Berkeley Police Out Of Control … Even Broke My Phone And Assaulted Me

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By Lisa Dettmer, KPFA unpaid staff member. Dettmer sent this email to her colleagues at 2:00AM on Monday, December 8, 2014 and consented to having it published here. Dettmer is a producer on KPFA Women’s Magazine.

Police attack protesters in Berkeley, California

Last night, I was covering the demonstration around  midnight. In response to protestors setting garbage on fire the police got into a line and began pushing the crowd down the street.  I was on the sidewalk and trying to explain to them that I was “press” and I was videotaping for KPFA, and instead of allowing me to continue videotaping from the sidewalk where I was not in their way at all,  they hit the phone out of my hand and broke my phone and then shoved me and wouldn’t let me get my phone back.  When I tried to approach a police car to ask to get my phone back, four armed police jumped out of the car with their guns drawn and told me to get away from their car.  They seemed quite  out of control generally,  which is not new.  I managed to get my broken phone back, but have not been able to upload my video coverage of the protest and my encounter with them from my Samsung  to my Mac after they smashed the screen. If I am able to tomorrow,  I will send the audio to the news department.

While  this kind of behavior  is not new for the Berkeley Police who have no better record than Oakland or anywhere else, I feel very strongly KPFA should be covering this – and not just  from our desks.   If Al-Jazeera can cover this  from thousands of miles away,  surely we can from one mile away.

I really hope others were out there this weekend and have tape and also will be covering this for the fund drive tomorrow. I think this is what is of interest to our audience, and selling premiums on an un-related topic feels  quite uncomfortable, given what is happening.

Is KPFA Now Irrelevant?

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Posted by Thomas Payne on the Bay Area Independent Media Independent Center on December 8, 2014 

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/08/18765195.php

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As riots erupt across the nation and in Berkeley – the home of KPFA – and is covered by every news outlet including MSNBC, CNN and the rest of the web but not on KPFA, we need to ask is KPFA irrelevant?

KPFA seems unable to cover breaking news or be a station that truly represents our community, and instead seems more interested in creating the illusion of being a community radio station by hiring a new marketing service to sell the concepts of community and authenticity.

Where was KPFA when riots were erupting in Ferguson, NYC, Oakland and Berkeley? Nowhere to be seen.

With the exceptions of Flashpoints and Hard Knock Radio,  they were airing canned shows by journalists who are proud to say they are not activists and who have little real understanding of what is happening in the streets or our communities. Are you tired of hearing canned shows with tired hosts who spend 80 days a year hawking premiums rather than getting out of their cushy job for life and covering the news? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR STATION?

Seems like when KPFA became a station that was largely dominated by paid staff who are largely white and seem to have a job for life, it lost its vitality and connection to what was happening on the ground. Instead it instituted a two tiered system where the journalists of color were pushed into the middle of the night, not paid, and treated as little more than slaves.  But they are the ones who are producing 60% of the programming on the air, and most of the more vital programming, and the white males who are not activists are all on prime time. So when Ferguson and Berkeley were burning, what you heard on KPFA was pre-produced shows.

Now, KPFA is managed by a slick former MTV person who has more interest in spending our hard earned money hiring a marketing firm to improve the KPFA logo and image and is selling KPFA to us as “community radio”,  packaging the station as authentic rather than caring about producing cutting edge-political journalism and creating a station that truly “is” the vision it is selling. KPFA’s new GM seems to have no politics and is only interested in selling a new image to raise more money to pay the staid hosts with a job for life who have no real connection to activism or the community and proudly say they are not activists but journalists, as if activism was some kind of dirty word – except of course when they want your money. Then we hear how we are supposed to support our community radio, the station that only wants to hear from us when we send a check.

When unpaid staff members suggested KPFA have special live coverage of the march to block the Israeli Zim ship docking in the Oakland port, KPFA’s GM went along with the news department rejection of such a plan. Which is to be expected from journalists who have a job for life and who have been at KPFA for 40 years with a sweetheart contract so they don’t need to be creative or create more dynamic news coverage because they basically can’t ever be fired. KPFA fund drives all the time expecting us to pay for these lifers with a union contract that makes it impossible to cut anyone even when they spend their time suing the station and creating a hostile place they want to run for themselves. They seem to live in an alternative universe, the crazy world of Pacifica, where they keep churning our the same old product, rarely taking calls from listeners, or covering community events or demonstrations and producing almost no live programming. Certainly none that is taking place in the community or covering a march or demonstration which even CNN does better than KPFA or Pacifica, while at the same time selling us the community as their brand. KPFA’s CWA union is so corrupt and the network so dysfunctional and yet they just keep asking us for more money rather than trying to fix themselves. And perhaps they can’t fix themselves because like so many corrupt unions they are only interested in their paychecks and fundraising to keep getting that paycheck and have no real interest in the community.

