protects the power of the status quo. Actual "self-dealing" is prohibited by law and has only been a problem when management has impeded financial inspections by Directors. Pacifica's current management leadership was at the forefront of prior governance efforts for fiscal accountability.

When LaVarn Williams was appointed as interim Pacifca CFO to replace Lonnie Hicks, it was not "self-dealing" because Williams was no longer a Foundation Director. Holding an MBA and having years of experience in corporate finance, she was well qualified for the position, not to mention her years of distinguished volunteer service as Foundation Treasurer and Chair of the PNB's Finance Committee. As an example of her ability, dedication, and integrity, she now additionally serves as interim General Manager of station WBAI, probably without receiving any salary for that work.

As the elected Chair of the Pacifica National Board, Grace Aaron became interim Executive Director of Pacifica by California statute when the position became vacant upon the resignation of Nicole Sawaya, so there was no "self-dealing" there. She initially served in this capacity with no salary, but could not afford to continue on that basis.

The PNB has likely voted to award her a salary in order to keep her during its permanent Executive Director search, but this was a disclosed conflict of interest permitted under law because a more qualified individual was not easily available for a lesser rate -- a situation not dissimilar from the volunteer service of Dan Siegel as iED while being paid as the Foundation's Counsel. Board Chair/CEO combinations are fairly common in the corporate world, which helps explain why the California statute on CEO vacancies works like it does.

There was one case of Board Member Rob Robinson receiving the award of a fixed-fee contract for services related to preparation of a digital distribution strategy for the network. In this case the conflict of interest was fully disclosed and the statutory requirements to avoid prohibited self-dealing were fully met.

The only other situations reported in recent memory where a credible allegation of "self-dealing" might be made were in connection with Don Rojas who is no longer employed as WBAI's General Manager and in connection with Bernard White who has been dismissed as WBAI's Program Director.

Pacifica's problems with litigation, other than the early lawsuits that prompted democratization, have been primarily management-related employee lawsuits and not at all governance-related. Previous purges have typically been station management initiated so as to forestall needed reform, while the current purge is more Executive Director initiated in an attempt to institute needed reform. The need for reform is generally recognized now because financial reports are not being mischaracterized, but the nature and direction of the reforms needed is of course a matter of partisan interpretation.

>"The sad fact is that under this Board system Pacifica has become a pariah organization and the miserable object of universal pity and contempt. "

There's some truth here, but the assumption that the current Board system is the cause is not well-founded. If governance members were trained in the principles of policy governance and stuck to their assigned role, the system could work. It is not a substantially different system than the structure that works well in other nonprofit organizations. In actual fact, Pacifica has difficulting attracting good managers because those managers can expect constant abuse from the various factions opposing change, which are the same factions that have always sought to marginalize governance and keep it ineffective.

The author of the original Indymedia article identifying the Pacifica democratic structure as the cause of long-standing problems rather than source of their eventual remedy clearly intends readers to abandon organizational democracy now that it is beginning to show fruit.

>"Until the governance structure is thrown out, Pacifica Radio will never be able to stabilize and focus on its historic mission. "

The management of the Pacifica Foundation and its radio stations is largely exempt from meddling by the largely paralyzed Pacifica National Board. Financial stabilization and Mission focus is fully within the authority of management when good executive leadership is in place.

>"But for Spooner and her faction, entrenched staff and false cries of racism are the problem. "

Entrenched staff and false cries of racism can be problems when they impede needed reform, but Pacifica's biggest problem is its weak programming.

>"Spooner says that the termination or removal earlier this year of seven males of color, including CFO Lonnie Hicks and WPFW GM Ron Pinchback, was necessary to restore financial stability. "

Pacifica's largely black male leadership was largely responsible for its declining revenues and runaway expenses.

>"But the reality is that since 2003, Spooner has demanded the summary dismissal of many of those same individuals on purely factional grounds. "

The reality is that since 2003, Spooner has demanded the dismissal of many of those individuals for cause. The issue became factionalized because some considered the targeted individuals to be protectors of others similarly incompetent.

>"In early 2004, then Board member Spooner made illegal and strident demands for the immediate termination of the entire network management, including CFO Lonnie Hicks and WPFW GM Ron Pinchback. Those demands earned a formal censure by then Board chair Leslie Cagan."

As a member of Pacifica's interim Pacifica National Board, Spooner's calls for management dismissals were not illegal, they were instead an attempted exercise of governance oversight. Spooner served as Foundation Secretary and chaired the Board's Governance and Finance Committees. iPNB Chair Leslie Cagan had no personal power to censure Spooner. Censure requires a Board vote.

>"Later that year, Spooner physically assaulted a female staff member in a pique of anger after failing to get the Board to summarily fire the then Executive Director. The staff member, a single mother, demanded that Spooner resign.

Considering the distortions through this article, I give no credit to this allegation in the absence of specific reference to evidence of claims.

>"Spooner's statement that simply because you replaced fired people of color with people of color means you can't be, or be called, racist is shocking. "

Calling dismissals racist just because the persons dismissed are of color is shocking.

>"The fact is it does not matter what the color of the person is you replace a fired person of color with."

That's a reassuring observation.

>"The firing itself for racially motivated reasons is illegal irrespective of any subsequent actions. "

A firing is illegal if it is for racially motivated reasons. Incompetent employees are not protected from dismissal by their race.

>"Spooner ignores the fact that Pacifica's attorney at the time of the firings warned the Pacifica Board against those summary firings precisely on the basis that it exposed the network to possible charges of racial discrimination. "

Okay, maybe incompetent employees are protected from dismissal by their race.

>"As a result of recommending against the terminations, the network attorney was then forced out. "

The facts here seem mixed up. Pacifica's attorney for most of the time when Spooner served on the iPNB was Kevin Finck. A subsequent Foundation Counsel, Dan Siegel recently resigned after CFO Lonnie Hicks was dismissed. Siegel and Hicks were both part of the Pacifica financial problem requiring remedy. Both had illegally blocked Director inspections investigating credible allegations of financial mismanagement.

>"The fact is that Spooner and the faction she represents have been openly seeking the summary dismissal of many paid staff around the network for years. "

A Pacifica faction has been demanding that bad Pacifica managers be dismissed for years. That faction recently became a majority on the Pacifica National Board through the influence of the democratic election of local delegates by the Pacifica membership.

Opening seeking change is part of the democratic governance process, and management blocking needed change is subject to dismissal under the concept of accountability.

>"Financial mismanagement is a convenient excuse. "

Lack of operating funds is an inescapable handicap.

"And once removed, the very Board members who had openly demanded their removal end up replacing those paid staff members. "

A Foundation Director and former Director with demonstrated histories of fiscal responsibility have recently been appointed as interim Executive Director and interim Chief Financial Officer of the Foundation while permanent managers are sought.

