PACIFICA FOUNDATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
BERKELEY, CA
February 28, 1999
REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS BY HEIDI BELTON, CSR No. 9838, RPR CLARK REPORTING, 2161 SHATTUCK AVENUE, SUITE 201; BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94704 CLARK REPORTING (510) 486-0700EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
DR. BERRY: The first item on the agenda is the seating of the members -- the second item we'll do is to have a motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting.
MR. MILLSPAUGH: Second.
MR. PALMER: Second.
DR. BERRY: Any discussion? All right. All those in favor indicate by saying "Aye."
VOICES: Aye.
DR. BERRY: Opposed? So ordered.
DR. BERRY: The next meeting is June 27th in Washington, DC. We do not have the fall meeting scheduled. We will send out notice of that as soon as we have it. Is that right, Lynn?
MS. BROOKS: We would like to discuss it.
DR. BERRY: Would anyone like to discuss --
DR. BERRY: -- some dates for the fall meeting? Any dates for the fall meeting? Any suggestions? Are there any dates on which certain people cannot meet? Do we know what my schedule is in the fall?
MR. KRIEGEL: I don't have my calendar.
TAYLOR-GIBBS: I will be gone after the 15th for three weeks.
MS. MAKELA: October 2nd and 3rd, is that doable?
VOICE: It's doable.
DR. BERRY: And the meeting is in?
MR. FORD: It should be Los Angeles.
MS. CHADWICK: I think it is Los Angeles.
DR. BERRY: Okay. So October 2nd and the 3rd have been suggested. Does anyone know whether they can meet on October 2nd and 3rd?
MR. MILLSPAUGH: Fine. Sounds fine.
DR. BERRY: Why don't we check those dates, and if anyone cannot do that and find out in the next week--
DR. BERRY: Well, why don't we say 2nd and 3rd. And you check, and then let us know.
DR. BERRY: Any of you who don't have your calendars, let us know in the next week. Let Vanessa know in the next week. Seating of members The LABs have nominated and the Board Governance committee has screened and secretary has screened, and we have, per your approval as new members of the board, from Los Angeles, Robert Farrell and Rabbi Aaron Kriegel. Do you like to be called by your name, or do you like to be called Rabbi? What do you like to be called?
MR. KRIEGEL: It doesn't matter.
DR. BERRY: Doesn't matter? Okay, well...And from Berkeley, Dr. Jewelle Taylor-Gibbs. And so I ask for a motion to approve the seating of those new members.
MR. PALMER: So moved.
MS. MAKELA: So moved.
DR. BERRY: Is there a second?
MR. PALMER: Second.
MS. MAKELA: Second.
DR. BERRY: All those in favor, indicate by saying "Aye."
VOICES: Aye.
DR. BERRY: So ordered.
The next item will be the executive committee report. And then after the executive committee report, we will have Sherry Gendelman, who is the LAB chair here in Berkeley, to come forward to give Council of Chairs report.
The executive committee in its meeting spent most of the time discussing elections, which must take place, of officers. We will have elections of officers in June.
The Board Governance Committee also discussed this subject. And we would like to have those members who wish to be considered for election to the office of treasurer and the office of secretary of the board to please inform the chair of the Board Governance Committee, David Acosta, of that fact.
We will also be electing an executive committee at the same time. And so the elections will take place at the June meeting. And so those who are interested, please indicate. And please let David know sometime in the next 60 days if that's sufficient time for people to ascertain their interest.
MS. BROOKS: Or nominations of others.
DR. BERRY: Or nominations of people other than yourself. If you think somebody else should be the secretary or the treasurer, or whatever you think, say so.
Yes, Rob. names and nomination at this point, or do you want us to direct them to David?
DR. BERRY: You should direct them to the Board Governance and Structure.
The other item that we discussed, we spent a great deal of time discussing the matter of the by-law, 4 and we discussed personnel matters with the executive director, which are ongoing.
The next item is to have the report from the chair of the Council of Chairs. Where is she?
MR. BRAMSON: If I may address the chair. I think she was under the understanding that she was to be here at 11:00 a.m.
DR. BERRY: I didn't say that.
MR. BRAMSON: I don't know in what manner it was communicated specifically.
DR. BERRY: The Council of Chairs always gives the report at the beginning of the meeting.
MR. BRAMSON: It is not on the agenda.
DR. BERRY: I was asked by someone, and I've forgotten by who, I said at the beginning of the meeting the Council of Chairs representative always gives the report. But since she's not here, there's no sense wasting time on it. She will give it when she comes. The next item will be the executive director. Do you have a report that you would like to give us, or anything that you would like to say?
MS. CHADWICK: Yes. I'd like to say that it's been a fascinating four months in this job. Just before this meeting, we spent --administrative counsel and I spent two days improving the process of communication in the working relationship within Pacifica leadership group. And they wanted me to convey to this group and to the board their sense that they would like to see the board continue to take the steps necessary to continue to seek funding and they want the board to maintain customer relationships with the local station owners.
DR. BERRY: So that's the extent of which you wish to say something?
MS. CHADWICK: Yes.
DR. BERRY: Okay. Now we will go to the committee reports. With the agreement of the board, and if there's no objection, I would like to begin the committee reports with the report of the Board Governance and Structure Committee. Without objection, we will proceed in that way.
BOARD GOVERNANCE AND STRUCTURE COMMITTEE REPORT
The Board Governance and Structure Committee which is chaired by David Acosta met yesterday. And at the end of the meeting, the Board Governance and Structure Committee heard from a number of people who were in the audience and who had various comments about the discussion that had taken place at the Board Governance and Structure Committee.
The Board Governance and Structure Committee has placed on the agenda for this meeting a change in the by-laws, which is in your board book in the beginning of your book. The by-law change simply is to Article 3 of the by-laws of the foundation, which the new change is, candidates and directors may be nominated by the Board Governance and Structure Committee. The Board Governance Committee in its meeting yesterday also is recommending to this board the approval of a number of policies which would be used to implement the by-law change. And these policies which -- have these been handed out to the people here?
MS. CHADWICK: No.
DR. BERRY: The board members have them from yesterday. I'll hand them out.
"The committee is committed to maintaining a national governing board composed of the majority of persons of color, keeping in mind that this is a goal and not a quota.
"The committee recognizes that local advisory boards will still have input to the governing board through the Council of Chairs and the right to nominate, as a body or individually, directors to the governing board through the Board Governance and Structure Committee. The only limitation is the nominee may not be a LAB member and a governing board member concurrently.
"The committee will ensure representation from the signal area of each Pacifica station.
"It is understood that the executive committee must have representation from each signal area.
"The structure of the governing board should balance the interests of the entire network, including each of the local stations.
This matter came about, as you know, primarily as a result of a letter that we received from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and which was discussed at our meeting in October. And a vote was taken at the meeting in October, and the board indicated that it wished to comply with the CPB requirements. And then we had a period of discussion by the Board Governance and Structure Committee.
I also sent a notice out to the Pacifica family indicating that a change was in the works and asking people who had suggestions to send their suggestions to the Board Governance and Structure Committee. The Board Governance and Structure Committee came up with the by-law proposal which has been duly noticed and sent to the members of the board and the Board Governance and Structure Committee with the assistance of members -- some of whom are not on the board of the Board Governance and Structure Committee -- in effecting the language, which I read which is in the policies document which accompanied this.
The whole purpose is simply to disconnect the automatic connection between LAB membership and membership on the governing board.
We received from CPB ---And it has been distributed, but it says in part, -- if we are to comply with the law and apply it equitably -- that is, as we have with other grantees -- then CPB has no choice but to withhold the second FY 1999 payments for each of its five stations due for release in mid-March, unless the Pacifica board chooses to bring itself into compliance with the requirements of the law.
All of us have heard a great deal of comment in this matter. There have been resolutions introduced by various LABs and various parties in opposition to the change that has taken place. And there has been a 11 lively, quite public debate within the Pacifica family about these changes. And we have received many e-mails voice, mails, and other communications from people concerning this matter. But this is what is before us. And the committee believes that the by-law change, along with the policies for implementation, will preserve as much democratic -- with a small d -- representation in Pacifica if the by-law change is put into effect as is in effect at the moment that I sit here now. And that, in fact, the interests of the local stations as well as the entire network will be protected.
So the motion from the Board Governance Committee is to approve the by-law change with the understanding that the board will also approve the policies which are being put before you as a way in which these by-law changes will be implemented. That is the motion that is on the floor. Is there a second -- and I'm putting it on the floor on behalf of the Board Governance Committee, which I chair, since the chair is not able to be present because of the illness of his daughter.
Is there a second to the motion?
MR. LUCY: Second.
DR. BERRY: Is there any discussion of the motion on the part of board members? Okay. If there's no discussion, all members who are in favor of the by-law change, with the understanding that we will then vote on the policies that I have outlined orally here, indicate by saying "aye."
VOICES: "Aye."
DR. BERRY: Those who are opposed, indicate by saying no.
(No opposition.)
DR. BERRY: I have also two votes that were sent consistent with article 9 of the by-laws which provides only in the case of an amendment change for people to send in written ballots who cannot be here after they have reviewed the change. And I have a yes vote from Loretta Ross and a yes vote from David Acosta. The vote was unanimous, and, therefore, the by-law change will go into effect. I will, then, consistent with the by-laws, ask those members who are members of local advisory boards who are at the table now whether they wish to resign from their local advisory board or not.
MR. PALMER: I wish to resign from the KPFT local advisory board
DR. BERRY: All right. Michael Palmer. What about you, Jewelle Taylor-Gibbs?
MS. TAYLOR-GIBBS: Yes, I will be resigning from the KPFA local advisory board.
DR. BERRY: Okay. Mr. Bramson?
MR. BRAMSON: I will resign from the local board of KPFA.
DR. BERRY: Mr. Farrell?
MR. FARRELL: I wish to resign from the KPFK advisory board.
DR. BERRY: Aaron Kriegel?
MR. KRIEGEL: I resign from the KPFK local advisory board
DR. BERRY: Ken Ford?
MR. FORD: I hereby resign from the WPFW advisory board.
DR. BERRY: Rob Robinson?
