Berkeley, California based listener supported station KPFA did an interesting and informative program on the candidacy of libertarian Republican Ron Paul on Tuesday. KFPA talk show host, Mitch Jeserich, hosted the discussion on his Letters and Politics show as Republicans (including Paul) compete for favor in the Iowa Caucuses. [UPDATE 10:41 PM CST: Paul comes in close third in Iowa race].

The program began with Nation magazine correspondent John Nichols, who characterized the Iowa event as “a sort of Kabuki theater, where most of the people who go don’t actually participate in the delegate selection process, they just go to participate in a glorified straw poll.” But that poll result, “doesn’t have anything to do with delegate selection. So while it is said that this is the beginning of the [Republican] nominating process, it’s really sort of a false construct.”

The real beginning of the process comes next week in New Hampshire, Nichols noted, where a more traditional primary will take place. And Nichols doubted that the Republican “party bosses” will let Paul get very far.

Nonetheless, much of the progressive blogosophere has been engaged in a fierce debate over Paul, who insists that he did not author various racist statements famously identified in his Reagan/Clinton era newsletter. Despite this, and Paul’s opposition to right of women to choose, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, and other 20th-century reforms, bloggers who offer qualified defenses of his campaign note his opposition to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war on drugs, the Patriot Act, and Federal implementation of the death penalty.

“Ron Paul is the only major candidate from either party advocating crucial views on vital issues that need to be heard, and so his candidacy generates important benefits,” contends Salon writer Glen Greenwald. Ditto says Robert Scheer in The Nation, given Paul’s “devastating critique of crony capitalism and his equally trenchant challenge to imperial wars and the assault on our civil liberties that they engender.”

Other writers, such as Bill Weinberg of the World War 4 Report, don’t see it this way. “If we ever see a President Paul, he’ll be bringing the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, all right,” Weinberg warns “—to wage a race war in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Houston.”

Nichols told Jeserich that he thinks the Paul cause is “a very dangerous game.”

“I understand that there are people who are passionate supporters of civil rights, Medicare, and Medicaid, who simply want to send a message and this is a way to do it,” Nichols explained. “But Ron Paul is a pretty complex player, and he has a lot of history on these issues that is pretty unsettling—in some cases repulsive.”

The conversation then went to Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report, who was asked for his opinion of Paul.

“I hope he does well,” Ford began. “I don’t like him, but it’s really a reflection on what’s happening in the Democratic Party, that the only conversation that the corporate media finds compelled to cover that has anything to do with empire . . . is coming from the Republican Party or from this libertarian within the Republican Party. So for those of us who would like to hear the term ‘empire’ uttered, Ron Paul is the only show among the two parties. He’s the only game in town.”

Jeserich asked Ford about the more controversial comments coming out of Paul’s newsletter.

“Paul comes from a cultural, political milieu that is totally saturated with racism,” Ford observed. “He is a hyper-American nationalist. And many people say how could that be, he is talking about the end of American empire; that’s not what we associate with hyper-American nationalists. But there has always been an American nationalism that was isolationist.”

Ford noted that isolationists have for a century opposed the integration of forcibly acquired nations like the Philippines and Cuba on racial grounds, citing fears of “mongrelization.”

“These strains have always been among us, and I think that Ron Paul actually is part of that older strain, very strong, that just doesn’t get talked about in the American political conversation.”

Jeserich asked Ford what he thought about progressives who see Paul as someone who could potentially make President Obama address issues that otherwise won’t be raised?

“Obviously they’re looking for the magic wand and some kind of way to oppose these corporatist policies of Obama that he shares, in fact, with the Republicans,” Ford replied. “They’d like a magic wand; some kind of button to push in the electoral arena, that would allow them to avoid the hard, hard work of grassroots movement building that is necessary.”

An interesting show, definitely worth podcasting or downloading.

Meanwhile KPFA-FM in Berkeley has pretty much glommed onto Occupy Oakland/San Francisco, to the point where it’s hard to figure out where one ends and the other begins (not a complaint; just an observation; relax). KPFA has its own page with links to various shows and their coverage (Morning Mix with Davey D; Against the Grain; Hard Knock Radio, Flashpoints, Letters and Politics, KPFA News, etc). The News Department’s John Hamilton has a particularly good piece on Democracy Now about the November 2 March in Oakland (see Vimeo above).

Below I’ve posted some scenes from KPFA coverage on November 2: Letters and Politics’ Mitch Jeserich interviewing Angela Davis, Jeserich and Sasha Lilley at the November 2 KPFA table, Brian Edwards-Tiekert getting a quote from Michael Moore, and Mitch Jeserich again with various other nice folks (and their adorable children).

