[a repost from www.la.indymedia.org
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008 at 2:54 PM
good sharing of expenses allocation...website some of us would never have found..thanks !!!!
and comments of those of us who never know/ see/write to each other directly, and here, we are = THANKS TO INDY MEDIA as if this were a blogspot.... oh well, maybe it's all we can find in this small city of LA and the hidden-off-to-sponsors-access is KPFK ...
also anyone wanting to look further, check out
http://www.pacificana.org
you can contribute to their 'forum' as well
and even if we dont learn much about KPFK directly
from the main players [and they are playing with our money, our radio station, our access to participation of our sponsorship..... it is the only other site I can find.
who knows more ?
(C) maryjanie 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
KPFK's mother, Pacifica is showing signs of economic...strain?
[this is a repost from
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/layoffs-in-pacifica-including-me/
and Indymedia article
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/11/221818.php
Pacifica is doing it's own elimination of good staffers and most of KPFK's subscribers have no idea of what is going on...what is happening to our [we pay for it] stations?
[This is a repost from Pacificana.org site that is the only place that has information silenced out of Los Angeles about the "sisterhood" of 5 USA radio stations - as it is so called, a "sisterhood" even if the whole set does not act as in the feminine-nurturing-relationships that most women do respond- called Pacifica.
A few good persons have been laid off, =meaning fired, sent away, eliminated = on the easy excuse of "economics" which may not be all that meets the listeners' and readers' ears. And KPFK isteners know nothing about what is happening that affects Our Local Station in Los Angeles - because of continual wash-outs , blank-outs, dead-sound-spaces, cover-ups, or no-transparency-at-all.
It is here reproduced to let all other subscribers/ volunteers also be informed ...since KPFK is rather akwardly silent about it's internal workings and conflicts and dysfunctioining...sadly so.
If anyone else has heard about this on KPFK on-air waves, please let us all know if possible, when it was stated or talked about so we who cannot listen 24/7 any more may give some credit to the radio station - for sharing some vital information - which is for what we pay our pledges repeatedly.
But...If no one else has heard about this either, let us all make it known that
WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR STATIONs,
to hear it on air with more than a mere 1x brief airing, if that. Otehrewise, denials, avoidances, excuses and dissimulations are no longer acceptable. ]
See website listed below for a comment to the author below if anyone wants to add one to him on his website.
"Layoffs in Pacifica, including me
22 October 2008, 3:21 pm
Filed under: Pacifica written by Nathan Moore
[was] Pacifica's network programming coordinator
It is with some sadness that I write this blog post. I have been laid off from Pacifica. Effective last week, the National Programming Coordinator position was eliminated due to budget hardship.
On October 6th, while on paternity leave with my new daughter, I received a registered letter from Pacifica CFO Lonnie Hicks officially informing me of the Board-approved reduction in force. Lonnie writes in part “This is a very bad situation for all concerned and I am truly sorry to be the one to bring this bad news.” Finances are so bad, evidently, that no severance pay or COBRA coverage was offered to those of us laid off.
I am not, of course, the only person being laid off in this period of hardship for Pacifica. Four others in National Office alone were laid off, several others saw their hours much reduced, and the network has not hired a new HR Director or Executive Director yet - saving those salary costs, whether intentional or not. The hardship isn’t just limited to National Office. WBAI is currently undergoing layoffs, and supposedly layoffs will also be happening at KPFK in the coming weeks.
It’s a period of contraction at Pacifica. I understand that it is necessary at this time. Although, of course, it’s never fun to be one of those on the cut list.
But beyond the difficulty this brings to my personal situation, the cuts would seem to break up what modest accomplishments I and others had made toward network building, cooperation, and growth. Lacking finances and political will, it was sometimes a struggle to wrangle those changes, but we managed to make some things happen.
Stations were talking to each other, were working together, were carrying a bit more of each others’ programming. In spite of tight/no budgets, we were producing an ambitious lineup of high-quality national specials. I feel like we were laying the groundwork for growth.
But now that work ceases, and I have to mourn some.
I mourn for the five Pacifica stations, seemingly destined to be scattered and isolated, most of them beset by internecine fighting that hampers creativity of production and growth of listenership.
I mourn for the scores of affiliate stations that yearn for Pacifica to be more, to reliably produce exceptional national programming that can only be achieved when resources are pooled.
I mourn for Pacifica’s long and storied history that has manifested into too much stagnancy and too little creativity; that has failed so far to make itself relevant to younger generations, like my generation, such that its future might be more assured.
