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<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><img moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1734/images/Pacifica_dove_padlock.jpg"
alt="" align="bottom" height="147" width="250"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in" align="LEFT"><span
style="font-size: small;"><b>June 13, 2014</b></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in" align="LEFT"><span
style="font-size: small;"><b>For Immediate Release</b></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span
style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size:
small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> <br>
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span
style="font-size: small;"><b>Amputation</b></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span
style="font-size: small;"><b>Berkeley</b>-Members of the
Siegel/Brazon faction, which sits in a slim majority on
the Pacifica National Board, continue to express their
enthusiasm for network breakup and the sale of one or more
of the licenses of the smaller Pacifica stations, in
informal online communications. In a Facebook discussion
group, KPFA local station board member Kate Gowen called
for the "amputation" of New York's WBAI from the national
radio network and former KPFA general manager Andrew
Phillips declared "the East Coast stations are toast. Cut
em loose".</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Their
comments are below:</span></p>
<div style="color: rgb(20, 24, 35); font-family: Helvetica,
Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;
line-height: 15.359999656677246px; background-color: rgb(246,
247, 248);"><a moz-do-not-send="true" style="color: rgb(59,
89, 152); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;"
target="_blank"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=zf%2Fjc5bnE6XqQrBkMPb7D2FNw7ZxWof1"
dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Andrew Leslie
Phillips</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> Of
course the east coast stations are toast. Cut em loose. It's
over. Save what works and the east coast stations don't.
Fuck sentimentality. </span></div>
<div style="color: rgb(137, 143, 156); clear: both; padding-top:
2px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma,
verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15.359999656677246px;
background-color: rgb(246, 247, 248);"><a
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href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2BKzps8E%2BAOELHXkR0t96p2FNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">Yesterday at 3:13pm</span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> · </span><a
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text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Like this
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style="font-family: Arial;">Like</span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> · </span><a
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text-decoration: none; padding: 0px 5px 4px; white-space:
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href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=M5jfZAzhhPwJmqhsl2kGXGFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">1</span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="color:
rgb(136, 136, 136);"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial,
sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" dir="ltr"><span
style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: rgb(20, 24,
35); font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.359999656677246px;
background-color: rgb(246, 247, 248);"><span style="color:
rgb(59, 89, 152); text-decoration: none; font-weight:
bold; font-family: Arial;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
style="color: rgb(59, 89, 152); text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dYTKHYWRcKa6swxKQy4gi2FNw7ZxWof1"
dir="ltr">Kate Gowen</a></span></span></span><span
style="color: rgb(20, 24, 35); font-size: 12px; line-height:
15.359999656677246px; background-color: rgb(246, 247, 248);"> I
don't have any hope left to lose with regard to WBAI; my
concern is that the dysfunction pioneered there is NOT going
to stop there, and that even amputation will not stop its
spread. </span></div>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OtLxG92VXmJOVFvJxVB5SWFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;"><img moz-do-not-send="true"
alt=""
src="http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1734/images/images%2812%29.jpg"
align="left" height="169" width="225">A petition to keep
the network together by the Pacifica Directors for Good
Governance-affiliated directors</span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> has gathered hundreds of
signatures in days from foundation members who do not want
to see the network disassembled by the slim majority on the
board. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">SF
Labor Council delegate, former<i> Ramparts </i>editor and
KPFA local station board member David Welsh has brought a
resolution forbidding a sale to the June 14th KPFA local
station board meeting (the meeting will be held on Saturday
from 11am to 4pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center at
Martin Luther King Jr Way and Hearst Streets in Berkeley.
Public comment begins promptly at 11:00am). </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=HLB%2FoDPTuvxOQPIaQ6cR2WFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">Welsh's resolution is placed
rather low on the board's meeting agenda. </span></a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
resolution states: "Resolution that the KPFA LSB strongly
recommends that the Pacifica National Board explicitly adopt
the following written policy: That under no circumstances
will the broadcast licenses of the five stations that
comprise the Pacifica radio network be put up for sale or
lease".</span></p>
<div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>
The KPFA board meeting will also feature a resolution asking
for the local grassroots 8am program strip: The Morning Mix,
which included labor, anti-corporate, and media literacy
programs, be restored to KPFA's drive-time morning line-up.
