KPFT Notes

Many folks know I’m an animal lover. I’ve had my adored ball python, Kiwi, for over 15 years, and I grew up with a variety of pets — from dogs to cats to birds (including parrots, chickens and ducks), turtles and hamsters. This Sunday, I’ll be doing something fun to help a good organization raise needed funds, and you’re invited to stop by.

Adopt A Cat rehabilitates sick and injured cats and seeks homes for many more. The grassroots organization is raising money for homeless cats by hosting Santa photos at local Petsmart stores on Kirby and on Old Katy Road. Santa will take pictures with your pet or your child, and the ten bucks you pay will help support Adopt A Cat’s important work.

And guess who will be Santa on Sunday, Dec. 2? If you said me, you guessed right!

In a moment that is sure to end up on the Internet, yours truly will indeed be Saint Nick at the Petsmart on Kirby and Main (that’s 8230 Kirby Drive for you Google Mappers) from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Bring your dog, cat or just yourself (KPFT paraphernalia optional) on by and I’ll be happy to take pictures with you or them. I’m probably Houston’s only snake-friendly Santa, so you can bring reptiles by too. Proceeds will benefit Adopt A Cat, and it should be very fun!

From the Elections Supervisor:

KPFT Elections Close this Saturday. We NEED your votes to qualify our 2007 elections.

PLEASE mail in your ballots by Thursday. This will allow your mailed ballots enough time to be delivered by Saturday, December 1.

PLEASE drop off your ballots this Saturday, December 1, 10am – 4 pm at the KPFT studios, 419 Lovett Blvd. Houston.TX., IF you cannot mail in your ballots by this Thursday. We will have mild refreshments for our KPFT voters.

IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED A BALLOT and you believe you were a member in good standing as of August 31, 2007 (the date of record) then YOU CAN VOTE via a provisional ballot, at the KPFT studios, 419 Lovett Blvd, this Saturday, December 1, between the hours of 10am and 4PM. You will need a valid I.D. Once a provisional ballot is issued, any previous KPFT ballot that might have been issued to you will be nullified.

On Sunday, December 2, 10am – 4 pm, our KPFT ballots will be counted, tallied and our new Local Station Board members- elect will be announced at the KPFT studios. The ballot counting is open to the KPFT community, candidates, and public.

PLEASE help Pacifica maintain a strong democratically elected governing Board. VOTE in your KPFT elections.

Mark Muhich
KPFT Local Election Supervisor

Organizers hope Blues Festival will continue

By Mark Collette
The Galveston Daily News

Published November 24, 2007

TEXAS CITY — The people behind the Charles Brown Day of Remembrance Blues Festival said that after talking with city officials, they’re optimistic that the event will continue and even branch out next year.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be purely a blues festival,” said James Nagel, “the Blueshound” of Pacifica Radio station 90.1 FM in Houston. “It will probably be the ‘Charles Brown Music Festival’ … Some people said they want more zydeco. We’ll still have strong blues roots in keeping with the Charles Brown tradition.”

Brown, born in Texas City in the early 1920s, rocketed to stardom after moving to the west coast and hooking up with Johnny Moore and the Three Blazers. His career fizzled in the 1950s after rock n’ roll trumped his smooth, “cocktail blues” style for young listeners. But he had a late comeback after touring with Bonnie Raitt in the 1990s, and he was inducted posthumously into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

His accomplishments went largely unacknowledged in his hometown until the Nov. 3 festival, spearheaded by Nagel, a Texas City postal worker, and city attorney Bobby Gervais.

They estimate the free, daylong festival drew about 3,000 people, with about 2,500 watching headliner Marcia Ball.

Nagel said city staff has already asked him to begin looking at bands for next year, and Gervais said a major goal is to keep it free, but without the city bearing the entire cost.

The city’s cultural arts board spent $65,000 of hotel-motel tax revenues.

Nagel said he is seeking sponsorships from the private sector.

There’s still no word on whether Texas City will eventually have a repository for Brown memorabilia, some of which has found a home at Prairie View A&M University, where Brown got his degree in chemistry.

But, if the festival’s organizers have their way, the music will live on here.

“The blues is a type of music that it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, rich or poor, black or white,” Nagel said. “Everybody’s gonna have hard times at some point in their life, and it’s something that we can all come together and share common ground on.”