Sasha Lilley, Jeff Patterson from Courage to Resist, Roy San Filippo from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and Mitch Jeserich

Babak Tondre, Renee Geesler, Mitch Jeserich, and Esther Manilla.

If your show or favorite photo isn’t posted above, don’t get your knickers in a twist or post a bunch of links in the comment section below (multi-link posts just wind up in our spam catcher). Send me the links here. Ditto if you want to provide details for the photos.

Following former Pacifica National board member Carol Spooner’s commentary on what’s going on at KPFA, station programmer Brian Edwards-Tiekert contacted me, asking that I publish his perspective on the station. Edwards-Tiekert is a former staff representative to the KPFA Local Station Board, and was the co-host of KPFA’s Morning Show until Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt laid him off and cancelled the program in late 2010. A union grievance forced her to re-hire him, with back-pay. He’s currently working as a reporter in the KPFA News Department.

If you were in Pacifica ED Arlene Engelhardt’s shoes, Carol Spooner asks, “What would you have done?”

I would have agreed to let KPFA spread catch-up payments over three years, instead of one—which would have saved $100,000 (more than the purported savings from laying off  the two hosts of the Morning Show).

I would have agreed to start paying rent for the KPFA-owned building that my offices are in—which would have saved KPFA around $30,000/year.

If I absolutely could not give up any money for Pacifica National, then I would have gone back to the bargaining table with KPFA’s union.

I would have taken KPFA’s union members up on their offer to switch Medicare-eligible workers to a cheaper Medicare Advantage health plan that would provide equivalent benefits.

An explanation

I would have explained how much we had left to cut, and asked the union to work with me on across-the board wage or hour cuts that wouldn’t compromise KPFA’s ability to continue fundraising. After all, KPFA’s workers were willing to collectively sacrifice pay to keep John Hamilton on payroll. And it’s not a foreign concept: the nonprofit Carol sits on the board of, Free Speech Radio News, has done across-the-board wage rate cuts to deal with its own shortfalls.

I would have cut my own salary at least 20% as a show of good faith. If I were Arlene Engelhardt, I think I could probably still live comfortably on $72,000/year.

If all else failed, I would explain the situation to KPFA’s listeners, and give them a chance to come up with something.

When SaveKPFA raised $63,000 in pledges to support the return of The Morning Show, I would have gratefully accepted the pledges and reversed the layoffs—on a temporary basis, if nothing else—rather than spending over $60,000 paying management attorneys to defend layoffs I wanted to avoid in the first place.

A different agenda

Of course—that’s me. I’d be interested in keeping good programming on the air, maintaining KPFA’s ability to fund raise, and keeping good faith with the station’s staff and listener-supporters. I would have been pretty motivated to avoid cutting a program that raised one out of every four dollars that come in during fund drives.

I think Arlene, and Carol, had a different agenda. Both had strong differences with those of us working on the show, me in particular. Both probably saw an opportunity to eliminate some political opposition within the station. And both probably didn’t think it would cost that much money.

Carol has for a long time been critical of strip programming (programs produced by the same people every day)—she thinks KPFA has too much of it. She and Arlene both have said they believe  that the only reason The Morning Show raised so much money was because it was in a good time slot—not because it was a particularly good program, or the people working on it did a particularly good job. Anything, to her thinking, could perform equally well.

So they put anything on. A patchwork of different hosts every day, largely chosen on the basis of their political allegiances. A structure that didn’t really allow the new program to respond to news developments in a timely fashion—at exactly the time of the day when listeners want breaking news and analysis. According to Carol’s logic, the new program should have performed just as well—or better—than The Morning Show. In fact, the tune-out for that hour was instant, and dramatic.

Then they went through a fund drive. Predictably, fundraising during the 8:AM hour dropped by more than 50%.

Of course, that contradicts Carol’s ideology. So she’s doubled down: blame the people who didn’t want The Morning Show cut in the first place—accuse them of telling people not to give.

That’s cynical.

Go to the web pages of savekpfa.org and kpfaworker.org. Both have been telling people to support KPFA since all the tumult went down six months ago. KPFAworker.org has raised over $13,000 in challenge funds, off-air, to support KPFA’s ailing fund drive.

Look at the pattern of pledges: the drop in fundraising at KPFA hasn’t been across the boards. Donations are up, year-over-year, for The Evening News, for Letters and Politics, for the annual Grateful Dead Marathon. The major drops are during precisely those hours Arlene re-programmed.

Compare it to 7:AM: Democracy Now! is raising only slightly less than The Morning Show did at that hour. The drop off is nowhere near as dramatic as the time slot Arlene replaced with her patchwork. Which suggests, to me, that there is some value to having the consistency of a strip program covering current events in drive time.

But what do I know?

