Don’t let Pacifica national mine OUR listeners with a Fund Drive directly to them over OUR airwaves!
Beware of strategic planning and retreats, AKA brainwashing sessions!
They have taken power at the ‘top’, don’t go for their too expensive Get-rich-quick bright ideas! There’s no free lunch.
Category Archives: Pacifica
re: Mail-in Voting
They don’t count these until the night of the election, after the networks have called the election. Please vote in person-it’s a one-shot against voter suppression. Trump is in power and is sabotaging the other kinds of votes.
From: Brad Friedman <Brad@BradBlog.com>
To: ‘Clifford Burton’ <nimaste@verizon.net>
Sent: Tue, Aug 18, 2020 3:53 pm
Subject: RE: Mail-in votes
Another source
While Pacifica voters overall voted 66% against disbanding the local boards and other de-democratizing measures, KPFA voters voted overwhelmingly in favor of the de-democratizing measures. What does that tell you about the corruption between KPFA and Pacifica National?
While obviously biased, Pacifica Watch has lots of info on Pacifica:
https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2020/08/02/shortly-posts-will-be-made-of-completed-june-july-drafts-not-least-about-a-dish-best-served-cold-pacifica-suing-john-carlo-vernile-former-ed/
A good-bye toast with KPFK staff and progs and from Pacifica Radio Archives
From “Pacifica Watch” blog:
movie in KPFK’s parking lot
Excerpt: “…ch a diminution (by-law Article 17, Section 1(B)(3)(v)). Yes, that again. The right affected is that of voting, by making it more difficult to vote on a by-laws amendment brought by just one of the three possible routes, a members’ petition: the threshold has been raised from 1% of members to 5% (so today, from ~435 to ~2 175). How difficult is this? At the last LSB voting round, Aug-Oct2019, a provisional 6 085 voted; given this, it can be said the effective threshold has been raised to something like 35%, a third of typical voters, so beyond the clouds, from 7.1% to 35.7% (435 ÷ 6085, & 2175 ÷ 6085). (The 6 085 is provisional because National Elections Supervisor Renee Penaloza, presumably breaching her contract, still fails to submit her final report!) Silly question I know, but before voting on Th25June did the PNB inform themselves by getting an estimate of the cost of litigation? https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/pnb200625/pnb200625_6541_minutes.pdf (pages 9-11)
on a matter that no-one would deem trivial, & is indeed a test of morality, why were all the directors silent, even those from KPFA? And what about Margy Wilkinson’s dad, & the forgotten Smith Act?
(A post will not be made on the unsavory attempt to remove PNB Chair Alex Steinberg (WBAI listener-delegate) & PNB Secretary Grace Aaron (KPFK listener-delegate) from their positions, Th2 & 9July. Pacifica boards are nasty. Toxic. The dynamic brings out the worst in people. It’s as if they enjoy their symptom. Here, yet again, the observing ethnographers were able to record a typically sly manoeuvre by Chris ‘Cowardly’ Cory (KPFA listener-delegate). This time it was a sorry-I-couldn’t-get-the-motion-to-you-in-time-for-the-proposed-agenda-as-I-was-still-writing-it (8:56, https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/pnb200702/pnb200702a.mp3 & https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/pnb200702/pnb200702_6464_minutes.pdf). There’s a pattern here. His most disingenuous was when he was Chair of the PNB Finance Cttee the day after the WBAI coup, faking amnesia (what-day-is-it?), feigning ignorance, then largely faking empathy, laced with guilt, wrapping his arms around R Paul, WBAI’s treasurer, “I-I-I I can’t express how much grief I have over this-this last-uh few days […] I don’t have words for it […] if it were my place to apologise I would” (0:01, 5:40, 20:37 & 27:46 https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/finance/191008/finance191008a.mp3, & 1:05:41 https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/finance/191008/finance191008b.mp3). Self-denigration is a sorry spectacle. And as mom must have told him, no-one likes a liar.)
why are directors choosing to omit a lil detail in their latest reports to their local station board, that the PNB has rejected an offer to buy WBAI’s broadcasting licence? (Note, this was not a proposed signal swap.) …”
https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2020/08/02/shortly-posts-will-be-made-of-completed-june-july-drafts-not-least-about-a-dish-best-served-cold-pacifica-suing-john-carlo-vernile-former-ed/
Lots of very interesting Info not Verified by Me
Excerpt- “On 2Apr2018, Executive Director Tom Livingston committed Pacifica to the biggest debt in its history, signing the $3.7m loan from the Foundation for the Jewish Community, known in the wider world as FJC.
Pacifica was proud of the new form it had pushed its debt into. It issued a press statement, still on the websites of KPFK & WBAI: https://www.kpfk.org/blogs/kpfk-and-pacifica-news/post/pacifica-announces-settlement-with-empire-state-building-and-empire-state-realty-trust/ & https://www.wbai.org/articles.php?article=3570.
So proud, the statement to the world included this from the then PNB Chair, Nancy Sorden (who’s still a director & WPFW listener-delegate): “
One year ago the FJC loan documents were leaked – respect to those responsible
My Biased Answers to Some Inquiries
The stations got a windfall when the Bushes were in office, and they did too much hiring. Always happens when Repubs. are in office, and in the ’60s.
But KPFA is in ‘hippie heaven’, and always makes plenty of money. ‘Frisco area is about the most lefty place in the country, one of the most in the world, they support their lefty radio station.
When they have had money problems it’s because overextension and/or mismanagement.
It has had to subsidize the other stations (and Pacifica Radio Archives and National Office) most of its life, except for sometimes KPFK.
KPFT does many things with tech, and spends less on staff. They are wise enough not to program too Lefty in high listening times,, and live within their means mostly.
We need KPFA but they are too willing to spend money as they see fit, because they somewhat subsidize the rest of us.
Why do they do things? Because they can.
KPFA never needs to downsize probably, but KPFK and the others do. The CPB requires 5 full time equivalents at each station.
In programming, stations need a mix of paid staff and volunteers. Some of KPFK’s paid staff well pay for themselves in fundraising, some don’t.
Managers in the past let some paid staff go. IMHO K needs to go back to using some volunteer board-ops and newsies and other tasks.
When I hired on, everyone was a Department Head, with only volunteers for Department workers. We had only 5 full time equivalents. We made $2000 a day, on a good day. Of course that was in 1985, now it would be $4766. We were in the midst of a bad disaster, which showed in the programming.
I lived without a refrigerator, I know how to downsize.
While Pacifica Radio Archives is in KPFK”S building, it should share their expenses. It should fix its website so that it would make money, not drain it off, like WBAI. BAI is in terrible shape. They have bad smug attitude problems.
