PACIFICA AND WPFW:

A Personal View from DC

By Sam Husseini

(1086 words)(1085)

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When I moved to DC from New York in 1997, I was a bit surprised at what I heard (and didn't hear) on WPFW, the Pacifica station in Washington. WBAI, the Pacifica station in New York which I had listened to for years, certainly had its problems, but it was fairly progressive, political and relevant.

Given that WPFW is in the nation's capital, I thought that it might even be more politically-oriented. I was wrong. It mostly played jazz and blues. Still, getting by on Democracy Now! and a few other shows -- and sometimes getting into the music -- I managed to live with and sometimes be moved by WPFW. I had heard about dubious moves by Pacifica management, and I was somewhat concerned about that -- and there were also times that I was disappointed by the lack of teeth in what public affairs there was on WPFW, but I did precious little about it.

Things changed radically on July 14 1999 when WPFW cut away -- censored -- "Democracy Now!" interviewing Dennis Bernstein on the KPFA shutdown. In the days and weeks that followed, WPFW would repeatedly censor "Democracy Now!" and Pacifica Network News' reporting on KPFA. It would also cut away from -- and ultimately cancel altogether -- CounterSpin, the radio program of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (full disclosure: I used to work for FAIR.)

As WPFW adopted censorious ways, activists in DC began meeting, sometimes protesting. As we shared our concerns with others, a fairly clear picture emerged of a management at WPFW that was extraordinarily unresponsive to listener input and suggestions for programming.

It was also less than forthright in its dealings -- to put it mildly. For example, the July 30, 1999 issue of The Washington City Paper reported that WPFW program director Lou "Hankins said he had no knowledge of any dispute within the Pacifica organization and suggested that the reporter contact the station in Berkeley. Hankins may have missed the stories run by the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, the Economist and National Public Radio."

I've recently become chair of the WPFW Local Advisory Board. Even before I joined the LAB, it was clear that there is a consensus on many issues: The WPFW LAB opposes the attempts by Pacifica management to take away power from the LABs and become more authoritarian; WPFW can be used much more effectively as a forum for bringing the people in its listening area together, not least of all because there are major ethnic schisms in Washington DC; the LAB is offended by WPFW management trying to prevent the LABs from doing community needs assessment and at their total lack of responsiveness to the LAB -- including refusing to let the LAB meet at the station lately.

Still, WPFW is not monolithic; clearly there are many programmers at WPFW who are unhappy with how Pacifica and WPFW management have conducted themselves, but say nothing in public lest they have their timeslots taken from them (although some programmers, such as Dorothy Healey, have gone beyond the "call of duty," actively defending Pacifica management's actions and the gag rule -- itself a violation of the gag rule). It's clear that WPFW does not like progressive programming like "Democracy Now!" and undermines it in subtle ways at times -- at the beginning of this year for a spell WPFW took to regularly blaring the "emergency alert system" signal during the breaks of that program.

While there is some public affairs programming at the station -- most prominently, Ambrose Lane has a program that frequently deals with crucial local issues, such as DC statehood and school board issues -- it only amounts to a few hours a week. Also, much of the public affairs programming can be surprisingly in line with the Democratic Party take. WPFW has virtually no locally-produced news. I vividly remember one occasion a few months ago when a hundred activists were arrested in protests against the death penalty in front of the Supreme Court in DC. It led the CNN news telecast. I tuned into WPFW -- during their afternoon news briefs, they made no mention of it, instead reading the AP reports of the line of the day from various "major" presidential candidates. WPFW should have been in a major position to influence, help organize and cover events such as the April 16 protests against the IMF and World Bank. Instead, it was a non-player. Similarly, for the Million Mom/Family Marches, one tunes into C-Span, not WPFW.

Recently, I bumped into an African American programmer for WTOP, the "headline news" station in DC -- it turned out that he got his start as a volunteer at WPFW in the mid-1980s where he learned the craft of radio news reporting. There is no such opportunity now at WPFW for such aspiring news professionals.

Working at the National Press Building for two and a half years I have seen major opportunities to question powerful people about heinous policies -- and I take such opportunities as frequently as I can. I have never -- not once -- seen anyone on the staff of WPFW or Pacifica based in DC cover an event at the Press Club. The only people I have seen connected to Pacifica have been Amy Goodman (despite the fact that she's based in New York -- and is currently being viciously undermined by Pacifica management), Laura Flanders, (who used to be with PNN, but left -- because she too was undermined by Pacifica management apparently) and once Ambrose Lane, who is a WPFW volunteer.

Clearly the situation in DC is important to the national democratization of Pacifica movement. Pacifica has moved their headquarters here and several board members are based in DC. Also, many organizations that should be more informed about these issues are based in DC. There seems to be a genuine commitment for positive change on the LAB and a willingness to use different tactics to bring about such change. Long-time LAB member Harley Daniels has been instrumental in making the LAB a more vibrant force. Also key has been Pacifica board member Rob Robinson from DC as he has documented many of the illegitimate actions of the Pacifica National Board and given voice to concerns shared by many on the WPFW LAB. It's important that people from the different listening areas communicate, in part through the LABs and learn from each other as we work to build Pacifica into a democratic, vibrant progressive network.

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