Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Programmer cut to 1/2 time pleads, not for input to Gen'l Mgr but for more $$$, only ? huh?
the death of KPFK coming soon to this stn near you ?
KPFK.sonali.pleads.4.$$$$$ only:
on 8-19-2015 8:40am-8:53 am
[=13 min of threat- bit of info- & money demands =more of same on-air exhorts ]
[=13 min of threat- bit of info- & money demands =more of same on-air exhorts ]
These are the words from Sonali Kohatkar this morning, who is 1 of 4 paid programmers -- who ea have 5-6x /week programs on KPFK = who has made a plea for again, yes, always the very same demand only - saying: 'send MORE MORE MORE $$$MONEY' - only ...
but without showing any more transparency as to why the financial deterioration has been permanent and unrelenting at KPFK and what turmoils & goings-on are happening now aside from her selective disclosure of how she is being affected....
and without taking any responsibility for her - or any of the programmers' part - in not being able to increase their listenership - and their monetary contributions - with the listeners' then loyalty and their wanting to maintain these programs - and the whole radio station as-is too .
Notice that Sonali did not ask for any listener/ stakeholder / payer INPUT or feedback or participation in any discussions.
No public meetings have been called or announced.
No outside KPFK websites can be discovered - other than this one - with writings, questions, or recommendations of concerned-stakeholders-listeners is to be found....
so only KPFK-programmers have websites to promote their own privileged views & sounds. Those who have grabbed or been selected for a slot and on-air access promote themselves incessantly on air and on internet.
Everyone else who is IN at KPFK is easy to find on internet, and there are the central other Pacifica stn websites --but KPFK supporters are apparently very silent, or scared away.
There is no where else to Post, Comment or Inform Our Station of our Needs, give genuine Feedback, ask Questions, offer Suggestions or even to ask for accountability from those already-set in power/ in-charge. Check this out. Find any sites anywhere ?
Besides THIS SITE here , where else are KPFK happenings in trouble to be found ??????
so only KPFK-programmers have websites to promote their own privileged views & sounds. Those who have grabbed or been selected for a slot and on-air access promote themselves incessantly on air and on internet.
Everyone else who is IN at KPFK is easy to find on internet, and there are the central other Pacifica stn websites --but KPFK supporters are apparently very silent, or scared away.
There is no where else to Post, Comment or Inform Our Station of our Needs, give genuine Feedback, ask Questions, offer Suggestions or even to ask for accountability from those already-set in power/ in-charge. Check this out. Find any sites anywhere ?
Besides THIS SITE here , where else are KPFK happenings in trouble to be found ??????
No democracy or audience-participation is anywhere to be found.
No free-speech from outside to inside the opaque secretive KPFK hallways and exclusive staffers and management.
The hypocrisy of what is said and announced is not their actual reality. Only 1 way is allowed : from inside stn to OUT on-air, but nothing back to provide assistance, but cash.
The hypocrisy of what is said and announced is not their actual reality. Only 1 way is allowed : from inside stn to OUT on-air, but nothing back to provide assistance, but cash.
Only when the station NEEDS something more - as are volunteers needed to answer phones - when not excluded for an external cash-paid calling system - that earlier turned out to be more costly after all, so then the volunteers were re-allowed entry to bldg again -- to work for free ! Then free-working-for-long-hours help is allowed inside certains areas and very limited contact with staff is allowed.
Even as in this August there were hours when no one was 'home' because no calls were being answered by anyone, no volunteers let in, no paid service, no one there to get those precious $ pledges directly.
Even as in this August there were hours when no one was 'home' because no calls were being answered by anyone, no volunteers let in, no paid service, no one there to get those precious $ pledges directly.
The secrecy and manipulations by both Pacifica Nat'l Bd [PNB} members and some at KPFA in Berkeley are playing power-tactics with the entire Pacifica legal structures, looping sideways with the by-laws and with some audits being illegally avoided too.
Strange hidden moves are even being currently done by some people at KPFK and some on the PNB - and many are part of the hidden-strategy & tactics too. Undue Influencers. Those Unnamed. Unapproachable. Buying similar legal names to confuse the public.
Diverting funds sent to maintain fragile stations. Audits are not completed for years. Intentional disregard of required business practices to buy the properties cheaper after they fully fail and default ?
All the while listeners are asked to trust ?? and pay up for these dysfunctional systems ? really ?
