NOTES: Unpaid Staff Meeting 12-16-14

MINUTES

UPSO Meeting, 12-16-2014, KPFA Conference Room

Next Meeting: 01-13-2015, 7 pm

Attending: Ann Garrison* “Weekend News”, Tim Lynch* “Dead to the World”, Kate Raphael “Womens Magazine”, Clay Leander “Radio Cuba Canto”, Steve Zeltzer “Work Week Radio”, Anthony Fest “Weekend News” “Project Censored Show”, Adrienne Lauby* “Pushing Limits”

(*UPSO Council Member)

We had a productive meeting with many practical ideas. My only regret was not being part of the apprenticeship program because they were having a lotta laughs at a holiday party down the hall. I wrote the notes below. Adrienne

RESOLUTIONS

1) Resolution on KPFB Development: The UPSO Council and membership requests full participation in the formulation of all policies for KPFB’s development and asks that these policies be developed quickly. Passed unanimously.

2) Resolution on Program Evaluations: The Unpaid Staff Organization membership and its elected Council have asked for routine evaluations for a long time. We support the basic concept. To get feedback and to clarify the process for unpaid staff members, we would like a presentation and discussion on management’s announced evaluation strategy and procedure in an open evening unpaid staff meeting. Passed with 6 Ayes, 1 No, 0 Abstentions

COMMUNICATION ITEMS

---There is a way to tag, describe and upload photos for your program on the current KPFA website. You can do it from home. If you do it enough in advance, the show content will be tweeted out. Contact Miguel Guerrero for a password and training.
mguerrero@kpfa.org


---Kate Raphael reported that she uploads audio for use by the news to the KPFA drop box and that Aileen Alfandary usually uses it in her news reports. Contact engineering for directions for the drop box engineering@kpfa.org and then tell the news that your audio is available, news@kpfa.org.

OTHER TOPICS

We took less formal actions after discussion on these topics:

1) Protest Coverage—a list of practical and procedural changes that would improve this:

a. Call an emergency meeting of all producers to gather ideas and make plans.

b. Promote new energy with on-air call outs for a Mobile Protest Team.

c. Curate live streams that are happening around the U.S. for KPFA’s live stream channel and promote on air.

d. Make a clear policy to encourage programmers to make room for live cell phone reports from demonstrations and protests.

e. Set up a Google Doc where people could coordinate live coverage of the protests and protest-related guests.

f. Promote advance agreement for parameters for pre-emptions.

g. We need more local programming in the Morning – The Morning Mix had the local connections.

h. Sponsor a local event about the protests and raise money during it.

(see below for more discussion of this issue)

2) The New KPFA Website – It is coming. There has not been enough collaboration with unpaid staff. We need a volunteer immediately to coordinate feedback and follow up with Quincy. (see below for more discussion of this issue)

3) UPSO Election for new Council Members – We have been working on the voter list. The deadline for candidates will be sometime in January. In the meantime, we will begin a “telephone/e-mail tree” of contacting unpaid staff. Each of us agreed to talk to three people and ask them to reach out to three more.

4) KPFB: Would unpaid programmers like to give audio for a 2-12 hr “Best Of Ferguson Coverage” program on KPFB? If enough are interested, Adrienne and Steve will help coordinate.

KPFB currently is testing new programming on weekends with commitments for up to 12 hours on two days, mostly produced by folks currently or formerly with the Apprenticeship program. We don’t know if it is broadcast from the KPFB website.

Opening the KPFB license to new programming will need some attention to formalized management structures, curating (choosing) the programs and marketing KPFB. Clay Leander has skills in areas that may affect the license.

5) Communication with Managers: We are concerned that Quincy, our General Manager, has not held a staff meeting since he took the job. We have repeatedly asked that he hold regular monthly evening meetings. We are advocating that Quincy and Laura, as Program Director, meet and talk with all programmers before evaluations begin. There are also some complaints about routine communication – answering phone calls and e-mails. We will send management a letter about this. We invited Laura and Quincy to this meeting and did not get even a courtesy response.

6) The Fund drive is not going well. We will encourage the use of social networks on Wednesday (done)


IN-DEPTH WEBSITE DISCUSSION:

A stunning lack of people responded to the survey on new website, possibly only six. The website is going beta almost immediately. It is a tribute to our alienation and a missed opportunity for unpaid staff.

Some deeper problems that relate to a new website design:

1) Traffic to a website is often driven by breaking news. KPFA News doesn’t do that very well but some programs do produce reports that could be featured and drive traffic. There should be a way to highlight discrete news segments of 3 to 6 minutes on the website. We need to develop a local news collective.

2) The website is currently used to promote some shows and not others.

3) The staff doesn’t use the technology that is available now. Many shows do not promote their programs, even by labeling their archives.

4) The protests around Ferguson are an opportunity to use and promote an interactive website.

5) The unpaid staff programs are our own intellectual property. KPFA has a right of first air.

6) It would be great to have national programming sites which collect programs from all Pacifica stations and affiliates under topic areas, like women, labor, geographic area

7) Unpaid staff need workshops on social media skills, especially twitter. We would like some professional development, four hour unpaid staff workshops. The results need to be integrated on the website.

8) We will look for an unpaid liaison for communication around the website design.

