General Manager Report By Quincy McCoy Sept 18th, 2021
The emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant which has propelled a new wave of infections across the country has necessitated federal and state safety agencies to call for businesses with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations against the coronavirus. KPFA’s latest COVID-19 station survey results initiated by our Health and Safety Committee, which consists of union members, unpaid staff, and management reps in consultation with our HR Director Cynthia Dobek, have concluded after analysis of the data and feedback that most of the staff (97%) believe a fully vaccinated workforce creates the safest possible workplace environment.
Our Health and Safety Committee (which is included in the CWA contract) is here to monitor health and safety conditons in the station and to review any complaints around health and safety. We believe that our survey findings will enhance protections, while we manage a gradual re-opening of the building in the future. The Committee will continue to evaluate and update our policy as the pandemic and federal, state, and local guidance evolves. Members of the H&S Committee are Diana Martinez, Chris Lee, Tim Lynch, Mary Tilson, Antonio Ortiz, me and Lucy Kang. More on Lucy in just a few minutes. Our survey results were sent to the staff yesterday. Fortunately for us we our essential workers are already at 97% vaccinated. KPFA will require all essential workers to be vaccinated or show a recent negative test as a condition of entry plus continue to employ our Covid-19 safety rules and protocols. Another concern the survey yielded was our staff wanted information on capacity limits for the building and office spaces inside the station; to reduce possible transmission among workers. We identified work and common areas where employees could have close contact (within 6 feet) for example, the patio, parking lot, the kitchen, and routes of entry and exit. Also, several offices and rooms at the station with no ventilation have been closed to entry and every space has a capacity limit assigned to it. The Maximum Occupancy for the Station is 12 individuals, which we reach infrequently. KPFA’s # of individuals range during the following time periods: Monday to Friday 5-9 am about 2-3 individuals 9am-12 pm about 4-6 individuals 12-2pm about 8-12 individuals (this is the transition period for staff and 12 is very rare) 2-9 pm about 3-5 individuals Saturday and Sundays 6am-7pm about 1-3 individuals at any given time.
Engineering Facility Maintenance: In another effort to improve the air quality inside the station, our aging air-conditioning system that keeps Master Control and other studios operating at an acceptable temperature is finally being replaced this coming week. The cost of the new air conditioning system was $15k. KPFA’s main transmitter experienced fan failure, but we were able to maintain a stable operational temperature and broadcast at full power, however replacement parts were needed. The cost was $2,500. Music mixing console and furniture As we look towards and plan for a future where we can gather safely, we have taken the opportunity to upgrade the music mixing console and accompanying furniture in our Production Control Room. This will allow the Performance Studio to be ready to reopen when the station reopens. The cost was $8,400 for the console and furniture. Monterey KPFA can now be heard on 94.3FM in Monterey, CA. We’ve expanded our reception area by installing a 10-watt translator. We entered a 5 yr. contract with American Tower for $900/month. How’s it works? A translator listens on one signal (94.1 FM) and rebroadcasts it on another (94.3FM).
We have a similar setup in Santa Cruz. Development Department Drive Goal Pledged / Received (% Received) Pledge % of Goal SUMMER 7/20 – 7/30 $300,000 275,168 / 237,168 (86%) 91% POST 7/31 – 8/08 N/A 18,528 / 16,008 (86%;. …. ) N/A
KPFA’s 2021 Summer Fund Drive was, by every measure, a success. While the goal of $300,000 was not quite reached, our 91% pledged percentage is very strong and by extending the drive dates into a ‘soft post-summer drive’ KPFA ultimately narrowed the gap to just about $6,000 short, or only 2%. While the Summer Drive started off slowly, it finished on an extremely strong note – the final day of the drive brought in a whopping $63,500 alone; if not a single day record, certainly one of the best drive days in recent memory. There was a strong push to get donors to donate on-line so we can rely less on expensive call-centers. This was very successful. Most donations were made via KPFA’s website; not only a great cost-saving method, but it also showcased our revamped quick and reliable donation pages. Our reliance on physical premiums has continued to decrease, which obviously allows KPFA to realize more ‘profit’ from donations. We continue to create more ‘digital premiums’ that we draw from curated collections of show archives, event videos and special themed audio collections – Letters and Politics’ “U.S. History Collection” is just one example of the innovative use of in-house resources. These cost the station almost nothing to produce and showcase the uniqueness of KPFA to its fullest. However, donors still respond very well to branded products and the Summer Drive offered some new merchandise. New designs of TShirts, stickers and a limited-edition enamel pin were offered, themed around our campaign of Storytelling for Social Change. These items were immensely popular and will continue to be available during upcoming Fall drive. A donation of 75 seats aboard a luxury cruise ship for Tideline Tours “Cruising Through History” with best-selling author Gary Kamiya was a wonderful experiential premium and that donation raised $12,000. KPFA Awards
One of the most positive aspects to emerge this year for KPFA has been the professional recognition received for the extraordinary work of Lucy Kang, a long-form reporter,producer and contributor to KPFA’s News Dept and UpFront. In March, Lucy acquired an Excellence In Journalism award from the Society for Professional Journalists, of Northern California for her work on the feature-length investigation ‘On the Brink: Homelessness before and during COVID-19’ and most recently, on June 24th, Lucy was awarded the 1st Place recipient of The Public Media Journalist Association’s Award in Enterprise Reporting – garnering national kudos for her feature, ‘Present meets Past at Burning Man. Lucy has also spearheaded KPFA’s Storytelling project since 2018, which has provided training and mentorship of early-career KPFA news journalists, while also offering additional avenues of support, development, and growth for the news reporters within our station. Please join me in congratulating, Lucy, for all the excellent work she does for KPFA.
Big thanks to everyone who helped make KPFA’s broadcast of the Black Women’s Blues Festival last month a success. This was our first “live remote” broadcast with our new digital equipment. We partnered again with our friends at Freight & Salvage and the Berkeley Civic Center Park. Special thanks to our engineering team and all the programmers who participated in making this event special. DEIB Later this fall KPFA is planning to offer a course to help us embed Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging into our workplace environment. It will include a review of policies, recruitment methods, engage everyone in our diversity of thought and increase visibility. Stay tuned for dates and times for the upcoming workshops.
Business News:
Pacifica’s legal costs paid by KPFA’s listener supported funds to date. Eisenberg 58,354.53 Apert, Barr & Grant 43,432.79 Law Suit Total 101,787.32 Apert, Barr & Grant 19,386.46 The Law Firm for Non-Profits 57,031.98 Prop Tax Total 76,418.44 Grand Total 178,205.76 Quincy McCoy General Manager, KPFA Radio