The Pacifica Radio Archives staff is proud to announce that yesterday we, the entire network together, raised $117,000 on-air during our 19 hour broadcast. With a $50,000 matching gift from a generous individual in Washington D.C. we exceeded our $135,000 goal for a grand total of $167,000. We still have another $115,000 to go to meet our 2007 budget requirements, but are well on our way.

We, the PRA staff and volunteers extend thanks to the local stations for preempting regular programming to bring the issue of preserving our political and cultural heritage to our listeners. Please convey our gratitude to your local staff and program volunteers.

The broadcast was a celebration of Pacifica Radio’s contribution to the American people. Each discovery of an unknown gem (like Fannie Lou Hamer singing the National Anthem in Chris Koch’s This Little Light documentary on Mississippi, 1964) renews my appreciation of the archives mission. The broadcast itself was intended as a celebration and we hope we succeeded in providing listeners with compelling radio. Highlights of the broadcast will be posted on pacificaradioarchives.org in the coming week. Before I list those we need to thank, there were, and are, forces throughout the network that worked to obstruct the success of the broadcast. This letter will not address those serious concerns – you can look forward to that in the near future.

Our live guests included BBC journalist Joanne Griffith participating in her first fund drive; John Densmore of The Doors autographed “The Best of The Doors” CD’s for our donors; Jackson Browne, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt and Harvey Wasserman ALL joined Dr. Michio Kaku for a “No Nukes” reunion; our new Executive Director, Nicole Sawaya gave insight to Pacifica’ s relevance during the Nixon era; Composer Allee Willis delighted in hearing the Sounds of Soul that she helped preserve; Susan Rubin of the Feminist Majority extolled the virtues of Pacifica’s contribution to the women’s movement; and acclaimed sci-fi writer Samuel R. Delaney reminisced about WBAI’s broadcast his radio drama, The Star Pit, 40 years ago. We were extremely disheartened that veteran Pacifica journalist and bonafide expert on Nixon/Watergate Larry Bensky was restricted from participating.

We have many folks to thank for their hard work and tireless efforts. PRA Staff: Mariana Berkovich, Arline Chang, Shawn Dellis, Haunani Singer, Edgar Toledo, and Mark Torres. PRA volunteers: Curtis, Debbie, Dulce, Sylvia, Marla, and Phyllis.

Fund drive staff: Ginna Allison, Lucia Chapelle, Adi Gevins, David Groth, Stephenie Hendricks, Maggie Lepique, and Oleg Kagan. Pacifica hosts: Aura Bogado, Verna Avery-Brown, Davey D., Jim Freund, Lisa Garr, Amy Goodman, Joanne Griffith, Michio Kaku, Sonali Kolhatkar, Margaret Prescodd, Jerry Quickly C.S. Soong, Roy Tuckman, Nita Valens, Anita Johnson, Weylan Southen and Bernard White

In addition to all the Pacifica station general managers, interim general managers, program directors, interim program directors, technicians, line producers and staff that rallied with us I’d like to especially thank Nicole Sawaya, John Almeleh, Sidrach Franklin, Sharan Harper, Pete Korakis, Nathan Moore, Phil Osegueda, and Ursula Ruedenberg.

We’re tremendously encouraged by the outpouring of support from our listeners and look forward with eager anticipation to the preservation work ahead.

Sincerely,
Brian DeShazor
Pacifica Radio Archives

On Friday morning, I’ll be interviewing Jim Lafferty for posting online. Jim was recently named interim general manager of KPFK in Los Angeles and has ascended to the job with little national fanfare, so I wanted to get him on the phone to discuss KPFK, Pacifica and more. Have a question you’d like me to ask Jim? Write it in the comments section!

From the organizers:

Call for proposals! All Power to the Imagination: Conference on Radical Theory and Practice

New College of Florida
Sarasota, Florida
April 4-6th, 2008

All Power to the Imagination! is a conference that will bring activists, academics, and grassroots organizers together for a weekend of listening, networking, discussing, and organizing. We will share ideas, tactics, experiences, and skills as well as theories, scholarship, and research in order to develop our radical vision for the present and future.

People are encouraged to submit proposals for workshops, presentations, film screenings, skillshares, panels, and other types of sessions.

Sessions will be 1 hours and 15 minutes long. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2008. To submit a proposal, visit the following link:
http://theoryandpracticeconference.wordpress.com/call-for-proposals/

If you have any questions, feel free to email us as APIconference(at)gmail.com.

