KPFT Notes

30th of October, 2006.

To the people of Mexico:
To the people of the world:
To the Other Campaign in Mexico and the other side of the Rio Bravo:
To the entire Sixth International:

Comrades:
Brothers and sisters:

It is now known publicly that yesterday, 29th of October 2006; Vicente Fox’s federal forces attacked the people of Oaxaca and its most legitimate representative, the Peoples’ Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO).

Today, we know that the Federal Troops have assassinated at least 3 people, among them a minor, leaving dozens of wounded including many women from Oaxaca and dozens of detainees were illegally transported to military prisons. All this, in addition to the total of deaths, detainees and missing persons since the beginning of the mobilization demanding that Ulises Ruiz steps down as Oaxaca’s governor.

The sole objective of the federal attack is to maintain Ulises Ruiz in power and to destroy the popular grassroots organization of the people of Oaxaca.

Oaxaca’s people are resisting. No honest person can remain quiet and unmoved while the entire society, of which the majority are indigenous, is assassinated, beaten and imprisoned.

We, Zapatistas, will not be silent; we will mobilize to support our brothers, sisters and comrades in Oaxaca. The EZLN’s Sixth Commission has already consulted the Zapatista Command and the following has been decided: Firstly- During whole day of the 1st of November 2006, the major and minor roads that pass through Zapatista controlled territories in the Southwest of the state of Chiapas will be closed.Consequently, we ask that one makes the necessary arrangements in order to avoid using these roads on this day.

Secondly- through the Sixth Commission, the EZLN has begun making contact and consulting other political and social organizations, groups, collectives and individuals in the Other Campaign, in order to coordinate joint solidarity actions across Mexico, leading to a nationwide shut-down on the 20th of November, 2006. Thirdly- the EZLN calls out to the Other Campaign in Mexico and north of the Rio Bravo, so that this November 1st mobilizations happen where possible; completely, partially, at intervals or symbolically shutting down major roads, streets, toll booths, stations, airports and mainstream media offices. Fourthly- The central message that the Zapatistas send and will continue sending, is that the people of Oaxaca are not alone: They are not alone!Ulises Ruiz out of Oaxaca!

Immediate withdrawal of the occupying Federal Forces from Oaxaca!

Immediate and unconditional freedom for all detainees!

Cancel all arrest warrants!

Punish the murderers!

Justice!
Freedom!
Democracy!

From the north of Mexico.
For the Comite’ Clandestino Revolucionario Indi’gena- Comandancia General of the Eje’rcito Zapatista de Liberacio’n Nacional.
For the EZLN’s Comisio’n Sexta.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Mexico, October, 2006.

NPR will report on Death of A President, but won’t run ads. [via Current]

NPR will report on Death of A President, but won’t run ads. [via Current]

KPFT is seeking a part-time Volunteer Coordinator. Please check out the job description here. Resumes go to markisha@kpft.org.

The Department of Education’s National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation and Research has awarded a grant to NPR and WGBH’s National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) to develop accessible radio technology for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired. The Accessible Digital Radio Broadcast Services grant – in the amount of $150,000 for the first year – will help fund an anticipated three-year research and development project to prototype, field test and assess the cutting-edge radio technologies to serve the needs of people with sensory disabilities. NPR and NCAM are internationally recognized experts in digital radio technologies and accessible media service models.

“As radio moves into the digital transmission arena, public radio is committed to providing people with sensory disabilities equal access to news, entertainment and emergency services,” said Mike Starling, CTO and Executive Director of NPR Labs. “Thanks to the Department of Education’s support through this grant, NPR and our WGBH partner will leverage our shared abilities to deliver on this promise.”

“The time to address the needs of people with sensory disabilities is now,” said Larry Goldberg, WGBH’s Director of Media Access. “Considering those who are deaf or blind at birth, through trauma or illness, or baby boomers reaching retirement age over the next few years, the numbers of Americans with hearing or visual loss are expected to climb. It is crucial for us to address the unique needs of this growing population as we further develop HD radio services.”