Pac. should deal with its bad smug and elitist attitudes.
Some shows stay on because they are such a community service, even tho they don’t make much in fundraising, including news. Judge one case at a time.
Put the National Office back in KPFK’s building, have them share the costs, make it harder for KPFA and National to bypass due process to spend network money.When I hired on, National and the archives together had about 5 FTEs. S.
In These Times
Pacifica. stations: They have to face the facts of our new age of internet on line media and blogs etc., and downsize.
Pacifica Watch blog
https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2020/06/05/within-the-hour-facebook-inexplicably-deleted-the-post-about-the-pnb-zombies-and-karen/
https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2020/06/05/within-the-hour-facebook-inexplicably-deleted-the-post-about-the-pnb-zombies-and-karen/
How did Brazon get back in charge?

Your station stands for your views,
Your station stands for your views, not some faraway centralized government. Give your support money to your local workers whom you know and hear from frequently. Of course you don’t agree with all of them, but the station is always trying to find the best dependable workers with the right skills and information and culture.
S.


What the heck is happening here?
What the heck is happening here: https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/statement-from-striking-truthdig-workers/?fbclid=IwAR2v4DYGAzjMBkLowfVMdzboVJo_aBZrYDu2b0Lc2EX60CG0lU8IOwpAzos
Excerpt: Two weeks prior, we had begun a work stoppage at the website to protest unfair labor conditions, promising to return to work if Truthdig’s publisher, Zuade Kaufman, committed to negotiate with us in good faith. She did not. Instead, she opted to disable reader comments across the site and place Truthdig on “hiatus” during a global pandemic. Now we were learning that Kaufman planned to shutter the publication completely. Her goal, which she seems determined to pursue at any cost, is to eject co-owner and Editor in Chief Robert Scheer from the company without honoring the terms of their operating agreement. . . .
Last minute Bombshell?
” Highlights, the changes in only nine weeks:
- listener-membership has fallen 3 581 (−7.84%, 1-in-13), from 45 690 to 42 109
- KPFA listeners −13.6%, so 1-in-7 (14 334 → 12 385, so −1 949)
- KPFT listeners +21.2% (3 569 → 4 327, so +758)
- WBAI listeners −30.1% (8 240 → 5 761, so −2 479)
- WPFW listeners −4.2% (6 293 → 6 029, so −264)
- staff membership has fallen −1.5% (970 → 955, so −15) “
No Quick Fix
There are just no quick and easy fixes for Pacifica radio or stations. All the great ideas are labor and overhead intensive and killer on the staff. Don’t assume that a big change, like changing the by-laws, will be better instead of worse.
If we all just did our jobs well, and elected good local board members (that we knew by social media), and stop putting too much energy into the internal fighting, all would be well ‘in the garden’.
The fight between the more and more Leftyish and the more cultural and more full stream will always be there, as it should be. But all of us left-of-center are part of ‘The Struggle’. And should pull together. (Those nearer the center often pay for the rest of us.)

Sick and Tired and Voting Yes?
https://www.laprogressive.com/hostile-takeover-of-pacifica-radio/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=490232e1-f5fb-491d-a1b8-dd99e11e233c
kpftx.org
https://pacificainexile.org/archives/3000
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/09/16/18826331.php
Excerpt: “I ask you to let the 2016 presidential campaign be a cautionary tale. The actions on the Left were unwilling to coalesce when it really mattered. You don’t need me to recite all the consequences of that failure and if the memory of the 2016 campaign doesn’t scare you, nothing will. “

The Takeover of 1999, and Now
A vote yes is to vote for the so-called elites to dictate to the people, or even sell off the stations. But a big infusion of cash from that would just go right away for their pet projects or into their pockets. These are the folks responsible for the possible loss of KPFA’s building. Disenfranchises the 200+ affiliate stations.
YOUR BALLOT must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on March 19. If you didn’t get a ballot, or misplaced it, request another ballot
h t t p s : / / r e s c u e p a c i f i c a . n e t
” rescuepacifica.net “
Now I Know Why
” https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/2020/02/17/ed-brazon-spreads-the-calm/ ”
Excerpt: “…Pacifica Foundation, Inc. has engaged two specialty firms helping us with the tax lien for KPFA and the transmitter property as well. Both firms have clearly made this a priority. The law firm helping us with the tax exemption has great expertise in this particular area and the lawyers and [sic] communicated with someone with the authority to grant us some status relief, pending the submission of our exemption application by Friday, February 14. Relief regarding the lien is not guaranteed, but I think we can be cautiously hopeful. KPFA produced the final financial documents needed for both properties on Thursday, February 14 [sic: the 13th].
However, it is also the case that the Organizational Clearance Certificate I sent them which we’ve always used, and which grants the Pacifica Foundation, the property tax exemption status as a non-profit entity, must be reapplied for. It turns out such a Certificate had to be applied for when the name was changed in 2013 and again when we changed it back in early 2015 to Pacifica Foundation, Inc.. That further complicated the application attempted by KPFA during that same period. KPFA already had a reduced tax amount as a result of previous tax exemptions applied for, but the subsequent one was intended to render the properties totally exempt from taxation. The lawyers also believe all of Pacifica’s properties should qualify for full exemption status….”
“…As the situation progresses toward resolution, I will update your PNB directors [sic].
Than [sic] you,
Lydia Brazon
Interim Executive Director
Pacifica Foundation…”
I didn’t know that she was in charge again!
Inaccurate and Accurate Points of View
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-02-07/crisis-at-pacifica-kpfk
LA Times column: The crisis at iconic public radio station KPFK gets deeper
First part is about Ian, beyond that is lots of good history.
KPFK has a famous and infamous history of covering topics:
Here’s one from years past-
Audio, Kucinich to KPFK’s Lila Garrett
she passed:
Lila has a storied history as a writer not just at KPFK but in media in Hollywood.
Keep going strong!
Alan Minsky is KPFK’s long-time interim Program Director.
You can’t broadcast without a station
It’s a business, stupid. We need separation of church and state, and checks and balances. We need to make sure that our ideologies don’t disable our organizational proper functioning, and vice versa (balance).
Democracy Leaves Pacifica unless we Fight
Better read the 31!. They make me sick.
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:January 26, 2020
It’s Up To You Now
Berkeley – On January 23, an Alameda County, California courtroom decided to allow 600 members to force their late-submitted anti-democratic bylaws proposal to a referendum vote immediately at the expense of Pacifica’s membership. The January 23 decision pauses the results of the last delegate election, which 6,085 members participated in. It delays the seating of national board reps selected by newly-elected delegates and keeps the outgoing national board unwillingly frozen into place for another seven weeks. Each Pacifica member faces a bill of approximately $1.50 each for what will be the third nationwide election in little more than a year. Ballots are expected to go out in mid-February.
