Save Free Speech Radio News

by
YouTube clip of Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez on FSRN
Democracy Now! in support of FSRN

Pacifica has apparently put those who provide the network’s national programming at the bottom of its list of bills to pay. It owes Democracy Now! and Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) more than $1 million. While Democracy Now! has enough resources to cushion the blow, Pacifica’s unpaid bills to Free Speech Radio News threaten its very existence.

FSRN was founded by freelance reporters protesting censorship at Pacifica the last time the network went off the rails. What started as a “strike cast” during the 1999-2001 Pacifica crisis later became an independent, worker-run collective producing news for Pacifica for over a decade.

“The idea that Pacifica will let this valuable news program die is shameful at best,” one FSRN correspondent told us. FSRN urgently needs to raise $40,000 this month to pay its contributors and stay on the air. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at FSRN’s website.

We also encourage you to VIEW AND CIRCULATE this special video message supporting FSRN from Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now!

Recall ballots on their way, says Pacifica’s election supervisor

by

Ballots in the extremely long-awaited recall vote of Pacifica treasurer Tracy Rosenberg are due to mail sometime in the next week. That’s according to our last communication from election supervisor Matt Ward (though if they mail out later, it wouldn’t be the first time Pacifica blew a deadline. Under Pacifica’s own rules, these ballots should have been out by New Year’s Eve 2011!).

KPFA Local Station Board chair Margy Wilkinson described what she had been able to learn about the recall and elections planned for later this year at all five Pacifica stations, during a report to KPFA’s local board June 2. | LISTEN to Wilkinson (2 min audio)

We urge you to VOTE YES on the recall, which is endorsed by a long list of KPFA listeners and workers. In addition, please help SaveKPFA ensure that Pacifica conducts this vote fairly and impartially by contacting us when you receive your ballot and when you’ve voted. You’re supposed to get a ballot if you’re a KPFA member — meaning you gave $25 or more in a one-year period.

KPFA launches a morning news hour at 7AM, moves broadcast of Democracy Now to 6AM

by

Starting Thursday, May 17, at 7AM, tune your dial to KPFA 94.1FM for Up Front, a news collaboration that many hope will begin to rebuild the station’s morning audience. KPFA issued this press release today about the new show, which will be a collaboration between KPFA and sister station KPFK in Los Angeles. Produced by KPFA’s award-winning News Department, Up Front will include “challenging interviews with political and community leaders, civil but heated debates, and frequent breaking news updates.”

KPFA’s Brian Edwards-Tiekert and KPFK’s Sonali Kolhatkar will co-host. Up Front will include “voices both familiar and new.” The first broadcast of Democracy Now! will return to its traditional time of 6AM to make room for the new program.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP: circulate this message to your network, then TUNE IN AND MAKE A PLEDGE on Thursday during the 7AM hour.  The number to call is 800-439-5732 (800-HEY-KPFA), or pledge online at www.kpfa.org.  You are also invited to KPFA’s studios at 1929 Martin Luther King Jr Way in Berkeley on Thursday for the program’s launch. Answer phones or bring some food to share. Let’s a take a moment to celebrate and support KPFA!