About the title:
All Power to the Imagination! was a situationist slogan used during the Paris riots of May 1968. It was a detournement of the political slogan “All Power to the Soviets!” used during Bolshevik Revolution.

The title of our conference–All Power to the Imagination!–is an example of the situationist practice of detournement. This process involves combining or altering elements of popular images, slogans, songs, films, texts and other media in order to create a new meaning (one that negates, transforms or replaces the original meaning). In juxtaposing foreign images and texts, a new relationship is form–one that is potentially subversive. Detournement is a practice that attempts to destablize the hegemonic ideology while simultaneously undermining that very ideology.

In replacing “Soviets” with “imagination,” the situationists revealed the absurdity of calling for the power of an authoritarian party. In the process, they redirected power to the creative and politically transgressive imagination. Not only do they disrupt the meaning of the original slogan; they also create and produce an entirely new meaning.

The practice of detournement was conceived as a “powerful cultural weapon” for the working class. It is an effective way to disrupt the dominant ideologies that are disseminated through the culture industry. This practice also shows us how one can imaginatively unite theory and practice. We couldn’t think of a more appropriate title for our conference!

Free Press released Devil in the Details, a report exposing 10 key facts that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is hiding from the public about his recent proposal to lift the longstanding ban on “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.”

Using a carefully crafted PR campaign — including an op-ed in the New York Times — Chairman Martin has portrayed his proposal as a “moderate compromise” that would only allow one company to own both a daily newspaper and a broadcast TV or radio station in the 20 largest media markets.

But Devil in the Details exposes how the loose and ambiguous “waiver” standard proposed by Martin creates a giant loophole for big media companies to sidestep the ban in any market and for any station.

“Chairman Martin’s double-speak can’t disguise the fact that his proposal would gut the cross-ownership ban everywhere,” said Derek Turner, research director of Free Press and co-author of the report. “The reality is that Martin’s plan is no moderate compromise. If passed, the new rules would unleash unprecedented consolidation across the country.”

To stop a merger in the top 20 markets, the burden of proof would rest with average citizens and public interest groups opposing the deal. Outside the top 20 markets, the burden of proof would rest with media companies — the same companies that control all the information and could make promises that would be almost impossible to enforce.

“Martin’s proposal stacks the decks against the public interest,” said Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press and co-author of the report. “The expensive and bureaucratic waiver process would pit the limited resources of average American citizens against giant media companies with the money and time to game the system.”

As this new report illustrates, Martin’s rhetoric can’t match the reality that his plan is a massive giveaway to the largest media companies. The 10 facts about the proposal include:

FACT #1: Martin’s “modest” proposal is corporate welfare for Big Media. Martin’s plan would unleash a buying spree in the top 20 markets, making it easier for companies like Belo, News Corp. and Tribune Co. to push out independent, local owners.

FACT #2: Loopholes open the door to cross-ownership in any market. Under Martin’s loose standards, cross-ownership waivers could be approved in hundreds of smaller cities and towns.

FACT #3: Loopholes allow newspapers to own TV stations of any size. The same technicalities could permit top-rated stations in any market to combine with major newspapers.

FACT #4: FCC history shows weak standards won’t protect the public. The current rules forbid cross-ownership, but the FCC hasn’t denied any temporary waiver request in years.

FACT #5: Cross-ownership doesn’t create more local news. The latest studies — using the FCC’s own data — show that markets with cross-ownership produce less total local news, as one dominant company crowds out the competition.

FACT #6: Cross-ownership won’t solve newspapers’ financial woes. Claims that the newspaper industry is about to “wither and die” are greatly exaggerated, and no evidence shows that cross-ownership would make things better.

FACT # 7: The Internet is an opportunity, not a death sentence. Mergers and consolidation are not the answer to the financial problems of the traditional media.

FACT #8: Martin’s plan would harm minority media owners. Nearly half of the nation’s minority-owned TV stations are lower-rated outlets in the top 20 markets, making them a target for Big Media takeovers.

FACT # 9: A broken and corrupt process creates bad policies. The FCC’s lack of transparency, flawed research and secret timetable have tossed aside basic fairness and accountability in the rush to change media ownership rules.