MR. ROBINSON: I hereby resign from the WPFW advisory board.
DR. BERRY: Frank Millspaugh?
MR. MILLSPAUGH: I hereby resign from the WBAI local advisory board.
DR. BERRY: Andrea Cisco?
MS. CISCO: I resign from the WBAI local advisory board.
DR. BERRY: All right. Hearing from the persons whose status was as local advisory board members, that they have duly resigned from that, I hereby announce that they remain as members of the governing board of Pacifica Foundation to serve the terms that are now their stated terms as of this date. And now I ask the counsel, our counsel, whether he believes that we have complied with the guidance from CPB by these actions that we have taken this day.
MR. CRIGLER: Yes, I do
DR. BERRY: Thank you very much, Counsel. Now we will proceed to vote on the policies. The board has before it a motion to approve the policies which I read to you, which are the policies which will be used to implement the by-law change which we have just agreed to. I move that we approve these policies as a motion -- a report coming from the Board Governance and Structure Committee. Could I get a second?
MR. MILLSPAUGH: Second the motion.
DR. BERRY: Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of the these policies, indicate by saying "aye."
VOICES: Aye.
DR. BERRY: Opposed?
(No opposition.)
DR. BERRY: So ordered.
Everyone has voted unanimously, and these are the policies that we'll follow. Everyone who has been involved in this debate is very much interested and concerned about Pacifica. There's no one, whatever position they took, or take, on the by-law proposal who did it in bad faith, in my opinion. I believe everyone, no matter what organization or if they were acting individually, and no matter how they expressed their opinions, did it because they were interested in Pacifica. I received, as many of you did all of you did, many communications. -- I got a letter, which purported to be from Howard Zinn, who I very much respect and am very fond of, Noam Chomsky. -- Ed Herman concerning this change in which they said that as the 50th anniversary of Pacifica, we should continue to operate in a democratic -- small d -- fashion. Let me just say I would be responding directly to them, but what we have done here is no less democratic, as I said before, than we were before.
The issues of how the board of Pacifica should be selected or how the LAB should be selected -- whether they should be elected or how they should be -- these issues are not the same as whether one should disconnect the LAB roles from the national governing board roles. Those are entirely different issues, although they're issues that deeply concern people. I think we should all commit ourselves to moving forward in the best interest of all of the stations and of the network.
My only complaint, and I feel constrained to say this, is that the vitriol and the bile that was expressed by some people in this debate is worse than anything I have ever received from the Right Wing. I have been attacked. I have been fired by Ronald Reagan. I've been put in jail. I've had all sorts of bad things happen to me in my life in the cause of social justice. And the Right Wing has never, In my view, treated me and members of this board as badly as some of the people in this debate. I have had my life threatened on the telephone, on voice mail, at my office, by people who have said I would be killed if I indeed pursued this course. The Right Wing has never told me they would kill me if I did something. I have had people accuse me of stealing. I've had people say all sorts of things. I just think that there's a way to disagree and there's a way to dislike somebody or something they're doing without being disagreeable. So I would hope that what we would do is commit ourselves to having a reasonable, honest debate with each other. And maybe that's the way at Pacifica and I just didn't know it. But let us hope that we can agree on most things. And when we disagree, we can do it without threatening each other, at least threatening each other physically. And I would very much appreciate it if we went forward.
Sherry Gendelman has now arrived. And if there is -- was some confusion about when you would speak, I'm sorry --
MS. GENDELMAN: I apologize.
DR. BERRY: -- I apologize. Because you certainly aren't part of the public comment period. So I'm just glad you got here. And we would very much like to hear from you.
COUNCIL OF CHAIRS REPORT
MS. GENDELMAN: Thank you. I've been asked to communicate to you the concerns of many of the listeners and supporters of the Pacifica network which have been forwarded to me by the Council of Chairs. In addition, many long-time KPFA supporters have also asked me to represent them here. Finally, I have letter given to me by Victor Honig, which I will either read or give at the end of my remarks.
DR. BERRY: We have the letter.
MS. GENDELMAN: Oh, you have the letter.
The underlying strength and reason for the continued existence of Pacifica, KPFA, and the other stations in our network, in large part, is based upon the connection it maintains with its listening community, as well as to communities who attribute to the progressive politics, culture, and spirituality that have been broadcast for so many years. It is often a joke that if there's a Pacifica or KPFA gathering in town with 100 people in attendance, there will no doubt be 300 different opinions minimum. We air controversy, and we invite it.
I recommend to all of you Matthew Lasar's recently published book, Pacifica Radio, the Rise of the Alternative Network, which chronicles our colorful history with humor and accuracy.
I care deeply about these airwaves. They are my connection to the ideas, thoughtful discussion, information, about what's happening, who needs help, who to lobby, who to picket, to wonderful music, plays, scientific information, all of it. This is my lifeline. I love the medium of radio more than any other.
We, Pacifica, is once again facing difficult decisions about how to protect and grow the network and Pacifica's mission while retaining a connection to the communities we serve and who support us. I speak on behalf of many people in urging you to remember you are here to serve the mission of Pacifica.
I understand economic reality quite well. I am fully aware of the contribution CPB makes to our overall budget. But we are not here to serve CPB first and Pacifica as an afterthought. In a conversation I had with Rick Madden, it was troubling to learn that no one advocated on behalf of Pacifica in response to the CPB ruling that our structure could not be reconciled with current CPB guidelines.
Rather than viewing it a challenge to create structure that supported who we are, it created a response of panic, with the national office offering, in the eyes of the Pacifica community, to give up the essence of Pacifica to save it. I know that talent abounds on the national board. I do not believe that collectively our board and the vast array of talent and genius that contribute commentary to our airwaves can't come up with a solution that meets our needs and CPB's. You're all too smart for that.
I look to the national board for many things: To guide this organization through whatever political waters we encounter. Rarely smooth. That's because the market we have carved for ourselves is the market of intelligent, informed dissent, be it in culture or politics. Because of that, our audience is indeed vocal and territorial, and it will be relentless. Of course I'm not telling you anything new.
When you develop the by-laws that will define our governance and structure, you must maintain the connection to your communities. How will you govern if you are perceived as a completely self-appointed entity? How will you enjoy the legitimacy you need to make difficult decisions of concern to most people within the Pacifica community if you have no mandate at all for governance or if you sever your only mandate? How will you guide the network through the very difficult decisions that national boards historically had to manage, such as testifying before the hostile government committees, engaging in difficult union negotiations, handling public reaction to very controversial programs, or station staff personnel meltdowns that have taken place from time to time within Pacifica? How will you handle these if no one can figure out why you are in charge?
I want to address specific concerns: The most egregious action taken by Pacifica was the treatment of Larry Bensky. Larry is an asset to the network. For many across the country as well as here in the Bay Area, Larry is their voice on Pacifica. His supporters contribute money to the network, and, more importantly, they are informed by his commentary and subsequently contribute to their own communities. His intelligent reporting creates political ripple effects to benefit all of us. He has worked for the network for 30 years. His personality is not the issue; the quality of his work is. His firing resulted in my having a second full-time job.
The reaction was so extreme. You are aware of this. We air stories all the time about abuses of labor here and abroad.
Larry was treated in a manner that any reporter of ours would hold abhorrent. Listeners were somewhat reassured when he returned with Sunday Salon. But once again, my phone rang off the hook with the deafening silence of his absence during the impeachment coverage. We have no other talent within Pacifica who can make his political understanding, acumen, and encyclopedic knowledge of US politics. Yet, the comment repeated was that Larry would never work as Pacifica national affairs correspondent again. Consequently, Pacifica's coverage was abysmal.
One day Amy Goodman aired an interview with a conspiracy theorist linking Clinton to the murder of Vince Foster, of leaving a skull on the lawn of Kathleen Wiley, smuggling drugs into an Arkansas airport, et cetera. My phone rang off the hook throughout the impeachment coverage. There is little doubt that Amy Goodman is extremely talented in many areas. Political anchoring of a senate impeachment trial is outside the bounty of her talent. Who suffered because of this? Pacifica and its listening audience.
The growth of the national bureaucracy is not something that I am opposed to. I have been involved with many organizations. I was the executive director of the Gray Panthers, which I've headed up many campaigns and organized many demonstrations. I am aware of issues of distribution of power. I am not opposed to centralization. However, how that occurs and why, is an important decision-making process. I urge you to grow our national office to create innovative national programming, develop and respond to the explosion of technology and its impact on our medium, lend technical support to the stations within our network, and at the same time, grow Pacifica in non-signal areas, lobby and advocate on behalf of our network in Washington, DC, or Sacramento, or wherever you are needed. That is what this national office is about. And support the growth of all the stations within the network, and support their continued strength within their communities. I urge you further to support the managers, staff, and each of the stations.
We seem to have fallen into a we-versus-them mode of operation. We cannot survive operating from this perspective. Our organization will not be able to maintain competent people if this toxic environment continues. We are all in this together. And we desperately need a well-informed, professional, national structure to guide, protect, and grow a well-informed, competent staff within the stations.
The stations and their staff are our strength, our greatest asset. It is only good sense and good politics to respect and nurture their talent. Our station has faced enormous upheaval and controversy. I supported the debalkanization of programming that occurred in 1995. The repercussions, as you are well aware, were dramatic. It has taken a long time for KPFA to regain the respect and loyalty of our community.
I currently credit our long-time staff and their tenacity. I give a large degree of kudos to our station manager who assumed her job under difficult circumstances. Nicole has treated staff with firmness but respect, has made strong connections to a variety of communities, and has exciting and innovative programming ideas. She knows radio. I urge you to allow her, and all the managers, to use their creative talents to grow their stations. Don't suffocate them, support them. It inures to the benefit of Pacifica.
Finally, I want to thank you for all the work you have done and do for this radio network. I know your contributions of time and energy are enormous. I know that you care deeply about keeping first amendment radio alive and healthy and growing. And I support you and am available to contribute to the network and to all of you.
DR. BERRY: Sherry, thank you for your report. But your report, in many ways, was an example of what's wrong with Pacifica. You came representing the Council of Chairs. You are speaking because we're in your signal area. You said nothing about any of the other stations or their concerns or anything that we've discussed in the Council of Chairs, or any issues. You, also, did not even acknowledge that there are at least two stations -- unless I've got it wrong -- that don't even carry Larry Bensky. Have I got that right? Or didn't want to carry Larry's show? New York didn't want to carry it.
