Pacifica’s executive director told the City of Berkeley Commission on Labor that she did not anticipate any further layoffs at KPFA. It now appears that was untrue: more layoffs are imminent.

Thanks to all of you who have been responding to SaveKPFA’s pledge drive to restore the Morning Show and protect all locally-controlled programming. We’ll total the amount and present it to Pacifica management as part of a special fund. This pledge will go in its entirety to KPFA.  LEARN MORE: PLEDGE ONLINE | PLEDGE BY MAIL

Protestors also gathered outside of Pacifica headquarters today, World AIDS Day, to present over 600 signatures from AIDS organizations, doctors and others objecting to the network’s hiring of an AIDS denialist at its New York station, WBAI. Here’s a report from John Hamilton of the Pacifica Evening News.

More elected officials have signed the letter to Pacifica management, including State Assembymember Tom Ammiano and San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos. The letter notes that Pacifica’s actions “violate both the spirit and the letter of the democratic constitution of Pacifica’s unique experiment in listener-employee run radio,” and call on Pacifica to sit down with KPFA’s union and local supporters and “negotiate a collective solution that will be fair and accepable to all: cancel the layoffs and start over.”

Educators of all kinds — professors, teachers, researchers, writers and university staff — from around the nation are signing onto a letter of support for KPFA, which you can read here. If you’d like to add your name, please contact us.

Listeners at sister station KFCF in Fresno, which plays many KPFA programs, are also concerned, as this article in the Community Alliance newspaper documents.

KPFA’s local station board will meet on this Saturday, 12/4 at the North Berkeley Senior Center (1901 Hearst Ave, one block north of KPFA) starting at 11:00 am. This is the meeting at which the new LSB members will be installed. Please join us. Berkeley’s Labor Commission will meet about KPFA on Wednesday, 12/8 at 7 pm at the West Berkeley Senior Center (1900 6th Street at Hearst). We hope you’ll come and support KPFA’s hard-working staff.

Pacifica executive director Arlene Engelhardt vowed on air on November 9th that there would no more layoffs of KPFA staff, after she dismissed the staff of the Morning Show and created an uproar from listeners. However, KPFA staff have learned that more layoffs may be imminent at the station.

How can you help? SaveKPFA is sponsoring a PLEDGE DRIVE TO RESTORE THE MORNING SHOW and preserve locally-controlled programming. We’ll total the amount and present it to Pacifica management to show both your unhappiness with their latest moves and your commitment to support KPFA if they change course. If Pacifica does the right thing, we’ll bundle your pledges and submit them to KPFA as part of a special fund. Unlike pledges made during fund drives of which Pacifica gets a portion, this pledge will go in its entirety to KPFA.

CLICK HERE to make an ONLINE pledge | CLICK HERE for the MAIL IN version (PDF)

Elected officials “deeply concerned” about Pacifica’s actions

More than a dozen elected officials, including the mayors of Berkeley and Albany, city council members, a state senator and others, have written to Pacifica management to express their “deep concerns about the way in which recent program changes were made at KPFA.”

The authors write: “Why would the station’s best fundraising program be cancelled in the name of cost cutting? Was the move motivated more by political than financial reasons? One of the show’s hosts is a prominent and outspoken member of a slate that opposes the political faction that currently holds a majority on the Pacifica National Board. We are also troubled by the way Pacifica has disregarded the authority of the local station board in budgetary matters.” You can read the entire letter here.

Don’t forget to support KPFA’s locally-planned events, such as this November 30 talk with Chris Hedges, or KPFA’s 40th Annual Crafts Fair on December 11-12. All money raised at KPFA events go solely to KPFA (none to Pacifica).

A large group of SaveKPFA supporters turned out last Friday to read a sampling of the thousands of letters sent to protest Pacifica’s slashing of KPFA’s Morning Show, and the “voluntary” departure of seven workers of color.

KPFA’s Kris Welch broadcast parts of the reading live on Living Room, and then took listener call ins. Music programmer David Gans made this recording of the demonstration outside the station.

Among the letters to Pacifica’s executive director Arlene Engelhardt was one from long-time KPFA events producer Bob Baldock: “You barged in and insulted and injured a whole lot of folks you don’t know. This is not progressive. No sanctimonious rhetoric or confused motives can justify it. No blaming it on some dubiously contrived bureaucratic board can make it all right. It is not all right. Undo it. Put our excellent Morning Show team back to work.” | read entire letter

Supporters have been circulating an online petition to bring back the KPFA Morning Show, filled with remarkable comments and signed by many activists, writers and poets, including among others, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Raj Patel, Barbara Dane, Amelia Gonzalez, Dana Frank, Norman Solomon, Gray Brechin and Susan Griffin.

Another way to support KPFA is to attend the station’s locally-planned events, such as this November 30 talk with Chris Hedges, or the KPFA 40th Annual Crafts Fair on December 11-12. All money raised at KPFA events go solely to KPFA (none to Pacifica).

Morning Show labor programmer David Bacon has published a piece about KPFA in Labor Notes. News has also broken that Pacifica is spending listener dollars on a corporate “mangement-side” employment law firm.

A group of KPFA listeners who are educators — professors, scholars, researchers, university staff and teachers — are putting together a public letter of support for the Morning Show. If you fall into this category, please send us your name and academic affiliation and we’ll send you the letter for your consideration.

Listeners at Pacifica’s New York station, WBAI, continue to protest the cancellation or shortening of many shows, including left economist Doug Henwood’s, to make way for commercialism and AIDS denial.

Pacifica management’s Morning Show layoffs violated KPFA’s contract with its union employees, and supporters fear the move will send the station’s finances into a downward spiral, leading to greater cuts. KPFA’s local board, management and workers all back an alternative sustainable budget, which Pacifica management has flatly refused to consider.

Please note: since this Friday, Nov. 26, is a holiday for many, we are cancelling our regular Friday noon action at the station. There will be an action on Friday, Dec. 3. Please stay tuned for new ways to help after the long weekend.