Open Letter to the LSB from Concerned KPFA Paid and Unpaid Staff KPFA is first and foremost a radio station whose listeners count on the Pacifica Radio airwaves to provide an invaluable, independent source of multicultural news, information, music, and arts programming. There has been unparalleled community and national support in keeping this radio station alive and functioning by delivering KPFA back to the people from the devastating forces of the previous Pacifica National management and board. But once again, as in those terrible years surrounding the KPFA lockout and shutdown of 1999, KPFA is in a perilous place. Once again, it is a Pacifica governing body which has the power to break this place apart, and threaten its function at such a critical time.
Our newly elected KPFA Local Station Board is deeply divided, and has devolved into factions where extreme and constant mistrust, maligning, and infighting have spilled over into attacking KPFA staff to such a degree that the workplace is rife with fear, anger, compromised productivity, and the lowest morale since 1999. Many staff members are aware of the following: In the past few months, a number of Station Board members have targeted KPFA staff and management with demeaning and potentially libelous accusations about staff performance. They have fueled Internet "hit pieces" which have gone after several employees at KPFA. Some LSB members and their close allies have suggested that staff members are plants of former Pacifica Chair Mary Frances Berry. A board member has insinuated that our interim General Manager is a COINTELPRO agent. One LSB member attacked KPFA's youngest and newest staff members for their alleged ignorance and immaturity in understanding station affairs and supposed "slave mentality." Particularly disturbing are the anti-worker attacks by a group of LSB members, some of whom are union members, characterizing the station's staff as being only interested in keeping their jobs and expressing hostility to the integrity of the paid staff's union. In addition, the work of unpaid staff members has been devalued. Staff representatives on the LSB are routinely insulted in the course of LSB meetings by fellow board members. Some members of the LSB have even called for "crushing the will of the staff." A letter protesting such behavior by certain LSB members towards KPFA union and non-union staff, written by the Secretary Treasurer of Communications Workers of America Local 9415 to the LSB, has yet to be addressed. The LSB Chair asked that a now-resolved internal staff issue be broadcast far and wide to the public via email, even though it was a personnel and union matter beyond the purview of the LSB. In doing so, she has rendered the station vulnerable to potential litigation by the maligned staff member. Additionally, an internet editorial was written about the incident by someone close to the LSB Chair, which misrepresented the facts of the incident. Our morning newscaster was named in a public meeting, and scorned by an LSB member, for a newscast she wrote which the LSB member cited out of context and without checking his facts; indeed she was attacked for saying something that she did not say. Our interim General Manager has been subjected to repeated ridicule, harassment, and insult by the Local Station Board Chair about his alleged ineptness at fundraising. The LSB Chair went so far to refer to him as "the kiss of death". In fact, this is just one in a series of attacks on the interim GM. Some staff on the payroll prior to 1999 have been accused of being saboteurs from former Pacifica Executive Director Pat Scott's regime who continue to block progress and continue in taking down the station, even though these same people risked arrest and were arrested, risked job loss with no other means of financial support while protesting, broadcasting, and while testifying before California state legislators in defiance of orders from Pacifica's Executive Director and the Chair of Pacifica's national board. The affirmative action-based Apprenticeship Program has been demeaned in public, and dismissed as not serving the community's training needs in radio production, even though graduates of this unique program are teaching, producing, operating broadcasts, and coordinating the radio-related needs of collectives coming into KPFA from many different communities of all ages and abilities. It is our understanding that there are some members of the LSB who would seek to cut music programming, when in fact music and arts programming are integral to Pacifica's mission. Since the LSB does not have a mandate to make programming decisions, we are disturbed by LSB members' comments (including those of the Chair) that they believe they were given a mandate by the listeners to cut music in favor of public affairs. The KPFA Program Council cannot operate without a quorum, yet both the