Pacifica is refusing to reinstate the Morning Show, despite $60K in pledges

Pacifica executive director Arlene Engelhardt says she won’t reinstate KPFA’s Morning Show, despite being offered $60,000 in pledges from listeners to pay for it, according to this report, which aired on the Pacifica Evening News.
Play here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.savekpfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/KPFANews012111.mp3″ text=”Pacifica Evening News Jan 21, 2011″ ]

A delegation of SaveKPFA members, including KPFA board chair Margy Wilkinson, board member Pamela Drake, and listener-activist Ying Lee, met on January 20 with KPFA’s new general manager Amit Pendyal and interim program director Carrie Core.

“We told them we’d received $60,000 in pledges to restore the Morning Show from very enthusiastic listeners, and that KPFA and Pacifica could avoid costly arbitrations and more lost revenue by bringing the show back,” said Wilkinson. The group also presented a few hundred of the most recent letters from listeners (out of thousands that have been sent to Pacifica since November), as well as copies of letters signed by elected officials and educators.

For instance, Robert Mason wrote: “Please listen to those who have fought to keep the Morning Show and solid, independent, quality news programming on KPFA. Anyone familiar with the situation recognizes that this is not primarily about money, but politics.”

“Please, take our pledges, make good use of them and return the Morning Show to KPFA — demonstrate good faith along with some justice and restore peace,” wrote listener Anne Wayman. “Do what is right,” urged Jonel Larson. “The listening and contributing community has clearly expressed itself. Don’t let a misguided faction rule our station.”

The SaveKPFA delegation also expressed concern about the plummeting listener statistics, which indicate that KPFA’s listeners are tuning out the new programming. (See this graph comparing listener patterns for the Morning Show and the new 8 AM hour.)

But Pendyal told SaveKPFA’s delegation that he had no control over the matter and that Engelhart would handle it. “I told him that it was unacceptable,” said Lee. “We had assumed with a new GM there would be local control, but that was obviously not the case.”

Engelhardt claims “other issues” at stake

After meeting with Pendyal, the SaveKPFA delegation went next door to Pacifica’s office to find Engelhardt, who talked with them for only a few minutes.

“We reminded her that she has repeatedly said the layoffs were for ‘economic’ reasons,” reports Drake. “We pointed out that the $60K in pledges would allow KPFA to put the hosts back to work for the rest of the fiscal year.” The group also told Engelhardt they believed the Morning Show would raise significantly more than it cost to produce – as it did in the past – and that would help KPFA’s difficult financial situation.

Drake says Engelhart mentioned “other issues,” and said “they” had attacked people on the air. “I asked, ‘You mean Brian? But he’s been on the air since as an unpaid staffer,'” noted Drake. Engelhardt quickly confirmed that she had no problem with Edwards-Tiekert’s on-air work at the station.

You may write to KPFA or Pacifica here – they need to continue to hear from listeners on these latest developments. KPFA begins another on-air fund drive on February 14. Now is the time to let management know that if it returns the Morning Show to the air before the drive starts, KPFA has the best chance to make it successful.

We’d also welcome your personal endorsement of SaveKPFA. When we reach critical mass, we’ll post a special LISTENER ENDORSEMENTS PAGE on our website.

Hundreds put up pledges, vast majority under $100

Meanwhile, management’s backers are claiming that SaveKPFA’s supposedly “wealthy donors” are trying to “buy” airtime with the $60,000 in pledges. However, the vast majority of pledges are in amounts under $100, and came from supporters throughout the bay area and the nation.

“Pacifica is offering nothing but continued cuts and no new ideas for raising funds,” said board member Jack Kurzweil. “That will lead to a downward spiral for the station, not the expanded listenership we need.”

“The Morning Show cuts were strictly a political decision taken by Pacifica over the heads of local KPFA managers,” said board member Matthew Hallinan, who has just written this analysis of the situation. “It was an autocratic, top-down decision which has upset thousands of KPFA subscribers.”

Peter Phillips of Project Censored is one of those who volunteered to host the new 8AM program, after Allison and Edwards-Tiekert were terminated. KPFA board member Pamela Drake asked Phillips why he was playing along with management in undercutting the Morning Show staff back in December. “He responded in an email that he would ‘work hard to bring the budget back up and step aside when appropriate.’ But now that we’ve raised enough money to rehire the staff, he’s changed his tune and is circulating an email attacking SaveKPFA’s fundraising.” If you’d like, you can let Phillips know your opinion by emailing him at this address).

