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8 PACIFICA FOUNDATION

9 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

10 BERKELEY, CA

11 FEBRUARY 28, 1999

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18 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

19 BY HEIDI BELTON, CSR No. 9838, RPR

20 --------------------------------------------------------

21 CLARK REPORTING

22 2161 SHATTUCK AVENUE, SUITE 201

23 BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94704

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25 CLARK REPORTING (510) 486-0700

1 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

2

3 DR. BERRY: The first item on the agenda is

4 the seating of the members -- the second item we'll do

5 is to have a motion to approve the minutes of the last

6 meeting.

7 MR. MILLSPAUGH: Second.

8 MR. PALMER: Second.

9 DR. BERRY: Any discussion?

10 All right. All those in favor indicate by

11 saying "Aye."

12 VOICES: Aye.

13 DR. BERRY: Opposed?

14 So ordered.

15 DR. BERRY: The next meeting is June 27th in

16 Washington, DC. We do not have the

17 fall meeting scheduled. We will send out notice of

18 that as soon as we have it. Is that right, Lynn?

19 MS. BROOKS: We would like to discuss it.

20 DR. BERRY: Would anyone like to discuss --

21 DR. BERRY: -- some dates for the fall

22 meeting?

23 Any dates for the fall meeting? Any

24 suggestions? Are there any dates on which certain

25 people cannot meet? Do we know what my schedule is in

1 the fall?

2 MR. KRIEGEL: I don't have my calendar.

3 TAYLOR-GIBBS: I will be gone after the 15th

4 for three weeks.

5 MS. MAKELA: October 2nd and 3rd, is that

6 doable?

7 VOICE: It's doable.

8 DR. BERRY: And the meeting is in?

9 MR. FORD: It should be Los Angeles.

10 MS. CHADWICK: I think it is Los Angeles.

11 DR. BERRY: Okay. So October 2nd and the

12 3rd have been suggested. Does anyone know whether they

13 can meet on October 2nd and 3rd?

14 MR. MILLSPAUGH: Fine. Sounds fine.

15 DR. BERRY: Why don't we check those dates,

16 and if anyone cannot do that and find out in the next

17 week --

18 DR. BERRY: Well, why don't we say 2nd and

19 3rd. And you check, and then let us know.

20 DR. BERRY: Any of you who don't have your

21 calendars, let us know in the next week. Let Vanessa

22 know in the next week.

23 Seating of members The LABs have nominated

24 and the Board Governance committee

25 has screened and

1 secretary has screened, and we have, per your approval

2 as new members of the board, from Los Angeles, Robert

3 Farrell and Rabbi Aaron Kriegel.

4 Do you like to be called by your name, or do

5 you like to be called Rabbi? What do you like to be

6 called?

7 MR. KRIEGEL: It doesn't matter.

8 DR. BERRY: Doesn't matter? Okay, well...

9 And from Berkeley, Dr. Jewelle Taylor-Gibbs.

10 And so I ask for a motion to approve the

11 seating of those new members.

12 MR. PALMER: So moved.

13 MS. MAKELA: So moved.

14 DR. BERRY: Is there a second?

15 MR. PALMER: Second.

16 MS. MAKELA: Second.

17 DR. BERRY: All those in favor, indicate by

18 saying "Aye."

19 VOICES: Aye.

20 DR. BERRY: So ordered.

21 The next item will be the executive

22 committee report. And then after the executive

23 committee report, we will have Sherry Gendelman, who is

24 the LAB chair here in Berkeley, to come forward to give

25 Council of Chairs report.

1 The executive committee in its meeting spent

2 most of the time discussing elections, which must take

3 place, of officers. We will have elections of officers

4 in June.

5 The Board Governance Committee also

6 discussed this subject. And we would like to have

7 those members who wish to be considered for election to

8 the office of treasurer and the office of secretary of

9 the board to please inform the chair of the Board

10 Governance Committee, David Acosta, of that fact.

11 We will also be electing an executive

12 committee at the same time. And so the elections will

13 take place at the June meeting. And so those who are

14 interested, please indicate. And please let David know

15 sometime in the next 60 days if that's sufficient time

16 for people to ascertain their interest.

17 MS. BROOKS: Or nominations of others.

18 DR. BERRY: Or nominations of people other

19 than yourself. If you think somebody else should be

20 the secretary or the treasurer, or whatever you think,

21 say so.

22 Yes, Rob.

23 names and nomination at this point, or do you want us

24 to direct them to David?

25 DR. BERRY: You should direct them to the

1 Board Governance and Structure.

2 The other item that we discussed, we spent a

3 great deal of time discussing the matter of the by-law,

4 and we discussed personnel matters with the executive

5 director, which are ongoing.

6 The next item is to have the report from the

7 chair of the Council of Chairs. Where is she?

8 MR. BRAMSON: If I may address the chair.

9 I think she was under the understanding that she was to be here at

10 11:00 a.m.

11 DR. BERRY: I didn't say that.

12 MR. BRAMSON: I don't know in what manner it

13 was communicated specifically.

14 DR. BERRY: The Council of Chairs always

15 gives the report at the beginning of the meeting.

16 MR. BRAMSON: It is not on the agenda.

17 DR. BERRY: I was asked by someone, and I've

18 forgotten by who, I said at the beginning of the

19 meeting the Council of Chairs representative always

20 gives the report. But since she's not here, there's no

21 sense wasting time on it. She will give it when she

22 comes.

23 The next item will be the executive

24 director. Do you have a report that you would like to

25 give us, or anything that you would like to say?

1 MS. CHADWICK: Yes. I'd like to say that

2 it's been a fascinating four months in this job.

3 Just before this meeting, we spent --

4 administrative counsel and I spent two days improving

5 the process of communication in the working

6 relationship within Pacifica leadership group. And

7 they wanted me to convey to this group and to the board

8 their sense that they would like to see the board

9 continue to take the steps necessary to continue to

10 seek funding and they want the board to maintain

11 customer relationships with the local station owners.

12 DR. BERRY: So that's the extent of which

13 you wish to say something?

14 MS. CHADWICK: Yes.

15 DR. BERRY: Okay. Now we will go to the

16 committee reports. With the agreement of the board,

17 and if there's no objection, I would like to begin the

18 committee reports with the report of the Board

19 Governance and Structure Committee. Without objection,

20 we will proceed in that way.

21

22

23 BOARD GOVERNANCE AND STRUCTURE COMMITTEE REPORT

24 The Board Governance and Structure Committee

25 which is chaired by David Acosta met yesterday. And at

1 the end of the meeting, the Board Governance and

2 Structure Committee heard from a number of people who

3 were in the audience and who had various comments about

4 the discussion that had taken place at the Board

5 Governance and Structure Committee.

6 The Board Governance and Structure Committee

7 has placed on the agenda for this meeting a change in

8 the by-laws, which is in your board book in the

9 beginning of your book.

10 The by-law change simply is to Article 3 of

11 the by-laws of the foundation, which the new change is,

12 candidates and directors may be nominated by the Board

13 Governance and Structure Committee.

14 The Board Governance Committee in its

15 meeting yesterday also is recommending to this board

16 the approval of a number of policies which would be

17 used to implement the by-law change. And these

18 policies which -- have these been handed out to the

19 people here?

20 MS. CHADWICK: No.

21 DR. BERRY: The board members have them from

22 yesterday. I'll hand them out.

23 "The committee is committed to maintaining a

24 national governing board composed of the majority of

25 persons of color, keeping in mind that this is a goal

1 and not a quota.

2 "The committee recognizes that local

3 advisory boards will still have input to the governing

4 board through the Council of Chairs and the right to

5 nominate, as a body or individually, directors to the

6 governing board through the Board Governance and

7 Structure Committee. The only limitation is the

8 nominee may not be a LAB member and a governing board

9 member concurrently. "The committee will ensure

10 representation from the signal area of each Pacifica station.

11 "It is understood that the executive committee

12 must have representation from each signal area"

13 The structure of the governing board should

14 balance the interests of the entire network, including

15 each of the local stations.

16 This matter came about, as you know,

17 primarily as a result of a letter that we received from

18 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and which was

19 discussed at our meeting in October. And a vote was

20 taken at the meeting in October, and the board

21 indicated that it wished to comply with the CPB

22 requirements.

23 And then we had a period of discussion by

24 the Board Governance and

25 Structure Committee.

1 I also sent a notice out to the Pacifica

2 family indicating that a

3 change was in the works and

4 asking people who had suggestions to send their

5 suggestions to the

6 Board Governance and Structure Committee.

7 The Board Governance and Structure Committee

8 came up with the by-law proposal

9 which has been duly

10 noticed and sent to the members of the board and the

11 Board Governance and Structure Committee with the

12 assistance of members -- some of whom are not on the

13 board of the Board Governance and Structure

14 Committee -- in effecting the language, which I read

15 which is in the policies document which accompanied

16 this.

17 The whole purpose is simply to disconnect

18 the automatic connection between LAB membership and

19 membership on the governing board.

20 We received from CPB ---

21 And it has been distributed, but it

22 says in part, -- if we are to comply

23 with the law and apply it equitably --

24 that is, as we have with other grantees --

25 then CPB has no choice but

1 to withhold the second FY 1999 payments

2 for each of its five stations due for

3 release in mid-March, unless the

4 Pacifica board chooses

5 to bring itself into compliance

6 with the requirements of the law.

7 All of us have heard a great deal of comment

8 in this matter. There have been resolutions introduced

9 by various LABs and various parties in opposition to

10 the change that has taken place. And there has been a

11 lively, quite public debate within the Pacifica family

12 about these changes. And we have received many e-mails

13 voice, mails, and other communications from people

14 concerning this matter.

15 But this is what is before us. And the

16 committee believes that the by-law change, along with

17 the policies for implementation, will preserve as much

18 democratic -- with a small d -- representation in

19 Pacifica if the by-law change is put into effect as is

20 in effect at the moment that I sit here now. And that,

21 in fact, the interests of the local stations as well as

22 the entire network will be protected.

23 So the motion from the Board Governance

24 Committee is to approve the by-law change with the

25 understanding that the board will also approve the

1 policies which are being put before you as a way in

2 which these by-law changes will be implemented.

3 That is the motion that is on the floor. Is

4 there a second -- and I'm putting it on the floor on

5 behalf of the Board Governance Committee, which I

6 chair, since the chair is not able to be present

7 because of the illness of his daughter.

8 Is there a second to the motion?

9 MR. LUCY: Second.

10 DR. BERRY: Is there any discussion of the

11 motion on the part of board members?

12 Okay. If there's no discussion, all members

13 who are in favor of the by-law change, with the

14 understanding that we will then vote on the policies

15 that I have outlined orally here, indicate by saying

16 "aye."

17 VOICES: "Aye."

18 DR. BERRY: Those who are opposed, indicate

19 by saying no.

20 (No opposition.)

21 DR. BERRY: I have also two votes that were

22 sent consistent with article 9 of the by-laws which

23 provides only in the case of an amendment change for

24 people to send in written ballots who cannot be here

25 after they have reviewed the change. And I have a yes

1 vote from Loretta Ross and a yes vote from

2 David Acosta.

3 The vote was unanimous, and, therefore, the

4 by-law change will go into effect.

5 I will, then, consistent

6 with the by-laws,

7 ask those members who are

8 members of local advisory

9 boards who are at the table

10 now whether they wish to

11 resign from their local advisory board or not.

12 MR. PALMER: I wish to resign from the KPFT

13. local advisory board

14 DR. BERRY: All right. Michael Palmer.

15 What about you, Jewelle Taylor-Gibbs?

16 MS. TAYLOR-GIBBS: Yes, I will be resigning

17 from the KPFA local advisory board.

18 DR. BERRY: Okay. Mr. Bramson?

19 MR. BRAMSON: I will resign from the local

20 board of KPFA.

21 Mr. Farrell?

22 MR. FARRELL: I wish to resign from the KPFK

23 advisory board.

24 DR. BERRY: Aaron Kriegel?

25 MR. KRIEGEL: I resign from the KPFK local

1 advisory board

2 DR. BERRY: Ken Ford?

3 MR. FORD: I hereby resign from the WPFW

4 advisory board.

5 DR. BERRY: Rob Robinson?

6 MR. ROBINSON: I hereby resign from the WPFW

7 advisory board.

8 DR. BERRY: Frank Millspaugh?

9 MR. MILLSPAUGH: I hereby resign from the

10 WBAI local advisory board.

11 DR. BERRY: Andrea Cisco?

12 MS. CISCO: I resign from the WBAI local

13 advisory board.