This publication had previously suggested that Pacifica members would be well-advised to simply ignore these bylaws ballots should they receive them. But we are now changing that advice. On further review of this ill-advised proposal, we strongly recommend a loud and decisive “NO” vote. We will talk a bit about why below.
For those who want to climb into the weeds, (and pretty much everyone now has too), Pacifica in Exile has prepared a detailed guide called 31 Things About The New Bylaws Proposal. You can find it here. Please distribute widely.
Below we will highlight a few general points about the Pacifica Restructuring Project proposal that you should keep in mind.
1. The referendum the Court forced despite the lateness of the original proposal is NOT a referendum on the current bylaws, but on this specific proposal. This proposal was drafted in secret by less than a dozen people and never vetted beyond this tiny group before being foisted upon the network. Acceptance would impose a permanently un-elected national board majority. The proponents generally argue on the basis that the current bylaws have problems, which is a position most would agree with. But instead of putting their proposal up for broad discussion as one possible alternative among many, they have short-circuited dialogue and proposed an ultimatum: their way or the highway. These are not the values a community-based membership organization should espouse.
2. The new bylaws proposal installs immediately, 6 particular people, who would compose a permanently un-elected majority on an 11-person board. Those 6 seats would be filled by other national board members into infinity and this group would be free to operate the Foundation more or less as they please, since they have an absolute majority and can establish the board quorum of 6 entirely by themselves. The installed directors require no consent for any board action d by the pro forma member-elected portion of the board (5 seats – 1 from each station signal area). In other words, in this model you get a vote, but it is only symbolic.
The original proposal, which was sent to 47,000 Pacifica members and signed on to by less than a thousand of us, named 6 individuals and 3 alternates. Of those 9 individuals, two have dropped out since the proposal was floated in September. Of the 7 remaining, only 2 have media experience. The most heavily represented constituency is civil rights lawyers, who compose 3 of the remaining 7. 2 are based in the San Francisco Bay Area, 2 in Texas (the smallest Pacifica signal area) and 2 in the Midwest, a region which does not have a Pacifica-owned station. None are located on the Eastern seaboard where Pacifica maintains WBAI-FM in New York and WPFW-FM in Washington DC. None of the 7 people asking you to install them has made a single public comment about what they will do if placed on the board of directors.
3. We encourage you to read the full 31 Things About the New Bylaws article. Here is a quick touch on a few of the salient changes:
* While your vote drops in value from 4 seats on the national board to 1 minority seat, the cost of that vote doubles to $50/yr from the current $25/year.
* There is no residency requirement for a sole elected station representative on the national board.
* Quorum drops to 5% for future changes to the bylaws including station license sales.
* Station unpaid and paid staff are prohibited on the national board. Pacifica affiliated stations no longer have seats for their representatives on the national board.
* While there are nominally 5 member-elected directors (1 from each station), they are not only a permanent minority, they are prohibited from serving as the board chair or board treasurer. Only the self-appointed directors can chair the board or serve as the treasurer.
* Conflict of interest rules for board members are loosened so that any claim that a director has a “personal interest” in a board decision can keep them from voting. This explicitly allows the prevention of directors from voting as happened with the exclusion of WBAI’s representatives from voting on the raid of their station. That action was thrown out by NY’s Supreme Court as “trumped-up” based on the current bylaws. It wouldn’t be in the future.
What Will Happen If These New Bylaws Are Adopted
It doesn’t take a crystal ball. After 7 weeks of bylaws election, then Pacifica will have to have 5 more elections, one at each station, to select a new sole station director. After that is all over, this new board will finally sit down and realize they have a loan principle payment of $3.2 million due in less than a year. The new board will panic, examine their assets, and immediately call yet another election seeking member permission to sell a station license. What else can they possibly do? What we are looking at is just another pathway to the unnecessary break-up of Pacifica. The people’s media assets, which are held in trust by the Pacifica Foundation, deserve better.
We know there are other answers. $1.9 million dollars was given to this organization in one calendar year in 2019 in windfall gifts. Loan obligations can be met, if we want them to be. Bylaws don’t replace the will to survive and putting the public interest first.
Vote to keep your membership rights and vote NO on the break-up bylaws.
If you value being kept up to speed on Pacifica Radio news via this newsletter, you can make a little contribution to keep Pacifica in Exile publishing . Donations are
secure, but not tax-deductible”
Balance of Power? or KPFA and Friends
When ‘National’ tried to take over KPFA, the communities filled the streets to take back their station. ‘This is ours, this is something we paid for, we believe in, and that we intend to keep,’ paraphrase of Alice Walker. A balance of power with less power for National and more for the stations would be better. KPFK, for one, and its building, was built by people in L.A., not National. At-large PNB members is just a scheme to dis-power the local reps.
An excerpt that I’m speaking out against: “Also, as a guide to how we treat one another, the egalitarian principle is not to reward & punish given one’s endowment: just because some stations use Pacifica-owned buildings, not their buildings, isn’t justification for looking down on & disparaging WPFW & WBAI. It was a mere historical accident that at the beginning, Pacifica & KPFA constituted an identity, the one-and-the-same. A station’s financial performance may be criticised, but one must recognise that (1) some of its contracts may have been agreed, even negotiated, by the executive director &/or the National Board, & (2) the station manager (called in Pacificanese the general manager) isn’t appointed locally but by the executive director. Please don’t mistake the locus for the cause.”
https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/category/authoritarianism/
One of their Quotes:
to refurbish KPFA. (4) Break up the network by “setting the stations free.” This has long been a cherished project of the faction that runs KPFA, so it is no surprise to learn that virtually all 9 principals (bosses? chiefs? czars?) of the “Pacifica Restructuring
Project” are … from KPFA.
Court to ask for a temporary restraining order reversing WBAI’s shutdown. They were successful and Judge Frank P. Nero issued the order that same day. His order stays and reverses the shutdown of WBAI, allows the staff back into the building, forces return
of the computers that the KPFA plotters took away, and re-establishes regular WBAI programming. However, the judge’s order ends October 18, when WBAI’s defenders – and the KPFA faction that wants to sell it — will face off in court.
The beginning of the end of local representation and self-government?
