- The Folio Yellow Sheet -

VII

The Coordinating Committee of the CdP Moves to
Elect Representatives to and Expand the KPFA Program Council

MOTION PASSED - 6/12 by CdP Coordinating Committee:

  1. That the KPFA Program Council be expanded to seat 4 community representatives.
  2. That discussion of this motion include other community groups including but not limited to CdP, North Bay for KPFA, The Marin Center for Peace and Justice - KPFA group, Mid-Peninsula for KPFA, Black Radical Congress, Storm, 3rd Eye, Friends of Free Speech Radio and the Ella Baker Center.
  3. That meeting times of the Program Council be considerate of working people's schedules.
  4. That we support closed but not secret meetings.
  5. Make community representatives recallable by the groups they represent.
  6. That the Program Council hold public forums at least 2 times per year.

John Sheridan of the CdP had this to say: "Our idea was that each community group contacted would submit a list of willing candidates for the Program Council. All the candidates would then be placed in the list and each group would then vote their preferences from this combined list. Using a form of 'choice voting' and a neutral party to count votes, the top 4 vote getters would become Program Council community reps, and the second 4 would become alternates." Sheridan cautions, "None of this has been brought up to the LAB, the Program Council, Steering Committee, nor KPFA staff groups, so there may be feedback at every level."

He continues, "Also we want the process to involve more listener groups than last time when it was done on an emergency basis. The first time this process was sponsored by the Local Advisory Board. We don't know how it will be handled this time around. Should be interesting."

The PNN Stringer’s Strike Needs Your Help

The PNN striking reporters have issued an appeal for funding to continue the Free Speech Radio News and otherwise sustain the strike. Part of their plan is to establish sustaining donors and fundraising activities in the local station communities, particularly the 33 station areas that get FSRN. Linda Hewitt of CdP and the Pacifica Network Crisis Committee is working with the strike committee initiating and coordinating fundraising efforts for the stringers, including direct contacts with those stations. If you would like to support the striking reporters and their weekly newscast please make checks payable to Friends of Free Speech Radio, and mail to: "Freelancers' Strike Fund," c/o Friends of Free Speech Radio, 905 Parker St., Berkeley, CA 94710. Linda Hewitt can be reached at 415-285-6310. Please help in anyway that you can.

Pacifica Budges

In a mildly positive turn of events, two agreements have been reached between the PNB, KPFA interim manager Jim Bennett and interested negotiators. First, KPFA will be allowed to keep any monies raised during pledge drives that exceed the fundraising "goal." Prior to this agreement all surplus funds went directly to Pacifica and were dispersed at their will. This situation caused KPFA to stop the winter fund drive once their "goal" was reached. This was done in order to prevent any surplus from being spent on the station closure expenses incurred by Pacifica last summer. According to Jim Bennett, the surplus will be used to improve the KPFA website to include more up to date programming information and improve logon capabilities. A portion of the surpluses will be set aside to maintain and improve the transmitter and tower. The second and more telling event involves the station manager position at KPFA. Jim Bennett will stay on as interim manager. He will be charged with the task of organizing a committee composed of paid and unpaid staff, union reps and community members to facilitate the hiring of a new station manager.

The KPFA Steering Committee Expands

The KPFA Steering Committee has recently expanded adding representatives from the Ella Baker Center, The National Lawyers Guild, Media Alliance and the Unitarian Universalists. This brings the total membership to 15. Representatives include: three paid staff, three unpaid staff, one member of management and 8 representatives from the listener community and alternates. The Steering Committee has drafted a new mission statement that will soon be available to read on the savepacifica website. As Sherry Gendelman explains - "The Steering Committee is the only forum where station staff and activists within the community have the opportunity to strategize, inform, coordinate and avoid duplication of efforts."

Upcoming Events of Interest and Importance

Berkeley Third Graders Pillory Pacifica

At the end of May, third-grade students from Nancy Silver’s Room 201history class at Cragmont Elementary School presented a musical comedy called "The Good News." The production was based on the struggle to free KPFA from the clutches of the Pacifica Board. Eight- and nine-year-olds played characters: Lynn Chaplips, Mary Franco Cherry, Dimne Sowyhme (pronounced So-why-me?), Menace Burnside and Harry Defensky, the main protagonists in the epic and essentially unresolved struggle over progressive community radio and freedom of speech. You can guess whom these characters represented.

Funded by a grant from the Berkeley Public Education Foundation, the show was performed in front of 150 parents, teachers and friends. In the Berkeley Voice, Nicole Sawaya offered, "I'm thrilled, the story lives on." Dennis Bernstein called the performance "the most joyous moment of the year."

What’s With Folio Subscriptions?

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