MR. MILLSPAUGH: They didn't want to start it during the fundraising.
DR. BERRY: No, no. I'm saying when I first came on this board, I was told that WBAI didn't want to carry Larry Bensky because it interfered with their programming. And that WPFW didn't want to carry it either. I have nothing against Larry Bensky. I love his show personally. But I'm old, you see. And I've been around a long time. But I think that the broader view that not everyone agrees with everything that everybody at KPFA wants. That's number one. And a more balanced view is to how to figure out how to balance the interest of KPFA against the interest of everybody else in the network, which is what we try to do.
Now, I respect your right to speak only about your station and its concerns. And maybe -- but I have tried to get people when they come to represent the Council of Chairs to perhaps discuss other concerns. Maybe what we ought to do is take up, not now, but Ken Ford's suggestion -- about inviting all the Council of Chairs to come at least observe the meetings and then interact with board members in the time in between if they wish to do that.
MS. GENDELMAN: I have communicated to the other chairs. I have reviewed my remarks with them. My remarks were based on my communications with them. If the absence of them lapse, indicating in any way that these remarks were simply reflective of the KPFA community, then that is an error, and that is a fault of my writings since I was in constant contact with all of the chairs and did not create this in a vacuum.
DR. BERRY: Okay. Well, we thank you very much for your remarks.
MS. BROOKS: -- LABs are charged with doing community needs assessments -- and that is the responsibility of the LABs, according to CPB guidelines -- that you communicate that to the governing board. That is the mandate of the communication of the local advisory board, is community needs. Where do the five stations stand in that? Because we haven't gotten a report from the community needs assessment.
MS. GENDELMAN: My local advisory board is in the process of creating a very dramatic or time-consuming programming effort to do community needs assessment, not necessarily in accordance with the guidelines and suggestions that we had been handed, but several new members have come on our board that have contacts within a variety of communities. We got sidetracked because -- KPFA, in particular -- because of the controversy around Bensky, and the board was bombarded with concerns from our listeners about that issue. And so a public meeting that had been scheduled did not go forward to begin the process. Other boards -- you have a report from one of the stations, and this issue was discussed at the Council of Chairs meeting. All boards, to my knowledge, are proceeding with their community needs assessment.
MS. BROOKS: Do you know when we'll get reports from the other stations?
MS. GENDELMAN: No, but I can certainly determine that and submit a report to the governing board within a week. That's not a problem.
DR. BERRY: If you will submit it to me, please.
MS. GENDELMAN: Yes.
DR. BERRY: Rob.
MR. ROBINSON: I would like to remind the members of this governing board that the Program Committee has submitted some information and proposals on community needs assessments last year, and some of those proposals were put on the skids by the executive committee of this body. So I don't think that those criticisms are valid, and I don't think they're appropriate to bring up at this point.
DR. BERRY: Frank, any comment on it, on the community needs assessment process?
MR. MILLSPAUGH: On the community needs assessment process, as you know, the local advisory board about a year ago was suggesting procedures, but they were not requirement procedures. We have since received a statement from KPFT, and we have memoranda from other stations -- which is the concentration of the June meeting being on programming issues. So in the programming committee report we will be requesting materials from each of the local advisory boards for presentation at that meeting.
DR. BERRY: Okay. So the June meeting will concentrate on programming and community needs assessment issues. And the local boards will prepare something. And we would expect to see those then. And if they are the barriers that have been thrown up by anyone else in the organization, then we ought to discuss those and try to resolve what they are.
MR. MILLSPAUGH: Yes.
DR. BERRY: Okay. All right. Then thank you very much, Sherry, for your report. -- as I understand it, the national staff office -- how many additional staff do you have?
MS. CHADWICK: Since June of last year?
DR. BERRY: Yes.
MS. CHADWICK: One.
DR. BERRY: And they're not -- all of them are not filled.
MS. CHADWICK: And we have vacancies right now.
DR. BERRY: So the expansion of the national staff, -- consists of one person. Thank you very much, Sherry, for your report. Let go to the report of the finance committee, please, Madam Treasurer.
FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT
MS. MAKELA: The finance committee met yesterday for a couple of hours, both in executive session and in public session. We covered a number of items. And I will consolidate my report to those decisions that the board needs to endorse.
I want to start by appreciating the vote taken earlier in this meeting by the board because I will no longer have to present budget cuts to this board for approval that would reflect the loss of CPB income for the rest of this year. We spent some time talking with managers and with national staff about the numbers -- the dollar numbers needing to be cut and then how we would go about doing that. And it was going to be my task to instruct all of the units to alter their budget on Monday. So I very much appreciate having that task taken off of my plate.
I am pleased to report that the finance committee is recommending a payment from the KPFA program endowment of $45,000, to be released in a series of payments starting immediately, to go for expansion and improvement of programming at KPFA. This is an endowment which has been building over the years. We have been very careful in building this endowment and not using it. A very small amount has been paid out over the years to KPFA so just this sort of instance we would have money to use. We are able to release this fund to jump-start to provide staffing and development for what I understand will be an exciting new midday program at KPFA. And we look forward to hearing the results of that.
We met with WBAI. We have had an ongoing series of meetings, including phone conference calls, over the BAI budget because we began the year with a serious deficit which needed to be scheduled. And this has been a difficult process. I am pleased to say that what began the year -- I think we had $134,000 deficit. We are down to $78,000 due to some cuts in the budget but, more importantly, to increased income at above projections at BAI.
We have conditionally approved the budget. We have an interim budget with BAI reflecting the current deficit. And BAI will hold an additional special one-day fund drive to try to increase revenues further and lower that deficit. And we look toward the end of April to have a final balanced budget for this fiscal year from BAI. And we will approve that probably by conference call. And, if not, we will discuss it at the June meeting.
We had a meeting about our SCA income. This has been a source of additional income to Pacifica for many years. These are leases -- subcarrier leases on some of our airspace which have generated up to $800,000 in income a year which has been used to cover emergency situations and development throughout our units. We have seen this income decrease over the last few years, primarily because of changing technology. However, we met with our consultant on this, and we are guardedly optimistic that we will be able to find and maintain leases for this.
And while the income has gone down in the last couple of years, we are hopeful that we can maintain at least some income and grow that income if possible in the next few years.-- we received a proposal from the general manager at KPFK in Los Angeles. The board over the last couple of years has expressed great concern in the fragility, the age and fragility of the transmitter and tower in Los Angeles, and have sought to have a proposal for how to replace this before an emergency situation occurs and -- we potentially go off the air. I am pleased that we received a report. The report was approved by the technical committee. And the finance committee is recommending that we support this proposal.
We are hopeful that KPFK will receive an NTIA grant to cover half of the cost of this project. But, regardless, we are proposing that Pacifica make a commitment of resources necessary up to a two hundred seventy -five thousand dollars to see this project through before next winter.
That is generally it.
We met with our auditors this morning in executive session to receive the draft of their financial report and got several recommendations including a recommendation that we receive every year. And I want to relay to our staff that are affected that our auditor does not believe that we are tracking in-kind contributions as thoroughly as we could. In-kind contributions from professionals to our units may be used as income in our CPB application. And so it has a very positive impact, and we encourage our local units to become more diligent in tracking these contributions.
We talked a bit about the possibility of auditing our pension. And we talked at some length about the status of our Soloman software. And I'm pleased that we are -- we are pretty much at the end of a long tunnel as far as transferring to this new software and improving our financial reporting within Pacifica.
I want to end where I meant to begin. The most pleasing part -- of our meeting was a recognition that our units are very stable financially. This is due, in great part, to the local managers, the staff, the volunteers, the programmers, et cetera, who have worked incredibly hard to build audience, to improve programming, and to fund-raise both on air and off air. We saw a very strong fund-drive since the beginning of our fiscal year. Every single unit has gone over projections on income. We are staying within budgets. We are not facing the crises that we have faced historically in Pacifica that have crippled this organization where we are looking at deficit and having to shift resources simply to cover bills that are out of sync with the budgets. So I am very pleased at that and that we could spend time discussing things like building new transmitters instead of worrying over why the phone bills were so out of budget. And I would like to recognize the work of the staff on that.
That's it.
DR. BERRY: All right. Could I get a motion to approve the report of the finance committee.
MR. KRIEGEL: Move for approval.
DR. BERRY: Second?
MR. PALMER: Second.
DR. BERRY: Any discussion? -- All in favor of approving the report indicate by saying "aye."
VOICES: Aye.
DR. BERRY: Opposed?
(No opposition.)
DR. BERRY: So ordered. Thank you very much, Madam Treasurer, for that report. The 50th Anniversary report. Mr. Palmer.
50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE REPORT
MR. PALMER: All of the individual units are in the early stages of initiating their 50th anniversary campaign efforts. Cheryl Garner-Shaw presented a summary of all of those efforts, and literally they're just now getting off the ground. There will be more activity to report out on at the June meeting. And there was some discussion about the event that will be held at the conference in San Francisco in March.
MS. CHADWICK: March 18th.
MR. PALMER: Pacifica will have a key role in that conference. And really there isn't much more than that to report on the 50th Anniversary effort at this point, Dr. Berry. So with that, I'll leave it. Back to you.
DR. BERRY: All right. Could we get a motion to approve the report of the 50th Anniversary committee.
MR. MILLSPAUGH: So moved.
DR. BERRY: Second?
MR. BRAMSON: Second.
DR. BERRY: All in favor, indicate by saying "aye."
VOICES: Aye.
DR. BERRY: Opposed?
(No opposition.)
DR. BERRY: So ordered. The Program Standards & Practices Committee. Mr. Millspaugh, please.
PROGRAM STANDARDS & PRACTICES COMMITTEE REPORT
MR. MILLSPAUGH: Thank you.
I'll try to keep this to be a brief report also.
The committee met yesterday and first reviewed some materials which have been circulated to the members of the committee regarding a question or list of questions that we had put to the managers of the station regarding the structure and numbers of volunteer producers.