In creating radio technologies specifically geared to people with sensory disabilities, NPR and NCAM will bring together experts from broadcasting, academia and non-profit service organizations to best serve the needs of people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired. The overall goal is to guide the design of prototype digital radios for evaluation by consumers with special needs. At the conclusion of the study period, the design criteria – to be developed with collective input from a representative cross section of disabled consumers – will be turned over to receiver manufacturers as best operating practice. NPR has teamed with Dr. Ellyn Sheffield of Salisbury University, a widely recognized researcher of consumer adaptation to digital radio services, to help design and test the technology in development.

The project’s total budget for the first year is $227,810. The Department of Education grant will cover 65 percent of the project costs for the first year, while NPR will fund the remaining 35 percent. Additional federal funding after the first year is dependent on congressional appropriations.

NPR and the NPR Member stations have a long history of pioneering inclusive access for people with sensory disabilities. More than 100 radio reading services for the blind operating in the United States are offered by NPR stations, providing the reading of text from daily news, books and magazines.

In another effort to make radio programming accessible to the deaf and hearing-impaired community, NPR has in recent years tested Web-based real-time captioning of radio programs through www.NPR.org. For a two-hour special on deaf culture and education airing this Thursday October 12, NPR’s Talk of the Nation has collaborated with WGBH’s Media Access Group, the pioneer of captioning for television, to provide live captioning of the program. The October 12 broadcast will feature an interview with Dr. I. King Jordan, retiring president of Gallaudet University, the world’s only university dedicated to deaf and hard of hearing students and a look at the shifting debate over the cochlear implant. Details can be found at www.npr.org/deafculture.

The Mays Family, which built Clear Channel Communications into the country’s largest network of radio stations through decades of acquisitions, is in negotiations to be taken private by a consortium of investors for more than $18.5 billion, people involved in the talks said yesterday.

The investors, who have been in discussions with Clear Channel for months, include Providence Equity Partners, the Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, these people said.

The negotiations come as family- controlled media companies across the nation explore the possibility of selling their companies or taking them private. Cox Communications, the cable company based in Atlanta, went private in 2004. Cablevision, which is controlled by the Dolan family, is in the middle of negotiations to become private.

Source: New York Times

Although Gary Taylor’s ‘open letter’ is seemingly promotional for his release, his concern has been echoed by others in the United States who feel Black radio has lost its soul. Some have pointed to white power in ownership and management of Black radio dramatically increasing in the last two decades. Others have worried about label consolidation cutting indies out of the process. Either way, community radio has a unique opportunity to tap into an audience that is seeking alternatives to the pop-culture treatment of African-Americans.

Dear Black Radio, it’s Tuesday morning here in Los Angeles and I’m up doing what I do every morning–trying to figure out a way to get Black Radio (Urban AC specifically) to listen to what I believe is my most purposeful recording ever.

Getting up at 5:30 am everyday to reach out to East Coast Urban AC stations has been a major part of my life for the past eight CDs (14 years). I figure I’m Black owned and Black operated; why wouldn’t Black Radio want to play my music? Hell, it’s positive music. What more does the Black Community need at this time?

It’s sad, that closer to never than seldom, do I get a return phone call or email. Sometimes I get lucky and a PD (program director0 or an MD (music director) comes to the phone, but I have yet to see results for my efforts. Some PDs have been very honest with me. “You’re an Indie man,” they’ll say. “I’m only playing the top 15 records.”

My question is, how do you ever get to the top of anything if you never have a chance at letting the people–THE PEOPLE–tell you whether or not they like your music?

In this email/letter, I am asking you, Black Radio, for consideration of airplay. Many of you played my single, “Women Of Color,” and I humbly thank you for that.

I know that most of you won’t respond to my request. To you, I ask that you keep this in mind: Our women are more than a butt shaking in a video. Our young men are more than removable gold teeth and rims on a car. I’m sick of these being the predominant images representing the Black community.

