September 12th, 2006
Welcome to UnionPacifica!
Greetings to all interested people of peace who recognize the serious problems with KPFT and Pacifica management and governance. Just to get things started, here is the text of the handout flyer distributed by some loyal Pacificans at the Amy Goodman event that took place at the Scottish Rite auditorium on 9-13-06. If you wish to comment, just click on the “comments” or “no comments” link below, and follow the instructions to register… within a few seconds, you will be sent a password by email that will enable to you to log on and send your comment.
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Tragic Events in KPFT History
1970’s: The Ku Klux Klan blows KPFT off the air…twice!
1990’s: KPFT General Manager Garland Ganter implements the “Healthy Station Project” by removing all daytime news and public affairs programs from our airwaves..
2000’s: Soon after a national struggle by progressive activists to “take back” Pacifica, Duane Bradley is appointed KPFT General Manager. When asked, he gives lip service to local takeback activists’ goal of broadcasting Democracy Now! during morning drive time (so that more people can hear it), but never acts on it. Instead, he terminates Program Director Otis Hardy Maclay after Maclay follows his statement that it’s a “no brainer” that Democracy Now! should be broadcast at 7:00 am with a memo to programming staff to begin airing it at that time.
March 2005: To avert public outcry and preclude protest at the Amy Goodman fundraiser scheduled soon thereafter, Bradley preemptively schedules Democracy Now! at 7:00 am himself. During Amy’s appearance at the River Oaks Theater, her question to her audience about how KPFT listeners liked the new morning drivetime scheduling of Democracy Now! generates such enthusiastic response that it could be heard out in the street. But just three weeks later the show is pulled from its morning drivetime slot!
1 (Mayday!) 2005: Duane Bradley and Ernesto Aguilar (appointed as “interim” Program Director by Bradley without any consultation with the Local Station Board) purge the remaining national news and affairs programming from drivetime: Counterspin (now off the air), Women’s Independent News Service (WINS) (now off the air), Maria Gilardin’s TUC Radio (now on 1:30 pm Friday), Making Contact (now off the air), David Barsamian’s Alternative Radio (now on Wednesdays at 1:00 pm), Free Speech Radio News (moved to a mid-afternoon spot, then, under pressure, finally returned to drive time); and last but by no means least, the show that served as evening national news anchor for KPFT while so effectively building KPFT membership among the Middle East communities of Houston, Dennis Bernstein’s Flashpoints, was without explanation banished from its prime evening (live) spot of 7:00 pm to the unlistenable (for most working people) hour of 11:00 pm, with its bilingual Friday broadcast cancelled entirely. Recently it was announced that Bradley/Aguilar are planning to remove the show entirely… now, when the situation in the Middle East has heightened the need for the reportage of Flashpoints correspondents who report live from Iraq and Palestine… now this program is to be taken off the air, just as was Jeff Blankfort’s highly informative, Middle East-focused, Takes on the World, yet another victim of Bradley/Aguilar’s Mayday programming coup.
The listeners of KPFT, were never consulted about any of this, nor were their representatives on the LSB (though few have protested). It’s still a no-brainer today: Democracy Now! and Flashpoints need to be broadcast at their live broadcast times of 7:00 am and 7:00 pm respectively, when working people can hear them. KPFT desperately needs new management! The KPFT LSB, half of whose members will be elected this November, needs listener members who take the educational mission of Pacifica seriously. Please use your vote this Fall to support only candidates who will agree to new management for our station. Please check out the voting records of any incumbents who ask for your vote. Whether Duane Bradley likes it or not, KPFT is OUR radio station. With good management and governance, KPFT could once again become the precious community resource that has made such an important difference in our lives, and could in our children‘s. For more info: www.unionpacifica.org
Did you know
…that Democracy Now! is aired every weekday morning at 7:00 am by Houston Media Source, Cable channel 17? This is very important information for listeners who subscribe to Cable and are home to watch it at that time, but what about the thousands and thousands of listeners (and potential listeners!) who are in their cars on the way to work at that hour?
… that KPFT General Manager Duane Bradley’s favorite argument against broadcasting Democracy Now! at the accessible commuter time of 7:00 am is that it would not be possible for Amy Goodman to “pitch” at that time during pledge drives (as if this should be a primary concern!) , but that his claim is contradicted by the following statement by Democracy Now! outreach coordinator Denis Moynihan? “Amy could pitch - but it would have to be coordinated with the pitching on WPFW, which also runs the show live. This can be figured out though.”
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Relevant excerpts from the bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation (emphasis added):
AMENDED AND RESTATED BYLAWS OF PACIFICA FOUNDATION
A California Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation
ARTICLE ONE IDENTITY AND PURPOSE
SECTION 2. PURPOSES
In radio broadcasting operations to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors; to gather and disseminate information on the causes of conflict between any and all of such groups; and through any and all means compatible with the purposes of this Foundation to promote the study of political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms.
In radio broadcasting operations to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors; between any and all of such groups; and through any and all means compatible with the purposes of this Foundation to promote the study of political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms.
In radio broadcasting operations to promote the full distribution of public information; to obtain access to sources of news not commonly brought together in the same medium; and to employ such varied sources in the public presentation of accurate, objective, comprehensive news . . .
SECTION 3. PRINCIPLES
The Foundation is committed to peace and social justice, and seeks to involve in its governance and operations individuals committed to these principles.
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