Please feel free to respond to Brian’s commentary, but please also know that posts that contain insults, ad hominem attacks, or more than one hyperlink will either be held for moderation or deleted.

At the request of KPFA programmer Peter Phillips, I am posting this public statement by Carol Spooner, former Pacifica National Board member. It offers Spooner’s assessment of why layoffs were necessary at KPFA. I am not sure whether Spooner will approve of this posting. In a separate statement, she has accused me of “Glenbeckian” distortions and insists that I have sunk “down the toilet” and “down the intellectual sewer.” Her colleague Steve Brown of WBAI recently accused me of crossing over to “The Dark Side.”

Given my apparent Darth Vaderian status within the Pacifica organization, I am surprised that any of these individuals want to be associated with me and this site. Spooner’s side-rant all but blames me for KPFA’s current very unsuccessful fund drive, which as of several days ago was short by about $150,000. But in the interest of publishing the perspectives of various sides, here is Carol’s. If SaveKPFA and/or KPFAWorker wants to respond to her narrative, I’d be happy to publish that as well.

For the past 6 months the people behind “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” have run a relentless, dishonest and destructive PR campaign – both on and off the air – against KPFA and Pacifica over the layoff last November of two KPFA staff members – Brian Edwards-Tiekert and Aimee Allison, the former co-hosts of KPFA’s Morning Show.

Once proud KPFA has become the subject of ridicule in community radio circles across the country for all its dirty laundry, aired by the so-called “professionals” who have shot their reputations to hell and aren’t employable anywhere else at this point.

KPFA was functionally bankrupt as of 9/30/10 – they had almost $200k more in outstanding debts than they had cash and pledges receivable to pay them with. They had lost $1.5 million over the previous 4 years. They had borrowed money from Pacifica’s smallest station, KPFT in Houston, to meet the September 15th payroll.

Painful choices had to be made. Under these circumstances Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt offered all KPFA staff a voluntary termination package. Six staff members initially took it. Most KPFA staff work part time, so that reduced the “full-time-equivalent” staff by 4.1 – for an annual savings in salaries and health benefits of about $245k. (The base union wage is $20.20/hr, and it goes up $20/month for every year of seniority. All staff working half time or more receive full health benefits.)

That wasn’t enough to balance the budget. They needed to cut the salaries and related expenses line by about $500k – or about 4.25 more “full-time-equivalents.”

I honestly don’t know what I would have done in Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt’s place, and reasonable people can differ about that. I don’t think she cut enough, but I wasn’t the one taking the heat and the responsibility for it.

After the voluntary terminations of six of the “behind the scenes” technical, production, operations, administrative, and management employees who keep the place running – there really wasn’t anywhere to go for more cuts except programming.

So, the choices were The Morning Show (Brian & Aimee, plus producers Laura Prives & Esther Manilla), Letters and Politics (Mitch Jesserich), Against the Grain (CS Soong & Sasha Lilly), Living Room (Kris Welch), Hard Knock Radio (Davey D. & Anita Johnson), Flashpoints (Dennis Bernstein & Miguel Molina, plus technical producer Eric Klein), Saturday Morning Talkies (Kris Welch), The Sunday Show (Phillip Maldari), the News Department (Aileen Alfandary, Mark Mericle, Christopher Martinez, Rose Ketabchi, & John Hamilton), and the Music Department director (Luis Medina)

In order of seniority -

Kris Welch – Living Room & Saturday Talkies Host/Producer
Aileen Alfandary – News Dept Co-Director
Mark Mericle – News Dept Co-Director
Phillip Maldari (Union Steward) – Sunday Show Host/Producer
Dennis Bernstein – Flashpoints Host/Producer
CS Soong – Against the Grain Host/Producer
Luis Medina – Music Department Director
Davey D. – Hard Knock Radio Host/Producer
Anita Johnson – Hard Knock Radio Host/Producer
Christopher Martinez – News Dept Reporter
Sasha Lilley – Against the Grain Host/Producer
Esther Manilla (Union Steward) – Morning Show Producer
Miguel Molina – Flashpoints Host/Producer
Brian Edwards-Tiekert – Morning Show Host
Laura Prives – Morning Show Producer
Eric Klein – Flashpoints Technical Producer
Mitch Jesserich* – Letters & Politics Host/Producer
Rose Ketabchi – News Department Tech
Aimee Allison – Morning Show Host
John Hamilton – News Department Reporter

*Mitch is probably higher in seniority due to his time as KPFA News Sacramento reporter prior to Christopher Martinez, which isn’t taken into account in this seniority list.

Eight of them worked half time, 5 worked full time, one worked less than half time, and 5 worked between half and full time.

The union contract does not require that layoffs be done by strict seniority. The employer can skip over critical or unique positions or skills. But seniority does give a laid off employee the right to “bump” a less senior staffer out of their job in the same department if, in the judgment of management, they have the skills to do the job. Union Stewards can assert seniority “bumping” rights over any other position in their department.