There are those of you who will say, “This nigga ain’t never gonna get played on my station.” To that I say, you can’t take away airplay that I never received. Eight CDs and you never played a track from any of them.

Four stations (KJLH, Los Angeles, WGPR, Detroit, WHUR D.C. and KVMA, Shreveport) have given me their love and support on my new single, “Lovin’ My People,” a song about the love of a people and its culture. These stations are getting a positive response, and I do whatever I can to support their efforts to bring back quality music to Black Radio.

Sincerely, I ask the rest of you to please consider playing more than Black music talking about sex, violence, drugs and love on the decline.

If any of you would like a second copy of my new CD, “Retro Blackness,” I’d be happy to send it to you. But please don’t ask me to send it if you’re not going to seriously consider playing it. Let’s not do that to one another.

The single “Lovin’ My People” is attached. play it… you might find it worthy of airplay.

I want to get back to loving you Black Radio, with or without airplay of my material.

Respectfully Yours,

Gary A. Taylor

Dear Pacificans,

In order to move forward on the Pacifica National Board’s recent decision to develop new licensing and distribution initiatives, a task force in being convened by PNB member Rob Robinson, in consultation with Board chair Dave Adelson, Executive Director Greg Guma, and corporate counsel Dan Siegel.

The Board motion that began this process, passed unanimously on Oct. 1, 2006, resolved:

That the PNB form a task force on program licensing and distribution policies to consist of the ED or his representative, the general counsel, the FCC counsel, any Directors who volunteer; any LSB staff members who volunteer, and a representative of any station’s union or association of paid or unpaid staff that chooses to participate. The task force may invite experts to participate. The task force shall report back to the PNB with recommendations.

If additional people should receive this message, please let Greg know ASAP and provide e-mail addresses, or forward to members of collective bargaining units and unpaid staff organizations for whom we do not currently have complete contact information. General Managers and/or Program Directors are asked to distribute this message throughout local stations.

The plan is to convene a broad group that promotes constructive discussion by the individuals and the constituencies mentioned above, and others who have an interest or stake in the issue.

Those who want to be involved in the first teleconference should e-mail Rob Robinson at robrobin@erols.com, or call him at 202-387-5956 by November 3, 2006. Those who respond will be contacted about the date, time, and call-in number for the first meeting, slated for November.

At the first meeting, we hope to accomplish the following:

– set a schedule for future meetings and define both the process and goals

– discussion of copyright, authorship, and licensing issues facing Pacifica, along with an initial attempt to define areas of agreement

–consider the basic elements of a model open source non-commercial license

This is not an attempt to usurp the rights of those who create programming for Pacifica. Rather, it is an attempt to reach accord on our mutual rights and interests. We are dependent upon your participation to begin a frank discussion that is long overdue and, in the process, dispel some of the fears and concerns that have emerged.

In recent years, big media companies have distorted the copyright system to advance their own interests by limiting access to content. As a result, people who should benefit from a system that makes ideas available are being excluded, or threatened if they share digital material.

Our long-term goal is to expand the audience for Pacifica programs and increase revenue to enable producers throughout the network to continue developing programming. We must, however, resolve outstanding issues of rights and interests, internally, before we can access distribution and licensing strategies based upon shared rights and reciprocal relationships disseminated via internet and digital media.

We encourage anyone interested in the potential of such new strategies to become involved.

Dave Adelson, PNB Chair
Rob Robinson, Chair, Programming Committee
Greg Guma, Executive Director

Two shots from tonight’s Tuesday Night Live! LSB candidates’ forum.

LSB Staff Candidate Alfonso Rivera speaks to the crowd.

LSB Staff Candidate Curtis Green addresses a question.

As adopted on 10/20/06

Preamble: the role of programming in the Pacifica network is to fulfill the Pacifica mission and, in the process, to build audiences that keep the Foundation’s broadcast operations self-sustaining.

Programming, therefore, functions as a key indicator for the Pacifica National Board in determining that network operations reflect this mission and support audiences capable of sustaining the network in the immediate future.

