Folio Editorial

Michael Costello

(505 words)

We would like to thank our readers who have renewed their subscriptions to the Folio. Thanks are due especially to those who have generously donated more than the suggested $10. Folio readers who have not renewed their subscriptions might have noticed that they are still receiving the Folio. Our primary mission in publishing the Folio is to make important information available to as many Pacifica listeners as possible. As long as we receive enough money to publish the remaining issues, all will be well. Please do find the envelope that we sent out with the May-June issue, put some money into it and send it back to us. Many things are happening moment to moment in the fight to democratize, restore and renew the Pacifica Network. We hope you will want to remain informed and active. Supporting the Folio is one way to help.

With this issue the Folio goes national. In the remaining issues we will feature a column from each of the Pacifica signal areas. In this, the August issue, we are featuring two articles written by members of the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica, New York. There are many stories yet to come from this WBAI listener/sponsor group. Our correspondent from the Washington D.C. area is Leigh Hauter. Leigh’s wife Wenonah has just joined the WPFW LAB. Leigh has written about how the WPFW station staff accepts new members onto their LAB. Both Leigh and Wenonah are members of The Alliance for Progressive Radio. From Houston, Texas, we have Shannon Smith and Sheila Harris. They are members of The Houston Committee for People’s Radio. Their Perspective from Houston sheds yet more light on the sad situation at KPFT. Under the management direction of Garland Ganter, the tough-guy ruffian brought in to close down KPFA last summer, KPFT has lost almost all of its relevant community programming. This is the image that Pacifica management holds up as a "success story."

Ex-KFPK programmer John Martinez is our correspondent from the KPFK area. Martinez is a leader in The Free Speech Coalition, the surviving Pacifica dissident group in the Los Angeles area. In our eighth issue he contributes the third part of The Agony of KPFK. John shares his experiences of and his opinions on what has happened and is happening to KPFK under the management of Marc Shubb with public relations assistance from Mark Cooper. For those who believe in free speech, the recent history of KPFK has truly been an "agony."

This month we mark the one-year anniversary of the rude shut down of KPFA. We celebrate the birth of many organizations dedicated not only to returning the Pacifica Network to its original purpose but also to creating a democratically governed progressive radio voice. We remember and honor all the Pacifica staff, volunteers and activists who have demonstrated and been arrested, who have marched in the streets and who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to rescue and recreate this precious free speech radio network. The Folio is proud to publish these voices.