With the voluntary severances – the News Department had already lost Max Pringle, Hard Knock Radio had already lost Weyland Southon. Flashpoints had lost Nora Barrows-Friedman when her hours were cut earlier in the year. Flashpoints, Letters & Politics and Hard Knock Radio are national programs aired on Pacifica affiliate stations across the country. C.S. Soong and Sasha Lilly had already had their hours cut earlier in the year.

Any more hours cuts or layoffs in any of those programs were not possible without cancelling the program. So, at least one program had to be cancelled.

What would you have done?

Engelhardt chose to cancel the Morning Show. She involuntarily laid off hosts Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Aimee Allison and producer Laura Prives. Producer Esther Manilla then chose to take the voluntary severance package so that Laura could stay on. That resulted in 1.55 fte staff laid off involuntarily.

I would have laid off more. Whatever you would have done, the “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” crowd has not been telling the straight story to help anyone to make an intelligent assessment of what Engelhardt decided to do. Instead, they’ve been putting out twisted distortions, half truths, false innuendo, outright lies, and slander.

A lot of people will have to pay for that deception – not just staff who will lose their jobs in more layoffs, but all of us who rely on KPFA and Pacifica and could very well lose it.

KPFA is much more than one program, or two program hosts, whether or not you liked the Morning Show or loved Brian and Aimee.

The Morning Show format was decades old. Much of KPFA’s programming had become old and tired before the layoffs last Fall. Listenership had dropped by over 25% in the past few years – that’s why the layoffs were necessary. Most of my old friends said they never listen anymore, and young people weren’t tuning in either.

With KPFA in precarious financial condition -teetering on the edge of bankruptcy – fomenting a listener revolt was reckless, to say the least, if not sinister.

With an extra added 5-day fund drive in December, the station came through the first half of this fiscal year with $68k more in income than expenses – not enough to pay its $190k in past due debts from last year, but at least not more in debt. But with this latest May fund drive the obviously predictable has happened. Many listeners were so turned off by all the dirty laundry and nastiness or so angry about the layoffs, or both, that they chose not to donate. Instead, they are calling into the KALW fund drive and saying they “used to” donate to KPFA.

After this fund drive is over there will not be enough cash to get through July.

Are the people behind “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” surprised by this? If so, they are profoundly stupid.

Was it too much to ask that the paid staff might have worked together with the unpaid staff to make the best of the layoff situation and helped to pull the station through its financial crisis?

Maybe even might have worked together to support and develop new morning programming? Might have stepped up to the plate and pitched in to help ease and explain the necessary transition in morning programming to the listeners?

Where were the long-time programmers? How come they didn’t get on in the morning to help out the volunteers who were doing their utmost? Instead, the union notified Arlene Engelhardt that no union member would appear or help with the morning drive time programming. It’s a mystery at what union meeting this resolution was adopted, and the union later disavowed it. But Davey D. was the only union staff member with the guts to help the Morning Mix out occasionally on the air, despite union opposition.

Where were Kris Welch and Phillip Maldari? They used to do the Morning Show together. You’d think they might have stepped up to help out. Or Dennis? Or Mitch? Or C.S.? Or Sasha? At least Dennis wasn’t trashing the Morning Mix volunteers and I’ve heard he was supportive behind the scenes.

But how many times did you hear Aileen Alfandary and the News Department, or Mitch, or CS, or Sasha, or Kris or Phillip or Mark complaining about the layoffs and undermining the Morning Mix volunteers who were working for free to save the station and with it their paid colleagues’ jobs?

But really, the whole “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” strategy has been transparent all along – rile up some listeners with manipulative and inflammatory rhetoric and discourage them from donating to the fund drive, and then pressure the station manager to put Brian on the air in the morning to “save” the fund drive, while urging his supporters to call-in and pledge their previously withheld money – thus “demonstrating” that KPFA cannot survive without “miracle worker” Brian Edwards-Tiekert.

But, unfortunately, all Brian’s “vast support” isn’t enough to save this sabotaged fund drive. Too many listeners are apparently just too disgusted by now to care.

That risk was obvious to any reasonably intelligent person all along.

In fact, the people behind “KPFAWorker/SaveKPFA” have been playing Russian roulette with ALL the chambers loaded.

They’ve shot themselves in the head, as well as the entire staff, and all of us who care about KPFA. It remains to be seen how many have been mortally wounded – because of their sabotage of the fund drive there will have to be more layoffs, and whether KPFA and the Pacifica network can survive is in doubt.

