KPFT Notes

If you love radio, social justice issues and want to learn how to report and produce- then this is the internship for you! The National Radio Project’s “Making Contact” is interviewing for two production interns. One for this Fall 2008 – late October and one for next year Winter of 2009.

National Radio Project’s “Making Contact” Internship:

“Making Contact” is a internationally syndicated, public affairs program heard on more than 200 radio stations. The staff of “Making Contact” is small, but extremely talented, committed, intelligent, seasoned and professional. We are seeking individuals who are energetic, respectful, professional and team players.

In return, the intern will learn how to produce a segment for “Making Contact.” They will learn audio editing, voicing, script writing, interviewing and field reporting. By the time the intern leaves, they will have produced at least one segment or feature for us for national broadcast.

This internship is unpaid. College credit can be given, but is not necessary.

1. If you’re interested for this Fall, applications are due: Monday October
6, 2008. (Fall internship starts late October)
2. Applications for Winter are due November 24, 2008.

Basics

* 12-20 hours a week, or 150 hours per semester
* 4-6 month commitment
* Must be reliable and flexible
* Should be familiar with community and public radio
* Knowledgeable and passionate about current events. Includes knowledge of human rights issues and cause-related advocacy groups
* Interns must have an interest in producing segments or features for “Making Contact”

Skills & Responsibilities

* Must have excellent research skills. As a progressive media outlet, our mission is to interview and tap into the expertise of people who span the political and social spectrum, not just the conventional “experts” or “officials”. The qualified intern is responsible for helping us identify who those lesser-known yet valuable people and community groups are.

* Ability to book and conduct interviews (in-person & phone interviews) and assist in script writing

* Qualified individuals should have a basic knowledge of how to use a microphone, recorder, headphones, and how to plug into a multbox. If the candidate does not have these general experiences, he/she must be willing to be trained

* Some knowledge of Cool Edit Pro/Pro Tools/Sound Forge or any other applicable editing software a plus

* Additional responsibilities include: transcription, audio editing, selecting soundbites/clips, participating in listening/critique sessions and attending meetings, as needed

Additionals

* Some journalistic experience a plus (i.e. school or community radio, writing for school paper)

* Women and people of color are encouraged to apply. NRP is an Equal Opportunity Organization and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, color, sexual preference, disability, national origin, religion, or economic status.

If you’re interested, please first check out our website (www.radioproject.org) to see what we’re all about. Then if you’re really interested, please fill out our “Production Intern Application” http://radioproject.org/production/prodintern.html and send that along with your cover letter and resume.

If you have print work samples and/or a demo reel (CD) or links you your work, include that as well.

Thank you for your interest in National Radio Project’s “Making Contact” internship.

APPLICATION DEADLINE IS MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2008 FOR THIS FALL.

Mail submissions to:

1714 Franklin Street
#100-251
Oakland, CA 94612
Attn: Tena Rubio, Executive Producer

Email Submissions or Questions to: Lisa Rudman, Executive Director, lrudman at radioproject.org

Congratulations to Pacifica’s Nathan Moore and family on the birth of Charlotte Sarah Moore at 9:46 AM ET this morning. She weighs 6 pounds, 12 ounces. Mother, child and father are healthy and happy.

EDIT: In her email to the national board to which this letter was attached, Nicole Sawaya recommended the board name Chief Financial Officer Lonnie Hicks as the acting ED, and that legal counsel Dan Siegel be named as interim HR contact.

September 24, 2008

To: Pacifica National Board, Local Station Boards, All management and staff, Affiliate stations, collaborators, and stakeholders in Pacifica

Fr: Nicole Sawaya, executive director/CEO

On August 3rd I gave notice to the Pacifica Board that I would be leaving. September 30th (end of our fiscal year) will be my last day. Concurrently, I had written myself out of the FY09 budget, as the Foundation is hard-pressed to support two well-paid executives. You lead from the top.

Lew Hill is the founder of Pacifica, now almost a 60 year old non-profit media organization. If I could have a conversation with anyone to explain my departure, it would be with Lew Hill. So, I decided to write him a letter.

Feel free to read it, and to share with others who care about Pacifica. All I ask is that this preface always accompany the letter as it sets the context.

I thank you for the opportunity to serve!

Peace.

********************

September 23, 2008

Dear Lew Hill,

Greetings. My name is Nicole Sawaya, and currently, I’m the executive director and chief executive of the radio endeavor you started called Pacifica. It’s changed a lot.

