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THE NEW WEBSITE FOR CONCERNED MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS OF WPFW IS:
THEPEOPLEFORWPFW.COM.
seriously, have you listened to the content of this station? Morons followed by morons. Static is more interesting.
Could / would? You have not seen the lease, have you? So this all conjecture on your part with no facts to support your thoughts. Also, the sky may fall tomorrow the 23rd so watch out Henny-Penny–the mind is a terrible thing to waste!!!
VICTORY!!! COMMUNITY SECURES EXTENSION AT CURRENT SITE UNTIL JUNE 30… CLEAR CHANNEL LEASE ALL BUT DEAD…STATION TO REMAIN IN WASHINGTON, DC.
THIS IS A LETTER FROM L. MICHELLE PRICE, CONSULTANT SENT BY PACIFICA FOUNDATIONS RADIO, TO ASSIST WPFW IN THE RELOCATION CRISIS. IT WAS READ AT THE 4/18 TOWN HALL MEETING AT PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
***
To the friends and supporters of WPFW.
Firstly I would like to allay any concerns about who I am, where I come from and why I am here. I have spent the last 20 years working as a broadcast manager, and have managed radio stations, worked to set-up new stations, fix ailing stations and relocate existing stations – in many cities across the US and Canada in both the commercial and non-profit sector.
I am not an employee from the National office of Pacifica. My company was recently contracted by your Executive Director, Summer Reese and the National office, because of their commitment to keep WPFW on the air and to get the station settled as quickly as possible. I do not have any local affiliations with any staffers, board members or real estate properties. I have only one agenda and that is to keep WPFW on the air as a live, functioning radio station as we efficently, quickly, and gracefully exit it’s current location.
With that said I would like to address the following concerns:
1. Will the station be homeless on May 1? – NO! We have initiated a three armed approach to make sure that this does not happen:
1. We are working to extend the deadline with the current landlord for 60 days to give us enough time to gracefully exist the building.
2. We have located short term space that will house the station for the May 1 deadline.
3. With the help of volunteers, staff and supporters the move has already begun with the packing, boxing and planning for our future move.
2. Will the station air long term “canned programming”? NO! – We have already started the planning to have studios set up in our temporary location so that while the station is on the air in its current location, the temporary studios will be getting set up. If all goes well, you will not notice the location switch on air. If there is a technical problem, you may hear some amazing jazz programming for a few hours while we correct the problem. Again, we are already in the planning proccess to keep the amazing live programming up and running, on the station during the transition.
3. What are the long term plans? – With the help of DC Mayor Vince Gray, the relocation committee and several dedicated board members and supporters have been on the hunt for a long term location. We have have some top contenders for the long term move. Which will be discusses at a later date. In my search for the station’s temporary and permanent home my goal is to have the station in a place that is befitting of the passion of all of you. The staff, producers, programmers and volunteers have long deserved a location fit for the amazing efforts that they have put into the sound of WPFW. Each member of this team is planning for a station that looks as good as it sounds. So be excited about both the immediate move and long term location. Again, our immediate focus is on getting the station safely settled in an immediate location that each of you will be proud of and will represent the best what WPFW has to offer even in this short term.
4. What is happening with the Silver Spring location?- As you hear this, the national office is working to get out of this deal. Your concerns have been heard and addressed.
In closing I would like to add that I was not familiar with WPFW before I was contacted about helping in it’s relocation, but I want to end by saying that, I have never worked with a more passionate group of people than the WPFW family. My commitment to you is: barring a natural or man-made disaster…..
You will not go off of the air or be on the street on May 1, 2013!
Blessings to each of you.
L. Michelle Price
Hi Michelle —
I think it would be great to post this important update on the station’s website and Facebook page.
Each Friday there is a station update at 12 noon. Those who can’t listen during the workday have no way of finding out what’s going on with the station’s existence.
I’ve worked in the turnaround business for a long time. One of the factors in a successful turnaround is to “over-communicate” with stakeholders. Keep them in the loop and engaged.
So please keep the updates coming, hopefully in a place where listeners can find them without have to Google “WPFW update”.
Thanks,
Melissa Craig
paid-up member
PS All you folks who listen but don’t pay — surely you can afford $10 a month to keep the station. How ’bout it?
i wish you much luck—you are dealing with folks, in my opinion, who refuse to accept the facts on the wall–declining listners, declining contributions, changing demographics , and wish to maintain the status-quo which is NOT working. Thank you.
Did one ever consider the possibility that donations declined because of the unanswered questions about where they were going, and that changing demographics do not necessarily affect the station’s mission? Perhaps a better measure of the station’s importance and the strength of its listenership would be to examine the response by the listenership when it realized exactly what has been happening. Naysayers need not apply.
Programmers, staff (paid and unpaid), volunteers, and listeners of WPFW are hearing a lot of good news recently. Pacifica’s contracted moving consultant Michelle Price is telling us that the station will definitely stay on the air in temporary quarters while we await the finalization of plans for a permanent move. The station will broadcast during the transition, moreover, without having to resort to mostly pre-programmed shows. Both pieces of news are welcome, as is news of the two-months extension of our station’s current lease.
And there’s more reason to be hopeful. The Pacifica engineer is reportedly very happy with the technical potential of several of the sites that the CMS relocation committee has put in countless hours identifying as possible permanent locations. Perhaps best of all, we hear that Pacifica lawyers are “working on” extricating Pacifica Foundation Radio from the sublease it signed for WPFW with Clear Channel. In addition, the lawsuit initiated by will entail court hearings on questions of malfeasance and lack of fiduciary responsibility by the station manager, his cohorts on the LSB, and by the Pacifica national leadership. The revelations may facilitate our removing Hughes, restoring the grid, gaining a future majority on the LSB, and, very importantly, securing information vital to us in later struggles with the Pacifica National Board (PNB).
Since none of these significant gains would have happened without our vigilance and commitment, all who have put work into saving the station through various forms of protest (including LSB votes), identifying alternative sites to Clear Channel, and court action should feel proud and confident at this stage.
It is crucial, however, to keep in mind that, until we have an official document in writing, we cannot count on being clear of Clear Channel. Moreover, we must remember that we initially came together to struggle for Hughes’ removal and the restoration of the program grid to its former status, goals that have yet to be met and that have been understandably overshadowed in the last few weeks by need to deal with the looming danger of a possible sublease with Clear Channel. Overarching all of these concerns, of course, is the need to develop a national strategy, such as that proposed by Salih Latif, for changing Pacifica’s leadership from the grassroots up, since it is the policies of the PNB majority that have plagued the station for years.
Therefore, even as we pause to celebrate our hard-won victories at this stage, we must ask what must be done next to achieve our original goals. To be effective in the future, we have to evaluate what already has been done. With regard to our victories, we have to be clear-eyed. Things may not be as rosy as they look.
Michelle Price raises our hopes, but please note that she commits herself only to keeping the station on the air without pre-programmed shows. She is not the PNB majority; she is only contracted by them, so it would be grossly unfair to expect her to do anything that falls outside her contracted range of responsibilities. She has helped the station by securing the two-months extension, and she seems committed to doing her best by the station.
As grateful as we may feel, as aware of the contracted limits of her responsibilities as we may be, and as sincere as she may be, there are legitimate questions that must be asked about her role here in Washington, D.C. How was the decision made to have an outside consultant/”expert” come in to help wih the move? Was anyone on the LSB notified? Did the entire LSB have a chance to approve such an arrangement? It seems that this step may very likely have been taken in order to sidestep the problem of unsatisfactory station management instead of removing John Hughes, as has been demanded more than once by programmers and by the LSB.
We cannot forget how the PNB majority has been crushing stations like WPFW, WBAI in NYC, and the station in LA, stations that give voice to racially and nationally oppressed communities. It is not very surprising that the majority of the PNB approved the Clear Channel space as the next home for WPFW—the agendas of the two networks are not that dissimilar with regard to such stations–indifference at best, hostility and sabotage at worst.
While we must recognize that anyone can change, and Summer Reese, the Pacific Interim Executive Director, has given signs of genuine remorse over signing the lease with Clear Channel—such as telling the judge on April 12 that she regretted signing the lease, it would be unwise to place our confidence in her good will or in her power.
She visited the Clear Channel site before signing the lease. The very modern building is sterile and fortress-like, with three guards vigilantly staffing a central desk in the center of a two-story high lobby. One’s ID is photographed when one signs in, one is then photographed and given a visitor’s pass with the office to be visited, the time of entry, and the office location. One cannot look at a directory, but can only look up the floor or suite number on a modem at the central desk if one already has a company name. Certain floors in the building are closed to the public. A very inhospitable, even intimidating atmosphere, completely inappropriate for a community radio station, totally aside from the question of the rent that would go to Clear Channel.
Summer has claimed some degree of confusion as to the nature of the arrangement with Clear Channel, but it was her responsibility as Interim Executive Director to find out what the dangers were.. She placed the station in jeopardy with a sworn enemy capable of cutting off electricity, misusing its control of the stations’s Internet access, locking programmers, staff, and guests out, and of using the station’s precious license as collateral in the event of any labor dispute. She never asked why, given the prime location next to a major transportation hub and in a growing cultural and business center, Clear Channel would want to give relatively low rent to a hated voice like WPFW. Clear Channel could not have been unaware of Pacifica’s desperate financial situation. Did it see that frailty as an opening to destroy an ideological foe, in keeping with its history of preying on progressive media outlets.
Summer signed the lease about a month after the uproar began over Hughes’ gutting programs at the station.
Moreover, Summer colluded with Hughes and his cohorts on the LSB in hiding information from the LSB about the lease with Clear Channel. She said not a word as she sat in on LSB meetings in mid-December and heard listener representatives who had been kept in the dark for months express anxiety and frustration more than once to Hughes about their concerns that arrangements to move were not being appropriately pursued . They explicitly protested being left in the dark. And Summer sat there like the Cheshire Cat.