<"In fact, naked self-dealing by current and past Board members is common in the new Pacifica. "

As explained in answer to the previous allegation of self-dealing above, this charge is simply not true.

"In her latest email, for instance, Spooner does not reveal that for the last several years she has been working for Free Speech Radio News (FSRN), an independent entity funded almost entirely by Pacifica. "

The fact merits disclosure, but does not disqualify Spooner's opinions. FSRN depends upon Pacifica's survival for its continued funding, so there is a concordance of interest. Alternative media is a small world and those who leave one such organizaton often find employment in another similar organization.

>FSRN has received some two million dollars from the network without any strings
>attached.

Those who negotiated the contract with Pacifica on behalf of FSRN probably don't consider it a "no-strings" agreement.

>Unlike Pacifica staff members, or Democracy Now!, FSRN is not required to fundraise
>and, in fact, raises functionally nothing for the network.

Pacifica benefits from the fundraising that FSRN does on its own behalf, because the quality of the program is improved by application of these additional resources. The requirement that Pacifica staff members fundraise is occasionally a liability to fundraising efforts.

>But while Pacifica staff members are laid off due to "economic reasons," or fired
>supposedly because of financial mismanagement, Spooner's FSRN outfit still receives
>hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from the network.

The only really valid question with respect to the Pacifica-FSRN or Pacifica-Democracy Now! agreements is whether or not Pacifica is getting its money's worth. This is the same question that has been applied in some employee dismissals, retentions, and layoffs.

>"This fact should be a wake-up call to the entire Pacifica community and media reform
movement. "

That Pacifica pays FSRN for news is a wake-up call?

>"Pacifica is threatened not by entrenched staff or false claims of racism. "

Pacifica is well-served by some entrenched staff but not by others. False claims of racism don't help the situation any.

<"But like in the late 1990s, the National Board itself is the problem --"

The National Board is always part of the problem and part of the solution.

>"unjust firings, gagging dissident producers, self-dealing, running up legal bills, deepening racial divisions and putting at risk the entire organization for narrow personal or factional gain. "

Unjust firings are not good, but most recent firings have been fully justified. Gagging dissident producers is not good, but what is currently being characterized as "gagging" was mostly just a warning that existing policies against character defamation would be enforced. Illegal self-dealing has largely been stopped in part through the current reform effort. Managers under whose tenure expensive lawsuits arose have been eased out or dismissed.

"Racial divisions" have been an excuse for poor job performance and a roadblock to improving standards and implementing appropriate accountability. Pacifica's interim leadership is not in the struggle for personal gain, as demonstrated by their long histories of volunteer service to the organization, but it is a sad commentary on the state of Pacifica's electoral politics when the financial sustainability of a station is recognized as an essential issue by one faction and dismissed as a distraction by another.

>"the solution is clear -- the current Board structure must go, the sooner the better. "

The current Board structure cannot be changed unless the membership votes to change it or a court appoints a receiver that removes the few powers that the Pacifica Board of Directors retain. The only sooner solution potentially available to Pacifica is bringing in good management. If the Board can improve management through executive selection, policy review, and general oversight, it can help solve problems. Otherwise, it can only create problems.

Good management can typically work around a disfunctional Board. Better management can improve a Board by providing training, guidance, and leadership.

[end of comment]

KPFK and Pacifica has rules for recalls of Delegates to LSB ...let's use this info well !

this is a resposting from KPFK's Local Station Board and provided here to expand information, make more transparent what occurs at OUR STATIONs, and to keep communications Open and inter-participative, not left to those who make the "rules" alone...we hope.

Procedures for Delegate Recall: By Class from which the Delegate came

Section 1. The recall petition is to be sent to the secretary of the LSB, c/o the radio station. The petition may be delivered in person, or via US mail or commercial delivery service. Notice of the delivery of the petition shall be sent to the secretary via e-mail. The secretary will forward it within 2 days to legal counsel, previously designated by the PNB, for a determination of whether or not the petition is alleging behavior that is “adverse to the best interest of the Foundation or the local radio station”. The Secretary will notify the Chair of the PNB and the Pacifica Executive Director of the arrival of the petition at the same time. Counsel is to return it to the Chair of the PNB within 5 working days. The PNB at a special meeting if necessary, will decide, upon the advice of counsel, whether the charges in the petition meets the standard in the bylaws for actions “detrimental to the best interests of the foundation”. If the decision is affirmative, the Chair of the PNB will notify the GM of the station within 2 days of the need to certify the petition. If it is negative, the PNB chair will notify the petitioners that their charges have not met the legal standard necessary, and the recall will not occur.

Section 2. The General Manager will have 10 working days from receipt of the petition to certify that the names on the petition are authentic and of sufficient number to satisfy the bylaw requirement of 2% of the membership of the class of the delegate. The GM will notify the secretary of the LSB immediately when that determination is made. The number of required signatures shall be clearly stated in this letter of determination.

Section 3. The record date for the recall election will be the date that the GM certifies the petition, and only members in good standing at that time are entitled to vote. The secretary, upon receipt of the certification will immediately notify the Chair of the PNB that a recall election must be held, with the record date of the petition. The Chair will immediately notify the delegates subject to recall of the record date. To be a valid signature on an LSB Recall Petition, the person signing must be a member on the date of signing the petition.

Section 4. The PNB or their appointed representative shall appoint an agent to supervise the conducting of the election or otherwise see that the election is conducted fairly. The ballots are to be distributed between 45 and 60 days from the record date. They are to be returned within 35 days of their mailing date. Ballots are to be counted and a result declared by the election supervisor within 15 days of the return date of the ballots.

Section 5. The ballot will consist of the text of the recall petition of 1000 words or less, exactly as submitted, a statement from the delegate subject to recall of no more than 1000 words, and the ballot question which will be comprised of only yes or no as a response to whether the delegate shall be recalled The delegate’s statement is required to be filed 21 days before the mailing date determined by the election supervisor.

Section 6. Delegates subject to recall and petitioners shall have equal access to the mailing list for the eligible members. Any challenges to the names on the lists will be resolved by the appointed supervisor in consultation with the General Manager.

Section 7. All recall elections must be completed prior to 90 days before the date for sending out of ballots for a general election, if any delegate subject to recall is eligible for election in that general election.

Section 8. The election shall be subject to the quorum rules for the class, and the recall will be deemed to have failed if a quorum is not reached.

[snipped] .....[there was].an extended discussion about requiring all delegates and new non-union paid staff to agree to arbitration rather than taking legal action against the Foundation. It became evident[at a meeting] that such a requirement for delegates would most likely require a Bylaws amendment. Foundation counsel indicated that current non-union staff (primarily the 10 management-level employees) might sign on in exchange for changing their "termination at will" status to "termination for cause." The discussion will continue....[snipped]

Pacifica's NY - WBAI stewards exposed misinformation that needs corrections...see here ..learn!

