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Indybay Feature
Urgent Letter from Hardknock Radio
Family, Friends, Allies, Supporters, All Concerned and Involved:
It is with profound urgency that we write this letter to the people with
whom we have built this great community institution we call Hard Knock
Radio (HKR). Without your genuine love and support, we never would have
made it this far.
It is with profound urgency that we write this letter to the people with
whom we have built this great community institution we call Hard Knock
Radio (HKR). Without your genuine love and support, we never would have
made it this far.
Subject: [News] Letter From Hard Knock Radio
OPEN LETTER FROM HARD KNOCK RADIO STAFF 6/26/05
Family, Friends, Allies, Supporters, All Concerned and Involved:
It is with profound urgency that we write this letter to the people with
whom we have built this great community institution we call Hard Knock
Radio (HKR). Without your genuine love and support, we never would have
made it this far.
HKR was birthed from the struggle to save KPFA in 1999. We represent
part of the promise KPFA made to listeners then to transform and
diversify its airwaves. Since those early days, we have become one of
the most cutting-edge, unique and innovative hour-long programs in all
of Public Radio. HKR is setting the standard by which HipHop on Public
Radio will be measured. HKR represents a savvy generational shift in
progressive programming -- mixing culture and politics in a new way that
makes the social justice movement attractive to the HipHop Generation.
As many of you know, funding for Public Radio is constantly threatened
by government forces who do not value free speech and community-minded
media. The people who stand to lose the most are the next generation of
listeners: people of color and youth, poor folks, and immigrants. These
audiences -- grossly under-served by Public Radio, but readily courted
by Commercial Radio -- are being reached and politicized by HKR, because
we understand how to speak to their concerns, engage in sincere outreach
to their communities, and provide them with programming that is neither
patronizing nor alienating. Without HKR as
a lightning rod, these audiences may abandon Pacifica and KPFA entirely.
Contrary to almost all of Pacifica/KPFA’s public affairs programming,
HKR is not designed to be an alternative to NPR; HKR is the alternative
to Commercial Radio, and we are rooted in the principles of Media
Justice. Part of our mission is to remedy the failure of progressive
radio and the progressive movement to bring the most marginalized
communities to the table.
Unfortunately, even at a community radio station such as KPFA, our
efforts to press for inclusion and Media Justice are being thwarted by
the new General Manager, Roy Campanella II. Campanella has expressed a
desire to take ownership of the name ‘Hard Knock Radio’ from us; he has
revoked promised staffing resources; he has helped foster a hostile
workplace for women and HKR Staff in particular; and he has made
attempts to divide HKR Staff. There is increasing evidence indicating
Campanella has spread harmful lies about HKR Staff,
apparently in an effort to build a case to take certain HKR Staff off
the air. On May 5, Campanella assaulted HKR Executive Producer Weyland
Southon with a threat of physical violence.
Campanella has made it clear -- through bullying and gossiping -- that
his intention is to crush HKR. We refuse to abandon all that we have
done in the last five years to build a NEW audience for KPFA, Pacifica,
and Public Radio. We will not allow such progressives to continue to
marginalize and ghettoize programming for young people and communities
of color. We regret that it has come to this. But HKR must continue it’s
mission and it’s message.
For many of our listeners who appreciate our work and accomplishments,
the fact that HKR has become a target of abuse at KPFA, probably comes
as a complete shock. For us, there is little mystery. Our very existence
has challenged mediocrity. Since graduating from KPFA’s Apprenticeship
Program in 1995, HKR Executive Producer Weyland Southon has been a very
outspoken critic of KPFA’s status quo. HKR has been targeted because we
have emerged as a direct threat to KPFA’s entrenched powers that be.
As employees of a progressive institution, we are alarmed by the lack of
due process afforded us in this crisis. We have received no indication
from Pacifica or KPFA leadership that our concerns about workplace
safety are being given any validity. The unapologetic conspiracy of
silence and overall inaction of Pacifica management and the Local
Station Board is suspect.
This crisis has seriously disrupted our production, and is imposing
incredible hardships on the HKR Staff who still work at KPFA daily. The
unwillingness of Pacifica and KPFA’s Local Station Board to resolve
these issues effectively is literally jeopardizing the future existence
of Hard Knock Radio on the Pacifica Network. We have exhausted all
internal processes regarding this matter. Our
last resort is to fully inform our listener-supporters and ask that you
have our backs.
Our demands and needs are simple and fair:
1) Roy Campanella II should resign for creating and fostering a hostile
workplace for KPFA workers – especially women and HKR Staff. His
monumental mismanagement of KPFA puts our FCC license renewal at risk.
We need and deserve professional, responsible, and visionary leadership
that is willing to build a team that will KPFA into the future. We
demand a safe and equitable workplace.