Furthermore, she’s steadfastly backed Hughes in a lot of bad decisions. She’s failed to correct the mistakes of her predecessor (including the firing of Bob Daughtry as Program Director and others that prompted the programmers to advise the PNB of a vote of “no confidence”). Very notably, SHE’S HUGHES’ BOSS, and it’s a serious stretch to believe that he would make the slightest move without her first signing off on his plans. She still denies full knowledge of the grid changes he planned to implement, but she certainly knew that mostly white male national programming–Jeserich, Null, Hockenberry (of the NYTimes co-sponsored program originally proposed)–generated elsewhere was substituted for local programs. She also knows, or should know, that similar changes were implemented in NYC to raise listenership and revenue for WBAI and that they have failed miserably.
And why did she let Hughes think his original plans, as announced in the April LSB meeting, to broadcast a lot of canned programming, should we have to operate from a transitional space, were acceptable?
Summer may be pleasant, some decisions may not be entirely hers to make, she’s human and not perfect, and there may be some desire in her for social justice, but she’s either seriously dishonest and slick, ignorant of her duties, negligent, or incompetent. Given her power, she’s still dangerous, no matter how cooperative she may now seem–possibly in order to extricate herself from a mess. She has been said to vote with the PNB majority, and we cannot afford to trust her.
Our immediate task must be to make sure the move to Clear Channel is truly dead. If Clear Channel demands a lot of money from Pacifica in order to release the network from the lease, can we say with confidence that the PNB won’t concede. Once everything is nicely packed up and in the trucks, do we really know where the trucks will be going?
We must pursue a campaign to persuade Brookfield, the owner of the property in which the Clear Channel site is found, not to approve the sublease signed by Pacifica and Clear Channel. The lawsuit will undoubtedly have deterrent value—what commercial property firm wants a tenant already engaged in litigation to withdraw from a lease? As valuable as the legal tool is, however, it should be complemented by a mobilization of all listeners and supporters of progressive media to let Brookfield, the property owner, know that we don’t want to be their tenant. In struggle, Starr
I
A correction and an addendum to what I submitted earlier:
1) in the second paragraph, the lawsuit was “initiated by the United Committee to Save Public Broadcasting” (Jared Ball, Bob Daughtry, Salih Latif, Tom Porter; atty. Jane Zara)
2) In addition to the questionable behaviors cited above of Summer Reese, another was raised by plaintiff Salih Latif on the April 17, 2013 show of “What’s at Stake?” (It is my interpretation that her behavior was possibly deliberately designed to sabotage the case brought against her, her employee John Hughes, and the group on the LSB that she says misled her into signing the lease with Clear Channel by telling her that it was harmless and that two years of searching had yielded no other relocation sites). Evidently the judge ruled against granting a Temporary Restraining Order” (TRO) largely because Summer Reese told him that Pacifica was unlikely to go forward with the lease. This assertion undermined the plaintiff’s claim that irreparable harm would be done to the station if the lease with Clear Channel were allowed to stand. Summer Reese did not take legal counsel to the April 12 hearing, presumably because she was thoroughly prepared by Pacifica attorneys before she ever left California. Despite her sympathetic posture toward supporters of WPFW, why would Summer Reese knowingly say the onle thing that would significantly undermine the plaintiffs’ legal challenge to the legality of the lease?
There will be a Local Station Board TOWN HALL MEETING this Thursday, April 18, 7 pm, at the Plymouth Congregational Church, 5301 North Capitol St NE, Washington, DC 20011.
The station’s relocation crisis is the primary item on the agenda.
Ten Reasons (And More) Why WPFW Cannot Sublet from Clear Channel
1. Clear Channel’s 1,200 radio stations and 40 t.v. outlets are avowedly conservative and pro war – WPFW is founded on the principles of pacifism. Founder Lew Hill refused to serve in the military during WWII. Hill would be turning over in his grave if the network he founded was funneling money to Clear Channel.
2. Ultra right wing talk radio hosts infamous for their homophobic, sexist, xenophobic, racist political rants find a cozy home on Clear Channel stations nationwide. It’s a ‘Who’s Who’ of rabid prominent conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, George Noory and Glenn Beck.
3. Clear Channel was purchased by the infamous Bain Capital (Mitt Romney’s former company) in 2012 and due to its’ highly controversial status was forced to be converted to a private company.
4. WPFW, the jazz and justice station is founded on the principles of free speech and cultural diversity in programming whereas Clear Channel issued a memo in 2001 after the September 11th attacks banning a list of songs termed as ‘lyrically questionable’ including songs like Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin on Heaven’s Door’ and Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World.’
5. When Dixie Chick Natalie Maines criticized President George W. Bush for leading the country to war, saying she was ashamed the president was from Texas, Clear Channel vilified the group, put their music on a ‘blacklist’ not to be played and held cd stompings of their music. WPFW practices free speech, and disavows censorship.
6. Anti war activist Cindy Sheehan, a mother who launched a one woman protest in front of the White House when her son was killed in Iraq, produced a paid ad against the war, and the Clear Channel t.v. station KTVX was the only station nationwide that refused to air it! Meanwhile WPFW presented Cindy Sheehan with the ‘Unvarnished Truth Award’ for her heroism.
7. A Clear Channel station in Cincinnati practices open disdain for the least fortunate members of society. They hosted a so-called ‘Derelict Rodeo Roundup’ in which employees gave homeless people a $20 bill, a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor and a bus ticket to the edge of town.
8. They show equal disdain for peace activists – Madison, Wisconsin’s Clear Channel Fox TV affiliate host Mark Hyman calls peace activists ‘whack jobs,’ progressives ‘the loony left’ and the so-called liberal media’ the hate America crowd’ or ‘the Axis of Drivel.’
9. A Clear Channel disc jockey in Denver suggested that Iraq war opponent and then Vermont Governor Howard Dean ‘should be shot’.
10. Long time progressive activist and KPFA radio talk show host ‘Davey D’ was fired from KMEL allegedly for airing voices that opposed the war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
***
Clear Channel is facing a rapidly growing number of legal challenges, Congressional hearings, investigations and targeted campaigns by a variety of unions. U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has introduced a bill targeting the conglomerate’s brutal domination of the radio and concert industry and its rapidly gaining public and congressional support.
Clear Channel’s hate radio model is in direct contradiction to WPFW’s mission ‘to provide outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community, to contribute to a lasting understanding between individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors, and to promote the full distribution of public information.’
In addition to being morally repugnant, any financial relationship or collaboration between WPFW and Clear Channel would be wholly antithetical to the letter and spirit of the Pacifica mission, its’ bylaws and the Articles of Incorporation.
This is the statement programmer Jared Ball made on his March 29 show and a link to the show, which included Bob Daughtry, Tom Porter, Salih Latif and others:
JARED BALL:
“The issue, for me, is less the move to CC, or the specifics of that legal/political relationship. The issue is the process that brought us here, the secrecy involved, the wasted time, the rushed pressure imposed, the blame of the community for its relative lack of clarity, the previously existing list of issues raised in a no confidence vote against hughes, the narrow reactionary circle of PNJ’s (Pete Tucker, Tony Norman, John Hughes) sway over this and their related PR campaign against the people with false claims of unity and family, the liberalization and whitening of the station and network, the colonial relationship we have with Pacifica, the political direction of our programmers and the future role this station is to play in fostering radical thought and organization.”
THE SHOW:
The Prospects for Black Radical Broadcasting and Who Will Survive America?
Katea Stitt, Tom Porter, Salih Latif, Bob Daughtry and Don Debar joined us this week for a rousing roundtable discussion of the future (?) of WPFW 89.3 FM and Black radical broadcasting. The recent struggles over WPFW, WBAI and the Pacifica Radio Network were outlined and put in broader political context, we also heard some good music and asked, as did Amiri Baraka once upon a time, “Who will survive America? Few Americans, very few negroes and no crackas at all!”
http://www.voxunion.com/the-prospects-for-black-radical-broadcasting-and-who-will-survive-america/
Landlord dangers from Clear Channel
The current station management has not denied Clear Channel’s long track record as a multi-billion-dollar media conglomerate with an aggressively reactionary history. John Hughes and his co-thinkers have argued, however, that Clear Channel can do the station no harm in its sole capacity as our new landlord. In fact, a move to Clear Channel could place the very ability of the station to function in jeopardy.
Internet access/station connectivity would definitely be controlled by Clear Channel. Yves Point-du-Jour has pointed out that Clear Channel could not only deny access to the T-1 line that would go through their server but very possibly Clear Channel could also collect information about what we send over the T-1.
A back-up transmitter would definitely be controlled by Clear Channel. As Bob Daughtry asked on the March 29 Super-Funky Soul Power Hour, what is to prevent Clear Channel from charging such exorbitant rates for back-up service that WPFW has trouble paying up or has to delay on rent payments (see below on those consequences)?
The lease mandates that WPFW pay 22% of the property taxes on the space. We don’t know how high the property value could go. The Clear Channel site is in a relatively new office building complex right across the street from the Silver Spring Metro Station, a major metropolitan area transportation hub. Moreover, Silver Spring has been “revitalizing” its downtown area a few blocks away into a business/cultural magnet for the metropolitan region.
Use of landlord rights to destroy the station is possible:
While we have not seen the sublease nor are we familiar with specific Montgomery County, MD landlord-tenant rights, the very fact that we cannot answer all of the questions below is cause for alarm, as listener/supporter and CMS member Craig Williams has written:
Why would Clear Channel want to sublease space to WPFW given that we are diametrically opposed when it comes to world view and political positions?
Hint: it is not because Clear Channel believes that every point of view should be heard and that they have a moral obligation to ensure freedom of speech.