"Justice and Unity faction tries to sabotage WBAI Fundraiser"

this repost was rec'd on Thursday, July 16, 2009 7:54 AM was originally sent to:

WBAIelections@yahoogroups.com NewPacifica@yahoogroups.com, PacificaRadiowaves@yahoogroups.com

“On or about Wed Jul 15, 2009, the WBAI USOC Stewards wrote:
A group of people based in California, with the cooperation of local cohorts, have recently staged a coup at WBAI. “

reponse & corrections: A group of people based in New York, with the cooperation of cohorts in other station areas, have had a stranglehold on Pacifica until recently, and that stranglehold almost destroyed the Pacifica Foundation. The Pacifica Foundation, based in California, with the support of the Pacifica National Board consisting of Directors elected from all Pacifica station areas and with representation from Affiliates, under a democratic structure wherein listeners and staff use proportional voting methods to elect delegates, has facilitated a change in the management of New York station WBAI, which has been operating at a deficit for several years, subsequent to a majority request for such change in management by the democratically elected representatives of the radio station's local membership, who are in the categories of listener-sponsor members and staff members.

WABIers claim : The interim Pacifica Executive Director, Grace Aaron of Los Angeles, has engaged in a series of politically-motivated firings and bannings of longtime station and network staff in violation of due process and human decency.

reponse & corrections: The interim Pacifica Executive Director, Grace Aaron of Los Angeles, elected Chair of the Pacifica National Board by vote of its Directors and appointed iED by vote of its Directors, has taken steps to implement resolutions of the democratically elected National and Local Boards. Except for General Manager removals at WBAI and WPFW, employment actions at all stations have been at the direction of the unit managers. Most of these employment actions have been staff layoffs to reduce expenses, made necessary by operating deficits at WBAI in New York and at KPFK in Los Angeles. Pacifica is attentive to due process in its employment actions and treats its employees with decency.

reponse & corrections: The major reductions in Pacifica's network staff occurred months before Grace Aaron was made interim Executive Director. Pacifica's National Office is funded by payments from its broadcast stations and both WBAI and KPFK were behind in their payments to the National Office. Most of Pacifica's national staff was laid off in response to this loss of critical funding.

WABIers claim :In New York, General Manager Anthony Riddle has been forced out and replaced by LaVarn Williams of Berkeley, California.

reponse & corrections: LaVarn Williams is an experienced financial analyst and served for several years as Treasurer of the Foundation, elected by previous Pacifica National Boards. She was appointed interim CFO by the PNB in January and her double-duty as interim WBAI General Manager is both saving the Foundation money and placing financial oversight where it is most needed.

WABIers claim : Longtime WBAI Program Director Bernard White was fired as he returned from major surgery and banned from the station and airwaves, as was Ayo Harrington ­ education activist and a producer of "On the Count" ­ our criminal justice/prison rights" program.

reponse & corrections: Bernard White, as WBAI's Program Director, shares major responsibility for the station's declining listenership and poor financial performance in recent years. Ayo Harrington served as Bernard White's assistant for some of this period.

WABIers claim :Acting Manager Williams has ignored Ayo Harrington and the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee's asking for Ms. Williams' reasons for her actions against Ayo Harrington.

reponse & corrections: If Ayo Harrington was dismissed in connection with her service as Assistant to the Program Director, then she does not have union representation in that dispute. If Harrington was dismissed in connection with her subsequent service as WBAI Premiums Manager, then her representation in that dispute should come from the paid staff's union. USOC stewards, who may or may not represent a recognized unpaid staff bargaining unit at WBAI, are interfering where they have no reasonable claim of authority; and Ayo Harrington had no business serving as a USOC steward when a Pacifica employee if she has done so.

WABIers claim : Additionally, host Mimi Rosenberg and newscaster Don Debar have been removed from WakeUp Call for their opposition to the coup.

reponse & corrections: Because the management changes at WBAI are supported by the station's Local Station Board consisting of delegates elected by vote of the station's local membership, those changes cannot accurately be characterized as a "coup." Volunteers Mimi Rosenberg and Don Debar have been removed from WakeUp Call not for their opposition to these changes but for other reasons. USOC stewards may represent these volunteers in their disputes with the station, but USOC does not control the station's programming decisions or station management's enforcement of Pacifica's programming policies.

WABIers claim : In Berkeley, after a baseless, public smear campaign, Chief Financial Officer Lonnie Hicks was fired.

reponse & corrections: Former CFO Lonnie Hicks is claiming such a campaign in his lawsuit against the Foundation; but, in fact, the Pacifica National Board had good cause to implement this dismissal and would have had equally good cause in previous years.

WABIers claim : In Los Angeles, KPFK Program Director Armando Gudino has been fired, as have News Director (and "Informativo Pacifica" producer) Fernando Velasquez,and programmer Jerry Quickley.

reponse & corrections: I do not know the details of Armando Guidino's exit at KPFK, but Fernando Velasquez and Jerry Quickley were both laid off, not fired. None of these KPFK employees are being replaced anytime soon, and there were additional recent staff cuts at this station.

WABIers claim : In Washington, D.C., General Manager Ron Pinchback was fired and humiliatingly escorted from the premises.

reponse & corrections: It is normal practice for separated employees to be escorted from the premises. Ron Pinchback was also serving as that station's Program Director. WPFW's financial performance has been better than that of WBAI and KPFK in recent years, but the station has not been raising enough funds to finance a move that will be required upon expiration of its studio lease. The Pacifica Foundation does not currently have the funds to rescue WPFW and finance its move when that time comes, so WPFW must substantially improve the performance of its capital campaign. Specifically, it must match a $1 Million pledge over four years or it may lose all or part of that donation.

WABIers claim: Thus, the current leadership of WBAI/Pacifica is undermining the principles that Pacifica promises to its workers and preaches to others.

reponse & corrections: The current leadership of WBAI/Pacifica is attempting to rescue WBAI, KPFK, WPFW, and Pacifica from financial catastrophe while improving those station's and the network's adherance to the Pacifica Mission and those station's and the network's service to its listeners. Pacifica is the first national broadcast network in the United States to adopt a democratic governance structure in order to be responsive to its listener members. When progressive changes occur in response to the legitimate demands of a majority for improvement, the minority is expected to complain. In Pacifica, however, such complaints should represent honest dissent and should not be based upon lies and distortions.

