Re: The Crisis at KPFA and Pacifica

[Sasha Lilley <sashalilley@xxxxxxxxx>]

It was also a very satisfying moment for me when we
won Pacifica back.  But that does not mean that the
current governing arrangement is working -- and I
don't think that stating that openly should be seen as
heretical.  Very few listeners are participating, I
see attempts to concentrate power by the LSBs "in the
name of all the listeners", there is a great deal of
disrespect for the workers who create value at the
stations, and the governing bodies are eating up 48%
of the network's working capital.  To me that
indicates something is really wrong.

--- adrienne lauby <adrienne@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> It was immensely satisfying.  Media activists, staff
> members and
> ordinary radio listeners organized into an organic
> rich powerful mix
> which saved one of the oldest and largest
> progressive institutions in
> the U.S.

The morning programming change mentioned below and in
the letter posted by Doyle is, to my mind, a red
herring.  Most of the people I know at the station,
myself included, don't care if these two programs are
moved -- and I've said this publicly a number of
times.  What I was concerned about, and remain
concerned about, is that the LSB intervened in the
decision, despite their lack of mandate to take a
stand on programming issues.  (I also find ironic the
letter's rhetoric about turf which includes the
statement "KPFA's airtime is a commons to be used in
the common interest not a commodity to be possessed
forever or to be divided up among the loudest,
strongest, most deeply entrenched, or first in line,"
given that it was drafted by someone who has had a
program on KPFA for 25 years and signed by others who
have been on the air for decades.  If it's about turf,
why am I, one of the youngest paid programmers at
KPFA, speaking up?)

Unlike what Adrienne concludes, I am not against any
input from listeners.  I also think that a
comprehensive survey of listener views should be taken
about all programming -- which currently is in the
works -- and that we not rely on anecdotal evidence
about what people may or may not want.  But I also
think there are limits to this as well, as Doug has
pointed out, since in essence we're polling the people
who are still listening and donating money (and note
that we only survey those who give us money, i.e. one
fifth of our listenership) -- not all the people who
were alienated because they hate the
programming on our airwaves.  And those who may
respond to such a survey will probably be the most
active listeners who don't necessarily represent the
views of the listeners as a whole.

 This
> newly reconstituded body made a minor scheduling
> change--it shifted
> the M-F morning drive time program one hour to allow
> a more popular
> program to be heard by commuting listeners.
>
> I can't tell you the number of times I had sat in
> meetings where
> individuals asked for this change. Literally, years
> of meetings.  I

=====
Sasha Lilley
Producer, Against the Grain
Pacifica Radio's KPFA
510 848-6767 ext 209
www.againstthegrain.org



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