Strange hidden moves are even being currently done by some people at KPFK and some on the PNB - and many are part of the hidden-strategy & tactics too. Undue Influencers. Those Unnamed. Unapproachable. Buying similar legal names to confuse the public.
Diverting funds sent to maintain fragile stations. Audits are not completed for years. Intentional disregard of required business practices to buy the properties cheaper after they fully fail and default ?
All the while listeners are asked to trust ?? and pay up for these dysfunctional systems ? really ?
All is done with NO TRANSPARENCY or honest accountability. But then the guilt-tripping, the "poor-me-us"-Help-save-us ! -begging continues 24/7 for a month now
[July-Aug 2015 as well as in other fund drives before that have been as long as this too ].
[July-Aug 2015 as well as in other fund drives before that have been as long as this too ].
- - - - - -
So here below are most of Sonali's words - as she again blamed only the KPFK Local Stn Bd [LSB} for all the station's problems and woes... which is a too slim ltd view, a poor analysis and easy-blame-the-power-less group - as the LSB that cannot help or change what KPFK management with it's staff's cooperation does daily - to keep the station broadcasting - or failing furiously, as it is now.
And Sonali claims to be a thinking, critical, fair reporter while limiting her blame to only 1 selected group ? why is this her stand?
And Sonali claims to be a thinking, critical, fair reporter while limiting her blame to only 1 selected group ? why is this her stand?
[ NOTE: a few words were missed transcribed below - but mostly this just the plea for $$ --- with No Mention of any political, social or any feedback actions were uttered today -
the colored inserts were our reactions and critical thoughts - not hers - but ours that were inserted in the transcription at the time of typing... = spontaneous reactions of what was being Not Said also were thus inserted there too ]
the colored inserts were our reactions and critical thoughts - not hers - but ours that were inserted in the transcription at the time of typing... = spontaneous reactions of what was being Not Said also were thus inserted there too ]
"we were handed letters yesterday, 3 people laid off
entirely,...
others for 4 mo salaries slashed by ½ …all paid programmers
how to live on slashed salaries is
unknown....
LSB bd & management wants all volunteer
programming, none paid.
only if working full time elsewhere
for ½ or 1 hr can maybe afford it.
not doing program 5x/wk ....
only 2 weeks notice ....
if call 818 985 5735 call mgr flood ....
[but no mention to call or write to discuss with management or staff,
just give them more $$$- the repeated demand and plea - with no other participation wanted or requested, ever ! ]
we don’t have managers that stick
around longer than maybe 1 yr at a time…
[she BLAMES LSB – not managers
! they chase away anyone who is ‘good’
mgr.....
she likes just prior mgr ]
the mgr need to write grants, vs
we are in "walmartisation is in full force"....
announced reductions are really PARTIAL
LAYoffS – told to work ½ for ½ time pay but who
can afford to live and do as much
with less ?....
what has worked in past – hybrid
full time staffers and others volunteer 1-2 hrs /wk....
dont you wonder how and if that works out,
for how long ? the attitude based on a classist anti-union philosophy ....
you can flood station with DONATIONS
right now.....
.... our cherished, precious
independent media …dismantle system of
governance …that sabotage the station – the beginning of the end of KPFK
..unless you contribute…in long term…undermine the governance of this stn that
has prevented it’s potential.
Make contributions, large, fast.....
starting Sept 1 anyone working more
than ½ time is being cut to ½ time and those with families, children to come
there 5 days/ wk and put heart & soul ….until last few months …stn is
eating itself alive...
the elections the Bd are also
eating up the station as well….$$$ that should be going to paying off our debt.
if people don’t call..we are being told…we are being cut.
if you show them our listeners don’t
want staff cut or be laid off, stn being eaten alive…
[so increase
donations will prove this ????? from her plea ?
not saying listeners have any say to management or anyone, LSB, but only
send $$$$$ …here is proof of how poor we are, vs. emphasizing the CHANGE OF
POLICY AND EMPHASIS and types of programmers – volunteer vs paid staff
programmers ]
how will KPFK survive, unravel
before your eyes and ears…no one asked me to say this…lots of people at stn may
be cringing but what haave I got to loose ?
you’ve heard it on Ian Masters’ show and my previous shows....
it will take wind out of layoff
sails..this is what they want to see happen – no money so then no paid staff
and only a only volunteer station – I cannot work for free and will not, lose
my dignity..could do a 1x/wk program maybe …maybe a role for me in future, but
not 5x/wk....
especially those who donated
before…please donate ! imploring you to consider cost of your not giving is…
make a contribution…"
(c) 2015 mmb
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Ian Masters writes about his experiences, reposted here for info re KPFK's internal mis-doings.