14 DR. BERRY: All right. Hearing from the

15 persons whose status was as local advisory board

16 members, that they have duly resigned from that, I

17 hereby announce that they remain as members of the

18 governing board of Pacifica Foundation to serve the

19 terms that are now their stated terms as of this date.

20 And now I ask the counsel, our counsel,

21 whether he believes that we have complied with the

22 guidance from CPB by these actions that we have taken

23 this day.

24 MR. CRIGLER: Yes, I do

25 DR. BERRY: Thank you very much, Counsel.

1 Now we will proceed to vote on the policies.

2 The board has before it a motion to approve

3 the policies which I read to you, which are the

4 policies which will be used to implement the by-law

5 change which we have just agreed to.

6 I move that we approve these policies as a

7 motion --

8 a report coming from the Board Governance and

9 Structure Committee.

10 Could I get a second?

11 MR. MILLSPAUGH: Second the motion.

12 DR. BERRY: Is there any further discussion?

13 Hearing none, all those in favor of the

14 these policies, indicate by saying "aye."

15 VOICES: Aye.

16 DR. BERRY: Opposed?

17 (No opposition.)

18 DR. BERRY: So ordered.

19 Everyone has voted unanimously,

20 and these are the policies that we'll

21 follow.

22 Everyone who has been involved in this

23 debate is very much interested

24 and concerned about Pacifica.

25 There's no one, whatever position they took,

1 or take, on the by-law proposal who did it in bad

2 faith, in my opinion.

3 I believe everyone, no matter what

4 organization or if they were acting individually,

5 and no matter how they expressed their opinions,

6 did it because they were interested

7 in Pacifica.

8 I received, as many of you did

9 all of you did,

10 many communications.

11 -- I got a letter, which purported

12 to be from Howard Zinn,

13 who I very much

14 respect and am very fond of,

15 Noam Chomsky.

16 -- Ed Herman concerning this

17 change in which they said

18 that as the 50th anniversary

19 of Pacifica, we should

20 continue to operate in a

21 democratic --

22 small d -- fashion.

23 Let me just say I would be responding

24 directly to them, but what we have done here is no less

25 democratic, as I said before, than we were before.

1 The issues of how the board of Pacifica

2 should be selected or how the LAB should be selected --

3 whether they should be elected or how they should be --

4 these issues are not the same as whether one should

5 disconnect the LAB roles from the national governing

6 board roles. Those are entirely different issues,

7 although they're issues that deeply concern people.

8 I think we should all commit

9 ourselves to moving forward in the

10 best interest of all of the stations and of the

11 network.

12 My only complaint,

13 and I feel constrained to say this, is that

14 the vitriol and the bile that was expressed by some

15 people in this debate is worse than anything I have

16 ever received from the Right Wing.

17 I have been attacked. I have been fired by

18 Ronald Reagan. I've been put in jail. I've had all

19 sorts of bad things happen to me in my life in the

20 cause of social justice. And the Right Wing has never,

21 In my view, treated me and members of this board as

22 badly as some of the people in this debate.

23 I have had my life threatened on the

24 telephone, on voice mail, at my office, by people who

25 have said I would be killed if I indeed pursued this

1 course. The Right Wing has never told me they would

2 kill me if I did something.

3 I have had people accuse me of stealing.

4 I've had people say all sorts of things. I just think

5 that there's a way to disagree and there's a way to

6 dislike somebody or something they're doing without

7 being disagreeable.

8 So I would hope that what we would do is

9 commit ourselves to having a reasonable, honest debate

10 with each other. And maybe that's the way at Pacifica

11 and I just didn't know it.

12 But let us hope that we can agree on most

13 things. And when we disagree, we can do it without

14 threatening each other, at least threatening each other

15 physically. And I would very much appreciate it if we

16 went forward.

17 Sherry Gendelman has now arrived.

18 And if there is --

19 was some confusion about when you would speak, I'm

20 sorry --

21 MS. GENDELMAN: I apologize.

22 DR. BERRY: -- I apologize. Because you

23 certainly aren't part of the public comment period. So

24 I'm just glad you got here. And we would very much

25 like to hear from you.

1 COUNCIL OF CHAIRS REPORT

2

3 MS. GENDELMAN: Thank you.

4 I've been asked to communicate to you the

5 concerns of many of the listeners and supporters of the

6 Pacifica network which have been forwarded to me by the

7 Council of Chairs.

8 In addition, many long-time KPFA supporters

9 have also asked me to represent them here. Finally, I

10 have letter given to me by Victor Honig, which I will

11 either read or give at the end of my remarks.

12 DR. BERRY: We have the letter.

13 MS. GENDELMAN: Oh, you have the letter.

14 The underlying strength and reason for the

15 continued existence of Pacifica, KPFA, and the other

16 stations in our network, in large part, is based upon

17 the connection it maintains with its listening

18 community, as well as to communities who attribute to

19 the progressive politics, culture, and spirituality

20 that have been broadcast for so many years.

21 It is often a joke that if there's a

22 Pacifica or KPFA gathering in town with 100 people in

23 attendance, there will no doubt be 300 different

24 opinions minimum. We air controversy, and we invite

25 it.

1 I recommend to all of you Matthew Lasar's

2 recently published book, Pacifica Radio, the Rise of

3 the Alternative Network, which chronicles our colorful

4 history with humor and accuracy.

5 I care deeply about these airwaves. They

6 are my connection to the ideas, thoughtful discussion,

7 information, about what's happening, who needs help,

8 who to lobby, who to picket, to wonderful music, plays,

9 scientific information, all of it. This is my

10 lifeline. I love the medium of radio more than any

11 other.

12 We, Pacifica, is once again facing difficult

13 decisions about how to protect and grow the network and

14 Pacifica's mission while retaining a connection to the

15 communities we serve and who support us. I speak on

16 behalf of many people in urging you to remember you are

17 here to serve the mission of Pacifica.

18 I understand economic reality quite well. I

19 am fully aware of the contribution CPB makes to our

20 overall budget. But we are not here to serve CPB first

21 and Pacifica as an afterthought.

22 In a conversation I had with Rick Madden, it

23 was troubling to learn that no one advocated on behalf

24 of Pacifica in response to the CPB ruling that our

25 structure could not be reconciled with current CPB

1 guidelines. Rather than viewing it a challenge to

2 create structure that supported who we are, it created

3 a response of panic, with the national office offering,

4 in the eyes of the Pacifica community, to give up the

5 essence of Pacifica to save it.

6 I know that talent abounds on the national

7 board. I do not believe that collectively our board

8 and the vast array of talent and genius that contribute

9 commentary to our airwaves can't come up with a

10 solution that meets our needs and CPB's. You're all

11 too smart for that.

12 I look to the national board for many

13 things: To guide this organization through whatever

14 political waters we encounter. Rarely smooth. That's

15 because the market we have carved for ourselves is the

16 market of intelligent, informed dissent, be it in

17 culture or politics. Because of that, our audience is

18 indeed vocal and territorial, and it will be

19 relentless. Of course I'm not telling you anything

20 new.

21 When you develop the by-laws that will

22 define our governance and structure, you must maintain

23 the connection to your communities.

24 How will you govern if you are perceived as

25 a completely self-appointed entity?

1 How will you enjoy the legitimacy you need

2 to make difficult decisions of concern to most people

3 within the Pacifica community if you have no mandate at

4 all for governance or if you sever your only mandate?

5 How will you guide the network through the

6 very difficult decisions that national boards

7 historically had to manage, such as testifying before

8 the hostile government committees, engaging in

9 difficult union negotiations, handling public reaction

10 to very controversial programs, or station staff

11 personnel meltdowns that have taken place from time to

12 time within Pacifica?

13 How will you handle these if no one can

14 figure out why you are in charge?

15 I want to address specific concerns:

16 The most egregious action taken by Pacifica

17 was the treatment of Larry Bensky. Larry is an asset

18 to the network. For many across the country as well as

19 here in the Bay Area, Larry is their voice on Pacifica.

20 His supporters contribute money to the network, and,

21 more importantly, they are informed by his commentary

22 and subsequently contribute to their own communities.

23 His intelligent reporting creates political

24 ripple effects to benefit all of us. He has worked for

25 the network for 30 years. His personality is not the

1 issue; the quality of his work is.

2 His firing resulted in my having a second

3 full-time job. The reaction was so extreme. You are

4 aware of this. We air stories all the time about

5 abuses of labor here and abroad. Larry was treated in

6 a manner that any reporter of ours would hold

7 abhorrent.

8 Listeners were somewhat reassured when he

9 returned with Sunday Salon. But once again, my phone

10 rang off the hook with the deafening silence of his

11 absence during the impeachment coverage. We have no

12 other talent within Pacifica who can make his political

13 understanding, acumen, and encyclopedic knowledge of US

14 politics. Yet, the comment repeated was that Larry

15 would never work as Pacifica national affairs

16 correspondent again. Consequently, Pacifica's coverage

17 was abysmal.

18 One day Amy Goodman aired an interview with

19 a conspiracy theorist linking Clinton to the murder of

20 Vince Foster, of leaving a skull on the lawn of

21 Kathleen Wiley, smuggling drugs into an Arkansas

22 airport, et cetera.

23 My phone rang off the hook throughout the

24 impeachment coverage. There is little doubt that Amy

25 Goodman is extremely talented in many areas. Political

1 anchoring of a senate impeachment trial is outside the

2 bounty of her talent. Who suffered because of this?

3 Pacifica and its listening audience.

4 The growth of the national bureaucracy is

5 not something that I am opposed to. I have been

6 involved with many organizations. I was the executive

7 director of the Gray Panthers, which I've headed up

8 many campaigns and organized many demonstrations. I am

9 aware of issues of distribution of power. I am not

10 opposed to centralization. However, how that occurs

11 and why, is an important decision-making process.

12 I urge you to grow our national office to

13 create innovative national programming, develop and

14 respond to the explosion of technology and its impact

15 on our medium, lend technical support to the stations

16 within our network, and at the same time, grow Pacifica

17 in non-signal areas, lobby and advocate on behalf of

18 our network in Washington, DC, or Sacramento, or

19 wherever you are needed. That is what this national

20 office is about. And support the growth of all the

21 stations within the network, and support their

22 continued strength within their communities.

23 I urge you further to support the managers,

24 staff, and each of the stations. We seem to have

25 fallen into a we-versus-them mode of operation. We

1 cannot survive operating from this perspective. Our

2 organization will not be able to maintain competent

3 people if this toxic environment continues.

4 We are all in this together. And we

5 desperately need a well-informed, professional,

6 national structure to guide, protect, and grow a

7 well-informed, competent staff within the stations.

8 The stations and their staff are our strength, our

9 greatest asset. It is only good sense and good

10 politics to respect and nurture their talent.

11 Our station has faced enormous upheaval and

12 controversy. I supported the debalkanization of

13 programming that occurred in 1995. The repercussions,

14 as you are well aware, were dramatic. It has taken a

15 long time for KPFA to regain the respect and loyalty of

16 our community.

17 I currently credit our long-time staff and

18 their tenacity. I give a large degree of kudos to our

19 station manager who assumed her job under difficult

20 circumstances. Nicole has treated staff with firmness

21 but respect, has made strong connections to a variety

22 of communities, and has exciting and innovative

23 programming ideas. She knows radio.

24 I urge you to allow her, and all the

25 managers, to use their creative talents to grow their

1 stations. Don't suffocate them, support them. It

2 inures to the benefit of Pacifica.

3 Finally, I want to thank you for all the

4 work you have done and do for this radio network. I

5 know your contributions of time and energy are

6 enormous. I know that you care deeply about keeping

7 first amendment radio alive and healthy and growing.

8 And I support you and am available to contribute to the

9 network and to all of you.

10 DR. BERRY: Sherry, thank you for your

11 report. But your report, in many ways, was an example

12 of what's wrong with Pacifica. You came representing

13 the Council of Chairs. You are speaking because we're

14 in your signal area. You said nothing about any of the

15 other stations or their concerns or anything that we've

16 discussed in the Council of Chairs, or any issues.

17 You, also, did not even acknowledge that

18 there are at least two stations -- unless I've got it

19 wrong -- that don't even carry Larry Bensky. Have I

20 got that right? Or didn't want to carry Larry's show?

21 New York didn't want to carry it.

22 MR. MILLSPAUGH: They didn't want to start

23 it during the fundraising.

