For background on KPFA v Pacifica:
http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica/news.htm#recent http://www.savepacifica.net/indexa.htm#list
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I found it hard to understand the KPFA v. Pacifica fight because the specifics are complicated and because the old Berkeley left are just as ballistic, hysterical, and paranoid in their dotage as they were in their youth.
Since I was remiss and did not follow the recent history, it seems to me a problem of communication. How would I characterize the core issue, in a coherent and meaningful way, without any of the history, complexity and ingrown minutia? What's the sound bite? As the teach-in from last week (which I missed) said, this is about corporatizing grassroots media.
Imagine a local meeting place, a bookstore, a coffee house or a bar with live music. A very funky place, long on personal and public memories and progressive associations. Maybe you don't go there much anymore, but you always counted on it being there. It was one of the places that characterized your community.
Now imagine that McDonald's or Barnes & Noble bought it out.
Understand the national chain has no interest in whatever came before or what's there now. Understand the chain wants this particular place because it represents a particular corner of the market, period. And of course, understand that as a national chain, the hard business fix is already in, in all the bureaucratic places that count.
See:
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Tonight, after work and dinner I got there very late, around 7:30p after most of the crowd had thinned out to a few hundred. I found out that all the staff were locked out, and put on administrative leave until further notice; that the station was on the air, still broadcasting canned material.
I ran into several more people I haven't seen in a long time and listened to several speakers winding down the rush hour festivities. The big name speakers Alice Walker and Dan Ellisberg were long gone. So, I got the story of what had gone on from Burr O, a disabled guy in a powerchair I know.
After five, just in time for rush hour, a relatively large body of protesters (from tonight's local news video, it looked like close to a thousand) marched from MLK and University Ave, down University about a mile to Sixth Street, just in front of the main Berkeley off ramp to the 880 freeway (main east bay north-south artery). At Sixth, the Berkeley Police and California Highway Patrol stopped the march. There was a few minute stand off and then sit-in, and several protestors were arrested, while the main body turned around and headed back to the KPFA offices. (Both KTVU and KRON reported five arrests).
While I was talking to Burr O who was getting cold and ready to leave, I ran into my former marriage counselor, David S. While we were catching up on things, Larry Bensky (I think) was saying this was the most momentous event of his life and other wild nonsense, but closed with a rousing cheer and called for the community to take back its building, its staff and its radio station. After him, somebody from one of the electrical workers and communications unions read a statement of their local's full support.
By this time it was getting dark and cold and so I said my good-byes and left.
The 10:00p KTVU (Fox-Warner) news lead with the story tonight, as did the 11:00p local NBC, CBS, and ABC affiliates. The mainstream media basically characterize the fight as local station versus a national network fight, something on the order of a labor dispute. All of which is more or less accurate, but misses the political and economic edge.
There were not further announced demos, so this will probably be it for this week.
Chuck Grimes