IN-DEPTH PROTEST COVERAGE DISCUSSION:

Slow start but gotten better. Some people wanted us to do 24 hr protest coverage, wall to wall but Kate wants quality not quantity. DN!, MSMBC all had similar guests. Kate liked the broadcast of a Catalyst event with some long time activists who compared and analyzed this uprising. KPFA was slow to understand what was coming. The management didn’t prepare for the announcement from the Grand Jury. Missed opportunity for multi media. We could have used our stream to rebroadcast other streams and publicize them. Needed more strategic thinking and planning.

Thousands of people this weekend rallied. Raising money is not counter to coverage of protests. It doesn’t see like the news department is up on all the other media coverage.

When the news broke, KPFT was better than KPFA. We played a pre-recorded show with Walter Turner.

We are watching a movement before our eyes, national, local, grassroots. The Berkeley City Council is having two meetings, large ones in response. Issues of police brutality, institutional racism, city government funding and oversight of police. This is an opportunity to cover the issue in the long term.

There is a turf problem with everyone having a program and others have no ability to get into the broadcast. Pre-emptions need to happen in advance in the current system; which is not flexible for breaking events. Some of us are putting the same people on, even on the same day.

The demonstration passed right by the door the night of the grand jury acquittal. 4 news people went out and joined the protest. Could their reports have been put on the air? Anthony was one of the people but didn’t see a way to get it on the air—we don’t have the processes. In the day time, Kate thought her program would be pre-empted. Laura, the program director, e-mailed eveyone the 2nd or 3rd day saying that people should call in and prepared to put people on the air.

When Occupy SF was raided, Kate called the station from inside the protest encampment and tried to call into a program. It was a guest host for Dead to the World and he didn’t feel like he could put the call on the air.

Ann Garrison's article on KPFA’s response:

No Indictment for Darren Wilson? Why Not Preempt and Throw Open the Phones?

December 2, 2014

By Ann Garrison, KPFA Unpaid Staff Council Member and Reporter/Producer

KPFA listeners seemed confused and disappointed when the station failed to preempt programming and broadcast live after the St. Louis District Attorney’s announcement that the Grand Jury would not indict Officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown.

I tuned into KPFA myself, right after watching the St. Louis District Attorney’s press conference on C-Span, and was surprised to hear the regularly scheduled programming, Africa Today, with Walter Turner without any Ferguson coverage. I went back to switching between MSNBC’s outrage and Fox News’s celebration.

It later occurred to me that if Walter Turner’s show had been live, Walter would have been commenting on what had just happened, so the show must have been pre-recorded. I also thought that, though I can’t claim to know Walter well, he most certainly would have understood if his pre-recorded show had been preempted for live broadcasting.

I didn’t otherwise have a strong opinion about what KPFA should have been doing right after the press conference. I just knew I wasn’t interested in what it was doing. Women’s Magazine host Kate Raphael remarked later that she and a friend had been driving around, trying to figure out where a protest would be forming, and they were surprised when they weren’t able to tune into KPFA and find out.

That sounded right. News of where protestors were gathering seems to be the minimum KPFA listeners should be able to expect. Reporters or simply callers dialing in from the protests would have added value, and a video livestream like that arranged during the Block the Boat demonstrations would have been even better.

Former KPFA GM and WBAI PD Andrew Leslie Phillips nailed it, though, when he wrote, on a social media site, that “KPFA should have preempted and opened the phones. It’s a no brainer. It’s what radio does best.”

Of course. People were emotional and/or in shock, even though very few had expected an indictment. They would want to call in and hear others calling in and feel like KPFA was a community. I myself turned to Facebook and Twitter for a sense of community, as I switched TV channels between MSNBC and Fox talking heads and livestreams from Ferguson, but I felt like something was missing: KPFA. I would have liked to hear the phones thrown open and that would have been enough to assure that the location of protests gathering around the Bay would have been called in.

Andrew also wrote that, “Management are often intimidated by staff – but when program managers make intelligent, news-generated decisions, staff understand. It’s not about staff or unions, it’s about serving listeners. Preempting programs invigorates the air. It’s almost always good radio. And Pacifica should be out in front on this.”

He’s absolutely right. Never mind that he’s on the Save KPFA side, I’m on the UCR side, or whatever else. Who cares? He nailed it. “KPFA should have preempted and opened the phones . . . it’s a no-brainer. It’s what radio does best.” I’ve always respected Andrew’s radio artistry and most always respected his programming judgment.

I don’t know why KPFA barely responded during the first days after the St. Louis Grand Jury decision and don’t care. I just hope something that feels like community radio comes together next time, as it did after George Zimmerman’s acquittal, and during the Block the Boat for Gaza demonstrations at the Port of Oakland. KPFA should feel proud to have played a role in the Block the Boat for Gaza organizing success that was reported by news outlets around the world, including Israel’s.

Notes: UPSO Membership Meeting, 7-15-14

ATTENDANCE:  In attendance:  Al Glenn, Marissa Ortega-Welch, Adrienne Lauby,  Ann Garrison, Tim Lynch, Clay Leander, Joy Moore.  (Though not all at once; Joy wasn't free to come till near the end of the meeting.)  Also later, Carol Wolfley, from the Community Advisory Board, which is asking the UPSO to co-sponsor an outreach event in September.  Carol did not vote on either of the two resolutions passed.