COUP AT WBAI! IED John Vernile, without authorisation, closes station, turns it into relay. His letter to all Pacifica directors
”
Coup at WBAI! IED John Vernile, without authorisation, closes station, turns it into relay. Letter to all Pacifica directors
by PacificaWatch
https://mega.nz/#!miwFRCRQ!fgitpS1wkjRaR96V-q95PfKXJuQi93ppXG5yKIPHP8I
Read more of this post”
Lots of info and Editorials Pacifica Radio Watch
- John Vernile, Prince Harry, & Charlotte Church? And Quincy McCoy?
- 𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗔! 𝙀𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙉𝘽 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙨: 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙋𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩
- LSB voting, 13 days to go: can the <5% listener-member turnout at 20Sep reach the required 10%?
- Putting the cart before the horse. Why’s there no public record of the Foundation having a Secretary, the only person authorised to receive this by-laws petition? Has the petition been validated, not least that c. 465 signatories are members in good standing? – open letter to Pacifica IED John Vernile
- Is PNB Director Robin Collier undermining Pacifica by setting up Association of Affiliates, a non-profit, Tu24Sep?
- Pacifica affiliate rejects proposed new Pacifica constitution – why provoke . . . “
Latest “Fix”
Breaking-up Pacifica: the latest attempt, by Crosier-Goldmacher-Sabbagh, Sep2019+
” . . .
Photo is aside KPFK, Los Angeles.
” . . “. . . “faction want to achieve, the dissolving of Pacifica, the Acid Bath Strategy?
The new constitution creates a ‘100-day’ dictatorship:
- appropriating all decision-making from the whole membership;
- that is, eliminating member participation in any decision-making;
- eliminating the very presence of opposition within Pacifica decision-making bodies;
- eliminating expressions of opposition & alternative futures within public Pacifica decision-making forums;
- eliminating the ‘public comment’ opportunity for members, staff, & listeners at Pacifica in-person meetings;
- so, shutting down opportunities for dissent, protest, & exploring futures;
- in a phrase, crushing opposition by a blanket removal of existing opportunities; &
- the six at-large directors are insulated from any scrutiny whatsoever because all their meetings can be private, secret: so, they’re accountable to no-one, can avoid any public proceeding, & there’s no transparency, as they only have to issue legally required statements.
Eat yer 💗 out, Amy G. . . . ”
Breaking-up Pacifica: the latest attempt, by Crosier-Goldmacher-Sabbagh, Sep2019+
2018 Empire State Building Settlement

Pacifica Announces Settlement With Empire State Building and Empire State Realty Trust (Pacifica press release)
In answer to some questions:
Goodbye Dick Gregory, no one can replace you. Rest in beauty.
Pacifica National USED TO have very little power and little staff including PRArchives until they were able to market the subcarrier frequencies and direct the income to themselves (Sharon Maeda).
Now they have hiring final power at National Board and since they have no experience running a non-profit listener-sponsored radio station, they don’t know who (whom?) to hire, and it shows.
Blosdale is iGM and a good choice.
Station Hiring committees used to be required to have representation from all quarters, LSBoard, paid staff, unpaid staff, local manager or rep. But last time at KPFK the paid staff didn’t even know they were replacing the iGM who we loved, with a lesser choice. Not consulted nor informed.
Sue Cohen Johnson
former Membership Dir., programmer, board op, receptionist, KPFK
Some say that making the LSBs not self-selecting but elected instead, was the downfall. I think we should have some of both.
“Lower” hires should also be by committee so that “Management” can’t just hire them, then promote them to Management without due process.
Links-Pacifica History: From KPFK, Los Angeles-Overview
From Pacifica.org, from KPFK.org:
“The Pacifica Foundation (now known as Pacifica Foundation Radio) was born in the late 1940’s out of the (now nearly forgotten) peace movement surrounding World War Two. Lewis Hill, a conscientious objector and Washington, D.C. newsman, was fired from his mainstream reporting job when he refused to misrepresent the facts.
This was a time when the idea of a listener-sponsored radio station was a new one which had never been implemented. Many people doubted the viability of a broadcast model which didn’t rely on some kind of corporate or government funding. But the idea was too compelling for Hill and others who agreed with him. Pacifica was born and in 1949 KPFA went on the air from Berkeley, California.
KPFK, in Los Angeles, was the second of what would eventually become five Pacifica Stations to go on the air. It was 1959 and Terry Drinkwater was the first General Manager. Blessed with an enormous transmitter in a prime location, KPFK is the most powerful of the Pacifica stations and indeed is the most powerful public radio station in the Western United States. . . .
http://www.pacifica.org/about_history.php
- Matthew Lasar, author of Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network (2nd Edition) and Uneasy Listening: Pacifica Radio’s Civil War
- Jesse Walker, author of Rebels on the Air : An Alternative History of Radio in America
- David Barsamian, author of The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting: Creating Alternative Media
- Laura Flanders, author of Real Majority, Media Minority : The Costs of Sidelining Women in Reporting
- William Mandel, Saying No to Power : Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker
- Steve Post, Playing in the FM Band: A Personal Account of Free Radio”
Videos Pacifica turns 60
Democracy Now features KPFA On the Air documentary
Part 1, 11 minutes, the other 5 episodes follow on Youtube
“Pacifica Radio at 60: KPFA Remains a Sanctuary of Dissent Six Decades After Its Founding
Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of Pacifica Radio. On April 15th, 1949 at 3:00 p.m., a charismatic conscientious objector named Lewis Hill sat before a microphone and said, This is KPFA Berkeley. With that, KPFA went on the air, and the first listener-supported radio station in the United States was born. Pacifica Radio is the oldest independent media network in the United States, and its sixtieth birthday comes as a deepening crisis engulfs mainstream media. To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Pacifica Radio today, we feature a documentary about the first Pacifica Radio station: KPFA in Berkeley. Its called KPFA on the Air by filmmakers Veronica Selver and Sharon Wood and narrated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker.”
CPB note (2016)
From FCC Attorney John Crigler
Crigler’s recommendation isn’t “outdated”. It was sent on November 14, 2016. Here are some excerpts: “Before I get to your question, I should make sure that you know that CPB has been cracking down on noncompliance and beefing up its annual certification requirements. I favor in-person meetings for two reasons. First as a legal matter, CAB meetings have to be “open.” The other reason for having in-person meetings is to make sure that the CAB members are on-task and committed. You don’t want to encourage CAB members to multi-task on other interests during meetings which they do not attend in person. The LSBs are created by Pacifica’s Bylaws rather than CPB requirements, but because they function as committees of the PNB they are subject to open meeting rules, so my answer would be the same as for CABs”.
Broad cast your Show

Sprouts: Radio From the Grassroots
Do you have a radio production worthy of national broadcast?