</span> </div>
<div><span style="font-family: Arial;">A series of community
events discussing the program grid change and the state of
the network (the program change has already elicited letters
of condemnation from the </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=KCgHLgakE%2BSjuIIWTuS9JGFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">San Francisco Labor Council </span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;">and the </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=EXp4GNdjCqc8CSunzPLkZ2FNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">Gray Panthers</span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;">), will be held in Northern
California including: </span> </div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1zk6X7jGHhSOkZh9YG7xLmFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">A Community Advisory Board
(CAB) forum at East Side Arts Alliance in Oakland (2277
International Boulevard) at 1:00 pm on June 21st</span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> </span> </div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=euOtG%2FGRAB3h7oTrPaQQ4GFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">A Celebration of Community
Radio cookout and concert in Berkeley (2022 Blake Street)
at 2:00pm on June 22nd</span></a><span style="font-family:
Arial;"> </span> </div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Qdxi65PVVGrBXk2dWGbZ52FNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">A One Big Network Panel
Discussion at the Somona Peace and Justice Center in Santa
Rosa (467 Sebastapol Avenue) at 7:00pm on June 24th</span></a><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> </span> </div>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size:
small;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size:
small;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="2">WPFW (Washington
DC) station manager Michelle Price reported in a printed
report distributed to her local board that Pacifica's
interim executive director Bernard Duncan demanded $50,000
from her station, telling her the money would be removed
from WPFW's bank account, if necessary. He said the money
was needed for "payroll". It isn't clear which Pacifica
station(s) needed payroll subsidized nor why the network
would be unable to meet an approximately $250,000
semi-monthly payroll obligation weeks after reporting $2.4
million dollars in new member pledges from the May
telethons.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span
style="font-size: small;">This summary of </span></span><span
style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=TTzc%2F9eNM1gnxHCMO4Yr%2BmFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;">7 Reasons Why Pacifica
Needs An Investigation</span></a></span></span><span
style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"> breaks
out the reckless and irresponsible actions of the 2014
board. A complaint filed with the California Attorney
General by 8 former board members can be found</span> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BvFEzD4W04sydhuXfEvzzWFNw7ZxWof1"><span
style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size:
small;">here.</span></span></a></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size:
small;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size:
small;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size:
small;"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As
discussion of network breakup continues to rage in many
online forums across the country, the central issue with
WBAI's sustainability continues to be ignored. The station
suffers from an extremely high-priced antenna location at
the landmark Empire State Building in a 20 year lease
negotiated in 2006 (the last time the same slim majority had
control of the Pacifica National Board) when the loss of the
World Trade Center in 2001 had supply at a deficit. The
lease agreement rises every year for 20 consecutive years,
currently costs $500,000+ a year and will cost more than 3/4
of a million annually by 2025. All of the Pacifica stations
would be underwater if they took on WBAI's level of
operating expense.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
Empire State Building location assures (or should assure)
WBAI a strong and widely-heard signal throughout the huge
metropolitan area, which is the biggest media marketplace in
the United States. The deterioration of WBAI's transmitting
equipment (which like DC's and Houston's equipment is not
solid-state) prevents the station's sound quality from
capitalizing on the extensive signal range and means a move
from Empire would require a $200,000 investment in equipment
replacement as the old equipment is unlikely to survive a
move. The Empire State lease does provide an option for
subletting the rental space, but other available tower
spaces in Manhattan (primarily the 4 Times Square building
where PRN and WFMU, among others, are housed) are similarly
expensive and available tower spaces in New Jersey represent
a substantial loss of signal range. A meaningful debate
about about whether a planned move of the transmitter could
be done with adequate support for WBAI would be a welcome
sign of sanity on the national board, which mostly busies
itself arguing about long-time broadcaster Gary Null, whose
premiums-based programming provides for much of WBAI's
current financial base of support. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
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small;"> </span></span></p>
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small;"> </span></span></p>
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small;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>###</i></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i
style="font-size: small; font-family: Arial;">Started in
1946 by conscientious objector Lew Hill, Pacifica's
storied history includes impounded program tapes for a
1954 on-air discussion of marijuana, broadcasting the
Seymour Hersh revelations of the My Lai massacre, bombings
by the Ku Klux Klan, going to jail rather than turning
over the Patty Hearst tapes to the FBI, and Supreme Court
cases including the 1984 decision that noncommercial
broadcasters have the constitutional right to
editorialize, and the Seven Dirty Words ruling following
George Carlin's incendiary performances on WBAI. Pacifica
Foundation Radio operates noncommercial radio stations in
New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and the San
Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 180
affiliates. It invented listener-supported radio.</i></span></p>
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