At the opening of the meeting, only four UPSO members were present, so we began by asking ourselves whether or not the UPSO was still a viable organization.   Ann asked how many people had taken the time to vote in the last UPSO Council election, in which Adrienne, Ann, Tim,  Shahram Aghamir and David Gans were elected.   (David Gans resigned some months ago, saying he was not temperamentally suited to serve and family urgencies have kept Shahram from participating as much as he would like.)  Adrienne thought that approximately 100 unpaid staff members, slightly less than half, had voted last time.

Adrienne said that the new KPFA GM, Quincy McCoy, had apologized for being unable to attend, but said that Tuesday was his wife's birthday and he was taking her out to dinner.   Quincy McCoy's new e-address is q@kpfa.org.

By the time the meeting ended, most of those in attendance agreed that it had involved a very interesting exchange of information, even though only 7 attended. Ann particularly thanked Al Glenn for attending and sharing his many years of KPFA experience, which included serving on the last Program Council.  Glenn has been an UPSO member since 2000 as one of the rotating hosts of Showcase from 12 midnight to 2 am on Wednesday nights.

UPSO ELECTION:  On the subject of elections, it was noted that we are now out of compliance with our own by-laws because we haven't managed to hold another election in the prescribed time..  Adrienne acknowledged that management of the UPSO Council's business had all fallen on her shoulders and said that it had finally become more than she could do to get the election organized without more help. 

Ann and Tim acknowledged that most of the management of the UPSO Council - scheduling and announcing meetings, organizing responses to workplace complaints submitted to the Council, creation of the UPSO blog, etc. - had fallen to Adrienne and thanked her for keeping us going.

Adrienne asked each UPSO Councilor to find one volunteer willing to serve on the UPSO elections committee, so we can get that done.  There was also a suggestion that we amend the by-laws, so that UPSO Councilors serve more than one year, so we don't have to keep holding the elections.  It is possible that the UPSO election and LSB election will be somehow combined and/or conducted online.

RESOLUTION TO RESTORE THE MORNING MIX TO ITS 8 AM HOUR:  Those present passed a resolution to restore the Morning Mix to its 8:00 am hour. The vote was 3 to 1, with Ann, Adrienne and Clay voting in favor, Tim voting against, and Al and Marissa abstaining.  Joy Moore arrived later, after the vote on restoring The Morning Mix to the am.  Tim asked first that Adrienne recuse herself as a Morning Mix host, but Adrienne pointed out that she had not been a regular Mix host for at least a year.  Tim also asked that the low attendance at the meeting and two abstentions be noted as they have been.

Tim argued that it was divisive for UPSO to take a position on this change and that the organization should not play a role in programming decisions.    Ann, Clay and Adrienne argued that it was a significant loss of unpaid staff input to prime time and the communities we work with are affected by that loss.  Also that our resolution of last January laid out a process for program changes that was not followed in this case.  It was a short discussion because most of us knew what we thought and weren’t likely to change our minds.

RESOLUTION

The Unpaid Staff Organization opposes the elimination of the "Morning Mix."  This was a program segment that brought a significant contribution to local community programming and information vitally needed in the morning prime time slot.

It has also received broad support in the communities that KPFA/Pacific serves.

This precipitous action also violated the transparent and democratic process that the UPSO called for in December of 2013 with the KPFA management.  We now call for the present new manager to rescind the action to terminate the "Morning Mix" and develop a collaborative relationship with the Unpaid Staff Organization.  

Yes: 3

No:1

Abstain: 2

DISCUSSION OF AUTOMATION OF THE PHONE ROOM:  We had a fascinating discussion of the phone room automation, with most objecting heartily to the plan, much as those who have responded when we threw the issue out on the list.   We did not pass a resolution, but agreed that we would raise the issue on the list, as we did, then print up and package the responses to deliver to the new General Manager, Quincy McCoy.

DECISION TO CO-SPONSOR AN OUTREACH MEETING WITH THE COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD (CAB) IN SEPTEMBER: We agreed to co-sponsor an outreach meeting with the Community Advisory Board in September.  Part of the idea is to create an event in which producers can speak directly with members of the community.  The Apprentices are also co-sponsoring.

Tim asked why the invitation to co-sponsor had not been issued to the entire staff. Ann said that there is no entire staff organization that an invitation could be issued to, only UPSO and the CWA. Carol Wolfley from the Community Advisory Board said that she would like to contact paid staff but found them somewhat intimidating because of her interaction with them at LSB meetings.  Tim encouraged Carol to contact any members of the paid staff to ask them to co-sponsor and participate as well. 

FASCINATING  CONVERSATION ABOUT KPFA HISTORY:  This more free form conversation at the end began when Al Glenn, who hadn't said much, was about to leave and Ann asked him to stay a bit longer and tell us about his history with KPFA.  He has quite a lot of history, having been a rotating host on Showcase since 2000. 

Al said, among other things, that radio is a very intimate medium, and the personal touch created in the phone room during fund drives is very important. He also said that he felt the Program Council had served a vital advisory role when he was on it.  Advisory, not decisive, but important.  Clay Leander said that if a decision like replacing the Morning Mix with syndicated programming from LA had come before the Program Council when he himself served on it, they would have discussed it for weeks before making a recommendation and would have spoken to many staff and listeners. 

