Not again! Why can’t Pacifica stop trying to censor its staff?

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If you thought the drive to censor KPFA’s workers was past, think again. Pacifica has released new versions of its “employee handbook” for both paid and volunteer workers, according to KPFAWorker.org, which threaten them with termination for posting criticism of the network on their personal social media pages or private websites, or even speaking to the press.

Free speech radio won’t be so free if the Pacifica board majority has its way: “It’s shamefully obvious,” one worker tells KPFAWorker, “that Pacifica’s board majority wants to remove its workers’ voices from the conversation about the network’s future,” continuing the pro-censorship agenda begun under former Pacifica director Arlene Engelhart. Even though the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that employees have the right to post criticism of their employers, Pacifica is “so out-of-touch that it is attempting to institute a policy that is illegal on its face,” says one of the blog’s sources.

Under pressure, Pacifica agreed to allow comments on the draft paid and unpaid handbooks until May 28. As a member of Pacifica’s community, you can send your response to: pacifica.handbook@hotmail.com; please cc votesavekpfa@gmail.com.

KPFA wraps up successful winter fund drive

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UpFront's Sonali Kolhatkar interviewing actor Jack Black about the KPFK Hero Awards

On March 6, KPFA’s winter fund drive wrapped up, finishing two days earlier than 2012’s winter fund drive — and raising $100,000 more. Thanks to all of you in KPFA-land who pledged, and a special thanks to those who helped out in the phone room. If you didn’t get a chance to, you can give to KPFA anytime online.

KPFA’s fund drives are still running longer than before Pacifica killed KPFA’s top fundraiser, the Morning Show — but the trend has started to reverse. The 7AM weekday program UpFront, co-hosted by former Morning Show staffer Brian Edwards-Tiekert and KPFK’s Sonali Kolhatkar, has become the station’s top fundraiser. Since UpFront‘s launch last May, KPFA’s fund drives have started consistently beating their goals. And now, they’re getting shorter.

WBAI tower gets eviction notice, FSRN on the brink

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Unfortunately, the situation elsewhere in the 5-station Pacifica network isn’t so bright. Days before the Pacifica National Board convened in New York City on February 22, news broke that sister station WBAI’s transmitting tower was about to be evicted from its roost on the Empire State Building, which allows the station to reach up to 75 miles in all directions, into four states.

Rent for the tower was $200,000 in arrears, and the landlord had begun eviction proceedings. In an emergency appeal, WBAI extended its winter fund drive by four weeks, while Pacifica set up a special transmitter fund. Those moves allowed WBAI to pay three months’ back rent, but $110,000 more will be due April 1. WBAI had been knocked off the air when Superstorm Sandy hit last October, but it got a reprieve after KPFA and the other stations raised over $180,000 for WBAI on a single day in November. WBAI has been racking up serious deficits for years, a casualty of high fixed costs and mismanagement at both the national and local levels.

More bad news hit the network on March 4, as Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) issued layoff notices to its entire staff, saying it would go off the air by March 15 if emergency fundraising efforts failed. FSRN is a worker-run newscast broadcast daily on Pacifica stations. Although it’s an independent nonprofit, the majority of its funding comes from Pacifica. To pay FSRN, Pacifica witholds a portion of its stations’ Corporation for Public Broadcasting grants — but lately, Pacifica has been missing payments, forcing FSRN to the brink.

At the March 9 meeting of KPFA’s Local Station Board (audio here: part 1 | part 2 | part 3) interim general manager Andrew Phillips announced that KPFA had advanced FSRN $35,000, which KPFA will deduct from its future payments to Pacifica. Thanks to that, plus grassroots support from hundreds of small donors, FSRN has raised enough to stay on the air while it looks for a permanent solution. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! has issued an urgent call to support FSRN. You can help by donating to this valuable news service.