Why would Clear Channel want to lease space to us below its market value when it should be very attractive to market rate tenants?
Hint: it is not because they do not think they can find other tenants or cannot afford the carry (the loss of rent and any utility, etc., costs for unoccupied space) until they do so.
Why would Clear Channel want to sublease to us when they are well aware of Pacifica’s and probably aware of WPFW’s financial situations?
Hint: maybe they know we might default (in fact, maybe they are hoping we will default).
If we do default, what might be possible depending on Montgomery County and State of Maryland laws, and the degree of the default (time in default and amount of money owed)? Note that anything that causes the station to go dark without prior authorization from the FCC risks the broadcast license, our only market-valuable asset.
• Can they lock the doors and/or cut the power?
• Can they legally eliminate access to the T-1 line that goes through their server?
• How quickly can they evict us?
• Can Clear Channel attempt to take the license to settle any debts we may owe them in a default?
Now the left-hand end of the dial is reserved for non-profits with an educational purpose, which Clear Channel is not. However, how hard could it be for Clear Channel to set up a non-profit foundation to educate us all on how evolution is just a theory and that only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun?
At one of the public CMS meetings, someone said that nobody owns the non-profit educational licenses; they just hold them in the public trust, or something to that effect. If so, that would be the greatest protection as it implies they cannot simply be sold or used to settle a claim. Let’s hope that is correct.
Clear Channel could illegally challenge the station’s ability to function. Internet access could “become” hit-or-miss, frivolous claims of misuse of space or other tenant violations could be filed, Internet communication with donors, program guests, etc. could be tampered with, equipment could be damaged at night by those with office keys, etc. In general, WPFW ‘s programming and fund drives could be sabotaged and its resources strained by constant petty or not-so-petty fighting in landlord-tenant court. Very deep-pocketed Clear Channel could endlessly pay fines when/if it is found in violation.
OPPOSE THE MOVE TO CLEAR CHANNEL! HELP SAVE WPFW! WE ARE THE STATION!
TO: Elected WPFW LSB and PNB Delegate Representatives
C/O Jean Yves Pont du Jour, LSB Chair
Ola Cole Laryea, Secretary (As Secretary, PLEASE FORWARD TO BOARD MEMBERS)
FROM: Suji Sutler, WPFW Listener-Supporter
RE: Pending Pacifica Sublease With Clear Channel
DATE: March 27, 2013
Namaste and Good Morning WPFW Elected LSB and PNB Delegate Representatives:
It is my understanding that Pacifica’s corporate status has been reinstated to “active”, as posted on the California Secretary of State’s website. Also, I am hearing rumors that the sublease agreement between Pacifica, Metro Network Communications, Inc. (Owned by Clear Channel) and the Owner/Landlord of the Metro Plaza space located in SIlver Spring, MD is a done deal. I hope this is not the case. As a long time listener-supporter of WPFW, I’d like to know whether this is true. If yes, I’d like to know the details and date of this deal, especially in light of the on-going community concerns and objections. If no, what is the status? I suspect other WPFW supporters want this information, as well. The community has a right to know-NOW!
As our elected LSB/PNB Delegates, please investigate my inquiry, advocate and ensure transparency to this process and share the facts with the WPFW listener-supporter community, ASAP!
Pursuant to the Pacifica Bylaws I expect the LSB Board and each of you in your elected position and capacity:
To exercise all of its powers and duties with care, loyalty, diligence and sound business judgment consistent with the manner
in which those terms are generally defined under applicable California law. (Title 7 LOCAL STATION BOARDS Section 3 (M) Specific Powers & Duties)
Call a special LSB meeting and report out to the WPFW Community on the status of this negotiation and transaction.
Thank You
Suji Sutler
WPFW listener-supporter
I realize this is a total volunteer effort, but I agree with the complaint that we need to be kept better informed. There are those of us who, for any number of reasons, cannot make it to meetings. (In my case, it is a disability.) Or the programs we listen to don’t provide the information. But we care as much as anyone. Please, keep this website updated with correct information.
Also, it would take an attorney to determine this, but if Pacifica did sign the sublease with Clear Channel at a time when its corporate “good standing” had been forfeited, is such a lease even valid? My layperson’s understanding is that a corporation cannot conduct business at all if not in good standing.
Thanks a million!
I. Every living thing moves through cycles. Thus, every season is able to have its time and place. If people do not let go of their stubbornness & embrace humility & sincerity (1st by acknowledging–if only personally–one’s faults & 2nd by apologizing to those wronged–in order to restore harmony & unity within the individual & the collective), the opportunity to maintain WPFW & the other Pacifica stations will be lost. NB: the cycles which gave rise to the conditions that made it possible to bring into existence Pacifica, & WPFW in particular, will not have their time and space come back around again for a very long time. The WPFW LSB & the PNB must cease & desist from colluding with CCC (clear channel corporations, a modern kkk).
II. Concerned listeners, supporters, programmers, & staff also must embrace humility & sincerity–1st by acknowledging that any successes are the result of ancestors, like Kalonji Tor Olusegun, working to open the way after years of “carrying the heavy load” and 2nd by attending to a clear hierarchy of prioritized actions with due diligence & expediency!
Peace
WILL WPFW WIND UP IN CLEAR CHANNEL’S POCKET?
WILL JOHN HUGHES AND TONY NORMAN BE REMOVED?
WILL THE GRID BE RESTORED?
STAY TUNED!
After an exhausting effort, resulting in the Jan. 30 Local Station Board vote to oust John Hughes, the Pacifica Interim Executive Director Summer Reese has yet to act on the LSB’s recommendation. And, much to the dismay of CMS, Reese has reportedly signed a lease—brought to her by John Hughes and Campbell Johnson— that will land WPFW in a Silver Spring property owned by the right-wing radio conglomerate Clear Channel.
As a result of this crisis, CMS is keeping our collective shoulder to the grindstone. We have located several alternative property options, both short-term and long-term, that will keep WPFW in the nation’s capital and will provide, at long last, a permanent home for Washington, D.C’s only jazz and justice station—perhaps even a home that we own! We will re-energize our protests, insist on Hughes’ removal and explore our legal options as listener-members, programmers, staff and volunteers of the Pacifica Foundation, which was founded on the missions of peace and justice.
One thing that we know for sure: Clear Channel—home to Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and other right-wing hosts—definitely does NOT equal peace and justice.
Stay Tuned!
In Other News:
Charles, Diaz and Stitt Seated on Pacifica National Board
CMS-supported candidates Benito Diaz, Luzette Charles and Katea Stitt were seated on the Pacifica National Board on Jan. tk at the first meeting of the newly elected PNB in New York City. These three, elected by the LSB to the board along with Tony Norman, were seated despite the effort of Campbell Johnson to seat another slate that included himself. Campbell’s argument, that the station’s candidates had to be nominated by Dec. 31, before our new LSB had even been seated, was overruled by the PNB after a brilliant legal document submitted to it by CMS. It said in part: “We the undersigned members and supporters of WPFW, Pacifica radio station in the nation’s capital, condemn and reject in the strongest terms an attempt by Campbell Johnson to subvert the democratic processes at our station. The current bylaws were created to ensure democracy at Pacifica and the intent of this democratic process is more important that a deadline in the bylaws.”
Tony Norman’s Eligibility To Serve on Local and National Boards in Question
Local Station Board member Jane Gatewood made the bombshell discovery in January that Tony Norman is an elected official as ANC Commissioner for ANC 1B10 and, therefore, was ineligible to serve on the LSB or the PNB. The CMS document said in part: “Mr. Norman, by his own admission, was elected to and currently serves as an ANC Commissioner. The DC Office of Elections and Ethics, ANC Office, defines ANC Commissioners as elected political officials, see discussion above. Sec. 9 of Article 4 states that a Delegate shall be removed from the position of Delegate if among other things he is an elected political official.
Mr. Norman, as ANC Commissioner for ANC 1B10 in the District of Columbia, falls within the prohibition and must be removed as a Delegate to the LSB. His removal from the position of Delegate would result in his removal as a Foundation Director.” The National board has yet to take up the matter and, despite the rule in the bylaws, has allowed Norman to remain seated on both the LSB and PNB. Stay Tuned!
Hughes Refuses to Restore Grid
In a letter to the Local Station Board, John Hughes stated that he had restored the grid, which he disrupted on Dec. 3. In fact, Hughes has not restored the former programming and, instead, has insisted on maintaining the current grid and restoring some midday jazz but not the displaced music or public affairs programmers. The position of CMS is that while we believe that changes were needed in WPFW’s programming, we believe that the original grid must be restored and that the original programs and programmers will be evaluated by both staff and listeners before a grid overhaul is implemented.
Stay Tuned!
DOES ANYONE HAVE THE AUDIO OF WPFW LSB MEETINGS? THOSE OF US WHO CANNOT ATTEND PHYSICALLY HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT IS GOING ON WITHOUT AUDIO OR VIDEO OF THE MEETING. THESE MEETINGS ARE A STAR CHAMBER WITHOUT PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE AUDIO. I AM JUST TALKING ABOUT THE OPEN PART OF THE MEETING, NOT EXECUTIVE SESSION. I’VE BEEN TRYING FOR YEARS TO GET ACCESS TO THE AUDIO OF THESE PUBLIC MEETINGS–MET ONLY BY STONE WALLS. ?MY SUSPICION IS THAT THE PEOPLE ON THIS BOARD DO NOT WANT THESE MEETINGS TO BE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC.
PROVE ME WRONG–PUBLISH THE AUDIO. KPFT, KPFK, WBAI, AND KPFA LSB AUDIO IS FULLY AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC ON KPFTX.ORG AND YOU\TUBE.I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT AUDIO RECORDINGS ARE MADE OF THE WPFW LSB MEETINGS , BUT THEY ARE KEPT HIDDEN. I WONDER WHY.