We also talked about possibly having some kind of event where staff could talk about the communities they live in because we are all part of various circles of concern in the Bay Area and that is part of what we all bring to KPFA, whether we are music, arts or public affairs programmers.  Clay Leander shared that he lives in Martinez, which is home to two of the oil refineries in the East Bay Oil Refinery Corridor: Tesoro and Royal Dutch Shell.  Tesoro is refining Bakken shale oil coming into Kinder Morgan's Richmond rail yard from North Dakota.  Royal Dutch Shell is refining tar sands oil also coming into Richmond by rail, from Canada. 

Notes: UPSO Council Meeting 2-11-14

Attending:  Ruthanne Shpiner, Clay Leander, Adrienne Lauby, Tim Lynch, Steve Zeltzer, Adrienne Lauby (notes)


General Discussion:
Good to have the Video Stream on KPFA website. Appreciation to Steve Zeltzer.  Veolia Bus Company Forum this week was excellent.  Simulcast- 600 people on line during Pete Seeger.  Great event.  It would be good to use this live streaming channel more.

Tim reports that the Grateful Dead Day looks to be raising $38,000. Hooray!  The fund drive in general seems to be doing okay.

Clay’s seen a marked difference in the visibility of work by UPSO at the station.  He’s been glad to see it somewhat unhooked from the factionalism of the local and national boards, and hopes we will build on that.


TOPICS:
1. New Manager
2.  Statement on Program Changes
3.  Use of Production Studio
4.  UPSO Council and Program Council Elections.


1.  New Manager: In October the Local Station Board sent 4 names of candidates that they would approve to the Executive Director of Pacifica.  No response from the Exec. Dir., Summer Reese.  Richard Pirodsky is managing half time in L.A. now.

We agree to send letter to Summer asking for progress and indicating our desire to have a manager. We’ll remind her of our resolution asking that management hold a monthly staff meeting.  We will Cc:  New Pacifica National Board chair, Margy Wilkinson.  Adrienne will draft

2.   Statement on Program Changes.  We will bring it into a meeting with the new manager.

Clay reports on his work on it at the December Local Station Board Meeting:

He read the statement into the record.  There was a good deal of discussion around the program changes.  The unpaid staff statement helped with the context.  Miguel Molina also spoke to the need for Pacifica to expand their programming with diversity in mind.  Richard Pirodsky, the interim manager, presented his point of view.  There were other statements, (one from music programmers?) No silver bullet of an answer, but people are talking about the need to make changes.  There was also discussion of the Pacifica National Board’s Resolution requiring Program Councils at all stations.

Clay:  It’s UPSO’s job, due to our by-laws, to elect Program Council representatives, so we are ready to help with program changes.

3.  Use of the Production Studio.  Michael Yoshida has said that new producers who wish to use this studio will have to ‘hang around a couple of years’ until we get to know them and they can be vetted as accountable.  As an alternative, producers can come in through the Apprenticeship program or other programming groups.   Adrienne objects strongly to this policy.  It is too high a barrier for new producers and keeps us from bringing new and exciting people and ideas to KPFA.   She is working with two people who currently have a problem using the studio.  If she cannot help them, she’ll bring it back next month.

4.  UPSO Council and Program Council Elections.
Current Election Supervisors Committee: Shahram Aghamir,  Adrienne Lauby, David Landau (Alternate)
-- We’ll start the election process this month.
-- We need a couple more members to staff the election supervisor committee.  Adrienne is resigning because she wants to run again.  Anthony Fest will help some.
-- Electronic Balloting.  The by-laws require mailed ballots.  Adrienne will offer a by-law amendment to allow electronic ballots in the next election.  Discussion:  It would be most secure if it were an in-station system.  The cost is compelling and there are vague objections for all the usual reasons.
-- Tim and Adrienne plan to run again.  Ann feels like it is too much work.   Still time for people to change their minds.

We will send a notice to the unpaid staff announcing the elections, soliciting candidates, election supervisors, and by-law amendments.  It will set out a tentative time line.
Adrienne will draft.

Everyone will asked friends and colleagues to join the election supervisors committee and run for the Council and Program Council.

Meeting adjourned with mutual appreciations in less than an hour.

Notes: Emergency UPSO Membership Meeting Jan 2, 2014

This meeting was called to address concerns about Richard Pirodsky's proposed changes in the programming grid.*

(1^st half of meeting, in Performance Studio; 7:00 – 8:00)

Attending: Adrienne Lauby (Pushing Limits), Anthony Fest (Morning Mix), 

Shahram Aghamir (Voices of the Middle East and North Africa), Sarah 

Blanco, (apprentice) Jeannine Etter (Chocolate Octave), Pedro Reyes 

(Setting the Standard), Miguel Molina (La Onda and Flashpoints en Espanol), 

Kazmi Tori & Steve Zeltzer (Work Week Radio), Frank Sterling (Apprentice 

program), Kate Raphael (Women's Mag), Preeti Shekar (APEX Express), 

David Gans & Tim Lynch (Dead to the World), Clay Leander (Radio Cuba 

Canta), Mary Tilson (America's Back 40), Emmit Powell (Gospel Experience), 

Joel Sachs (engineer), Carla West (News reporter), Rickey Vincent (History 

of Funk), Jae Michael (Sports reporting),  Bonnie Simmons (The Bonnie 

Simmons Show). (Notes by Anthony)

Adrienne (facilitating): the first question to address is, do we want to do something?