24 DR. BERRY: No, no. I'm saying when I first

25 came on this board, I was told that WBAI didn't want to

1 carry Larry Bensky because it interfered with their

2 programing. And that WPFW didn't want to carry it

3 either.

4 I have nothing against Larry Bensky. I love his show

5 personally. But I'm old, you see. And I've been

6 around a long time.

7 But I think that the broader view that not

8 everyone agrees with everything that everybody at KPFA

9 wants. That's number one.

10 And a more balanced view is to how to figure

11 out how to balance the interest of KPFA against the

12 interest of everybody else in the network, which is

13 what we try to do.

14 Now, I respect your right to speak only

15 about your station and its concerns. And maybe -- but

16 I have tried to get people when they come to represent

17 the Council of Chairs to perhaps discuss other

18 concerns.

19 Maybe what we ought to do is take up, not

20 now, but Ken Ford's suggestion -- about inviting all

21 the Council of Chairs to come at least observe the

22 meetings and then interact with board members in the

23 time in between if they wish to do that.

24 MS. GENDELMAN: I have communicated to the

25 other chairs. I have reviewed my remarks with them.

1 My remarks were based on my communications with them.

2 If the absence of them lapse, indicating in

3 any way that these remarks were simply reflective of

4 the KPFA community, then that is an error, and that is

5 a fault of my writings since I was in constant contact

6 with all of the chairs and did not create this in a

7 vacuum.

8 DR. BERRY: Okay.

9 Well, we thank you very

10 much for your remarks.

11 MS. BROOKS: -- LABs are charged with doing

12 community needs assessments --

13 and that is the responsibility of the LABs,

14 according to CPB guidelines --

15 that you communicate that to the

16 governing board.

17 That is the mandate of the communication of

18 the local advisory board, is community

19 needs.

20 Where do the five stations stand in that?

21 Because we haven't gotten a report

22 from the community

23 needs assessment.

24 MS. GENDELMAN: my local advisory board is in the

25 process of creating a very dramatic

1 or time-consuming

2 programming effort to do community needs assessment,

3 not necessarily in accordance with the guidelines and

4 suggestions that we had been handed, but several new

5 members have come on our board that have contacts

6 within a variety of communities.

7 We got sidetracked because -- KPFA, in

8 particular -- because of the controversy around Bensky,

9 and the board was bombarded with concerns from our

10 listeners about that issue. And so a public meeting

11 that had been scheduled did not go forward to begin the

12 process.

13 Other boards -- you have a report from one

14 of the stations, and this issue was discussed at the

15 Council of Chairs meeting. All boards, to my

16 knowledge, are proceeding with their community needs

17 assessment.

18 MS. BROOKS: Do you know when we'll get

19 reports from the other stations?

20 MS. GENDELMAN: No, but I can certainly

21 determine that and submit a report to the governing

22 board within a week. That's not a problem.

23 DR. BERRY: If you will submit it to me,

24 please.

25 MS. GENDELMAN: Yes.

1 DR. BERRY: Rob.

2 MR. ROBINSON: I would like to remind the

3 members of this governing board that the Program

4 Committee has submitted some information and proposals

5 on community needs assessments last year, and some of

6 those proposals were put on the skids by the executive

7 committee of this body. So I don't think that those

8 criticisms are valid, and I don't think they're

9 appropriate to bring up at this point.

10 DR. BERRY: Frank, any comment on it, on the

11 community needs assessment process?

12 MR. MILLSPAUGH: On the community needs

13 assessment process, as you know, the local advisory

14 board about a year ago was suggesting procedures, but

15 they were not requirement procedures.

16 We have since received a statement from KPFT,

17 and we have memoranda from other stations

18 -- which is the

19 concentration of the June

20 meeting being on programming

21 issues. So in the programming committee report we will

22 be requesting materials from each of the local advisory

23 boards for presentation at that meeting.

24 DR. BERRY: Okay. So the June meeting will

25 concentrate on programming and community needs

1 assessment issues. And the local boards will prepare

2 something. And we would expect

3 to see those then.

4 And if they are the barriers that have been

5 thrown up by anyone else in the organization, then we

6 ought to discuss those and try to resolve what they

7 are.

8 MR. MILLSPAUGH: Yes.

9 DR. BERRY: Okay. All right.

10 Then thank you very much, Sherry, for your

11 report.

12 -- as I understand it,

13 the national staff office -- how many

14 additional staff do you have?

15 MS. CHADWICK: Since June of last year?

16 DR. BERRY: Yes.

17 MS. CHADWICK: One.

18 DR. BERRY: And they're not -- all of them

19 are not filled.

20 MS. CHADWICK: And we have vacancies right

21 now.

22 DR. BERRY: So the expansion of the national

23 staff,

24 -- consists of one person.

25 Thank you very much, Sherry, for your report.

1 Let go to the report of the finance

2 committee, please, Madam Treasurer.

3

4

5 FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

6

7 MS. MAKELA:

8 The finance committee met yesterday for a

9 couple of hours,

10 both in executive session and in

11 public session.

12 We covered a number of items. And I

13 will consolidate my report to those decisions that the

14 board needs to endorse.

15 I want to start by appreciating the vote

16 taken earlier in this meeting by the board because I

17 will no longer have to present budget cuts to this

18 board for approval that would reflect the loss of CPB

19 income for the rest of this year.

20 We spent some time talking with managers and

21 with national staff about the numbers -- the dollar

22 numbers needing to be cut and then how we would go

23 about doing that. And it was going to be my task to

24 instruct all of the units to alter their budget on

25 Monday. So I very much appreciate having that task

1 taken off of my plate.

2 I am pleased to report that the finance

3 committee is recommending a payment from the KPFA

4 program endowment of $45,000, to be released in a

5 series of payments starting immediately, to go for

6 expansion and improvement of programming at KPFA.

7 This is an endowment which has been building

8 over the years. We have been very careful in building

9 this endowment and not using it. A very small amount

10 has been paid out over the years to KPFA so just this

11 sort of instance we would have money to use.

12 We are able to release this fund to

13 jump-start to provide staffing and development for what

14 I understand will be an exciting new midday program at

15 KPFA. And we look forward to hearing the results of

16 that.

17 We met with WBAI. We have had an ongoing

18 series of meetings, including phone conference calls,

19 over the BAI budget because we began the year with a

20 serious deficit which needed to be scheduled. And this

21 has been a difficult process. I am pleased to say that

22 what began the year -- I think we had $134,000 deficit.

23 We are down to $78,000 due to some cuts in the budget

24 but, more importantly, to increased income at above

25 projections at BAI.

1 We have conditionally approved the budget.

2 We have an interim budget with BAI reflecting the

3 current deficit. And BAI will hold an additional

4 special one-day fund drive to try to increase revenues

5 further and lower that deficit. And we look toward the

6 end of April to have a final balanced budget for this

7 fiscal year from BAI. And we will approve that

8 probably by conference call. And, if not, we will

9 discuss it at the June meeting.

10 We had a meeting about our SCA income. This

11 has been a source of additional income to Pacifica for

12 many years. These are leases -- subcarrier leases on

13 some of our airspace which have generated up to

14 $800,000 in income a year which has been used to cover

15 emergency situations and development throughout our

16 units.

17 We have seen this income decrease over the

18 last few years, primarily because of changing

19 technology. However, we met with our consultant on

20 this, and we are guardedly optimistic that we will be

21 able to find and maintain leases for this. And while

22 the income has gone down in the last couple of years,

23 we are hopeful that we can maintain at least some

24 income and grow that income if possible in the next few

25 years.

1 -- we received a

2 proposal from the general manager at KPFK in

3 Los Angeles. The board over the last couple of years

4 has expressed great concern in the fragility, the age

5 and fragility of the transmitter and tower in

6 Los Angeles, and have sought to have a proposal for

7 how to replace this before an emergency situation

8 occurs and -- we potentially go off the air.

9 I am pleased that we received a report. The

10 report was approved by the technical committee. And

11 the finance committee is recommending that we support

12 this proposal. We are hopeful that KPFK will receive

13 an NTIA grant to cover half of the cost of this

14 project.

15 But, regardless, we are proposing that

16 Pacifica make a commitment of resources necessary up to

17 a two hundred seventy -five thousand dollars to see this project

18 through before next winter.

19 That is generally it. We met with our

20 auditors this morning in executive session to receive

21 the draft of their financial report and got several

22 recommendations including a recommendation that we

23 receive every year. And I want to relay to our staff

24 that are affected that our auditor does not believe

25 that we are tracking in-kind contributions as

1 thoroughly as we could. In-kind contributions from

2 professionals to our units may be used as income in our

3 CPB application. And so it has a very positive impact,

4 and we encourage our local units to become more diligent

5 in tracking these contributions.

6 We talked a bit about the possibility of

7 auditing our pension. And we talked at some length

8 about the status of our Soloman software. And I'm

9 pleased that we are -- we are pretty much at the end of

10 a long tunnel as far as transferring to this new

11 software and improving our financial reporting within

12 Pacifica.

13 I want to end where I meant to

14 begin. The most pleasing part -- of our

15 meeting was a recognition that our units are very

16 stable financially. This is due, in great part, to the

17 local managers, the staff, the volunteers, the

18 programmers, et cetera, who have worked incredibly hard

19 to build audience, to improve programming, and to

20 fund-raise both on air and off air.

21 We saw a very strong fund-drive since the

22 beginning of our fiscal year. Every single unit has

23 gone over projections on income. We are staying within

24 budgets. We are not facing the crises that we have

25 faced historically in Pacifica that have crippled this

1 organization where we are looking at deficits and

2 having to shift resources simply to cover bills that

3 are out of sync with the budgets.

4 So I am very pleased at that and that we

5 could spend time discussing things like building new

6 transmitters instead of worrying over why the phone

7 bills were so out of budget. And I would like to

8 recognize the work of the staff on that.

9 That's it.

10 DR. BERRY: All right. Could I get a motion

11 to approve the report of the finance committee.

12 MR. KRIEGEL: Move for approval.

13 DR. BERRY: Second?

14 MR. PALMER: Second.

15 DR. BERRY: Any discussion?

16 -- All in favor of

17 approving the report indicate by saying "aye."

18 VOICES: Aye.

19 DR. BERRY: Opposed?

20 (No opposition.)

21 DR. BERRY: So ordered. Thank you very

22 much, Madam Treasurer, for that report.

23 The 50th Anniversary report. Mr. Palmer.

24

25

1 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE REPORT

2

3 MR. PALMER: All of the individual units are

4 in the early stages of initiating their 50th

5 anniversary campaign efforts. Cheryl Garner-Shaw

6 presented a summary of all of those efforts, and

7 literally they're just now getting off the ground.

8 There will be more activity to report out on at the

9 June meeting. And there was some discussion about the

10 event that will be held at the conference in

11 San Francisco in March.

12 MS. CHADWICK: March 18th.

13 MR. PALMER: Pacifica will have a key role

14 in that conference.

15 And really there isn't much more than that

16 to report on the 50th Anniversary effort at this point,

17 Dr. Berry. So with that, I'll leave it. Back to you.

18 DR. BERRY: All right. Could we get a

19 motion to approve the report of the 50th Anniversary

20 committee.

21 MR. MILLSPAUGH: So moved.

22 DR. BERRY: Second?

23 MR. BRAMSON: Second.

24 DR. BERRY: All in favor, indicate by saying

25 "aye."

1 VOICES: Aye.

2 DR. BERRY: Opposed?

3 (No opposition.)

4 DR. BERRY: So ordered.

5 The Program Standards & Practices Committee.

6 Mr. Millspaugh, please.

7

8 PROGRAM STANDARDS & PRACTICES COMMITTEE REPORT

9

10 MR. MILLSPAUGH: Thank you. I'll try to

11 keep this to be a brief report also.

12 The committee met yesterday and first

13 reviewed some materials which have been circulated to

14 the members of the committee regarding a question or

15 list of questions that we had put to the managers of

16 the station regarding the structure and numbers of

17 volunteer producers. We are going to be going back for

18 some additional information.

19 We asked the following questions of the

20 general managers: How many volunteer producers have

21 you? What percentage of programming is produced by

22 volunteers? The ratio of paid programming staff of

23 volunteer producers. How are volunteer producers

24 trained? And how their efforts are organized to

25 provide for quality and accountability within the

1 organizations?

