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<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=smHcj%2B3PihmzcWCQ7BsWtC8DrtY%2FWp%2FP> 



*June 13, 2014*

*For Immediate Release*

*Amputation*

*Berkeley*-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".

Their comments are below:

Andrew Leslie Phillips 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=zf%2Fjc5bnE6XqQrBkMPb7D2FNw7ZxWof1> 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.
Yesterday at 3:13pm 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2BKzps8E%2BAOELHXkR0t96p2FNw7ZxWof1> · 
Like 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=UyQ59oolpHXhlacYl%2FF%2BPGFNw7ZxWof1> · 
1 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=M5jfZAzhhPwJmqhsl2kGXGFNw7ZxWof1>
Kate Gowen 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dYTKHYWRcKa6swxKQy4gi2FNw7ZxWof1> 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.

A petition to keep the network together by the Pacifica Directors for 
Good Governance-affiliated directors 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OtLxG92VXmJOVFvJxVB5SWFNw7ZxWof1>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.

SF Labor Council delegate, former/Ramparts /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). Welsh's resolution is placed rather 
low on the board's meeting agenda. 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=HLB%2FoDPTuvxOQPIaQ6cR2WFNw7ZxWof1>

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".


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.
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 San Francisco Labor Council 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=KCgHLgakE%2BSjuIIWTuS9JGFNw7ZxWof1>and 
the Gray Panthers 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=EXp4GNdjCqc8CSunzPLkZ2FNw7ZxWof1>), 
will be held in Northern California including:
A Community Advisory Board (CAB) forum at East Side Arts Alliance in 
Oakland (2277 International Boulevard) at 1:00 pm on June 21st 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1zk6X7jGHhSOkZh9YG7xLmFNw7ZxWof1>
A Celebration of Community Radio cookout and concert in Berkeley (2022 
Blake Street) at 2:00pm on June 22nd 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=euOtG%2FGRAB3h7oTrPaQQ4GFNw7ZxWof1>
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 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Qdxi65PVVGrBXk2dWGbZ52FNw7ZxWof1>

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.

This summary of 7 Reasons Why Pacifica Needs An Investigation 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=TTzc%2F9eNM1gnxHCMO4Yr%2BmFNw7ZxWof1> 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 here. 
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BvFEzD4W04sydhuXfEvzzWFNw7ZxWof1>

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.

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.

/###/

/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./


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