I mourn for progressives and radicals, that in Pacifica have a media institution with such tremendous potential to effect social change, but that has realized only a fraction of it.
Pacifica will go on in some fashion. It has survived past crises, and it always goes on. And I sincerely hope it can rebuild sooner than later. Unfortunately, Pacifica governance decisions are made very slowly (if at all), and I haven’t heard of any plans to actually grow finances. In this era, when the media landscape itself is changing significantly, I hope Pacifica can find its way forward.
But it seems it won’t include me. In all likelihood, this is my last blog post here, but I’ll leave the blog up for future reference.
In the meantime, I’m off to go find some work. All the best."
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/layoffs-in-pacifica-including-me/
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/layoffs-in-pacifica-including-me/
and Indymedia article
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/11/221818.php
Pacifica is doing it's own elimination of good staffers and most of KPFK's subscribers have no idea of what is going on...what is happening to our [we pay for it] stations?
[This is a repost from Pacificana.org site that is the only place that has information silenced out of Los Angeles about the "sisterhood" of 5 USA radio stations - as it is so called, a "sisterhood" even if the whole set does not act as in the feminine-nurturing-relationships that most women do respond- called Pacifica.
A few good persons have been laid off, =meaning fired, sent away, eliminated = on the easy excuse of "economics" which may not be all that meets the listeners' and readers' ears. And KPFK isteners know nothing about what is happening that affects Our Local Station in Los Angeles - because of continual wash-outs , blank-outs, dead-sound-spaces, cover-ups, or no-transparency-at-all.
It is here reproduced to let all other subscribers/ volunteers also be informed ...since KPFK is rather akwardly silent about it's internal workings and conflicts and dysfunctioining...sadly so.
If anyone else has heard about this on KPFK on-air waves, please let us all know if possible, when it was stated or talked about so we who cannot listen 24/7 any more may give some credit to the radio station - for sharing some vital information - which is for what we pay our pledges repeatedly.
But...If no one else has heard about this either, let us all make it known that
WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR STATIONs,
to hear it on air with more than a mere 1x brief airing, if that. Otehrewise, denials, avoidances, excuses and dissimulations are no longer acceptable. ]
See website listed below for a comment to the author below if anyone wants to add one to him on his website.
"Layoffs in Pacifica, including me
22 October 2008, 3:21 pm
Filed under: Pacifica written by Nathan Moore
[was] Pacifica's network programming coordinator
It is with some sadness that I write this blog post. I have been laid off from Pacifica. Effective last week, the National Programming Coordinator position was eliminated due to budget hardship.
On October 6th, while on paternity leave with my new daughter, I received a registered letter from Pacifica CFO Lonnie Hicks officially informing me of the Board-approved reduction in force. Lonnie writes in part “This is a very bad situation for all concerned and I am truly sorry to be the one to bring this bad news.” Finances are so bad, evidently, that no severance pay or COBRA coverage was offered to those of us laid off.
I am not, of course, the only person being laid off in this period of hardship for Pacifica. Four others in National Office alone were laid off, several others saw their hours much reduced, and the network has not hired a new HR Director or Executive Director yet - saving those salary costs, whether intentional or not. The hardship isn’t just limited to National Office. WBAI is currently undergoing layoffs, and supposedly layoffs will also be happening at KPFK in the coming weeks.
It’s a period of contraction at Pacifica. I understand that it is necessary at this time. Although, of course, it’s never fun to be one of those on the cut list.
But beyond the difficulty this brings to my personal situation, the cuts would seem to break up what modest accomplishments I and others had made toward network building, cooperation, and growth. Lacking finances and political will, it was sometimes a struggle to wrangle those changes, but we managed to make some things happen.
Stations were talking to each other, were working together, were carrying a bit more of each others’ programming. In spite of tight/no budgets, we were producing an ambitious lineup of high-quality national specials. I feel like we were laying the groundwork for growth.
But now that work ceases, and I have to mourn some.
I mourn for the five Pacifica stations, seemingly destined to be scattered and isolated, most of them beset by internecine fighting that hampers creativity of production and growth of listenership.
I mourn for the scores of affiliate stations that yearn for Pacifica to be more, to reliably produce exceptional national programming that can only be achieved when resources are pooled.
I mourn for Pacifica’s long and storied history that has manifested into too much stagnancy and too little creativity; that has failed so far to make itself relevant to younger generations, like my generation, such that its future might be more assured.