You wouldn’t believe what your “killer app”, as some might portray it in 21st century lexicon, has spawned. Now there are 5 stations licensed to Pacifica in densely populated and roiling urban areas – millions of human beings within ear shot, all with easy access to the cheapest and most accessible broadcast mediums on the planet, radio. Yes, the planet. There is an Archive of programming and folios spanning decades – a repository and collection of voices that truly belongs to the people as part of the history of our country and the world. And, there are over a hundred smaller stations scattered through rural and urban settings — cities and towns and ridge tops — affiliated with Pacifica and broadcasting our programming – a network that has been in place for quite awhile.

Beyond that, your notion that the listeners would voluntarily financially support radio, journalism and cultural exchange, created a model for many, many non-commercial educational radio stations to apply. Your vision of public ownership of the airwaves put into practice with the radio license you applied for and grew as the first non-profit community licensee station, gained great traction and has been replicated exponentially.

We don’t exchange The Subscriber radios anymore for pledges, and you wouldn’t recognize how the fundraising marathons have changed – it’s a bit like an on-air shopping experience. But listeners continue to support us voluntarily with their hard earned money, and they’re not necessarily just bound to radios to listen to us.

An aside: When I was (briefly) general manager of your first station, KPFA, there was a Subscriber radio in the office, but it was tucked away and dusty. When I discovered it, soon after taking the job, I was so excited to learn of its history. It completely inspired me as Pacifica was heading to its 50th anniversary. So elegant, so innovative for its time, so smart.

Mr. Hill, what you conceived has had one of the highest impacts in media history. Not just the staunch belief in listener support, but your notions that journalistic enterprises should remain unfettered from any sort of business support in order to maintain credibility; that to help in striving for a more peaceful and just world, radio (or what we now refer to as media) programming should give access to myriad viewpoints and in-depth news, coupled with an exposure to the arts and to cultures and happenings from all over the world; that innovation is vital, have all lived on. You were a pioneer.

Fast forward to today.

Our country is at war. Our government is a death machine abroad and a fear machine at home. Our broadcast media is, in general, mind-numbingly useless, filled with shameless propagandists and completely profit driven. The earth’s climate is changing radically and the gap between rich and poor is larger than the Grand Canyon, with by far the larger group on the poor end. I could go on, but it would take a while.

Your Pacifica is showing signs of stress as well.

Sadly, it is no longer focused on service to the listeners but absorbed with itself and the inhabitants therein. I call it Planet Pacifica, a term I coined during my hiring process. There is an underlying culture of grievance coupled with entitlement, and its governance structure is dysfunctional. The by-laws of the organization have opened it up to tremendous abuse, creating the opportunity for cronyism, factionalism, and faux democracy, with the result of challenging all yet helping nothing. Pacifica has been made so flat, that it is concave – no leadership is possible without an enormous struggle through the inertia that committees and collectives and STV’s (no, not sexually transmitted viruses, but single transferable votes) can engender.

Pacifica calls itself a movement, yet currently it is behaves like a jobs program, a cult, or a social service agency. And oftentimes, the loudest and most obstreperous have the privilege of the microphone. There are endless meetings of committees and “task forces” – mostly on the phone – where people just like to hear themselves talk. Sometimes they get lucrative contracts from their grandstanding. It’s been grueling for someone in my position, someone like me who is not a process person, much less a political gamer. I keep asking: what’s the endgame? Paralysis has set in, coupled with organizational drift.

The programming isn’t attracting many listeners anymore, either. It skews towards the narrow in its editorial stance, leans towards the niche, and change to the programming can’t occur without a fight. The listening audience is small, in other words, the stations have yet to grow into their large signals.

Business practices are oftentimes shoddy and opaque and mirror the culture of our times – lots of self-interest with a focus on individual needs as opposed to performance, affordability, or the common good. And we’ve hit some tough economic times without having the general will to do the hard work necessary in order to ensure sustainability – contracting rather than continually expanding the size of our financial obligations. Basically, resources and airtime have been allocated for internal political purposes at the expense of service to audience, innovation, or the care and feeding of our broadcast physical infrastructure. Some of this has to do with the fact that very few people either on air or off air actually have radio experience, other than being part of Pacifica.

That was not the case with you, nor is it with me.

Conversely, there are many dedicated and smart people working within Pacifica. They may not work at full speed – it is rather “comfortable” especially for those who work unsupervised – but they make a consistent effort to give voice to the voiceless and hold government and power accountable. And those who work without self-interest or giving constant grief to management (a four-letter word in Pacifica) are to be applauded.

