Today’s broadcast of The Final Straw Radio is preempted for hour 1 of the 2024 LSB (Local Station Board) Candidate Forum.
Since 2003, the Pacifica Foundation has been committed to constituting its board of directors and governance from its listener-sponsors and staff members. It does this by holding local elections for listeners and staff members to serve on local station boards in each of the five regions where Pacifica operates radio stations: WPFW in Washington DC, WBAI in New York, KPFT in Houston, KPFK in Los Angeles, and KPFA in Berkeley (serving Northern California). (More info can be found at elections.pacifica.org).
Over a span of 3 hours (11 am to 2 pm), we hear from listeners running to represent you on KPFA’s local station board! This year we have 16 candidates running for 9 seats, so roughly a third of the candidates speak during each of our three hours.
Each hour starts with candidate statements followed by questions jointly drafted by KPFA and Pacifica’s National Election Supervisor, as well as questions from listeners. All candidates in each hour have the chance to answer all questions asked during that hour.
Please note that viewpoints presented are those of the participants; they do not reflect the position of the Pacifica Foundation or KPFA. All participants are required to respect each other and abide by ground rules that the candidates have agreed to in advance. Neither candidates nor listeners calling in are permitted to swear, use derogatory language, or disparage any individuals. As always, KPFA reserves the right to take anyone violating these ground rules off the air immediately.
Each candidate has 90 seconds to make an opening statement. Candidates are able to view a timer on their screen and are alerted when they have 30 seconds left to wrap up. The order of candidates has been randomized (within each hour). After the candidate statements come questions. We do our best to rotate the order of candidates to give each a chance to give their opening statement or answer a question first.
The schedule for LSB Candidates is as follows:
| HOUR | CANDIDATE |
| 11AM-12PM | Christina Huggins |
| 11AM-12PM | Fred Dodsworth |
| 11AM-12PM | Felipe “Phil” Messina |
| 11AM-12PM | Akio Tanaka |
| 11AM-12PM | Stan Woods |
| 12PM-1PM | Steve Kucala |
| 12PM-1PM | Phoebe Thomas (fka Phoebe Sorgen) |
| 12PM-1PM | Zack Kaldveer |
| 12PM-1PM | Pathma Venasithamby |
| 12PM-1PM | Donna C Carter |
| 1PM-2PM | Andrea Turner |
| 1PM-2PM | Virginia Browning |
| 1PM-2PM | Carol Wolfley |
| 1PM-2PM | Colleen Mast |
| 1PM-2PM | Rabab Abdulhadi |