Audits ignored, same-old fund drives surging again, questions remain

See original article elsewhere, from which bits are re-posted here to extend and help transparentize all matters needed-to-be-known by KPFK donors, listeners, sponsors, sustainers, stakeholders, et al.

                   http://pacificainexile.org/archives/1839

quote “. Pacifica will miss the CPB AFR (audited financial statement) deadline for the third consecutive year, now totaling the forfeit of $2.75 million in public broadcasting grants.”

quote “….auditor Grant Lam from Armanino [met] on April 4….Lam reports the following:
quote"1)  One of the primary problems remaining with the 2014 audit is securing a statement from Democracy Now that Pacifica does not owe another $658,000 for broadcasting the program in FY 2014.

quote “The contract expired on 9-30-2012, but Pacifica continued to accrue the expense for reasons that have never been clearly explained. From 2002 to 2013, Pacifica accrued over $6 million dollars in charges to broadcast its formerly owned program.

[See Jan 22,2016 post here about Amy Goodman’s history with Pacifica or  this research further ……]   
[the article's “2.”  item omitted here]

quote “3) No engagement letter has been signed for the Fiscal Year 2015 audit  -which indicates it will be impossible for Pacifica to file its audit timely to the State of California which requires it by June 30th.”   …. [note: the emphases are in this re-post, not in original]

quote “Former Pacifica board treasurer Tracy Rosenberg compared Pacifica’s 2011-2013 audit reports with Democracy Now’s 2011-2014 990 tax returns.

quote “In a memo, she reported the tax returns indicate Pacifica’s liability to their former program does not exceed $1.4 million dollars and no funds due beyond the expiration date on the contract on October 1, 2012 were accrued by Democracy Now.

quote “Pacifica appears to have been over-stating its debt by over half a million dollars. The memo can be seen [link on original posted site]”…

[reworded from original post here]       KPFK’s …. website came to the attention of LSB member Charles Frederick, as he tried to order a KPFK t-shirt from the online order form.  Surprised, he received an unexpected notice: “this website is not secure” warning.

                             

is this the one?  quote from - KPFK website: "Price:  $50.00"  or from their OUTSIDE contractor Zazzle source : lists from $50 to 25, different qualities or how priced?  All are still TOO HIGH ....for only a t-shirt ?  This is expensive for many KPFK listeners ! Or are only the richer elite listening to KPFK now?  doubtful.       Who can afford such fancy items?


Then, quote “in response to his inquiry, tech support from webhosting.net reported the SSL certificate had expired in the fall of 2015 and not been renewed.

quote "Website analytics for kpfk.org  reflect there have been dramatic drops with a week  - in January of 2016. These show that  ‘daily social media shares of website content at 6, 0, 0, 0, 6, 1, 0, 12’ a which are huge decreases from previous years…."

KPFK terminated its long-term employed webmaster in September, 2015, and has since then experienced constant website problems, with poor user-able and outdated information - that has not improved for the past 6 months.

The new red top banner is more attractive and the front home page banners requesting donations or promoting events sponsored by KPFK – which also contribute money from ticket sales there – are on top.

And much of the home page is segmented into a large Spanish-language section, and a few ‘newsfeeds’ from selected programs. The program schedule is dated “winter 2016” tho we have long ago slipped in Spring 2016 already.

At least 1 link from a program named on graph of programs page goes to an erroneous other site instead of the program one listed. Not all program links have apparently been checked for correctness or delivering viewer to the program’s website outside of KPFK.

quote “According to KPFK staff, GM Radford reported that the station’s planned ‘quiet drive’ [no on-air haranguing and sales of mdse. and no volunteers answering calls ]  is “not getting the hoped-for returns”.

Management has thus instead proposed returning to the usual – frustrating to all -  the lengthy on-air fund drives that drive paid-up sponsors quickly away . So a proposed schedule is currently set up  that puts the station in yet another, more, incessant 24-hour-fund-drives yet again. Next one coming is for over 1/2 of the 120 day period between May 5 and September 5.  What ?

Yes, The info indicates that the next proposed fund drive schedule is May 3 to May 20,. And more…another starts June 17 to July 17.   And not-again ! But planned is another lengthy sponsors-distracting  August 16 to September 5  period of begging for money and more money, yet again.

Apparently no creative thinking or forward planning is happening at Our Radio Station as the same-old same-old irritating process is just repeated, continuing, instead of finding any other equivalent ways of getting funds to maintain KPFK intact.  

While KPFK is not the only one ‘selling’ merchandise even tho it is being ‘non-profited’ and claiming ‘non-commercial’ status, it seems to be only one that never stops repeating it’s limited options. All to frequently, again...and again.....

Sponsors assume newer management came in to IMPROVE and revise old patterns into better ways to sustain the station. Apparently, they have not.    Nor are plans revealed for any Other Ways to keep KPFK on-air.

Who  decides ?    Who creates new or other funding sources and ways ?   Who says nothing changes once more  ?

Why is this return to limited, irritating, alienating donors because only old ways only are repeated endlessly?


Places to be Active and Voice Your Own Concerns:

to send an email to the entire Local Station Board use this address - LSBoard@kpfk.org

or to LSB Chair Contact: lsbchair@kpfk.org [info is also on KPFK.org]

Anyone wishing to contact the Pacifica [umbrella] Nat’l Board can write to : pnb@pacifica.org.

The next local station board LSB meeting is  on April 17,2016, at 10:30 a.m., at the Peace Center,  located at   3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, CA 90230-4640.

Parking is in the rear of building. Dial 22 for access. This is on Sepulveda, one block south of Venice Blvd.

This is the regular 1x/mo. meeting of the KPFK Local Station Board, -note: info can be found on KPFK website Events page, as are the committee meetings are there also.

(c) 2016 mmj  [this is a repost from April 9, due to blogspot glitches in publishing original.]