From the Nov. 14-20, 1997,
L.A. Weekly:

For the last few years, KPFK 90.7 FM has been the scene of bitter infighting as Pacifica Network management has attempted to retool the left's favorite frequency on the Los Angeles radio spectrum.

But resolution to at least one festering issue appears finally to be within reach, perhaps signaling a new era of peace at KPFK. After contentious negotiations that dragged on for two years, the employees of the Studio City-base station have agreed in principle to a new union contract. The accord between the network and the union local was reached only after station general manager Mark Schubb stepped away from the negotiating table. Schubb said he walked out because the negotiations had degenerated into union threats and recrimination.

When Schubb arrived at KPFK as the new general manager in 1995, he took over a station in disarray, rent by factional politics and fresh from a national flogging as "hate radio" for broadcasting anti-semitic rants on the air. Moving quickly to extend his control over the on-air staff, Schubb scaled back the station's in-house programming committee. In subsequent contract negotiations with KPFK's union, he proposed removing all on-air staff from the existing union, and later cancelled several shows.

Under Schubb's top-down management, KPFK's facilities have been upgraded and the listenership has grown, but his relationship with KPFK staff and volunteers has grown increasingly confrontational.

Animosities spiked when Pacifica hired for the contract talks a consultant regarded as a union-buster by the 12-member bargaining unit. "It was something you'd expect out of a cold, evil corporate environment," one union member said.

Once Schubb left the talks, the union emerged with health benefits intact and 3 percent raises each of the next three years. In exchange, Pacifica management secured key new language doubling probation for new hires, slicing into staff seniority rights and limiting on-air talent to 13-week terms, at which time they can be dropped from the rotation. "We got the money, but compromised some of our rights," a staffer said.