Feature it on Sprouts: Radio from the Grassroots!
Sprouts: Radio From the Grassroots is a 29-minute weekly program coordinated out of the Pacifica Affiliates office, dedicated to showcasing radio content produced at community radio stations and independent production groups. Sprouts celebrates grassroots voices and is renowned for bringing diverse topics to national and international audiences. It is an open door for grassroots radio producers who wish to easily get widespread attention for a particular production, story, or issue.
Participating producers are provided with Sprouts Production Instructions, including the introduction and closing script and music, as well as assistance, if needed. A variety of topics and styles are acceptable, from mini-documentaries, to cultural themes, to breaking issues of national importance. Radio producers are encouraged to send us local stories that have national relevance and are presented in a way that a national audience can appreciate.
Sprouts is distributed by Pacifica Radio and is free of charge to all radio stations. It is aired regularly by 40-50 radio station in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The program is also aired by many other stations on an irregular basis, depending upon the topic.
Contributing a production to Sprouts is an excellent way to bring a worthwhile production piece to a wider audience and to let people know about great production and reporting in grassroots radio. It is an excellent way to get an important story or issue to a wide audience.
Episodes of Sprouts can be heard below, through the SoundCloud audio widget.
For more information, contact Ursula Ruedenberg / Ursula@pacifica.org / 510-812-7989
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pacificanetwork – Sprouts: Election Eve at the Grassroots
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- 8 plays8
pacificanetwork – Sprouts: Disaster Radio -
- 12 plays12
pacificanetwork – Sprouts: Sports and Social Justice
KPFA excellent article by Bill Thomas
This must have been written when KPFA’s building was new, maybe 1994?
A Passion for Radio
Radio Waves and Community
For full artcle go to: http://comunica.org/passion/pdf/chapter5.pdf\
Non-profit Funding Vendors or “Underwriting”
Whole article: http://www.raise-funds.com/2001/should-your-organization-sell-products-services-to-raise-money/
[Here is an excerpt from the comments, that I am putting here before the main article: ”
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Tony Poderis on April 7, 2015 at 10:31 am
Should Your Organization
Sell Products & Services to Raise Money?
I am made increasingly aware of the conflict non-profit organizations experience when faced with choosing between:
- Raising the money they need using a traditional philanthropic process.
- Making a profit from selling and endorsing commercial products and services.
The number and variety of selling opportunities presented to non-profit organizations, especially through the Internet, is growing rapidly. All too often, the advertisements for those products and services make outrageous and misleading promises of big and easy money to needy and vulnerable non-profits.
There is nothing wrong with selling a commercial product or service to help support a non-profit organization if:
- The time expended can be justified by the profit gained.
- It neither restricts nor replaces the far more effective and time-proven philanthropic process—a process that has seen billions of dollars raised over decades of time.
- An organization institutes a product or sales program as additional and complimentary to their regular fund-raising, not as a replacement or alternative to it.
“Girl Scouts Can’t Live on Cookies Alone”
Raising contributed income for non-profit organizations requires much more than selling commercial products and services to make money. Such programs have their place, but most organizations simply cannot generate enough income from them to meet all their needs. A number of years ago the Girl Scouts proved that point with their highly visible campaign to let the public know that “Girl Scouts can’t live on cookies alone,” and that the organization required additional major support in the form of philanthropic contributions.
Selling products and services to generate income seems an easy way to make money. Some commercial vendors of products and services even tell their prospective non-profit customers, “all of the money you’ll ever need,” can be raised this way. That “sales pitch” is very attractive to non-profits which are unable to fathom how they can undertake the hard and sometimes frustrating work of recruiting volunteers, identifying prospects, managing campaigns, and asking for money.
It seems easier and less painful to sell products and services to their constituents and to the general public. The “make more money than you’ll ever need” sales hype they hear from some commercial vendors is quite attractive indeed.
While there are many reputable vendors of products and services now in the marketplace who seek to help non-profits develop new sources of income, they do not always apply a customer-first attitude to their non-profit customers and clients:
- They are not assessing the real needs of the non-profits to see if the proposed product or service-related program has a place in the organization at that time.
- If it does have a place, how it can be a good fit.
Well meaning vendors of merchandise and services often fail to realize that many charitable organizations are likely to embrace a sales program because they perceive it as a way to provide quick and promising rewards while being less stressful and labor-intensive than fund-raising campaigns.
A non-profit organization must always prioritize and put into meaningful perspective opportunities to generate contributed income. In the main, they must always strive to raise the greatest amount of money from the fewest funding sources in the shortest period of time. This simple premise is absolutely critical to most non-profits to employ because of their constantly imminent needs and limited resources. All fund-raising efforts should be measured in those ways.
When considering selling a product or service, officials of a non-profit organization should ask themselves:
- If we sell a product or service to help support our organization, will the effort be justified with the time expended relative to the profit gained?
- Will we assure that the selling program neither restricts nor replaces the far more effective and proven philanthropic process we should be employing?
- What marketing plans can we develop which will maximize our chances for real profit?
- Will we attempt to sell to the general public which does not know our organization? If so, do we really believe we will make money by selling a commercial product available elsewhere? In short, what compelling reason do these persons having no relationship whatsoever with our organization have to buy from us?
- If we sell to our regular donors, will we run the risk of annoying them and perhaps losing their charitable support because of what they may see as yet another solicitation? Contrary to what the vendors say, our regular donors will see their purchases from us primarily as charitable support of our organization.
- When we promote the products and services of one company, will we risk the loss of traditional philanthropic support from other competing companies?
- Is the product or service of a type and quality we would want to associate with our organization?
- If the product or service is to be purchased via the Internet access, what do we know about how Internet-capable our constituents are and how receptive they may be to buying online?
- Are we willing to take the chance that the product or service we are selling can be withdrawn by the provider at any time leaving us high and dry?
. . . .
[And there are comments at the original posting site.]
From 2012, Coalitions vying
KPFK Michelle Alexander frequently featured
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Note: David Barsamian-Alternative Radio
Just ahead of a speaking engagement in Kansas City, David Barsamian will be on the phone on a pledge drive edition of Tell Somebody on October 9, 2014, 9:15 – 10:00 am Central Time on 90.1 FM KKFI, streaming at www.kkfi.org.
https://www.facebook.com/events/707444282663151/?ref_notif_type=plan_mall_activity&source=1

OCT9
Article: Fairness Doctrine in media
Grassroots Radio Conference added a new photo. ·

Article on WPFW fighting or . . .
http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/06/02/can-pacifica-live-up-to-its-promise/
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Telling Facts and Naming Names
Since 1993
JUNE 2, 2006
Can Pacifica Live Up to Its Promise?
