After an almost seven-month delay, ballots were sent out Thursday to Berkeley-based radio station KPFA’s staff and members to vote on the recall of one of the station’s local board members.
The staff of the listener-sponsored radio station has been divided into two factions since 1999: SaveKPFA and Independents for Community Radio. SaveKPFA has been trying to recall Tracy Rosenberg, treasurer for the Pacifica Foundation as well as local board member, since 2011.
Ballots were scheduled to be sent out in December. Pacifica, the station’s parent organization, was responsible for producing the ballots and conducting the election but did not hire an election supervisor until March.
The two factions have been divided over Rosenberg since the termination of KPFA’s lucrative and popular program, The Morning Show, in 2010. After laying off three of the show’s four hosts, Pacifica’s board replaced the program with a volunteer-run segment called The Morning Mix. Rosenberg’s involvement with the replacement has been a source of contention ever since.
In accordance with Pacifica’s bylaws, in September 2011, SaveKPFA received hundreds of signatures to recall Tracy Rosenberg, and on Nov. 1, 2011, each person who signed the petition became a certified KPFA member who could vote to recall Rosenberg.
Sasha Futran, a former KPFA program host and 30-year vice chair of the local station board, said she believes that replacing The Morning Show with the Morning Mix resulted in a decrease of funds and listenership.
“The Morning Mix took the most valuable air spot, which is from 8 to 10 a.m.,” Futran said. “I tuned in one day last week for 15 minutes, and I didn’t know what the subject matter under discussion was, and I had no idea who the host was talking with. We can’t afford to have two people chatting. At that time of day, people want news and information.”
However, Rosenberg said the Morning Show’s hosts were let go because they were the lowest on the station’s seniority list. She added that the station saved $375,000 as a result.
“The recall proponents have put out a lot of accusatory and false statements … and it has taken some toll on me professionally and personally,” Rosenberg said.
Aki Tanaka, a member of the local board and of Independents for Community Radio, said she supports Rosenberg and believes she is only guilty of reporting the truth to Pacifica regarding KPFA’s budget deficit.
“She did point out to the management of Pacifica that KPFA had a $500,000 deficit,” Tanaka said. “She was simply the messenger that brought the bad news.”
According to Tanaka, the decision to lay off KPFA employees was completely logical because KPFA developed the $500,000 deficit after hiring too many people before the recent economic recession.
Futran and other SaveKPFA board members also object to Rosenberg’s usage of the member email list. Futran said donors are told that their personal information will not be used by the station in any way but that Rosenberg used the email list to send newsletters promoting The Morning Mix, leading to a drop in membership and funding.
Margy Wilkinson, chair of the local station board and SaveKPFA member, said she is upset that the ballots to recall Rosenberg’s positions were delayed to such an extent. The almost seven-month delay in sending the ballots may impact the outcome of the vote, Wilkinson said, but she is unsure of how large the impact will be.
“Some people may have lost interest in the issue because it has been dragging on, but ultimately the effect of the delay will only show up in the results,” Wilkinson said.
Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Pacifica Foundation Treasurer and local board member Tracy Rosenberg terminated KPFA’s popular program, the Morning Show, in 2010. In fact, the decision to replace the show was voted on by the Pacifica board.
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BTW, it’s no surprise that KPFA’s listening audience dropped by a full third during the Bush years, a time when you might have supposed it would grow.
Anyone with any semblance of intelligence knows what total bullshit KPFA’s strident, simplistic Leftwing sewage its ideological screeching consists of. For this they can thank the likes of Dennis Bernstein, David D., Barbara Lubin, and that old Commie, Conn Hallinan.
The good news: people who call themselves progressives have jumped off this air-polluting station in droves.
so cute when leftists fight with each other….
Tracy Rosenberg, as a member of the KPFA Local Station Board and the Pacifica National Board, had no authority to terminate the Morning Show, to lay off hosts, or to replace the program with The Morning Mix. These executive decisions were made by Arlene Engelhardt, Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation.
This statement is false and irresponsible: “The two factions have been divided over Rosenberg since she terminated KPFA’s lucrative and popular program, the Morning Show, in 2010. After laying off three of the show’s four hosts, Rosenberg replaced the program with a volunteer-run segment called The Morning Mix.”
Hey Ann, whether it’s the Morning Show or the Morning Mix, it’s all loony left ideological rubbish. Nonetheless, I’m happy you and your fellow KPFA morons are wasting time over it, lest you spend your hours doing something politically more destructive.
Please, give us an example of something KPFA reported (as in something claimed to be a fact, not an opinion) that is incorrect. They had some of the best coverage of the Arab Spring I could find anywhere, and I always find their news sections to be on point with the important issues. Just because you don’t agree with someone’s opinions doesn’t mean that their facts are wrong. Look at CNN and FOX screwing up the reporting of the verdict of the Obamacare ruling on Thursday. Then turn around and find me something that loony that KPFA did.
