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THE FIGHT TO SAVE PROGRESSIVE KPFK FM

ercjncpr said:
They were founded by loonbag crazies
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You might disagree with them, but that's not true. When they began, Pacifica stations were among the highest of the highbrow stations, with articulate talk and serious classical music. That continued until the early 90s. Then they went stone cold nuts.

DXingRadio said:
How about a frequency swap with KPCC and some cash? KPCC sure does more with its 600 watts than KPFK with 100,000 watts!
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You need to read the letter in the OP. They will not sell or swap under any condition. The Foundation is doing everything it can to keep these stations operating, and they're fighting against the people at the stations. Anyone who suggests selling or swapping stations is seen as the enemy. It's not going to happen.

ercjncpr said:
I think KPFK should go silent over the air. 90.7 at 100k watts is much better put to use for a real public radio station and the KPFK people should just be doing podcasts
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They're doing both. They know they own beachfront property, and they're not moving.
 
ercjncpr said:
I think KPFK should go silent over the air. 90.7 at 100k watts is much better put to use for a real public radio station and the KPFK people should just be doing podcasts
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Wish like KPCC-FM could go on 90.7 since American Public Media owns the station now. But then again it will not happen for now. Or KCRW could do that if they wanted to.
 
DXingRadio said:
How about a frequency swap with KPCC and some cash? KPCC sure does more with its 600 watts than KPFK with 100,000 watts!
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Absolutely.KPCC would benefit, the market would benefit, and Pacifica would get some funds to pay off the debt burden they have. At that point, they could expand their podcast offering and do the broadest shows only on the FM signal.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Absolutely. KPCC would benefit, the market would benefit, and Pacifica would get some funds to pay off the debt burden they have. At that point, they could expand their podcast offering and do the broadest shows only on the FM signal.
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But it would trigger a legal battle between the Pacifica Foundation and the local station board that runs KPFK. Under the terms of the company constitution, the local board has operational control of the station, even though the Foundation is the FCC licensee. A judge (in the WBAI case) ruled that the local station board has the legal right to run the station. The Foundation would incur an internal revolution (again) by selling the station or even trading it to someone else. So far, they've been unwilling to do that.

Looking long term, the Foundation has the option of declaring bankruptcy. It would set up a similar situation to what we're seeing with Ed Stoltz. A judge could then require the Foundation to sell assets to pay the debt. But that would be a sale, not a trade. I'm not sure that KPCC has the finances available to handle the Foundation's debt.
 
This whole situation with KPFK reminds me of what apparently happened to an early "TV version of KPFK" here in Los Angeles, back in the 60s-70s. If memory serves the call letters were KSTV. They were on Ch 68. As I recall many of the people involved with the TV station were also associated with KPFK. William Winter was one such person, I watched his program on Ch 68 and it was fascinating. Mr Winter apparently passed away back in 1999.

The station lasted, I think, for only several months on the air. Supposedly there was so much conflict in the station's management that no one could agree on anything that they simply "disappeared". I'm sure that there was much more to it than this.

If someone knows about the actual history of this station, I'd like to learn about it !
 
Frequency1 said:
-KPFK is on the rise. Its market share has more than doubled in the past 3 months since IGM Michael Novick took over.
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It's gone from a 0.1 share to a 0.2 share. It's their transmitter, so they can do with it as they wish, but is a station with a 0.2 share the best use of 110,000 watts? I wouldn't say so.
 
I know there are people who have always classified KPFK as a station operated by a bunch of "loonbag crazies" as some said previously. But I, for one, am glad such a facility can exist in our society (whether one agrees with the views presented or not) as such a station would not be allowed to exist in most of the rest of the world. That's what our first amendment is all about ! Put another way most other countries would not allow an organisation such as the ACLU to exist either (whether or not you personally agree with their views).
 
There is nothing any Pacifica station does that can't be done better and cheaper as a podcaster

And there are commercial radio stations all over the country selling real estate and tower sites to fund day to day operations, contrary to what the person in the memo is saying, and having a MBA is irrelevant in the radio business.

As for STL and other issues, sure microwave is nice, but fiber optic is pretty damn fast, and reliable, and has low latency.

I understand that if you are a public radio station that is as far to the edge of the grid as you can go without going off it needing dish antennas, but stations in major metropolitan areas are not loading roofs up like they are NASA anymore

Personally if the Pacifica Foundation went away I would not be upset.