But despite all its flaws, KPFA could again become a true beacon – a reality fix, a place to confirm that you are not crazy for not believing in the racist war machine and the economics of empire and consumption and oppression – for what is true and beautiful and important in life in a darkening world. It could if it is willing to let go of the past and change radically.

Please feel free to respond to Carol’s commentary, but please also know that posts that contain insults, ad hominem attacks, or more than one hyperlink will either be held for moderation or deleted.

But while insisting that station staff tighten their belts, the Pacifica Foundation’s governance sector is still clearly unable to control its own internal expenses. The Pacifica radio network’s newest audit indicates that for the year ending in September 2010 the organization spent no less than $378,023 on its station subscriber and staff elected boards. This brings the total price tag for the network’s experiment in democracy to $2,802,685 since it commenced in 2002. Another year like the last six, and it will easily surpass $3 million in 2011.

And although Pacifica officials make noises from time to time about cutting board expenses, 2010′s board/election budget was the third most expensive in Pacifica history—over $112k more than the previous year. The “national division” spent a whopping $175k on board expenses. In 2009 it was $94,859.

Here’s how these board/election expenses played out on a station by station level for 2010:

KPFA (Berkeley, CA): $40,431

KPFK (Los Angeles, CA): $45,956

KPFT (Houston, TX): $22,548

WBAI (New York City, NY): $76,183

WPFW (Washington, DC): $26,500

National Division: $175,405

WBAI’s board expenses almost doubled in 2010, up from 38,422 the previous year.

In the past, critics of my articles on this matter have all but characterized Pacifica’s board costs as a bargain, contending that they represent a relatively small portion of the network’s annual expenses. This assumes, of course, that the cash strapped network can afford to spend something like $378k per year on what passes for governance rather than programming.

To give you an idea of what $40,431 means to KPFA, consider the justification that Pacifica management recently gave for the layoff of the entire KPFA Morning Show crew last December:

Eliminating the former Morning Show was the most cost-effective programming change we could make at KPFA. Three part-time positions were eliminated (two hosts and one producer) or 2.3 full-time-equivalent positions, each with full benefits as all employees working at least half-time receive full health benefits. This saves KPFA approximately $147k per year in salaries, payroll taxes and health benefits.

In retrospect, it’s difficult to see how that move was worth the subsequent trouble. Since then, one of those staffers has been rehired following a union grievance that staff estimate cost KPFA over $32,000. Another’s case is in arbitration. Protestors of the layoffs have collected over $60k in donation promises, forthcoming upon the return of the popular programmers in question.

But while Pacifica claims that it couldn’t afford these individuals, apparently it thinks that it can afford a substantial percentage of their estimated costs on board members, whose contributions to the organization are dubious at best. Hopefully the network will take a serious look at these priorities before Pacifica embarks on its next expensive round of subscriber and staff elections, scheduled for next year. Pacifica management has just announced a drastic makeover of KPFA’s schedule, without having consulted most of the station’s listeners or staff—hardly evidence that the folks at the top are taking the democratic principles implied by the election experiment seriously.

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Now the ‘Mix’ and the 9 am rebroadcast of Democracy Now! will be replaced by Flashpoints and Hard Knock Radio. Flashpoints will broadcast at 8 am. Hard Knock at 9. Against the Grain and Living Room will moved to 11 am. The Morning Music shows will air at noon with an extra half hour. And a new program called “Talk Back” will broadcast at five PM.

All this will happen following the May fund drive, write Interim General Manager Andrew Phillips and Interim Program Director Carrie Core.

Preliminary analysis

Why is the ‘Morning Mix’ on the way out? The memo doesn’t say. The show was initially heralded as “a new day” for the station. In March, KPFA/Pacifica management stood down calls to restore the old Morning Show with Brian Edwards-Tiekert and Aimee Allison by insisting that its controversial removal “was the most cost-effective programming change we could make at KPFA.”

The 7-9 am time slot is a big fundraiser throughout public and listener-supported radio. We are still analyzing the results of the current fund drive, but even though there has been a concerted effort to undermine the new Morning Mix program and calls from some quarters for a boycott—our preliminary analysis shows the morning programming change is holding up pretty well financially.

We expect the new programming to continue to gain audience support over time, and we will continue to work with our staff to discontinue their efforts to undermine the new programming and the station. We support this experiment in bringing new community volunteer voices to our air, and we’ve heard from many of our listeners that they do too.

That was then. This is now:

“We want to thank and praise those who pitched in on the Morning Mix over these past months,” the memo says. “Most were unpaid staff and they did a good job under difficult circumstances.”

But despite the fact that Edwards-Tiekert has been rehired (following a union grievance) and Allison’s case is on the way to arbitration, their Morning Show is not coming back, Phillips and Core insist.

“Restoring the old Morning Show is not the answer,” the memo says. “We need to step into the future, not back to the past.”