So now there is yet another fund drive at KPFA where they will once again try and sell themselves as “free speech radio” or “community radio” while they take our money and in return have no interest in hearing from us the rest of the time. KPFA is now becoming irrelevant as people turn to Democracy Now directly on the web and other news online that is more immediate, interesting, challenging and diverse. Kind of like the Democratic party, KPFA has become corrupt, and dominated by old white men who are only interested in getting their paychecks and keeping the status quo lead by an Obama-like Manchurian manager who is slick. He is so arrogant he doesn’t see how transparent he is when he sells KPFA to us as representing us!

SO maybe instead of shelling out more money and keeping the status quo – Call into KPFA this fund drive – and tell them you are no longer going to to subsidize KPFA until KPFA gets its act together, and becomes what they preach, a transparent, activist, community-involved open place that walks the talk.

 

No Indictment for Darren Wilson? Why Not Preempt and Throw Open the Phones?

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By Ann Garrison, KPFA Unpaid Staff Council Member and Reporter/Producer

KPFA listeners seemed confused and disappointed when the station failed to preempt programming and broadcast live after the St. Louis District Attorney’s announcement that the Grand Jury would not indict Officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown.

Downtown Oakland the night in question

Downtown Oakland after the announcement

I tuned into KPFA myself, right after watching the St. Louis District Attorney’s press conference on C-Span, and was surprised to hear the regularly scheduled programming, Africa Today, with Walter Turner without any Ferguson coverage.  I went back to switching between MSNBC’s outrage and Fox News’s celebration.

It later occurred to me that if Walter Turner’s show had been live, Walter would have been commenting on what had just happened, so the show must have been pre-recorded.  I also thought that, though I can’t claim to know Walter well, he most certainly would have understood if his pre-recorded show had been preempted for live broadcasting.

I didn’t otherwise have a strong opinion about what KPFA should have been doing right after the press conference. I just knew I wasn’t interested in what it was doing.  Women’s Magazine host Kate Raphael remarked later that she and a friend had been driving around, trying to figure out where a protest would be forming, and they were surprised when they weren’t able to tune into KPFA and find out.

That sounded right.  News of where protestors were gathering seems to be the minimum KPFA listeners should be able to expect.   Reporters or simply callers dialing in from the protests would have added value, and a video livestream like that arranged during the Block the Boat demonstrations would have been even better.

Former KPFA GM and WBAI PD Andrew Leslie Phillips nailed it, though, when he wrote, on a social media site, that “KPFA should have preempted and opened the phones.  It’s a no brainer.  It’s what radio does best.”

Of course.  People were emotional and/or in shock, even though very few had expected an indictment.  They would want to call in and hear others calling in and feel like KPFA was a community.  I myself turned to Facebook and Twitter for a sense of community, as I switched TV channels between MSNBC and Fox talking heads and livestreams from Ferguson, but I felt like something was missing: KPFA.  I would have liked to hear the phones thrown open and that would have been enough to assure that the location of protests gathering around the Bay would have been called in.

Andrew also wrote that, “Management are often intimidated by staff – but when program managers make intelligent, news-generated decisions, staff understand. It’s not about staff or unions, it’s about serving listeners. Preempting programs invigorates the air.  It’s almost always good radio.  And Pacifica should be out in front on this.”

He’s absolutely right.  Never mind that he’s on the Save KPFA side, I’m on the UCR side, or whatever  else.  Who cares?  He nailed it.  “KPFA should have preempted and opened the phones . . . it’s a no-brainer.   It’s what radio does best.”  I’ve always respected Andrew’s radio artistry and most always respected his programming judgment.

I don’t know why KPFA barely responded during the first days after the St. Louis Grand Jury decision and don’t care.   I just hope something that feels like community radio comes together next time, as it did after George Zimmerman’s acquittal, and during the Block the Boat for Gaza demonstrations at the Port of Oakland.  KPFA should feel proud to have played a role in the Block the Boat for Gaza organizing success that was reported by news outlets around the world, including Israel’s.

