(this is the aforementioned East Bay Daily News article - there is no online version available)
'Public radio station wars with itself' - Fred Dodsworth - East Bay Daily News, 10/21/05
In the middle of a fundraising drive, immediately after the expiration of the unionized staff's employment contracts, radio station KPFA's factionalized Local Station-Board plans to meet tomorrow where members will attempt to throw several persons off the board and replace the Board's chair.
By all accounts, the board is warring with itself over the future,of America's oldest public radio station. The two main factions disagree vehemently over whether the station should be run by paid professionals with volunteers, or whether it should be run by unprofessiona1 volunteers.
"It's democracy run amok,' said Pat Scott, former general manager at KPFA and executive director from I993 to 1997 of the Pacifica Foundation which owns KPFA and four other radio stations across the nation. 'The people in the community have allowed this to happen. This community needs to come together and discuss the issues and decide what they are going to do with this precious jewel to develop it."
When Scott first joined KPFA, the station was over Edy's Restaurant. Only wealthy volunteers had access to professional recording equipment because the station had none, and when someone flushed the toilet it could be heard on the air. Today the station, with an annual budget between $3.5 to $4 million, owns its own studios and its own building. With 24 delegates, including 18 elected by listeners and six by staff, there are many opportunities for "court intrigue." "Conflicts at KPFA are endemic," said Roy Campanella, who has been the station's general manager for less than a year. "This is a longstanding problem. I sincerely wish we could minimize the animosity and bickering."
He got a front-row seat for some of the animosity when he was accused of sexually harassing female staff members. A subsequent investigation cleared him of the charges, but he remains very sensitive to the issue. The results of the inves-tigation, as a personnel matter, were private and board mem-bers were legally compelled not to discuss the matter. On Monday, Oct. 17, Mamie Tattersall, whose day job is chief financial officer for commercial radio station KGO, released excerpts of the confidential report to the public. Tattersall is an elected Local Station Board listener delegate, the board's treasurer, overseeing KPFA's finances, and a Campanella supporter. Eighty-five KPFA personnel recent-ly signed a no-confidence letter requesting that the board ter-minate Campanella's contract. The local board responded with a vote of support for Campanella.
This Saturday the volunteers-only faction of the board hopes to remove Brian Edwards-Tiekert, a staff representa-tive, from the board; demote Rosalinda Palacios, who is sup-portive of the professional staff, from her position as chair of the board; add an unpaid staff representative to the board; and demote Sherry Gendelman, a staff supporter, from her position as chair of the Program Director search committee. KPFA has not had a program director for at least three years, said Campanella.
It is likely that staff supporters will try to remove Tattersall from the board for leaking the confidential personnel report. "The board is bitterly divided," said Gendelman, a former director on the Pacifica Foundation national board and now a Local Station Board delegate. `Undemocratic' is the mantra they're using to bring the network down. They're attacking the paid staff. They want to reduce the staff and move in more esoteric conspiracy theorists. Nonprofit com-munity radio is still a business and it needs to be run professionally, by professionals."
Gendelman has an unlikely ally in Campanella, who also believes the station can only survive and thrive with profes-sional staff. "With a potential audience of millions of listeners, the only way to reach that audience is with paid staff," said Campanella. "They're the ones who have the resources and skills, and can devote the time to expand and deepen our audience."
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