The USOC Stewards who authored the letter to which this is a response, Ayo Harrington, Ken Nash, Marquez Osson, Louis Reyes Rivera, and Cerene Roberts, share in the overall responsibility for WBAI's and Pacifica's financial problems, because they have repeatedly acted, individually and as members of a local faction, to resist needed reform at WBAI during the years of that station's declining performance under every measurable standard. If USOC is to be again recognized as bargaining agent for the members of the Unpaid Staff Bargaining Unit at WBAI, a recognition that has arguably lapsed and/or may be withdrawn, then these "stewards" should resign or be recalled by the Bargaining Unit members in support of the positive changes occuring at the station under its transition management.

Due to the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee's failure as a committee to organize an unpaid staff organization at WBAI and obtain recogntion of that organization from station management, however, I would like to see a legitimate WBAI unpaid staff organization finally formed using the talent and services of a more conscientious and responsible committee of organizers.

NOTE: these “responses & corrections” were supplied & written by --Terry Goodman [ a very knowlegable and dedicated Pacifica and KPFK member whom some of us trust more than most writers ]

KPFK's Local Station Board Meeting - it IS open to visitors too

June 16, 2009...an official LSB meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm. huh ?

at 7:15 PM, already 15 minutes into the appointed hour, only about 6 LSB members are present, all the rest arrive...in their own casual time...so the quorum needed to begin being 16 present members is delayed...

The 6 conscientious people who are ON TIME are made to wait, unnecessarily, while the remainders -
who come at their convenience - all have some excuse or reason or attitude that allows them to come as late as they do. Yet no reprimands, no instructions, no requests are made to "please be on time" ...even if the oh-so-common "LA Traffic !" is always a handy answer, even when it so. But why not leave wherever earlier or call to inform they are coming late ? No. It's the usual: latecomers have the power of choice over those more responsible members who work harder to make it a point to courteously arrive at the meeting time scheduled.

Finally the meeting can actually start: LATE LATE LATE...those who patiently waited are not given any rewards for having had to sit there holding the space for the rest. Who did not seem to care either way.

7:20 PM, another member slaunters into the meeting. 7:40 & 7:45 PM another 4-5 arrive. "Absent members" are announced and recorded by the secretary as well. Then some of these do arrive, later yet. The apparently newest LSB member of only being seated a few months ago finally arrives at 8:40 pm, and distracts two other members already seated to meet and greet them unnecessarily. Maybe that person thinks this is a party or an unimportant gathering ? Those still absent do not have their not-present legitimating reasons explained to the members, so maybe any excuse is good enough ? who is to know ?

The new "local election supervisor" gives brief information about the dead lines for the upcoming LSB elections. Hopefully new members will be more responsible in their attendance and contributions. But they may just follow the example of prior members as they do their thing on this evening.

For it seems that no one is financially compensated in any way for attending these required meetings of elected LSB members...yet the purpose of competing hard to be elected means the LSB member has something, maybe the power and influence over what happens at the KPFK radio station. There may be other side benefits not openly admitted to the public stakeholders or else probably the competition and infighting to be on the LSB would not be so fierce and feisty.

But who will tell?

Fortunately about 6 "public members" were also present here, and because the Pacifica bylaws state that about 30 minutes total must be allotted to public comments, these stakeholders were given 1 min or 2 minutes at various points to give an opinion. However, an adamant bold and rude male public person decided he wanted to give his loud opinion at an inappropriate time, so he just burst out shouting that he would do so regardless of the [formal] rules or the being called upon by the LSB chairperson.
He tried.

And over his outburst others also shouted him down till finally whatever he thought he was somehow privileged & special to give a "shout out" to the LSB members, whose meeting this was, his message was lost in the scramble of loud voices. Maybe some people heard him. Most probably did not. His intimidation was a terrible example of a KPFK listener, maybe or not a paid-sponsor, who was taking advantage of his male pride and ethnicity to take over a meeting when it was NOT his turn. He was out of turn and totally inappropriate. Who he thinks he represented besides his aggrandized self was not clear but if this is an example of the KPFK audience, then the station is in sad shape.

Brief discussion was held about forming a "working group" to set up procedures, etc. for "student volunteers". This was discussed with various LSB members volunteering to do this extra chore. However it was not yet clear what the "student" volunteers would be allowed to do at the station... when other adult long-time pledge phone volunteers are not allowed to do anything besides answer phones at KPFK. This exclusion has been unstated most often but the premises are clearly and carefully patrolled to keep out the riff raff [the stakeholders and wanna be volunteers too, except when money is being solicited, or a very limited selected task is to be done] and even those with good skills and talents that could help the lack of staff at the station currently as not given the opportunity to "volunteer" for free. Strange hidden unspoken rules there.

Some people have often asked the staff there to work at KPFK for free in their own time, with own transportation, with absolutely no rewards given, and most and there have been many, have been passed off as not needed or else no clear explanation is given as to why they are not utilized, which is curious as the station is clearly understaffed now.

KPFK is always strained, stressed and limited because of finances and people-power to do what is actually much needed. But volunteers are very strictly scrutinized, sorted, or denied entry to do even some of the most menial petty tasks. With no explanations for these attitudes towards those who want to genuinely help for free. Not the crazies, not the homeless, not the needy, not the greedy, but the actual even paid-up stakeholders are not or under-utilized, if at all.

Receptionists is the position sometimes open to work for free, but even these volunteers are totally out of any loop and not informed of some of the info they need to handle that easy job. Whatever.... KFPK loses out and the would-be volunteers go elsewhere to give away their hours, love, and attention. So what !

Those who want to be elected as part of the incoming LSB will be informed about the 3 ways they can qualify, in ways perhaps many volunteer KPFK members do not know is available. It will hopefully be announced over the air. LSB nominees can qualify if they are listener-sponsors [stakeholders] having sent in their money, of course. Or volunteered 3 hrs already, even answering phones during pledge drives [this was questioned, but apparently this may be a qualifier ...maybe] or someone can come to station to fill out forms that give them some official 'waiver' if they 'cannot afford' to pay the minimum $25 pledge or even give 3 hours of their own time. This last qualifier is not often known and appears to be a free bee for many to take advantage of - by claiming they can not spend 3 hours of their precious personal time for free but they can come to LSB meetings every month on time and be responsible contributors ? hummmmmm.....

Mention was made that an LSB committee was not meeting because the chairperson was not able to be present, which seemed to be a poor reason to cancel the necessary work to be done by any committee, as if the chair were the actual doer instead of the facilitator. When that method for cancelling or postponing meetings was questioned, it was immediately denied, but since the programming oversight committee, for example, has not met or even been marked on the KPFK event calendar as meeting, many concerned listeners have wondered why the exclusion of this group has then kept the public stakeholders from learning what they are suppose to be doing or not doing - about programming and such important arenas.

