From: Doug Faunt
Subject: KPFA Forums --Oakland February 3, 1997
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I asked Tomas [Moran--the facilitator] about the attendance and number of empty tables at the Oakland forum last night. He said that over 90 but less than 100 had signed up, so no one was turned away, in fact, because the Berkeley and San Francisco forums received more than 100 signups each, extra people from those were refered to Oakland and Marin.

There were only 7 tables with 9 or so people at each each table, as it turned out, so there were about 20-30 no-shows. There was a distinct shortage of younger people, which probably means something, but not much.

The story is that Berson was sick, Lockwood was out of town, so we got the Development Director, whose name I forget. When complaints were voiced about the absence of management, she said that she was one of only four management personnel at the station, and that she was what we got. She wouldn't say much, beyond denying that Jerry Brown had been given another hour on KPFA already (she did point out that he could buy uplink time just like everyone else), but didn't hide behind a piano, either. Pat Scott's assistant was there doing administrative stuff, Dennis Bernsein was there to mingle afterward, and Gilardin and Blankfort were there as observers, and handed out information before hand. Mandel handed out a sheet asking to be mentioned, but didn't stay around.

Regarding your [See Sharon Tremble's report on San Rafael Forum] point about breaking up, and quieter people, during the rather riotus beginning of the meeting, as people complained about the format, one fairly quiet person had something to say, when asked to repeat it more loudly by someone who wanted to hear what that person had to say, replied that they couldn't talk any louder. An obnoxious woman at the next table with a particularly carrying voice, said "If you can't talk louder, shut up", which carried a very negative message about the process that she was interested in.

The loud people who objected to the format were accused of all being part of "Take Back KPFA" by someone who liked the format, and that was promptly refuted by someone else who didn't like the format.

Speaking of the format, Tomas said that Berson approached him with the format in mind, and asked him to facilitate, since he had volunteered to facilitate listener meetings. So the format came from management, as well as everything else.

I seemed to be the only person who rode the bus to get there.

What other stations carry Jerry Brown, BTW? I seem to recall that WBAI does, but do the other Pacifica stations? Other stations?

doug