Currents - July 8, 1996 PACIFICA: WE WANT TO BE EFFECTIVE, NOT BUST OUR UNION To the editors: In response to your article, "Workers charge Pacifica with union busting" (Current, June 17), first, let me be quite clear on one thing---Pacifica is not out to bust any union, especially not our own. The American Consulting Group was never hired to negociate contracts at any Pacifica stations. For the record: we are currently engaged in contract negociations with UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) at two of our member stations, KPFK in Los Angeles and WBAI in New York. It is an inevitable fact of any such process that there will be differences of opinion across the bargaining table, and frequently we see these differences aired in public. This is what is happening here. In the course of doing our best to come up with a reasonable contract that is fair and equitable to all our workers, our critics have hunted for any opportunity to brand us as "union busters." Lately they have been using a six-year old brochure put out by a firm that was advising us on labor law and other matters to impugn our motives. We have not asked for advice on how to "bust" our unions (nor have they provided such advice). But for a number of reasons, including that brochure, we will not be renewing out $1000 contract (not $30,000 as alleged by [Lyn] Gerry}. But we have no doubts that our detractors will be back in their search to discredit the current positive changes going on at Pacifica Radio and our member stations. It is important to understand there is a very small group of employees and volunteers who can continue as a viable operation under its once well-known and well-beloved dictum--"as long as there is one intelligent listener and one intelligent speaker, there should be a place on the air for such a program." Unfortunately, not only is this an elitist view, it is not a practical way to utilize radio, especially with large signals in large metropolitain areas. This approach is also antithetical to Pacifica's other long-stated committment--to act as a leader for progressive social change, to empower and bring together all segments of our diverse community, and to provide a voice for the disempowered and disenfranchised. As long as we speak only to ourselves, we cannot fullfill this committment. So Pacifica Radio is now embarked on a course to strengthen its foundations for the future, to build a modern, relevant, effective radio network, which will challenge and impact the status quo. Our recent efforts have generally been well-received by our listeners, supporters and donors---audience share has increased since we began making program change over the past year. But our opposition has chosen to couch this in terms of a moral struggle---as though choosing to expand our support base through providing strong, progressive programming, and providing all our stations access to analytical national programs and a national news service is somehow selling out. In truth, the history of Pacifica Radio is one of struggle, debate, criticism and self-criticism. And not always polite, either. We have been harsh on ourselves simply because we are different from mainstream radio, and want to stay that way. And we will continue to struggle to find solutions which will benefit our audiences---all of them. We are committed to providing outstanding, thoughtful and accessible programming which will bring in listeners who can use the information Pacifica and our member stations provide to educate and organize around the critical issues of the day. Pat Scott Executive Director, Pacifica Foundation Berkely, Calif. next caption: DRUMMOND ROMANTICIZES UNWORKABLE CACOPHONY To the editors: Bill Drummond's "endangered species" view of public radio(Current May 13) raises the right issues--what's the prospect for a vital, vigorous public sphere, if public radio begins to reinvent itself with galloping commercialism? The pressures to replace diminishing taxpayer financing favor commercialization: Congressional and right-wing critics want us to sound like the commercial media, and be funded like them. And our own industry includes many important voices who welcome increased commercialism , know it's not a free lunch, but who show scant sensitivity to the risks. CPB has opted for an agnostic stance, declaring no preference for listener support over the rising tide of underwriting, calling for a pragmatic approach---"whatever works." Now is when we could use more help from our frinds in the foundation community--but to date, few of us fit their glass slippers. As always, Pacifica is in the thick of all this, but definitely not a la Bill Drummond. At the recent Media and Democracy Congress in Drummond's backyard in San Francisco, Pacifica was honored for its leadership in charting a continued noncommercial path, and for its efforts to create a new "civic journalism" in public bradcasting that will reengage audiences in political participation. Pacifica's executive director Pat Scott, has called upon the network to move betond the very culture that Drummond romanticizes (one idea, one programmer) in order to live up to the mandate of Pacifica's mission--to impact culture and political discourse. Pacifica's daily new grassroots election program, Democracy Now, is a consious attempt to use public radio to fix the commercial media-induced disengagement of the citizenry. DN puts the action back into politics--issues, ideology, economic interests, featuring grassroots folks who are making a difference all over the country. It's an election years show focussing on activism annd actiivists, not horse races and punditry. This program follows last years national daily public affairs offering, 100 Days of Congress, and reflects Pacifica's insistence on using its meager resources to bring fresh, distinct voices to bring voices to the national radio political conversation. Somewhere along the way Drummond believes KPFA (and by implication the rest of Pacifica's owned-and-operated stations----WBAI, New York; WPFW, Washington, KPFT,Houston and KPFK, Los Angeles) turned away from the "politically impertinent and the culturally threatening." Clearly, he hasn't been listening to Pacifca radio recently. His vision of our duty is to provide a place where "a programmer with nothing more than an idea and a volunteer's committment could walk in and claimm, 'I have a right to be on the air'." With all due respect, this high-brow vision of Public access, if seriously preacticed would result in esoteric and