2 Just briefly to summarize, there are,

3 according to our estimates, 505 volunteer producers

4 system-wide, for an average of 101 per station,

5 producing, on average, 72 percent of the weekly hours

6 of programming of the stations.

7 There are 39 paid staff members. And so

8 there's a ratio, on the average, of 13 volunteer

9 producers to 1 staff producer. Obviously, that is an

10 average, and the variation among the stations is a wide

11 one.

12 We draw no inferences from this. It is

13 simply to get a picture of what is the actual status at

14 each of the stations.

15 In addition, all stations report having a

16 training program in place, and each provided an

17 organization chart. And I have sent copies of the

18 organization charts to the appropriate committee, the

19 Governance and Development Committee, for their overall

20 efforts to chart the organization.

21 We will be returning to the managers for

22 some additional information on training, which was

23 provided yesterday, in brief, orally, but we are going

24 to ask for a paragraph that describes it.

25 Here again there's quite a formal program in

1 some stations, especially KPFA, in part, because they

2 receive funding from the State of California - Funding

3 for the Arts, which provide -- which permits them to do

4 it. Some stations have it on a more of a one-to-one or

5 apprenticeship basis.

6 Here, again, we simply want to know that

7 training is available to volunteer producers. And it

8 appears that there is. As I say, we will ask for

9 additional information on that.

10 -- we also discussed the

11 draft of a committee charge, which I have prepared on a

12 descriptive basis and circulated. And we will also be

13 enlarging upon that. We agree that it's important that

14 each committee have such a charge so that we know what

15 we're supposed to be doing and that others

16 know what we are supposed to be doing and that we

17 are doing it.

18 And that will be developed

19 before the next meeting and submitted to the executive

20 committee for its approval.

21 We discussed the next board meeting, because

22 of the scheduling for a concentration of discussion on

23 program policy issues, and we learned that we will have

24 someone at the board meeting to give us some insight on

25 how to read numbers.

1 I think there are only two or three members

2 of the board still sitting who received that kind of

3 instruction four years ago. And it's probably a good

4 idea to repeat that.

5 It was observed that there has been a

6 detailed study formed by CPB or one of its contractors,

7 which is available on the Web at ARA.net.com, I believe

8 is the proper URL. And we will be getting some of that

9 material. Any of you who want to see it in detail are

10 invited to do so. It does specifically have materials

11 in there on Pacifica, so it's of particular interest to

12 us.

13 We discussed a number of things which need

14 to be brought into focus by the committee, such things

15 as compliance with existing policies.

16 We are going to start putting together a

17 Programming Policies & Standards booklet which will

18 contain relevant FCC regulations, CPB regulations,

19 policies which Pacifica has promulgated in the past.

20 And we are asking -- and this is kind of the official

21 part -- we are asking that the administrative council

22 prepare for us a statement of any issues regarding such

23 policies as must-carry disclosure requirements,

24 et cetera, which they feel should be revisited and

25 studied, and, if necessary, updated. And we will have

1 that ready for distribution, we hope, by the time the

2 next board packet is distributed.

3 And we also wish to remind the station

4 managers that the request has

5 been made previously and

6 MR. MILLSPAUGH: ----that they are to submit before each

7 packet for the board.

8 MR. MILLSPAUGH: We're repeating our request

9 of the managers, that they

10 include the current programming grid

11 with whatever annotations

12 that they think are necessary for our

13 confirmation of it.

14 DR. BERRY: Okay.

15 Could I have a motion to

16 approve the report of the Program Standards & Practices

17 committee.

18 MR. LUCY: So moved.

19 DR. BERRY: Could I get a second.

20 MS. MAKELA: Second.

21 DR. BERRY: All in favor, indicate by say

22 "aye."

23 VOICES: Aye.

24 DR. BERRY: Opposed?

25 (No opposition.)

1 DR. BERRY: So ordered.

2 The technical committee's report, please,

3 Mr. Ford.

4

5

6 TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPORT

7

8

9 MR. FORD: Thank you, Madam Chair ,

10 and members of the committee.

11 Briefly, there are five issues of which we

12 addressed at the technical committee yesterday.

13 First, the tower situation at KPFK.

14 We reviewed the $550,000 request,

15 and we were glad to give it.

16 There's a potential to get a

17 grant for $275,000.

18 We have asked that the station

19 manager to submit a milestone schedule

20 showing the actual start of construction phase

21 of the project as well as the resource

22 allocation as to where the funds

23 are going to go.

24 Copies of this will be made to the finance

25 committee to make sure the project stays on time and

1 within the budget. And I am personally going to

2 monitor this and make sure it does, in fact, happen.

3 We're going to look to try and create a new

4 model for accountability and making sure there's no

5 cost overruns.

6 Second, was the internet

7 problem.

8 Apparently IGC will be no longer

9 be providing us service.

10 Pete Bramson is going to head up this initiative to

11 look at replacing IGC and the services that it

12 provides.

13 Also, we're going

14 to attempt to stream all stations on the internet

15 such that we will have a global reach. We would like

16 to create, a web page whereby you

17 click on Pacifica and you can download any of the five

18 stations, as well as have an on-line ordering system to

19 order tapes and from the archives.

20 This is going to be a long-term project, and

21 we're going to explore this as well as

22 a way of marketing Pacifica in rural areas where we do

23 not reach.

24 I think you mentioned that in your report,

25 Sherry. We've already taken that under advisement, and

1 we're going to look to explore this possibility and

2 expand our footprint worldwide.

3 The next issue that we took up was

4 digital radio. As we all know,

5 As we all know, CPB is going

6 to be distributing funds for digital conversion.

7 We're going to look at what's involved

8 The technical committee has

9 been offered a free tour of Radio Free Asia.

10 At our next meeting

11 we're going to tour their facility. They've gone

12 totally digital. One of the volunteers at WPFW is a

13 station manager there and is willing to give us a tour.

14 So if any of the committee members are

15 interested in taking a tour of what the future of radio

16 is going to look like, they're more than welcome to

17 join us.

18 We're also going to have a presentation by

19 the WPFW operations director Bob Daughtry at the next meeting

20 and hopefully he can address the full committee very

21 briefly to talk about the future of digital radio.

22 He's very knowledgeable in this area. And I think it's

23 a good discussion, a good background, for people on

24 this committee to understand what's involved, where we

25 need to head to as a network. So we look forward to

1 that at the next committee.

2 Aaron Kriegel is going to be the lead on our

3 problem with K. I understand that there are some

4 services that are not going to be covered. He's going

5 to take a look at replacing and see how we can best use

6 the technology we have with the satellite. And

7 hopefully Aaron will be appointed to that committee as

8 chair in charge and we'll have a report from him at the

9 next meeting.

10 And, lastly, I'm going to look at

10 helping the national staff create an

11

12 automation system in order to provide management

13 reports to the committee and to track

14 different issues as they take place.

15 Unfortunately, things fall in the cracks.

16 We have no way of

17 corresponding other than phone calls. It will probably

18 simplify these boards meetings to have these reports

19 ahead of time. We're going to look at finding an

20 inexpensive way to have these reports available so that

21 station unit managers can also use this tool to see and

22 track different activities.

23 And that, Madam Chair,

24 is my report.

25 DR. BERRY: Okay. Could I get a motion to

1 approve the report.

2 MR. ROBINSON: So moved.

3 DR. BERRY: Could I get a second.

4 MR. ROBINSON: Second.

5 MS. MAKELA: Second.

6 DR. BERRY: Any further discussion?

7 All those in favor indicate by saying "aye."

8 VOICES: Aye.

9 DR. BERRY: Opposed?

10 (No opposition.)

11 DR. BERRY: So ordered.

12 Thank you very much for your report.

13 MR. FARRELL: Madam Chair,

14 just an issue of new business.

15 My colleague Aaron Kriegel has been

16 identified as wanting to be on a particular committee

17 referenced in the committee report.

18 DR. BERRY: What was the committee?

19 MR. KRIEGEL: We've actually asked that I be

20 on the technical and programming

21 committee and that Bob be on the financing and

22 governance committee, if that's

23 acceptable.

24 DR. BERRY: Kriegel, technical. And what

25 was the other one?

1 MR. KRIEGEL: Programming.

2 Farrell, finance and governance.

3 DR. BERRY: Finance and governance.

4 Jewelle, do you have any particular

5 preference as to what --

6 MS. TAYLOR-GIBBS: Well, actually,

7 I prefer 50th Anniversary.

8 Or the Board Governance and Structure.

9 So either Board Governance and Structure

10 or 50th Anniversary.

11 MS. MAKELA: Both.

12 MR. KRIEGEL: Both.

13 MS. TAYLOR-GIBBS:. Is that

14 okay?

15 DR. BERRY: Yes. So you will be --

16 Jewelle will be on the 50th Anniversary

17 and Board Governance.

18 And Farrell will be on Board Governance.

19 And what was the other one, Bob?

20 MR. ROBINSON: Finance.

21 And Aaron will be on program policies and

22 technical for the time being.

23 I ask the board,

24 if it does not object,

25 I ask Farrell to serve, on an interim basis,

1 on the executive committee,

2 since there's no one from that

3 signal area on the executive committee.

4 Does anyone have any objection?

5 MR. ROBINSON: It's a good idea.

6 DR. BERRY: Without objection, then, that's

7 what I will do.

8 The other thing that I want to do is just to

9 say I've gotten various pieces of information from

10 various members of the board and other people to

11 distribute to members of the board,

12 something from KPFA,

13 something from WBAI.

14 They're not matters that need to be discussed

15 at this particular meeting.

16 And some of them are not items

17 that need to be discussed at a

18 meeting.

19 The only other thing that I would say,

20 before we go to public comment,

21 is to note that the most important business

22 that I think Pacifica needs to

23 engage in, is, urgently,

24 at all of its stations,

25 is to figure out a way to respond to

1 the demographics of the region in which

2 these stations sit.

3 We're entering the 21st century,

4 and many of the populations that

5 exist in these signal areas,

6 in my view, are folks who

7 say they don't listen to the station, they never listen

8 to it, they don't know anything about it.

9 We also need to attract younger listeners to

10 the stations. There's no reason why the stations like

11 WPFW in Washington shouldn't have students from the

12 universities there who are learning how to be

13 programmers, who are on the air, who have shows.

14 There's no reason why music can't be

15 diversified in a way that they would be appealed to.

16 All of us are getting old, at least I am. And when we

17 die out, I would hope that -- the beat goes

18 on.

19 And so I think that we need to be looking at

20 how to involve younger people, how to involve more

21 people of color, which is the new demographic reality,

22 as listeners and subscribers to the stations.

23 This is an urgent piece of business, and we

24 need to learn how to deliver a message, a progressive

25 message. And whenever I say that, some people ask me

1 what do I mean by "progressive message," which I'm

2 appalled by. But a progressive message in a form which

3 would be appealing to the populations that exist in

4 this country today and tomorrow if we are to have any

5 kind of impact.

6 The CPB reality has nothing to do with that.

7 Pacifica does not depend on -

8 it had a life before CPB,

9 it will have a life if there is no CPB.

10 As far as centralization is concerned --

11 that word keeps being bandied around

12 -- when we say "centralization,"

13 what I mean is that the strategic

14 plan and the committees of

15 this board have agreed that

16 we want to centralize, as much as possible,

17 administrative services -- all of the managerial and

18 administrative aspects of this place that can be

19 centralized -- in order to save money and in order to

20 find ways to do things more effectively so that there

21 will be more money to go into programming. And that we

22 want to have more national programming, because we are

23 a network.

24 So I think the new demographics, the appeal

25 to people who are younger, I don't mean that all of us

1 who are older should be dispatched, but, I mean, appeal

2 to people who are younger to get them involved.

3 I think this is urgent business.

4 And we spend too much time in

5 this organization,

6 in my view,

7 working on who's up, who's down, who's got power, who

8 did this, who did that, instead of having a substantive

9 discussion about these matters.

10 And with that -- and at the end of the

11 public comment period, I'm going to ask the executive

12 director -- to make some

13 statements at the end.

14

15

16

17 PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

18

19

20 DR. BERRY: The ground rules are that every

21 speaker has two minutes or less.

22 The public comment period

23 will last no more than 60 minutes.

24 And with that,

25 I will call the first person forward.

1 Bob Baldock,

2 please come forward and come to

3 the microphone.

4 MR. BALDOCK: ...Special Events have

5 benefitted KPFA in

6 in many different ways.