Activating the Medium XIV's Radio Love. (Image from 23five)

Radio doesn’t always begin and end with a broadcast over the airwaves. Sometimes radio transmissions are used by artists as another tool for creative expression.

This year the arts organization 23five is curating the Activating the Medium XIV festival in San Francisco and will present several performances and radio broadcasts focused on the theme of radio as source material. The festival began on April 7th with performances by Richard Garet, Jim Haynes and Allison Holt at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and will continue with events at The Lab on April 22 and 23. In addition to these live events, the series will also feature a number of radio broadcasts on KALX (on Information Overload April 7 and 21), KPFA (April 12 and 19) and on my home station KFJC (April 16) . The next radio special will air tonight starting at 11:59pm on the KPFA program No Other Radio.

To learn more about this year’s festival, I spoke with Jim Haynes of 23five. Jim is not only an artist, but he is also the principle curator and organizer for the 2011 event. According to Jim, the annual Activating the Medium festival is always designed around a particular theme and is meant to be a showcase for works by “sound artists, avant-garde composers, and experimental musicians.” Past themes have included  “the field recording, sound & architecture, the simulacrum, and ice.” When I asked Jim about how radio came to be the theme for 2011, he explained that, “Radio has long been a tool within the history of avant-garde composition, tracking back to Stockhausen, Cage, and Tenney; but within the history of 23five, the first Activating The Medium festival evolved out of Randy Yau’s radio show at Cal Poly called ‘Dark Market Broadcast’ — this being a reference to an incredible album by sonic provocateur John Duncan, who heavily uses radio within composition. It seemed a logical theme to employ given my own preferences for shortwave radio within composition and performance and Randy’s background with the medium.”

In addition to artists using radio as source material for their work, during the festival many of these pieces will also be broadcast over radio stations in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Jim explained that,

“It seemed self-evident to us that if we were going to be curating works sourced from radio, then we should try to broadcast such work over the radio. So, we sent out a call to a number of artists to contribute to a radio series. The response was incredible, and we have well over three hours of material from an impressive array of artists, including such acclaimed artists as Leif Elggren, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Dave Phillips, and Giancarlo Toniutti. There’s also a considerable amount of material from emerging artists, who will hopefully receive some exposure from this series. Within the series, there’s quite a wide variety of works such as those by Vertonen and irr. app. (ext.) who use static, noise, distortion, and sonic detritus; then one will find the culture jamming media collage from Lisa Seitz and Adam Sonderberg; and this would be coupled with the sublime contributions of slippery surfaces and hazy impressionism from Richard Garet and Colin Andrew Sheffield.”

Jim said that in terms of his own art, he’s particularly drawn to exploring the concept of decay and radio has been a useful tool for his work. He explained this, as well as his interest in shortwave radio and numbers stations, saying,

“My own visual and sound constructions work with systems of decay, and radio had proven to be a rich tool within composition to speak of corrosion. While there is the very concrete actualization of decay by means of radio by tuning into weak and/or interfered transmissions which breakdown in static and grey noise, I find that shortwave radio, in particular, is loaded with metaphors of instability and the unknown. An obvious example of shortwave’s mystery would be numbers stations, whose mechanical recitations of coded messages are downright spooky in their delivery, doubled by the likelihood that these transmissions originate from intelligence organizations around the world (i.e. CIA, M16, MOSSAD, etc.). While I have used numbers stations in very early works, I typically use sine waves from the upper & lower side bands of the spectrum, shepard tones of noise, and streams from utility signals.”

Although Jim told me that there aren’t many radio stations willing to play sound art, he did find willing participants at several college and community radio stations, including KFJC. KFJC DJ Nozmo King (former host of “Psychoacoustic Soundclash”) will be presenting his Activating the Medium special this Saturday, April 16 from 3 to 6pm (Pacific Time) on the Foothill College station (89.7 FM) in his old timeslot. I spoke with Nozmo King (aka Dan Kletter) about what he has in store for the radio special. Dan said that he’s been attending the Activating the Medium festival for many years and has always enjoyed helping to promote it over the airwaves. In terms of Saturday’s radio show, he told me, “Over 30 artists were asked to contribute a piece that was 10 minutes or less. We’ve got about 28 or 29 tracks right now. Since the Psychoacoustic Soundclash was all about looking at things sideways, I have been thinking about how I can present all the material as a performance. Sort of an homage to Negativland.”

Dan said that he likes the idea of composers using radio as source material and explained that there is a rich history of artists doing just that. He said,

“There are so many ways to use any sound source. This reminds me of a quote that often gets attributed to Picasso: ‘Good artists copy. Great artists steal.’ As long as whatever is taken is used to make something entirely else — and this is key — as a reflection of themselves.