Miguel Molina: when I first heard of the changes, they were already supposed to be a done deal; I resent that.....   the unpaid staff are treated as second-class citizens....  yes, there do need to be changes to the grid, because California has changed so much; we should've changed ten years ago...  but I'm looking for transparency in the process, and an understanding of the programs and programmers... for example, La Onda Bajita is on Friday nights because that's pay day night in our community. . .  shopping night and cruising night... also, that's a frequent time for checkpoint stops, and we announce those on-air when we find out about them... another example: how can an elder like Avotcja be moved to midnight??

Rickey Vincent: I endorse Miguel's comments... by the way, even before 1999, there were efforts at KPFA to segregate talk from music... later, we diversified with Hard Knock Radio; now, some people seem to want to un-diversify.   Anyway, the grid is not the reason that fundraising is down.   And this process has been terrible, such as having a staff meeting just before Christmas.

Adrienne: does anyone want to speak to the contrary? (i.e. that unpaid staff should not act)

Tim: yeah, the process was clumsy and the timing sucked, but there was nothing set in stone.  People on Facebook were talking about their shows without consideration of the greater good of KPFA.  The way people are talking now, it might take a year or two to change the schedule... can KPFA be managed??  I don't think democracy has served KPFA well. 

Adrienne: let's take a straw poll on this: do we want to protest this management action in some way, as a group?

Count: 13 yes, 5 no, 4 abstain

Jeannine Etter: let's see something that would work – let's not just protest what we don't like.

Emmit Powell: let's pull together.

Shahram: yes, the grid has to change... but soon another GM will be here – then will the grid change again?  that's too disruptive.

Frank Sterling: we need to know how Richard made his decisions; what criteria did he use – hourly fundraising?   anything else?     and there should've been a report to the listeners.

Kate Raphael: there should've been input from programmers, so let's do that now: what's important to us as programmers (e.g. time slots)?    and we have to look at race, too... that is the reason the previous GM is out.

David Gans: Richard has communicated extensively about this, e.g. email communications to various programmers.

Bonnie Simmons: we're not doing a very good job, at the moment, of serving the audience.

Steve Zeltzer: I don't like the flow of information here [i.e. the lack of information to staff]; it's unprofessional and unhealthy. Maybe Richard thought about the grid a lot, but he should've consulted the programmers.  Let's have more local shows, not more syndicated shows. And we need to keep some weekend Public Affairs shows, to serve working people who can't listen daytimes during the week.  We can use KPFB for the syndicated shows.

Kozmi Tori: I was waiting to hear Richard's vision, but he never explained it; all he wants to do is move shows around. Maybe if we understood his vision, we'd agree with it...

Jae Michael: for Richard, it was about bringing in more money.

Jeannine: more people should show some leadership.  if changing the grid isn't the answer, let's hear other ideas for raising funds.

Mary Tilson: when I first heard of this, I was outraged. But as I learned more about it, I became more positive. I think the proposed new grid would be a good starting point.

Jae Michael: there is prejudice going on here: who does the music, at night? mostly people of color.  who does the news, during the day?  nearly all white people.

Clay Leander: UPSO representatives (Council & Election Committee) should do their part to present Program Council representatives for the unpaid staff.  I call on the Council to choose representatives.

(2^nd  half of meeting, in Conference Room: 8:00 – 9:15)

Adrienne: what points of unity do we have now?

 --- that the process was flawed

Rickey Vincent: yes
Pedro Reyes: a process needs to be open, so people will know what's happening;  secrecy discourages unpaid staff from participating.

 --- that there should be monthly staff meetings.

 --- that there should be on-air GM reports to the listeners.

 --- keep the 8 am hour for local programming; use KPFB to try out new shows (including syndicated shows)

 --- (Clay) there should be published procedures on how to do programming changes

 --- an UPSO committee to create programming proposals (e.g. an alternative grid)

(comments, continued)

Shahram: this reshuffle might not actually raise any additional funds; it would be wiser to add more off-air fundraising.    Also, it's odd that Richard's proposed grid put disparate shows into the same hour of the day (e.g. health shows and Project Censored)

Rickey Vincent: yes... it may be a false premise to think that there's more funds to be raised by rearranging the grid

Anthony: there should be changes to the grid, but there's no need to hurry it; the sky is not falling on  KPFA.   Nearly every other community radio station would be glad to have our problem of  “only” $3 million annual revenue.

Clay: whether or not the grid changes, there's got to be promotion, and we don't do that well.

Pedro: Richard's plan is not just a rearrangement of shows; my show (and Spliff's) will be canceled.

Ann:  keep the Morning Mix... and improve it.

Rickey: there should be better integration of the Apprenticeship Program with KPFA shows.

Adrienne:  who would like to volunteer to work on next steps?

         Kate, Steve Z, Jae Michael, Anthony, Tim, Pedro Reyes, Sara Blanco, Adrienne

Adrienne: we have three UPSO Council members present, so let's take a vote on whether to support the list of action items:

vote:  Adrienne - yes     Ann Garrison - yes     Tim Lynch - no   

Action Items:

Write up the things we agree upon.

Do a survey of unpaid staff.

Meet with Richard Pirodsky to discuss these issues.

