KPFA update

[Patrick Ellis]

Very briefly, KPFA is back on the air this morning with live programming
that is so far entirely a phone-in critique of the battle with Pacifica.
The gag rule is off, but otherwise things are fundamentally not all that
different than before all this started and in some ways are worse.
Pacifica is still setting the conditions, not everyone was rehired, there's
only a few weeks' operating budget left (after Pacifica paid for 24-hour
security guards, PR firms, etc. by Pacifica from KPFA's coffers), and
there's a vague 6-month to 1-year period during which KPFA must "diversify"
its programming to Pacifica's standards.  

Odds are a fund raising drive will easily take care of the funding problem
given all the community support right now.  As for diversity, KPFA does
over-represent boomer whites for such a mixed community as the East Bay,
and so it's not as if true broadening of diversity isn't called for and
openly recognized by KPFA staff.  Regretfully all diversity has meant to
Pacifica is being more mainstream (and thus appealing to a "broader"
audience) and a convenient race-baiting technique.  So we'll see, but a
step in the right direction.

Patrick