The specific sections of this policy set forth criteria and parameters for programming that enable management to conduct day-to-day operations and establish initiatives for broadcast operations, in accordance with the Pacifica mission.

The underlying principles of this policy promote collaborative resource-sharing and decision-making at every level of the Pacifica family in order to create mission-driven programming that features a broad spectrum of voices, capable of engaging diverse local and national audiences.

1.0 Programming: includes local station programming, national programs, network broadcasts, affiliate programming, commissioned programs (e.g. Free Speech Radio News documentaries and Counterspin).

The Pacifica Radio Archives (PRA), Free Speech Radio News (FSRN), the Affiliates program, as well as network technical operations and internet and web site development staff, work alongside sister stations KPFA, KPFK, WBAI, KPFT and WPFW to produce mission-driven programming for increasingly diverse and larger audiences.

It is the intention that programming, staffing and decision-making in network broadcast operations conform to Pacifica’s Race and Nationality Policy and other commitments to equity.

1.1 Local Station Programming: Building and sustaining an audience is one of the chief responsibilities of local station management, who provide their listeners with a lively mixture of local and national programs, network broadcasts, and commissioned programs. These include news and public affairs programming, as well as arts, science, history, music and cultural affairs programming.

Local stations’ program goals and station services are identified annually, after surveying community needs, preparing budgets and developing policies that implement these goals and services.

Program evaluation, audience research and listener databases are tools used by local station staff to plan program schedules, implement and monitor them and make changes, as necessary. Guided by Pacifica’s Race and Nationality Policy, schedules should be reviewed regularly to identify areas of programming that need strengthening. The level of services provided to underserved audiences and demographic groups is determined annually, in conjunction with the assessment of community needs conducted by Community Advisory Boards (CABs), and is found in management’s yearly presentation of local station program goals and station services.

Local station program policy is implemented by means of: allocation of resources within budgets; apprenticeship and training programs for volunteers and paid and unpaid staff; fair and open evaluation of existing programs and new programming proposals; and, a commitment to encouraging the development of demonstration projects, pilot programs and originally-produced programs and specials. Programming decisions are made by management through a transparent, collaborative process that includes programmers and listeners in the evaluation of existing and needed new programming.

Local stations are encouraged to develop specific “missions” that programmatically define and articulate the Pacifica mission.

1.2 National programming: involves the use of network-wide resources and enhanced production to address national issues and trends. As a result, national programs feature voices and production rarely encountered in local programming and in mainstream media. Such programming will be planned in consultation with local stations.

1.3 Network Broadcasts: Network broadcasts are produced collaboratively, between stations, reporters, producers, hosts and programming collectives. The local station where such programming originates shall be invited to play a substantial role in developing, hosting and producing the broadcast.

1.4 Special Commissioned programming: Short term national programming may be commissioned in response to emergent or unforeseen events. Such programming will be planned in consultation with local stations.

1.5 Affiliate Programming: Pacifica stations should consider airing examples of the finest programs produced by its affiliate stations.

1.6 Independently-produced programming: Care must be taken to ensure that specifications for such programs adhere to the same mission goals, and non-commercial criteria as programming produced by Pacifica.

2.0 Mission-Driven Programming: is programming that fulfills the six purposes detailed in Pacifica’s Articles of Incorporation (See Appendix I).

Local stations’ budgets and other policy documents shall define annual program goals and station services, in accordance with the mission.

The Pacifica mission envisions no conflict between music, arts, science, history and cultural affairs programming and news and public affairs programming. Programs for children, youth, seniors and other audiences that “encourage and provide outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community” is presumed in the Pacifica mission.

The Foundation should support well-produced, sustainable, national and international “hard” news and commentary as well as documentaries and investigatory reports.

2.1 Programs that Build Understanding Between Nations and People: Pacifica’s mission statement encourages programs that achieve such understanding between nations and individuals. This may be achieved through cultural and arts or news and public affairs programming. Local stations should use evaluation processes that strive to identify programs with this potential and should consider allocating production resources to help them reach a wider audience.