We are going to be going back for some additional information. We asked the following questions of the general managers: How many volunteer producers have you? What percentage of programming is produced by volunteers? The ratio of paid programming staff of volunteer producers. How are volunteer producers trained? And how their efforts are organized to provide for quality and accountability within the organizations?
Just briefly to summarize, there are, according to our estimates, 505 volunteer producers system-wide, for an average of 101 per station, producing, on average, 72 percent of the weekly hours of programming of the stations. There are 39 paid staff members. And so there's a ratio, on the average, of 13 volunteer producers to 1 staff producer. Obviously, that is an average, and the variation among the stations is a wide one. We draw no inferences from this. It is simply to get a picture of what is the actual status at each of the stations.
In addition, all stations report having a training program in place, and each provided an organization chart. And I have sent copies of the organization charts to the appropriate committee, the Governance and Development Committee, for their overall efforts to chart the organization.
We will be returning to the managers for some additional information on training, which was provided yesterday, in brief, orally, but we are going to ask for a paragraph that describes it. Here again there's quite a formal program in some stations, especially KPFA, in part, because they receive funding from the State of California - Funding for the Arts, which provide -- which permits them to do it. Some stations have it on a more of a one-to-one or apprenticeship basis. Here, again, we simply want to know that training is available to volunteer producers. And it appears that there is. As I say, we will ask for additional information on that. -- we also discussed the draft of a committee charge, which I have prepared on a descriptive basis and circulated. And we will also be enlarging upon that.
We agree that it's important that each committee have such a charge so that we know what we're supposed to be doing and that others know what we are supposed to be doing and that we are doing it. And that will be developed before the next meeting and submitted to the executive committee for its approval.
We discussed the next board meeting, because of the scheduling for a concentration of discussion on program policy issues, and we learned that we will have someone at the board meeting to give us some insight on how to read numbers. I think there are only two or three members of the board still sitting who received that kind of instruction four years ago. And it's probably a good idea to repeat that. It was observed that there has been a detailed study formed by CPB or one of its contractors, which is available on the Web at ARA.net.com, I believe is the proper URL. And we will be getting some of that material. Any of you who want to see it in detail are invited to do so. It does specifically have materials in there on Pacifica, so it's of particular interest to us.
We discussed a number of things which need to be brought into focus by the committee, such things as compliance with existing policies. We are going to start putting together a Programming Policies & Standards booklet which will contain relevant FCC regulations, CPB regulations, policies which Pacifica has promulgated in the past. And we are asking -- and this is kind of the official part -- we are asking that the administrative council prepare for us a statement of any issues regarding such policies as must-carry disclosure requirements, et cetera, which they feel should be revisited and studied, and, if necessary, updated. And we will have that ready for distribution, we hope, by the time the next board packet is distributed. And we also wish to remind the station managers that the request has been made previously and
MR. MILLSPAUGH: ----that they are to submit before each packet for the board.
MR. MILLSPAUGH: We're repeating our request of the managers, that they include the current programming grid with whatever annotations that they think are necessary for our confirmation of it.
DR. BERRY: Okay. Could I have a motion to approve the report of the Program Standards & Practices committee.
MR. LUCY: So moved.
DR. BERRY: Could I get a second.
MS. MAKELA: Second.
DR. BERRY: All in favor, indicate by say "aye."
VOICES: Aye.
DR. BERRY: Opposed?
(No opposition.)
DR. BERRY: So ordered. The technical committee's report, please, Mr. Ford.
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPORT
MR. FORD: Thank you, Madam Chair, and members of the committee.
Briefly, there are five issues of which we addressed at the technical committee yesterday. First, the tower situation at KPFK. We reviewed the $550,000 request, and we were glad to give it. There's a potential to get a grant for $275,000. We have asked that the station manager to submit a milestone schedule showing the actual start of construction phase of the project as well as the resource allocation as to where the funds are going to go. Copies of this will be made to the finance committee to make sure the project stays on time and within the budget. And I am personally going to monitor this and make sure it does, in fact, happen. We're going to look to try and create a new model for accountability and making sure there's no cost overruns.
Second, was the internet problem. Apparently IGC will be no longer be providing us service. Pete Bramson is going to head up this initiative to look at replacing IGC and the services that it provides. Also, we're going to attempt to stream all stations on the internet such that we will have a global reach. We would like to create, a web page whereby you click on Pacifica and you can download any of the five stations, as well as have an on-line ordering system to order tapes and from the archives. This is going to be a long-term project, and we're going to explore this as well as a way of marketing Pacifica in rural areas where we do not reach. I think you mentioned that in your report, Sherry. We've already taken that under advisement, and we're going to look to explore this possibility and 2 expand our footprint worldwide.
The next issue that we took up was digital radio. As we all know, As we all know, CPB is going to be distributing funds for digital conversion. We're going to look at what's involved. The technical committee has been offered a free tour of Radio Free Asia. At our next meeting we're going to tour their facility. They've gone totally digital. One of the volunteers at WPFW is a station manager there and is willing to give us a tour. So if any of the committee members are interested in taking a tour of what the future of radio is going to look like, they're more than welcome to join us. We're also going to have a presentation by the WPFW operations director Bob Daughtry at the next meeting and hopefully he can address the full committee very briefly to talk about the future of digital radio. He's very knowledgeable in this area. And I think it's a good discussion, a good background, for people on this committee to understand what's involved, where we need to head to as a network. So we look forward to that at the next committee.
Aaron Kriegel is going to be the lead on our problem with K. I understand that there are some services that are not going to be covered. He's going to take a look at replacing and see how we can best use the technology we have with the satellite. And hopefully Aaron will be appointed to that committee as chair in charge and we'll have a report from him at the next meeting.
And, lastly, I'm going to look at helping the national staff create an automation system in order to provide management reports to the committee and to track different issues as they take place. Unfortunately, things fall in the cracks. We have no way of corresponding other than phone calls. It will probably simplify these boards meetings to have these reports ahead of time. We're going to look at finding an inexpensive way to have these reports available so that station unit managers can also use this tool to see and track different activities.
And that, Madam Chair, is my report.
DR. BERRY: Okay. Could I get a motion to approve the report.
MR. ROBINSON: So moved.
DR. BERRY: Could I get a second.
MR. ROBINSON: Second.
MS. MAKELA: Second.
DR. BERRY: Any further discussion?
All those in favor indicate by saying "aye."
VOICES: Aye.
DR. BERRY: Opposed?
(No opposition.)
DR. BERRY: So ordered. Thank you very much for your report.
MR. FARRELL: Madam Chair, just an issue of new business. My colleague Aaron Kriegel has been identified as wanting to be on a particular committee referenced in the committee report.
DR. BERRY: What was the committee?
MR. KRIEGEL: We've actually asked that I be on the technical and programming committee and that Bob be on the financing and governance committee, if that's acceptable.
DR. BERRY: Kriegel, technical. And what was the other one?
MR. KRIEGEL: Programming. Farrell, finance and governance.
DR. BERRY: Finance and governance. Jewelle, do you have any particular preference as to what --
MS. TAYLOR-GIBBS: Well, actually, I prefer 50th Anniversary. Or the Board Governance and Structure. So either Board Governance and Structure or 50th Anniversary.
MS. MAKELA: Both.
MR. KRIEGEL: Both.
MS. TAYLOR-GIBBS:. Is that okay?
DR. BERRY: Yes. So you will be -- Jewelle will be on the 50th Anniversary and Board Governance. And Farrell will be on Board Governance. And what was the other one, Bob?
MR. ROBINSON: Finance. And Aaron will be on program policies and technical for the time being. I ask the board, if it does not object, I ask Farrell to serve, on an interim basis, on the executive committee, since there's no one from that signal area on the executive committee. Does anyone have any objection?
MR. ROBINSON: It's a good idea.
DR. BERRY: Without objection, then, that's what I will do.
The other thing that I want to do is just to say I've gotten various pieces of information from various members of the board and other people to distribute to members of the board, something from KPFA, something from WBAI. They're not matters that need to be discussed at this particular meeting. And some of them are not items that need to be discussed at a meeting. The only other thing that I would say, before we go to public comment, is to note that the most important business that I think Pacifica needs to engage in, is, urgently, at all of its stations, is to figure out a way to respond to the demographics of the region in which these stations sit.
We're entering the 21st century, and many of the populations that exist in these signal areas, in my view, are folks who say they don't listen to the station, they never listen to it, they don't know anything about it. We also need to attract younger listeners to the stations. There's no reason why the stations like WPFW in Washington shouldn't have students from the universities there who are learning how to be programmers, who are on the air, who have shows. There's no reason why music can't be diversified in a way that they would be appealed to. All of us are getting old, at least I am. And when we die out, I would hope that -- the beat goes on. And so I think that we need to be looking at how to involve younger people, how to involve more people of color, which is the new demographic reality, as listeners and subscribers to the stations. This is an urgent piece of business, and we need to learn how to deliver a message, a progressive message. And whenever I say that, some people ask me what do I mean by "progressive message," which I'm appalled by. But a progressive message in a form which would be appealing to the populations that exist in this country today and tomorrow if we are to have any kind of impact. The CPB reality has nothing to do with that. Pacifica does not depend on - it had a life before CPB, it will have a life if there is no CPB.
As far as centralization is concerned -- that word keeps being bandied around -- when we say "centralization," what I mean is that the strategic plan and the committees of this board have agreed that we want to centralize, as much as possible, administrative services -- all of the managerial and administrative aspects of this place that can be centralized -- in order to save money and in order to find ways to do things more effectively so that there will be more money to go into programming. And that we want to have more national programming, because we are a network. So I think the new demographics, the appeal to people who are younger, I don't mean that all of us who are older should be dispatched, but, I mean, appeal to people who are younger to get them involved. I think this is urgent business. And we spend too much time in this organization, in my view, working on who's up, who's down, who's got power, who did this, who did that, instead of having a substantive discussion about these matters. And with that -- and at the end of the public comment period, I'm going to ask the executive director -- to make some 13 statements at the end.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
DR. BERRY: The ground rules are that every speaker has two minutes or less. The public comment period will last no more than 60 minutes. And with that, I will call the first person forward.
Bob Baldock, please come forward and come to the microphone.
