New programs, old squabbles as KPFA turns 60 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/13/MNKJ170BAJ.DTL
Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, April 13, 2009 KPFA-FM will celebrate its 60th birthday this week, and the Berkeley public radio station that was the nation's first listener-supported outlet is still the proudly lefter-than-left Bay Area institution that thinks National Public Radio is too conservative and isn't shy about calling itself "radical." But the station founded by pacifist Lew Hill is still bogged down by behind-the-scenes bickering, a distraction that some say hinders KPFA from reaching more Californians. Still, this week KPFA will introduce new programming that aspires, as interim Program Director Sasha Lilley put it, to "step into the breach" of regional news coverage created by the consolidation of many mainstream publications. The station will begin a statewide 6 p.m. newscast with Pacifica sister station KPFK in Los Angeles, in an effort to link the stories of the financial crisis from around the state. Also this week, it will start KPFA Interactive on its kpfa.org Web site, which Lilley said "will allow listeners to post their audio and video clips, their questions and comments about what is on the air," as well as news about local issues. Never far from a discussion about what's going on at KPFA is a conversation about what's really going on at KPFA. And everybody connected has an opinion. And a theory. Much in the way that the Irish talk about "the Troubles," station employees and supporters still wince when discussing "the crisis" of a decade ago when employees were locked out of the station and dozens were arrested during a dispute with management over creative control. Now, even with the KPFA portion of the Pacifica radio network financially healthy - the station building is debt-free and has a healthy six-figure reserve - KPFA faces a new set of crises. N.Y. station's debt The more immediate one can be traced to the financial problems at WBAI-FM in New York, one of its sister Pacifica stations. WBAI owes the foundation at least $800,000, according to Pacifica's interim chief financial officer, and that could eventually affect KPFA. "If one station is not healthy and is not meeting its obligations," said interim CFO LaVarn Williams, "then funds generated by other stations would have to be used. That isn't happening right now, but it could be really, really soon." Ninety percent of KPFA's budget is supported by listener contributions, and 10 percent comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The longer-term challenges facing KPFA are similar to those facing the mainstream, corporate media. While KPFA's programming is among the most diverse on the dial, its audience isn't much different than the one reading mainstream newspapers: middle-aged, white and middle-class. And shrinking. Boost from Iraq war KPFA saw a spike in listeners during the early days of the Iraq war when audiences were searching for more critical analysis of the Bush administration and news of the anti-war movement. But since then, station management says, an audience of about 200,000 listeners a week has shrunk to about 150,000. And while the progressive blogosphere - including sites such as Daily Kos and Huffington Post - has exploded in the past five years, the listener-supported station described as a progenitor of the interactive progressive media boom has not. "Your target audience is not listening to you," said Larry Bensky, who worked at KPFA for 40 years until retiring two years ago. Bensky said the station's infighting had become "so preoccupying" when he worked there that "my job was getting in the way of my work." Challenges of most media "KPFA is like a lot of media institutions - it is challenged by the sheer number of platforms available to get information," said Matthew Lasar, a UC Santa Cruz lecturer and author of "Uneasy Listening: Pacifica Radio's Civil War." Broadening the audience, particularly among younger listeners, is a challenge at KPFA, said Lilley, the interim program director. "The answer to that is programming," she said. "I don't think the answer is dumbing down our politics or trying to appeal to the center. Our strength is our radicalism. That's why people come to KPFA, because we're providing something they can't provide elsewhere." Change produces protests But while Lilley said the station needs to evolve and bring in new voices, change "is tricky." Any programming change, even to a program with low listenership, brings howls of protest. "The left does need to be an arena where people argue things out in passionate ways," she said. "But KPFA has become a place where change is hard to make." Part of the reason, said author Lasar and others, is that there are fewer progressive, public radio outlets on the dial - and even fewer with the reach of KPFA, which at 94.1 FM can be heard in one-third of California. "If there were five KPFAs, there wouldn't be that problem as much," said morning news show co-host Aimee Allison. Approach to police deaths Still, the core of KPFA is the sort of counter-media-culture style of reporting that has long distinguished it. After the recent shootings of four Oakland police officers, its hosts and news programs extensively reviewed the parole system and gave airtime to the family of Lovelle Mixon, the man accused of the killings, exploring the factors that affected his life. In March 2008, KPFA drew larger-than-usual audiences when it pre-empted its lineup to present three days of coverage of the Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan gathering outside Washington, D.C. There, former U.S. service personnel and Iraqi and Afghan civilians gave their impressions of the war that were far more critical than seen in the mainstream media. In February, KPFA produced a five-part series on the financial meltdown called "Capitalism and its Discontents." Producer's arrest Shadowing these accomplishments is another instance of staff turmoil. In August, Nadra Foster, an unpaid producer at KPFA, was injured by Berkeley police officers after refusing to leave the station. Police say that at least six officers used force on Foster to arrest and remove her. The incident inflamed a divide between the station's many volunteers and its management. Through all of this, the station's on-air staff and its supporters profess a deep bond to the station and to the progressive ideals it aspires to. "It is still the best place to get the progressive slant on the news of the day," said Aileen Alfandary, the news co-director who has worked there 30 years - including the day she was arrested during "the crisis" of 10 years ago for trespassing, as she said with a smile, "at my place of employment." Birthday benefit A KPFA fundraiser featuring "Democracy Now" host Amy Goodman and singer Michelle Shocked will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Berkeley Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. Tickets: $300 single, $500 couple. For more information: e-mail [email protected] or call (510) 848-6767, Ext. 255. -- E-mail Joe Garofoli at [email protected]. . --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. 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