KPFA workers under attack -facts and news

As a long-time listener to KPFA (94.1 in Berkeley), the FIRST free speech radio station in the country, I am very worried about its fate. The staff of the popular and important "Morning Show" was laid-off and now many of the local programs are also facing extinction. I am particularly worried about "Hard Knock Radio" and "Full Circle." "Hard Knock Radio" is a show that features hip hop culture and political/social justice issues. I believe it is the only one of its kind in the world. They feature stories you will not hear anywhere else. "Full Circle" is the show produced by the KPFA Apprenticeship program, where women and people of color are trained to produce radio shows, in an effort to train people who are usually not encouraged or given access in this field. Today I will be going to a rally in support of these shows and other locally produced programming and I plan to post the video that I shoot. Here are some facts from the website: http://www.kpfaworker.org

After a year of cuts at KPFA, Pacifica is proposing to slash one-quarter of KPFA’s remaining workforce.

WHAT KPFA’S WORKERS WANT
• PUT RADIO FIRST. Pacifica’s budgets should cut bureaucratic overhead, not programs KPFA’s listeners count on.
• LOCAL CONTROL. Stop sidelining KPFA’s elected Local Station Board and local management in the budgetdrafting
process.
• NO POLITICAL PURGES. Three Pacifica board members drew up a name-by-name list of workers to fire that targeted
those who didn’t endorse their election slate – they have no business interfering in KPFA’s union contract.
• PRESERVE LOCAL PROGRAMMING. Stop all attempts to replace community-driven programs with syndicated
content.
HOW PACIFICA HAS RESPONDED
The SUSTAINABLE BUDGET measures proposed by KPFA’s staff union have been endorsed by both KPFA’s local management
and its elected Local Station Board. But they’ve been dismissed by Pacifica National.
• In a meeting with union representatives, Pacifica executive director Arlene Engelhardt declined to even support
the union’s proposals in principle. She also refused to propose any of her own alternatives to layoffs.
• Engelhardt said in an on-air interview on October 26 that she thought KPFA had abandoned its “foundation” of
“volunteerism.” But at KPFA, the vast majority of shows are volunteer driven - only 8 of 65 shows have paid hosts.
• In the same interview, Engelhardt refused to disclose what she earns. So did Pacifica’s chief financial officer, La-
Varn Williams.
• LaVarn Williams rejected a proposal from KPFA union members who volunteered to switch to a cheaper healthcare
plan – apparently, she’d rather lay them off!
• After committing on-air to meet with KPFA’s staff to discuss cuts, Arlene Engelhardt hasn’t responded to email
from KPFA’s shop stewards to set up that meeting.
HOW MUCH IS PACIFICA TAKING FROM KPFA?
• The latest version of KPFA’s budget would have KPFA paying Pacifica National $810,000 in fiscal year 2011. That’s
over 22% of KPFA’s projected revenues – nearly twice the amount Pacifica is forcing KPFA to cut.
• KPFA also gives Pacifica free rent in a KPFA-owned building, maintains Pacifica’s satellite distribution system, foots
the cost of syndicated programs like “Letters to Washington” and the Pacifica Evening News, which other Pacifica
stations broadcast for free, and provides free production space and studio time to national programs like Free
Speech Radio News. KPFA pays the costs; Pacifica pockets the fees from affiliate stations.
CONTINUED ON REVERSE >
WHAT PACIFICA SPENDS OUR MONEY ON
• Pacifica’s last financial audit reports that 52% of spending by the Pacifica National Office was classified as
“Management/General.” In the same time period, KPFA only spent 17% of its money on “Management/General.”
• Pacifica is on track, in one year, to spend $112,000 on meetings of its national board; $50,000 for board’s
consultations with attorneys, $150,000 on board elections, and tens of thousands more on a lawsuit brought
by boardmembers over board elections.
KPFA raises enough money to pay our own expenses, but it
doesn’t raise enough to pay for Pacifica’s bureaucracy too!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
WRITE THE PACIFICA NATIONAL BOARD via KPFAworker.org to ask them to put radio first,
and endorse the Sustainable Budget proposals from KPFA’s union.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR KPFA’S WORKERS. Give generously during KPFA’s emergency fund
drive on November 18 & 19 – say you’re pledging to support KPFA’s workers.
Communications Workers of America
Local 9415 • AFL-CIO