7 They've raised money off air.

8 They've raised money on air; been used as

9 premiums. Some of them have gone for more than

10 $20,000, single-marathon, KPFA loan. They've networked

11 KPFA with progressive organizations. They've given

12 KPFA a positive off-air profile. They've introduced

13 KPFA to new audiences They built this up by physically

14 bringing people together. They've enabled KPFA to

15 proved a frequency for students and low-income

16 individuals to gather. And they have networked

17 independent bookstores throughout the Bay Area, putting

18 KPFA posters in their windows, and so on.

19 Customarily, they have drawn thoroughly

20 diverse crowds 400 to 3,500. These audiences are not

21 necessarily reflected by KPFA listener data.

22 If this work endows me at all with any value

23 in your eyes, please respect my total support for KPFA

24 management and, in particular, for Nicole Sawaya, whose

25 leadership is invaluable to the work we're doing and

1 the continuance of that work.

2 Please also accept that, in my experience,

3 Pacifica National board actions, or actions publicly

4 purported and not denied to be Pacifica national board

5 actions, have had an extremely deleterious impact on

6 KPFA public events and events on KPFA radio. I have

7 copies of this, if I may pass it around.

8 DR. BERRY: Susan Stone. And after Susan

9 Stone, Sheryl Flowers. Could you please line up so

10 you'll be there. And then Larry Bensky.

11 MS. STONE: I'm Susan Stone. And I

12 coordinate the book, art, the readings, and the radio

13 theater of KPFA to the best of my ability. But I

14 couldn't do it without the volunteer programmers who

15 make an extremely rich and local sound for KPFA.

16 I wanted to talk about what is working on

17 our air. It's the very best thing that Pacifica can

18 be. It's the sound of the radio station. It's the

19 strength of them. And that's what it always should be,

20 especially as we enter the 50th year.

21 We are also very amazed and delighted at how

22 often we make our fund-raising goals and top them. And

23 we want to share those resources with you to bring you

24 focus on what we do with our money back to the air.

25 It's our best activity. And it's the activity that's

1 getting sidelined in all kinds of discussions,

2 discussions or distractions, that are keeping us from

3 what is important, and that is our air.

4 In good faith, the staff -- unpaid and

5 paid -- met years ago and for a number of years to

6 discuss the strategic planning division of Pacifica.

7 To our great dismay that's fallen by the wayside. They

8 have disappeared, and so has all discussion of

9 strategic issues for Pacifica.

10 I just want to remind the board that in good

11 faith we would like to continue those discussions, have

12 you listen to us, come next door, meet us, listen to

13 our air, talk about it with us and pay attention to it.

14 Because without focus on our air, we really aren't a

15 radio station at all.

16 We'd like good faith, see what operates us,

17 and not manifest these feelings which continues to

18 divide our house. Because the foundation is not

19 working with operations at this point in time. And I

20 really believe we can remedy that. But let's get back

21 to the talk about the air. Because that's really what

22 we started out being, and we're forgetting that.

23 DR. BERRY: Thank you.

24 Sheryl Flowers. Is Sheryl Flowers here?

25 Larry Bensky. Is Larry Bensky here?

1 MS. GENDELMAN: He's on his way up. He just

2 got off the air.

3 DR. BERRY: Steven Fine. Steven Fine is

4 here. Okay.

5 MR. FINE: "People who wish to be free must

6 arm itself with free press." This was said by a

7 legendary journalist.

8 50 years ago Pacifica was founded by Lew

9 Hill to be an independent community-sponsored radio

10 network for local peace and social justice issues and

11 often dissent from mainstream conventional wisdom and a

12 corporate view of the world. More than 50 percent of

13 Pacifica's funds come from listeners and the KPFA

14 radio.

15 KPFA is truly a community radio station and

16 only with ongoing and active community input will it

17 continue to be progressive and a voice of dissent from

18 the de-democratization that is occurring in this

19 country. Corporations continue to accumulate more and

20 more power, and our democracy is at risk.

21 Corporations are totalitarian, not

22 Democratic. And like the former Soviet Union, they do

23 not allow dissent or challenges to the system.

24 America is moving in this direction with

25 loyalty to the corporation in place of loyalty to the

1 Communist Party. It is control in a suit instead of

2 the uniform. And it is undemocratic.

3 KPFA-Pacifica is one of the few roadblocks

4 to total corporate control of the American minds.

5 Corporate control of the media is almost

6 complete. Fewer than a dozen mega corporations control

7 what we see, read, and hear. The responsibility of the

8 board to ensure that Pacifica continues to perform its

9 mandate in its current role.

10 DR. BERRY: Your time is up. Thank you very

11 much.

12 Jill Dunner. Jill Dunner, please.

13 MS. DUNNER: I'm not a trained speaker. I

14 am a working poor woman who has a child at UC Berkeley.

15 And I just want you to know that Pacifica is a

16 lifeblood for me and the people that are down in the

17 trenches that are losing their homes, that are losing

18 their civil rights.

19 Please, I beg you not to make this a

20 corporation. It's important for the grass roots for

21 the local control not to leave. Because we will die

22 from that. We're down there, and our lives are at

23 stake.

24 DR. BERRY: Dennis Bernstein. No?

25 MR. CHADWICK: He's here.

1 DR. BERRY: Jeffrey Blankford is after

2 Dennis Bernstein. And David Glick is after Jeffrey

3 Blankford.

4 MR. BERNSTEIN: Good morning, Dr. Berry,

5 members of the board. My name is Dennis Bernstein. I

6 produce the Flash Point show here on KPFA as well as

7 the Audit Time (phonetic) ? investigative weekly

8 magaZinne. I'm also the news editor with

9 the...service...Boston Globe...and the nation of

10 Tailand??

11 As to the local programming here, I've

12 raised million of dollars for the station on account of

13 some of my good friends, some of the major donors at

14 Pacifica here in the Bay Area, and in New York City

15 where I produced the daily morning show...which was

16 syndicated on 60 stations. Our Flash Point show now

17 raises, on the average, between $4,000 and $5,000 for a

18 15-minute pitch.

19 I do want to say, Dr. Berry, I'm very sorry

20 that you received all that terrible treatment, and I

21 apologize for whoever it was that brought it to you.

22 I'm not going to talk about the Governance.

23 Many people know a lot more about that than I do. I do

24 want to say something about the process of the

25 programming.

1 Over of the last several years we have

2 provided programmers the education...(in the dark and

3 treated very poorly. ) There are many examples of this

4 too long to go into. We are with you. We don't like

5 being beaten up from all sides at once, and it happens

6 all the time. But it has come down from up high too

7 often.

8 And I want to say this: I agree with you

9 about bringing young people -- I have 30 seconds left?

10 Well, then I just want to tell you this: As

11 a teacher for 10 years before I came to the network, I

12 worked in the South Bronx, in Harlem, and Far Rockaway.

13 And one of the most important things that I ever did

14 was on the day that Elinor Bunker's 67-year-old

15 grandmother was executed in her apartment by 15 cops

16 because she was late on the rent, one of my students

17 was underneath listening to the shots. I had an

18 opportunity to bring that young woman and several other

19 people who I was teaching media to, to WBAI in New York

20 to tell their story to be born out of this experience

21 instead of dying there. And I hope -- and two of those

22 people are journalists now. I hope that they have the

23 opportunity to have an open, free, noncorporate,

24 unfettered radio network that is not closed to them,

25 and they shouldn't have to be made to pay a fee to take

1 a course. Thank you.

2 DR. BERRY: Jeffrey Blankford.

3 Mr. Blankford.

4 MR. BLANKFORD: Good morning, again,

5 Dr. Berry, and the board.

6 Last night I made a couple of notes up to

7 today's meeting because I knew what would happen,

8 having been to too many of these board meetings in

9 Houston and Los Angeles and here.

10 It says, "When was the last time a board

11 member voted no?" And, "Once again, the LAB members

12 are intimidated by the executive board."

13 This is a corporate board. The voting is

14 extraordinary. The unanimity does not represent the

15 local board. Our local board passed the resolution

16 calling for postponement and meeting with the CPB. The

17 New York board passed a resolution. And yet these are

18 simply overlooked, and you have your unanimous vote.

19 I also object to the cavalier treatment of a

20 letter signed by three men who contributed mightily to

21 Pacifica -- Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Ed Herman --

22 for their speeches and their personal donations. I

23 know that they have contributed a great deal of money.

24 And they are concerned about this. And, Dr. Berry, you

25 don't think they wrote this letter, and you don't think

1 Howard Zinn is concerned about this issue or knows

2 anything about it, I think you're insulting both

3 Pacifica and Dr. Zinn. And I really think that when

4 they find out how this board cavalierly dismissed this

5 letter, they would have more to say on this issue, as

6 we will.

7 Thank you very much.

8 DR. BERRY: David Glick.

9 MR. GLICK: Good morning. My name is David

10 Glick. I work for the Social Justice Center of Marin.

11 It's important to understand what is at

12 stake here today. KPFA and the other Pacifica stations

13 are the heart of the progressive movement. There is

14 nowhere else we can get the information and radical

15 analysis that Pacifica provides.

16 Pacifica has given strength and hope and

17 legs to progressive forces in America. We all agree on

18 both sides that Pacifica must be preserved. But what's

19 at stake here is what's the nature of what we're

20 preserving?

21 I want to state clearly and unambiguously

22 that a progressive movement requires a democratic

23 governance. You cannot have a progressive movement

24 without democratic governance.

25 And that is precisely why there is so much

1 disagreement. It's deep and it's broad among many of

2 the listeners of Pacifica and KPFA. And that's about

3 the loss of local control.

4 Now I want to just draw a quick analogy.

5 The strategists in the democratic party, which I am not

6 a member of -- I don't vote democratic -- but they

7 believe that if they kept moving the party to the

8 right, they would not lose voters because they have no

9 place left to go.

10 And in a way I think, mistakenly that that's

11 what you're thinking. But there is a whole room of

12 people here devoted to Pacifica and KPFA. And what I

13 am afraid is that you're putting Pacifica at risk.

14 Because whatever amount of money you think you're going

15 to get from CPB I'm afraid you're going to lose from

16 dedicated supporters like us.

17 One last thing. I want to ask you -- I want

18 to leave you with a question. I know your intentions

19 are good. But we can be divided about that. And I

20 simply want to say, I believe you want to expand the

21 listenership of Pacifica and KPFA.

22 But the message I want to leave you with is

23 this: What is more important for a progressive

24 movement, to reach fewer people with the right message

25 or more people with the wrong message?

1 DR. BERRY: Ann Schaffer. Ann Schaffer?

2 MS. SCHAFFER: I am here. Good afternoon.

3 DR. BERRY: We want to reach more people

4 with the right message. That's what we want to do.

5 MS. SCHAFFER: I heard it said, I believe by

6 Dr. Berry, "Local advisory boards will have input."

7 Well, it seems that the input will not include the

8 right to vote. Okay? That's scary because it's called

9 power. Okay?

10 These are my notes that I took.

11 I also would like to -- I also heard said,

12 "The executive committee must have representation from

13 each signal area." Again, the representation will not

14 include the right to vote by people who are chosen at

15 the local level. Okay?

16 Now, I also heard as follows: "The advisory

17 board should have input regarding programming but not

18 governance regarding operations."

19 So if the governing board has the control of

20 hiring and firing, that is going to influence the

21 programming.

22 I also saw here, right after the vote was

23 taken for the by-law change, a mass resignation of the

24 local advisory board members at this table.

25 Thereafter, they were requested to stay on until the

1 end of their terms. But, hello, what does a mass

2 resignation of local advisory board members mean?

3 Doesn't it mean something? Okay?

4 And then this is my last comment. It says

5 here in my notes, "CPB requires that community

6 needs assessment"

7 should be carried to the executive board."

8 And I heard somebody say that was done in 1998 and,

9 quote, put on the skids by the executive board,

10 unquote.

11 That's my notes. Thank you.

12 DR. BERRY: Alex Carlin. Alex Carlin?

13 MR. CARLIN: Hi. I'm an administrator at a

14 foundation in this area. And we had to stop giving

15 money to KPFA in 1998. We've given a lot of money over

16 the last 20 years. The main reason was -- it was

17 actually a lot of shocking news that was coming along,

18 including the gag rule. But when it all boiled down,

19 we decided it was the lack of democracy was the big

20 problem.

21 Right now you addressed that, Dr. Berry,

22 with a shocking argument. You essentially said, "Well,

23 there was no democracy before, why are you worried

24 there's no democracy now?" That is insulting. That is

25 a chilling argument, and I'm sure you didn't really

1 mean that.

