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Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 13:37:57 -0700 From: San Francisco Liberation Radio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Corporate Takeover of Pacifica: A Corrupt Institution Grows Richer While Micro Radio Starves (please post far and wide) One of my favorite shows on San Francisco Liberation Radio these days is the "What's Going On?" program, which airs Fridays from 4-5 p.m. I listen to it each week because it keeps me informed regarding the latest events at KPFA in Berkeley--and what's happening--or shall we say "what's going on" at that station is a rather amazing spectacle to behold. Friday, June 25, 4 p.m., the Richmond District of San Francisco: We hear the strains of Marvin Gaye's familiar song and then Jeff Blankfort, the host of the show, begins to speak, "You're listening to Marvin Gaye and this is 'What's Going On'..." Jeff has been an activist in the Free Pacifica/Take Back KPFA movement for at least as long as I've known him, which is about the last six years or so. This should give you a clue that what's "going on" at KPFA didn't come about overnight. Nonetheless events over the past couple of months alone have taken some astonishing twists and turns. For those who live outside California, KPFA is a listener-supported station which has been the heart and soul of the Bay Area activist community since its founding fifty years ago. What's befalling the station now has some of the markings of a corporate takeover in the classic sense of the word. Jeff, however, who's been following the situation far closer than have I, feels there are perhaps even more sinister forces at work, believing the station (and the whole five-station Pacifica Network as well) to be the target of "a governmental operation without the usual disguises." Jeff's latest? That Pacifica management was apparently miffed by what it perceived as kid glove treatment meted out by the Berkeley Police to protestors in front of KPFA on June 20. "The latest news, folks out there, is that Mary Francis Berry, the head of Mr. Clinton's U.S. Civil Rights Commission--it sounds like an oxymoron, 'U.S. Civil Rights Commission'--called Robert Fisher, the associate attorney general in the Justice Department, whom she works with presumably--and had HIM call Joe Brand in the COPS Department--that's the community police operation of the U.S. Justice Department--and HE called Dash Butler, (chief) of the Berkeley Police, to let Mr. Butler know that he (Brand) and those above him, were concerned with the soft treatment that those who were arrested in Berkeley in front of Pacifica on Monday morning received from the Berkeley Police. "This naked move," continued Jeff, "by Mary Francis Berry--M.F. Berry, and those initials are really appropriate in this situation--raises to a new level the--or drops to a new low--the baseness which this Pacifica operation is associated with. "Before that, we found out that because of shots that were shot into the Pacifica building the night Nicole Sawaya (former KPFA general manager) was fired on March 31--in which nobody was injured--this building was unmarked and it wasn't even identified as Pacifica--the windows were clouded over--usually that means a sweat shop going on behind there... "In any case, what happened is that Pacifica is turning over all the emails and voice mails (regarding Sawaya's firing) it has received from angry listeners--legitimately angry listeners--to the Berkeley Police, who will give it then to psychologists to determine if any of KPFA's listeners and critics have 'violent tendencies,'" said Jeff. What's surprising about all this is not that people are angry enough to hold protests in front of the station, or that Pacifica management is now in the business of having its listeners investigated by the police. No. The part I find the most amazing is that people still give money to that station. Recently I heard that during its latest fundraising marathon KPFA took in something like well over $600,000 in pledges. The good news is that a great many of these pledges--perhaps as high as 75 percent--were made "under protest." Given the undeniable "baseness" of Pacifica, which gets, I'm told, somewhere around 17 percent of this money, that, I suppose, is some consolation. However, each passing day brings a new seemingly insurmountable feat of arrogance from the management calling the shots in this corpus delicti, and the latest rumor is that those who made protest pledges may not be able to claim their donations as tax exemptions. Frankly I would have stopped giving money to KPFA a long time ago. For me I think the cut-off point would have been 1995, when programmers like Kiilu Nyasha, Bill Mandel, and Mama O'Shea were eliminated from the station. (As I say, this has been evolving for a long time.) Yet in a never-say-die fashion, people have gone on through the intervening years turning over their hard-earned money to this very foul and corrupt institution--this despite the seemingly endless revelations about secrecy, unaccountability, exorbitant executive salaries, and the hiring of union-busting firms. I listened as Jeff discussed the lawsuit which is now, at long last, being mounted to curb the Pacifica Board's excesses. People, it seems, have finally reached the breaking point. My only thought is, "What took them so long?" It takes money to finace a law suit and those feeding this one's jaws will surely need all they can get. I hope the suit is ultimately successful. Yet, given the caliber of individuals occupying positions on the bench, the supporters of free speech radio in the Bay Area would do well not to put all their eggs into one basket. Presently our station's bank balance is under three hundred dollars. As I sit here thinking about that $600,000 pledged to KPFA, I confess it's hard for me not to drool. Yes, suing Pacifica will be no small-change affair. But here are a few things that could be accomplished with even just a tiny fraction of that money: *enable us to "netcast" so that people outside out west San Francisco listening area could hear us *enable us to rent an office space and go to 24 hours a day, as opposed to our present six (presently our signal emanates from a Richmond District apartment--an apartment in which people also have to live) *enable me to pay my lawyer, Dennis Cunningham, who, I'm ashamed to say, has yet to receive a check from me, even though he's been my attorney since March. (In addition to keeping me out of jail, Dennis, despite meager resources, carries on Judi Barri's lawsuit against the FBI. A tiny, minute sliver of that $600,000 could keep Dennis--and the Earth First! lawsuit--alive for another year.) Ah, you say, but micro radio is currently illegal. That's true. However, the National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communications is doing some enormously important work, including lobbying in Washington, toward legalization. What would a modest slice of this six hundred grand mean to their efforts? KPFA could obviously never be replaced by any single micro station. But what if there were a non-commercial micro station in every community within the KPFA listening area? This is the goal the CDC is working toward. A few crusts from that $600,000 loaf could help new stations take to the air--or help our sister station, Free Radio Berkeley, return to the air. Food for thought--and I hope those reading this will indeed THINK. Before closing, I'd like to mention a micro station in Texas. KIND Radio in San Marcos, Texas recently received a cease and desist order. They have ignored the notice and continue to broadcast. If the FCC raids them and seizes their equipment I would encourage people to respond generously. While it's true the FCC has initiated a micro radio rulemaking process, with a view toward legalization, we are not out of the woods yet. Anything could still happen, especially given that large, corporate broadcasters continue to oppose us and are using their friends in Congress to try to stop the FCC from going any further with the rule change. KIND Radio has been a stalwart of the micro radio movement for several years. If they go down, the world suddenly becomes more dangerous for all of us who remain on the air. Richard Edmondson co-founder, SF Liberation Radio -- San Francisco Liberation Radio http://www.slip.net/~dove ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peace! *STRIDER* Sector Air Raid Warden at /RENEGADE/ /RENEGADE/ news_service: http://fornits.com/renegade/ DEDICATED TO SPIRIT, TRUTH, PEACE, JUSTICE, AND FREEDOM Bay_Area_Activist list: http://fornits.com/renegade/peaars.cgi?fetch=54 Usenet: news:alt.thebird news:misc.activism.progressive CHAT: http://jupiter.beseen.com/chat/rooms/i/1055/ *STRIDER* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -- Ethiopian Proverb ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FreeShop is the #1 place for free and trial offers and great deals! Try something new and discover more ways to save! http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/381 eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/konformist http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications
