fund drives

KPFA’s winter fund drive on track to finish early — help now!

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Music programmer David Gans and Luis Medina, KPFA's music director.
Music programmer David Gans and Luis Medina, KPFA’s music director.

The station’s winter fund drive is chugging along at a faster clip than expected, putting it on track to end in just two and a half weeks — nearly a week shorter than KPFA’s major drives last year. Big kudos to all of KPFA’s staff and listeners, particularly SaveKPFA‘s David Gans and Tim Lynch, whose annual Grateful Dead Marathon raised about $20,000 more than KPFA does on an average Saturday.

Success can bring problems, however: the increased number of calls coming in has at times overwhelmed the volunteers staffing KPFA’s phone room. Staff are reporting regular shortages during the early morning fundraising appeals for Democracy Now! and UpFront.

Three ways you can help out

1) Come volunteer at KPFA any time after 6:30 AM — the address is 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Berkeley.

2) Give some money online! Making a pledge through www.kpfa.org doesn’t tie up a phone line, and it lets you shop around all the thank you gifts KPFA is offering.

3) Check out the fantastic KPFA events and attend one or more! Email them to your friends, post them on Facebook and Twitter!

KPFA needs YOU!

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KPFA launches another on-air fund drive this Tuesday, February 4. Consider how much KPFA’s continuing presence means to you and your co-workers, friends and neighbors, and please make a generous donation by calling the station during the drive at 800-439-5732, or by giving securely online to www.kpfa.org.

You can also volunteer in the phone room from 6AM to 10PM weekdays and 7AM to 6PM weekends at 1929 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, near University Ave. in Berkeley. More about volunteer shifts here.

Whither Pacifica?

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Save Our Station_lukethomasLast fall, a committee of local KPFA board members interviewed and choose four candidates for permanent KPFA general manager who, they unanimously agreed, were qualified. The names and resumes were sent in early November to Pacifica interim executive director Summer Reese, who has the responsibility under Pacifica’s bylaws to hire one of them. To date, there’s no word from Reese on whom she intends to hire.

Meanwhile, KPFA’s current interim general manager, Richard Pirodsky, has now been given the task of also performing the same services at sister station KPFK in Los Angeles. That station, along with Pacifica’s KPFT in Houston, recently lost its Corporation for Public Radio grants due to declines in listenership; all 5 Pacifica stations suffered delays in their CPB funding due to Pacifica management failures. | SEE letter from CPB to KPFT, and the CPB’s audit of Pacifica

Last fall, KPFA’s former interim GM, Andrew Phillips, was transferred to Pacifica station WBAI, where he worked to bring new voices to the airwaves, before he resigned over disagreements with Pacifica’s fundraising reliance on AIDS denier Gary Null, as reported in Current. Pacifica management has sought proposals for outside groups to lease WBAI, according to both Current and Pacifica historian Matthew Lasar on Radio Survivor.

Pacifica’s National Board meets next weekend in Washington, DC and there are likely big changes coming as new representatives from each station take their seats on the national board. SaveKPFA‘s own Margy Wilkinson, former chair of the KPFA Local Station Board, is a candidate for chair of the PNB.

KPFA’s sister station in Fresno, KFCF, is back to nearly full power after having lost the power supply in its transmitter and running at 7% of power for a week.  The station bit the bullet and ordered a new transmitter.