Then as a report was being given, another LSB member seemed to ask a question which of course turned into a comment/ and a long discourse that meandered off the point - which left the person reporting hanging, waiting, confused... and after much loud squabbling and antagonistic of blaming others, then everyone turned into a chaotic mob, bickering and arguing and claiming to be righteously allowed to do so.

The end of the LSB meeting was reflective of dysfunctional families where everyone wants to have the longest and last word, to be the final authority on any topic, to be confrontive of others they disagree or do not like personally, and to gladly refuse the chairperson to close the meeting in an appropriate manner.

A question of this meeting being representative of how the radio station operates as well in this manner was brought up with no response, obviously.

Bickering, quarrelling, disagreeing, goading, emotionally reacting in a personal manner, and coming in and leaving with an old and personal agenda [undisclosed and unadmitted if asked] was the main procedural method of this meeting. As it may be of other LSB committee meetings at times also.

The final breakup was discourteous and as the lights in the room were quickly extinguished to get people out of the facility, small groups met momentarily outside the bldg, concluding with a few others what was not possible to say or accomplish or reveal in the actual official LSB meeting.

More public members or curiosity seekers should attend these LSB meetings and their committee meetings... and not only voice their opinions in the brief time allotted to them, but also help the elected 'official' members stay on topic, be productive, reduce their antagonisms and alliances, and get some more actual work & decisions done.

Maybe the public members may not help and coming may be a waste, but it is better than most action movies where someone else does the shoot-em-up.Yet here everyone walks out satisfied with not having accomplished more than to try to be a "star"...of the LSB show, at least be noticed... here.

KPFK and LSB is not the only place that has such unproductive for the time allotted 'events' ...but it appears that there is more freedom to act out and malign and accuse and deny loudly here than in more conservative courteous places of business. But then, if much business of what needs to be done does not get done, who will be surprised ?

And who will continue to fund a station that has "representatives" that act in these ways ?

And who does each elected LSB representative represent besides themselves ? Most cannot define nor say. So why do so many want to run and be elected ? For this show ?

WBAI cant pay their own rent ? Then Exit the scene.

reprinted from www.la.indymedia.org
posted comment on June 2, 2009
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/05/227519_comment.php#227688


Anthony Riddle wrote an explanation of what he thinks occurred at WBAI re their in-ability to pay rent on 1 site, from the reading of his post.

He wrote : "We were significantly behind in rent at Wall Street. In late March or early April, the owner sent a “Three Day Notice to Quit.” This is a predicate notice: Pay us or we will begin the legal process to collect or evict. It is a warning"....[snip]

"We were only a few thousand dollars short on that drive and nothing else could account for such a difference.." [snip]

"National Office instructed me to include in the FY’09budget

expected collections

in October and November of pledges made in the Fall Drive. But for the first time, the Fall Drive was in spread over two fiscal years.." [snip]


"...it was a misunderstanding of Pacifica’s accounting which made a bad situation at WBAI look horrible and opened us to attack. It did not affect the bottom-line, only the narrative.

The End ..." [snip]

Now none of this should be taken out of context, so read his story and you figure it out, if you can. Explanations that things were not so bad but then he also said:

"WBAI’s arrears in rent were discussed in private conversation, and at local and national finance meetings on a regular basis.

We were significantly behind in rent at Wall Street" [snip]

"expected collections " were counted as if it were received ? huh ?

Even while admitting that WBAI was "significantly behind in rent", the intent is to say that it is not so bad as others think or write elsewhere ?

Maybe so. But that is serious stuff...paying rent and paying electricity and staff are the main essentials or amongst the most necessary to pay and have CASH = $$$$$$$up front,not wait till it may or not come in later, if pledges are paid up.... it is not 'hand-to-mouth' management or is it ???

this sounds like all the bailed banks maneuvers & corporations that go bankruped because they count what they DO NOT HAVE..yet....and expect, wish, wait, or think even hope some money will turn up in the mail. right !

In the comments to this article, someone labeled "Duce" takes advantage and tries to then use KPFK as a dodge ball to hit on 3 people to be blamed for everything because their views are not exactly the same as that writer's? huh ?

What does that have to do with WBAI's inability to pay their bills ? 2 KPFK programmers are guilty ? Or the new PNB leader must be the cruel evil woman who is ousting a manager who cant even pay the rent on WBAI ?

anyone can take advantage of the WBAI manager's explanations to piggy back on and vent meanly. Actually it would be irrelevant as a comment except that it was posted in duplicate and attached there for attention. It got some.


what's up with all this blaming and accusing and wishing to make people appear as if they had all that much power or evilness ? The accusers are often the ones who like to hurt and see in others' what they might be and hate in themselves. Why else write mean things that almost can not be verified or corrected ?

But then, anyone can post on Indymedia and pretend it is "not me"hating"THEM"...like a side attack, or an implosive, actually.

what's up with owing back rent and not paying it on time ? anywhere.

is that how any business or non-profit Corp operates and becomes Enron-like too ?

what's up with being dismissed, ousted, fired, or asked to leave when operations are not effective, efficient, up to par [financially only ? ] or someone else can perhaps do the job for a while ?

While it is good to get information or explanations out to the publics, and it is
good to clarify openly to all..but who can go to see all the numbers and confirm the veracity ?

and do all the account checking ?

and then say, yeah, maybe that man was correct, but why did he let it get so messy...

money matters need to be much more clear and up to date and accurate and verifiable and ...well you know...

any operational operating operation MUST be better managed than being in rent arrears...

even we pay our rent on time and have money for the next month in advance... or...
we may also be asked to leave...our small living spaces, our homes... appropriately asked to leave the premises...like this person has been apparently asked to do too.

whatever...

every station must operate financially independently or ....sink or be repersonneled or financed or die...

whatever....

The reason for this post here is to continue the conversation from Indymedia elsewhere as well, about if a Pacifica radio station can not stand on it's own and it's management cannot take care of business sufficiently well, then why pay them a salary and give them power to do more harm there ?

No personal insult intended here. But much questioning of how much those stakeholders in Pacifica are paying and have been contributing to lost causes or poorly run operations [ =businesses] must also be accounted for responsibly.

Let's hope KPFK remains solvent and pays it's rent on time.