I mourn for progressives and radicals, that in Pacifica have a media institution with such tremendous potential to effect social change, but that has realized only a fraction of it.
Pacifica will go on in some fashion. It has survived past crises, and it always goes on. And I sincerely hope it can rebuild sooner than later. Unfortunately, Pacifica governance decisions are made very slowly (if at all), and I haven’t heard of any plans to actually grow finances. In this era, when the media landscape itself is changing significantly, I hope Pacifica can find its way forward.
But it seems it won’t include me. In all likelihood, this is my last blog post here, but I’ll leave the blog up for future reference.
In the meantime, I’m off to go find some work. All the best."
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/layoffs-in-pacifica-including-me/
KPFK's hub called Pacifica is eliminating selected staff...why ?
[this is a repost from an Indymedia post
=http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/11/221819.php and
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/nicole-sawayas-departure-letter-from-p...]
Pacifica is KPFK's coordinating central source, and it's recent Executive Director has ALSO been eliminated....what is going on ??? Who decides who stays and who goes? Who is benefitting from these firings? And why does KPFK keep silent about it ?
[This is another re-post from the website listed below that I just discovered, which informed me that there are some unexplained and unannounced actions being taken in non-transparent silence apparently.
Has any KPFK listener heard about this on air ? And was more or even the information below given ? And can you share with us all when it might have been aired, if at all, so we can find archives to listen to it also ourselves ?
Share what you know. Many of us who care tremendously know nothing until we stumble on a vital piece of news...accidentally. That is not what KPFK represents itself to be acting as = a hider, denier, avoider and broken black box of scrambled encryptions.
Did you know all this before ?]
"Nicole Sawaya’s departure letter from Pacifica, September 2008 pm Filed under: News & Culture, Pacifica ...Nicole's letter here in full....
September 24, 2008
To: Pacifica National Board, Local Station Boards, All management and staff, Affiliate stations, collaborators, and stakeholders in Pacifica
Fr: Nicole Sawaya, executive director/CEO
On August 3rd I gave notice to the Pacifica Board that I would be leaving. September 30th (end of our fiscal year) will be my last day. Concurrently, I had written myself out of the FY09 budget, as the Foundation is hard-pressed to support two well-paid executives. You lead from the top.
Lew Hill is the founder of Pacifica, now almost a 60 year old non-profit media organization. If I could have a conversation with anyone to explain my departure, it would be with Lew Hill. So, I decided to write him a letter.
Feel free to read it, and to share with others who care about Pacifica. All I ask is that this preface always accompany the letter as it sets the context.
I thank you for the opportunity to serve!
Peace.
********************
September 23, 2008
Dear Lew Hill,
Greetings. My name is Nicole Sawaya, and currently, I’m the executive director and chief executive of the radio endeavor you started called Pacifica. It’s changed a lot.
You wouldn’t believe what your “killer app”, as some might portray it in 21st century lexicon, has spawned. Now there are 5 stations licensed to Pacifica in densely populated and roiling urban areas – millions of human beings within ear shot, all with easy access to the cheapest and most accessible broadcast mediums on the planet, radio. Yes, the planet.
There is an Archive of programming and folios spanning decades – a repository and collection of voices that truly belongs to the people as part of the history of our country and the world. And, there are over a hundred smaller stations scattered through rural and urban settings — cities and towns and ridge tops — affiliated with Pacifica and broadcasting our programming – a network that has been in place for quite awhile.
Beyond that, your notion that the listeners would voluntarily financially support radio, journalism and cultural exchange, created a model for many, many non-commercial educational radio stations to apply. Your vision of public ownership of the airwaves put into practice with the radio license you applied for and grew as the first non-profit community licensee station, gained great traction and has been replicated exponentially.
We don’t exchange The Subscriber radios anymore for pledges, and you wouldn’t recognize how the fundraising marathons have changed – it’s a bit like an on-air shopping experience. But listeners continue to support us voluntarily with their hard earned money, and they’re not necessarily just bound to radios to listen to us.
An aside: When I was (briefly) general manager of your first station, KPFA, there was a Subscriber radio in the office, but it was tucked away and dusty. When I discovered it, soon after taking the job, I was so excited to learn of its history. It completely inspired me as Pacifica was heading to its 50th anniversary. So elegant, so innovative for its time, so smart.