Welcome Back – KPFA Phone Room

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Phone Room 1KPFA’s  fund drive phone room, where listener volunteers answer the phone to take pledges, is one of the only regularly scheduled events that brings KPFA listeners through the station’s doors. The phone room gives listeners the opportunity to meet one another, in the phone room and over the phone, and allows informal contact with KPFA staff.

During the past two fund drives, the switch to an automated system upset many listeners and staff, so it was a welcome relief when the phone room was reestablished beginning with the December 2014 fund drive.

During the pledge periods that were handled by the automated phone system, some KPFA hosts reported that listeners were unable to get through to pledge. Peter Gill, who has been a phone room volunteer since the station was located on Shattuck Avenue, wrote:

I have now heard I believe it is the fifth on-air host saying that they have been getting calls from people attempting to call and pledge over the phone that these people have been having trouble getting through. In all of the decades that I have been listening to KPFA I can’t remember ever hearing an on-air person say this before.

I thought that the rationale for switching from volunteer phone answerers to a call center was that calls were being missed by the phone volunteers, a problem which I as a phone volunteer never saw. What is going on here? Add to this the added cost of the call center and the whole thing makes no sense. I greatly enjoyed volunteering and it was a great way for those with not much money to become members.

Phone room 2Some staff and listeners also objected to using KPFA and KPFK listeners’ contributions to pay Comnet, the Oregon-based commercial call center, after it was revealed that its owner, Bruce Hough, works as a right-wing campaign consultant.

So, welcome back to the phone room and to all the loyal listener member volunteers who staff it.  May it be one of many things grounding KPFA in our local communities for many years to come.

By Ann Garrison

11-13-14

Letter From The Gray Panthers

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Gray Panthers of San Francisco      2940 16th Street, Room 200-4, San Francisco CA 94103   415-552-8800       graypanther-sf@sonic.net

 

KPFA Radio      1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way    Berkeley, CA 94704

Dear Quincy McCoy,

As long time supporters of KPFA, members of the San Francisco Gray  Panthers are writing to tell you of our disappointment in recent management decisions at KPFA.

Because our members have supported KPFA monetarily over the years, we are only too well aware of the financial struggles the station is facing.

That said, we are also long-time supporters of Flashpoints, and deplore the $25,000 cut proposed in the new budget.  Flashpoints is a public affairs show with reporters on the ground conducting live interviews, for which it has won multiple awards.  How can KPFA cut  Flashpoints and propose in the same budget *adding* an additional wire service at a cost comparable to the Flashpoints cuts.  It is deeply problematic that KPFA proposes using money taken from quality on-the-ground live investigative reporting such as Flashpoints,  and using it for an additional news wire that will result in more news reporting read verbatim from the service.

In addition, given the financial status of KPFA, we are  concerned that the budget is also proposing an additional $40,000 for an automatic back-up answering service to collect pledges during KPFA and KPFK fund drives.  We have learned that the company is headed by a Tea party member. Each call to donate to KPFA or KPFK routes 90 cents a minute to this company or $3-5 per call.

This corporate call center is owned by Bruce Hough, an Oregon Republican who runs Impact Marketing, a Tea Party advertising and fundraising business. His partner is rabid Tea Party Congressman Sal Esquivel, who traveled to Arizona to stand with Michelle Malkin, the Minutemen and others in support of Arizona’s anti-immigrant  SB 1070.  Hough and Esquivel also funded vicious attack ads against local Democratic candidate and military veteran Jeff Scroggin. The ads were so disgusting that two out of three local Republican County Commissioners refused to endorse the Tea Party candidate associated with Hough’s Impact Marketing.   Hough and Esquivel were also labeled “Rogues of the Week” by the Willamette Weekly for an unethical scam to charge gullible voters to email Congress. Hough and Esquivel also  house conservative political action committees at Impact Marketing giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to local and national Tea Party candidates.  This flies in the face of what we have come to love and support about the Pacifica mission.

Lastly, Gray Panthers is concerned that the recent hiring process for the new Program Director was flawed.  We understand that rules of Pacifica hiring policies were violated as follows:

Section 1:  Specifying the number of Local Station Board members that must be on the search sub-committee.

Section 3: Specifying placement of advertisements for positions and distribution of applications for positions.

Section 5: Specifying notice of meetings and their open meeting previsions.

Section 8: Specifying voting procedures in the committee.

Section 10: Specifying disclosure of the selection process, once completed.