Why is there no one at the Pacifica national office but accountants? For example a fella call “Efram Euranus” hasn’t answered his phone in two years! WHO IS ANSWERING THE CALLS? CAN WE GET SUMMER’S CELL PHONE #? WHO is minding the store?
here is summer reese’s cell phone number:For Immediate Release: March 5, 2013
Contact: Summer Reese
Chair and Interim Executive Director Pacifica Foundation
summer@pacifica.org
510-333-1965
Thanks but she hardly answers. When she does she gives answers that do not answer. By the way who made her the new Goddess of Pacifica? And why isn’t there any one on the Pacifica office but accountants, And who are those people with extentions that do not answer their calls, like Ephram Euranus? I mean if you work for Pacifica why aren’t you ever at work? I would love a gig like that! I could get a second job at minimum wage and still make out!
THE PEOPLE WIN! LSB VOTES TO BEGIN PROCESS TO FIRE JOHN HUGHES…DIAZ, KING AND STITT VOTED TO PACIFICA NATIONAL BOARD …SAT, FEB. 2 COMMUNITY MEETING TO PROVIDE UPDATE FOR CONCERNED STATION MEMBERS
In a meeting that stretched well past midnight, the WPFW Local Station Board voted at their Jan. 30 meeting to begin the process to fire station general manager John Hughes. The vote was the culmination of two months of community protest and organizing after Hughes abruptly changed the station grid without consultation with staff or programmers.
Also, Benito Diaz, Luzette King and Katea Stitt–all supporters of Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW (CMS)–were elected to represent WPFW on the Pacifica National Board (PNB). All the Jan. 30 votes taken by the board, including the seating of Ola Cole Laryea to fill a vacancy, electing PNB directors and the firing of John Hughes, were decided 12-11, with, in effect, chair Yves Point-du-Jour breaking the tie and one member absent from the meeting.
LSB members supporting John Hughes and opposing the work of CMS, including Campbell Johnson, Tony Norman and Pete Tucker, mounted several vigorous but unsuccessful challenges during the meeting. Johnson, in particular, has proposed that the PNB election is invalid because of a stipulation in the bylaws that the Local Station Board at each station forward names of its new directors by Dec. 31 after the election. On Dec. 31, 2012, just before midnight and only days after the WPFW election has been certified, Johnson sent to the PNB a list of four names, including Tony Norman, Acie Byrd, Keanna Faircloth and himself, to be WPFW’s directors on the national board. At the Jan. 30 meeting, Johnson was still arguing for his unilaterally appointed slate, despite the fact that there there is no precedent for directors being named by a sole individual or for directors being named before the newly elected board has been seated at its first meeting.
Obviously aware of the potential close vote, Tony Norman and Pete Tucker also opposed the seating of Laryea, despite the fact that Norman himself was seated in a similar manner to fill a vacancy before the PNB vote, one year ago.
A meeting will be held SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2013, 10 A.M. – 12 Noon, TAKOMA STATION TAVERN 914 FOURTH ST, NW, DC (l block from Red Line Takoma Park Metro Station). There will be a two-month update on the WPFW crisis.
PIONEER WPFW BROADCASTER AND MEMBER KALONJI OLUSEGUN JOINS THE ANCESTORS.
In the wee hours of Jan. 30, as family and friends stood at his side, Kalonji Olusegun made his transition to the spirit world. Olusegun, also known as Vincent Godwin, passed after suffering an aneurysm.
Known for his trademark mellifluous voice, he hosted a show during the early years of WPFW and was elected in 2003 to serve on the first Local Station Board (under the new Pacifica bylaws). He was elected by the LSB to represent WPFW as a director on the Pacifica National Board in 2004 and also served on the station’s Community Advisory Board.
After the unilateral station grid changes by John Hughes last December, Olusegun was among those community elders raising his voice in protest, playing an active part in Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW. On Jan. 9, he posted under LETTERS on this site, objecting to the removal of jazz programming to only the evenings and after midnight:
“Having jazz available in the late evenings and early mornings is no help to listeners who need their sleep and can best enjoy their music live during those hours at the many venues here in DC,” he wrote. “WPFW was created to educate and share this American Classical Music with the world and unlike other Pacifica stations cannot be expected to raise sustainable funding from a nation that not only has low priority for art but is also resistant to black music until it bridges the cross-over barrier.”
Jim Brown, producer of “Myndtalk,” sent an email out informing the WPFW family of Olusegun’s transition, which, Brown said, occurred at about 3:40 am on Jan. 30. Brown said that he was present, along with WPFW music host Brother Ah, “To Heal DC” host Joni Eisenberg, as well as family and other friends, including Tony Browder and Senghor Baye.
Olusegun leaves to mourn his wife Kupenda, other family and numerous friends. When information about arrangements is known, it will be posted.
LSB RUNNER-UP OLA COLE-LARYEA TO BE SEATED AS NEW BOARD MEMBER.
KEA TAYLOR RESIGNS TO CARE FOR HER FAMILY
Ola Cole Laryea, runner-up in the Local Station Board election and newly elected secretary of the board, will be seated as the newest board member after the resignation of Kea Taylor.
Taylor notified the board in writing that she would not be able to continue on the board because she must care for her growing family. She said that she thought initially that she could handle the board responsibilities with her new family duties but the load proved too great. She lent her gracias endorsement to Laryea filling her seat.
Though the bylaws call for the seating of the runner-up to fill any vacancy, former board chair Tony Norman is mounting a challenge to seat Laryea at the Jan. 30 meeting,. There has been a flurry of debate by email among board members, including a bombshell dropped by Jane Gatewood, reminding that Norman and Thomas Rainey were both seated in a similar manner, before the election of PNB directors, to fill a vacancy in January 2011.
Laryea was elected secretary of the board on Jan. 9 because the bylaws do not require that the secretary be a board member. She was elected after board member William Martin withdrew his candidacy for secretary and lent his support to her.
This is good news, but the business about Campbell Johnson saying the new Silver Spring lease would require that Hughes remain the GM is bizarre and evidence of a plan by the regime to entrench themselves. I’ve never heard of a lease with such a requirement. This demands some explanation. Whatever, this behavior is totally unethical and reason enough to terminate someone.
Yes, although I haven’t studied the by-laws, that probably violates them by effectively overriding the prescribed process for changing GMs.
I would echo the comments made about the OUTSTANDING community participation in the last meeting. Very powerful. Very important.
One correction . . .The claim that the new lease was contingent on Hughes being at the helm was made by Former Chair Tony Norman. Johnson was asked about this at the last meeting and he stated that there was no such clause. He did add that “in his opinion” the leadership of an organization plays a role in any lease contract.
Thanks. That sounded bizarre. All the more reason he is FORMER chair.
VICTORY! TONY NORMAN REMOVED AS LOCAL STATION BOARD CHAIR! NEW OFFICERS FILL THREE OF FOUR OPENINGS! NEW SEATED BOARD VOWS TO MOVE QUICKLY TO ADDRESS ‘MANAGEMENT CRISIS’
In the first meeting of the newly elected WPFW Local Station Board, Yves Point-du-Jour was elected chairman of the board, defeating incumbent chair Tony Norman by a vote of 13 to 11.
Point-du-Jour, host of the region’s only Haiitian-centered radio show that was yanked from the air by general manager John Hughes in November, was joined by other officer candidates supported by Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW, including Ola Cole-Laryea, runner-up in the recent board election, as secretary and Marcus Jeter, a treasurer for the former board, to continue in that post. Though Cole-Laryea and Jeter are not elected members of the board, Pacifica Foundation bylaws do not require that the board secretary or treasurer be a board member.
The election followed dozens of impassioned statements during the “Community Comment” section of the meeting during which listeners excoriated both Norman and general manager John Hughes. As of the day of this meeting, 21 days have passed since to board voted to roll back the station programming grid to the Dec. 3, 2012 status.
Point-du-Jour scheduled a special meeting of the board for January 30 to elect directors for the Pacifica National Board and address what he called the ‘management crisis’ at the station.
In a little noticed comment, board member Campbell Johnson, who has played a controversial role with Hughes n the search for a new station home, announced that the lease he and Hughes have negotiated (reportedly at a site in Silver Spring, Md.) requires that Hughes by general manager in order to maintain the lease. This announcement was made before the new board was seated, drawing expressions of shock from board members but no follow-up questions. During questioning about the relocation, it was also announced that the station can stay in the current location in Adams-Morgan for up top an additional six months.
thank you for the updates. this is a great service you are doing for the community. I came to the meeting and spoke partly because I was encouraged to by this site.
I hope that in the midst of all the changes folks will remember to have some humility and become clear that the ultimate objective is to do what is best for our community.
WE’RE HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING FOR THE NEW YEAR!…ALL OUT FOR THE LSB MEETING JAN.9!…SIGN THE PETITION!…F#$k GARY NULL!
More than 75 people attended a meeting held by Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW Sat., Dec. 29 at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw DC Public Library at 7th and Rhode Island Ave., NW.
–Listeners in attendance said that they are still unhappy about the program grid changes at the station and are withholding contributions.
–There was lots of indignation at Gary Null stating in an hour-long diatribe on his Dec. 28 show that John Hughes is good general manager and that if John Hughes is fired, that he will quit. Those in attendance yelled out for Null to quit now.
–Outgoing LSB Chair Tony Norman stood up and, as usual, defended management. He also stated that “we,” meaning management we guess, are in the process of negotiating a two-month extension for the current location at the City Paper Building.
–Information was also circulating at the meeting that Hughes has gone on and signed an agreement for studio space in Silver Spring that also has a hefty price tag.