Pacifica was founded by radical pacifists who refused to fight even in World War II; nor were they content to wash their hands of the situation and be quietly hidden away in camps. Rather they wanted to disseminate their ideas; so after World War II, they established Pacifica radio, in the words of its mission, to “gather and disseminate information on the causes of conflict between” and to “contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors.” Hopefully the Pacifica board, which meets this weekend in New York City, will live up to this legacy.
In the late 90s and early in this decade, problems long-festering Pacifica spilled out and resulted in a series of lockouts, lawsuits and conflicts that gripped the network, which owns five stations. By the time the cataclysmic events of 9-11 happened, the network was in a state of internal war; crucially, its flagship program, “Democracy Now!”, was eerily being censored from Pacifica’s stations in New York City and Washington, D.C.
This occurred largely because “Democracy Now!”, unlike much of the other programming on those stations, sought to report on moves by the Pacifica national board, which seemed intent on mainstreaming the network, and possibly selling off parts of it. There was some indication that these actions could even have been motivated by goals of personal profit for board members (the stations are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars). . . .”
for more go to: http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/06/02/can-pacifica-live-up-to-its-promise/
KPFA, Pacifica, sell building?
The Daily Californian
NEWS
Berkeley-based radio station network strategizes financial solutions in threat of default
BY ALOK NARAHARI | STAFF
A strategic planning working group — formed by the Pacifica Foundation Radio National Board of Directors, which oversees a network of nonprofit radio stations headquartered in Berkeley — held a planning meeting Thursday to try to keep its business alive.
Article KPFK Pacifica decline (3/2014)
http://www.laweekly.com/news/left-wing-darling-pacifica-radio-is-sliding-into-the-abyss-4521218
3/21/14
“NIMBY-ism, but with microphones”
The LA Weekly‘s piece about the decline of Pacifica is a really terrific read. I’ll pick out a few choice bits at random. First, the ratings:
Pacifica has a long and storied history, and still features such leading liberals as Amy Goodman, the widely known host of Democracy Now! (on which journalists Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill are frequent guests), but it has fallen on hard times of late. Listenership, according Reese, is “extraordinarily low.” During an average 15-minute period, just 700 people listen to its Los Angeles station, 90.7 FM KPFK, for at least five minutes, according to Nielsen Audio, which monitors radio ratings.
For L.A.’s other public radio stations, KCRW and KPCC, that number is 8,000 and 20,000, respectively. KPFK draws roughly one one-thousandth of all radio listeners in the Metro Los Angeles area.
Pacifica’s New York station, WBAI, is even worse off, with too few listeners to register on the Arbitron rankings, and is all but bankrupt. Last year, most of the staff was laid off, including the entire news department.
Facebook and twitter followers will have heard me complain incessantly about the local NPR station’s pledge drives, which rather than what might think is the mutually beneficially arrangement of interspersing the pledge drive with listenable content like news updates, consist of nothing but people asking for money for days on end. (Does anyone listen to this for more than 3 minutes at time?) But, at least, we’re spared Alex Jones-caliber conspiracy theories:
The rest is here: http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2014/03/nimby-ism-but-with-microphones
[I, Sue, still want to remind us all that Arbitrons are racist and classist, and don’t give a realistic look at what the “have-nots” are listening to. Plus at KPFK we are terrible at “branding’. Listeners focus on the particular show names and don’t always identify KPFK, Powered by the People. And the Arbitron ratings depend upon a few perfect matching names and slogans only.]
http://www.laweekly.com/news/left-wing-darling-pacifica-radio-is-sliding-into-the-abyss-4521218
Article Pacifica’s Andrew Leslie Phillips, veteran Program Dir. and iGM of WBAI and KPFA
~6 pages_
“Riding the waves at Pacifica radio, by Andrew Leslie Phillips 8/13
Andrew Leslie Phillips has written a short history of the Pacifica radio network, published below. He is interim general manager of Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley, California.
Phillips is a native of Australia. He spent seven years in Papua New Guinea as a government patrol officer, radio journalist and filmmaker before coming to New York in 1975. He produced award-winning investigative radio documentaries on a wide range of environmental and political issues for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and for Pacifica station WBAI in New York City. He taught journalism, radio and “sound image” as an adjunct professor at New York University for 10 years.
The Pacifica foundation was founded in 1946 by poet and journalist Lewis Hill and a small group of pacifists, intellectuals and experienced radio people. They did not have the same political or economic philosophy but shared a vision which supported a peaceful world, social justice and creativity. ….
FM was a new, technology and Pacifica was backing the future, inventing an entirely new funding mechanism – the theory of listener sponsored radio. . . .
Equality of access to airtime has always been at the center of controversy at Pacifica and community radio everywhere. Most on-air people at Pacifica were not paid until the mid 1990’s. They volunteered and they made money to support the Foundation by pitching their programming on free-speech Pacifica radio. That was the deal. It was a tacit agreement – Pacifica provides opportunity and access whilst producers agreed to pitch and encourage on air pledges. By far the largest percentage of financial support for Pacifica still comes from listener donations.[2]. . . ”
http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2013/08/06/riding-the-waves-at-pacifica-radio-by-andrew-leslie-phillips/
September 16 2015
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Andrew Leslie Phillips [in a negative mood]: “I know many who follow this page [https://www.facebook.com/groups/PacRadioSupporters/] are, have been or aspire to “run” Pacifica but most of you are not qualified and there are too many of you on overcrowded ineffectual boards. I know why this clumsy governance system was originally implemented but it has not worked. We all know that now. Pacifica as an institution was always a tenuous affair but never more so than now. There seems little point to the institution any longer. The audience is old and growing older, the programming in most cases, second rate. Most information Pacifica carries is available elsewhere. Pacifica has been nit-picked to death by competing factions. I believe there maybe a place for individual stations to strike out on their own but the governance structure stands in the way of that. I spent some great years at WBAI (1979-1993) and in those days WBAI and Pacifica meant something. We did ground breaking programming and produced many fine producers, a lot of whom can now be heard on NPR (since there was no future even then at Pacifica, for talented broadcasters so they moved on). Amy Goodman may have been the best “thing” to come out of Pacifica (and Amy was forced out by noxious WBAI management) and when Amy say’s “From Pacifica” in her DemNow intro she is not really saying it as it is because DemNow comes “from Pacifica” only because Michael Yoshida at KPFA ensures DemNow get on the satellite on time every day. During my tenure at KPFA (2011-2013) I came to like and respect many in that community. But I too was skewered by some who came to disagree with me and manipulated me out of my position with unfounded accusations and deception. Unfortunately Pacifica under its current charter breeds a kind of Machiavellian environment and John Proffitt is just another victim.”