MR. BALDOCK: ...Special Events have benefited KPFA in many different ways. They've raised money off air. They've raised money on air; been used as premiums. Some of them have gone for more than $20,000, single-marathon, KPFA loan. They've networked KPFA with progressive organizations. They've given KPFA a positive off-air profile. They've introduced KPFA to new audiences They built this up by physically bringing people together. They've enabled KPFA to proved a frequency for students and low-income individuals to gather. And they have networked independent bookstores throughout the Bay Area, putting KPFA posters in their windows, and so on. Customarily, they have drawn thoroughly diverse crowds 400 to 3,500. These audiences are not necessarily reflected by KPFA listener data.
If this work endows me at all with any value in your eyes, please respect my total support for KPFA management and, in particular, for Nicole Sawaya, whose leadership is invaluable to the work we're doing and the continuance of that work. Please also accept that, in my experience, Pacifica National board actions, or actions publicly purported and not denied to be Pacifica national board actions, have had an extremely deleterious impact on KPFA public events and events on KPFA radio. I have copies of this, if I may pass it around.
DR. BERRY: Susan Stone. And after Susan Stone, Sheryl Flowers.
Could you please line up so you'll be there. And then Larry Bensky.
MS. STONE: I'm Susan Stone. And I coordinate the book, art, the readings, and the radio theater of KPFA to the best of my ability. But I couldn't do it without the volunteer programmers who make an extremely rich and local sound for KPFA. I wanted to talk about what is working on our air. It's the very best thing that Pacifica can be. It's the sound of the radio station. It's the strength of them. And that's what it always should be, especially as we enter the 50th year. We are also very amazed and delighted at how often we make our fund-raising goals and top them. And we want to share those resources with you to bring you focus on what we do with our money back to the air. It's our best activity. And it's the activity that's getting sidelined in all kinds of discussions, discussions or distractions, that are keeping us from what is important, and that is our air. In good faith, the staff -- unpaid and paid -- met years ago and for a number of years to discuss the strategic planning division of Pacifica. To our great dismay that's fallen by the wayside. They have disappeared, and so has all discussion of strategic issues for Pacifica.
I just want to remind the board that in good faith we would like to continue those discussions, have you listen to us, come next door, meet us, listen to our air, talk about it with us and pay attention to it. Because without focus on our air, we really aren't a radio station at all. We'd like good faith, see what operates us, and not manifest these feelings which continues to divide our house. Because the foundation is not working with operations at this point in time. And I really believe we can remedy that. But let's get back to the talk about the air. Because that's really what we started out being, and we're forgetting that.
DR. BERRY: Thank you. Sheryl Flowers.
Is Sheryl Flowers here? Larry Bensky. Is Larry Bensky here?
MS. GENDELMAN: He's on his way up. He just got off the air.
DR. BERRY: Steven Fine. Steven Fine is here. Okay.
MR. FINE: "People who wish to be free must arm itself with free press." This was said by a legendary journalist. 50 years ago Pacifica was founded by Lew Hill to be an independent community-sponsored radio network for local peace and social justice issues and often dissent from mainstream conventional wisdom and a corporate view of the world. More than 50 percent of Pacifica's funds come from listeners and the KPFA radio.
KPFA is truly a community radio station and only with ongoing and active community input will it continue to be progressive and a voice of dissent from the de-democratization that is occurring in this country. Corporations continue to accumulate more and more power, and our democracy is at risk. Corporations are totalitarian, not Democratic. And like the former Soviet Union, they do not allow dissent or challenges to the system. America is moving in this direction with loyalty to the corporation in place of loyalty to the Communist Party. It is control in a suit instead of the uniform. And it is undemocratic.
KPFA-Pacifica is one of the few roadblocks to total corporate control of the American minds. Corporate control of the media is almost complete. Fewer than a dozen mega corporations control what we see, read, and hear. The responsibility of the board to ensure that Pacifica continues to perform its mandate in its current role.
DR. BERRY: Your time is up. Thank you very much. Jill Dunner.
Jill Dunner, please.
MS. DUNNER: I'm not a trained speaker. I am a working poor woman who has a child at UC Berkeley. And I just want you to know that Pacifica is a lifeblood for me and the people that are down in the trenches that are losing their homes, that are losing their civil rights. Please, I beg you not to make this a corporation. It's important for the grass roots for the local control not to leave. Because we will die from that. We're down there, and our lives are at stake.
DR. BERRY: Dennis Bernstein. No?
MR. CHADWICK: He's here.
DR. BERRY: Jeffrey Blankford is after Dennis Bernstein. And David Glick is after Jeffrey Blankford.
MR. BERNSTEIN: Good morning, Dr. Berry, members of the board. My name is Dennis Bernstein. I produce the Flash Point show here on KPFA as well as the Audit Time (phonetic) ? investigative weekly magaZinne. I'm also the news editor with the...service...Boston Globe...and the nation of Tailand??
As to the local programming here, I've raised million of dollars for the station on account of some of my good friends, some of the major donors at Pacifica here in the Bay Area, and in New York City where I produced the daily morning show...which was syndicated on 60 stations. Our Flash Point show now raises, on the average, between $4,000 and $5,000 for a 15-minute pitch.
I do want to say, Dr. Berry, I'm very sorry that you received all that terrible treatment, and I apologize for whoever it was that brought it to you. I'm not going to talk about the Governance. Many people know a lot more about that than I do.
I do want to say something about the process of the programming. Over of the last several years we have provided programmers the education...(in the dark and treated very poorly. ) There are many examples of this too long to go into. We are with you. We don't like being beaten up from all sides at once, and it happens all the time. But it has come down from up high too often. And I want to say this: I agree with you about bringing young people –
I have 30 seconds left?
Well, then I just want to tell you this: As a teacher for 10 years before I came to the network, I worked in the South Bronx, in Harlem, and Far Rockaway. And one of the most important things that I ever did was on the day that Elinor Bunker's 67-year-old grandmother was executed in her apartment by 15 cops because she was late on the rent, one of my students was underneath listening to the shots. I had an opportunity to bring that young woman and several other people who I was teaching media to, to WBAI in New York to tell their story to be born out of this experience instead of dying there. And I hope -- and two of those people are journalists now. I hope that they have the opportunity to have an open, free, noncorporate, unfettered radio network that is not closed to them, and they shouldn't have to be made to pay a fee to take a course. Thank you.
DR. BERRY: Jeffrey Blankford. Mr. Blankford.
MR. BLANKFORD: Good morning, again, Dr. Berry, and the board. Last night I made a couple of notes up to today's meeting because I knew what would happen, having been to too many of these board meetings in Houston and Los Angeles and here. It says, "When was the last time a board member voted no?" And, "Once again, the LAB members are intimidated by the executive board." This is a corporate board. The voting is extraordinary. The unanimity does not represent the local board.
Our local board passed the resolution calling for postponement and meeting with the CPB. The New York board passed a resolution. And yet these are simply overlooked, and you have your unanimous vote. I also object to the cavalier treatment of a letter signed by three men who contributed mightily to Pacifica -- Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Ed Herman -- for their speeches and their personal donations. I know that they have contributed a great deal of money. And they are concerned about this. And, Dr. Berry, you don't think they wrote this letter, and you don't think Howard Zinn is concerned about this issue or knows anything about it, I think you're insulting both Pacifica and Dr. Zinn. And I really think that when they find out how this board cavalierly dismissed this letter, they would have more to say on this issue, as we will. Thank you very much.
DR. BERRY: David Glick.
MR. GLICK: Good morning. My name is David Glick. I work for the Social Justice Center of Marin.
It's important to understand what is at stake here today. KPFA and the other Pacifica stations are the heart of the progressive movement. There is nowhere else we can get the information and radical analysis that Pacifica provides. Pacifica has given strength and hope and legs to progressive forces in America.
We all agree on both sides that Pacifica must be reserved. But what's at stake here is what's the nature of what we're preserving? I want to state clearly and unambiguously that a progressive movement requires a democratic governance. You cannot have a progressive movement without democratic governance. And that is precisely why there is so much disagreement. It's deep and it's broad among many of the listeners of Pacifica and KPFA. And that's about the loss of local control. Now I want to just draw a quick analogy.
The strategists in the democratic party, which I am not a member of -- I don't vote democratic -- but they believe that if they kept moving the party to the right, they would not lose voters because they have no place left to go. And in a way I think, mistakenly that that's what you're thinking. But there is a whole room of people here devoted to Pacifica and KPFA. And what I am afraid is that you're putting Pacifica at risk. Because whatever amount of money you think you're going to get from CPB I'm afraid you're going to lose from dedicated supporters like us.
One last thing. I want to ask you -- I want to leave you with a question. I know your intentions are good. But we can be divided about that. And I simply want to say, I believe you want to expand the listenership of Pacifica and KPFA. But the message I want to leave you with is this: What is more important for a progressive movement, to reach fewer people with the right message or more people with the wrong message?
DR. BERRY: Ann Schaffer. Ann Schaffer?
MS. SCHAFFER: I am here. Good afternoon.
DR. BERRY: We want to reach more people with the right message. That's what we want to do.
MS. SCHAFFER: I heard it said, I believe by Dr. Berry, "Local advisory boards will have input." Well, it seems that the input will not include the right to vote. Okay? That's scary because it's called power. Okay?
These are my notes that I took. I also would like to -- I also heard said, "The executive committee must have representation from each signal area." Again, the representation will not include the right to vote by people who are chosen at the local level. Okay? Now, I also heard as follows: "The advisory board should have input regarding programming but not governance regarding operations." So if the governing board has the control of hiring and firing, that is going to influence the programming. I also saw here, right after the vote was taken for the by-law change, a mass resignation of the local advisory board members at this table. Thereafter, they were requested to stay on until the end of their terms. But, hello, what does a mass resignation of local advisory board members mean? Doesn't it mean something? Okay?
And then this is my last comment. It says here in my notes, "CPB requires that community needs assessment" should be carried to the executive board." And I heard somebody say that was done in 1998 and, quote, put on the skids by the executive board, unquote. That's my notes. Thank you.
DR. BERRY: Alex Carlin. Alex Carlin?
