KPFA Election Results

Meet Your New KPFA Local Station Board Members
from United For Community Radio’s slate

(For complete results, click here)

Thank you to the United for Community Radio community and the many KPFA members who held events, distributed literature, posted on social media, endorsed and voted for our candidates. We look forward to working with you to expand and strengthen our independent KPFA and Pacifica radio network.  The new members will be seated at the January meeting of the Local Station Board.

Akio Tanaka

Akio Tanaka

Akio Tanaka—Listener Representative

I first encountered Pacifica in 1970 t the height of the Vietnam War, an amazing new station came on the air broadcasting anti-war progressive voices. It was exhilarating and at the time a somber experience because the station was bombed off the air shortly after it began its broadcast, but it crystallized for me why Pacifica needs to survive.  Read more.

 

Carol Wolfley

Carol Wolfley

Carol Wolfley—Listener Representative

I want KPFA to cover YOUR interests: on the radio; on the community calendar; on podcasts and on website videos, I advocate for dependable reporting of people’s responses to political, economic and environmental challenges, discrimination and militarized violence; and for drama, comedy, and enlivening music that heals our souls.  Read more.

 

 

T.M. Scruggs

T.M. Scruggs

T.M. Scruggs—Listener Representative

I am an educator, musician, and long time social activist, involved in community/non-profit media for over 30 years.   My various forms of organizing and cultural work have proven to me that media is the crucial battleground for providing information and framing issues that determines a societys political direction.  I am a founder of TRNN-TheRealNews Network (therealnews.com), and on the Board of Advisers of truthout.org.   Read more.

 

Tom Voorhees

Tom Voorhees

Tom Voorhees,— Listener Representative

My primary focus will be rebuilding KPFA and all five Pacifica stations news departments back to their former award-winning national and international investigative news reporting on critical progressive issues. Presently, the three remaining Pacifica news departments depend mostly on a single commercial news feed read over the air, which discourages continuing listeners and new subscribing members. Read more.


Lisa Dettmer

Lisa Dettmer

Lisa Dettmer — Staff Representative
(Lisa replaces Josiah Alderete who is unable to serve.  Her seat is still unofficial.  She joins Sabrina Jacobs in serving as an independent staff representative.)

I would like to see KPFA be the community radio station it was meant to be.  One where there is actual respect and cooperation between the staff and the listeners so that we are living the mission of democracy that we preach.  And I would like to see KPFA expand it’s audience which is absolutely necessary if we are to survive by hiring a development/marketing director who will expand our audience and bring in some much needed grants for invaluable programs like the Apprenticeship program.  Read more.

 

On-Air Candidate Forums

resilienceNine of the candidates running for the KPFA local board spoke to listeners directly during a series of hour-long programs which aired at 7 pm over three days.  These forums provide a deeper look at each candidate, allow you to assess the positions they espouse and provide information you may not know about the station and its parent, The Pacifica Foundation.

The links below show which candidates spoke on which evening with their slate identifications.

Tuesday Sept. 6  Marilla Arguelles UCR, Carol Travis SK, Chris Cory SK 

Wednesday Sept. 7  Carol Wolfley UCR, Aki Tanaka UCR, Craig Williams SK

Thurs. Sept. 8  TM Scruggs UCR, Ramsés Teón-Nichols UCR, Tom Voorhees UCR

Graphic from Resilient by Design

KPFA’s Election Calendar

Candidate Nomination Ended:
Jun 30, 2016 at 9:00 PM
 
Voter Date of Record:
Jun 30, 2016
11:59 PM
 
Ballot Return Deadline/Online Voting Begins:
Aug 15, 2016
9:00 AM
 
Ballot Return Deadline/Online Voting Ends:
Sep 30, 2016
11:59 PM
 
Unless the election is delayed (which is very possible given the state of Pacifica’s finances) it is too late to become a new member and vote in this election.   But, it is never to late to support KPFA.  To become a member, link to the Support / Donation / Membership Page at kpfa.org and make a donation of $25 (or more). This must be done ON OR BEFORE JUNE 30, 2016. If you want to check on your membership, or call the station  (510) 848-6767
 
If the need arises, contact KPFA Election Supervisor
Earl Johnson, Jr,
510 848 6767 x605
 
The elections at all Pacifica’s stations are being run by an independent person, the National Election Supervisor.
NES, Lynne Serpe

Despite Declining KPFA Membership, UCR Stays Strong and Steady

United for Community Radio and all the candidates say “THANK YOU” to all our supporters!  UCR candidates Scott Olsen and Sharon Adams were elected to the KPFA Local Station Board.

Sharon Adams

Sharon Adams

Scott Olsen

Scott Olsen

tmT.M. Scruggs was the first runner-up and will replace Andrea Pritchett at the first meeting of the new KPFA Local Station Board, scheduled for January 23, at 11 a.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center.  This means that UCR will have 4 new representatives on the LSB.

