indyradio2009.org

Statement Regarding the KPFA Local Station Board meeting held at the North Berkeley Public Library on December 5th, 2009:-

In November 2009, the Pacifica National Board (“PNB”) passed a resolution stating policy for board transitions.  National Board Chair Grace Aaron sent a letter to all the Local Station Board (“LSB”) chairs notifying them of this Pacifica policy. The resolution stated, (in relevant part): -

hi,
 
sorry i've gotten back to you so late. i've been sick, and then KPFA laid off our technical producer, and then today they laid me off to halftime pay, which i can't afford. so i'm putting all interviews on hold until we figure out the next step. they've essentially destroyed Flashpoints. Please feel free to spread the word, we will need everyone's support.
 
thanks,
 
Nora

PUBLIC NOTICE: Arlene Engelhardt has been selected as the new Executive Director

WBAI announces that it has received $882,911 in pledges for the 2009 Fall Fund Drive -- for the 3rd successful drive in a row, which enables the station to pull some small distance away from the abyss of bankruptcy. Thanks especially go to Tony Bates and Kathy Davis. ... and to all those producers who ceded their timeslots temporarily so the station could make enough money to survive!

Hello!

The National Election Supervisor has certified the results.

LISTENER ELECTION CERTIFIED
RESULTS on http://kpfaelection2009.blogspot.com/2009/11/certification-of-kpfas-2009-listener.html

Elected to the LSB:

1. Banafsheh Akhlaghi 0.00000 297.00000 ELECTED -- 1st round
2. Dan Siegel 0.00000 297.00000 ELECTED -- 1st round
3. Conn Hallinan 0.00000 297.00000 ELECTED -- 12th round

What was done last night was Renee and Bing (with Les present too) going through ballot images individually, looking for places where the scanning program had missed a vote or recorded a non-vote, and correcting those mistakes (which they said were caused by subtle misalignments in the scanner feeding). They'd started this work some time ago, and processed the final ~700 last night with the usual suspects present.

The preliminary results from theKPFA 2009  Local Station Board election for used STV voting methods.

For (Choice Plus) STV rumerical ranking details go to:

   http://pacificana.org/public/files/KPFA/Elections/2009/ListenerPrelimina...

KPFA LSB

ICR= Independents for Community Radio
CL= Concerned Listeners
PR= Peoples Radio
VJ= Voices for Justice

================================================================================= SUMMARY:

In his discussion of "What's at Stake in the KPFA Board Election?" http://www.berkeley dailyplanet. com/issue/ 2009-10-08/ article/33882? headline= What-s-at- Stake-in- KPFA-Board- Election - Matthew Hallinan starts out on the right track: there really are important substantive differences between the group he's part of - the Concerned Listeners (CL) - and just about everyone else involved in the election, including not only the ticket I'm on - Independents for Community Radio - but also the other two slates in the race for the Local Station Board.
 

Carol Spooner's recommendations for the Pacifica Elections

KPFA Recommendations (in alphabetical order):

• Banafsheh Akhlaghi
• Shara Esbenshade
• Sasha Futran** (incumbent)
• Ann Hallatt
• Adam Hudson
• Lara Kiswani
• Rahman Jamaal McCreadie
• Henry Norr** (incumbent)
• Andrea Pritchett
• Evelyn Sanchez
• Akio Tanaka**(incumbent)

Please rank incumbents highest, as they are eligible for election to the PNB. Also consider:

Adam Hudson: Thoughts on latest on-air forum and election

So I thought I'd take a chance to write my thoughts on the on-air forum I participated in and the election, thus far. I should state, though, that this is a long piece so read the whole thing if you have time. [The first half is mainly about KPFA and the second half is a historical comparison to the Russian Revolution and the Soviet experience with a conclusion at the very end.

This is a transcript of the public comment period (Full audio here) of the Local Station Board meeting on November 17, 2007. The LSB was scheduled to interview candidates for the General Manager position in closed session after the public comment period. Most of the speakers were KPFA staff members, and so the transcript (and audio segment) does provide an interesting snapshot of the contrasting viewpoints within the station.

1. Lisa Dettmer [00:46]

Hey all,

Here is an article I wanted to write based on what I've gathered so far from
the election process. My goal is to simplify the complex issue plaguing
KPFA in language for all sides/slates and listeners to use as an
investigative tool.

May the truth prevail!

Rahman

--------------------------------------------------------
What's Goin On at KPFA...

The more involved I get with the KPFA network and election process, the
clearer things become.

"What the heck is happened at KPFA 94.1FM?"
"Why is there infighting among the board?"

There are 29 candidates running for seats on the KPFA Local Station Board, but only four are under age of 30. They are Rahman Jamaal McCreadie, Lara Kiswani, Shara Esbenshade and Adam Hudson. All four are running on the ICR team. In this article from the San Francisco Bayview, Adam explains why he decided to run. Give it a read:
http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/stanford-student-activist-runs-for-kpfa-lo....

1. More diverse voices and perspectives on the air, including more young people. 
2. Collaborative decision-making about programming, guaranteeing a real voice to listeners and both paid and unpaid staff. Restore the Program Council, which the present managers have dissolved.
3. Support and respect for the unpaid staff, who produce 75% of KPFA's programming. Full management cooperation with the Unpaid Staff Organization.

by Joe Wanzala, Shahram Aghamir, Tracy Rosenberg and Anthony Fest
www.indyradio2009.org

KPFA listeners know that the Local Station Board elections tend to be acrimonious. What many listeners might not realize is that the controversy of the LSB elections actually reflects a historical issue about the nature of community radio itself. The four of us founded the Independents for Community Radio affinity group of LSB candidates with the goal of ensuring that KPFA remains rooted in the communities it serves.

By Sasha Futran
Thursday September 10, 2009

Brian Edwards-Tiekert, a reporter at KPFA, the board treasurer and power on the Concerned Listeners faction, says there is a failure of transparency at KPFA. I don’t agree. What he is doing is adequately transparent.
(see BET article at
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/issue/2009-09-03/article/33666?headline=A-F...)

This article appeared in the January 2009 issue of the Community Alliance, a monthly Fresno newspaper. The title was inspired by the well-known essay, “The Japan That Can Say No.” KPFA programming is heard in Fresno via affiliate station KFCF. One update: in April 2009, KPFA’s General Manager, under pressure from Pacifica’s Executive Director, finally re-recognized the Unpaid Staff Organization. For most of the other issues described here, things are still as they were in January. [A.F.]

The KPFA That Can’t Say Yes by Anthony Fest

Akio Tanaka and Anthony Fest have put together a rebuttal to the platform statement from the Concerned Listener group.
You can see his rebuttal, interspersed in the statement in any of the following 3 files:

It’s 2009, and the first community radio station in the country, KPFA, born right here in Berkeley in 1949, is entering its election cycle once again. And I feel sick.

10 years ago, for better or worse, I upended my life and camped on Martin Luther King Jr. Way for the better part of three weeks. I joined a motley crew of Telegraph Avenue street kids, long-time Bay Area activists, filmmakers, students, artists and musicians to occupy the sidewalk in front of an atrocity: a community institution walled off from the community by a bunch of insiders who thought they owned it.