MR. CARLIN: Hi. I'm an administrator at a foundation in this area. And we had to stop giving money to KPFA in 1998. We've given a lot of money over the last 20 years. The main reason was -- it was actually a lot of shocking news that was coming along, including the gag rule. But when it all boiled down, we decided it was the lack of democracy was the big problem. Right now you addressed that, Dr. Berry, with a shocking argument. You essentially said, "Well, there was no democracy before, why are you worried there's no democracy now?" That is insulting. That is a chilling argument, and I'm sure you didn't really mean that.
DR. BERRY: That isn't what I said.
MR. CARLIN: Well, you essentially said it's not so different now than it was before.
DR. BERRY: Don't tell me what I said.
MR. CARLIN: Anyway, that highlights the problem. The thing is that as a foundation, we -- we're not going to give -- we can't give any more contributions until this democracy issue is cleared up. We believe, however, that you're all intelligent people. You'll probably end up going home, realiZinng all this. And you're going to be thinking, "How could we be so silly as to think that Pacifica couldn't even theoretically be run without democracy or without accountability or without listener's ability to recall a bad leader?" It's just crazy. You're going to realize it's more or less a bad dream, and you're going to come up with some kind of way to govern yourselves -- govern Pacifica with democratic processes. I mean, otherwise it's just a complete disconnect on the whole spirit of the thing. And we're confident you're going to come around to that position.
DR. BERRY: Thank you. Bill Mandell. Bill Mandell.
MR. MANDELL: For those who came in late, Dr. Berry began by referring to the threat of her life and similar things. Two days ago, "The Chronicle" carried a full-page obituary of the man who headed the FBI here in the '60s. And the obituary stated that, among other things, it was his business to devise phony letters and communications to various people. My daughter was one recipient of such communication. I know hundreds of KPFA listeners. I attended all the meetings after the 1959 massacre. I never heard –
AUDIENCE MEMBER: '95.
MR. MANDELL: '95. Sorry. I never heard -- my age is showing --. I never heard from anyone anything of the kind that brought about the remarks by Dr. Barry; which I do not doubt for a moment, I just question the source. They do say something to me about something yesterday, for those who were not present yesterday.
Yesterday's meeting was outrageous. There were armed pigs in this place. There were also plainclothed pigs in this place. The setup was such that there was this amount of space, at least, between the board meeting and the rest of us. And there was no microphone. The entire tone of that meeting was that the listeners in the city that founded this network are the enemy. This was the tone of the meeting.
The last word has to do with the statement -- I'll ask for a couple more moments -- just a word about the person who spoke for the station today and who spoke for KPFA and said that she is quoted to be the 1995 cleanup, whatever you want to call it. I'd like to point out that the stated reason for that was to improve our demographics in terms of the station. I stated at that time that it would not have that effect and, of course, has not had that effect. We have the same listenership in numbers that we had before, give or take a couple of... As far as I'm concerned, this Pacific ceased being Pacifica, past tense, two years ago when KPFA failed to give live coverage to the board obedience meeting on the affirmative action issue.
MR. MANDELL: That must be changed.
DR. BERRY: Okay. Thank you. Werner Hertz? Werner Hertz. Going once, twice.
MR. HERTZ: Oh. Thank you. I am dismayed and saddened about what I hear and what I see at this meeting tonight – this afternoon. You might as well be the board of directors of Mon Santo and Chevron because that is the way they operate. They are management, and their board of directors decide what the local plant is to be, what kind of actions. The workers and the management of that facility have almost no say, like the rest of the Pacifica station. You're not being responsive to the needs of a progressive community.
We need -- we are in a crisis in our world, and we need to deal with that. And we do not learn any democratic process in our whole experience, either in families and schools, on the job. And you're just perpetuating that. And you're not the voice of the future. And you can't decide -- you can't decide whether people are operating by their color. You have to look at that class and their interests and where the power is. And you want to maintain the power. You want to hold onto the power. You don't want to give the listeners the movement for social change, like the foundation folks or youth, students. You don't want to give them any voice. You want to fire and hire management that determines what happens at the station. And that is not the democratic process.
The board needs to be a service agency and not a ruling agency. And you need to make sure that we have the facilities and that things work together, but not tell us what to do and not tell us how to run our stations. That needs to be done by elected officials. And I'm ashamed of the two representatives of KPFA. You've acted in a cowardly way by resigning.
DR. BERRY: Time is up. Nancy Delaney. Nancy Delaney. Nancy Delaney.
MS. DELANEY: My name is Nancy Delaney. And I was a programmer for 15 years at KPFA in the Women's Department of Public Affairs. I was a steward for the unpaid staff in the middle '80s. And for six years I tried to stop what we're looking at today in every way that I knew possible. And I just -- I cannot tell you how much I loved what KPFA and what Pacifica was. And I have to issue an apology for the travesty.
This is such a shame that we've lost its dreams. It's perfectly obvious the kind of structure that you've created. Anybody that knows anything about grass roots knows the structure that you've created. You have disengaged from the listener sponsorship, which is the root of this entire process. It's another case of the emperor having no clothes.
I have come to call KPFA and Pacifica Radio "Better Homes & Gardens Radio." It started with David Vallager in the middle '80s when he brought in Flo Green, who has talked about target markets. And we said, "We're listener-sponsored. We have other values." And she said, "Oh, well never mind." I'd like to say that there's a difference between community radio and public radio, just like there's a difference between community parks and public parks. Public parks and public radio are done where some anonymous entity presents something for people's good, like medicine. But the people are not engaged; they are not able to be active. You are interested in conquest, the way this country was created. You're not interested in the service. And you are opportunists.
DR. BERRY: David Adelson. Is he here? David Adelson.
MR. ADELSON: Hi. I just want to say I heard somebody -- Dr. Berry, actually -- mention progressive and it was odd that anybody would ask what that means. It seems to cover so much. I often like to start off with my own definition, which is, I think progressive means the people who are affected, decisions have, A, the ability to know about them and, B, the ability to influence them. I think that's what progressive means.
I'm a biologist, and I'm very interested in the relationship between structure and function. And the structure determines function over the long-term. So if you were all -- I have no doubt -- because I know many of you -- about the good intentions of many of the people here. But in the long-term, what the institution creates will be a reflection of its structure. The ecology determines what can grow there. And I would hope -- what Lew Hill said was that the key ecological feature was that the programmers must have control over the policies that determines their action. Without that -- listener sponsorship was a way of supporting that. It was not listener sponsorship by itself. It was not the structural feature that would make you do something different. And I would like you to keep that in mind as you make further decisions about structure in the future.
DR. BERRY: Thank you, David. Did Larry Bensky and Sheryl Flowers show up?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Larry is here.
DR. BERRY: Larry Bensky. Larry Bensky.
MR. ROBINSON: He's coming.
MS. CHADWICK: He has a flip chart.
MR. BENSKY: Thank you, Dr. Berry, and members of this board for the opportunity to speak to you today. And thank you for your service to Pacifica. I apologize, but I was on the air and I couldn't be here earlier.
I prepared, over there, a chart of the Pacifica national office, which comes out of the board packet. And you will see what I believe to be a serious problem with this organization, which is the unchecked proliferation of jobs and expenses that have little or no justification. In the last four years, those jobs in red have been added to this organization. This, on the other hand, is how much programming is produced by Pacifica over the last 20 years. It's changed from 1.5 percent of our program schedule, which is, of course, Pacifica network news, now to 5.5 percent in 1999. On the other hand, the amount of money taken from Pacifica stations, like KPFA, has gone from 3 percent to 17.2 percent. And that is directly correlated to the structure of who now works here doing jobs that I believe are unjustified and much too expensive for this organization. But even if they were justified --
MR. BENSKY: -- even they were justified, the structure under which they are placed is not one that is part of or should be part of a tradition of any progressive organization.
We do not need a top-down organization. We need an executive director who is directly responsible to the general managers, the program directors and the operation directors.
I have prepared a longer version of these remarks to distribute to the board so that you may see what I did not have time to say. But I'm asking that you consider instituting an immediate hiring freeze on all national office positions, institute an immediate review of all personnel, and consider restructuring of our administrative entity along of lines of what we should have. And, finally, that the books be open for complete inspection so we can try and figure out where all this money is going.
MS. MAKELA: The next speaker is Shirley Burlingham. Shirley Burlingham. Shirley Burlingham.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Where's Mary Berry?
MS. MAKELA: Mary had to step out, so she asked me to continue the process.
MS. MAKELA: Shirley Burlingham. She's not here. Mariah Gilardin.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Don't talk without her here.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mary!!
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Get Mary Berry.
MS. MAKELA: Please go ahead. We're doing a total transcript of all speakers.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No, no, no. Face to face.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: You're going to hold us to two minutes and walk out?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let's just hold on until she comes back.
MS. MAKELA: Please continue, or we'll go on to the next speaker.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Chanting) We want Mary! We want Mary! We want Mary!
MR. FARRELL: June, may I say something?
MS. MAKELA: Is this to help the process?
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Chanting) We want Mary! We want Mary!
MR. FARRELL: Yes. I'd like to pose the question to my colleagues on the board. I'd like to just pose the question that as members of the board, we're here as a matter of courtesy, listening to folks up here in the Berkeley area. I'm not from here.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Out of obligation.
MR. FARRELL: I believe that the comments that people are making are primarily to us on the board. And if the folks who are here choose not to address the board, I'd like to ask them just to leave and let the people who are here that want to address the board to address the board. And --
MS. MAKELA: Thank you. Mariah, are you going to continue with your comments? Otherwise the next person –
MS. GILARDIN: I'm sad that Dr. Berry is not here because my first question to you is how many of you have seen the letter by attorney Dan Siegel that was sent to her?
Can I please see a show of hands. How many of you have seen it before you took this vote before yesterday?
Okay. Not everybody.
What I'm presenting here is a combination of several people's efforts. We found ourselves in an amaZinng situation having all the crucial information, something we didn't know ahead of time. We came here hoping we would get to speak to you before you took the vote. This is a travesty. This public input should take place before you took vote. For those of you who know, attorney Dan Siegel sent a February 23, '99 letter to Board Chair President Berry, and he urged that, "You were informed that the changes you are about to contemplate, are in violation of at least two sections of the California Corporations Code."
