[Approved]
KPFA 2011 Local Station Board
Regular in-person meeting, May 5, 2012, 11am-4pm
North Berkeley Senior Center
1901 Hearst Ave., Berkeley, CA
Note: An audio archive of this meeting is available at www.kpftx.org/archive.php
Present:
Shahram Aghamir*, Pamela Drake*, Anthony Fest, Sasha Futran, Donald Goldmacher, Conn Hallinan, Matthew Hallinan, Cynthia Johnson*, Janet Kobren, Jack Kurzweil, Henry Norr, Andrea Prichett, Laura Prives*, Tracy Rosenberg, Tanya Russell, Lewis Sawyer, Dan Siegel, Franklin Sterling, Akio Tanaka, Kate Tanaka, Andrea Turner*, Margy Wilkinson, Rych Withers; Craig Alderson (secretary), Barbara Whipperman (treasurer).
*Arrived after roll call.
1. Call to order
Meeting called to order by chair M. Wilkinson at 11:10 am. Wilkinson noted the resignation of program director Carrie Core, thanked her for her service, and wished her well on behalf of the board.
2. Roll call and excusing of members
Moved to excuse M. Burnstein, D. Gans. Approved without objection. The board observed a moment of silence in commemoration of Les Radke.
3. Approve agenda
Moved (A. Prichett) to add Town Hall meeting and Program Council to old business. Agenda approved as amended, without objection.
Moved (J. Kurzweil) for three-minute time limit on speakers. Approved: 11Y, 9N.
4. Minutes
Moved (A. Turner) to adopt minutes of April 7, 2012, meeting, as corrected. Approved without objection.
5. Public comments (in order of speakers)
Ruthann Schpiner, Virginia Browning, Aileen Alfandary, Paula Erkkila
6. Announcements
A. A. Prichett spoke in favor of program Father Figure.
B. F. Sterling announced memory book at station for Les Radke. Provided update on his own court case. Web page: franksterlingsolidarity.wordpress.com.
C. H. Norr announced fundraising event at Occupy the Farm, Gill Tract in Albany, 4pm, Apr. 7.
D. L. Prives reported that fund drive was at $98k with $750k goal. Made plea for phone room volunteers
7. Interim general manager report (A. Phillips)
A. Phillips said he believes Pacifica is on shaky ground. Problems with internal disputes and politics amplified by websites that give out inaccurate information. History of struggle back to Lew Hill at KPFA and Pacifica. Reviewed problems at WBAI in 1970s, 1996 Democracy Now, WBAI “Christmas Coup” in 2002. 200 stations now affiliated with Pacifica. Pacifica stations are content providers; we must push out to millions.
Analyzed pledge numbers. Little change in pledge revenue from 12 months prior to versus after Morning Show cancellation. Bringing back Morning Show would not make significant difference. Al Jazeera brings in no revenue, so in morning lineup we have 3 hours of fundraising now versus 4 in past. Average 6-10am is down 1/3, $390k to $200k. Morning Mix averages $2355/hr, Morning Show averaged $4723/hr from 11/2008-10/2009.
Discussed meetings and proposals to change morning programming. One proposal was to bring in KPFK program 8-9am, but they wanted editorial control and we wanted more local content, so it fell through. Another proposal to move Mitch Jeserich to morning but that would have led to all-male morning. Loud outcry of support for Morning Mix. Management is constantly and unfairly under attack by people closely affiliated with news department. Phillips suggested 6-7am news program, believes successful news program is possible in that slot, but the news department declined. So we are left with status quo and a roadblock.
Phillips said he applied for general manager but currently remains interim; it’s not his intention to stay at KPFA. Carrie Core found it impossible to move forward and left in disgust. Described KPFA as a train wreck, tragedy. He has done his best. There is a lot of dishonest, covert agendas; he’s not going to be pushed around by covert agendas.
No development director since 2004. Cautioned against putting too much emphasis on development. Funds freed from C. Core resignation allowed him to hire development director. Didn’t do open hire because he wanted to hire a woman from inside the station.
8. Treasurer’s report (B. Whipperman)
TR1 lists most commonly used accounts and how they are categorized in Pacifica charts of accounts. Page 7 shows most common 4-digit accounts used by for IT. TR2 reports payments by KPFA and credits received from Pacifica in FY 2010, 2011, and first 7 months of FY 2012. Explanation of these figures begins at 20:20 of part 2 of audio file at www.kpftx.org. [TR3 was also distributed for board review.]
As of April 30 KPFA had $44364 in bank, $38996 in bills. Scary; lowest it’s ever been. We have stability of monthly donors to rely on. We are not given documentation for billbacks. Legal bills must be examined because mistakes have been made. Bottom line appears to show KPFA is nearly paid up but there are still questions about which bills are really ours.
Moved (S. Futran) resolution regarding excessive payments (see attached). Moved (P. Drake) to close debate. Failed: 12Y, 9N.