United for Community Radio candidates won 3 seats, and so-called “Save KPFA” candidates won 6.  Although SK candidates won more seats, we at UCR believe that the election results show that UCR is moving in the right direction.  And we believe that UCR can obtain a majority of the LSB seats in the next election, currently scheduled for later in 2016.

 

UCR’s message is resonating with the KPFA members. 

UCR maintained its support, despite a large decrease in voter turnout and a decrease in overall KPFA membership. This is good news for UCR, as it means we have a chance to WIN the next election.

The number of listener-members of KPFA has been decreasing over the last 10 years:
YEAR—–Listener-Members
2005  —–  24,000
2006  —–  22,000
2010  —–  20,000
2012  —–  18,000
2015  —–  16,0000

 

Likewise, the number of voters has been decreasing, although not as much as the decrease in members; reflecting the fact that the people who continue to contribute to KPFA are massively committed to the well-being of the station.

Despite the decline in members and in voters, UCR has maintained a steady base of approximately 1000 votes.  This means that support for UCR is growing within the KPFA community!  This is great news for UCR and means that we are on the right track.   In contrast, SK has been losing voters as the membership has declined.

Election Year Total Voters SK Votes UCR Votes
2010 3,457 ~ 2,400 ~ 1,000
2012 3,257 ~ 2,200 ~ 1,000
2015 2,300 ~ 1,300 ~ 1,000

For more details click here.

Notice:  Some may recall that Janet Kobren ran on the UCR slate.  By mutual consent, Janet Kobren is no longer affiliated with United for Community Radio.

Beleaguered KPFK Workers Need Support in Election; Union Member Says, “Vote UCR”

BY ANTHONY FESTvote-661888_1280

NOVEMBER 30, 2015: KPFA subscribers have five more days to vote in the election for KPFA’s governing body, the Local Station Board.
 

Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is hearing multiple grievances from unionized staff members at KPFA’s Southern California sister station KPFK, grievances prompted by the actions of KPFK’s recently-appointed manager. The KPFK workers say management has violated their union contract, cut their hours, and failed to pay thousands of dollars in pension contributions and union dues.

Is there a connection?
Indeed there is, and KPFA voters should take heed:
Leslie Radford, the KPFK general manager responsible for the workers’ grievances and the widespread listener complaints, was appointed by none other than KPFA board member Margy Wilkinson. And Wilkinson is now running for re-election to the KPFA board.

What’s Going On?
KPFA and KPFK are two members of the five-station Pacifica Foundation network. Each of the five stations elects a Local Station Board; then the five local boards each send four members to the Pacifica National Board (PNB), the legal “board of directors” of Pacifica. The network and its stations are supposed to be overseen by a full-time Executive Director, hired by the PNB, but the current PNB seems unable to keep an ED on the job; two have departed after short stints in the post. In the absence of an ED, the Chair of the PNB is acting ED. It was in that role that PNB Chair Margy Wilkinson appointed Radford as manager of KPFK this past June. Incredibly, Wilkinson installed Radford in the KPFK job one day before a newly-hired ED began work. Evidently, Wilkinson didn’t want to leave the hiring of a station manager in the hands of someone with actual radio experience. And Radford’s apparent qualification for the general-manager job was being a member of the KPFK board faction that’s allied with Wilkinson’s “Save KPFA.”

In only four months on the job, Radford has so alienated KPFK workers and listeners that a no-confidence petition on Change.org has garnered 250 signatures. The signatories include listeners, present and former KPFK staff, former KPFA staff members Esther Manilla and John Hamilton, and Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar, whose program is heard on both stations. The no-confidence statement cites labor-contract violations, fundraising blunders, “disastrous programming decisions,” and other problems. It concludes, “ We believe Radford is a liability to KPFK and will lead the station to bankruptcy and/or numerous lawsuits until KPFK is no more.”
 
Some of the KPFK staff members have also created a Facebook page to publicize their issues; Facebook users can find it here.

Throw the Bum(s) Out?
Under Pacifica’s bylaws, the KPFK LSB could begin the process of firing Radford, although the ultimate authority is the Pacifica National Board. This month’s election could swing the balance of power on the local boards and thus the National Board. Therefore, KPFA voters should consider this advice from long-time KPFK staffer and union member Ali Lexa:

As a current SAG-AFTRA member, I can tell you the union busting at KPFK going on right now is real, and Margy Wilkinson is no friend of our union. If we don’t get the Pacifica National Board into better hands immediately, our station in LA which is the biggest non-commercial radio signal west of the Mississippi River and the most important free speech voice in Southern California, is done. So please vote UCR. It’s the pro-labor vote.

United-for-Community-Radio (UCR) is supporting a well-qualified team of nine candidates for the nine KPFA LSB seats to be filled by KPFA subscriber votes. The UCR team includes a union leader for home care workers (Marilla Argüelles), and a former organizer and shop steward (Don Macleay); they’re part of a diverse group of individuals advocating for peace and social justice.
 

To support both KPFA and KPFK, please vote for the nine UCR candidates! To be sure of meeting the voting deadline of Friday, December 4, KPFA subscribers should vote online using the access codes that came with their paper ballots.