–Norman had no information about why John Hughes had not complied with the lsb motion to roll back the grid. (Note: Norman and Pete Tucker were guests on “Manager’s Mailbox” with John Hughes Friday, Jan 4 and all but defended the program changes and took a swipe at community organizers, calling us a “mob.” Norman, who boasted of his re-election [through slate manipulation], also said that sometimes the community has to accept what is best for us rather than what we want. Really? We’ll see Tony Norman. We’ll see.)
–Everyone was encouraged to attend the Local Station Board meeting on Jan.9 at the station and was given a list of action items to stay involved. The following list includes some of the actions distributed that day that you can take to stay informed and be involved:
If you haven’t already:
1. Sign the petition at chang.org and tell your friends to sign too!
2. Tell the Local Station Board, Summer Reese and the Pacifica National Board to Remove John Hughes (And post copies of your letters here.)
Contact:
WPFW Local Station Board
wpfwlsb@gmail.com
Contact:
Summer Reese, Interim ED – Pacifica Foundation
and Members of the Pacifica National Board
PNB@pacifica.org
Tele: 510-333-1965
3. KEEP THE PRESSURE ON JOHN HUGHES AND SUMMER REESE (HIS SUPERVISOR) TO RESTORE THE WPFW PROGRAM GRID TO THE “PRE-12/3/2012”
Summer Reese (as above)
John Hughes
Hughes_John@wpfw.org
Tele. 202-821-6435
4. DO NOT HONOR YOUR FUNDRAISER PLEDGE OR SUSTAINER RENEWAL. INSTEAD, RETURN THE ENVELOPE WITH A NOTE SAYING THAT YOU REFUSE TO PAY THE PLEDGE AMOUNT UNTIL THE PROGRAM GRID IS RESTORED AND JOHN HUGHES IS REMOVED.
5. Call those shows that invite listener participation and let your voice be heard. Don’t let John Hughes silence the community outrage.
6. WE WILL GATHER NEXT AT THE LOCAL STATION BOARD MEETING JAN. 9, 6:30 PM AT THE STATION, (STILL AT 2390 CHAMPLAIN ST NW, SECOND FLOOR, IN ADAMS-MORGAN).
7. STAY INFORMED AND GET INVOLVED. Visit this website. You can also reach us at our new email address: thepeople4pfw [at] gmail.com. Facebook: Occupywpfw. Twitter: #occupywpfw @Occupywpfw
Great NEWS!!! I have been listening to my personal archives by accident of unpacking boxes and there would you believe it! I had cassettes from December 1991. It was a blast! Once again Congratulations!
I am very glad kwame got elected and many others, upset about myuki being disqualified. What do you want your progressive listener supporters to do now that the drive is over? Should we still make protest pledges?
But Hughes isn’t out yet, and that was the second demand before paying the pledges.
Pingback: ELECTIONS RESULTS ARE IN! NEW BLOOD ELECTED TO BOARD DESPITE COUNTER EFFORT OF INCUMBENTS AND MANAGEMENT. PROGRESSIVES HAVE CLEAR MAJORITY! « thepeople4pfw
ELECTIONS RESULTS ARE IN! NEW BLOOD ELECTED TO BOARD DESPITE COUNTER EFFORT OF INCUMBENTS AND MANAGEMENT. PROGRESSIVES HAVE CLEAR MAJORITY!
Candidates supported by Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW have been swept onto the WPFW Local Station Board with support from the community.
Newly elected listener members include Kwame Abayomi, Jane Zara, WIlliam Bryant, Abby Charles, Eric Ramey and Vanessa Dixon-Briggs. Newly elected staff/programmer members include Robyn Holden, Lona K. Alias, Katea Stitt and Oscar Fernandez.
Incumbents we support also have been re-elected: Benito DIaz, Michael Byfield, Jane Gatewood, Luzette King and Yves Point Du Jour. The candidacy of two staff candidates, Miyuki Williams and Esther Iverem, was disqualified. Ola Cole Laryea is first runner up.
These candidates were elected despite a multi-pronged effort by the incumbent chair Tony Norman and vice chair Pete Tucker to stack the board with candidates they organized on a “slate,” and the effort of management to give unfair air time and advantage to the incumbents.
Despite this community victory, current board chair and vice chair Tony Norman and Pete Tucker, were re-elected, along with others on their slate. Taking all those elected in consideration, the Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW believe we have a majority of members on the board who are progressive and who will support the community’s wishes.
These are the election results:
Tony B. Norman
0
56
ELECTED — 1st round
Gloria C. Turner
0
56
ELECTED — 1st round
Acie Byrd
0
56
ELECTED — 1st round
Kea Taylor
0
56
ELECTED — 1st round
Pete Tucker
0
56
ELECTED — 1st round
Jane Zara
0
56
ELECTED — 1st round
Mekonnen A. Seyoum
0
56
ELECTED — 1st round
Benito Diaz
0
56
ELECTED — 4th round
Campbell C. Johnson
0
56
ELECTED — 5th round
Bruce Wolf
0
56
ELECTED — 7th round
Vanessa Dixon-Briggs
0
56
ELECTED — 17th round
Kwame O. Abayomi
0
56
ELECTED — 17th round
Luzette King
0
56
ELECTED — 20th round
Eric Ramey
0
56
ELECTED — 20th round
Jane Gatewood
0
56
ELECTED — 23rd round
Abby Charles
0
56
ELECTED — 23rd round
Michael Byfield
-3.17398
56
ELECTED — 24th round
William S. Martin
Robyn Holden
ELECTED — 1st round
Jean Yves Point-du-Jour
ELECTED — 2nd round
Lona K. Alias
ELECTED — 2nd round
Keanna C. Faircloth
ELECTED — 2nd round
Oscar M. Fernandez
ELECTED — 4th round
Katea Stitt
ELECTED — 6th round
Esther Iverem
EXCLUDED
Miyuki Williams
EXCLUDED
I wish to thank all those listeners who have voted for me to sit and represent you on this board. In fact, I intend to show those who did not vote for me that I would not waiver from my election campaign statement. I owe a special ‘Thank You’ to Esther Iverem and Miyuki Williams for their efforts in rallying the troops to defeat what was clearly an attempt to take over ‘PFW and certainly not for the better of the wider community. I am convinced that were it not for the last minute drive of these two women some of us would not have been seated… I will do my best to live up to your expectations.
As if a premonition, my election statement is exactly what will guide every vote that I cast on this new LSB and if any one of ‘PFW listeners, staff and programmers think that I should take a different path, please let me know at luzette_king@hotmail.cvom.
In the meantime, you may go to this link to examine my pledge/statement: http://elections.pacifica.org/candstmt/cand_page.php?id=651&sta=wpfw&type=listener
Well, the people, united, can be delayed a few weeks but not defeated . . . (just curious, what happened with the lawyers talking about an injunction?).
Welcome back, Jazz and Justice! I hope Tom Porter hasn’t filled up his Mondays with anything else.
Any word on the crew from Decipher? Are they coming back? That’s the best thing on the airwaves in DC
I 2ND TOM PORTER’S RETURN NOW!! NEED MY DOSE OF WORLD VIEWS WEEKLY.
Pingback: LSB DIRECTS HUGHES TO RESTORE PROGRAMMING « thepeople4pfw
LOCAL STATION BOARD VOTES FOR HUGHES TO RESTORE PROGRAMMING
After weeks of listener-member outrage, the WPFW Local Station Board voted at its Dec. 19 meeting to direct general manager John Hughes to restore the station’s programming to it’s pre-Dec. 3 status.
The motion, introduced by Jane Gatewood, requires Hughes to “immediately restore the programming grid to the pre-12/3/2012 status; and to refrain from changing this grid until the approval by the LSB of a formal “Program And Program Grid Evaluation Process”.
The adopted motion adds that “this formal process shall be developed collaboratively and mutually agreed upon by
(a) the staff, which has the expertise and the execution responsibility;
(b) the LSB, which (per the Pacifica Bylaws) has oversight responsibility;
(c) the CAB, which, by CPB regulation and the CAB Bylaws, has responsibility to evaluate the station’s progress toward its programming goals.
The board directed the LSB Secretary Bruce Wolf to provide “written notice of the motion, and its approval by the LSB, by 9 am on Thursday December 20, 2012 to the GM with a request that an article about this motion be published” on the home page of the WPFW website within 72 hours; “with copies of the notice provided to WPFW’s interim-Program Director (if named), the Pacifica Executive Director, and all members of the LSB.”
A second motion, for the board to initiate the process to fire Hughes, was defeated. After the public meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss the evaluation of Hughes.
I hope that something can also be done to get the program archives repaired and functioning properly. They have been working inconsistently for several weeks now, and seem to be disproportionately affecting the jazz programming, especially the overnight shows. Many of us find it difficult to listen on a real-time basis to the jazz programming that is broadcast in the middle of the night.
on what date will programming be restored? i just tuned in to the station hoping to hear some hip hop @ 10 and….nada.
Has the programming been restored?
VIDEO OF THE DEC. 11 TOWN HALL MEETING NOW POSTED ON THIS SITE UNDER THE TAB
VIDEO/ MEDIA/ LINKS. https://thepeople4pfw.wordpress.com/medialinks/.
Dear concerned members and supporters of WPFW,
Here is an article covering the “crisis at WPFW” that will be published tomorrow in the Berlin-based German daily newspaper DIE TAGESZEITUNG (circulation ca. 65,000).
http://www.taz.de/1/archiv/archiv/?dig=/2012/12/14/a0167
No english version as yet, can try to translate this weekend and post it here if you’re willing to wait.
Why is a Berlin newspaper so interested in wpfw?
They probably appreciate truth telling in DC.
We contacted the editors of the TAZ (Tageszeitung) media section and they promptly ordered the article, seeing in it a socially-relevant topic. The TAZ is not a local, but a national paper, also covering international events.
obviously, a people’s station–and movement– for jazz and justice has more international resonance than you realize. Thank you Michael!