Section 12: Specifying the Local Station Board’s oversight of the committee’s process.

As long-time listeners and supporters of KPFA, we feel that precious resources should be spent on furthering KPFA’s mission of community radio, and that decisions over critical personnel matters should be made in accordance with Pacifica policies. Please respond to us addressing our concerns.

San Francisco  Gray Panthers Board

Patricia Jackson, Convener

cc via email: KPFA Local Station Board, Pacifica National Board

kpfalsb@googlegroups.com

pnb@pacifica.org

Bringing Peace to KPFA

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Aki GraphicBy Akio Tanaka
[KPFA LSB Member 2006-2012]

Article as flyer:  Peace to KPFA

Underlying problems

Whenever there is a conflict, there is always an escalation in rhetoric, like when there was the divisive and inflammatory charge a few years ago that the Pacifica National Office engaged in union busting. We should avoid getting caught up in the rhetoric and address the real problems and concerns.

One underlying problem is financial. The trauma of the layoffs in 2010 was the consequence of the station increasing the payroll by 140% between 2000 and 2009. Even with the cuts made in 2010, income has not kept up with the expenses.

One area of friction is programming. It stands to reason that a trade union looking after the financial security of its members will prefer programming which appeals to a more affluent audience. But the mission of Pacifica is to be the commons of the airwaves, to represent a broader and more diverse community, to include marginalized and under-represented voices. Read More

[Lew Hill, the founder of Pacifica, was a conscientious objector. One such program was the Morning Mix, which was a show begun in 2010 and produced by members of local activist community; however, in 2014 it was inexplicably replaced by a show produced in LA.]

Another area of friction is the working relationship between paid and unpaid staff. Originally, both were represented by one “industrial” union. In 1996, it was replaced by a “craft” union which only represented the paid staff. This created a class system resulting in an uneasy working relationship between the paid and the unpaid staff.

Possible Solutions

So what to do with these conflicting needs and interests? How does a union look after the financial security of its members in a non-profit organization that relies on donations by listeners, does not make profits and must live within a balanced budget?

The management and the union should work out a staffing level that is sustainable over the economic ups and downs, and avoid the temptation to add more paid staff during the economic boom times as happened in 2001-2006. Achieving a sustainable paid staffing level is a challenge, but it would help address the main source of tension. It could curtail the seemingly endless appeal for funds. It could put a stop to the unseemly practice of measuring the value of a program by the amount of money it brings in – a sad and ironic state of affairs.

The primary task of the station should be to fulfill the mission of Pacifica. We should bring back the locally produced show, the Morning Mix, during the morning “drive time.”

It is important to note that KPFA has always relied on a large number of volunteers who produce the majority of programming. At KPFA there simply is not enough money to pay all those who contribute to the station. Progressive organizations like KPFA should have one all inclusive union for everyone who works at the station. While the notion of workers’ rights resonates to all within the progressive community, it must be remembered that it is about respecting and honoring ALL workers.

Instead of taking sides, we as listeners should encourage the paid and unpaid staff to work together and help each other to produce the best in progressive radio. It is time for the staff, paid and unpaid, and for the listeners to embrace the democratic victory that was won in the legal and street battles of 1999-2001. It is time to stop dividing the station.

13 Years of KPFA Finances

1. Listener Support:  There has been a claim that cancellation of the Morning Show in fall of 2010 resulted in sharp decline in Listener Support.
The audited financials show that steep decline in Listener Support occurred between 2006 and 2010, before the change. (Adjusted for inflation, since 2010, Listener Support is back to the 2000 level, irrespective of the morning programming line-up.)

2. Salary and Benefits: Some have charged that Pacifica usurped local control and engaged in union busting.
The audited financials show that between 2002 and 2006, under local control, the station added way too many people (the payroll more than doubled), and between 2006 and 2010, under local control, the station did not address the steep decline in Listener Support. By the fall of 2010, the station was in danger of insolvency, which is the only reason that the Pacifica National Office stepped in, to bring expenses in line with income. (Adjusted for inflation, even with the cuts that were made in 2010, Salaries and Benefits are still above the 2000 level.)

3. Central Services: There has been a claim that there was massive overspending at the Pacifica National Office. Central Services pay for network administrative services like FCC licenses, audit, insurance, legal, Pacifica archives, and national programming like Democracy Now! (Adjusted for inflation, since 2010, Central Services has been below the 2000 level.)

9-29-14