SEE prior posts at http://kpfcommentators.blogspot.com

When we changed names, our old posts zipped away, but are still available at the old site name...

they contain information and suggestions still of value...

please find them and respond here or there, as you please.

we need to be TOGETHER in both, all places.

the station doesnt want to admit but, but they need a community that cares and wants to help and is willing to do so, say so, and activate changes and improvements.

we can use both these sites, tho this may be more findable on google, et al.

http://kpfcommentators.blogspot.com and here too

Was the Prez Obama bribed by AIG ?

see this informative article about the meltdown, the 25 main cheating money grabbers, and how much AIG, a huge bailer outed had contributed to Obama's recent campaign in 2008 =see

http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/economic_meltdown/assets/img/Chart5-fullsize.jpg
see full article by citizens Public Integrity who investigated and crunched actual numbers for us to learn about what we are, will be, forever, paying those who cheated and robbed us, taxpayers. AIG donated $104,332 in campaign contributions = just given to help this man become our top govt official who then turns around to bail out that same company....now this does make sense, right ? See this:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/economic_meltdown/articles/entry/1286/


"The Roots of the Financial Crisis: Who Is to Blame?
Banks that Financed Subprime Industry Collecting Billions in Bailouts "
By John Dunbar, David Donald May 06, 2009


The full informative article cites banks, refers to links for numbers, and exposes lots of banks and institutions we had used and trusted...before... but our
focus here is on CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS and who rec'd most and the question is how does this relate to the big bail-outs that came later ? huh ?

http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/economic_meltdown/assets/img/top25-listfull.jpg

here are some quotes, or you can read the whole detailed article for yourself too

"American International Group (AIG), better known for insurance and complex trades in financial derivatives, made the list at No. 18, " [snip]

"The five banks on the list that are still lending are Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, GMAC LLC, Citigroup, and AIG. All have received billions from the government’s bank bailout programs." [snip]

"In addition to the $700 billion bailout, the Federal Reserve began committing hundreds of billions of dollars to guarantee against losses on failing mortgage assets of AIG, Citigroup, and Bank of America." [snip]

" And the bailout of insurance giant AIG may go as high as $187 billion and includes a combination of loans, direct investment by the government, and purchases of shaky assets. " [snip]

another chart of interest = http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/economic_meltdown/assets/img/Chart6-fullsize.jpg

"Many of the lenders coaxed them along by lowering lending standards, failing to require documentation of income on loans, and providing adjustable rate loans with low two-year teaser rates that reset to much higher levels. Ultimately, that fed a wave of foreclosures, leading to trouble for borrowers, lenders, and eventually taxpayers — lots of it"

yeah, yeah, some people are tired of hearing about it, but every review of WHAT DID HAPPEN when and where tells us there are smelly games being played in high places, even with those who promised transparency and hope too.

you may be fascinated by the work done by CITIZEN groups, that are not government nor allied with those who stole our savings and erased our confidence in our money and those who claimed to hold it 'for us'.


(c) maryjanie 2009

Note our new URL now improved: kpfk00commentators

For those who could not easily find us, we have decided to improve our visibility to be more effective in how we help suggest improvements and occasionally challenge our favorite radio station to CHANGE for the Better :

and be more Efficient, in it's daily functions

be more Transparent in it's operations and intentions,

be more Responsive to it's stakeholders, in communications, in acknowledgements,

and be more fair and honest in all the KPFK Pacifica radio station dealings.

This means input is needed from all who read here, to put in and take out what is HELPFUL and Positive - our purpose always to be of help and assist, even if often the there is little or no appreciation of any [including our] efforts outside their closed locked doors.

But like any bureaucracy or corporation, there is a lot that needs to be addressed, exposed and questioned, especially by those who fund the station with their earnings,
their time and caring, their promoting the station to non-listeners, and their dedication to the welfare of what is still unique, tho sometimes beleaguered as well.

the "00" are the EYES of those who watch as well as listen to how the station operates in the service of those who have paid for their stakes in this facility in any way.

the call letters are deliberately not to intend or state that this blog site is in any way part of the official station or any of it's doings, policies, or staff.
This is a totally SEPARATE and non-official open site in which those who genuinely Care and Dedicate their time and monies for the benefit of "their" station, and it's betterment.

There is absolutely no attempt to ride on the image or fame of the station's name, in any direction they may suggest.

There is no intent to mislead or malign in any way the station, while still using the freedom of speech and freedom of mind to question, suggest, complain occasionally, and offer observation and alternative ways to handle all matters of interest.

We here hope to be able to contribute our share of media light and information that will further help our preferred radio station to become what it also claims it wants to be, as per it's bylaws, it's on-air claims, their promotions and intentions. We also want to be assisting better communications in both ways, in and out, as it is assumed that the station's desire is to "serve the community" by also listening to what parts of the entirety of listeners [a diverse huge community] alsohas to say back.

Please share your thoughts and concerns, your compliments and complaints, your heart-felt concerns and logical thoughts as well, without spamming, without anger or insult, without being mean-spirited or malicious...

we want to stay civil, communicative, clear and helpful at all times.


(c) by writers of http://kpfk00commentators.blogspot.com 2009

KPFK may be only providing the "least" notice about meetings open to it's members ...why ?

another OPEN letter written to all KPFK management and some LSB members:

"on April 30 2009 6:00 pm PST, only these 2 separate notices were found:

on Pacifica.org = it is noted: "KPFK LSB Meeting Saturday, May 16 2009, 4:00pm - 8:00pm posted by tgoodman The KPFK Local Station Board is scheduled to meet on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 1:00 pm Pacific Time. See here [GOES TO KPFK same old website where no information is listed there] for KPFK governance notices and here for related information. Location: In-person meeting
Contact: Steve Weatherwax " [Note: No location was cited above.]

OK, that's one notice, But... searching diligently further to find details of above:

then I found this on KPFK.org website searched at same time [ Note: ON KPFK website only 1 thing shows, not LSB...but only an LSB Finance meeting notice instead]

It reads: "Thursday, May 14 2009, 1:00pm - 5:00pm posted by tgoodman
The KPFK LSB Finance Committee will meet on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 1:00 pm at the station. Contact: Summer Reese "

THESE DO NOT MATCH AND ANNOUNCE SEPARATE EVENTS, but no coordination of information on either / both websites list the other. Makes no sense !

There is nothing else [LSB or committee meetings] listed on the KPFK website, as of 4/30/09 6pm

Please note that the bylaws states that the MINIMUM, and not that the employees should be working to the lowest standards possible ! , but that the least " NOTICE ....at least 7 days prior to the date of each meeting" [ the words "at least" implying clearly that this is the least - not the preferred - time to give notice. ]
and
"whenever feasible, notice shall also be posted to the station's website at least 7 days prior to the date of each meeting."

So what makes it NOT FEASIBLE to provide a longer time frame for notices ?
and who is it that explains what is or is not "feasible" ?

the dictionary states: " fea·si·ble adj.
1. Capable of being accomplished or brought about; possible plan. See Synonyms at possible.
2. Used or dealt with successfully; suitable"

Why is it NOT POSSIBLE to do better or be more timely or considerate to the members ?

What makes the station's management and staff decide how much notice the public can have about all committee & LSB meetings [in which they are allowed to observe or participate] ?