This is a better link for the article (comments can be posted)
http://www.taz.de/Streit-bei-US-Radiosender/!107453/
and here is that english version:
December 14, 2012
Controversy at US radio station
Protest-station to go mainstream
Washington’s “Jazz and Justice Radio” is eyeing major donors; jazz must make way for mainstream formats.
By M. Chevalier / L. Kaiser
Up to now progressive radio station WPFW in Washington had served as one of the last bastions of jazz as an expression of African American protest-culture. One of five stations in the Pacifica Radio network – which was founded by WWII conscientious objectors – it operates under the slogan “jazz and justice radio.”
A radical change of course was announced by station management in late November. Thirty hours of jazz programming were to make way for talk-show formats and news programs. Some radio programmers, unwilling to acquiesce, took advantage of a funding drive and encouraged listeners to make pledges bound to conditions, such as the firing of general manager John Hughes and the reestablishment of the previous schedule. Since then, each show has tallied the incoming “protest” pledges.
WPFW relies on listener support for 80% of its funding, with the remainder coming from government and foundation sources. The station plays jazz from all eras – including free jazz – as it does rhythm and blues, soul, hip-hop, and music from the Caribbean and South America.
Poor Progressives
Critics fear that the programming changes will rob WPFW of that which made it singular. At a meeting at Howard University convened by John Hughes, a female African American listener insisted that news shows can be easily heard on other stations, but there was no replacement on the radio dial for canceled jazz programming.
The station’s listenership consists especially of “poor progressives,” as one listener put it: students, and working people such as taxi drivers, employees, and jazz musicians. The new schedule canceled the Haitian show in creole, and moved the Native American show to an unfavorable time slot. Critics fear that community shows by minorities will no longer have a voice in the new schedule.
Hughes defends the new direction, citing the need to address a younger public and increase listenership. “The demographics of Washington have changed in the last twenty years,” he says. According to the census, the share of African-Americans living in the District has dropped to below 50% this year – for the first time since 1960.
Gentrification is omnipresent
Renting costs in Washington are now among the highest in the country, and WPFW’s listenership is now strongest in Prince George’s County, a lower-income suburb in Maryland. Hughes wants to win over major donors for WPFW and sees enormous potential in today’s Washington.
The radio station itself has been hit by Washington gentrification: the building that houses it in Adams Morgan, once an immigrant neighborhood, will be demolished to make way for a hotel.
Here is the english version, dear concerned members and supporters of WPFW, as well as a better link (comments possible)
http://www.taz.de/Streit-bei-US-Radiosender/!107453/
December 14, 2012
Controversy at US Radio Station
Protest-Station To Go Mainstream
Washington’s “Jazz and Justice Radio” is eyeing major donors and jazz must make way for mainstream formats.
By M. Chevalier / L. Kaiser
Up to now progressive radio station WPFW in Washington had served as one of the last bastions of jazz as an expression of African American protest-culture. One of five stations in the Pacifica Radio network – which was founded by WWII conscientious objectors – it operates under the slogan “jazz and justice radio.”
A radical change of course was announced by station management in late November. Thirty hours of jazz programming were to make way for talk-show formats and news programs. Some radio programmers, unwilling to acquiesce, took advantage of a funding drive and encouraged listeners to make pledges bound to conditions, such as the firing of general manager John Hughes and the reestablishment of the previous schedule. Since then, each show has tallied the incoming “protest” pledges.
WPFW relies on listener support for 80% of its funding, with the remainder coming from government and foundation sources. The station plays jazz from all eras – including free jazz – as it does rhythm and blues, soul, hip-hop, and music from the Caribbean and South America.
Poor Progressives
Critics fear that the programming changes will rob WPFW of that which made it singular. At a meeting at Howard University convened by John Hughes, a female African American listener insisted that news shows can be easily heard on other stations, but there was no replacement on the radio dial for canceled jazz programming.
The station’s listenership consists especially of “poor progressives,” as one listener put it: students, and working people such as taxi drivers, employees, and jazz musicians. The new schedule canceled the Haitian show in creole, and moved the Native American show to an unfavorable time slot. Critics fear that community shows by minorities will no longer have a voice in the new schedule.
Hughes defends the new direction, citing the need to address a younger public and increase listenership. “The demographics of Washington have changed in the last twenty years,” he says. According to the census, the share of African Americans living in the District has dropped to below 50% this year – for the first time since 1960.
Gentrification Is Omnipresent
Renting costs in Washington are now among the highest in the country, and WPFW’s listenership is now strongest in Prince George’s County, a lower-income suburb in Maryland. Hughes wants to win over major donors for WPFW and sees enormous potential in today’s Washington.
The radio station itself has been hit by Washington gentrification: the building that houses it in Adams Morgan, once an immigrant neighborhood, will be demolished to make way for a hotel.
THE PEOPLE ARE WINNING!!…
The Town Hall Meeting on Dec. 11 was off the chain! Followed by a typically lame LSB meeting on Dec. 12 when Tony Norman, Pete Tucker, Bruce Wolf and Campbell Johnson led the charge AGAINST the community’s wish to address the radical shift in programming and the removal of general manager John Hughes. All out for the LSB meeting on Dec. 19, 6:30 PM, 2390 Champlain St. NW, WDC!
In the meantime, rally Friday, Dec. 14, Noon AT THE STATION…AND WPFW HAS REACHED QUORUM IN BOTH LISTENER AND STAFF ELECTIONS!!! BUT YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO VOTE!
VOTE TODAY!
WPFW HAS REACHED QUORUM IN BOTH LISTENER AND STAFF ELECTIONS!!!
The election is still ONGOING! BALLOTS WILL STILL BE RECEIVED AT THE PO BOX THROUGH NEXT WEEK FOR THOSE STATION MEMBERS WHO NEVER RECEIVED A BALLOT.
PLEASE VOTE IN THE CURRENT LOCAL STATION BOARD ELECTIONS. WE NEED A BOARD THAT REPRESENTS THE COMMUNITY, NOT MANAGEMENT! PACIFICA MUST RECEIVE YOUR BALLOT BY DEC. 18.
MAKE SURE YOU MAIL YOUR BALLOT TODAY USING THE BUSINESS REPLY ENVELOPE THAT CAME WITH YOUR BALLOT.
IF YOU VOLUNTEERED OR CONTRIBUTED TO WPFW BY SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 AND DID NOT RECEIVE A BALLOT, CALL THE ELECTION HELP DESK IMMEDIATELY AT 1-866-720-4357
can anyone post the salaries of the paid staff? Does anyone know where WPFW is going to move temporarily? Thanks.
One thing we know, Hughes is overpaid.
WPFW PUBLIC AFFAIRS SHOW YANKED FROM THE AIR FOR MENTIONING
COMMUNITY OPPOSITION WEBSITE.
“What’s At Stake,” with Verna-Avery-Brown and Esther Iverem, on WPFW Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC, has been yanked temporarily from the air after the co-hosts aired the name of the community campaign website, thepeople4pfw.wordpress.com, which included endorsements of listener-member candidates for the Local Station Board. In addition, Iverem, who is also one of the organizers for Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW—which has galvanized community outrage over programming and management at the station—has been disqualified from running for the Local Station Board because she mentioned the website. She had been a staff candidate for the board as a representative for the station’s paid and unpaid staff.
During the current controversy at WPFW, during which station general manager John Hughes attempted to bring in corporate-funded public affairs shows and eliminated more than 35 hours of jazz and world music programming, thepeople4pfw.wordpress.com has served as a hub for independent community information and action, including a letter-writing campaign to Pacifica’s interim executive director Summer Reese; a “protest pledge” campaign and new petition posted at change.org that calls for the firing of station manager John Hughes. The website was key in drawing more than 200 station members and listeners to meetings after veteran programmers began announcing to their listeners that they were doing their last show during the week of Monday, Nov. 26.
Jon Bush, the WPFW Local Election Supervisor, told Avery-Brown and Iverem at a meeting on Monday, Dec. 10 that their show would be suspended until the election is over on Dec. 18, which means the popular show would be pre-empted on Wednesday, Dec. 12, during the current fund drive. It may be pre-empted more Wednesdays if no election quorum is reached by Dec. 18.
According to Bush, the actions were taken because of a complaint by Pete Tucker, vice president of the current board who is running for re-election, on the grounds that mentioning a website that includes a list of endorsed candidates violates Pacifica’s bylaws against using the airwaves to endorse a candidate. Avery-Brown and Iverem disputed this interpretation, pointing out that the bylaws do not specify that a website cannot be mentioned. They added that they mentioned no candidate’s name and that the primary mission of the website, thepeople4pfw.wordpress.com, was not the election but to be an independent vehicle of community information and voice about the current station crisis. In posts unrelated to the election, the website names current LSB members, including Tucker, chair Tony Norman and secretary Bruce Wolf, as contributors to the crisis because of the board’s failure to evaluate Hughes and hold Hughes accountable for his mismanagement per the bylaws.
The hosts offered Bush a remedy to allow Peter Tucker and the other candidates to appear on the show to give the non-endorsed listener candidates equal time but Bush rejected that solution and instead opted for the most extreme penalties available to him. After Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW was told by Bush about these concerns on Dec. 7, the list of endorsed listener candidates were removed from the website but on Dec. 10, Bush told Avery-Brown and Iverem that this removal was not a sufficient remedy.
Avery-Brown is veteran of Pacifica, with stints as deputy executive director and Washington Bureau Chief. Iverem is editor of SeeingBlack.com, an award-winning website, and a former staff writer for several national publications, including The Washington Post and New York Newsday.
It would be nice if the Bylaws could be posted on the WPFW website. That way, we could all see for ourselves exactly what it says.
