It would be interesting know what you have been hearing and from whom (i.e. whose Rorschach you were reading) since there are many interpretations of what is going on at KPFA and why.
Please note that this is a meeting of the nascent KPFA ‘Community Advisory Board’ as opposed to the Local Station Board (which I am a member of and which has been hosting many of the fun ‘parties’ of late - which is what you may be referring to in your 'plea for sanity') which is the governing board of the station. The CAB has only had one formal meeting since it was formed in March of this year. Under the guidelines of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, all stations that receive funds from the CPB are required to have a Community Advisory Board, or some such entity to do community needs assessments and ensure that the station’s programming remains responsive to the communities in its listening area etc. ( http://www.cpb.org/stations/certification/cert3.html ) Unfortunately, since the LSB’s were formed, not much attention has been paid to the CABs since they have no governing power unlike the LSB’s. And the CAB’s at all the station areas have remained thus far been pretty muich ignored. I am trying to change that. Ironically, the CAB’s (Local Advisory Boards) were the vehicles that created the LSBs as a result of the (more or less victorious) battle(s) against the interlopers in the late 1990s.
This meeting will probably be a rather unspectacular and mundane meeting since its purpose will mainly be to discuss the mechanics of how to expand the CAB, currently there are more members, and create a set of bylaws guidelines etc. We should of course have a CAB regardless of the CPB guidelines and many might (justifiably) argue that given the ideological orientation of the CPB, Pacifica might do well to wean itself of the significant money we receive from the CPB – lest they use our dependence on the money as leverage to undermine and or take control of the network – as they did in the 1990s. (see Anatomy of a Heist: The Capturing of Pacifica - http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica/heist.htm)
>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] KPFA CAB
>Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 09:34:05 -0400
>
>Joseph Wanzala wrote:
>
>>A meeting of the KPFA Community Advisory Board will take place on
>>October 10th, 2005 at KPFA, 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 7.00
>>pm. The public is invited to attend.
>
>Sane attendees desperately needed, from what I hear.
>
>Doug
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