Were you briefed on the consequences? Do you know that the corporate veil appears in this case and that as individual directors -- you, as individual directors -- may be liable if there's a lawsuit? And there may well be.
The main point of this letter was that inadequate notice of the by-law changes had been given. They should have been noticed 45 days in advance. This wasn't done. We don't even hear a compromise. A gentleman's agreement is nonbinding. It's like NAFTA's environment agreement where we will fix it later. We will screw the environment and fix it later. The people offering you the agreement have already lied on this and other issues.
The compromise we think you are -- is broken. It's largely a rehash of the 1997 attempt that failed. And that is really important. One person present here talked to Rick Madden and was -- took notes of the conversation. Rick Madden stated that if the funding is not in jeopardy, that you have time to make this change. That the funding would be held in escrow and that you could get it once the change is contemplated. Also, Pacifica never challenged Tom Booth's (phonetic) letter.
And Lynn Chadwick never called and said, "How could we do this." They heard nothing, nothing from you.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you. The next speaker is Lynn Gary.
MS. GARY: I'll cede you my turn for as much time as you need
MS. MAKELA: Was that Lynn Gary who spoke?
MS. GARY: Yes.
MS. MAKELA: Okay.
MS. GILARDIN: What you contemplated doing was to bring out this discussion with the LABs in the time between Houston and now. You hadn't done that. We were present when the LAB -- the local board was advised on what you were about to do just a few days back. That's not input from the base, neither from the local boards nor from the audience. So the LABs and public were not informed about this impending change. And days before this meeting, the notice of by-law change and notice of meeting was posted on the web site no earlier than February 24th.
The board books weren't given in advance. We didn't know what you were about to do and what you were to argue, although many of us have direct experience with the CPB stating -- including journalists in the audience here -- stating that you were creating a phony emergency upon which -- that you used them to convert the potential democratic structure of this organization. You know well from your own contacts and from us that democratically elected boards will end the purview of the CPB that would have solved this dilemma you find yourselves in. You could have gone to the democratic law, as you were urged to do by Chomsky, Zinn, Herman, and many, many people locally here, by your real supporters, by those who love you, by the people who have worked for you for years and years. I want to stop there.
MS. MAKELA: The next speaker is Erol Maitlind.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: No. The next speaker is Lynn.
MS. MAKELA: Lynn ceded her time to Mariah. Erol.
MR. MAITLIND: I want to surrender my time to anyone not signed up. But I just want to say that as a member -- as a listener to WBAI for 30 years and unpaid staff for someone who works in the station sometimes 24, 48, and 64 hours without stop, that we recommend a substitute motion that we get a commitment that would be made that was not made.
MS. MAKELA: I've been informed that Sheryl Flowers, who was listed earlier, has arrived. Is that correct, Sheryl?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can Lynn have the rest of Erol's time?
MS. MAKELA: How much time did Erol leave?
ELAN: He left one minute.
MS. MAKELA: Okay. Fine. So Erol had a minute left. A minute and 10 seconds.
MR. MAITLIND: Thank you very much. Because I need every second. I cede to Al Stein.
MS. MAKELA: To Al Stein.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Here is Al Stein right now.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
I just want to address the fact that on the 50th Anniversary year of Pacifica Radio -- Pacifica Radio Foundation -- you've got to think about your incredible tape collection that everyone here has either produced, to a large extent, or is going to be utilized within the next century.
I'm, as some of you know, a former archivist and was terminated on the 19th. Coincidentally enough, I'm the second in two years to go and the third, if you count the previous director of the archives before the two archivists. So I say you're going to have to look at your -- examine your own politics on this issue: Why have there been three archivists let go who have been trying to give you -- doing a professional jobs in terms of preservation and finding that the archives are not in a good state and will not continue to be in a good state.
You've got history, you've got tapes that are disintegrating that weren't completed on the former grants, that could be looked at and need to be looked at. Because this is your history. This is our history. And, Dr. Berry, you're a historian of all people. You should be the most concerned about the state of the archives into the next century, as well as what we're talking about today.
That's my time. That's what I have to say.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you. The next speaker is -- was I correct that Sheryl Flowers is here?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.
MS. MAKELA: Sheryl? No?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: There she is.
MS. FLOWERS: Good morning. My name is Sheryl Flowers, and I'm currently the producer for Sunday Salon and a show that's carried on three other Pacifica stations. I'm also producer for the morning show on KPFA. And I'd like to read a few words from a brochure that was put together for the 40th anniversary for Pacifica, which says, "Pacifica Radio is a national nonprofit radio system dedicated to offering the broadest possible spectrum of arts, culture, news, and information in order to create a better climate for peace and understanding." I just want to read that last part again: "In order to create a better climate for peace and understanding."
I've been working for Pacifica for more than eight years, and I'm still waiting for that climate and peace and understanding. I'm deeply concerned about the growing -- and I rushed to get here, so I'm very much out of breath. I guess basically what I would tell you -- if I had more than two minutes, I would tell you about what it's like to work for a place with so many people that have wonderful and creative ideas who are committed to ideas of peace and social justice.
If I had more than two minutes, I would tell you about many of the wonderful programs that are put together by people that are not here. I would tell you about some of the calls that we would get from listeners who are inspired from something they heard or overwhelmed by the response they get or something they've appreciated. I would tell you about the stories of people like me who have constantly felt disrespected and a lack of support for their efforts. And I would tell you what it's like to work for weeks at a time without knowing the status of your employment or your future with the organization, or what it's like to communicate with that small staff about political issues regarding the daily operations of a national show and told to, quote, to talk to whoever is in charge. Since I don't have more than two minutes, I would, instead, urge you to pay attention to what the staff and listeners are saying about this network. Pay attention to the statement issued by KPFA, which I signed. And pay attention to the role which all of us are taking in this network. And, most importantly, I would urge you as a board to think about what you could do to help create that climate of peace and understanding. Thank you.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you. The next speaker is Seth Sandinsky. The next speaker is Seth Sandinsky.
MS. SANDINSKY: Hello, everybody. I'm Seth Sandinsky. I've one of the listeners and sponsors at Pacifica Radio. With all due respect, the national board does not represent the listener sponsors at Pacifica Radio. That is what is crippling Pacifica Radio. Here's my suggestion to the national board: Ask the listener sponsors how they want Pacifica Radio to serve them. Will you? Can you? Thank you. I want to give my additional time to another speaker Lynn Gary.
MS. MAKELA: Lynn Gary. You have one moment -- minute. One minute.
MS. GARY: I have just given the lady here a petition to end the gag rule at Pacifica. But you have proven here today that you don't give a damn about what kind of organization the community wants. Some of you are congratulating yourself that you saved 1.5 million dollars of CPB funding. But what have you actually done is to betray the trust placed in you by those who donate 6.5 million dollars for funding of Pacifica. Some of you were warned exactly about what ploys would be used to remedy changes: the phony emergency cooked up from the people who have met to seal this organization for a good five, six years now from those who built it with the, "trust us, we'll fix it later," you fell for it. Trust us, you say. You forfeited that trust. Now you're going to have to reap the consequences of your betrayal.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you, Lynn. The next speaker is John Sporich.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let her talk.
MS. BURK: Mary Burk will cede to let her talk.
MS. GARY: The foundation management over these past several years has been one long trail of corruption. Some of the members of this organization are, to put it plainly, criminals, and we will open the books and prove it. Thank you.
MS. MAKELA: John Sporich.
MR. SPORICH: I would like to ask who is the vice-chairman of this meeting?
MS. BROOKS: He's is Texas. The vice-chair is in Texas.
MR. SPORICH: Who is running -- this meeting is run under Robert's Rules of Order. Otherwise this whole meeting will be declared null and void. I would like to know at this point who is in charge.
MS. MAKELA: I'm chairing the meeting at the moment. I'm the treasurer. The chair and vice-chair are not at the table. So I'm chairing the meeting. Could you please continue your comments.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Why aren't they here?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Why has the director left?
MR. SPORICH: This is a point of parliamentary order. I don't want this deducted from my time. Under the rules of Robert's Rules of Order, we have a sergeant of arms here. I think that you should now direct the sergeant of arms to determine if Ms. Berry is in the building to determine whether we can continue to conduct this meeting.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Yes!
MS. MAKELA: Please continue your comments, or your time will be up.
MR. SPORICH: Okay. I will start my comments.
ELAN: Your time has already started.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!
MR. SPORICH: Under Robert's Rules of Order, that was a legitimate parliamentary inquiry. And it is not –
MS. MAKELA: This is part of public comment. You are using your time.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!
MR. SPORICH: Okay. I wanted to direct my remarks to Ms. Berry. I talked to her when she first came on the national board when she visited the LAB in Berkeley. I told her at that time my concern that KPFA and Pacifica was not keeping up with internet technology. I volunteered to go on the technology board and help her with that pursuit. She favorably received my comment, but then I never heard anything from her again. I just want to let the members of this meeting know that I have, with my own funds, privately acquired KPFA.com and urging the transition for what I believe will be KPFA disconnecting itself from the Pacifica network. Thank you.
MS. MAKELA: The next speaker, Curt Gray.
MR. GRAY: Hey, Lynn. Do you want any more time? I'm going to be short. Do you want some time?
This is referring to Dr. Berry's comment before the public comment session. She talks about progressive values. She seemed to be a little confused about what they were.
I've always felt that there were progressive values embedded in the values of community radio; some of the values I think the people here share, but I question whether the board share. The people who pay the bills and the people who do the work should have a significant say in decision-making. This is a progressive value. So that's why we need locally elected governing boards.
We should act in our daily life and how we relate to each other and our work in a way that is consistent with the values and concerns we espoused on the air. Like, we talked about democracy and honor and labor. But we don't do that at KPFA-Pacifica. Empowering the average person to speak their truth, average people can fight back. With a little training, anybody can do radio. That's what community radio is about; people, not professional stations. Finally, the legitimacy of power should flow from the bottom up. This is a value we throw out every day on Pacifica Radio, but you don't act on it.
