RADIO STATIC

KPFA critics file complaint with FCC
San Francisco Bay Guardian
by Belinda Griswold
July 17, 1996

San Francisco Bay Guardian Article ADVOCACY GROUP Take Back KPFA has filed a formal complaint with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) charging that listener- supported radio station KPFA-FM has abandoned its progressive roots and adopted a secretive, top-down management style.

Take Back KPFA, some of whose members are employees of the station, alleges that parent group Pacifica Radio has illegally conducted national board meetings in secret, thereby shutting out opposition to what the advocacy group describes as Pacifica's increasingly depoliticized programming. In the complaint Take Back KPFA urges the CPB to investigate Pacifica's secrecy policy for violations of federal communications law.

"Pacifica has knowingly violated the Federal Communications Act, which requires the board of any public broadcasting entity receiving public funds to open its meetings and those of its committees to the public," Jeffrey Blankfort of Take Back KPFA told the Bay Guardian .

Only 45 minutes of the Pacifica National Board's most recent meeting in Los Angeles were open to the public, the complaint alleges, and minutes from all board meetings are now kept secret as well.

Take Back KPFA's complaint also charges Pacifica with illegally muzzling the dissenting opinions of local advisory boards by issuing a set of interim guidelines that orders local boards to abide by all national board policies. The complaint cites a July 1995 memo to all local boards that warned that "if there are any indications that actions are being taken collectively or individually to countermand the policies, directives or mandates of the Pacifica board, the board will take appropriate steps."

The latest allegations against Pacifica and its executive director, Pat Scott, follow recent revelations that Pacifica has retained the services of notorious union-busting firm American Consulting Group (ACG). And critics contend that the board's secrecy has facilitated Pacifica's departure from its community roots.

"They say they've been holding meetings in retreat," Blankfort said. "They certainly are in retreat -- from all the principles Pacifica was founded on." Blankfort says Take Back KPFA filed a complaint with the CPB only as a last resort. "We really don't want Pacifica to lose the [federal] money," he told the Bay Guardian. "If they do, it's only because they made a decision that secrecy is more important than the money." He stressed that Take Back KPFA has tried repeatedly to bring its concerns to the national board, only to have them ignored. "Having pursued, without success, other methods of persuading Pacifica to abide by the laws governing it, the Coordinating Committee of Take Back KPFA wrote to Jack O'Dell, national chair of Pacifica," the complaint states. "We gave them three weeks to reply. To date, there has been no response."

In a recent press release Scott blasted the dissidents. "Our detractors [continue to] search for opportunities to discredit the current positive changes going on at Pacifica Radio." She also said that "certain working sessions concerning personnel and other confidential matters are legally" held by the national board in secret, and that Pacifica's contract with ACG will not be renewed.

Former KPFA development director Maria Gilardin told the Bay Guardian that Take Back KPFA simply wants Pacifica's policies to be open for debate by everyone, not just national board members. "We're not asking for a particular policy with this complaint," Gilardin said. "We just want everything to be out in the open."

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Web page created July 26, 1996

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