“There should be a complete analysis of the programming at KPFA — who listens, when, for how long, which communities are represented, which shows bring in new subscribers,” said Wilkinson. “But it must start at the status prior to the cancellation of the Morning Show, so as not to make a complete mockery of the process.”

Alternatives to slashing KPFA’s programming

Some recent letters from listeners have also made their way to KPFA’s local board, on which SaveKPFA-affiliated reps have a majority. We asked Henry Norr, a board member affiliated with the minority Independents for Community Radio slate, which has supported the termination of the Morning Show, for a reaction to listeners’ comments.

“It is clear a lot of people are unhappy about how things came down and miss the old Morning Show,” said Norr. “I understand it is a bad situation….A lot of things could and should have been done differently, but by last fall, there was no alternative to making drastic cuts. There was no money any more,” said Norr.

But many disagree. You can find SaveKPFA’s analysis of the financial situation in Facts on KPFA’s Crisis. KPFA’s union, supported by listeners and local managers, proposed a sustainable budget that would have avoided deep cuts. “Add the $60K now pledged, plus on-air fundraising from a restored Morning Show, and the picture gets even better,” said Kurzweil.

If you’d like to attend the next KPFA local station board meeting, it is scheduled for Saturday, February 12 at 11 AM, location to be arranged. Listeners may sign up to speak during the public comment period.

Move to illegally unseat KPFA board member

Meanwhile, as we reported last week, KPFA board member Tracy Rosenberg is claiming that Dan Siegel, who is a civil rights attorney in Oakland and a local station board member affiliated with SaveKPFA, can no longer serve because he is volunteering for new Oakland mayor Jean Quan. Pacifica bylaws prohibit individuals from serving on the board if they are incumbents, candidates, or appointees to public office.

Siegel is none of these. He is a volunteer for Quan with no office or salary, and is not a political appointee. Quan herself has issued a statement that Siegel “is a member of the Mayor’s Transition Advisory Committee, as are 24 other citizens [and] is free to give me advice as is any other citizen.”

Last Friday, Rosenberg’s allies on the Pacifica’s board voted to unseat Siegel as both a local and national Pacifica board member, in a meeting that was not advertised beforehand and did not follow due process, as required by Pacifica’s bylaws. Board members did not investigate the situation and did not even speak to Siegel before taking the action. Stay tuned for developments.

Behind the Coup at KPFA

by Matthew Hallinan

In early November, the Executive Director of Pacifica, Arlene Englehardt, seized all power at KPFA, firing the talented hosts of the station’s most popular locally produced program, and replacing it with one of her own choosing. She acted without consulting the Interim General Manager of the station or the Local Station Board (LSB). She didn’t ask to meet with the staff of the station or with the union that represents them. In her rush to fire the hosts of The Morning Show, she violated the terms of the union contract, trampled on KPFA’s democratic system of local control, and created wide discontent and disillusionment among the listeners.

Why would she do this? Why would she take such extraordinary measures and act in such an autocratic fashion? She said it was all about finances. The station was in a cash flow crisis and needed to make drastic cuts. She said had no choice but to do this.

Was there no other choice? A few months earlier, KPFA’s local management, working with the unionized staff, had produced a budget proposal that showed the books could be balanced without making programmatic cuts. This budget was approved by the local station board and forwarded to Pacifica. It involved a number of proposals for reducing the one-way flow of funds to Pacifica – which now absorbs 24% of listener contributions to KPFA. Pacifica made a choice at that point – it rejected that budget without even discussing it with the local KPFA folks.

Then there is the issue of choosing which programs to cut. If finances were the only consideration, why would Pacifica choose to cut the program that raises the most money during the station’s fund drives? Again, Pacifica made a choice – and it was a choice they did not want to discuss.

In December, Ms. Englehardt went before the Berkeley City Council to oppose a resolution that was being considered by the Council. The resolution called on the Pacifica Executive Director to negotiate with the CWA union about the firing process and to enter into mediation with those in the station and on the LSB who are unhappy about the changes she instituted. Ms. Englehardt stated before the Council that Pacifica was opposed to both negotiations and mediation. In other words, Pacifica refuses to sit down and talk with the local folks who disagree with its decisions. Ms. Englehardt says she had no choice: but yet she refuses to listen to any options proposed by others.