2 DR. BERRY: That isn't what I said.

3 MR. CARLIN: Well, you essentially said it's

4 not so different now than it was before.

5 DR. BERRY: Don't tell me what I said.

6 MR. CARLIN: Anyway, that highlights the

7 problem. The thing is that as a foundation, we --

8 we're not going to give -- we can't give any more

9 contributions until this democracy issue is cleared up.

10 We believe, however, that you're all

11 intelligent people. You'll probably end up going home,

12 realiZinng all this. And you're going to be thinking,

13 "How could we be so silly as to think that Pacifica

14 couldn't even theoretically be run without democracy or

15 without accountability or without listener's ability to

16 recall a bad leader?"

17 It's just crazy. You're going to realize

18 it's more or less a bad dream, and you're going to come

19 up with some kind of way to govern yourselves -- govern

20 Pacifica with democratic processes. I mean, otherwise

21 it's just a complete disconnect on the whole spirit of

22 the thing. And we're confident you're going to come

23 around to that position.

24 DR. BERRY: Thank you.

25 Bill Mandell. Bill Mandell.

1 MR. MANDELL: For those who came in late,

2 Dr. Berry began by referring to the threat of her life

3 and similar things.

4 Two days ago, "The Chronicle" carried a

5 full-page obituary of the man who headed the FBI here

6 in the '60s. And the obituary stated that, among other

7 things, it was his business to devise phony letters and

8 communications to various people.

9 My daughter was one recipient of such

10 communication. I know hundreds of KPFA listeners. I

11 attended all the meetings after the 1959 massacre. I

12 never heard --

13 AUDIENCE MEMBER: '95.

14 MR. MANDELL: '95. Sorry.

15 I never heard -- my age is showing --. I

16 never heard from anyone anything of the kind that

17 brought about the remarks by Dr. Barry; which I do not

18 doubt for a moment, I just question the source.

19 They do say something to me about something

20 yesterday, for those who were not present yesterday.

21 Yesterday's meeting was outrageous. There were armed

22 pigs in this place. There were also plainclothed pigs

23 in this place. The setup was such that there was this

24 amount of space, at least, between the board meeting

25 and the rest of us. And there was no microphone.

1 The entire tone of that meeting was that the

2 listeners in the city that founded this network are the

3 enemy. This was the tone of the meeting.

4 The last word has to do with the

5 statement -- I'll ask for a couple more moments -- just

6 a word about the person who spoke for the station today

7 and who spoke for KPFA and said that she is quoted to

8 be the 1995 cleanup, whatever you want to call it.

9 I'd like to point out that the stated reason

10 for that was to improve our demographics in terms of

11 the station. I stated at that time that it would not

12 have that effect and, of course, has not had that

13 effect. We have the same listenership in numbers that

14 we had before, give or take a couple of...

15 As far as I'm concerned, this Pacific ceased

16 being Pacifica, past tense, two years ago when KPFA

17 failed to give live coverage to

18 the board obedience meeting on

19 the affirmative action issue.

20 MR. MANDELL: That must be changed.

21 DR. BERRY: Okay. Thank you.

22 Werner Hertz? Werner Hertz. Going once,

23 twice.

24 MR. HERTZ: Oh. Thank you.

25 I am dismayed and saddened about what I hear

1 and what I see at this meeting tonight -- this

2 afternoon. You might as well be the board of directors

3 of Mon Santo and Chevron because that is the way they

4 operate. They are management, and their board of

5 directors decide what the local plant is to be, what

6 kind of actions. The workers and the management of

7 that facility have almost no say, like the rest of the

8 Pacifica station.

9 You're not being responsive to the needs of

10 a progressive community. We need -- we are in a crisis

11 in our world, and we need to deal with that. And we do

12 not learn any democratic process in our whole

13 experience, either in families and schools, on the job.

14 And you're just perpetuating that.

15 And you're not the voice of the future. And

16 you can't decide -- you can't decide whether people are

17 operating by their color. You have to look at that

18 class and their interests and where the power is. And

19 you want to maintain the power. You want to hold onto

20 the power.

21 You don't want to give the listeners the

22 movement for social change, like the foundation folks

23 or youth, students. You don't want to give them any

24 voice. You want to fire and hire management that

25 determines what happens at the station. And that is

1 not the democratic process.

2 The board needs to be a service agency and

3 not a ruling agency. And you need to make sure that we

4 have the facilities and that things work together, but

5 not tell us what to do and not tell us how to run our

6 stations. That needs to be done by elected officials.

7 And I'm ashamed of the two representatives

8 of KPFA. You've acted in a cowardly way by resigning.

9 DR. BERRY: Time is up.

10 Nancy Delaney. Nancy Delaney. Nancy

11 Delaney.

12 MS. DELANEY: My name is Nancy Delaney. And

13 I was a programmer for 15 years at KPFA in the Women's

14 Department of Public Affairs. I was a steward for the

15 unpaid staff in the middle '80s. And for six years I

16 tried to stop what we're looking at today in every way

17 that I knew possible.

18 And I just -- I cannot tell you how much I

19 loved what KPFA and what Pacifica was. And I have to

20 issue an apology for the travesty. This is such a

21 shame that we've lost its dreams.

22 It's perfectly obvious the kind of structure

23 that you've created. Anybody that knows anything about

24 grass roots knows the structure that you've created.

25 You have disengaged from the listener

1 sponsorship, which is the root of this entire process.

2 It's another case of the emperor having no clothes.

3 I have come to call KPFA and Pacifica Radio

4 "Better Homes & Gardens Radio." It started with David

5 Vallager in the middle '80s when he brought in Flo

6 Green, who has talked about target markets. And we

7 said, "We're listener-sponsored. We have other

8 values." And she said, "Oh, well never mind."

9 I'd like to say that there's a difference

10 between community radio and public radio, just like

11 there's a difference between community parks and public

12 parks. Public parks and public radio are done where

13 some anonymous entity presents something for people's

14 good, like medicine. But the people are not engaged;

15 they are not able to be active.

16 You are interested in conquest, the way this

17 country was created. You're not interested in the

18 service. And you are opportunists.

19 DR. BERRY: David Adelson. Is he here?

20 David Adelson.

21 MR. ADELSON: Hi. I just want to say I

22 heard somebody -- Dr. Berry, actually -- mention

23 progressive and it was odd that anybody would ask what

24 that means. It seems to cover so much.

25 I often like to start off with my own

1 definition, which is, I think progressive means the

2 people who are affected, decisions have, A, the ability

3 to know about them and, B, the ability to influence

4 them.

5 I think that's what progressive means.

6 I'm a biologist, and I'm very interested in

7 the relationship between structure and function. And

8 the structure determines function over the long-term.

9 So if you were all -- I have no doubt -- because I know

10 many of you -- about the good intentions of many of the

11 people here. But in the long-term, what the

12 institution creates will be a reflection of its

13 structure. The ecology determines what can grow there.

14 And I would hope -- what Lew Hill said was

15 that the key ecological feature was that the

16 programmers must have control over the policies that

17 determines their action. Without that -- listener

18 sponsorship was a way of supporting that. It was not

19 listener sponsorship by itself. It was not the

20 structural feature that would make you do something

21 different. And I would like you to keep that in mind

22 as you make further decisions about structure in the

23 future.

24 DR. BERRY: Thank you, David.

25 Did Larry Bensky and Sheryl Flowers show up?

1 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Larry is here.

2 DR. BERRY: Larry Bensky.

3 Larry Bensky.

4 MR. ROBINSON: He's coming.

5 MS. CHADWICK: He has a flip chart.

6 MR. BENSKY: Thank you, Dr. Berry, and

7 members of this board for the opportunity to speak to

8 you today. And thank you for your service to Pacifica.

9 I apologize, but I was on the air and I

10 couldn't be here earlier.

11 I prepared, over there, a chart of the

12 Pacifica national office, which comes out of the board

13 packet. And you will see what I believe to be a

14 serious problem with this organization, which is the

15 unchecked proliferation of jobs and expenses that have

16 little or no justification.

17 In the last four years, those jobs in red

18 have been added to this organization.

19 This, on the other hand, is how much

20 programming is produced by Pacifica over the last 20

21 years. It's changed from 1.5 percent of our program

22 schedule, which is, of course, Pacifica network news,

23 now to 5.5 percent in 1999.

24 On the other hand, the amount of money taken

25 from Pacifica stations, like KPFA, has gone from

1 3 percent to 17.2 percent. And that is directly

2 correlated to the structure of who now works here doing

3 jobs that I believe are unjustified and much too

4 expensive for this organization. But even if they were

5 justified --

6 MR. BENSKY: -- even they were justified,

7 the structure under which they

8 are placed is not one

9 that is part of or should be

10 part of a tradition of any

11 progressive organization.

12 We do not need a top-down organization.

13 We need an executive director

14 who is directly responsible

15 to the general managers,

16 the program directors and the

17 operation directors.

18 I have prepared a longer version of these

19 remarks to distribute to the board so that you may see

20 what I did not have time to say.

21 But I'm asking that you consider instituting

22 an immediate hiring freeze on all national office

23 positions, institute an immediate review of all

24 personnel, and consider restructuring of our

25 administrative entity along of lines of what we should

1 have. And, finally, that the books be open for

2 complete inspection so we can try and figure out where

3 all this money is going.

4 MS. MAKELA: The next speaker is Shirley

5 Burlingham. Shirley Burlingham. Shirley Burlingham.

6 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Where's Mary Berry?

7 MS. MAKELA: Mary had to step out, so she

8 asked me to continue the process.

9 MS. MAKELA: Shirley Burlingham.

10 She's not here.

11 Mariah Gilardin.

12 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Don't talk without her

13 here.

14 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mary!!

15 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Get Mary Berry.

16 MS. MAKELA: Please go ahead. We're doing a

17 total transcript of all speakers.

18 AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No, no, no. Face to

19 face.

20 AUDIENCE MEMBERS: You're going to hold us

21 to two minutes and walk out?

22 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let's just hold on until

23 she comes back.

24 MS. MAKELA: Please continue, or we'll go on

25 to the next speaker.

1 AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Chanting) We want Mary!

2 We want Mary! We want Mary!

3 MR. FARRELL: June, may I say something?

4 MS. MAKELA: Is this to help the process?

5 AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Chanting) We want Mary!

6 We want Mary!

7 MR. FARRELL: Yes.

8 I'd like to pose the question to my

9 colleagues on the board. I'd like to just pose the

10 question that as members of the board, we're here as a

11 matter of courtesy, listening to folks up here in the

12 Berkeley area. I'm not from here.

13 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Out of obligation.

14 MR. FARRELL: I believe that the comments

15 that people are making are primarily to us on the

16 board. And if the folks who are here choose not to

17 address the board, I'd like to ask them just to leave

18 and let the people who are here that want to address

19 the board to address the board. And --

20 MS. MAKELA: Thank you.

21 Mariah, are you going to continue with your

22 comments? Otherwise the next person --

23 MS. GILARDIN: I'm sad that Dr. Berry is not

24 here because my first question to you is how many of

25 you have seen the letter by attorney Dan Siegel that

1 was sent to her? Can I please see a show of hands.

2 How many of you have seen it before you took this vote

3 before yesterday?

4 Okay. Not everybody.

5 What I'm presenting here is a combination of

6 several people's efforts. We found ourselves in an

7 amaZinng situation having all the crucial information,

8 something we didn't know ahead of time. We came here

9 hoping we would get to speak to you before you took the

10 vote. This is a travesty. This public input should

11 take place before you took vote.

12 For those of you who know, attorney Dan

13 Siegel sent a February 23, '99 letter to Board Chair

14 President Berry, and he urged that, "You were informed

15 that the changes you are about to contemplate, are in

16 violation of at least two sections of the California

17 Corporations Code."

18 Were you briefed on the consequences? Do

19 you know that the corporate veil appears in this case

20 and that as individual directors -- you, as individual

21 directors -- may be liable if there's a lawsuit? And

22 there may well be.

23 The main point of this letter was that

24 inadequate notice of the by-law changes had been given.

25 They should have been noticed 45 days in advance. This

1 wasn't done. We don't even hear a compromise. A

2 gentleman's agreement is nonbinding. It's like NAFTA's

3 environment agreement where we will fix it later. We

4 will screw the environment and fix it later.

5 The people offering you the agreement have

6 already lied on this and other issues. The compromise

7 we think you are -- is broken. It's largely a rehash

8 of the 1997 attempt that failed. And that is really

9 important.