I’ve heard some great things done with radio. I’m thinking specifically of Negativland who produced radio performances and sampled radio for use in their performances. I rely on field recordings quite a bit. Sampling radio, whether it’s static in between stations, interference, shortwave or just sampling directly from other programs is fun to work with. There was a DJ who tried using radio as a live instrument of decaying feedback on KFJC a few years ago. I owe a lot to J.C. Clone and crew with their Pumpkinhead performances.

Historically, radio has been put to good use by Stockhausen, Tenny, Cage, Maxfield, AMM, John Duncan, Stereolab, Kraftwerk, The Silver Apples, etc. etc.”

When I asked Dan if he knew the origins of the radio sources being used in the festival and if there were samples from radio broadcasts from KFJC, he said, “That would be pretty cool!”, but admitted that he didn’t know if there were. He added, “Camilla Hannan sampled an interview from Australian radio. The person speaking is complaining about the failures of his government in Paupa New Guinea and there’s a thunderstorm brewing in the background. I love it when intention is interrupted by the unanticipated. I try to nurture happy accidents whenever I do radio.”

More details on the Activating the Medium festival, including a schedule of performances and radio broadcasts can be found on the 23five website.

Doug Henwood of the Left Business Observer is one of my favorite people in the world of arts, letters, and radio. A brilliant and entertaining critic of neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, and neo-crackpotism, Henwood is the author of Wall Street and After the New Economy—the latter a remarkable analysis of the dot-com-bomb phenomenon.

Doug is long associated with the Pacifica radio network, most notably WBAI-FM in New York City. Unfortunately, he’s not doing a show there any more, and while I’m happy that he’s still broadcasting at ‘BAI’s sister station KPFA in Berkeley, I just think that some enterprising radio organization ought to take further advantage of this guy’s experience, talent, and smarts. Hence this Q&A:

Q. Doug, what is your current status with Pacifica radio? My understanding is that you no longer have a show with WBAI in New York City, but are still with KFPA in Berkeley. Why is that?

WBAI’s program director, Tony Bates, decided that he wanted to move my show from Thursday evenings to Saturday mornings and cut my frequency to every other week. I was suspicious that this was revenge for having criticized his use of crazy premiums during fundraisers—crackpot stuff about chemtrails and oregano oil along with the usual 9/11 lunacy and crypto-fascist monetary theories. I didn’t want to work on Saturday mornings—I’d rather spend that time with my wife and kid, and it’s not easy to get people for live interviews on political economy on the weekend – so I just told him to stuff it.

Several years ago, Sasha Lilley, who was then the interim program director at KPFA, put a rebroadcast of my show on, of all things, Saturday mornings. Fortunately, it was all done in advance, so this didn’t involve any weekend labor on my part. But when Bates squeezed me out of WBAI, I decided to keep doing the show for KPFA.

Q. Would you like to have more of a presence at Pacifica radio?

Yes, but… The “but” part is that it’s exhausting to work with an institution in such a constant state of crisis and civil war. All in all, KPFA is a saner and healthier environment – several people in management at the station have thanked me for my work, which is something that no one at WBAI ever did in the 15 years I had a show there. But it looks like chaos is gaining the upper hand there too.

Q. Is radio helpful to your work? Would you like to broadcast elsewhere? Any possibilities or prospects?

I really like doing radio. Most of my working life is spent writing, which can be rather lonely, though it has a long shelf life. And, I spend much of my time giving my analysis and opinion. It’s a refreshing change to do something in real time (even if it’s pre-recorded), where I interview other people about their opinions. By doing all those interviews – and by reading lots of books, since I interview a lot of authors – I really do keep up on much more than I probably would otherwise. But it’s a lot of work for no pay – about a full workday every week.

I’ve never tried to pitch my show anywhere else (though a few stations outside Pacifica pick it up – I’m never sure how many). I doubt anyone would have me, though I’d like it.

Former WBAI-FM Program Director Andrew Phillips is headed to become the station’s interim manager, following the resignation of the last guy (who lasted about a month). You can find a brief mention of Phillips in my second book on Pacifica here.

Brian Edwards-Tiekert of the recently tanked KPFA Morning Show has been re-hired with back pay. The Pacifica Foundation, which owns KPFA, is not challenging his union appeal.

“Pacifica has basically conceded it can’t win the pending arbitration over my dismissal,” Edwards-Tiekert explained in a public letter.

But he’s been hired to work in the News Department, it should be noted, not on the Morning Show. And the job of his co-host Aimee Allison has not been restored.

Meanwhile KPFA News reporter John Hamilton has now been laid off, just as he returned from live coverage of the labor struggles in Wisconsin. Talented, dynamic, formerly with Democracy Now—Hamilton was a huge infusion of creative energy for KPFA. On the right check out his investigative report on the Byron Williams ACLU/Tides Foundation alleged assassination attempt.