Mr. Hill, what you conceived has had one of the highest impacts in media history. Not just the staunch belief in listener support, but your notions that journalistic enterprises should remain unfettered from any sort of business support in order to maintain credibility; that to help in striving for a more peaceful and just world, radio (or what we now refer to as media) programming should give access to myriad viewpoints and in-depth news, coupled with an exposure to the arts and to cultures and happenings from all over the world; that innovation is vital, have all lived on. You were a pioneer.
Fast forward to today.
Our country is at war. Our government is a death machine abroad and a fear machine at home. Our broadcast media is, in general, mind-numbingly useless, filled with shameless propagandists and completely profit driven. The earth’s climate is changing radically and the gap between rich and poor is larger than the Grand Canyon, with by far the larger group on the poor end. I could go on, but it would take a while.
Your Pacifica is showing signs of stress as well.
Sadly, it is no longer focused on service to the listeners but absorbed with itself and the inhabitants therein. I call it Planet Pacifica, a term I coined during my hiring process. There is an underlying culture of grievance coupled with entitlement, and its governance structure is dysfunctional.
The by-laws of the organization have opened it up to tremendous abuse, creating the opportunity for cronyism, factionalism, and faux democracy, with the result of challenging all yet helping nothing. Pacifica has been made so flat, that it is concave – no leadership is possible without an enormous struggle through the inertia that committees and collectives and STV’s (no, not sexually transmitted viruses, but single transferable votes) can engender.
Pacifica calls itself a movement, yet currently it is behaves like a jobs program, a cult, or a social service agency. And oftentimes, the loudest and most obstreperous have the privilege of the microphone. There are endless meetings of committees and “task forces”– mostly on the phone – where people just like to hear themselves talk.
Sometimes they get lucrative contracts from their grandstanding. It’s been grueling for someone in my position, someone like me who is not a process person, much less a political gamer. I keep asking: what’s the endgame? Paralysis has set in, coupled with organizational drift.
The programming isn’t attracting many listeners anymore, either. It skews towards the narrow in its editorial stance, leans towards the niche, and change to the programming can’t occur without a fight. The listening audience is small, in other words, the stations have yet to grow into their large signals.
Business practices are oftentimes shoddy and opaque and mirror the culture of our times – lots of self-interest with a focus on individual needs as opposed to performance, affordability, or the common good. And we’ve hit some tough economic times without having the general will to do the hard work necessary in order to ensure sustainability – contracting rather than continually expanding the size of our financial obligations.
Basically, resources and airtime have been allocated for internal political purposes at the expense of service to audience, innovation, or the care and feeding of our broadcast physical infrastructure. Some of this has to do with the fact that very few people either on air or off air actually have radio experience, other than being part of Pacifica.
That was not the case with you, nor is it with me.
Conversely, there are many dedicated and smart people working within Pacifica. They may not work at full speed – it is rather “comfortable” especially for those who work unsupervised – but they make a consistent effort to give voice to the voiceless and hold government and power accountable. And those who work without self-interest or giving constant grief to management (a four-letter word in Pacifica) are to be applauded.
The overall media landscape has changed fundamentally. I find it exciting and wanted very much to bring Pacifica into the 21st century. The demographic of our country has changed as well, not to mention all the new generations now active and alert to the world around them. It is, to quote Victor Hugo, the best of times and the worst of times. Apparently, it’s always been like that.
Pacifica could take advantage of technology, both at the front end (content and programming) and the back end (infrastructure and business applications), but that would require the general will of the internal stakeholders, and that general will is not cohesive enough or even amenable to altering the status quo.
I have given notice and will be leaving Pacifica shortly. Despite my best intentions and determined and focused efforts, I was continually thwarted to do the job I was hired to do. I did my best to apply my knowledge, expertise, and creativity to Pacifica, and we made some forward progress.
I gave to those responsible for the governance and oversight, plans, clarity, and transparency. They cannot deny knowledge of the state of the network. Whether they act on it, or just call in consultants to tell them what time it is, is another issue. I tried to dispel magical thinking in all arenas and was relentless in my attempts to get some best practices and collaborations in place.
I had some success.
It’s not necessary for me to alliterate those successes. Despite being handed an enfeebled situation and having no resources to work with, I gave it my best shot and worked hard. And despite having to fight for every inch of standing, not to mention authority, I have enjoyed working with those who actually work and accomplish bona fide deliverables of consequence and service.
