Opinion --
The Agony of KPFK
Part Four
By John Martinez
(836)
Neo-Liberal Worker Flexibility-KPFK Style: Sara Harris was assistant to Program Director Kathy Lo from November '98 to May '99. In KPFK's twisted work culture today Sara had a big problem: she actually spoke her mind. I met her in KPFK's kitchen area one day as she told me how much she enjoyed Radio Chican@. I told her to keep that under wraps. She initially survived well enough to be allotted a weekly program 'Radio Active'. Somewhere it finally went wrong between Sara & KPFK Management. According to former Apprenticeship Director morning host and UE Shop Steward Marcos Frommer, in a October 14 1999 e-mail after leaving the station "Schubb fires a union member whom the PD can't get along with (there are many people program director Kathy Lo can't seem to get along with) and then [Schubb] tries to claim that she's not a union member (thus not subject to progressive discipline); on legally shaky ground he decides instead of firing her to make her life so miserable that she's forced to resign; he tells me in a "confidential" meeting "it doesn't matter how she performs: I'm going to fire her anyway". A typical K post-script: after resigning Sara Harris then applied for a position upstairs in the same building at the Pacifica Radio Archives. K's PD Kathy Lo personally told the National Archives Office not to hire her. Sara later decided not to pursue the application for the position. One more time from "Y2K Compliant": "I understand that if I breach this agreement, I may lose the privilege of producing at KPFK." Ah, the privilege of being at KPFK.
Like Ronald Reagan, Mark Schubb claimed union experience via the Screen Actors Guild. He also had a brief stay with Jim Hightower's Texas radio program. As Lyn Gerry, long time KPFK volunteer/staffer former UE Shop Steward now veteran Pacifica Dissident tells it: union busting via the Schubb regime came early during the marathon '95-97 contract negotiations as management hired the American Consulting Group (ACG). One of ACG's mottoes: "Maintaining Productivity & Profitability: The Secret to Being Union Free". Management was exposed for hiring the union busting ACG, but as Schubb claimed ignorance GM/PD manipulator & veteran programmer Marc Cooper of 'Radio Nation' would later apologize for it in print. We were further warned in 1996 about the new KPFK GM's 'essence' during the 'Media & Democracy Congress' in the bay area. Then KPFK News Director Frank Stoltze & I rode with Hollie Ainbinder to the airport. A former co-worker in L.A. with Mark Schubb at the office of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, Hollie Ainbinder dreaded detailing Schubb's combative manner. In near tears she told us about Schubb's conflictive behavior 'like a little boy who balls up his fists & refuses to let go'.
Again from Mark Schubb's KPFK 'playground': contract negotiations begun in September '95 between Schubb & KPFK UE drag on for over 2 contentious years. Previous negotiations took less than a month. These negotiations hit a impasse that was only resolved as Pacifica 'professionalizer' Pat Scott came in & ended this playground session in less than a week. UE ratified the contract in December '97. Terms of the contract: gone were decision-making guarantees of staff inclusion re: hiring. Gone also: staff consultation as to policy during layoffs. But 'management's rights' expanded in the contract's vague language where Schubb & Co. could hide, like during the stalled hiring in the KPFK Newsroom. KPFK paid & unpaid workers/volunteers were further divided by the new contract job categories "On Air" "Hourly" and "Other Support Positions". All the while, no contractual mention or above-board station policy re: the rights of unpaid workers or volunteers. In 1995 K had 16 UE members 2 'temporary' employees (I was one as Premiums Coordinator) and 4 management. Today there's 10 UE members from the staff, 9 paid employees with an unclear status, and 3 management: GM Mark Schubb PD Kathy Lo & OD Betto Arcos. A recent example of the incestuous nature of KPFK's hiring policies includes the Assistant to the GM, a position held by Candy Cooper, sister of staunch Schubb ally, Marc Cooper. Chief UE Shop Steward of the bosses' union at KPFK today is Heidi Pickman, staff assistant for the daily drive time program 'Marc Cooper's Daily Review'.
Again from Marcos Frommer's farewell e-mail "...the management style of...Mark Schubb, whose rather unique mix of Nixonian paranoia, frequent retaliation, and campaigns of intimidation has left the staff divided & has caused the departure of some of the best staff members & volunteers." At least Frommer left on his own time-line. Morning co-host with Frommer was Kathy Gory. She was given 24 hours notice to vacate. Of the dozens of KPFK volunteers 'disappeared', David Saenz was ousted after he raises the issue of Barnes & Noble corporate underwriting credits aired on K during the series 'Story Lines California". One outspoken ally of the Schubb regime, on the basis of in-station 'order' and 'fiscal responsibility' is Pacifica rerun Marc Cooper.
______________________**OUTRO: John Martinez will return next month with details of the antics of Pacifica apologist Marc Cooper. He'll also analyze KPFK's recent Fund Drives, and detail the current struggle of the KPFK LAB.