2) HKR has been victimized by neglect and gross mismanagement at
Pacifica and KPFA since our inception. We demand honest, efficient, and
transparent management practices. We demand fair and supportive
supervision. We demand an end to management favoritism and cronyism.
3) We want an equitable distribution of resources, and demand that HKR
be given the highest possible budget priority. We want Pacifica and KPFA
to support and implement our innovative off-air fundraising strategies
so we can be more self-sufficient. We demand the necessary institutional
support to reach our goals so that HKR can realize its fullest potential
as a tool for social change. We demand the right of self-determination.
4) All persons responsible for this attack on HKR should be held
accountable for their words and actions. Write letters in support of HKR
directly to KPFA’s Local Station Board. Letters typed on letterhead
carry more weight than emails, so we are encouraging people to fax
letters to 510.532.8461 and/or send mail C/O Tumi’s, 3028 International
Blvd, Oakland, CA, 94601. For emails, go to
http://www.kpfa.org/lsb <http://www.kpfa.org/lsb> and fill out the prompt. Email the Pacifica Foundation
National Board direct at board [at] pacifica.org. Be sure to cc all emails to
HKR at hardknock [at] kpfa.org so that we can make your support public.
Yours in Struggle,
HKR Staff
Weyland Southon, Executive Producer
Anita Johnson, Senior Producer
David ‘Davey D’ Cook, Host
Favianna Rodriguez, Correspondent
Thenmozhi Soundarajan, Correspondent
Nishat Kurwa, Correspondent
Michael ‘Mike Biggz’ McKenna, Board Operator
The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
OPEN LETTER FROM HARD KNOCK RADIO STAFF 6/26/05
Family, Friends, Allies, Supporters, All Concerned and Involved:
It is with profound urgency that we write this letter to the people with
whom we have built this great community institution we call Hard Knock
Radio (HKR). Without your genuine love and support, we never would have
made it this far.
HKR was birthed from the struggle to save KPFA in 1999. We represent
part of the promise KPFA made to listeners then to transform and
diversify its airwaves. Since those early days, we have become one of
the most cutting-edge, unique and innovative hour-long programs in all
of Public Radio. HKR is setting the standard by which HipHop on Public
Radio will be measured. HKR represents a savvy generational shift in
progressive programming -- mixing culture and politics in a new way that
makes the social justice movement attractive to the HipHop Generation.
As many of you know, funding for Public Radio is constantly threatened
by government forces who do not value free speech and community-minded
media. The people who stand to lose the most are the next generation of
listeners: people of color and youth, poor folks, and immigrants. These
audiences -- grossly under-served by Public Radio, but readily courted
by Commercial Radio -- are being reached and politicized by HKR, because
we understand how to speak to their concerns, engage in sincere outreach
to their communities, and provide them with programming that is neither
patronizing nor alienating. Without HKR as
a lightning rod, these audiences may abandon Pacifica and KPFA entirely.
Contrary to almost all of Pacifica/KPFA’s public affairs programming,
HKR is not designed to be an alternative to NPR; HKR is the alternative
to Commercial Radio, and we are rooted in the principles of Media
Justice. Part of our mission is to remedy the failure of progressive
radio and the progressive movement to bring the most marginalized
communities to the table.
Unfortunately, even at a community radio station such as KPFA, our
efforts to press for inclusion and Media Justice are being thwarted by
the new General Manager, Roy Campanella II. Campanella has expressed a
desire to take ownership of the name ‘Hard Knock Radio’ from us; he has
revoked promised staffing resources; he has helped foster a hostile
workplace for women and HKR Staff in particular; and he has made
attempts to divide HKR Staff. There is increasing evidence indicating
Campanella has spread harmful lies about HKR Staff,
apparently in an effort to build a case to take certain HKR Staff off
the air. On May 5, Campanella assaulted HKR Executive Producer Weyland
Southon with a threat of physical violence.
Campanella has made it clear -- through bullying and gossiping -- that
his intention is to crush HKR. We refuse to abandon all that we have
done in the last five years to build a NEW audience for KPFA, Pacifica,
and Public Radio. We will not allow such progressives to continue to
marginalize and ghettoize programming for young people and communities
of color. We regret that it has come to this. But HKR must continue it’s
mission and it’s message.
For many of our listeners who appreciate our work and accomplishments,
the fact that HKR has become a target of abuse at KPFA, probably comes
as a complete shock. For us, there is little mystery. Our very existence
has challenged mediocrity. Since graduating from KPFA’s Apprenticeship
Program in 1995, HKR Executive Producer Weyland Southon has been a very
outspoken critic of KPFA’s status quo. HKR has been targeted because we
have emerged as a direct threat to KPFA’s entrenched powers that be.