In this case, it wasn’t as if the programmers were themselves endorsing the alternate slate of candidates. And, I forget (because the item has been removed) whether the site itself endorsed these candidates or someone posted them, which would be their right. In either case, it was wrong to terminate “What’s at Stake” and disqualify Ms. Iverem from running. Seeing what the Bylaws actually say would help resolve this.
COMMUNITY VOTES FOR HUGHES OUSTER
A gathering of 30 WPFW listeners and programmers, including seven current LSB members and six non-incumbent Local Station Board candidates, met Wednesday, Dec. 5, starting at 6 p.m. at the station to discuss the programming crisis at WPFW and appropriate responses.
After extensive discussion about the governance duties of the LSB and various failings of the current board, those present adopted the following recommendation, by consensus:
Pursuant to Article 7, Section 3(d), the body here present recommends that the LSB initiate the process to fire station general manager John Hughes. The basis for this recommendation includes, but is not limited to, the following:
* the massive programming changes recently unleashed were not conducted in “a fair, collaborative and respectful manner” as mandated by the Pacifica Bylaws; and
* this conduct has further compromised the already-fragile fiscal integrity of the station; and
* while these actions are blatantly egregious, they are only the latest in a series of such actions by Hughes.
The meeting was held despite the effort of John Hughes, his HR director Donnie McKethen and LSB chair Tony Norman to derail it by broadcasting in heavy rotation that the meeting was cancelled and that their “Town Hall” meeting would be held instead. LSB members who fought for the right of the community to have this emergency meeting, including Jane Gatewood, Luzette King, Michael Byfield, Benito Diaz, Marcus Jeter and Ivon Alcime, pushed forward to hold the meeting.
Thanks! I haven’t noticed the station encouraging people to send in ballots. I hope programmers will stress the importance. Seems the station would rather people not reach the quota. I sent mine in.
Hello fellow WPFW loyal listeners! I too am outraged at how programs were cut with no notice to the listeners and hosts/hostess themselves. Particularly the longer running shows (Sophie’s Parlor and Mid-day Jazz). I do not think WPFW is dead but I do think if we as a community do not make it clear that we want our radio to do as it promises and continue to be “listener and member supported” we could lose it to co-ops and other sustaining programs! I am reaching out to some of the cancelled shows and am currently trying to create an event to not only rally against the poor decisions made by management but also promote WPFW as well. I am working in collaboration with Ben & Jerry’s (a few locations) and some musicians from the area in hopes to create a catastrophic event to promote Justice for our Jazz and Justice station!
The recent decisions made are no doubt, irresponsible and negligent. Sophie’s Parlor should have been preserved simply due to its historical value, women deserve a clear voice. So many avenues are being cut which promote proper education of controversial topics and news that does not air on any other media outlets. Pacifica has censored shows in the past and this time the station itself is making the cuts. We must unite together and protect this station! Bottom line is WPFW needs more listeners and more support, that is up to the fans to promote how great the station is, but the managers and program directors to follow through with it’s listeners!
If anyone here would like to help me in any way, whether you are a musician and would like to perform, or long time listener and would like to speak, or simply want to attend the event, please contact me asap. I have not solidified a date yet simply because the entertainment I am booking may require flexibility, but if we do not act sooner rather than later the point will be lost and our momentum will fall by the wayside.
email me at : j.w.johnson123@gmail.com
Thank you everyone for supporting WPFW and together we can preserve our station!
Good points. This level of disrespect is way below the level of GM position.
As stated at the meeting, since “and the mission and vision of WPFW” d id not make it into the language of the resolution, the accompanying documents should incorporate a statement/phrase noting that Mr. Hughes’s actions and conduct have “further compromised the already fragile fiscal integrity of the station, [as well as the mission and vision of WPFW and Pacifica].” Thank you.
Greetings.
Having listened to Mr. Hughes repeatedly and Mr. Norton (LSB Chair) recently adopt Republican tactics of filibuster, dialogue blocking, deflection-&-projection, re-framing, redirecting, co-opting, blame laying, semantic antics, and basically exhausting listeners by sucking out their vitality, part of me dreads Monday’s town hall meeting. Can another strategy-oriented meeting be held at a Busboys & Poets prior to this town hall? A free-or-all could be destructive to our efforts, especially given Mr. Hughes’s current strategy, which is to label us “emotional” (i.e., irrational).
Be forewarned: This morning, Summer Reese co-signed Mr. Hughes’s changes, only regretting the lack of communication. She isolated WPFW for criticism for its previous “imbalanced” presentation of music over community-affairs reporting. (Does anyone really listen to the station?!) She later admitted that the Texas station does the same (too much country music, not enough community affairs). So it’s a CA & NYC vs DC & TX dialectic? Her only clear objection was to the syndicated programming.
I’ve thought from the beginning that Hughes is a staller on the air. He wants to talk instead of listen. This morning was no different. And now we know his doesn’t like “appointment” listening. But we do. I thought the town hall was on Tuesday, not Monday.
I wish the programmers would be reminding people to send in ballots. The station is blatantly not doing this. Don’t let them get away with it. Ballots need to go into the mail today or tomorrow.
Where did you hear Summer? Is it archived on a site?
Katea, she was on the phone on “Manager’s Mailbox” this morning.
Can we, please, get a petition drafted for people to sign on Monday night? (This action should have been in the works before Wednesday.)
At home and at the next gathering, children should/could be making protest signs to take to Monday’s meeting since Mr. Hughes probably will not permit us to speak (just like Walmart managers corral employees into listening-to-mandates-&-directives meetings).
Can we gather to construct a 1-paged, bullet-point list of demands and/or concerns to guide out efforts? (& to attach to the petition)
I will bring to Monday’s meeting 2 petitions:
1) formal notice to management, LSB, & Pacifica that listeners want no syndication by programs with corporate sponsors
2) request that all supporters be formerly surveyed (on paper or telephone) using a few open-ended as well as closed-ended questions
I also will bring a sample survey for mark-up.
Listeners are taking their lead from programmers & LSB members. Please, do not lead a charge off the cliff. We assume you all have copies of the bylaws and operate from the bylaws, not your feelings, perceptions, opinions.
Lesson: All members of this community, including listeners, must be afforded copies of the bylaws (on both websites: thepeople4 & WPFW).
Let’s keep it simple: The town meeting is for John Hughes to present his arguments (not really to listen to us “emotional”/”irrational” lay people vent.
From here on out, LSB members must function above board (i.e., not deviate from the bylaws). Discipline, please.
Our petition has just been finished and it is posted below. Sometime tonight or tomorrow, we will link on the homepage and some programmers will announce it on the air:
http://www.change.org/petitions/summer-reese-remove-john-hughes-from-gm-position-at-wpfw?utm_source=guides&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_created
WHILE THE BED IS STILL WARM!
WE HEAR THAT JOHN HUGHES IS HIRING KEANNA FAIRCLOTH AS INTERIM PROGRAM DIRECTOR!
(ANOTHER SOUL HE FEELS HE CAN MOLD TO HIS OWN ENDS…)
That might not be a bad choice. I believe Keanna is very much capable and is knowledgeable enough to hold said position well.
THE WEDNESDAY, DEC. 5, 6 PM MEETING IS STILL ON! DESPITE THE EFFORT OF MANAGEMENT AND THEIR ALLIES ON THE LSB–TONY NORMAN, PETE TUCKER, BRUCE WOLF AND CAMPBELL JOHNSON–TO CANCEL IT. PROGRESSIVE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD WANT YOU TO COME TO THE STATION AND VOICE YOUR CONCERNS! 2390 CHAMPLAIN ST. NW IN ADAMS MORGAN.
Any report on tonight’s meeting. I read this site several times a day. One thing I learned is that our donations will go to pay for the canned programming. I have written to reese and promised to stop donating to WPFW AND Pacifica until Hughes is replaced.
NO ROMANCE WITHOUT FINANCE!
WPFW’s Interim Program Director is now one day removed from his post. He was abandoned by his friend John Hughes who sources at the station say, made no effort to dissuade Mr. Hill from reconsidering his decision to resign. This is a tragedy because John Hughes is the one we call for to resign!
On Monday, December 3rd and Tuesday, the 4th, the scheduled new imported programming was a no show. What happened? Three programs (Smiley & West, Monday 10 am, The Takeaway M-F 2-3 pm, and Tell Me More M-F 6-7 pm) that our listeners are up in arms about did not air! Again, why?
Simple really. After this big deal has been made to push people out, to tell them just before going live over the air, that their programs are out, so that WPFW can pay for acquired programs that air on competitor stations in this market, those very programs did not magically air because……….. No money paid, No program aired!
This is likely a temporary setback for Hughes who has indicated that he is pressing ahead on paying for programs the listeners don’t want. Programs that your pledged dollars will pay for. And sadly, programs which can be found elsewhere in this market.
If the new syndicated shows did not air, what did?
well, for example, democracy now aired in the time slot for tell me more.
The local programmers have been doing a fantastic job, as have the imported Pacifica programmers. How about an exchange program: we import 1 or 2 Pacifica affiliate shows, & we EXPORT 1 or 2 WPFW-Pacifica shows? (At this point, it would have to be the result of [re]construction/expansion. A great opportunity for regenerative healing. Collaboration would ease the burden & make for a more interesting mix to share locally and abroad. Equity & mutual respect & support within & across the concentric circles of our family.) Is it possible to get Josephine Reid back in the empty Fri 10am slot? Wouldn’t it be nice to have an Asian program at some time! The real “news” is we learn from listening to each other. Can we continue to get Haitian news & info via Caribbeana? And Brazilian news & info via Latino Media Collective or Caribbeana? Rather than continue to air “From the Vault” segments many of us have heard & enjoyed many times in the past, can we air “interim” programming that speaks to some of our current gaps/losses? Can trusted staff/evicted programmers occupy these “foreclosed real estate locations”? Whose station? Our station! See you tonight @ 6pm. Peace & blessings.