*(Richard Pirodsky, 12-24-13, https://www.kpfa.org/system/files/updated_schedule_changes_12-24.pdf)

Notes: UPSO Membership Meeting 10-17-13

Present:  Adrienne Lauby, Gabriella Wilson, Ann Garrison, Eddie Ytuarte, Anthony Fest, Emmit Powell, Shahram Aghamir, Lisa Dettmer, Carla West, and Tim Lynch.

Guest: KPFA Interim General Manager Richard Pirodsky

1) KPFB

2) Program Councils

3) Program Changes at KPFA

4) Hiring

5) Pacifica Investigation at KPFA

6) Fund Drive

1)   KPFB.  Richard says that KPFA needs a "feeder station," that would try out programs that might be given time on KFPA if they appear to be successful.  He has never been at a station that didn't have any way to regularly try out and improve new programming before it came to the grid.  At this point, however, he said there's no open slot to put a new show on KPFA.    KPFB is a radio station, not just a repeater.  “…to just repeat KPFA programs is a waste of the frequency.”  It originally covered areas around Berkeley that KPFA could not reach but, due to technical advances, KPFA now reaches those areas.  (Michael Yoshida is doing a study of that to be sure.)

Richard described an experience with a situation similar to his plans for KPFB at college stations, where turnover was far more frequent, as students graduated and moved on.  The station he was talking about covered the campus and the vicinity around the campus.

KPFB will impose two very strict limitations.

    **KPFA does not have the revenue to pay people on KPFB.

    **It will have to be pre-recorded, because live production studio space isn't available

Otherwise, Richard said, it gives us a chance to experiment with programming. It will have its own web stream and be promoted on KPFA.  It wasn't clear whether it would have it's own website as well. Richard has asked a LSB Task Force, with both caucuses represented, to consider KPFB.

There was general excitement about the idea of KPFB programming.

Eddie Ytuarte asked, "How much does it cost to run the station?"

Richard said:  Nothing more.  It will mean no addition to the budget.

Someone asked if it will be on 24 hours?   The only answer for now was that only the Berkeley City Council and School Board meetings are on the KPFB schedule separate from KPFA at this time.

Gabrielle Wilson did not want to see KPFB ghettoized as, she said, most programmers of color are currently at KPFA.

Question (Adrienne): will this new use of KPFB have to wait until there's a Program Council?

Answer: not necessarily; we could at least solicit applications, e.g. the Strike Debt group has already asked for a show.

2)  PROGRAM COUNCILS:   Richard said that, the PNB has passed a general rule that every station must have a Program Council but let the individual stations define their structure and responsibilities.   The Program Council needs to represent both caucuses on the LSB.   Uncertainty remains about who will have the authority to approve programming.

The LSB Task Force, with representatives from both caucuses, will come to a consensus as to what a Program Council at KPFA should consist of in response to the resolution by the Pacifica National Board.

Tim Lynch said that the LSB should not have any role in programming, that it should have only a governance role.

Richard said that a member of the LSB has already suggested that the Program Director should propose programming, the Program Council should dispose (decide), and if there's a deadlock between the two, the LSB should break the deadlock.

Richard strongly believes we need good program evaluation.  The only data that can currently be collected about audience or enthusiasm are the number of hits on the website and $$ raised during pledge.

Richard said we need better metrics.

3)  PROGRAM CHANGES AT KPFA?

What strategies are we using for making choices?

Richard:  There's a very slow turnover process for KPFA.

Richard: There has never been strategic thinking here about scheduling; I wanted to do some, but thought I should talk to the LSB about it. I did, and discovered that neither caucus wanted to see changes.    Also, changes ought to be done soon after a pledge drive, but we won't be doing them when the present drive ends tomorrow... so the next time to do it would be after the December drive – but I will be leaving by then.   Interviews for a permanent GM are underway this week (and I'm not a candidate for the permanent job).

4) HIRING

Lisa asked when the GM hire will be made.  Richard said that that members of the committee said they're interviewing this week, and that they will present a short list to the LSB.

Richard himself did not apply and said that he was brought in specifically to make sure the investigation was conducted fairly and that Pacifica National had promised to get him out of there before long.

Question:  Have hiring committees been formed for the Board Op and Phone Room jobs?   Richard: no.... I'm not sure what the process is.

There are other hires in the works. . . Board Op and Fund Drive Coordinator/Volunteer Coordinator. The Board Op job is union.  The other is half time non-union.  (see KPFA website>About>Jobs for details)  UPSO usually has a representative on these hiring committees.   Eddie Ytuarte volunteered to serve on the GM hire committee.   Richard says he is unable to find any written, established procedure regarding hiring committees, so this seems to be up in the air, but he was not opposed.

5)  PACIFICA INVESTIGATION AT KPFA

Any outcomes besides JR being banned?   One unpaid staff person got an apology.  There were other recommendations.   Whether or not to move on the recommendations is up to the LSB and the Executive Director.

Richard: I haven't seen the investigator's report, but there was a list of recommendations passed out to LSB members (during executive session).

Shahram: the recommendations were very general.

Gabrielle: if nothing is shared with staff, how will KPFA learn anything from this??

Gabrielle Wilson mentioned the double standard that led to former Program Director Sasha Lilly banning Youth Radio on KPFA, because a Youth Radio programmer allowed the "f" word to be said over the airwaves.  Youth Radio went national and opened a big office in Downtown Oakland and went down as a big missed opportunity for KPFA to have played a role in nurturing it to its national audience and prominence..   Sasha Lilly, as co-host of Against the Grain, let the f-word onto KPFA airwaves in a pre-recorded segment, in which it could have been caught, but was never disciplined in any way, much less banned.