The overall media landscape has changed fundamentally. I find it exciting and wanted very much to bring Pacifica into the 21st century. The demographic of our country has changed as well, not to mention all the new generations now active and alert to the world around them. It is, to quote Victor Hugo, the best of times and the worst of times. Apparently, it’s always been like that.

Pacifica could take advantage of technology, both at the front end (content and programming) and the back end (infrastructure and business applications), but that would require the general will of the internal stakeholders, and that general will is not cohesive enough or even amenable to altering the status quo.

I have given notice and will be leaving Pacifica shortly. Despite my best intentions and determined and focused efforts, I was continually thwarted to do the job I was hired to do. I did my best to apply my knowledge, expertise, and creativity to Pacifica, and we made some forward progress.

I gave to those responsible for the governance and oversight, plans, clarity, and transparency. They cannot deny knowledge of the state of the network. Whether they act on it, or just call in consultants to tell them what time it is, is another issue. I tried to dispel magical thinking in all arenas and was relentless in my attempts to get some best practices and collaborations in place.

I had some success.

It’s not necessary for me to alliterate those successes. Despite being handed an enfeebled situation and having no resources to work with, I gave it my best shot and worked hard. And despite having to fight for every inch of standing, not to mention authority, I have enjoyed working with those who actually work and accomplish bona fide deliverables of consequence and service.

We stand now on the shoulders of hundreds, if not thousands of those who have contributed internally. And Pacifica is much loved and valued by its listener supporters. Pacifica will carry on, and it has been a challenging opportunity to, albeit briefly, help out.

I hope that all stakeholders remember that Pacifica is a public trust, a veritable weapon of mass information, and keep a big vision in play rather than petty politics.

Thanks for being a bold and brave broadcaster.

With much respect,

Nicole

By JEMIMAH NOONOO Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

KPFT, the local Pacifica radio station at 90.1 FM, was back on the air Monday after being shut down by Hurricane Ike for more than a week — the longest down period since the station was bombed in the 1970s.

During Hurricane Rita, in 2005, the station was powered off for only 12 hours, managers said.

Flying debris and water from the storm is thought to have damaged the radio’s microwave transmission system.

General Manager Duane Bradley said KPFT, a listener-supported station that features progressive local and national programming and music highlighting local and Texas acts, has been broadcasting using Internet signals and will resume regular programming today.

“Having the Internet as a backup for emergency is OK,” Bradley said. “Having to depend on it as a primary transmitter is a bit worrisome.”

The station is expecting a crew today to assess the damage.

Dear Pacifica Programmers, Board Members and Family:

KPFT has again had to end broadcast operations due to extenuating circumstances related to Hurricane Ike. This will affect all KPFT programming until further notice.

During the storm KPFT’s microwave link to its transmitter suffered damages yet to be assessed. On Friday evening, staff developed a workaround whereby KPFT could link a studio feed to its transmitter via the Internet. Utilizing this solution, KPFT was on the air briefly using a generator at its still dark studios and the recently re-powered transmitter. Midday Saturday, KPFT lost its Internet connectivity at the transmitter site and remains off-air as of this writing.

KPFT expects to have a tower crew on-site this week to repair damages caused by Ike to our microwave link, and return to the air once a connection to our transmitter is established. We hope to get electricity back at our studios this week.

KPFT staff will be working in various capacities this week as we attempt to resume normal operations. Critical operations will be handled by some staff members on-site while other employee functions will be handled by staff off-site.

Thank you for your attention, patience and good wishes during this trying time. Houston and surrounding areas continue to struggle during this time; KPFT’s woes are indicative of the hardships which have befallen our residents and listeners.

Ernesto Aguilar
KPFT Program Director

As someone who’s familiar with police accountability work, I had long considered writing something on the Nadra Foster case, in which a volunteer was arrested at our sister station KPFA, but the recently forwarded letter below sums up some of my thoughts.

KPFA has work to do to become a better institution. (To see what we are doing, check out kpfa.org/august20). It is clear to us that KPFA needs to review and update its procedures for securing the safety of its staff, de-escalating internal conflicts, and monitoring the police if and when they do enter the station. To do that, what KPFA needs is dialogue and healing: We need frank conversations about the internal conflicts we’ve had, and how our policies and actions live up to our ideals.

What we don’t need is civil war. The police incident was bad enough. What has made it worse is that opportunistic individuals have sensationalized the incident for their own ends.

