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/