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2015/08/272704.php
reposted here also:
reposted here also:
"KPFK=
more. Tired of the turmoil? we are too."
from another tired KPFK payor August 18.2015
KPFK programmer of important political interviews and one of the only-4
paid staff programmers on the station expresses his concerns and reveals his
experiences with the new Gen'l Mgr. Recent changes to reduce staff work time
may be the final 'shoe to drop' that will break whatever all stakeholders liked
and paid for at Our Radio Station - paid for by listener-stakeholders. Excerpts
of his latest revelations and plea is below.
the "<snip> below may be irritating but the
extra parts were excerpted - to make the
essential points more visible. Please contact Ian Masters at his website or
write KPFK.org with your responses, questions or concerns.
- - -
- - - - - -
excerpts from Ian Masters' letter sent to many:
@KPFK
- an "Update: Ian Masters and Staff Issues at KPFK
KPFK looks sorta like this now......
I had my meeting with KPFK's new GM Leslie
Radford yesterday along with SAG/Aftra union reps Terry Guy and Christine
Blosdale. It appears I am being scapegoated for the GM's disgraceful decision
to hand over a complete weekend of KPFK's airwaves <snip> who she clearly approves of
since she chose to ignore Margret Prescod and me who had begged her not to put
him on the air.
I have been taken off the air for a
week for mentioning his name at the end of Thursday's program when I announced that I was being
preempted for a <snip>. This of course is a bogus infraction since the rule against naming names only applies
to fellow programmers to prevent on-air sniping, not interlopers <snip>
But
the larger issue is the edict that all staff are now on half pay for half a
day's work. This means the place will quickly grind to a halt since the
staff will either have to try to live on a 50% pay cut or get another half-day
job which is unworkable.
Clearly
the intent and effect will be to have everyone give up, <snip> All this is going according to the plan orchestrated by the
head of the "grassroots" faction now in control of the <snip> in a revolutionary cleansing by "grassroots"
volunteers from the "oppressed communities".
<snip>. ….have found a way to break SAG/Aftra's contracts by
cutting the hours in half to force KPFK's workers to quit on their own.
What is particularly telling is that the new revolutionary regime has
absolutely no plans or any ability to raise funds while cutting costs beyond
sustainability. Their only
suggestion was to sell a piano, but meanwhile <snip> [3 paid programmers] the very "elite
one-percenters" they plan to get rid of, <snip>
These
bitter losers who have <snip> ….constantly play the race card because they can't play the talent card.
Already the new regime is
expanding the Spanish-language programming even though it is a complete failure
which they justify by claiming they serve the millions of Spanish-speaking
listeners in the southland. But their embarrassingly bad programming (with some
noble exceptions) only brings in $25 per hour in fund drives, meaning about 100
out of the millions are listening.
And
while the fault is not with the idea, but the execution, the worst of them is
now effectively running KPFK and he just can't wait to axe the very people who
are bringing in the only revenues. <snip> Then when everybody has turned off and tuned out KPFK, the
network's valuable assets will be disposed of by the very people who destroyed Pacifica. WE SIMPLY CAN NOT ALLOW THAT TO
HAPPEN!
Already we have had a
heart-warming response from hundreds of listeners along with offers for
professional help and valuable information about the legal coup that led to the
destruction of Pacifica along with the Byzantine bylaws that have crippled
it.
We are putting together a plan
of action, a team of community leaders and a petition and I hope we can find a
way to take some of the burden off me since, while I'm banned from KPFK,
I still have to do the daily program that goes out to the affiliates and is
available at ianmasters.com as well as keep you informed with these
postings.
Thank you and keep in touch as
we find a way to rescue Pacifica
and return it to its true owners, you the listener/supporters. <snip> Ian
Masters Save KPFK
http://www.savepacifica.com/
http://www.savepacifica.com/
Save Pacifica Radio · Los Angeles, CA 91604, United States"
(c) 2015 Bt.lk
KPFK reducing staff to what end ? Exit coming ?
KPFK has been on air radio 'plugging' begging pleading irritating and repeating for a whole month, to not enough avail. Results are maybe 1/2 of their [pre-set] goal. And who wants to listen to same-old infomercials repeated endlessly....instead of any 'regular programming'.