KPFA is facing hard economic times and stagnant audience numbers—we can only turn things around with new programming and institutional change. And the loudest shouting over the police incident has come from those entrenched programmers at the station who stand to lose the most from a revitalization of KPFA.

They have used KPFA’s airwaves to launch sensationalized reports that are both false (reporting a sprained arm as a broken one, and a pregnancy that did not exist), mistargeted (calling for the resignation of two managers who had nothing to do with the decision to call the police), and self-serving (concluding one on-air segment with a demand for a regular show).

When KPFA is used in that fashion, it takes the airwaves we hold in public trust, and turns them into a bully pulpit for pressing an internal political campaign. That’s a breach of our duty to deliver the
information our listeners turn to us for—insight into the occupation of Iraq, the rapidly-escalating situation in Afghanistan, the emergence of a new Cold War with Russia, the hurricanes battering the Gulf Coast, the erosion of civil liberties, the food, healthcare and housing crises in our communities, and the watershed presidential election set to take place in November.

That work—our journalism—is bigger than any of us in KPFA, or our internal conflicts. By the time your readers see this, KPFA will be entering its fall fund drive. We do fund drives because tens of thousands of people rely on KPFA for information and inspiration, and we have an obligation to them to do what it takes to keep KPFA’s microphones on and doors open. We hope you understand that, despite its conflicts, KPFA is an important institution, one whose work has real value in these times, and one worthy of support even as it works through its internal crises.

We’re calling on KPFA’s extended family—its staff and volunteers, boardmembers and supporters, allies and comrades past and present—to address the current crisis in the spirit of healing and progress, and to challenge those who would point the guns inward to re-focus their energy on engaging the much greater crises of our times, the crises that we all, for the past 59 years, have counted on KPFA to shed light on.

Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, Director of Arts, Humanities, and Public Affairs; Aileen Alfandary, News Co-Director; Mark Mericle, News Co-Director; Luis Medina, Music Director; Gary Niederhoff, Subscriptions Director; Andrea Turner, Chair, KPFA Local Station Board; Sherry Gendelman, Chair, Pacifica National Board; Conn Hallinan, Vice-Chair, KPFA Local Station Board; Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Staff Representative and Treasurer, KPFA Local Station Board; Warren Mar, Listener Representative, KPFA Local Station Board.

After just over a week off the air, KPFT resumed limited broadcasts last night.

Hurricane Ike has devastated much of the Gulf Coast region. For KPFT, the storm caused relatively minimal damage in downed trees and debris. However, the loss of power at both our studios and transmitter sites has kept us incommunicado, to everyone’s frustration.

KPFT powered down operations on Friday, Sept. 12, as Ike bore down upon the area. We chose to close the doors during the storm out of concern for our volunteers (many of whom had already evacuated or would risk their safety to do programming during Ike’s inland incursion) and equipment (for which replacement would be expensive). While many predicted Ike would be a major headache, no one anticipated just how much of the area would lose electricity. Even now, power has yet to be restored to thousands, including KPFT’s studios, which remain on generator power.

KPFT Chief Engineer Steve Brightwell called the evening of Friday, Sept. 19, to inform me that power had just been restored to the transmitter and to get my help with the relaunch. At about 10:56 that night, “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles was shared with the city. I doubt I’ve had a happier experience hearing a Beatles cut.

Though the transmitter is solid, KPFT’s Montrose digs remain without electricity. As a result, we are powering the studios with a generator during daylight hours this weekend. We’re sticking to daylight mainly to avoid the curfew issues (Houston still has a nighttime curfew in place, as do other areas) and the risks of people pouring gas into generators in a pitch-dark neighborhood. Centerpoint Energy estimates KPFT’s area will get its power back after Monday.

Thanks for all your good thoughts. We at KPFT are sharing some of those same thoughts with you too.

YouTube™, the leading online video community that allows people to discover, watch and share originally created videos, announced the launch of Project: Report ( http://youtube.com/projectreport) in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and made possible by Sony and Intel. The first of its kind program begins September 8 and encourages aspiring journalists to produce short, high-quality video pieces focused on stories that are not usually covered by the traditional media.

The program will take place over three rounds. The first round will be judged by the Pulitzer Center and will narrow the field down to the top ten reporters. The YouTube community will then vote to select the top five finalists and the ultimate winner. The winner will receive a $10,000 grant for travel abroad and the opportunity to work with the Pulitzer Center on a story of global importance. The finalists will also receive high-end video and editing equipment from Sony and be featured on the YouTube homepage. Additional prizes will be given to the top ten and top five participants as the contest progresses.