I've seen more professional management from local non profit P/E/G Cable TV stations.

They are really IMHO dinosaurs
 
MRBIboredop said:
There is nothing any Pacifica station does that can't be done better and cheaper as a podcaster

And there are commercial radio stations all over the country selling real estate and tower sites to fund day to day operations, contrary to what the person in the memo is saying, and having a MBA is irrelevant in the radio business.

As for STL and other issues, sure microwave is nice, but fiber optic is pretty damn fast, and reliable, and has low latency.

I understand that if you are a public radio station that is as far to the edge of the grid as you can go without going off it needing dish antennas, but stations in major metropolitan areas are not loading roofs up like they are NASA anymore

Personally if the Pacifica Foundation went away I would not be upset.

I've seen more professional management from local non profit P/E/G Cable TV stations.

They are really IMHO dinosaurs
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Don't think so...there is nothing better than the immediacy of radio. Or maybe we should rename this site to "podcasterdiscussions.com".
 
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TomásEstefan said:
I know there are people who have always classified KPFK as a station operated by a bunch of "loonbag crazies" as some said previously. But I, for one, am glad such a facility can exist in our society (whether one agrees with the views presented or not) as such a station would not be allowed to exist in most of the rest of the world. That's what our first amendment is all about ! Put another way most other countries would not allow an organisation such as the ACLU to exist either (whether or not you personally agree with their views).
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I'm all for independent operators, public radio and alternative programming when it's done well. Unfortunately Pacifica is mostly not doing good radio. It's sad that their management structure is so screwed up and that they have such a perpetual lack of leadership. Pacifica has a rich history and should rightfully be a prominent, intelligent voice on the radio in a much better way than it is now.
 
MRBIboredop said:
There is nothing any Pacifica station does that can't be done better and cheaper as a podcaster
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There is nothing anything on talk radio does that can't be done cheaper as a podcaster. That's not a problem limited to Pacifica.

TomásEstefan said:
Don't think so...there is nothing better than the immediacy of radio. Or maybe we should this site to "podcasterdiscussions.com".
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Immediacy is rarely important. Even Premiere Networks didn't dispute that, choosing to air aged clips of Rush Limbuagh for half a year on the most listened to talk show in the country.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
Wish like KPCC-FM could go on 90.7 since American Public Media owns the station now. But then again it will not happen for now. Or KCRW could do that if they wanted to.
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I believe KPCC is still owned by Pasadena City College and hope it stays that way.
TheBigA said:
It's not easy to be a leader when your staff is a group of anarchists. Not unlike what Mr. McCarthy is dealing with in the house.
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Oy Vey! I guess we know where this is headed...
 
TomásEstefan said:
This whole situation with KPFK reminds me of what apparently happened to an early "TV version of KPFK" here in Los Angeles, back in the 60s-70s. If memory serves the call letters were KSTV. They were on Ch 68. As I recall many of the people involved with the TV station were also associated with KPFK. William Winter was one such person, I watched his program on Ch 68 and it was fascinating. Mr Winter apparently passed away back in 1999.

The station lasted, I think, for only several months on the air. Supposedly there was so much conflict in the station's management that no one could agree on anything that they simply "disappeared". I'm sure that there was much more to it than this.

If someone knows about the actual history of this station, I'd like to learn about it !
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That station was KVST-TV. It lasted 19 months back in the 1970s: KVST-TV - Wikipedia

The KVST call is now used by a Country formatted FM serving Montgomery and Walker counties north of Houston.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
There is nothing anything on talk radio does that can't be done cheaper as a podcaster. That's not a problem limited to Pacifica.


Immediacy is rarely important. Even Premiere Networks didn't dispute that, choosing to air aged clips of Rush Limbuagh for half a year on the most listened to talk show in the country.
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If immediacy "is rarely important" then, by golly, what's the point of radio ?? Why are we here even talking about this ?? I was under the impression that most of us here are/were at sometime or other actaually involved in this medium--not cheerleading its demise.
 
TomásEstefan said:
If immediacy "is rarely important" then, by golly, what's the point of radio ??
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The "point of radio" is not one thing. It can't be, because all radio stations aren't the same, and they don't do the same thing.

The fact is there are a lot of players in the world of real time content. Radio no longer has a monopoly.

It really doesn't matter if there are better uses for KPFK's frequency. They have the license, and they can do with it what they want.
 
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