Is it really all about money? Ms. Englehardt assures us that the firing of Brian Edwards-Tiekert and Aimee Allison was not a political maneuver, but was based entirely on financial considerations. The SaveKPFA majority on the local station board took her at her word, and called on listeners to pledge the necessary funds to finance the return of the show. Within a short period, the listeners produced $60,000 in pledges – sufficient to cover the costs of the show for the rest of the year. Ms. Englehardt refused to consider that proposal. That is another choice she made.

However, Ms Englehardt is not in this all alone. Anyone who is closely involved with the politics of KPFA knows there is a circle of vocal support for Ms Englehardt’s choices and for Pacifica’s power grab. Indeed, Richard Phelps, a member of the ‘Independent’ faction on KPFA’s local station board, responded to SaveKPFA’s effort to raise pledges by filing a lawsuit against those on the board that supported the pledge campaign. The lawsuit is absurd and will be thrown out. However, it costs the SaveKPFA local station board members money for legal defense and requires an expenditure of time and effort. It is a blatant attempt to intimidate and harass those who are resisting Pacifica’s take over and working to bring the Morning Show back.

Why would Phelps and the other ‘Independents’ on the board support Pacifica’s seizure of power and its dismantling of our democratic system of local governance? Turn the question around. Why would Pacifica want to come in and take over KPFA? The sad truth is that the ‘Independents’ are not ‘supporting’ Pacifica – the ‘Independents’ are Pacifica. They are part of a coalition that currently holds a majority of seats on the Pacifica National Board (PNB). KPFA is not being taken over by some distant, impersonal, Pacifica bureaucracy. It is being taken over by a narrow, authoritarian-minded coalition of individuals and groups who have taken over the PNB. The so-called ‘Independents’ are an integral part of that coalition.

This coalition gained a majority on the PNB about two years ago. Before then, the PNB did not meddle in the affairs of the local stations. Until this coalition took control of the PNB, our local ‘Independents’ had touted the powers of local station boards, championing their rights to make policy and to decide programming issues. They railed against ‘top-down, corporate models of governance’ and talked of ‘community control’ of the station. That was before they realized they were not going to get a majority of the seats on KPFA’s LSB. Sadly, however, their allies throughout the Pacifica system took over other local station boards, and as a result, they were able to get control over the PNB.

Once power had shifted at Pacifica, the ‘Independents’ realized that their best chance for controlling the station was through the PNB, not the LSB. And these folks were quick to jump on the new train. Indeed, our local ‘Independents’ had an epiphany. They now decided that local station boards should have no power: they are simply ‘standing committees’ of the PNB and can be over-ruled on every issue by Pacifica.

However, taking over Pacifica and taking over KPFA is not exactly the same thing. The ‘Independents’ knew that the KPFA community would not relinquish all its rights without a fight. That’s why they started with a coup – a blow. And Arlene Engelhardt’s seizure of power was indeed a real coup. The firing of Brian Edwards-Tiekert was purely political. These folks began their power grab by seeking to get rid of the most forceful opponent they had among the paid staff. They followed this up with an attempt to reverse the results of the staff elections in which SaveKPFA had won a close victory. Court action was necessary to prevent Pacifica from succeeding in this.

They are now attempting to reverse SaveKPFA’s majority on the LSB. There is an effort underway to remove Dan Siegel, one of our strongest voices. Dan, it should be noted, received the highest number of listener votes in the 2008 LSB election. Claiming that his informal advisory relationship to Mayor Jean Quan amounts to an appointment to a political office, the PNB voted last week, without any due process – indeed, without even contacting Dan – to remove him from his seat on the board. Once again, we will be forced to go to court to keep them from reversing the will of the voters.

There is too much at stake here to allow these people to succeed. They would turn the station into a forum for only one narrow slice of the left spectrum. They have taken the formal reins of power and are currently mobilizing all their forces to consolidate their hold over the station. This could spell the death of KPFA as a voice of Northern and Central California’s diverse progressive community. However, we the listeners and supporters of KPFA in the Bay Area, Central Valley and beyond are a force to be reckoned with. We are not about to allow the station we have built and made part of lives to be stolen away.

Matthew Hallinan is a member of KPFA’s local station board.

Stay informed by signing up for updates at www.SaveKPFA.org. Here’s a list of many ways to become involved.

KPFA News report on Morning Show pledges

Pacifica executive director Arlene Engelhardt is refusing to reinstate KPFA’s popular Morning Show, despite being offered $60,000 in pledges to pay for it from listeners. For more, listen to this audio report, which aired on tonight’s Pacifica Evening News.