FACT # 10: The public doesn’t want more media consolidation. Martin’s actions ignore the millions of Americans — and 99 percent of the comments in the FCC docket — who oppose letting a few media giants swallow up more local media.

“Chairman Martin has demonstrated an unyielding determination to ignore the public will and any evidence that challenges his predetermined conclusions,” said Craig Aaron, communications director of Free Press and co-author of the report. “His proposal undermines the FCC’s fundamental responsibility to protect competition, localism and diversity over the public airwaves. It’s now up to Congress to put the brakes on runaway media consolidation.”

The release below:

Free Press today released Out of the Picture 2007, an updated analysis of the impact of consolidation on minority and female television station ownership.

The report updates the results from last year’s Out of the Picture study — the first complete assessment of female and minority ownership of commercial broadcast TV stations. The new data suggests that the future of minority TV station ownership is in jeopardy.

“Minority television ownership is in such a precarious state that the loss of a single minority-owned company results in a disastrous decline,” said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press and lead author of Out of the Picture 2007. “Permitting any more consolidation will only further diminish the number of minority-owned stations.”

Read the full report at http://www.freepress.net/docs/otp2007.pdf

Among the most alarming new findings:

* From October 2006 to October 2007, the number of minority-owned commercial TV stations decreased by 8.5 percent.

* African-American TV station ownership dropped by 60 percent — as the total number of black-owned TV stations fell from 19 to 8 in just a single year.

* People of color now own just five of the 845 “big four” network-affiliated stations, a 62 percent decline from October
2006.

Much of the decline can be attributed to the bankruptcy and subsequent change in ownership of a single company — Granite Broadcasting, formerly the country’s largest minority-owned broadcast television company.

Despite the worsening crisis of minority ownership, the FCC has yet to even conduct an accurate count of minority-owned stations. The most recent FCC study on this issue failed to identify 69 percent of minority TV station owners and 75 percent of female owners.

Out of the Picture 2007 also finds that minority-owned stations are particularly vulnerable to the increased consolidation likely to result from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s recent proposal to eliminate the longstanding “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership” ban.

If Martin were to remove the prohibition in the top 20 markets and only let newspapers combine with broadcast stations outside of the four top-rated channels, minority ownership would suffer serious negative consequences. Nearly half of the stations currently owned by people of color are in the top 20 markets, and none of these are among the top four stations.

Overall, nearly 90 percent of minority-owned TV stations are not ranked among the top four in their respective markets. Thanks to giant loopholes in Martin’s plan, minority-owned stations could be targeted across the country if the ban is lifted. Increased consolidation will only decrease opportunities for people of color to enter the market and purchase stations of their own.

At a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, the FCC is expected to consider “initiatives designed to increase participation in the broadcasting industry by new entrants and small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses.” But Out of the Picture 2007 makes clear that such small measures by themselves won’t correct the problem in a climate of increasing market concentration.

“The best, most effective way to boost minority and female ownership is by rolling back consolidation,” said Turner. “Piecemeal policies will have limited impact on the level of minority ownership in the face of unchecked media concentration.”

The Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to announce that it is now accepting entries for the Sigma Delta Chi Awards, which honor excellence in professional journalism in 48 categories, covering print, radio, television, newsletters, photography, online and research.

The Sigma Delta Chi Awards date back to 1932, when the Society honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the organization awarded the first Distinguished Service Awards. These awards later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards.

To be eligible, work must have been published or broadcast during the 2007 calendar year. All entries must be in English and be postmarked by Feb. 6, 2008. Each submission must include a completed entry form, entry fee and be accompanied by a cover letter. Members of SPJ are eligible to enter the Sigma Delta Chi Awards for $60. The non-member fee is $100.

For more information on the awards and to obtain an entry form, please visit http://www.spj.org/a-sdx.asp. Programs Coordinator Heather Porter also may be contacted at (317) 927-8000 ext. 204 or via e-mail at hporter@spj.org.

The Society of Professional Journalists works to improve and protect journalism. SPJ is dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, and based in Indianapolis, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed public, works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists, and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. For more information about SPJ and SDX, please visit www.spj.org.

Arbitron announced today it will delay Portable People Meter rollouts in New York, Nassau-Suffolk, and Middlesex-Somerset-Union. PPM was to launch next month, but will now be delayed nine months; Los Angeles, Riverside and Chicago will be delayed six months; and San Francisco, Dallas and San Jose for three months.