Substitute motion (S. Aghamir):
Be it resolved that KPFA directors on the PNB present a motion to the PNB calling for the following:
1. The purpose of Pacifica’s payment demands shall be clearly identified;
2. Pacifica shall give proper notifications to the station general managers and business managers prior to any unscheduled attempts to withdraw funds from the bank accounts of local stations in advance of such attempts.
Motion to amend (D. Goldmacher) to add:
3. That the Pacifica Foundation can’t take money out unilaterally. That a schedule of payments be provided well in advance of deductions from KPFA.
4. An audit of the Pacifica Foundation be undertaken if such schedule cannot be provided.
Motion to close debate (A. Turner). Failed: 12Y, 10N. Motion (A. Prichett) to close speakers list after remaining two members spoke. Approved without objection.
Moved (A. Prichett) to divide question of amendment.
Moved (H. Norr) to divide question on #3 of amendment and consider each sentence separately. First sentence (“…take money out unilaterally.”) approved: 11Y, 10N, 1A. Second sentence (“…schedule of payments…”) approved: 13Y, 5N, 2A.
#4 of amendment approved: 12Y (P. Drake, D. Goldmacher, C. Hallinan, M. Hallinan, J. Kurzweil, L. Prives, T. Russell, L. Sawyer, D. Siegel, A. Turner, M. Wilkinson, R. Withers); 11N (S. Aghamir, A. Fest, C. Johnson, J. Kobren, H. Norr, A. Prichett, T. Rosenberg, F. Sterling, A. Tanaka, K. Tanaka).
Moved (A. Prichett) to divide question on main motion as amended. Failed: 9Y, 11N.
Main motion as amended approved: 11Y (P. Drake, D. Goldmacher, C. Hallinan, M. Hallinan, J. Kurzweil, L. Prives, T. Russell, L. Sawyer, D. Siegel, A. Turner, R. Withers); 10N (S. Aghamir, A. Fest, C. Johnson, J. Kobren, H. Norr, A. Prichett, T. Rosenberg, F. Sterling, A. Tanaka, K. Tanaka).
9. Committee reports
A. PNB (D. Siegel, L. Prives, T. Rosenberg)
PNB meeting will be in Berkeley last week of July. PNB voted to sever ties with Jackson Lewis but timeline requires an orderly withdrawal, allowing them to complete work on 3 existing cases. Discussion at last meeting by ED to postpone elections; no conclusion reached. Calif. Corporations Code allows delay in elections of up to 60 days.
B. Development (A. Prichett)
No report.
C. Personnel (C. Hallinan)
C. Hallinan presented report on delay in general manager hiring (attached).
Moved (C. Hallinan): “The KPFA Local Station Board demands that the Pacifica Executive Director choose a candidate from the pool presented to her and return control of KPFA to its staf and listeners.”
On motion of chair, body voted on whether to go into executive session. Failed: 14Y, 3N, 2A.
Moved (D. Goldmacher) to close debate. Failed: 10Y, 9N.
Substitute motion (T. Rosenberg): “The KPFA LSB requests the Pacifica executive director meet with the KPFA LSB at a mutually convenient time in closed session to explain her reasons for not selecting one of the candidates from the pool submitted by the LSB.” Failed: 9Y (S. Aghamir, A. Fest, J. Kobren, H. Norr, A. Prichett, T. Rosenberg, F. Sterling, A. Tanaka, K. Tanaka); 11N (P. Drake, S. Futran, D. Goldmacher, C. Hallinan, M. Hallinan, J. Kurzweil, L. Prives, T. Russell, L. Sawyer, D. Siegel, R. Withers).
Main motion approved: 11Y (P. Drake, S. Futran, D. Goldmacher, C. Hallinan, M. Hallinan, J. Kurzweil, L. Prives, T. Russell, L. Sawyer, D. Siegel, R. Withers); 7N (S. Aghamir, A. Fest, H. Norr, T. Rosenberg, F. Sterling, A. Tanaka, K. Tanaka); 3A (J. Kobren, A. Prichett, M. Wilkinson).
D. Outreach (A. Prichett)
Successful tabling at all 3 days of New Life Expo. Lots of people helped out. Planning on training for new tablers for early June. Next meeting May 8, 2022 Blake, 7pm. Party June 2 for volunteers.
E. Technology (J. Kobren)
Met April 17, no quorum. Motion at April 26 PNB passed that allows committee to operate as task force. Next meeting May 15.
F. Staff
1. CWA (L. Prives)
Motion to go into executive session to discuss issues related to discipline of particular staff members. Approved: 11Y, 4N, 3A.
Adjourned at conclusion of executive session, 3:55pm.
10. KFCF report (R. Withers)
No oral KFCF report was made, but written report submitted to the board is attached.
Respectfully submitted,
Craig Alderson
LSB Secretary