What is considered "adequate notice" by providing information to it's stakeholders-members of all such meetings ? Only the 'least" which is minimum stated ?

Is that how the station is being operated ? by it's "least" minimum standards and with the continual yearly excuse of not-enough-money-so-send-more-and-more !!! ????

Why are there no notices placed on the website a day or two after each prior meeting to allow people who are interested to plan ahead and attend and participate ... to help IMPROVE what is occurring at this .......___xxxx'd _____ station ?

This is a continual delay and neglect of sharing information, regardless of who is responsible or malfunctioning or not-caring.

please respond to this concern and inform anyone who is involved in the responsibility of notifying or 'noticing' the members about meetings.

thank you"

mj {c} 2009

How is KPFA & KPFK going to be cooperative when KPFK by itself has fractions and splits ?

"Pacifica Launches California Newscast" reposted from http://www.pacificana.org/
written by KPFT Program Director - 14 April, 2009
titled "From our compatriots at KPFA:

At a time when newspapers across the country are shutting their doors and news departments are disappearing, KPFK Radio in Los Angeles and KPFA Radio in the San Francisco Bay Area are launching a joint California-wide newscast. The newscast, which will begin airing the week of April 20th, will cover local and regional issues of concern to the residents of America’s most populous state, such as incarceration, the foreclosure crisis, police brutality, labor struggles, and the many threats to California’s environment.

“It is exciting: Pacifica, the original community radio network, is back with another trailblazing idea,” says KPFK General Manager Sean Heitkemper. “Californians will benefit greatly from this statewide news hour.”

KPFA General Manager Lemlem Rijio says, “At a moment when news has become an endangered species in the US, we are pleased that KPFA and KPFK can step into the breech and provide listeners across the state of California with crucial information that is not beholden to commercial interests and which they won’t find elsewhere.”

Pacifica affiliate KFCF in Fresno will contribute to the newscast, with stories covering the diverse communities of California’s Central Valley.

The hour-long newscast will air each night at 6pm Pacific time on KPFK 90.7 FM in Southern California, KCFC 88.1 FM in the Central Valley, and KPFA Radio 94.1FM in Northern California, and online at kpfk.org, kfcf.org, and kpfa.org.
"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED - - - - - - - - - -

#1
Who dares to make this claim and be believed "crucial information ....which they won’t find elsewhere" ?? How exclusive are any Pacifica reporters and what makes them provide information not available to all & any other media and reporters?
"Exclusive" ? not.
Interesting ? maybe.
Current ? probably.
"trailblazing idea" ? not very new or different than other cooperative stations do. "not beholden to commercial interests" ? but beholden to certain political groups interests and their limited viewpoints and actions. probably.


#2
What happened to the person and position called Nathan Moore who was the program coordinator for Pacifica ? Has this position been refilled to help coordinate an effective and fairly-shared selection of programs ? Why did he write on Pacificana.org that his position was eliminated about 4-5 months ago ?

#3
If the prior news staff at KPFK were released or removed or fired or sidelined, and possibly for ethical or 'good' reasons of which The Community KPFK serves knows not... if that staff was not-good-enough, how is this new version of newsreporters and their findings going to be evaluated and selected as being "better" ?
What criteria are those decisions based upon ?
Who makes those decisions ? Is it a single person ? group? or who then approves those decisions?

#4
The Community who have no or little access to what occurs within our KPFK station. These stakeholders will again just be the same passive audience, just waiting breathlessly to be told what is good, what is "news", whose news is serving them, and having to again trust that Pacifica's own image-building version of itself will really play out this time...

as Pacifica is said to be, "people powered" or is this meaning "more people" rather than the same old group in another uniformed fashion as other radio stations ?
The uniform can be be politically 'left' or 'radical' or 'Green" or even "those struggling" ....

What makes that promotional PR blurb believable ? huh ?

Of course, we will dutifully wait to decide how helpful this shared task will be and if we the payees of the news at Pacifica receive our fair and full share back. Maybe yes ?

We will all wait to the news to sound clear and fair. California here we are !

Terry Goodman wrote to explain KPFK's problems with getting community INPUT...he is informative, straight and right on ! a sad story tho....

"On Mon, 23 Feb 2009, this blogger on "A KPFKer Here Now " wrote:

Please advise those responsible that the listings are NOT PUT ON WEBSITE to inform us when the next committee and board meetings are being held... see right now that there is NOTHING listed for March.

Meetings cannot be posted until they are scheduled, and a posting is not a valid meeting notice unless it includes date, time, and location. Last minute postings typically reflect last minute finalization of meeting locations. Although there are multiple advantages that accrue when a regular venue is selected for meetings, the counter-argument of broader community access for traveling LSB meetings has typically had sufficient support each year to derail attempts to establish a regular venue for KPFK LSB meetings. Ideally, in my opinion, the LSB and each LSB committee should adopt an annual calendar for its regular meetings, select a regular location for those meetings, and publish that schedule in advance. Instead, finalization of committee meeting dates frequently occurs month-to-month and finalization of LSB meeting locations frequently occurs less than two weeks before each meeting.

Tho February was checked at beginning of month, again, nothing was there and later it was already past and un attendable.

It is very rare that a KPFK governance-related meeting announcement is not posted on the KPFK Event Calendar at least seven days in advance. Members can receive email notification of these meetings by joining a Yahoo! group here. This is not an "official" list because there are problems with authority and liability whenever anything is official.

also the website lists a link to make PROGRAM COMMENTS, but those who use library comuters cannot access the link nor even find it's address when clicked because the library does not have it's own email programs set up.

Webmasters at KPFA and KPFT (and maybe others) have addressed this by providing email forms on their websites that can be used within a web browser. This has the advantage of not exposing LSB Member or other email addresses to harvesting for spam by web spidering software robots. I would encourage KPFK's webmaster to follow suit, without waiting for an LSB instruction.

Are you all deliberatelye excluding all who want to communicate or attend the governance and committees and board meetings ?

No, the situation simply reflects poor communication and coordination between KPFK's local governance and its local management and inadequate work by KPFK's volunteer governance. The LSB could accomplish better membership communication if it instructed management as to its needs and desires in this area, but various attempts to obtain LSB agreement on such instructions have generally been voted down. KPFK Management could take the initiative in establishing mechanisms and just advise the LSB what it has set up, but management too has typically given various immediate crises a higher priority than membership communications.

It sure seems so...in so many ways

Understood.

It was said that someone from the LSB would see the comments made if one wrote to "program comments" and it was cuddly called 'a corner' ....however, it does NOT go to Steve or whoever is suppose to receive a copy of these comments...