Why pay for this onslaught? Then notice of staffs being reduced hours, as program-staff work-times are also being reduced when some Newly-set-up ' gen'l mgr' decides she likes extreme & factually unsubstantiated views better....
and... more to come
this has also been posted on site below:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2015/08/272699.php
this is a repost from URL below . most updated info is found there about all Pacifica mis-doings and difficulties spelled out. See them for more as it rolls in.
- - - - - - -
"Leslie Radford presented this work schedule reduction less than three months after being hired by Margy Wilkinson as the station’s general manager.
The reductions include three staff members, 2 unionized and at least 4 months of reduction to half time for the station’s remaining 50 staffers.
The SAG-AFTRA bargaining unit does not appear at this time to have signed on to the planned reductions.
KPFK was the network’s biggest money-earner as recently as 2013.
(c) 2015 JK
In 1967 KPFK's FOLIO contained a revealing Editorial. Here it is.
“Communications Commission bases a most all of
its rules respecting broadcasters on such beliefs. Thus we have "equal
opportunities," "equal time," and
"fairness" doctrines, all emanating from the FCC on behalf of the
public's alleged need to hear everything over the station to which it is tuned.
KPFK itself, when it leaned more
steadily leftward, had to contend with harassment from the FCC. The fact is
that thee is no proof at all to support this view of human nature. These
premises of broadcasting in America are
sheer dogma.
People cannot be made to buy something that
they do not, in some way, judge worthwhile. They cannot be accept either
the content or the quality of TV and radio ads unquestioningly. TV and radio do
not Influence people any more than do the daily papers and the magazines which
lie around the living room.
People from all walks of life and with all
levels of intelligence use their minds to evaluate what they hear and see.
Though their judgment may not be correct it is usually no worse than the
judgments voiced by experts who disagree with one another about such things as
rapid transit, Vietnam,
etc —
even if it is less sophisticated. All sorts of
people dislike certain ads, programs, personalities, announcers, editorial
positions, etc. for similar and diverse reasons. Most of the people I know — a
diverse lot they are — refuse to admit most commercial messages into
their memory. And the idea that the - sage can be put into their heads without
their cooperation is unproven, once again.
One need do little more than check
oneself in the course of a shopping spree. It amazes me, for example, that so
few of the things I buy are advertised on stations I view or listen to.
I, and most people I know, buy
through a kind of word-of- mouth and teach- each-other-about-our-goodies
system. The same thing Is true about the effect of editorializing on the
airwaves.
People may be too busy or apathetic to
engage in detailed considerations of various points of view, but once they pay
heed, they are capable of judgment.
The FCC's dogma is ill-founded and has no
bearing to reality. In view of the above, it ought to be clear why it makes
little difference whether a station airs a variety of views or just one. What
with people constantly changing their dials, depending on their moods, the time
they have to spare, and the type of atten- they're willing or able to
give, they are confronted by virtually all points of view offered on the air.
And here is the clincher — today hardly any variety exists between
stations in their own points of view.
The Communications Act of 1934, as amended in
1949 and 1959, and the FCC make partisan broadcasting impossible. Stations must, if they
editorialize, leave their doors open for their opponents — free of charge. I
have good reasons to believe that this results not in diversification but in
the refusal to air either editorials or regular commentaries.
It also results in such shallow exchanges of
ideas as the telephone talkies and sensationalism a la Joe Pyne. A friend
of mine calls these "shamtroversial". One of the FCC's own commissioners, Lee Loevinger, thinks that "/the
FCC/is preventing diversity and is forcing conformity to pedestrian ideals.
Insofar as it has been able to exert influence, the thrust of its influence is
to compel mediocrity." (TV Guide Profile, 1965).
In the context of present broadcasting laws,
KPFK's concept of Internal diversity is not only beneficial but legally
necessary for any on-the-alr politiking and editorializing. KPFK could not
confine itself to supporting only a certain point of view, no matter how
sincerely it felt about it, without allowing someone to air-opposition to that
view.
(At least, this is what the law says, though not necessarily how the FCC
judges in specific cases.) In principle, however, KPFK's programming is not the
only one which can achieve diversity.
Were broadcasting free of government control,
censorship, and regulation the thousands of stations on the air would
themselves provide the diversity so many people worship. (It is a bit strange,
this worship. Diversity should only be sought after in contrast to
censorship — but not in contrast to truth.
