ENDORSEMENTS FOR THE KPFA LOCAL STATION BOARD

The Save KPFA Slate:
Margy Wilkinson
Sasha Futran
Barbara Whipperman
William Campisi
David Lynch
Leland Thompson
Yuri Gottesman

Please keep in mind that the Local Board member is NOT a Program Director. The Local Board approves budgets, deals with management personnel issues, and works with management on fund-raising. It is not the job of the Local Board member to involve him or herself in any specific programming changes whatsoever, or in determining what is, or isn't acceptable either ideologically or in terms of program style. 

Over the years, KPFA has gone through crisis after crisis. Under the leadership of station manager Quincy McCoy and program director Laura Prives, the station has stabilized. A new, updated website has been created; the number and length of fund-drives has been cut back; new podcasts are in the works; and a greater emphasis has been placed on off-air and non-drive fund-raising. There are other irons in the fire, all set up to bring KPFA further into the 21st Century media world. 

The Save KPFA slate endorses the work of Quincy McCoy and Laura Prives. 

The opposition slate of UCR does not. Their motto is “Rescue KPFA”. They don’t like the programming and programmers, and they would like to change the programming. Along with changes in management, this means that the following programs are at risk for various reasons:

The KPFA Evening News, Up Front, Against The Grain, Uprisings Radio, Letters and Politics, Piano, and The Sunday Show.

Their platform says “Restore Local Community Programs.” What this means, in real terms, is returning “Morning Mix” to the 8 am slot, and the elimination of “Uprisings.” UCR tried to de-fund the KPFA News Department during the September 2015 Local Board meeting. They failed; this time they would succeed. This would mean the elimination of both the KPFA Evening News and "Up Front." Larry Bensky would most likely leave if UCR took over, which means the end of "Piano." Sasha Lilley and Philip Maldari have long been in the sights of the leaders of UCR. This time they could succeed in removing them from the airwaves. As for “Letters and Politics,” Mitch Jeserich has long stated that he won’t remain if other programmers are removed for political reasons.

If this is what’s meant by “Rescue KPFA!,” then I think it’s the listeners who will need to be rescued. When the Morning Show was removed in 2010, KPFA's listenership and subscribership severely declined. Many of those listeners never came back. Further schedule disruption in the morning would be disastrous. The odds are good KPFA will never recover. 

As for me, if things break a certain way, I very well might join Bensky and resign – or, of course, I could be removed as well because of my opposition to the leaders of UCR on Facebook. Freedom of speech in social media is not exactly a UCR strong point. Anyway, maybe it's time to do some writing and traveling. 

It's up to you, the listeners.

Richard Wolinsky

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Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio). Opinions and facts alleged on this site belong to the author(s) of the website only and should NOT be assumed to be true or to reflect the editorial stance or policy of the Pacifica Foundation, or any of the five Pacifica Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio), or the opinions of its management, Pacifica National Board, station staff or other listener members.