3.0 Distribution and Licensing of Pacifica Programming: Discussion of 3.0 has been deferred while further advice and consultation is sought.

4.0 Comme rcial Programming: Programs that regularly promote products, services, and/or personal advice that are for sale, and from which the programmer receives a consideration, are defined as commercial programming and are antithetical to the Pacifica Mission.

5.0 New Voices: Local stations must provide training to current and new volunteers, including instruction in the Pacifica and local station missions and in on-air broadcast, production, and journalism skills. “New voices” must include people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, nationalities, languages, and different abilities, backgrounds and beliefs, particularly poor and working people, and under-represented communities. These people must be involved in the local station’s production and programming infrastructure.

6.0 Programming Resources: Resources must be provided at all levels of the Pacifica organization to establish a climate conducive to the production of creative, mission-driven programming; all operational units shall have production facilities that are maintained in good working order and staffed with a core group of people who possess the requisite level of experience and/or expertise for broadcast operation and volunteer training.

The PNB shall develop a strategic plan that addresses, among other things, how emerging technology will be used to further its strategic goals and support the production of mission-driven programming. Even Pacifica’s non-broadcasting units must be arrayed to provide an effective human and technical infrastructure that supports the Pacifica mission.

7.0 The Role of the Affiliates in Extending the Pacifica Mission: Pacifica’s commitment to its mission shall include expanding its audience through affiliation and exploring collaborative relationships with other community media networks and media advocacy organizations whose missions are compatible with Pacifica’s.

8.0 Program Evaluation: To comply with programming policy, local stations should develop structured methodologies to ensure that programming and program schedules fulfill the mission. Program evaluation should encourage programmers to explain how they fulfill the Pacifica mission and to detail their efforts to assure that their programs are educational, informative and engaging.

9.0 Using Research: Pacifica should develop the capacity to use quantitative and qualitative research methods to measure, analyze and interpret relationships with its listeners and members. All stations should establish and maintain listener databases and station managers are encouraged to enlist assistance in designing and implementing research methodologies customized to Pacifica’s needs. Analyses of this data should include the demographics of the signal area to be used to guide efforts on how to carry out Pacifica’s mission, how to reach underserved communities, and how to expand and deepen listenership. Additionally, station management should research the parameters and potential of our audience and identify and track its behavior as it interacts with local station programming, fundraising, volunteer and development activities.

10.0 Compliance with Federal Laws and Regulations: Station management and staff must receive careful training and useful reference materials that permit them to execute and monitor their responsibilities regarding the laws and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). It should arm them with a working knowledge of how to exercise and protect their rights of free speech. Additionally, it should enable them to understand the definitions of key concepts (e.g. indecency and defamation), provide them with guidelines that help them avoid witting and unwitting violations of FCC laws and regulations and appreciate the distinction and differences between minor infractions and serious on-air violations that might put Pacifica’s broadcast licenses at risk, or expose Pacifica to fines that could undo network finances.

11.0 Programming Calendar and Days-in-History: Pacifica should maintain an annual programming calendar that goes beyond federal holidays, national presidential elections and party conventions. The calendar should track national and international socio-political events and trends, and arts and cultural events that affect Pacifica’s constituencies, with particular attention paid to anniversaries of freedom struggles and liberation milestones in the history of oppressed groups.

12.0 The Role of a National Programming Coordinator: Pacifica shall employ a Programming Coordinator who will serve as an ex officio member of the PNB Programming Committee.

The coordinator’s responsibility is to implement the Pacifica Programming Policy under the direction of the Executive Director. This shall entail promoting a collaborative process among staff (both paid and unpaid) at local network stations and affiliates in order to plan and coordinate segments to be produced locally for network programs; and working collaboratively with governance and management throughout the network in the development of any new regular program or long-term series that is produced nationally.

These proposals for new programs, including a budget when appropriate, shall be brought to the PNB Programming Committee for review to assure that both network and local needs are met. If supplemental funds are required for such new national programming the request will be forwarded to the Finance Committee.