Some concerned Pacifica listeners see KPFK as the real battleground, of the 5 stations in the network. They say Houston & Wash DC are already basically lost, & NYC & Berkeley are still strong loud defiant community radio voices...That leaves LA, where a Faustian battle is being waged for the soul of the station. They say that there are a few staff members at KPFK who see what's going down (the Cooper cabal) & are doing their best to resist, but they're largely unsupported & isolated.
One example: KPFK, under the sway of Cooper & his ilk &, of course, ultimately under the sway of the national board, are choosing not to broadcast the upcoming legislative hearings (which we're broadcasting, gavel to gavel) which will investigate Pacifica national board misuse of funds & other wrongdoings.
The hearings were called by 23 CA legislators & are scheduled for this Fri starting at 10 AM in Oakland. I'm planning to attend...There's a small group of staff & community folk in LA who are urging the station to carry live coverage, but so far to no avail. One of the KPFA agenda items was a vow to contact folks in LA & ask them to lean on the stn & demand that it cover the hearings. If that's something you feel comfortable doing, perhaps you might put in a phone call... 818 985 2711 The station manager (in with Cooper) is Mark Schubb.
Marta Russell
--------- Begin forwarded message ---------- From: savepacifica <savepacifica at peacenet.org> To: (Recipient list suppressed) Subject: UPDATE Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 00:15:58 -0700 Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.19990816001558.00796430 at pop.igc.org>
UPDATE: KPFK STAFF UNDER PRESSURE TO KEEP SILENT ON
PACIFICA CRISIS, DISAVOW BOARD MEMBERS EFFORTS
TO OUST BERRY, CHADWICK
Forwarded from Ken McCarthy, Brasscheck (ken at brasscheck.com) THE MARC COOPER PETITION
Marc "RadioNation" Cooper, who is also paid to produce a daily public affairs program on KPFK, has recently taken a public role as an apologist for Pacifica's current malfeasant management. Beyond writing editorials in the Nation and elsewhere, signed and unsigned, which trivialize the opposition, misrepresent the facts and obfuscate the issues, Cooper is collaborating with KPFK station management to have some of the KPFK LAB's
members removed by Pacifica Chairperson Mary Frances Berry.
The petition below refers to a lawsuit filed on July 16, 1999 alleging violations of law in the February 1999 by-laws change that disenfranchised local boards and made the Pacifica Foundation Board a totally self-selecting body completely unaccountable to anyone but themselves, and, in the words of former Pacifica spin doctor Elan Fabbri "the CPB, the FCC and the IRS."
The suit also asks the court to enjoin the board from selling any Pacifica station or other assets of Pacifica, and also that the Pacifica Board be prevented from spending subscriber funds on armed private police agencies, public relations firms and other inappropriate activities. One must assume that Marc Cooper and his staff allies, Marcos Frommer, Roy Hurst, Heidi Pickman, and Stacey Fancher to name a few, approve of these actions and expenditures by Pacifica's Board of Directors. (If not, they should state that they disapprove, and we will apologize for listing them in this hall of shame)
Futhermore, other staff members are being intimidated into signing this letter. Staff members had the draft of the letter below distributed in their mailboxes this week. They were notified by Marc Cooper's producer Heidi Pickman that if they disagreed with the petition, they would have to sign the letter stating that they disagree and return it to her, otherwise they would be considered "in compliance." Yes, her words, IN COMPLIANCE. With whom?
(typographical errors have been replicated from the original)
Date Mary Frances Berry Address
Dear Dr. Berry:
At our previous two staff meetings held on August 4 and 11, 1999, the KPFK staff discussed the issue of the role of the Local Advisory Board (hereafter LAB) and whether or not they are acting in accordance to (sic) the Pacifica guidelines for LAB's. The majority of the staff at KPFK (hereafter KPFK staff) believe (sic) that our LAB is not acting in accordance to the guidelines*
Attached is a memorandum that the KPFK staff presented to the LAB at an emergency board meeting on August 7, 1999. The memorandum was "received and filed," but no further action was taken. As noted in item (6) of the attached memorandum, if the certain members of the LAB did not resign then the KPFK staff would ask the Chair of Pacifica's Governing Board to remove them from the LAB.
We are asking you to remove the members of the LAB that are parties to a lawsuit against Pacifica (David Adelson, Terry Guy, Jim Horowitz and ???.) We feel that the these (sic) LAB members have acted outside of their responsibilties as LAB members as follows:
1. They have violated the trust against their own chairperson who
resigned (Barbara Perkins) because she did not know about the lawsuit
until after it was filed.
2. They are in violation of their limits of authority according to the
Pacifica Foundation Policies Governing Local Station Advisory Boards
(3-1-98)
3. David Adelson, Acting Board Chair, is party to negative publicity
campaign against KPFK being conducted by Vince Ivory of the Pacifica
Accountability Committee in that Adelson sits at the table with Ivory and does not defend KPFK. We believe this to be in conflict with his role on the board.
4. This negative publicity is costing the station money. Already, a
major donor has been lost as a result of a conversation with David
Adelson.
Please use your authority to immediately remove these board members from the LAB
Sincerely,
The KPFK Staff