10 One person present here talked to Rick

11 Madden and was -- took notes of the conversation. Rick

12 Madden stated that if the funding is not in jeopardy,

13 that you have time to make this change. That the

14 funding would be held in escrow and that you could get

15 it once the change is contemplated.

16 Also, Pacifica never challenged Tom Booth's

17 (phonetic) letter. And Lynn Chadwick never called and

18 said, "How could we do this." They heard nothing,

19 nothing from you.

20 MS. MAKELA: Thank you. The next speaker is

21 Lynn Gary.

22 MS. GARY: I'll cede you my turn for as much

23 time as you need

24 MS. MAKELA: Was that Lynn Gary who spoke?

25 MS. GARY: Yes.

1 MS. MAKELA: Okay.

2 MS. GILARDIN: What you contemplated doing

3 was to bring out this discussion with the LABs in the

4 time between Houston and now. You hadn't done that.

5 We were present when the LAB -- the local

6 board was advised on what you were about to do just a

7 few days back. That's not input from the base, neither

8 from the local boards nor from the audience.

9 So the LABs and public were not informed

10 about this impending change. And days before this

11 meeting, the notice of by-law change and notice of

12 meeting was posted on the web site no earlier than

13 February 24th.

14 The board books weren't given in advance.

15 We didn't know what you were about to do and what you

16 were to argue, although many of us have direct

17 experience with the CPB stating -- including

18 journalists in the audience here -- stating that you

19 were creating a phony emergency upon which -- that you

20 used them to convert the potential democratic structure

21 of this organization.

22 You know well from your own contacts and

23 from us that democratically elected boards will end the

24 purview of the CPB that would have solved this dilemma

25 you find yourselves in.

1 You could have gone to the democratic law,

2 as you were urged to do by Chomsky, Zinn, Herman, and

3 many, many people locally here, by your real

4 supporters, by those who love you, by the people who

5 have worked for you for years and years.

6 I want to stop there.

7 MS. MAKELA: The next speaker is Erol

8 Maitlind.

9 AUDIENCE MEMBER: No. The next speaker is

10 Lynn.

11 MS. MAKELA: Lynn ceded her time to Mariah.

12 Erol.

13 MR. MAITLIND: I want to surrender my time

14 to anyone not signed up.

15 But I just want to say that as a member --

16 as a listener to WBAI for 30 years and unpaid staff for

17 someone who works in the station sometimes 24, 48, and

18 64 hours without stop, that we recommend a substitute

19 motion that we get a commitment that would be made that

20 was not made.

21 MS. MAKELA: I've been informed that Sheryl

22 Flowers, who was listed earlier, has arrived. Is that

23 correct, Sheryl?

24 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can Lynn have the rest of

25 Erol's time?

1 MS. MAKELA: How much time did Erol leave?

2 ELAN: He left one minute.

3 MS. MAKELA: Okay. Fine. So Erol had a

4 minute left. A minute and 10 seconds.

5 MR. MAITLIND: Thank you very much. Because

6 I need every second. I cede to Al Stein.

7 MS. MAKELA: To Al Stein.

8 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Here is Al Stein right

9 now.

10 MR. STEIN: Thank you.

11 I just want to address the fact that on the

12 50th Anniversary year of Pacifica Radio -- Pacifica

13 Radio Foundation -- you've got to think about your

14 incredible tape collection that everyone here has

15 either produced, to a large extent, or is going to be

16 utilized within the next century.

17 I'm, as some of you know, a former archivist

18 and was terminated on the 19th. Coincidentally enough,

19 I'm the second in two years to go and the third, if you

20 count the previous director of the archives before the

21 two archivists.

22 So I say you're going to have to look at

23 your -- examine your own politics on this issue: Why

24 have there been three archivists let go who have been

25 trying to give you -- doing a professional jobs in

1 terms of preservation and finding that the archives are

2 not in a good state and will not continue to be in a

3 good state.

4 You've got history, you've got tapes that

5 are disintegrating that weren't completed on the former

6 grants, that could be looked at and need to be looked

7 at. Because this is your history. This is our

8 history.

9 And, Dr. Berry, you're a historian of all

10 people. You should be the most concerned about the

11 state of the archives into the next century, as well as

12 what we're talking about today.

13 That's my time. That's what I have to say.

14 MS. MAKELA: Thank you. The next speaker

15 is -- was I correct that Sheryl Flowers is here?

16 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes.

17 MS. MAKELA: Sheryl?

18 No?

19 AUDIENCE MEMBER: There she is.

20 MS. FLOWERS: Good morning. My name is

21 Sheryl Flowers, and I'm currently the producer for

22 Sunday Salon and a show that's carried on three other

23 Pacifica stations. I'm also producer for the morning

24 show on KPFA.

25 And I'd like to read a few words from a

1 brochure that was put together for the 40th anniversary

2 for Pacifica, which says, "Pacifica Radio is a national

3 nonprofit radio system dedicated to offering the

4 broadest possible spectrum of arts, culture, news, and

5 information in order to create a better climate for

6 peace and understanding."

7 I just want to read that last part again:

8 "In order to create a better climate for peace and

9 understanding."

10 I've been working for Pacifica for more than

11 eight years, and I'm still waiting for that climate and

12 peace and understanding. I'm deeply concerned about

13 the growing -- and I rushed to get here, so I'm very

14 much out of breath.

15 I guess basically what I would tell you --

16 if I had more than two minutes, I would tell you about

17 what it's like to work for a place with so many people

18 that have wonderful and creative ideas who are

19 committed to ideas of peace and social justice.

20 If I had more than two minutes, I would tell

21 you about many of the wonderful programs that are put

22 together by people that are not here.

23 I would tell you about some of the calls

24 that we would get from listeners who are inspired from

25 something they heard or overwhelmed by the response

1 they get or something they've appreciated.

2 I would tell you about the stories of people

3 like me who have constantly felt disrespected and a

4 lack of support for their efforts.

5 And I would tell you what it's like to work

6 for weeks at a time without knowing the status of your

7 employment or your future with the organization, or

8 what it's like to communicate with that small staff

9 about political issues regarding the daily operations

10 of a national show and told to, quote, to talk to

11 whoever is in charge.

12 Since I don't have more than two minutes, I

13 would, instead, urge you to pay attention to what the

14 staff and listeners are saying about this network. Pay

15 attention to the statement issued by KPFA, which I

16 signed. And pay attention to the role which all of us

17 are taking in this network. And, most importantly, I

18 would urge you as a board to think about what you could

19 do to help create that climate of peace and

20 understanding. Thank you.

21 MS. MAKELA: Thank you.

22 The next speaker is Seth Sandinsky. The

23 next speaker is Seth Sandinsky.

24 MS. SANDINSKY: Hello, everybody. I'm Seth

25 Sandinsky. I've one of the listeners and sponsors at

1 Pacifica Radio. With all due respect, the national

2 board does not represent the listener sponsors at

3 Pacifica Radio. That is what is crippling Pacifica

4 Radio.

5 Here's my suggestion to the national board:

6 Ask the listener sponsors how they want Pacifica Radio

7 to serve them. Will you? Can you?

8 Thank you.

9 I want to give my additional time to another

10 speaker Lynn Gary.

11 MS. MAKELA: Lynn Gary. You have one

12 moment -- minute. One minute.

13 MS. GARY: I have just given the lady here a

14 petition to end the gag rule at Pacifica. But you have

15 proven here today that you don't give a damn about what

16 kind of organization the community wants.

17 Some of you are congratulating yourself that

18 you saved 1.5 million dollars of CPB funding. But what

19 have you actually done is to betray the trust placed in

20 you by those who donate 6.5 million dollars for funding

21 of Pacifica.

22 Some of you were warned exactly about what

23 ploys would be used to remedy changes: the phony

24 emergency cooked up from the people who have met to

25 seal this organization for a good five, six years now

1 from those who built it with the, "trust us, we'll fix

2 it later," you fell for it. Trust us, you say. You

3 forfeited that trust. Now you're going to have to reap

4 the consequences of your betrayal.

5 MS. MAKELA: Thank you, Lynn.

6 The next speaker is John Sporich.

7 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let her talk.

8 MS. BURK: Mary Burk will cede to let her

9 talk.

10 MS. GARY: The foundation management over

11 these past several years has been one long trail of

12 corruption. Some of the members of this organization

13 are, to put it plainly, criminals, and we will open the

14 books and prove it. Thank you.

15 MS. MAKELA: John Sporich.

16 MR. SPORICH: I would like to ask who is the

17 vice-chairman of this meeting?

18 MS. BROOKS: He's is Texas. The vice-chair

19 is in Texas.

20 MR. SPORICH: Who is running -- this meeting

21 is run under Robert's Rules of Order. Otherwise this

22 whole meeting will be declared null and void. I would

23 like to know at this point who is in charge.

24 MS. MAKELA: I'm chairing the meeting at the

25 moment. I'm the treasurer. The chair and vice-chair

1 are not at the table. So I'm chairing the meeting.

2 Could you please continue your comments.

3 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Why aren't they here?

4 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Why has the director left?

5 MR. SPORICH: This is a point of

6 parliamentary order. I don't want this deducted from

7 my time.

8 Under the rules of Robert's Rules of Order,

9 we have a sergeant of arms here. I think that you

10 should now direct the sergeant of arms to determine if

11 Ms. Berry is in the building to determine whether we

12 can continue to conduct this meeting.

13 AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Yes!

14 MS. MAKELA: Please continue your comments,

15 or your time will be up.

16 MR. SPORICH: Okay. I will start my

17 comments.

18 ELAN: Your time has already started.

19 AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!

20 MR. SPORICH: Under Robert's Rules of Order,

21 that was a legitimate parliamentary inquiry. And it is

22 not --

23 MS. MAKELA: This is part of public comment.

24 You are using your time.

25 AUDIENCE MEMBERS: No!

1 MR. SPORICH: Okay. I wanted to direct my

2 remarks to Ms. Berry. I talked to her when she first

3 came on the national board when she visited the LAB in

4 Berkeley. I told her at that time my concern that KPFA

5 and Pacifica was not keeping up with internet

6 technology. I volunteered to go on the technology

7 board and help her with that pursuit. She favorably

8 received my comment, but then I never heard anything

9 from her again.

10 I just want to let the members of this

11 meeting know that I have, with my own funds, privately

12 acquired KPFA.com and urging the transition for what I

13 believe will be KPFA disconnecting itself from the

14 Pacifica network. Thank you.

15 MS. MAKELA: The next speaker, Curt Gray.

16 MR. GRAY: Hey, Lynn. Do you want any more

17 time? I'm going to be short. Do you want some time?

18 This is referring to Dr. Berry's comment

19 before the public comment session. She talks about

20 progressive values. She seemed to be a little confused

21 about what they were. I've always felt that there were

22 progressive values embedded in the values of community

23 radio; some of the values I think the people here

24 share, but I question whether the board share.

25 The people who pay the bills and the people

1 who do the work should have a significant say in

2 decision-making. This is a progressive value. So

3 that's why we need locally elected governing boards.

4 We should act in our daily life and how we

5 relate to each other and our work in a way that is

6 consistent with the values and concerns we espoused on

7 the air. Like, we talked about democracy and honor and

8 labor. But we don't do that at KPFA-Pacifica.

9 Empowering the average person to speak their

10 truth, average people can fight back. With a little

11 training, anybody can do radio. That's what community

12 radio is about; people, not professional stations.

13 Finally, the legitimacy of power should flow

14 from the bottom up. This is a value we throw out every

15 day on Pacifica Radio, but you don't act on it.

16 LAWRENCE FERLINGETTI: Good morning. When I

17 speak, I speak not only as poet laureate of

18 San Francisco but as one of the members of the original

19 Blue Hill Generation from 1949.

20 And I find what you're intent on doing,

21 you're destroying the original concept of this station,

22 and I urge you to reverse the vote that you've

23 evidently already taken before you've heard the total

24 opposition from the public. And as a final resort,

25 listener sponsors may have to take back the station by

1 seceding from the Pacifica network.

2 MS. MAKELA: The next speaker is Joanna

3 Graham. Joanna Graham. Is Joanna Graham here?

4 MS. GRAHAM: Hi. I just want to say that

5 I'm a listener. I've been listening since the '60s.

6 Other than that, I have no connection -- I mean, this

7 is a very interconnected group of people today. People

8 who have worked for KPFA, people who give a lot of

9 money, people who have been at meetings.