Surely, If we could find the correct answer to
the Vietnam
problem, diversity about how to solve the problem should be shunned.
Recognition of the fact that men are not capable of being compelled by broadcasters
to think and act certain ways should lead one to see that minor pockets of one-
sidedness cannot do damage.
No society with total censorship succeeds in
supresing dissent even by threats to life, liberty and property. It is quite
Irrational to believe that free, competing broadcasters, without the
power of physical force, can kill diversity by a sort of intellectual
monopoly.
Much more danger exists by letting
governmental groups like the FCC regulate the free market "in behalf of
truth and exchange of ideas.") In a free society, without powers of
censorship vested in government, broadcasting would proceed guided only
by the in- tent to make a profit and the recognition of property rights.
A station which now owns 90.7 megacycles, at
certain power range, would have the right to broadcast what it wants —
and the listeners the right to turn it off. As with the press, limited
circulation stations could exist ("under- KPFK folio If KPFK is
distinguished for its programming policy it is a bit unfortunate
for all of us.
Were it possible for commercial stations to
editorialize without having to allow the opposition air time, free
of charge, there would be true diversity — not just a phoney, calculated
attempt to make some controversy and diversity on the air. It is sad that
in a supposedly free society broad-casting has to fear government reprisals. It
is downright frightening that if a station owner finds communism or
nazism repugnant and wants to advocate alternatives, he has to allow them
free time on his facilities before he can do so.
I'd much rather have it that KPFK
should be able to refuse to air my views, even if It constantly aired
views opposed to mine, than to have it forced to present views the
management may not find in good taste, respectable or reasonable, simply
so that it should be able to present its own preferences also
(I am not saying that KPFK would abandon its
present policies in a free society. But we’ll never know about that as long as
things remain unchanged in the laws governing broadcasting.)
[written by] — TIBOR MACHAN “
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - further comments from poster below -- - - - - - -- - - - - - - -
If this editorial elicits any thoughts, questions, urges
to contact your radio station that is paid for by all who offer their earnings
just to keep the radio station alive and on-air, please write someone....
or someone you know that you want to
vent or discuss this with...
or to write their new Gen'l Mgr that is
turning staff into threatened morass of scared-of-being-eliminated, as
are other unpaid programmers too.
Or just ignore it all and it will all go away
-
the radio station will be bought privately and
converted into another failed attempt to be extreme or biased or limited to
those who yell the loudest or the fewer who can Buy the entity instead and
create their own personal radio - their versions of what they want to promote -
privately even.
pretend it is not all just happening
...failing...falling down... being stolen or deceitfully carved out of
Pacifica, as is the Berkley sister station KPFA also...the only 2 viable of 5
radio stations nationally.
Or ignore it all and it will .....
dis......audio....appear....NOW !!
(c) 2015 bt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
But instead of asking listeners to contact the station, or management, or even the LSB [on website lists emails too ], to protest or discuss this issue – no, she merely kept asking listeners to call, pay and Donate more $$$.
Nothing more active or helpful – nothing active or political or useful, other than to just give KPFK More More More $$$…only. As if nothing else is needed. What is this ?
That plea may be a very limited and inadequate plan.
And her use of the reductions of staff time & salaries sounds like a ‘poor us’ way to plead with some actual substance of what is happening in Pacifica stations, while excluding all that is left still unrevealed and un-transparent to pledge payers, as before and still now.
The sudden changes to staff salaries has produced this bit of on-air and on-line cries – from fear of their own personal losses and future dismissals – instead of caring about fixing the Pacifica systems, or sharing important updated information about how the KPFK, and even KPFA, station’s financial mis-managed situations – how these have occurred and apparently are still are happening.
Only here,on this website, with thanks to Tracy’s excellent reporting – the sharing openly the bits and pieces of what IS occurring to Our radio Stations – do any of the payers and devoted listeners learn of the shenanigans, ploys, lapses, tricks, et al. — that may finally cause the ultimate buy-outs, privatization or usurpation of the radio systems we have been contributing to for so long.
Even Ian’s words of “Save KPFK” landed on an old biased site – that has almost no info any other updates of the failing stations and who may be doing what, or not.
– – – – —
for more info and rants and thoughts –reportings about all 5 pacifica stations doings and missed audit deadlines, etc. also see:
http://Pacificainexile.org.
(c) 2015 mj