unlistenable programming that would be part museum of the arcane, part toy of the frivolous. If noncommercial broadcasting was not an endangered species, such indulgences might be excusable. But thisis an era which is overwhelmed by the Goliath of large corporate interesy media conglomerates that monpolize and homogenize print, broadcast and cable media. Pacifica radio is a credible David---a smart and modestlysupported non-commercial network with signals capable of reaching 20 percent of Americans. And in that context it is clearly Pacifica's responsibilty to be a player in the public sphere, not abandon it. Drummond's formula would produce the worst kind of trivialization and the abandinment of political and cultural opportunity and responsibility. Pacifica has not, as Drummond claims, "struck its colors." It has refused artsy escapism, and closed the door to the unlitenable cacophony of haranging ideologues who line up to be on the air. In contrast to Drummond's view that Pacifica is suddenly safe, look at scenes witnessed during the last 36 months: * On the floor of Congress, Republican House members from Illinois and Colorado are introducing amendments to exclude Pacifica stations from CPB funding, and Sen. Larry Pressler is launching a witch-hunt in the rest of public radio with a questionnaire asking pubcasters "Are you now, or have you ever been a Pacifica employee?' *In Federal Court, Pacifica attorneys are petitioning to enjoin its ban on "indecency" in programming --which would require us to cancel or heavily edit broadcasts of readings from the works of James Joyce, Salman Rushdie, Alice Walker and Tom Wolfe, and would prevent us from rebroadcasting studio interviews with Bertrand Russell, Henry Miller and more than 100 20th century writers. * At the public radio conference in Washington, keynoter Senator Bob Dole is singling out programming from one Pacifica station and implicitly signaling the industry from keeping arms length from Pacifica. * Disney-ABC attorneys are threatening Pacifica with an expensive nuisance suit because we have broadcast excerpts (provided by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) of ABC's New York Talk show host Bob Grant's shocking racist diatribes against "savages." *At the Public Radio development Conference in Atlanta, the fundraising leadership in public radio rushes to reinvent itself as the newly commercialized network with enhanced underwriting opportunities--many shaking their heads in disbelief that stubborn Pacifica radio still refuses to accept or seek "underwriting"--the only national player in public radio to declint to do so. If anyone has been listening, and more have than ever before---KPFA (the target of Drummond's attack) will today be recodnized as fiercely independent, surprising, inspiring and fully human, with news and information, poetry and literature, music, health and humour on the air everyday---and still completely non-commercial. only six-months after the largest retooling of programming in two decades, KPFA's audiences are signalling (through independent audience measurements) that KPFA is listened to more, by more people, than ever before. By any number of standards, programming awards, audience measures, attacks from the right, fundraising per listener and development awards--KPFA is one of the most successful public radio stations in the country. It is not hard to understand whyUniversity of Oregon Professor Jeffrey Richard Land write sin his forthcoming book that "Pacifica is an embarrassment of riches...it is apparent that for the past 45 years the network has presented more programming on germane political issues, more detailed analysis of every variety of emerging social movement, more live performances of contemporary musical , poetic and dramatic compositions, and more educational public affairs shows than any other institution of American broadcasting." The current programming direction pays increased attention to how ideas are presented (production and format), to insure that thereis an audience. And the reason for KPFA's success is in part because of the listener support from the people of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, who have a very strong interest in , and appetitie for intelligent and iconoclastic, warm and genuine, controversial and outspoken broadcasting. KPFA listeners have shown tremendous support for programming thatbrings listeners into democracy's incubator---public affairs programs that can inspire and ignite the democratic spirit. Lewis Hill was looking for such a place when he left Washington, DC commercial broadcasting in disgust in 1945, to create a non-commercial alternative radio.....in the service of peace, racial and social justice, and the arts. His prior experience in the bay area led him to think this the most fertile ground to try out the revolutionary idea of trying to ask people to support with donations something thatthey could listen to for free. And that support has for decades been steadfast, generous and inspiring to all of us whowork and volunteer here. We have the extra-ordinary culture of the people of the Bay Area to thank for the existence and success to thank fir the existence and continued successof KPFA--which aspires to nourish that culture through its broadcast mission. To the 160,000 listeners and 25,ooo donors, please take a bow. We thank you. We hope to continue to provoke, surprise, surprise, inspire and inform you. Dick Bunce Director of Development, Pacifica Foundation Berkeley, Calif. CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS ABOUT PACIFICA COVERAGE Pacifica radio questioned several points... *Pacifica Executive Director Pat Scott did not give herself a raise to $70,000, as Current incorrectly reported. Pacifica's Board of Directors sets her salary. According to Scott, that salary level was set before she was appointed executive director. *Pacifica has long banned on-air discussion of internal conflicts. The article incorrectly stated that Pacifica started banning such discussions under Scott's leadership. We regret these errors. *The article states that recent Pacifica program changes will better position the network to seek underwriting grants from foundations. Scott takes issue with this staement and Current admits it is speculative. * The article states that Pacifica's General Manager salaries are now between 30,000 and 50,000---information that came from Pat Scott--Pacifca now says that gm salaries are between 45,000 and 50,000. *********************** End