KPFA (94.1 FM) is a listener-funded progressive talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station was founded in 1949. In 1999, the Pacifica foundation locked out staff, protests ensued. In 2008, the station management is embroiled in a labor dispute with unpaid staff who released a no confidence statement following the Berkeley Police Department's arrest of one of its longtime producers at the station.
History
Launched in 1949, three years after the Pacifica Foundation was created by pacifist Lewis Hill, KPFA became the first station in the Pacifica Radio network and the first listener-supported radio broadcaster in the United States. Previously, non-commercial stations were licensed only to serve educational functions as extensions of high schools, colleges, and universities. This departure into listener-oriented programming brought many detractors as KPFA aired controversial programming. The first interview with anyone from the gay political movement was broadcast by KPFA, as well as Allen Ginsberg's ground-breaking poem Howl in the 1950s. In the 1960s KPFA and Pacifica were accused of being controlled by the Communist Party, and several challenges to its license were waged, none of them successful.
KPFA was the first station to broadcast a radio show specializing in space music, with the debut of Stephen Hill and Ann Turner's Music from the Hearts of Space in 1973. Later in 1981, the show was syndicated to NPR stations nationally and also remained at its first home at KPFA.
1999 Lockout
In 1999 the station was seized by KPFA's governing Pacifica Foundation.[1][2][3] A broad cross section of protesters joined in direct action outside of the station [4][5][6][7][8]in a weeks-long lockout during which station management spent over half a million dollars on security measures. [9]
At one point, listeners created a separate fund to accept listener pledges that would be directed away from the Pacifica Foundation [10]
2008 Nadra Foster arrest
A recent high-profile incident highlights labor unrest once again brewing at the station.[11] At or about 1:00PM on the afternoon of August 20th, 2008, KPFA Business Manager Lois Withers telephoned the Bekeley Police Department to report that a woman, Nadra Foster, was "causing a disturbance and refusing to leave the station." Management claims it advised Foster that she could not enter the station after prior disputes in May 2008 over using station telephones and photocopy machines for personal projects. Foster claims she had keys to the station.
Two police officers arrived to the radio station on Martin Luther King Jr. Way to investigate the Business Managers tresspassing compliant. Foster, a longtime, pregnant, unpaid KPFA Producer, spoke with the officers for what the police officers claimed was "a minute of discussion." Police claim Foster refused to provide them her identification and acted belligerent.
Police decided to forcibly remove Foster. They grabbed her arms and a struggle ensued during which police say Foster flailed, punched and bit them, leading one officer to call for backup. Six additional officers arrived and at least four of them helped tackle Foster. Witness accounts said police were extraordinarily violent[12] and that Foster was screaming as they threw her to the concrete floor.
In his report Officer Alexandar McDougall describes taking Foster down with Officer Erik Keene: "together we placed Foster on the ground” "at which time she began yelling she was pregnant." “I was trying to pull Foster’s arm behind her back and she was trying to pull her hand underneath her body"
Foster later revealed she was not pregnant at the time of the arrest.citation needed
Police claim Foster's resistance led them to use "the wrap," a restraint device that immobilizes the body. Officers carried Foster out of the station. She was treated for her injuries and then booked into Santa Rita Jail. Initially charged with several felonies, her bail was set at $81,500. Foster spent two days in jail and is now facing five misdemeanors, including trespassing, two counts of assault on a police officer, and two charges of resisting arrest.
Her case continues to progress through the Alameda County Superior Court as of October, 2008.
2008 Labor unrest
A member of the KPFA board suggested that it is problematic that there is no grievance procedure for unpaid staff at the station.[13] After problems stemming from questions of who would be counted as “unpaid staff,” KPFA management last year decertified an organization that represented volunteers.
Resolving issues by calling the police is contrary to the network’s purpose, said a member of management. “Pacifica’s mission is about resolving conflict without the use of force.”
On September 23 2008, 65 station staff members released a "No Confidence" statement to local media. The statement condemns what they describe as a growing atmosphere of intimidation, including increased security measures, restrictions on airing discussion of internal issues, the return of banning individuals from the premises, a nd the use of police force to address non-violent policy issues. As of September 2008, management is planning the implementation of a new card access security system, in an attempt to control access to station facilities.
Several prominent members of the progressive community the station serves have decried the use of force, including authors Michael Parenti and Norman Solomon, former SF poet laureate Devorah Major, Jack Heyman of the ILWU, Mills College professor Julia Sudbury and advocacy groups Critical Resistance, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, and Copwatch.