As I recall, the KPFK LSB Programming Oversight Committee, working with station management and/or the station's webmaster, arranged for committee members to regularly review those comments and was establishing protocols for forwarding, reply, and follow-up. This arguably goes beyond the role of the LSB in programming identified in the Pacifica Bylaws, but the general idea received LSB support.

again, how does one reach the LSB? or any members on it?

Sherna Gluck proposed a Listener LSB Comment line in a motion for the 2/05/05 LSB meeting, quoted here. Although the agenda item probably wasn't reached at that meeting, I believe that something along these lines was eventually approved -- but, there's a built-in problem with point-to-point communications like phone calls, because somebody must be authorized to receive or review the calls and somebody must presumably be authorized to respond. The LSB does not easily delegate any such authorities. Moreover, neither the LSB nor individual LSB Members have authority to assign tasks to station staff members, so there's going to be a problem in any attempt to insure that productive follow-up is accomplished unless there is also management involvement.

With respect to email communications, the KPFK LSB has not agreed on a policy. KPFK management has not pro-actively directed the KPFK webmaster to provide a website form to automatically send public comments to LSB members without their permission.

It is not clearly or easily found - by searching logically it was NOT found - so that again, are the LSB and other committees hiding behind lack of access from us sponsors?

Individual LSB members vary as to the level of public access they wish to allow via email, and some have only a single email address that they wish to remain private. It would be fairly simple for the station's mail administrator to provide a public email address for the LSB and for each LSB committee and to publish those addresses on the station's website. Individual members could then opt-out of inclusion on any such public mail forwarding list. For a short period, the LSB mail alias that the station maintains for official notices to LSB members was open to the public, but it was later closed to mail from unauthorized addresses, perhaps in response to individual LSB Member complaints.

Director Leslie Radford pushed for a policy on member communication in her first term as a Delegate, but no policy was finalized and adopted in that term.

Harrison Weil offered a simple resolution as a consent item in September, 2004. That's here, but I don't think anything came of it.

A comprehensive resolution that I drafted on this topic in June, 2005 can be found here. It was not adopted.

Separately, using mechanisms already established for paid and unpaid staff, the station has provided a webmail capability that would allow each LSB member to receive LSB-related email from members by logging into the website, but there have been login problems in testing, LSB members have not been trained in how to use the facility, and the assigned kpfk.org addresses have not been published.

Please respond or inform all those concerned about both these matters, that have been written about before with NO IMPROVEMENTS OR CHANGES to allow us in.

There is still no clear policy. One of the barriers to clear policy is the restriction on public and private communications among board members in the CPB Open Meeting provisions as interpreted by the California Attorney General. There is some indexing of that discussion here.

is this called transparency ? honesty ? representation ? free-speech locked out ?

There is no agreement on what the lack of a clear member communication policy is called, and this is only one of many areas still lacking clear policy. When governance spends much of its time arguing over issues around which there is board controversy, it has little time to find areas of agreement and to provide direction to or oversight of management.

the resulting ill-will, not good will engendered to KPFK, is one that breeds resentment, distrust, lack of funding desires, and an image of hypocrisy.Is this what is wanted and is this what the "visions" of the GM's at PNB said they would do ?

Local Station Boards are very limited in their ability to make or implement operational decisions, and General Managers have not generally provided much leadership in training local Delegates in how to be effective board members. In my opinion, the absence of understanding among members as to how much of the problem belongs to governance versus how much belongs to management in the context of the difficulty obtaining governance agreement or follow-through on anything argues for management devising and implementing solutions unilaterally in this area among others, subject to governance recommendations for policy amendment if problems subsequently arise.

Who is not doing oversight to all these LACK OF COMMUNICATIONS problems ?

Oversight is generally a governance function. There is still not much governance oversight within Pacifica.

or does the staff/station want to admit openly and State it On Air too that it is only a 1-way out station with no responsibility to it's sponsors/shareholders ?

Ideally, Pacifica's governance would provide mechanisms to identify and monitor each station's fulfillment of its responsibilities to members. Theoretically, it isn't management's job to arrange those mechanisms for governance absent governance instruction, due to the inherent conflict of interest. In Pacifica's case, absent adequate experience among governance members, more leadership from management is needed until a workable structure is established that can then be maintained with minimal revision.

Only when a provocative topic is put on by a programmer with listener calls incoming is there any response.

There are NO RESPONSES TO EMAILS, TO VOICE MAILS, TO LEFT MSGS with receptionists.

Some staffers respond to some email and voice mail messages sometimes, but this is probably rare. Voicemail to the KPFK Program Director has at times reached a quantity where it takes several hours a day just to listen to them. Without assistance to the PD, some voice messages may be deleted unheard. The KPFK news department gets a massive amount of email. When last reported upon, all email messages to that department were read, but few responded to. There's only so much time each day.

Many programmers are only at the station during their show's broadcast (if then), and these unpaid staff members will usually pick up their postal mail weekly or monthly, corresponding to their broadcast schedules. Volunteer programmers likely do a better job responding to listener input than paid staff, but there too the ability to respond diminishes as the volume of communication increases.

Lack of time to respond to listener inquiries and suggestions has been a chronic problem at most Pacifica stations due to overwork of staff and lack of clerical or administrative assistance to staff. With recent staffing cutbacks, this problem can only be expected to get worse. For a nonprofit community radio station to have the sort of public responsiveness and customer service that a normal business needs to survive, it must in my opinion employ the services of many volunteers. Pacifica stations in recent decades have not done a good job of recruiting, training, and trusting volunteers to handle the sensitive and frequently unrewarded function of public interface outside the limited role of answering phones in the pledge room during fund drives. KPFK programmers do sometimes bring in their own volunteers to answer the 818-985-5735 line during their broadcasts, even when no call-ins are intended for the broadcast. Sometimes that line will be answered by the programmer, if he or she is not on the air.

Is that a bunker to hide within from 'the public' you treasure and need to pay your salaries??

The paid staff has more work to do in keeping the station running and programming on the air than usually allows for daily communication with listeners. Station staff is often rushing about the building attempting to meet broadcast deadlines and/or doing work that requires their full focus and attention.

I don't think we'll see much improvement until the station brings on a crew of regular, daily volunteers who stay around long enough to learn what they need to know to do productive work, who are sufficiently discrete to be trusted with access to staff members' possibly private communications, and who are sufficiently responsible to communicate with members on the station's behalf. Capable assistants willing to work for free without the ego-gratification of airtime are difficult to recruit, and the broader culture encourages treating such support personnel as inferiors rather than as essential, which makes them very hard to keep unless the paid and senior staff is carefully trained in how to keep new and junior staff happy and respected.

--Terry Goodman,
KPFK Volunteer
former KPFK Staff Member
former KPFK Delegate

February 24, 2009 1:45 PM