We stand now on the shoulders of hundreds, if not thousands of those who have contributed internally. And Pacifica is much loved and valued by its listener supporters. Pacifica will carry on, and it has been a challenging opportunity to, albeit briefly, help out.
I hope that all stakeholders remember that Pacifica is a public trust, a veritable weapon of mass information, and keep a big vision in play rather than petty politics.
Thanks for being a bold and brave broadcaster.
With much respect,
Nicole"
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/nicole-sawayas-departure-letter-from-p...
=http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/11/221819.php and
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/nicole-sawayas-departure-letter-from-p...]
Pacifica is KPFK's coordinating central source, and it's recent Executive Director has ALSO been eliminated....what is going on ??? Who decides who stays and who goes? Who is benefitting from these firings? And why does KPFK keep silent about it ?
[This is another re-post from the website listed below that I just discovered, which informed me that there are some unexplained and unannounced actions being taken in non-transparent silence apparently.
Has any KPFK listener heard about this on air ? And was more or even the information below given ? And can you share with us all when it might have been aired, if at all, so we can find archives to listen to it also ourselves ?
Share what you know. Many of us who care tremendously know nothing until we stumble on a vital piece of news...accidentally. That is not what KPFK represents itself to be acting as = a hider, denier, avoider and broken black box of scrambled encryptions.
Did you know all this before ?]
"Nicole Sawaya’s departure letter from Pacifica, September 2008 pm Filed under: News & Culture, Pacifica ...Nicole's letter here in full....
September 24, 2008
To: Pacifica National Board, Local Station Boards, All management and staff, Affiliate stations, collaborators, and stakeholders in Pacifica
Fr: Nicole Sawaya, executive director/CEO
On August 3rd I gave notice to the Pacifica Board that I would be leaving. September 30th (end of our fiscal year) will be my last day. Concurrently, I had written myself out of the FY09 budget, as the Foundation is hard-pressed to support two well-paid executives. You lead from the top.
Lew Hill is the founder of Pacifica, now almost a 60 year old non-profit media organization. If I could have a conversation with anyone to explain my departure, it would be with Lew Hill. So, I decided to write him a letter.
Feel free to read it, and to share with others who care about Pacifica. All I ask is that this preface always accompany the letter as it sets the context.
I thank you for the opportunity to serve!
Peace.
********************
September 23, 2008
Dear Lew Hill,
Greetings. My name is Nicole Sawaya, and currently, I’m the executive director and chief executive of the radio endeavor you started called Pacifica. It’s changed a lot.
You wouldn’t believe what your “killer app”, as some might portray it in 21st century lexicon, has spawned. Now there are 5 stations licensed to Pacifica in densely populated and roiling urban areas – millions of human beings within ear shot, all with easy access to the cheapest and most accessible broadcast mediums on the planet, radio. Yes, the planet.
There is an Archive of programming and folios spanning decades – a repository and collection of voices that truly belongs to the people as part of the history of our country and the world. And, there are over a hundred smaller stations scattered through rural and urban settings — cities and towns and ridge tops — affiliated with Pacifica and broadcasting our programming – a network that has been in place for quite awhile.
Beyond that, your notion that the listeners would voluntarily financially support radio, journalism and cultural exchange, created a model for many, many non-commercial educational radio stations to apply. Your vision of public ownership of the airwaves put into practice with the radio license you applied for and grew as the first non-profit community licensee station, gained great traction and has been replicated exponentially.
We don’t exchange The Subscriber radios anymore for pledges, and you wouldn’t recognize how the fundraising marathons have changed – it’s a bit like an on-air shopping experience. But listeners continue to support us voluntarily with their hard earned money, and they’re not necessarily just bound to radios to listen to us.
An aside: When I was (briefly) general manager of your first station, KPFA, there was a Subscriber radio in the office, but it was tucked away and dusty. When I discovered it, soon after taking the job, I was so excited to learn of its history. It completely inspired me as Pacifica was heading to its 50th anniversary. So elegant, so innovative for its time, so smart.
Mr. Hill, what you conceived has had one of the highest impacts in media history. Not just the staunch belief in listener support, but your notions that journalistic enterprises should remain unfettered from any sort of business support in order to maintain credibility; that to help in striving for a more peaceful and just world, radio (or what we now refer to as media) programming should give access to myriad viewpoints and in-depth news, coupled with an exposure to the arts and to cultures and happenings from all over the world; that innovation is vital, have all lived on. You were a pioneer.
Fast forward to today.