The best reportage (people like CBS’s Laura Logan who unfortunately was assaulted by the pro-democracy mob in Tahir Square) noted that for all the advocacy of progressive democracy some were saying was the calling card of the Egyptian demonstrations, they did NOT represent the majority of Egyptians (a good percentage of whom favored either the military for stability or the barbarians of the Islamofascist Muslim Blubberhood). KPFA would have made you believe this was a movement for true democracy and nothing could be further from the truth as we can now clearly see.
While KPFA was ballyhooing “Arab Spring,” the better news services were letting us know that what was happening was clearly the stench of Arab Spring. Oh, and lest we forget, KPFA also supported the ouster of the Shah in Iran and the return of the I-A-Toilet Theocrat, Khomeni.
This is an easy one to resolve. Show us how much the morning show cost and how much revenue it brought in. Then show us the same information for the morning mix. Then we can start to tell if the move was good or bad for the station as a whole.
I love it. We always see the Left’s infamous circular firing squad on KPFA and here we see it anew. KPFA is the ultimate disinformation station, the Fox of the Left. And whenever it suffers such discord in its ranks, as it regularly does, it makes all those who appreciate honesty rather than propaganda rejoice.
Where do you get your news from then? What’s your wonderfully impartial, unbiased, politically coincidental news source? No one denies that KPFA is biased in its selection of news to report (centering around events concerning progressive ideologies and policies), but they’re not WRONG with what they report like Fox often is. And as long as that bias (as a “leftist” news and talk radio) is acknowledged up front then it’s not propaganda just like ESPN is not trying to subvert us all into watching professional sports by claiming to also cover other “issues”. “Fair and Balanced” Fox news can’t say the same. KPFA was the only news agency to have a reporter on one of the more recent protest-boats sailing to Gaza…they had a live sat-phone feed to her as the Israelis jammed the signal and it cut out. If that’s not embedded, live news…
KPFA is THE DISINFORMATION station. They think Cuba is a workers’ paradise, lionize the Venezuelan thug Chavez, thought the Sandanistas were aces, supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, think the Palestinian people are blameless of any harm, never discuss the brutalization of women, gays and dissenters in the Arab world, believe any of what they laughingly call “people of color” are never culpable for anything they do–it’s only poverty ya know. As for the so-called flotilla, if they had someone on board, that pathetic excuse for a reporter tendered a pack of lies as KPFA virtually always does when it comes to Israeli/Palestinian issues.
Get your news from the NY Times, the LA Times, Le Monde (if you read French), The Economist, The Times of London, and if you choose carefully, sometimes the BBC. Of course, this requires a capacity to read–a skill lacking in regular KPFA listeners.
Re: KPFA sending someone posing as a “reporter” on the so-called flotilla to Gaza. The best analogy: a whore watching over her top client.
I meant could you actually provide any evidence for any of your claims. I could levy similar accusations against any of the news sources you just mentioned just as easily as you did…but that doesn’t mean that it’s true. If you can find actual quotes that show people saying things like “Cuba is a worker’s paradise”, “The Soviets have the right to invade Afghanistan”, “All Palestinians are blameless”, etc. then you would have some credibility.
On every news broadcast I have had the misfortune of hearing on KPFA, I have only heard Cuba’s alleged virtues extolled–never the tyranny of the Castro regime nor why so many Cubans seek the freedom of expression they find in the US as opposed to the suppression of the Fidel/Raoul regime. Mandel used to always justify the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, saying things like how the Soviets have liberated Afghan women–ditto Dennis Bernstein and occasionally Barbara (Cain’t Lubincate) Lubin. Doubtless the influence of Connman Hallinan played a role in this.
And have you ever heard the Palestinians criticized for their treatment of women and gays and their vicious suppression of dissidents. Also, not once will you hear any excoriation of Hamas for its charter calling for Jewish genocide. And never are the Palestinians critiqued for suicide bombing or other acts of terrorism vs innocent Israelis. Dennis Bernstein and that bitch who worked with him (who was thankfully let go do to lack of funds). Of course, Bernstein’s work with Lubin on some Flashpoint programs make for the most linear analysis of the Israeli/Palestinian situation, with nary a knock on those poor, poor Palestinians (now ranked among the planet’s most obese populace-they are suffering so).
Finally, why do you think KPFA lost a third of its audience during the years of the reactionary George W. Bush? Could there be any other reason besides listeners growing sick of the absurd ideological stance of the news department? If you can’t comprehend this, it’s because you are wearing the same idiot-logical blinders.
To finish the sentence, “Dennis Bernstein and that irrational bitch who spent time in the territories spouting propaganda (and was so biased even by KPFA standards she was let go, allegedly do to lack of funds) who worked with Bernstein were the major contributors to KPFA’s ludicrous one-sided views on Israel.”