10 I've never before been to a KPFA meeting or

11 a Pacifica meeting. I have never been to a meeting of

12 the local advisory board and, therefore, I was

13 astounded to come in and find out that the public

14 commentary happened after the vote. I go to city

15 council meetings and I go to Berkeley school board

16 meetings where the public comment comes before and is

17 part of the decision that is made.

18 So that in itself is extraordinary.

19 I also would like to comment on not only the

20 political stuff that's been going on but just the sound

21 of the station. I'm married to a man who works for

22 KPIX-TV. He's been in commercial broadcasting all his

23 life. And I'm very conscious of the way that

24 commercial broadcasters think about the audience to

25 which they are selling stuff.

1 And I thought a lot about what audience you

2 switched to in 1995. I don't know anybody that listens

3 to KPFA except me. The other members of my family

4 don't. And since you changed it, I turn it off all the

5 time.

6 The primary effect of the change that you

7 made is that I know a lot more about the other radio

8 stations in the area than I know about KPFA.

9 I can't imagine -- I see your target

10 audience as people in their '40s now who are interested

11 in health and herbs. And I'm certain they're still

12 white, still middle class. It's not diverse. And I

13 can't imagine -- okay. Thank you.

14 MS. MAKELA: Thank you. Matthew Lasar.

15 MR. LASAR: Friends. And I do not say that

16 specifically as an empty gesture. Friends. I come

17 here today, and I would like to use a word to describe

18 myself which is very rarely used as Pacifica: I come

19 here as a conservative. I am someone who cherishes

20 order and civility.

21 I was just on the air this morning with WBAI

22 where I was interviewed because of this book that I

23 have written. I was on the air with Samori Marksman,

24 Amy Rosenberg, Al Louis, and (inaudible).

25 It appears from me that the tone of their

1 remarks that the staff at WBAI is in open on-air revolt

2 at what is going on.

3 The good news is -- the good news is that

4 things that have been done can always be undone. That

5 mistakes that have been made can always be

6 acknowledged.

7 Lewis Hill once said, during a very big

8 intervening crises in Pacifica Radio, "We are one

9 union, and there is hope." If there is anything I can

10 do to help. Thank you.

11 MS. MAKELA: Thank you.

12 Marilyn Sargent. Marilyn Sargent. Is

13 Marilyn Sargent here?

14 I have -- the next one is Ben Anonymous.

15 MR. ANONYMOUS: I'm going to address the new

16 board (indicating the audience).

17 I am somebody who is African-American,

18 changed from an advocate of democracy of civil rights,

19 into an advocate of tutorial type of government.

20 I'd like to talk to you about Dolores

21 (inaudible), a US senator, once an advocate for

22 democracy in civil rights and then she changed into an

23 advocate for Nigerian statesman, a butcher, who

24 actually murdered her counterpart, the first lady in

25 Nigeria, also the elected president in Nigeria.

1 I come from Los Angeles. KPFK has turned

2 into a radio station that is actually destructive for

3 Los Angeles. Very ill programming. There are

4 slanderous remarks coming off the microphone. And

5 there's no acknowledgement of those statements of

6 slandering, anti-democracy, anti-free speech, and now

7 KPFK in Los Angeles has become an anti-minority

8 station.

9 I know some of the few African-Americans who

10 have been left from the butchering of KPFK, and they're

11 very frightened to say what's really on their mind.

12 They consciously and intentionally curb what they say.

13 Because of what? What are they afraid of? Tell me,

14 what is the Tides Foundation? You know? They may try

15 and disempower us, but we can't allow them to.

16 I want to say that personally, as a person

17 whose parents actually helped build KPFA, the first

18 Pacifica station, I'm expressing and look for your

19 support to air a vote of no confidence to this board

20 with the internet. We don't need million dollar grants

21 from fascist foundations.

22 MS. MAKELA: Michael Alcaly. Michael

23 Alcaly. If Mike is not here, the next speaker is Dean

24 Albers.

25 MR. BRAMSON: Mike is here.

1 MS. MAKELA: Okay.

2 MR. ALCALY: What's left of the board

3 here --

4 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Not much.

5 MR. ALCALY: -- my name is Michael Alcaly,

6 and I --

7 MS. MAKELA: I am extending -- some people

8 had flights. The board was supposed to adjourn at

9 12:00, but because of the number of public comments,

10 I've extended it. So please continue.

11 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Take the red eye and sleep

12 it off tomorrow.

13 MS. MAKELA: Please respect the current

14 speaker mike Alcaly. Go ahead.

15 MR. ALCALY: My name is Mike Alcaly. I'm a

16 physician living with AIDS and a long-time KPFA

17 programmer. I was the AIDS reporter for Pacifica for

18 several years. I was there at the creation.

19 Almost 10 years ago Pacifica for the first

20 time brought all its stations together that put on a

21 magnificent performance at the Moscone Center: Five

22 days of live broadcasting that included Ernie Brown,

23 Amy Goodman, the late Shawn Hilston from Houston.

24 Everybody was there. And I saw that as a new beginning

25 for what Pacifica can be.

1 Today I see it as a very top-heavy,

2 hierarchal organization that is really -- doesn't

3 represent what -- you know, what Matthew Lasar has just

4 been talking about.

5 It also is being run by a strategic plan,

6 that, as far as I know, 99.9 percent people in this

7 room knew nothing about it and didn't take any part in

8 putting it together. It's like Moses coming down and

9 handing the tablets, you know.

10 I'll get to the chase here: KPFA is based

11 in a city that is known for a lot of things. It gave

12 the world smoke-free public places. It gave the world

13 the beginning of knocking down Apartheid in South

14 Africa. And just recently has given us total support

15 to Tinky Winky. I say let KPFA be KPFA.

16 And I want to address the fact that I know

17 all the general managers are on a very short leash with

18 six-month contracts. I say give Nicole Sawaya -- one

19 of the only people that's been at the station since

20 I've been there, who knows radio, been radio, has been

21 part of radio all her life -- give her a very, very

22 long leash and a multi-year contract, please. Thank

23 you.

24 MS. MAKELA: Dean Albers.

25 MR. ALBERS: I am associated with KPFA as a

1 listener and for 12 years,

2 and I've been employed there

3 for a year.

4 KPFA is unique in its programs

5 that appeal to people who question authority,

6 whether it be musical

7 authorities, political authorities religious

8 authorities, or even scientific authorities. KPFA

9 programs are broadcast to a wide area, allowing many

10 listeners to participate in the same psychic space.

11 This psychic space is characterized by an intent to

12 think and act responsively and by the belief that all

13 individual's thoughts and psychic presence have equal

14 value.

15 The fact remains, however, that some

16 individuals use their psychic presence to manipulate

17 others for their own purposes, mostly for the

18 satisfaction of their own greed. They perform their

19 mind-bending feats to sell their music and ideas and

20 have found a venue in commercial broadcasting.

21 It was not Lew Hill's intention to

22 manipulate people into following his, or the early

23 Pacifica Foundation's "agenda," because they seem to

24 have no agenda other than providing a medium for

25 pacifistic monologue, dialogue, and transmittable

1 cultural artifacts.

2 At first, Berkeley could -- now Northern

3 California can -- can participate in fundamental

4 pacifistic thought via radio. This is beneficial to

5 all people of the geographical region, especially when

6 other media leaders are confused about the effects of

7 negative thinking and irresponsible advocacy. KPFA

8 provides this alternative source of words and music

9 which are consistent with a peaceful life.

10 The Pacifica voice has been audible

11 primarily in urban areas in the United States. Digital

12 audio encoding techniques and the World Wide Web allow

13 that voice to be heard anywhere on the Planet Earth.

14 If Pacifica is to maintain the intent of its

15 charter of legitimiZinng and nurturing pacifistic ideas,

16 then Pacific must find out who and where the needy

17 listeners are and how they can be reached. The

18 commercial way to do this is to pay consultants, pay

19 pollsters, pay statisticians, basically find a way to

20 keep as far from the listeners as possible, while still

21 taking their money.

22 The Pacifica way is to include the

23 listeners and community, to be as close as possible to

24 the needs of its audience, and to value the feedback

25 that the audience provides. The investment is love,

1 and the money is laundered by people whose heads and

2 hearts are strongly connected. This is what makes

3 Pacifica unique. It works to find ways to fund its

4 operation in non-commercial ways.

5 Globalization is an opportunity that

6 evidently the Pacifica founders either overlooked or,

7 due to their own priorities, left for us future

8 custodians to work out. The Cold War has proven to be

9 an invention of United States diplomacy in order to

10 hide hot wars which, at the expense of souls everywhere

11 on Planet Earth, are profitable for those individuals

12 who gauge value in terms of revenue.

13 This effect of devaluing an individual soul

14 is clearly not what founders of Pacifica had in mind

15 when they started transmitting. Quite the contrary.

16 By giving voice to unpopular thoughts, by exercising

17 freedom of speech, they gave access to radio

18 programming which had possibly no commercial value,

19 possibly priceless value in terms of an individual's

20 soul integration.

21 The opportunity exists for Pacifica to

22 provide this service for not only urban areas in the

23 United states, but anywhere where human integration is

24 possible. It's a tall order, and it is consistent with

25 peaceful visions of the 21st century.

1 MS. MAKELA: Thank you.

2 All right.

3 The next speaker is Daniel

4 del Solar.

5 MR. DEL SOLAR:

6 My name is Daniel del Solar.

7 I'm a listener and contributor to Pacifica radio for 28

8 years and a former station manager. I have a couple of

9 comments about the programming, management, and so on.

10 When you are changing the management of the

11 station -- that is, who is on the board -- you must

12 write within 30 days a statement of ownership to the

13 FCC introspective as to who will be leaving and who

14 will be staying, who will be at around your table, who

15 will be participating in the conversation, who will

16 they be representing, how will they have come to the

17 table to bring materials from the ground, and who will

18 have a vote. Part one.

19 Part two, I've seen the blood deep in the

20 hallways. I've seen the blood not so deep. I've seen

21 Larry Bensky disappear. I've seen Larry Bensky appear.

22 Thank you very much for the community process that led

23 to Larry Bensky and his kind of thinking. He is a wise

24 person.

25 I want to second his words about the danger

1 of middle-age spread. I personally am facing it and

2 you, as an organization, are facing it, and you need to

3 listen to him very carefully. I second everything he

4 says about that dread-growing middle. The

5 dread-growing middle. Difficult. You have to change

6 as an organization. You must change, in any case.

7 Last, but not least, please beware my

8 warning to you, ala Eisenhower, please beware less you

9 and your individual units become mere weapons of mass

10 destruction rather than the vital educational and

11 entertainment resource that you are.

12 MS. MAKELA: Thank you very much.

13 And I appreciate all of the comments made.

14 This ends the public comment session. I'm going to

15 take a few -- I'm going to take a few words from Lynn

16 Chadwick and then request a motion to adjourn.

17 MS. CHADWICK: I don't really have anything

18 to say.

19 AUDIENCE MEMBER: All the speakers who

20 signed up were not allowed to speak.

21 MS. MAKELA: I called out all the names on

22 this list.

23 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mary Burk was on that

24 list.

25 MS. MAKELA: She ceded her time.

1 Okay. Lynn.

2 MS. CHADWICK: I just wanted to thank you

3 for the participation and for your attention --

4 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let Mary speak. She only

5 ceded ten seconds.

6 MS. MAKELA: I guess -- this is a wrap of

7 the meeting.

8 MS. CHADWICK: That's all .

9 I just wanted to thank them. That's all.

10 MS. MAKELA: Okay. Do I have a motion to

11 adjourn?

12 MS. CHADWICK: So moved.

13 MS. MAKELA: Second?

14 MR. BRAMSON: Second.

15 MS. MAKELA: Lacking opposition -- Yes.

16 MR. FARRELL: May I pose a question. I'd

17 like to suggest that over the long haul, since we've

18 spent this much time, it might be good for us to just

19 give people more time. I'd like to suggest that we

20 give another 15 minutes.

21 MS. MAKELA: We have people leaving. I need

22 There's a motion to adjourn on the

23 agenda. All in favor?

24 MR. FORD: Aye.

25 MS. CHADWELL: Aye.

1 MS. MAKELA: Opposed to adjourn the meeting?

2 (No opposition.)

3 MS. MAKELA: The meeting is now adjourned.

4 Thank you very much.

5

6 (Meeting adjourned at 12:18 p.m.)

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