Professionalization and staffing at KPFA

[Doyle Saylor <djsaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings Economists,
Professionalization at KPFA follows the same fault lines that structure the
commercial radio business plan 'one to many' for spectrum scarcity, and
communal radio that produces a new kind of brain work product.  To
understand that brain work product one has to both look at the capitalist
thinkers and the local workers in one to many work places and the communal
information producers that are arising primarily on the internet.

Economists at MIT have characterized this job division as between rule based
and face to face work.  Professional broadcasters who have specialized in
one to many work find it hard to think of what the listeners can contribute
to a radio station.  That goes to the heart of the technological change that
capitalism is rapidly building.

Communal radio was around as an idea from the start of KPFA.  The
development of that concept over fifty plus years included gaining decent
pay for staffers over an all volunteer network.  Professional staff at KPFA
like anyone else facing more turmoil in the U.S. wants some semblance of
stability as well as an environment where their voice can be heard.  We
understand their point of view.

However, that doesn't get across why the listeners movement is growing and
stabilizing as well.  And as likely to want pay for a different form of work
and a stabile long term outlook as well.  To get that form of work clarified
I want to point to two different examples.  The Sawickian model of blogging,
and the live journal lesbians of color.  First quoting one young lesbian:

Miss Mo.
MooD RiNG:  bored
BaNGiN N MaH HeaD: My Goodies - Ciara


It's funny how u join these lil communities, on LJ or whereva you are, and
they criticize you just as the world does. I joined some lil communities on
hea. I had a lil fun with the typin. Des kat complained bout "you need to
learn how to spell and use grammar". OoOoOoOoo if only they knew who I am.
They are so quick to judge a book by it's cover. I swear that's how the
world is. The world sucks...then u get on hea tryna, being yourself, finding
people that are intrigued by your life. They will criticize you just like
any other...ugh fuck em...

So today I wake up at 2 ugh after being on hea laughin and jokin with
Terra's ass. I was watchin Queer eye for tha Straight Guy. I think I like
that show. It just come on too damn late. I miss my buddies. I need somethin
to do. Kinda hard to do shyt when u broke lol. I hope tha day changes for
the better.....

Random thoughts:

>>Why am i addicted to that Goodies video?? I mean Ciara be makin some butt
fuck ugly faces but that gyrl got a body on her. Lawd. Prolly one of the two
reasons why tha video played..the other is cause of the dancin

>>What's the point in havin cable when there is nothin on? All the movie
channels are showin the same movies and all the regular channels not showin
shyt lol.

>>Why are there so many gammar/spellin natzis on LJ. These are journals not
term papers. Get tha hell ova it. If i chose to write in ebonic/spanglish
and mis-spell every other word in MY journal...WHoopdi Fuckin Doo...It's
mine...You dont have to read it..
http://www.livejournal.com/users/miss_mo/

Doyle,
My point here is that Miss Mo is fighting against a form of one to many
rules that grammar represents from the long history of publishing.  Whereas
to be a real voice of the lesbian community of color they have their own
semantics evolving to represent their communal voice.

The second model is a left political voice evolving in the climate of the
blogosphere.  Unlike this list Max Sawicky's blog attracts a more diverse
following.  Why is that so?  What's the difference between Max there and
here?

http://www.maxspeak.org/mt/

Doyle,
My point is that the communal voice is rapidly evolving away from the one to
many form radio broadcasting took toward the face to face model advocated by
the MIT economists.  Face to Face brain work is a result of the rapid
increase of volume of information related to an end of information scarcity
of publishing, and broadcast forms of media.  I won't go into details here
but communal radio is an outgrowth of a new communal culture of a global
type.
thanks,
Doyle