Have you been to Cuba? Their reporters have. Obviously since some people
say that it’s OK there and some say that it sucks, someone is
distorting the truth, but it’s not always obvious who.
“Mandel used to always justify the Russian invasion of Afghanistan,
saying things like how the Soviets have liberated Afghan women”
Wow, sounds like some other news agencies I’ve heard! Except with the US invasion.
And really, listen to this broadcast and tell me what is wrong about it.
Both sides of the argument…it’s just that when you look at 5 Israelis
killed vs. 500+ Palestinians killed (and Israel denying that there’s
any problem), you can’t pretend that it’s an equal conflict.
http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/47265
Germany and Japan were the aggressors in WW II and like the vicious Palestinians who wish a “one state solution” with an Arab majority-or in the case of Hamas as it has openly stated, a liquidation of Israeli Jews, or no Jews whatsoever (indeed, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN said in regard to a future Palestinian state that no Jews would be permitted to live in it–talk about apartheid). Indeed, the Palestinians have, as the incessant aggressor, incurred far more casualties similar to the Nazis and Imperial Japan.
On the other hand, it is laughable that you contend that there have been five Israeiis killed for every 500+ Palestinians. This reflects the nonsense you have probably garnered from KPFA or, worse still, your ignorance may also stems from the likes of Alison Weir.
Unlike the old Commie Mandel when he reported how good women had it under Russian rule in Afghanistan, very few US news agencies have gone so far as to say that with US troops in Afghanistan, the women are now liberated. However, the mainstream US press is right when it contends that some women are far better off thanks to the presence of the US and NATO than they would be under the Taliban. And of course, under Taliban no girls would be going to school as thousands of young females now are. Or do you doubt the veracity of this?
I speak fluent Spanish and have been to Cuba twice: once in 1979 as a journalist and once last year as a private citizen (I wanted to see Cuba in the hopeful death throes of Castro’s barbaric order). Today, people still live in fear should they be deemed as critical of the regime and the economy is in shambles, basically as it has been ever since it could no longer suck on the toxic teat of the Soviet Union. With the exception of medical care, everything else does indeed in your words “suck” (KPFA and toadies such as Reese Erlich have greatly exaggerated the alleged gains in education) and Raul is now projecting the lay off of 20% of the island’s work force. But who are they going to work for w/o much in the way of private enterprise? Looks like yet another Commie experiment soon to go down the drain and good riddance to it. But I’m sure you and your fellow KPFA minion will find other heroic workers’ dictatorships to one future day praise.
Again, for all its pro-feminist commentary, why doesn’t KPFA give a forthright commentary on how Palestinians and other Arabs mistreat their women? And there is no mention of the fact that nearly 2/3 of Egyptian women have their clits cut off as infants. Or how about the brutalization of Arab gays? Or Palestinian dissidents? And why isn’t honor murder, so prevalent in Palestinian society (and among the Jordanian Palestinians as well) ever given so much as a mention? Moreover, there is no acknowledgement about the widespread suppression of Palestinian journalists.
Then again, why isn’t Israel praised for its women being among the freest on the planet. Or that it is a society with complete freedom of the press and expression? Or a land where gays have equal rights and Palestinians are members of the government?
No, it takes the ignorance of those who listen to KPFA to spout such erroneous stats as you just have and to see on a linear basis what the world consists of. For KFPA listeners, the world is literally divided into white and black, with the US and Israel being evil incarnate and so-called people of color (like white isn’t a color?!) are deemed never worthy of fault unless they support US policy. Fortunately, very few people who believe in genuine democracy and freedom of expression are so moronic.
And as I’ve said, over the past decade, KPFA’s audience have been like rats leaving a sinking ship. Even Dennis Bernstein has acknowledged KPFA’s substantial decline in listeners. ‘Course, he and the fellow members of the news department must believe it is all a capitalist plot.
["t's just that when you look at 5 Israelis
killed vs. 500+ Palestinians killed"]
Which of course leaves out details on how those Palestinians were killed. Getting targeted by an IDF drone while you were using the cover of a hospital or school to fire rockets over the border doesn’t exactly make you an innocent. It’s hard to swallow this nonsense that you were unjustly targeted by Israeli Zionists when you’re killed by the secondary explosion of all the ordnance you had stockpiled…
[Have you been to Cuba? Their reporters have.]
I’m sure they have, as invited guests of the ruling party…
[KPFA was the only news agency to have a reporter on one of the more recent protest-boats sailing to Gaza..]
You mean the ship carrying violent activists and terrorists trying to enter Gaza with weapons, right? That there tells you what type of people you are dealing with at KPFA. Dumb bunnies who swallow any pro-Palestinian propaganda shoveled at them. Figures…
Don’t know about the internal politics of this thing…but I know for sure that the Morning Mix sucks :P That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning. To get away from the radio.