Our country is at war. Our government is a death machine abroad and a fear machine at home. Our broadcast media is, in general, mind-numbingly useless, filled with shameless propagandists and completely profit driven. The earth’s climate is changing radically and the gap between rich and poor is larger than the Grand Canyon, with by far the larger group on the poor end. I could go on, but it would take a while.
Your Pacifica is showing signs of stress as well.
Sadly, it is no longer focused on service to the listeners but absorbed with itself and the inhabitants therein. I call it Planet Pacifica, a term I coined during my hiring process. There is an underlying culture of grievance coupled with entitlement, and its governance structure is dysfunctional.
The by-laws of the organization have opened it up to tremendous abuse, creating the opportunity for cronyism, factionalism, and faux democracy, with the result of challenging all yet helping nothing. Pacifica has been made so flat, that it is concave – no leadership is possible without an enormous struggle through the inertia that committees and collectives and STV’s (no, not sexually transmitted viruses, but single transferable votes) can engender.
Pacifica calls itself a movement, yet currently it is behaves like a jobs program, a cult, or a social service agency. And oftentimes, the loudest and most obstreperous have the privilege of the microphone. There are endless meetings of committees and “task forces”– mostly on the phone – where people just like to hear themselves talk.
Sometimes they get lucrative contracts from their grandstanding. It’s been grueling for someone in my position, someone like me who is not a process person, much less a political gamer. I keep asking: what’s the endgame? Paralysis has set in, coupled with organizational drift.
The programming isn’t attracting many listeners anymore, either. It skews towards the narrow in its editorial stance, leans towards the niche, and change to the programming can’t occur without a fight. The listening audience is small, in other words, the stations have yet to grow into their large signals.
Business practices are oftentimes shoddy and opaque and mirror the culture of our times – lots of self-interest with a focus on individual needs as opposed to performance, affordability, or the common good. And we’ve hit some tough economic times without having the general will to do the hard work necessary in order to ensure sustainability – contracting rather than continually expanding the size of our financial obligations.
Basically, resources and airtime have been allocated for internal political purposes at the expense of service to audience, innovation, or the care and feeding of our broadcast physical infrastructure. Some of this has to do with the fact that very few people either on air or off air actually have radio experience, other than being part of Pacifica.
That was not the case with you, nor is it with me.
Conversely, there are many dedicated and smart people working within Pacifica. They may not work at full speed – it is rather “comfortable” especially for those who work unsupervised – but they make a consistent effort to give voice to the voiceless and hold government and power accountable. And those who work without self-interest or giving constant grief to management (a four-letter word in Pacifica) are to be applauded.
The overall media landscape has changed fundamentally. I find it exciting and wanted very much to bring Pacifica into the 21st century. The demographic of our country has changed as well, not to mention all the new generations now active and alert to the world around them. It is, to quote Victor Hugo, the best of times and the worst of times. Apparently, it’s always been like that.
Pacifica could take advantage of technology, both at the front end (content and programming) and the back end (infrastructure and business applications), but that would require the general will of the internal stakeholders, and that general will is not cohesive enough or even amenable to altering the status quo.
I have given notice and will be leaving Pacifica shortly. Despite my best intentions and determined and focused efforts, I was continually thwarted to do the job I was hired to do. I did my best to apply my knowledge, expertise, and creativity to Pacifica, and we made some forward progress.
I gave to those responsible for the governance and oversight, plans, clarity, and transparency. They cannot deny knowledge of the state of the network. Whether they act on it, or just call in consultants to tell them what time it is, is another issue. I tried to dispel magical thinking in all arenas and was relentless in my attempts to get some best practices and collaborations in place.
I had some success.
It’s not necessary for me to alliterate those successes. Despite being handed an enfeebled situation and having no resources to work with, I gave it my best shot and worked hard. And despite having to fight for every inch of standing, not to mention authority, I have enjoyed working with those who actually work and accomplish bona fide deliverables of consequence and service.
We stand now on the shoulders of hundreds, if not thousands of those who have contributed internally. And Pacifica is much loved and valued by its listener supporters. Pacifica will carry on, and it has been a challenging opportunity to, albeit briefly, help out.
I hope that all stakeholders remember that Pacifica is a public trust, a veritable weapon of mass information, and keep a big vision in play rather than petty politics.
Thanks for being a bold and brave broadcaster.
With much respect,
Nicole"
pacificaradio.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/nicole-sawayas-departure-letter-from-p...
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