Article by a long-time skilled, experienced Volunteer, still relevant
The following is an interesting article-response that I mostly disagree with:
“PNB and staff criticized in LA Indymedia article, response with info is here:
30 September, 2009 – 20:09 — maryjanie
This is a reposting from an article in 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
Monday, Sep. 28, 2009 at 5:19 PM {URL is below}
the article can be found at :
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/09/230683_comment.php#230721
http://pacificana.org/2009/09/30/pnb-and-staff-criticized-la-indymedia-article-response-info-here
Title: Network
by Terry Goodman 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.”
KPFT Founder Ray Hill and history of FM Radio
History in a box:
“About my returning to The Prison Show this Friday: www.kpft.org is in its Fall fund raising mode and I want all of you to consider offering your $$$ help. In 1968 in a small office on Bissonet four of us: Larry Lee, Don Gardner, Debra Danburg (then just a child prodigy U of H student) and I were plotting to give Houston a vehicle of free speech on the radio. From that came KPFT. The station became the vehicle for Wilde n Stein our pioneering GLBT program (evolved now into Queer Voices and After Hours) In 1980, I became the first openly gay and first ex-convict to be authorized to be general manager of an FCC licensed station in the country and began The Prison Show, an iconic effort at expanding to an otherwise neglected audience. The station needs and deserves your tax deductible support and you can support The Prison Show now on the KPFT web page or listen Friday and call a pledge into the station.”
~Ray Hill
This today from KPFT founder, Ray Hill:
“I borrowed this note from Writer’s Almanac and would add that in 1949 Lewis Hill and a few friends began non-commercial FM broadcasting in the San Fransisco Bay Area leading to the founding of KPFT, Houston in March 1970. She is still there globally at www.kpft.org Where The Prison Show will be broadcast tonight at 9:00 pm Houston Time. Listen up and support.
On May 13, 1939, the oldest commercial FM radio station in the United States made its first broadcast from Meriden, Connecticut. FM — or “frequency modulation” — radio was the brainchild of Edwin H. Armstrong, a radio pioneer who had been designing technical improvements to radio broadcasters and receivers for many years. Radio signals were transmitted using “amplitude modulation,” and although AM radio signals traveled great distances, they were full of static and the quality was poor. Armstrong tried varying the frequency of the radio waves, rather than their amplitude, and the signal became much clearer. Armstrong received a patent for FM radio in 1933, and in 1934 he broadcast an organ recital from the top of the Empire State Building over both AM and FM frequencies, so people could hear the difference for themselves.
While FM was being perfected, a few experimental radio stations were trying to increase the quality of the AM signal. These were known as “Apex” stations, in part because their transmitting antennas were so tall. One of these Apex stations, W1XPW, was licensed to Franklin Doolittle in 1936. He built his station atop West Peak, in Meriden, Connecticut, and first began his test broadcasts on this date in 1939. By the time the station began full public programming six months later, it was broadcasting on the new FM band, under the call letters WDRC-FM. It’s still on the air, serving listeners in the Hartford area, 75 years later.”

KPFA co-founder Richard Moore passes

Pacifica 2015-09-14
The full email from John Proffitt to Stephen Cohen.
—-Original Message—–
From: John Proffitt < ed@pacifica.org>
To: Stephen D Cohen < patfansdc@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Sep 15, 2015 9:41 am
Subject: Re: OUR COLLECTIVE SADNESS AT YOUR DEPARTURE AND HOW YOU CAN HELP US
Dear Dr. Cohen,
Thank you for your letter — I do appreciate hearing from you.
My reasons for departing are fairly simple and twofold: (1) family responsibilities and (2) a clash of culture between Pacifica and myself. That clash makes it impossible for me to be effective in this job, thus my decision to resign.
In my opinion, the historic and deep-seated problems of Pacifica can only be addressed through consensus within the Pacifica family, which is not going to happen given the current poisonous factional atmosphere, burdened with personal attacks, paranoia, obsession with conspiracy theories and other historical baggage that has, in effect, rendered Pacifica ungovernable.
I care very deeply about the history, legacy and role that Pacifica should be playing in American life, so perhaps after some of the dust has cleared I will go into detail as to my recommendations and thoughts for a way forward.
Regards,
John Proffitt
From: John Proffitt
Sent: Sep 14, 2015 1:09 PM
To: Pacifica National Board , Janet Kobren , Quincy McCoy , Berthold Reimers , Duane Bradley , Leslie Radford , Jerry Paris
Subject: My departure
To the Pacifica National Board
To the Pacifica General Managers
Today I have submitted my letter of resignation as Executive Director to the PNB Chair, Lydia Brazon. My last day will be on or before October 14th.
I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity — the privilege — I’ve had to work with you as your Executive Director. I’ve come to know and appreciate many for your professionalism and dedication to Pacifica, and I want to thank in particular my National Office colleagues Lydia Brazon, Margy Wilkinson, Jon Almeleh, Efren Llarinas and LaSchele Moseley.
I wish the very best for Pacifica, its staff, volunteers and supporters!
John
John Gladney Proffitt
Executive Director
Pacifica Foundation Radio
1925 Martin Luther King Jr Way
Berkeley CA 94704-1037
Office – 510.849.2590 x 208″
Video-The Extreme Detail and Subtlety of Marketing That We Don’t Know
Pacifica depends upon presenting ourselves on radio (and online) for listenership, donations and Arbitrons. But we know so little about marketing:
Go see this video for some detail on marketing: http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/why-the-oscars-really-lack-diversity-630844995608
From 1999, History
Excerpt from: “FAIR Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting
Article on History & HUAC by Arcane Radio Trivia
(HUAC) the House Un-American Activities Committee began the investigation of 7 radio commentators on November 6, 1945. This list includes: Bertolt Brecht, Norman Cousins, Carey McWilliams, Dorothy Healey, and W. E. B. DuBois… most of them worked for Pacifica.Starting in the year 1946, HUAC issued general reports on subversive activities, based on its research and hearings. Their first report contained a very partisan section on the radio broadcasts of “certain unnamed liberal commentators.” The committee found the radio commentators to be pro-communist based on their comments regarding the State Department, presidential appointees, foreign governments, and General Douglas MacArthur. [Yes, the far right has really been trying to convince America that liberals are communists for that long.]