“Central to the Pulitzer Center’s mission is coverage of stories that are being under-reported in today’s media environment,” said Jon Sawyer, executive director of the Pulitzer Center. “With YouTube’s global reach and popularity we have the unique opportunity to offer a program that encourages aspiring journalists to tell these stories in a fresh and compelling way.”

“Project: Report was inspired by the thousands of individuals around the world who have used YouTube to change the way news is reported in today’s media landscape,” said Steve Grove, head of news and politics for YouTube. “From videos of natural disasters to investigative reports on political candidates, YouTube has become a go-to site for rare and dynamic news stories from around the world. Project: Report will support and cultivate thi s type of content, encouraging aspiring journalists to continue informing the world through YouTube.”

Starting today and continuing through October 5, contestants will create and submit a profile of three minutes or less of an individual of significance in their community. An expert panel led by the Pulitzer Center will choose the top 10 entrants. Each of the 10 semi-finalists will receive technology from Sony. They will also participate in a journalism conference hosted by the Pulitzer Center.

The second round of the program will call on the 10 semi-finalists to create a video of four minutes or less to tell a local story that has global impact. The top five videos will be chosen by the YouTube community and the reporters who produced them will receive additional video equipment from Sony, as well as one-on-one mentorship with a journalist as they head into round three of the program.

In the third and final round, the five finalists will tell the story of an under-represented community — with a further reporting technique required. Each of the finalists will be provided with two additional Sony video cameras to give to members of the group they are reporting on, so that they can participate in the telling of their own stories. The reporter will then use this footage and integrate it into the telling of the story of five minutes or less.

Each of the three rounds will feature model videos from work sponsored by the Pulitzer Center as well as vide os on reporting techniques from the journalists involved. The contest channel page will also feature videos with tips on technique from Sony and Intel.

KPFT’s Third Thursdays at Discovery Green brings Jambolism to Discovery Green Park, Avenida de las Americas directly across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, on Thursday September 18 at 6 pm. Admission is free.

Houston horn band Jambolism produces old school, big old, bad ass, horn and percussion dance music. Witness the a-traditional spectacle of genuine Texas worldbeat rock. Founder saxman Todd ‘Skeets’ Winegar, is joined by trombonist Dru Rey, saxophonist Marcos Melchor, guitar Teri Greene, Dr. King Cobra, Percussionist Carlos Johnson as well as guest musicians and dancers. Inspired by Osibisa, The Wailers, The Mothers of Invention and Tito Puente, this band gets you moving and listening until you are smiling. Bring a drum.

Charges against Amy Goodman still hold; Nicole Salazar and Sharif abdel Kouddous could still be charged with FELONY RIOT

CONTACT THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE – DEMAND THAT ALL CHARGES OR POTENTIAL CHARGES BE IMMEDIATELY DROPPED:

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner
janet.hafner@co.ramsey.mn.us and
susan.gaertner@co.ramsey.mn.us
(cc: dropthecharges at democracynow.org)
651-266-3079

Susan Gaertner for Governor
info at susangaertner.com (cc: dropthecharges at democracynow.org)
(612) 978-8625
(612)804-6156

St. Paul Mayor Christopher B. Coleman
chris.coleman@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Bob.Hume@ci.stpaul.mn.us
sara.grewing@ci.stpaul.mn.us

(cc: dropthecharges at democracynow.org)

Make your voice heard in the Ramsey County Attorney and St. Paul Mayor’s offices. Demand that they drop all pending and current charges against journalists arrested while reporting on protests outside the Republican National Conventions.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s office is in the process of deciding whether or not to press felony P.C. (probable cause) riot charges against Democracy Now! Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Please contact Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner by all means possible to demand that her office not press charges against Kouddous and Salazar.

The St. Paul City Attorney’s office has already charged Amy Goodman with misdemeanor obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer. Contact St. Paul Mayor Christopher Coleman by all means possible to demand that the charges against Goodman be dropped immediately.

Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention.

During the demonstration in which the Democracy Now! team was arrested, law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force against protesters and journalists. Several dozen demonstrators were also arrested during this action, as was a photographer for the Associated Press. IMPORTANT

Be sure to cc: dropthecharges@democracynow.org on all emails so that our team can deliver print outs of your messages to the St. Paul City Attorney, the Mayor, and Ramsey County Attorney offices.