Critics of the move question the need for the layoff. I’m going to skip the inevitable he said/she said on this decision. Bottom line, if you didn’t like these people, you’re happy about these developments. If you are like me and you loved them, well, it’s a problem.

I’ve been pretty discouraged about the station since Aimee and Brian’s version of the Morning Show got nuked, and listen a lot less. Still, despite the fact that I’ve drifted away, I have a strong emotional attachment to KPFA and want to help (I did write two books about the place, after all).

Some KPFA supporters seem to think that giving more to the station during pledge drives will somehow convince Pacifica to keep Hamilton on. Good luck with that.

As for me, I just don’t want to give any cash to the Pacifica Foundation, whose principals—Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt and CFO LaVarn Williams—very loudly supported the Morning Show purge. Pacifica gets a 20 percent chunk of KPFA’s pledge drive income.

But there are ways to give to KPFA while denying Caesar her fifth of the take. These suggestions are, presumably, applicable to the other five Pacifica stations as well—they being WBAI in New York City, KPFK in Los Angeles, WPFW in Washington, DC, and KPFT in Houston.

Give during non-pledge drive periods

Pacifica does not tithe non-pledge drive related income. So if you contribute via KPFA’s online form, your money goes entirely to the station, but only if (nota bene) you do it two weeks after the last fund drive ends.

The safest way to donate without giving to Pacifica is to mail KPFA an old school check or money order. Just make it out to KPFA and send it to 1929 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Berkeley, CA, 94704. You can do that any time.

Buy tickets to KPFA events

Pacifica doesn’t tax KPFA events like speaker events and forums. So purchasing tickets to those occasions is a great way to support the station and, of course, enjoy an interesting evening.

Attend the Holiday KPFA Crafts Fair

The money from your purchase ticket to the fair goes entirely to the station, and not to Pacifica. Ditto for any non-pledge product you buy directly from KPFA there (a t-shirt, bumper sticker, book, etc).

Make in-kind donations

During a pledge drive, call a delivery restaurant near KPFA and order food for the volunteer pledge call takers. Or buy some kind of equipment for the station. Rest assured, KPFA can always use more office or equipment supplies. And you can get a tax deduction for that too.

Donate your old car or other dying transportation device

The next time your clunker reaches death’s door, donate it to Vehicles for Charity, specifying that the remaining net worth goes to KPFA. This will also get you a deduction from Uncle Sam.

Put KPFA in your will

In addition, when you reach death’s door, you can leave a chunk of your net worth to KPFA as well. This too will go entirely to the station.

There’s one more possibility: pledge to the SaveKPFA bring-back-the-morning-show fund, which has amassed a considerable chunk of change ready to hand over to KPFA if the old Morning Show is restored. But Pacifica seems pretty adamant about sticking with the status quo. So that’s a maybe strategy, not a sure thing.

I can anticipate some push back to these suggestions. The most important is that Pacifica in various ways funds  Democracy Now, Free Speech Radio News, and the Pacifica Archives.

Here’s the simple fix for this problem. Just directly donate to these venues yourself. They all have PayPal or similar donation buttons on their sites. Now your money is going to programming. None of it is headed for Pacifica central, with its crazy internal politics.

One final caveat—Pacifica can change or try to change these rules if it wants. Or it can just raid KPFA’s accounts if the Pacifica National Office is desperate. But generally these fund collecting protocols apply.

On Tuesday, the outfit put out an action alert calling on its supporters to let the Berkeley, California listener supported station know that they like the signal’s new volunteer “Morning Mix” lineup, which replaced recently purged hosts Aimee Allison and Brian Edwards-Tiekert:

“[a] new show, ‘Morning Mix’, hosted by several volunteers, including Project Censored’s own, Mickey Huff, is in place at 8:00am. Mickey is a supporter of all things truth and will undoubtedly have us on as a guest if the show is continued. AE911Truth is highlighted in the last 3 Project Censored books. However the new radio show’s tenure is in jeopardy. We need your help.”

So calling all 9/11Truthers, continues the message—tell KPFA’s new General Manager and Program Director that you dig the new show! But, well, maybe leave a few details out of your e-mail:

“For this particular show of support,” the missive concludes, “we should refrain from mentioning 9/11—a very contentious issue at KPFA. Discussion of it in this circumstance will only complicate and thwart our efforts to keep the ‘Morning Mix’ on the air.”

Yeah, the whole truth always complicates things. Better just to omit minor deets like the real actual reason you support the new program out of your message of support.

I wonder if there are other truths that 9/11Truthers around KPFA think that it’s best to keep on a low profile.