Others present agreed that this is an example of the double standards that they had been hoping the grievance process would address but, so far, has failed to.

Shahram said that the only evidence of a formal resolution of grievances against Andrew was a statement in the summary sent to the LSB, saying that he had not handled personnel issues properly.

Richard said that Pacifica's insurance company had insisted on the investigation to reduce the costly litigiousness at KPFA and had said they would not insure Pacifica any longer if they did it.  Richard also said that if the costly lawsuits at KPFA decreased as a result, then the investigation would be considered a success.

UPSO RESOLUTION:  We request a copy of the page and a half summary of the investigator’s conclusions.  Resolution Passed. 

In favor:  5

Abstained: 2

Opposed:  1    

Support came from the sense that many unpaid staff cooperated with the investigation and listener money paid for it.  Support also came from those who want to learn the lessons so as not to repeat them.

Opposition was due to possible liability issues, that KPFA airs too much dirty laundry, and that distributing the summary of the report to the UPSO would make it public information.

6)  FUND DRIVE

Widely agreed that the fund drive has been going on too long.  Might make goal if tomorrow's a good day, but might not.  (At that point, Thursday evening, it was at $610,000. and it ended the next day at $671,000.)   Richard: This drive has been going for about 24 days now... even though it's short of its goal, it can't be extended.

Richard: some programmers haven't changed their approach to fund drives, to reflect what we're learned by experience or from Goal Busters.  For example, nobody likes a long pitch at the end of a show, but some programmers are still doing their pledge-drive shows that way.

Richard said that National (the board?  the office?) has told him that KPFA must make its goals.

Notes by:

Ann Garrison

Independent Journalist,

SKYPE: Ann Garrison, Oakland

415-503-7487

Notes: Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO) Council Meeting 9-12-13

Attending:  Ann Garrison*, Steve Zeltzer, Adrienne Lauby*

(*Council members)

This meeting replaced the meeting planned for Sept. 10 after only one person attended that meeting.  Due to the low turn out and lack of quorum among the Council Members, the meeting was information exchange only

1)  Steve noted that we have asked the KPFA managers to hold all staff meetings, with a meeting in the evening when unpaid staff can come, on at least a bi-monthly schedule.  These meetings have not happened since May/June.  We agreed to write Richard Pirodsky and remind him of our resolution.

2)  Adrienne and Ann talked about the difficulty of keeping UPSO functioning when most of the council members are not able to come to meetings or take on tasks between meetings.  There is no method in our by-laws for requiring attendance.  We could ask one person to resign in favor of the next runner up in the last election.  If there are two vacancies, we have to hold a special election. 

3)   Steve requested that the Unpaid Local Station Board (LSB) representatives give regular reports on their work on the LSB.  This is required by our by-laws.  We will schedule this for the next meeting and ask our representatives to report.  They are David Gans, Shahram Aghamir, Joy Moore & Frank Sterling.

4)   Our next meeting is Tuesday, Oct 8 at 7 pm and it is our quarterly membership meeting which is held in the Performance Studio at KPFA. 

We would like the major topic of discussion to be Richard Pirodsky’s initiative to open KPFB to a new programming schedule.  We will invite him to give a brief description of what is possible and open the floor for discussion.

These are also possible agenda topics for the membership meeting:  A)  Would we like a written policy on pre-emptions?  How much notice should a programmer generally have?  B)  Why are we not allowed to tell listeners an event is “free”?  Is this a reasonable interpretation of the law governing non-commercial radio?  C)  The strain on the UPSO organization due to non-participation.  D) New and very strict “Sensitive Language” policy.

Adrienne will send a copy of the new stricter policy to the unpaid staff list.

Meeting ended at 8:07

Following the meeting, this letter was sent to the KPFA manager.

Hi Richard,

We would like to have some focus at the next Unpaid Staff Organization meeting on the possibility of opening KPFB up for new programming.  Would you join us at our next meeting for this discussion?   Tues, Oct 8, 7 pm in the KPFA Performance Room.

We would also like to know where the policy against saying "free" in event announcements originated and what was the rationale behind it.

Finally, as I think you know, the Unpaid Staff Organization has asked you to hold all staff meetings on at least a bi-monthly schedule.  These meetings are long overdue.   Would you please
schedule a meeting where the unpaid staff can learn what is going on at the station and express our thoughts and opinions?  (Our resolution on this is below.)

Thank you.  I look forward to a positive discussion about this exciting new schedule for KPFB on Oct. 8.

Adrienne
cc: UPSO Council Members

5-14-13:  We affirm our February 13, 2012 resolution calling on KPFA managers to hold regular all-staff meetings on, at least, a bi-monthly schedule.

Additionally, we note KPFA's long-standing tradition of two meetings, with one in the morning to accommodate those who work in the building during the business hours and one in the evening to accommodate those who work elsewhere.  We call for both afternoon and evening meetings whenever there is an all-staff meeting.

Notes: Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO) Council Meeting, 8-13-13

Attending:  Afrykahn Jamal Dayvs, Ruthanne Shpiner, Ann Garrison*, Adrienne Lauby*

     1.  Information Exchange 

          A.   66% of the staff at WBAI were laid off last Friday.  Andrew Philips has moved to that station as the new program director.  There is a recording of the program Andrew did with Summer Reese announcing these changes on WBAI.