The updated schedule has been posted. Thanks to all of the programmers & others who are trying to make the best lemonade. However, right now, it resembles a Repub-Demo compromise of entrenched camps–local versus syndicated. Some time slots don’t make sense in terms of continuity. Others express outdated notions of multiculturalism. Some significant segments of our community remain unrepresented (youth–people are still calling me to find out what’s happening with them–Haitians, Brazilians, Muslims, binders of/”bound” women, alternative health practitioners–not just a monopoly by Gary Null). They all have been pushed back from the dinner table just to make room for out-sourced, syndicated programming with corporate sponsorship. A “guess who’s coming to dinner. Who’s demanding that we continue to move forward with so much syndication? And who’s paying for it? (And why are bogus listeners calling in to demand that WPFW imitate WAMU & get rid of the so-called “out-dated, elephant-dancing music called Jazz”? !! Clearly, they’re not going down without further fighting.) At least 1 slot is blank, if you can believe that! Some programmers repeat instead of sharing space with displaced programmers (personal time conflicts?). Teaming/cooperatives/collectives could have been a more harmonious way of expanding the pie rations w/o knifing someone at the family dinner. Some teaming appears to be evolving.
Further collaborative efforts could help smooth out some of the rough nature of the currently proposed schedule grid. For ex., incorporating 2K Nation into the Go-Go segment or having it share/”take away” a portion of this slot. Or having 2K share a slot with an adult mentor like Keanna Faircloth. Or having Tom Cole & Miyuki each give a little (30 mins.) & all the Sunday adults shifting their chairs over a smidgen time-wise so that 2K children can get an hour in the early evening on Sunday. (Or are we not cultivating the next generations of listeners, supporters, programmers, & administrators??) Will Bro Askia be able to incorporate some of the investigative reporting that went into Voices w/Vision, or will V w/ V take the blank morning slot? Does Sophie have to “take it outside” and fight her sister & brother, “her man” (Tom Porter), or even her own children for a place at the table? No. Some of the outside people will have to give up their multiple chairs. (See the book “Teaching Economics As If People Mattered”). It would have made more sense to keep Margaret Prescod (“Sojourner Truth”); but, of course, the intelligent, progressive, non-corporate sister was the only outside voice shown the door. We need to stand firm on some principles. They cannot think we’ll settle for stone soup as they serve us a kinder, gentler gentrification. We need to continue to say, “No,” to a sequel to “The Hunger Games” in which those allocated the least get to fight each other for space rather than the voices of the corporate empire participating in a re-distribution of resources–in this case, air time and the funding necessary to support investigative reporting by locally-based entities.
Magazine-typed informational programming is not news. Except to those who get their information from corporate entities & talk shows. “The Take Away,” “Tell Me More,” and at times even “Letters and Politics” add very little to our “being informed.” Who says that 200 white men who attended Harvard between 1939 & 1944 are the measure of “happiness” or that “if we had a billion dollars, we’d buy unicorns and trips to space” (“The Take Away”)? Who says “‘Black Thursday’ isn’t bad for everyone” or that it’s common for “women [to] fire back at working dads” (“Tell Me More”)? And who says ethnically-defining phenotypes (the shapes of noses & lips, hair textures, skin pigmentations, etc.) are unrelated to inherited genetics (“Letters & Politics”)? Furthermore, Tavis Smiley hasn’t had an African American on in 10 months. The longer he’s in bed with empirical corporations, the more impaired his vision seems to get. And those of us who’ve been around academics for a few decades know very well the mixed nature of Cornell West. This is what we’re getting in exchange for divesting in members of our own community?! Their ice, the ice of corporate-backed syndication, is not colder than ours!! Whose station? Our station! See you Wed @ 6pm!!
Correction:
Thank you for airing the “Letters & Politics” interview w/Dr. Dorothy Roberts twice–an excellent, profound, & well-presented report. While conducting preliminary research on the voices being imported, I googled Mitch Jeserich and was sent to the KPFK site’s presentation of his program. Instead of an abstract on this interview, this Pacifica station offered a rant by a scientist without a clear, specific explanation of the content of this show. Thank you for the clarification & education. Looking forward to more. Is Margaret Prescod still in the grid? If not why not?
Now that’s the Bobby Hill I have known, respected and have great affection for! Thanks for your many decades of service to the Washington DC community and WPFW in particular. I anticipate that the struggle with be long and difficult but result in a stronger station and political/cultural community.
Mr. Hill, your name and voice has been a cornerstone at WPFW along side many of the programmers and staff; and so we morn your loss, as well. At the same time, your stepping out of the fray does restore our associations between your past reputation and your name. In the end, how the ancestors, children, and elders view us out-weigh our egos and self-identifications. While the struggle is continuing (for we have more than surface matters to address), may this Solstice bring each of us profound healing and introspection as we journey toward a lasting Peace. Light & Love to all.
Video from rally, Friday, Nov. 30 in front of WPFW’s address, 2390 Champlain St., NW, Washington, DC. Posted by Jared Ball, WPFW host of “The Super Funky Soul Power Hour!”
http://www.voxunion.com/whither-wpfw-the-fight-to-save-community-radio/
Thanks for your honesty, courage, and integrity, Bobby! Not to mention your years of service to the station, and to its communities!
We need to rebuild a culture of integrity, mutual respect, and confidence at WPFW, and your letter is a good move in that direction. I hope that others will pick up and carry that light. We need to have confidence in each other, and in ourselves, before we regain our public credibility and dare invite the world at large to have confidence in us. Thanks for helping make that possible.
Charlie Stevenson
Editor, Geotrees.Com
Volunteer, The Nightwolf Show
anjinsan AT geotrees. com
More than 250 listeners and supporters pack Dec. 1 meetings to support jazz and justice programming at WPFW Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC. These are the actions resulting from the meetings:
–EMAIL Pacifica’s executive director, Summer Reese, at summer[at]pacfica.org. Also, call her at 510-333-1965. Call John Hughes at 202-588-0999, x309. Tell Summer that you want our local programming restored and that you want John Hughes removed. IMPORTANT: Post a copy of any email sent on this site under Letters. Also copy the Pacifica National Board at PNB@pacifica.org. (One listener said that summer’s address was not working for him.)
OCCUPY the Election by Dec. 5! Vote for New Blood on the Local Station Board! See our elections tab or post for candidates and info. PACIFICA MUST RECEIVE YOUR BALLOT BY DEC. 11!
–DURING the upcoming FUND DRIVE, make a “protest pledge,” saying that you will not honor your pledge until our local programming is restored and John Hughes is removed. If you are a sustainer, cancel your monthly giving until local programming is restored and John Hughes is removed. Post your protest pledges here under the Protest Pledges tab.
–OCCUPY the Station! Wed., Dec. 5, 6p.m., for the programming committee meeting; Dec. 12 for the delegates meeting (more info to come); Dec. 19, 6:30 p.m. for the Local Station Board meeting.
–THE FRIDAY NOON RALLY WILL BE EVERY WEEK UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!
CIRCULATE THIS SITE AND THESE MESSAGES TO EVERYONE IN YOUR CIRCLE! Always check back here thepeople4pfw.wordpress.com for updates. Our new Twitter hashtag is #occupywpfw. MORE TO COME.
WHOSE STATION? OUR STATION!
BOBBY HILL RESIGNS AS INTERIM PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT WPFW. HILL, AT THE DIRECTION OF JOHN HUGHES, IMPLEMENTED THE REMOVAL OF JAZZ AND JUSTICE PROGRAMMING AT WPFW. THIS IS HIS LETTER OF RESIGNATION SENT MONDAY, DEC. 3:
After 30 years of varied service to WPFW, I sincerely regret that, in my second and current term as Interim Program Director, I have been involved in implementing a grid change that has caused such discomfort to many programmers and listeners. That pain has been felt on different levels, and not just with what was implemented. The new grid was finalized late last week, resulting in notifications of impacts being shared with programmers with very little lead time. This was far different from the then new grid that I implemented as Program Director in the spring of 2008, which had a 5-month collaborative development process, and provided a one month lead time for impacted programmers and listener notification. When I had concerns that caused me to tender my resignation from my current interim position late in this new grid development process, I reconsidered and rescinded such tender, and instead worked hard and earnestly to implement the new grid as best I could. I have offered to meet with our General Manager John Hughes to revisit our new grid.
None of this sits well with me. Should the aforementioned meeting/grid revisit occur, I would return in this position, if it were the greater will of John and the staff/programmers. Until and if such occurs, I tender my resignation as WPFW Interim Program Director, effective immediately.
Bobby Hill
Good for you, Bobby. You are a man of such integrity. WPFW has always benefited greatly from your presence, creativity, and progressive leadership. Thank you for your clarity and strength. This too shall pass. Ever your admirer, Judith Anne Smith in NC
QUORUM ALMOST REACHED IN WPFW LOCAL STATION BOARD ELECTION!
Local Election Supervisor Jon Bush has given us an update! Only 353 more listener-member votes are needed for our station to make quorum and seat our new LSB! Only 11 more staff-member votes are needed.
IF WE DO NOT REACH A QUORUM OF ABOUT 1,000 VOTES, THE CURRENT BOARD–WHICH HAS LED US TO THE POINT OF FINANCIAL RUIN, MANAGEMENT CRISIS AND HOMELESSNESS–STAYS IN PLACE. PACIFICA MUST RECEIVE YOUR BALLOT BY DEC. 11.
I am a member and have yet to receive my ballot. I submitted a request two days ago and hope to receive the ballot in time to cast my vote . Concerned ! Ayana
Election extended to Dc. 18! VOTE!