No Confidence Statement
In September 2008, a collective of paid and unpaid KPFA staff released a written, "No Confidence" statement to local media. In it, they outline their lack of confidence in the management of KPFA’s Interim General Manager whose actions actions during the past two years, they contend, "have caused the alienation of a large of number of staff members," "have created turmoil within the station and have resulted in her losing credibility with many staff members." The allege "her shift of KPFA’s culture away from one of collaboration and mutual support helped create the climate leading to the tragic and unnecessary police arrest of unpaid staff member Nadra Foster." They argue that "KPFA and Pacifica management’s transformation of a workplace dispute, internally resolvable through collaborative means, into a major police action, violates KPFA’s mission to promote peaceful ways to solve conflicts. Moving toward a more restrictive work environment will distance the station further from grassroots communities that Pacifica aims to serve."
Signatories to the no confidence statement reaffirmed their solidarity with the nearly 80 staff members who signed a recent “Open Letter on New KPFA Leadership Attributes/Priorities” that it’s time for fresh leadership.
Project Censored's Executive Director commented: "KPFA should only use outside police in the station when a serious life-threatening circumstance is evident or major crime is in progress. A progressive self-managed system of mutual respect and communication must take priority over outside force.”
Affiliates
KPFA sister stations are WBAI, KPFT, KPFK, and WPFW. Pacifica continues today to be a listener-supported network of stations. The main KPFA transmitter is a 59 kilowatt class B, though there are also two smaller boosters, KPFA-FM2 in Bonny Doon and KPFA-3 in Oakley.[14] KPFB is a smaller station, also in Berkeley, that covers areas of Berkeley that KPFA can't reach. It also carries some separate programming specifically for its Berkeley audience. KPFA programs are also rebroadcast by KFCF in Fresno. KZFR in Chico also carries KPFA's programming from 2:00-6:00 a.m. daily. In the Bay Area, Comcast carries KPFA's broadcasts on cable channel 967, as part of its digital radio offering. The channel is labelled "Variety/Berkeley".
References
- ^ Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer (14 July 1999). "KPFA Broadcaster Dragged Away From Studio Police arrest supporters of program host". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer (15 July 1999). "Battleground at KPFA -- Employees Locked Out Hundreds of fans protest changes at Berkeley radio station". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Charles Burress, Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writers (16 July 1999). "Legislators Step Into KPFA Clamor Hearing demanded as protesters besiege Berkeley station a third night". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Michael Taylor, Chronicle Staff Writer (17 July 1999). "KPFA Fans Create Separate Fund". Berkeley Gets Radical Over KPFA Lockout, Anyone with a cause welcome to protest. Retrieved on 24 September 2008.
- ^ Julie Chao, SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER (29 July 1999). "http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1999/07/29/NEWS5289.dtl&type=printable KPFA's owners reopening station in "goodwill gesture' Pacifica Foundation to take 6-12 month management hiatus]". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Dan Fost (29 July 1999). "http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1999/07/29/NEWS5289.dtl&type=printable Silenced KPFA Dissidents Put Out the Rallying Cry in Cyberspace Back in the '60s, it was mimeographs -- today, you just log on]". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Jim Herron Zamora, Larry D. Hatfield and Julie Chao, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF (30 July 1999). "http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1999/07/30/NEWS12968.dtl&type=printable KPFA olive branch sparks mass confusion Station tells workers to return, but protesters want offer in writing]". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Robert Selna, SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER (3 August 1999). "http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/08/03/METRO14918.dtl KPFA transmitter still off-limits to staff Employees return, but tower continues to broadcast signal from Houston]". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Debra Levi Holtz, Chronicle Staff Writer (8 September 1999). "Nearly $500,000 Spent During KPFA Lockout". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 29 September 2008.
- ^ Debra Levi Holtz, Chronicle Staff Writer (19 October 1999). "KPFA Fans Create Separate Fund". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 24 September 2008.
- ^ Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer (2 September 2008). "Tension high at KPFA after volunteer arrested". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 24 September 2008.
- ^ Judith Scherr (4 September 2008). "Rough Arrest at KPFA Stuns Station, Community". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 24 September 2008.
- ^ Judith Scherr (4 September 2008). "Rough Arrest at KPFA Stuns Station, Community". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 24 September 2008.
- ^ FCC.gov
See also
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