![\"kpfa_save_morning_mix-659x366\"](\"http:\/\/www.unitedforcommunityradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/kpfa_save_morning_mix-659x366.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIs KPFA Community Radio Going Extinct?<\/strong><\/p>\n With its recent street protests, office occupations, and renegade broadcasts, Berkeley\u2019s community radio station\u00a0KPFA (94.1FM)<\/a>\u00a0typifies what people mean when they use the word \u201cBerserkeley.\u201d However, these confrontations are not merely some beatnik brouhaha, but in fact represent an existential threat to the future of community radio, and implicate one of Oakland\u2019s current Mayoral candidates, Dan Siegel.<\/p>\n The most recent dispute is over the abrupt replacement of the locally-produced 8 a.m. show\u00a0The Morning Mix<\/em><\/a>\u00a0with a radio program from LA called\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Uprising<\/em>,\u00a0ostensibly<\/a>\u00a0because the new show will generate more revenue during pledge drives. In response to being rescheduled and shortened, the hosts of\u00a0The Morning Mix<\/em>\u00a0held protest\u00a0rallies<\/a>\u00a0outside the KPFA building and took over the\u00a0studio<\/a>\u00a0on May 26 to air their concerns.<\/p>\n According to Andr\u00e9s Soto, one of the hosts of\u00a0The Morning Mix<\/em>\u2018s five rotating shows,\u00a0<\/em>\u201cI was really displeased that the morning mix has become a political football between rival factions\u2026the morning mix, as an expression of authentic community voices, is what deserves to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n But, according to Richard Pirodsky, the Interim General Manager of the station, \u201cThe problem was that even though it had been on the air for three years, only one of the five\u00a0Morning Mix<\/em>\u00a0shows was generating enough listenership and audience to even come close to justifying being in that golden hour.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporters of\u00a0The Morning Mix\u00a0<\/em>are organizing to attend the Community Advisory Board\u00a0meeting<\/a>\u00a0in Oakland this Saturday, as well as hosting a \u201cSave\u00a0The Morning Mix<\/em>\u201d barbecue in Berkeley this Sunday, in hopes of pressuring the station to restore the show. While this disagreement and protest may not yet sound worthy of the \u201cexistential crisis\u201d label, the story gets much deeper.<\/p>\n The radio station, founded by conscientious objector Lewis Hill in 1949, was the first of what would become the Pacifica Radio network: five stations across the country that are independently operated without any corporate sponsorship. While the accomplishments of this network are\u00a0many<\/a>, the predominantly listener-funded, locally-produced shows have struggled to contend with NPR\u2019s corporately-underwritten programs, and with their own ideals of democratic, community-oriented radio.<\/p>\n In 2001, after 3 years of\u00a0protests<\/a>\u00a0and lawsuits following an email leak, the Pacifica board signed a settlement that democratized the governance of the stations, allowing listeners to elect the members of their Local Station Board. Each LSB is comprised of 18 elected listeners and 6 elected staff members. These 24 \u201cdelegates\u201d are tasked with forming the annual station budget, filling station management positions, and ensuring the mission of community radio. From these delegates, 4 \u201cdirectors\u201d are elected yearly to represent their station in the Pacifica National Board, which sets network policy from offices next door to KPFA.<\/p>\n While this settlement was intended to create a truly representative and listener-directed model of community radio, the reality has been more challenging. Chronicbudgetary<\/a>\u00a0problems (and their disputed \u201ccauses\u201d), opposing visions for the future of the station, and abrasive implementation of management and board decisions (as in abruptly firing the former Executive Director\u00a0Summer Reese<\/a>, or canceling\u00a0The Morning Mix<\/em>), has led to regular confrontations among the various staff cliques, who at this point openly refer to themselves as \u201cfactions.\u201d<\/p>\n At KPFA, the central rift is between the Support KPFA \u2014 United For Community Radio (UFCR) faction and the Save KPFA faction. UFCR is the more radical, community-oriented group, while Save KPFA is aligned with the views of management and directors, and, importantly,\u00a0Dan Siegel<\/a>, who has a long history with the network and, according to\u00a0savekpfa.org,<\/a>\u00a0was a \u201crepresentative on the Pacifica National Board until he stepped down in January to run for Mayor of Oakland.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of those sympathetic to the UFCR faction accuse Dan Siegel and Save KPFA of\u00a0bullying<\/a>, ignoring legal\u00a0conflicts of interest<\/a>, and trying to\u00a0take over<\/a>\u00a0the network in order to\u00a0sell<\/a>\u00a0off the East Coast stations. On the other hand, Save KPFA has accused UFCR of\u00a0union-busting<\/a>,\u00a0sabotage<\/a>, and trying to\u00a0take over<\/a>\u00a0the network in order to, well, just to take it over.<\/p>\n This is where the existential threat comes in. UFCR is afraid that the station is going to lose sight of its community-radio mission to represent diverse and underserved points of view, and that the historic Pacifica network will be dismantled in the process. On the other hand, Save KPFA is afraid that the governance of the station and the network are excessively democratic, to a point where compromise on the revenue vs. community issue is unattainable and that UFCR\u00a0<\/em>will lead Pacifica into bankruptcy.<\/p>\n As Richard Pirodsky, the IGM who made the decision to replaceThe Morning Mix<\/em>, put it, \u201cthey have in some ways been so mission-driven in terms of trying to bring diverse programming that you can\u2019t find elsewhere on the dial, almost to the exclusion of worrying about whether we can afford to continue to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n And this is where the \u201cBerserkeley\u201d side of this situation comes in. Save KPFA currently has enough of a majority with the Pacifica national board to preempt democracy by firing who it wants to fire and cancelling the shows it wants to cancel, leaving UFCR no other options besides protest, occupation and litigation.<\/p>\n There seems little chance of this situation being peaceably resolved, and realistically, this feud poses the greatest threat to the future community radio, but at least we can savor the irony of Save KPFA\u2019s decision to replace\u00a0The Morning Mix<\/em>\u00a0with\u00a0The Uprising<\/em>.<\/p>\n Originally printed in Oakland Local\u00a0http:\/\/oaklandlocal.com\/2014\/06\/kpfa-community-radio\/ Reprinted in SF Gate Is KPFA Community Radio Going Extinct? With its recent street protests, office occupations, and renegade broadcasts, Berkeley\u2019s community radio station\u00a0KPFA (94.1FM)\u00a0typifies what people mean when they use the word \u201cBerserkeley.\u201d However, … Continue reading <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"