Program Council and KPFA's Interim Program Coordinator are challenged and harassed by LSB members for not convening meetings to conduct business, when, in fact, the LSB has failed to meet its responsibility to appoint members to the Program Council so a quorum can be achieved. It is not, however, all of the LSB which is taking KPFA down. Some LSB members are fighting to curb these staff assaults and egregious charges; they are in turn being attacked for doing so. But the LSB's Chair, in particular, along with a number of other Board members, has created a fractious climate which risks lawsuits, and is prompting a steady departure of employees due to low morale. There is an unprecedented environment of threats, slurs and character assassinations taking place on her watch. We do not wish to be condemned to repeat our tortured and embattled history. We wish to partake in constructive dialogue and work towards resolution to disagreements that may arise between staff and the LSB. It is incumbent upon the LSB to work with staff and management in a respectful, principled, and professional manner. We hope that the LSB can at last do what they pledged to do during their recent campaigns: to have "no micro-management," "to have respect for all who work at KPFA," "to support the station," "to bring joy to our work," "to solidify our victory over reactionary forces that try to take over Pacifica," and "to foster a spirit of collaboration, collegiality, and humanity among the board, staff and management." We ask the listeners to call to account those who were elected to represent KPFA's listening community. We know that the listeners did not elect representatives with the intention of putting the station in political and legal jeopardy. This December, seats on the LSB will be contested and those who value this station should scrutinize all candidates, incumbents and others, to find out where they stand, who they represent, and what vision they have for the station. Sincerely, Aileen Alfandary, News Co-Director Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, Director, First Voice Apprenticeship Program Amelia Prather-Nahman, Current Apprentice, Group 25 Raido Andrea DuFlon, Board Op/Producer, Former LAB member, UPSO Council Andrea Lewis, Co-Host/Producer, Morning Show Betty Beasley/ Allison Rolls, Music Programmer, Subscriptions Belinda Ricklefs, Assistant Bookkeeper Ben Adler, Reporter, News Department Bob Baldock, Events Producer Brian Edwards Tiekert, Reporter, Environmental Justice Beat, News Department Brian Garcia, Reporter, News Department C.S. Soong, Host/Producer, Against the Grain Caroline Casey, The Visionary Activist Show Chris Stehlik, Database Manager Christopher Martinez, Graduate Apprentice, Sacramento Reporter, News Department Chuy Varela, La Raza Chronicles Dan Albers, Computer Services Director David Gans, Music Programmer, Dead to the World Eric Klein, Technical Producer, Free Speech Radio News Eric Park, Interim Assistant Producer, Morning Show Gary Niederhoff, Subscriptions Director George Curtis, Johnny Otis Show, Your Own Health and Fitness Glenn Reeder, Weekend Anchor, News Department Greg Bridges, Host/Producer, Transitions On Traditions Gregg McVicar, Host/Producer, Earthsongs, Co-Producer, Bay Native Circle Joy Maulitz, Assistant Producer, Morning Show Kellye Denson, Morning Anchor, News Department Kirsten Thomas, Board Op, Morning Show Kris Welch, Host/Producer, Living Room Kristen Zimmerman, Chief Producer, Full Circle Kutay Derin Kugay, Host, Monday Music of the World, UPSO Council Larry Bensky, Host, Sunday Salon Larry Kelp, Music Programmer, UPSO Council Laura Prives, Reporter, News Department Layna Berman, Host/Producer, Your Own Health and Fitness Lewis O. Sawyer, Receptionist Lisa Ballard, Website Director Luis Medina, Music Director Mark Mericle, News Co-Director Maria Fortez, Subscriptions Assistant Mary Bishop, Administrative Assistant to the General Manager Mary Tilson, Host, America's Back 40 Maya Orozco, Graduate Apprentice, Producer, Board Op Mic Mylin, Technical Producer, Free Speech Radio News Paul Robins, Volunteer, Former KPFA Database Manager Pema Chogkhan, Unpaid Staff Philip Maldari, Co-Host/Producer, Morning Show Phil Osegueda, Substitute Host, Dead to the World Raquel Aguirre, Host, Musical Colors Rainjita Geesler, Segment Editor/ Producer, Hard Knock Radio Richard Lupoff, Producer/Host, Cover to Cover Richard Wolinsky, Producer/Host, Thursday Cover to Cover Russ Jennings, Producer Spirit in Action Sally Phillips, Host, Girl Friday, Board Op, UPSO Council Sandy Miranda, Substitute Host/Producer, Music of the World Sasha Lilley, Producer, Against the Grain Susan Stone, Director, Arts and Humanities Department Vanessa Tait, News Reporter/Producer Victoria Z, Host, Tuesday Music of the World __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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