               “Letters and Politics” and "Against the Grain" are being piped into WBAI, "Letters and Politics" for the 5 pm hour. This, the Pacifica Foundation's physical presence here, and Andrew's recent tenure at KPFA, has led to some angry members of the WBAI community calling this a California coup.  “Guns and Butter” has been playing on WBAI for awhile and seems to be popular.  KPFA plays Richard Wolff’s show, “Economic Update”, which is produced at WBAI. Some discussion about the WBAI News department.  This is what WBAI listeners seem most stressed about.  We had some discussion about whether management was expecting a volunteer newcast to come together and whether or not that was even possible, but had no answers to either question. 

          B.  Adrienne says the UPSO workshops will return soon but only one every other month. There are people who want to lead them and topics people have said they want.  But, she needs help to produce them every month

2.      Unpaid Staff Expenses
Afrykahn (with Doug Edwards at first and then alone) has done 71 live broadcasts. Either from studio or within the community.  We talked about how possible it might be to get some financial help from KPFA with this effort.

3.      Underwriting at KPFA?
Richard Pirodsky has said at an UPSO meeting that Pacifica has to do underwriting.  KPFT already has some underwriting.

Discussion:
Ruthanne vehemently opposes any underwriting, she cites “The Revolution will Not be Funded.” African is not sure but sees it leaning toward advertising, which is not our mission statement.  It would depend on what kind of business it is.

See Richard Wolinsky's e-mail below.  He opposes it with very specific reasoning.

Ann:  At the top of every hour, KPFA should make a 15 second plug for membership, outside of fund drive and try to raise money this way before going to underwriting.

Adrienne:  KPFA’s income is $1.5 million a year.  Couldn’t we live within that budget?  We should try other ways to raise money.  Looking at KQED and NPR gives me a big distaste for this.  But, some unpaid staff have said they think we should consider it and that has kept me having an open mind.

We all feel very negative to underwriting by big corporations.

Going Forward:  Get the other Council Members to give their opinion on this and bring it up at the October Membership meeting.

4.      Input on Program Changes

 Richard Pirodsky talked to the Local Station Board about beginning to use KPFB as a radio station. There are also rumors of program changes.  We should consider how the unpaid staff can be part of these decisions.  Adrienne suggests a Taskforce.

5.   KPFA's Staff Culture
Energy should go toward creating a gathering of everyone.  The level of participation is low.   Do we have all these different cliques?  When that happens in an organization, it leads to this lack of energy.   It feels like there are not a great deal of interest in this group and this meeting.  Afrykahn: The culture of KPFA is that I don’t know many people and not many people know me.   I see a lot of e-mails espousing what is their point of view but there is no camaraderie.  There have been racist incidents recently but I didn’t see any information from UPSO.  Before we can have discussions about underwriting and other issues we need to know whose who and what’s what. 

There is agreement about the problem.  It's not something UPSO can solve on its own.  Afrykahn points to the list in the post box area and how out of date that is-- his name isn't even there and he's been soloing on a show for three years.

Those on the call spend some time getting to know each other.

6.  Richard Wolinsky on Underwriting

Underwriting means several things. It means underwriting of particular programs; it means general station underwriting, with the occasional on-air thank you.

The first problem with specific program underwriting is that, in essence, the programmer is advertising the name of the underwriter, and by doing so, in essence, serves as its spokesperson. Most programmers are unpaid and they will now be unpaid advertisers for people who make money. I resent that. If I am working as an outside contractor for another organization, I want to be paid for my time and efforts. The second problem is that individual program underwriting puts some pressure on the programmer to conform with the underwriter in order to maintain the underwriting. Obviously this is the reason why KPFA has generally had no corporate underwriting. Back in the 1970s, some programs were created under matching grant proposals by government entities. These programs did have individual foundation (not corporate, though they might be corporate foundations like the Ford Foundation) underwriting, but they were for specific projects which had applied for grants and which were broadcast once the grants were complete. This is very different from ongoing underwriting. The slope for underwriting, particularly corporate underwriting, is extremely slippery for individual programs.

If people do want individual program underwriting in which the programmer (or a cart) must announce prior or after the show about the underwriting, then I want to be paid by the underwriting, then (1) Pacifica turns into something else; and (2) I want to be paid for my work, as should everyone doing programming that has corporate underwriting. I volunteer my time to KPFA. I do not volunteer my time to either the Ford Foundation or Ford Motor Company. Their executives make money off me; screw 'em. This is particularly important for me because my program would be one of the programs most likely to receive underwriting (via publishing houses).

There's also the notion that an ad on the KPFA website, for instance, from Amazon, would be a direct slap in the face to local booksellers, as well as all brick and mortar stores that Amazon competes with. And Amazon certainly has the money to underwrite programming.

If we're talking about Foundation grants, and we're talking about a development director writing up grants that not only pay for the program but also pay the programmer, my opposition softens. But there still remains some kind of slippery slope, the pressure from management for the programmer to spend the time and effort, year after year, trying to find funding for his or her show. That's the commercial world, of course, and it runs counter to the idea that we're working for the love of working. Now we're doing administrative chores.

Notes by Adrienne

* UPSO Council Members