Three ex-FBI agents in 1950 published a booklet titled Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. This tome listed people, organizations and publications purported to have ties to communism. Among those people cited for their ties to communist organizations the following peopel in radio: Rod Holmgren, Lisa Sergio, William S. Gailmor, William Shirer, Johannes Steel, J. Raymond Walshand even Orson Welles!
By the time the book was published, all six commentators listed in its pages had been forced off the air. More here:http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/huac.htm
This crap went on for more than a decade with the FCC withholding the license renewals of KPFA, KPFB, and KPFKpending its investigation into “their communist affiliations.” but after McCarthy Sputtered and crashed like the paranoiac alcoholic that he was, the whole movement loast steam. He had been reckless and like a gambler on a winning streak he had not planned for failure. He imploded and drank himself to death. The radio men he ran out of the buisness mostly met sad ends as well, but some found new work writing under psudonyms.
At the end HUAC offered lines of poetry by Sir Walter Scott in defense of their witch-hunt in their final report. I think they misread him myself. Poem Here:http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/scott-quote.html
great documentary here:http://radfilms.com/huac.html
Away from a radio? You can always listen to KPFK.org Listen Live, or ANY PACIFICA STATION on the Pacifica App
Away from a radio? You can always listen to @KPFK live at
http://kpfk.org/index.php/listen-live#.Ve3yuRFViko
or just go to KPFK.org and select Listen Live
The Pacifica App for SmartPhones: or go to KPFK.org & select the Pacifica App
http://kpfk.org/index.php/content-slider/7489-pacifica-app#.Ve4LiRFViko
From Time to Time folks try to show how we have been influenced by Cointelpro, the CIA, etc.
Here is an example from about 2003, I think:
For the Whole Article: http://acksisofevil.org/cointelpro/list.html
Excerpt:
“The COINTELPRO-Type Operation Against Pacifica and KPFT Progressive/Leftist Broadcasters
Table of Contents
- Disclaimer
- The Story So Far
- The Targets Of The Smears
- Propaganda Techniques Used
- The Perpetrators Of The Smear Campaign
- Their Previous Disruptions Of Progressive Organizations
- Major COINTELPRO-type Actions Of The Gang and When They Began
Disclaimer [top]
The comments on this Web page represent only my own opinion. That’s
because Dan Jones has already closed down a public KPFT communication
forum and has threatened to sue or otherwise harass many fine people for
talking about what he and his collaborators have been doing. — Mark S. Bilk
Please examine the evidence for yourself and reach your own conclusions.
The evidence is the over one hundred messages that can be read below.
The descriptions are my opinion of the message content, but the messages
themselves are reproduced verbatim from their public forums, exactly as
written by their authors. If those who originally posted the messages
claim that their reproduction here is defamatory, then they have defamed
themselves.
The Story So Far [top]
Since January 2002, a handful of people in Houston have posted hundreds of
derogatory propaganda messages on Pacifica mailing lists and chatboards.
These messages contain vicious and unsupported lies about some of the
finest Progressive/Leftist broadcasters in Pacifica, and those who support
them, including many people who were instrumental in freeing the Network
from the anti-Left hijackers. If the smears from this group are believed,
and their recommendations followed, the result would be the abolishing
from Pacifica broadcasting of accurate and uncensored news and analysis.
This was clearly the goal of the Pacifica National Board hijackers, working on
behalf of the wealthy oligarchy that controls the U.S. economy and government, ….”
Pacifica By-Laws Amendments to be voted upon
To be taken up by the Pacifica National Board for acceptance or rejection on September 24, 2015, and then to go to the Local Boards for approvals by Nov. 22. 3 of the 5 must approve.
Click to access ArticleFourSectionTwoProposedBylawsAmendment150731.pdf
Click to access RemoteParticipationAndAccessibilityAtInPersonMeetings150731.pdf
Click to access ByawsAmendPNBQuorumArticleSixSecFive150731.pdf
Click to access LSB%20QUORUMArticleSeven150731.pdf
Click to access BylawsAmendmentReplacingOneTownHall150731.pdf
Click to access ArticleFourSection8TermLimitsProposedAmendment150731.pdf
Click to access RegularMtgsByTelArticleSixSec3_150731b.pdf
How proposed bylaws amendments are approved
For most amendments to be approved, they must pass the Pacifica National Board by a majority of its membership, and then be passed by a majority of delegates at each of 3 of the 5 stations. Particular types of bylaws amendments also require approval by the members via written ballot, and some bylaws amendments may be approved directly by the members even if the boards do not approve them.
For more on amending the bylaws, see Article 17 of the Pacifica Bylaws, the most current version of which is here.
This is from Pacifica.org
The following is the amended version of the by-laws they suggest, on the last of the listed amendments:
Article Six, Meetings of the Board of Directors, Section 3: Telephonic Meetings The Board may hold regular and special meetings by telephone conference, video screen communication or other communications equipment, provided, however, that telephone appearance at meetings scheduled as “in-person” meetings is not permitted. Participation in a telephonic meeting under this Section shall constitute presence at the meeting if all of the following apply: A. Each Director participating in the meeting can communicate concurrently with all other Directors. B. Each Director is provided the means of participating in all matters for the Board, including the capacity to propose, or to interpose an objection to, a specific action to be taken by the Foundation. C. The Board has a means of verifying that the person participating at the meeting is a Director and that all votes cast during said meeting are cast only by Directors.
This concerns me because it might limit testimony by public/community comment sections of meetings. Sue
Dear Vera,not Verna,
Seriously, as they say, yours is a question for the IRS, though its Director recently stated that they do not answer about 60% of the calls made to the IRS.
That’s about as helpful as I am, but my excuse is that I am not a non-profit attorney or IRS-regulations-skilled.
However, what I think I do know, is the Paul Newman salad dressing sales/charitable foundation was threatened recently by the IRS for a huge payment of back taxes because the IRS rules state that a non-profit cannot own a business–as the PN Foundation apparently does.
Can a pet food/supply company simply donate a percent of sales to such a national umbrella animal humane society?
Yes, it seems, as some national commercial product-makers seem to do from what I have seen in the past with a “lean cuisine” product and aspirin, to name but two.
So, such a hook-up would be great with Iams or Friskies — or better still, with such as PetSmart as the overall distributor.
Another thing, should such sales be conducted, the IRS again has rules regarding limits of income in a percentage of what other funds the non-profit raises.
I believe there is a rule about standard donations—that a non-profit organization cannot receive more than 30 percent of its funding from any one source—and it can reasonably be deduced that includes sales of products.
So, you can see the waters here are murky and could be hazardous. Thus, the need for an attorney skilled in non-profit law.”