LAWRENCE FERLINGETTI: Good morning. When I speak, I speak not only as poet laureate of San Francisco but as one of the members of the original Blue Hill Generation from 1949. And I find what you're intent on doing, you're destroying the original concept of this station, and I urge you to reverse the vote that you've evidently already taken before you've heard the total opposition from the public. And as a final resort, listener sponsors may have to take back the station by seceding from the Pacifica network.
MS. MAKELA: The next speaker is Joanna Graham. Joanna Graham. Is Joanna Graham here?
MS. GRAHAM: Hi. I just want to say that I'm a listener. I've been listening since the '60s. Other than that, I have no connection -- I mean, this is a very interconnected group of people today. People who have worked for KPFA, people who give a lot of money, people who have been at meetings.
I've never before been to a KPFA meeting or a Pacifica meeting. I have never been to a meeting of the local advisory board and, therefore, I was astounded to come in and find out that the public commentary happened after the vote. I go to city council meetings and I go to Berkeley school board meetings where the public comment comes before and is part of the decision that is made. So that in itself is extraordinary. I also would like to comment on not only the political stuff that's been going on but just the sound of the station.
I'm married to a man who works for KPIX-TV. He's been in commercial broadcasting all his life. And I'm very conscious of the way that commercial broadcasters think about the audience to which they are selling stuff. And I thought a lot about what audience you switched to in 1995. I don't know anybody that listens to KPFA except me. The other members of my family don't. And since you changed it, I turn it off all the time. The primary effect of the change that you made is that I know a lot more about the other radio stations in the area than I know about KPFA. I can't imagine -- I see your target audience as people in their '40s now who are interested in health and herbs. And I'm certain they're still white, still middle class. It's not diverse. And I can't imagine -- okay. Thank you.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you. Matthew Lasar.
MR. LASAR: Friends. And I do not say that specifically as an empty gesture. Friends. I come here today, and I would like to use a word to describe myself which is very rarely used as Pacifica: I come here as a conservative. I am someone who cherishes order and civility. I was just on the air this morning with WBAI where I was interviewed because of this book that I have written. I was on the air with Samori Marksman, Amy Rosenberg, Al Louis, and (inaudible). It appears from me that the tone of their remarks that the staff at WBAI is in open on-air revolt at what is going on.
The good news is -- the good news is that things that have been done can always be undone. That mistakes that have been made can always be acknowledged. Lewis Hill once said, during a very big intervening crises in Pacifica Radio, "We are one union, and there is hope." If there is anything I can do to help. Thank you.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you. Marilyn Sargent. Marilyn Sargent. Is Marilyn Sargent here? I have -- the next one is Ben Anonymous.
MR. ANONYMOUS: I'm going to address the new board (indicating the audience).
I am somebody who is African-American, changed from an advocate of democracy of civil rights, into an advocate of tutorial type of government. I'd like to talk to you about Dolores (inaudible), a US senator, once an advocate for democracy in civil rights and then she changed into an advocate for Nigerian statesman, a butcher, who actually murdered her counterpart, the first lady in Nigeria, also the elected president in Nigeria.
I come from Los Angeles. KPFK has turned into a radio station that is actually destructive for Los Angeles. Very ill programming. There are slanderous remarks coming off the microphone. And there's no acknowledgement of those statements of slandering, anti-democracy, anti-free speech, and now KPFK in Los Angeles has become an anti-minority station. I know some of the few African-Americans who have been left from the butchering of KPFK, and they're very frightened to say what's really on their mind. They consciously and intentionally curb what they say. Because of what? What are they afraid of? Tell me, what is the Tides Foundation? You know? They may try and disempower us, but we can't allow them to. I want to say that personally, as a person whose parents actually helped build KPFA, the first Pacifica station, I'm expressing and look for your support to air a vote of no confidence to this board with the internet.
We don't need million dollar grants from fascist foundations.
MS. MAKELA: Michael Alcaly. Michael Alcaly. If Mike is not here, the next speaker is Dean Albers.
MR. BRAMSON: Mike is here.
MS. MAKELA: Okay.
MR. ALCALY: What's left of the board here --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Not much.
MR. ALCALY: -- my name is Michael Alcaly, and I --
MS. MAKELA: I am extending -- some people had flights. The board was supposed to adjourn at 12:00, but because of the number of public comments, I've extended it. So please continue.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Take the red eye and sleep it off tomorrow.
MS. MAKELA: Please respect the current speaker mike Alcaly. Go ahead.
MR. ALCALY: My name is Mike Alcaly. I'm a physician living with AIDS and a long-time KPFA programmer. I was the AIDS reporter for Pacifica for several years. I was there at the creation. Almost 10 years ago Pacifica for the first time brought all its stations together that put on a magnificent performance at the Moscone Center: Five days of live broadcasting that included Ernie Brown, Amy Goodman, the late Shawn Hilston from Houston. Everybody was there. And I saw that as a new beginning for what Pacifica can be. Today I see it as a very top-heavy, hierarchal organization that is really -- doesn't represent what -- you know, what Matthew Lasar has just been talking about. It also is being run by a strategic plan, that, as far as I know, 99.9 percent people in this room knew nothing about it and didn't take any part in putting it together. It's like Moses coming down and handing the tablets, you know. I'll get to the chase here: KPFA is based in a city that is known for a lot of things. It gave the world smoke-free public places. It gave the world the beginning of knocking down Apartheid in South Africa. And just recently has given us total support to Tinky Winky.
I say let KPFA be KPFA. And I want to address the fact that I know all the general managers are on a very short leash with six-month contracts. I say give Nicole Sawaya -- one of the only people that's been at the station since I've been there, who knows radio, been radio, has been part of radio all her life -- give her a very, very long leash and a multi-year contract, please. Thank you.
MS. MAKELA: Dean Albers.
MR. ALBERS: I am associated with KPFA as a listener and for 12 years, and I've been employed there for a year.
KPFA is unique in its programs that appeal to people who question authority, whether it be musical authorities, political authorities religious authorities, or even scientific authorities. KPFA programs are broadcast to a wide area, allowing many listeners to participate in the same psychic space. This psychic space is characterized by an intent to think and act responsively and by the belief that all individual's thoughts and psychic presence have equal value.
The fact remains, however, that some individuals use their psychic presence to manipulate others for their own purposes, mostly for the satisfaction of their own greed. They perform their mind-bending feats to sell their music and ideas and have found a venue in commercial broadcasting.
It was not Lew Hill's intention to manipulate people into following his, or the early Pacifica Foundation's "agenda," because they seem to have no agenda other than providing a medium for pacifistic monologue, dialogue, and transmittable cultural artifacts.
At first, Berkeley could -- now Northern California can -- can participate in fundamental pacifistic thought via radio. This is beneficial to all people of the geographical region, especially when other media leaders are confused about the effects of negative thinking and irresponsible advocacy. KPFA provides this alternative source of words and music which are consistent with a peaceful life.
The Pacifica voice has been audible primarily in urban areas in the United States. Digital audio encoding techniques and the World Wide Web allow that voice to be heard anywhere on the Planet Earth. If Pacifica is to maintain the intent of its charter of legitimizing and nurturing pacifistic ideas, then Pacific must find out who and where the needy listeners are and how they can be reached.
The commercial way to do this is to pay consultants, pay pollsters, pay statisticians, basically find a way to keep as far from the listeners as possible, while still taking their money. The Pacifica way is to include the listeners and community, to be as close as possible to the needs of its audience, and to value the feedback that the audience provides. The investment is love, and the money is laundered by people whose heads and hearts are strongly connected. This is what makes Pacifica unique. It works to find ways to fund its operation in non-commercial ways.
Globalization is an opportunity that evidently the Pacifica founders either overlooked or, due to their own priorities, left for us future custodians to work out. The Cold War has proven to be an invention of United States diplomacy in order to hide hot wars which, at the expense of souls everywhere on Planet Earth, are profitable for those individuals who gauge value in terms of revenue. This effect of devaluing an individual soul is clearly not what founders of Pacifica had in mind when they started transmitting. Quite the contrary. By giving voice to unpopular thoughts, by exercising freedom of speech, they gave access to radio programming which had possibly no commercial value, possibly priceless value in terms of an individual's soul integration.
The opportunity exists for Pacifica to provide this service for not only urban areas in the United states, but anywhere where human integration is possible. It's a tall order, and it is consistent with peaceful visions of the 21st century.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you. All right. The next speaker is Daniel del Solar.
MR. DEL SOLAR: My name is Daniel del Solar. I'm a listener and contributor to Pacifica radio for 28 years and a former station manager.
I have a couple of comments about the programming, management, and so on. When you are changing the management of the station -- that is, who is on the board -- you must write within 30 days a statement of ownership to the FCC introspective as to who will be leaving and who will be staying, who will be at around your table, who will be participating in the conversation, who will they be representing, how will they have come to the table to bring materials from the ground, and who will have a vote. Part one.
Part two, I've seen the blood deep in the hallways. I've seen the blood not so deep. I've seen Larry Bensky disappear. I've seen Larry Bensky appear. Thank you very much for the community process that led to Larry Bensky and his kind of thinking. He is a wise person. I want to second his words about the danger of middle-age spread. I personally am facing it and you, as an organization, are facing it, and you need to listen to him very carefully. I second everything he says about that dread-growing middle. The dread-growing middle. Difficult. You have to change as an organization. You must change, in any case.
Last, but not least, please beware my warning to you, ala Eisenhower, please beware less you and your individual units become mere weapons of mass destruction rather than the vital educational and entertainment resource that you are.
MS. MAKELA: Thank you very much. And I appreciate all of the comments made. This ends the public comment session. I'm going to take a few -- I'm going to take a few words from Lynn Chadwick and then request a motion to adjourn.
MS. CHADWICK: I don't really have anything to say.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: All the speakers who signed up were not allowed to speak.
MS. MAKELA: I called out all the names on this list.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mary Burk was on that list.
MS. MAKELA: She ceded her time. Okay. Lynn.
MS. CHADWICK: I just wanted to thank you for the participation and for your attention --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let Mary speak. She only ceded ten seconds.
MS. MAKELA: I guess -- this is a wrap of the meeting.
MS. CHADWICK: That's all . I just wanted to thank them. That's all.
MS. MAKELA: Okay. Do I have a motion to adjourn?
MS. CHADWICK: So moved.