As employees of a progressive institution, we are alarmed by the lack of
due process afforded us in this crisis. We have received no indication
from Pacifica or KPFA leadership that our concerns about workplace
safety are being given any validity. The unapologetic conspiracy of
silence and overall inaction of Pacifica management and the Local
Station Board is suspect.
This crisis has seriously disrupted our production, and is imposing
incredible hardships on the HKR Staff who still work at KPFA daily. The
unwillingness of Pacifica and KPFA’s Local Station Board to resolve
these issues effectively is literally jeopardizing the future existence
of Hard Knock Radio on the Pacifica Network. We have exhausted all
internal processes regarding this matter. Our
last resort is to fully inform our listener-supporters and ask that you
have our backs.
Our demands and needs are simple and fair:
1) Roy Campanella II should resign for creating and fostering a hostile
workplace for KPFA workers – especially women and HKR Staff. His
monumental mismanagement of KPFA puts our FCC license renewal at risk.
We need and deserve professional, responsible, and visionary leadership
that is willing to build a team that will KPFA into the future. We
demand a safe and equitable workplace.
2) HKR has been victimized by neglect and gross mismanagement at
Pacifica and KPFA since our inception. We demand honest, efficient, and
transparent management practices. We demand fair and supportive
supervision. We demand an end to management favoritism and cronyism.
3) We want an equitable distribution of resources, and demand that HKR
be given the highest possible budget priority. We want Pacifica and KPFA
to support and implement our innovative off-air fundraising strategies
so we can be more self-sufficient. We demand the necessary institutional
support to reach our goals so that HKR can realize its fullest potential
as a tool for social change. We demand the right of self-determination.
4) All persons responsible for this attack on HKR should be held
accountable for their words and actions. Write letters in support of HKR
directly to KPFA’s Local Station Board. Letters typed on letterhead
carry more weight than emails, so we are encouraging people to fax
letters to 510.532.8461 and/or send mail C/O Tumi’s, 3028 International
Blvd, Oakland, CA, 94601. For emails, go to
http://www.kpfa.org/lsb <http://www.kpfa.org/lsb> and fill out the prompt. Email the Pacifica Foundation
National Board direct at board [at] pacifica.org. Be sure to cc all emails to
HKR at hardknock [at] kpfa.org so that we can make your support public.
Yours in Struggle,
HKR Staff
Weyland Southon, Executive Producer
Anita Johnson, Senior Producer
David ‘Davey D’ Cook, Host
Favianna Rodriguez, Correspondent
Thenmozhi Soundarajan, Correspondent
Nishat Kurwa, Correspondent
Michael ‘Mike Biggz’ McKenna, Board Operator
The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
"Campanella assaulted HKR Executive Producer Weyland Southon with a threat of physical violence"
'Assaulted' with a 'threat of physical violence'?
How is a threat also an assault? Most people think of an assault as a physical action, not just words.
So what was this ASSAULT exactly? Please post it so we can understand what's going on. There are a lot of ugly articles and remarks and GOSSIP flying to try to destroy the station, it would appear.
'Assaulted' with a 'threat of physical violence'?
How is a threat also an assault? Most people think of an assault as a physical action, not just words.
So what was this ASSAULT exactly? Please post it so we can understand what's going on. There are a lot of ugly articles and remarks and GOSSIP flying to try to destroy the station, it would appear.
surely, you've heard of "assault and battery" -- they are two different things in this example, the first being the threat of the second.
of course it all gets confused when someone is charge with "assault with a deadly weapon" as that usually means actual physical violence with the weapon and not just the threat of using is.
it seems clear the author here is making charges about an assault threat and not actual battery.
as for the truth or lack thereof of charges in this post, that's another matter.
of course it all gets confused when someone is charge with "assault with a deadly weapon" as that usually means actual physical violence with the weapon and not just the threat of using is.
it seems clear the author here is making charges about an assault threat and not actual battery.
as for the truth or lack thereof of charges in this post, that's another matter.
I have actually turned kpfa off, since the last pledge drive pushed me over the edge. My life actually seems quantatively better without KPFA, people should try it the colors are a little brighter and if I don't know details I feel a lot calmer.
All that said, it really sucks that the one show that really tries to reach out to young people and people outside the berkeley leftist bubble is being messed with by kpfa management. Why does kpfa have management? Why isn't it run as a cooperative?
All that said, it really sucks that the one show that really tries to reach out to young people and people outside the berkeley leftist bubble is being messed with by kpfa management. Why does kpfa have management? Why isn't it run as a cooperative?
yes, I'm a radio listener. It connects you more with what's going on in the community than if you are an mp3 listener or use satellite or internet radio. I like to give djs the job of picking out good music and I appreciate them for it. Hard Knock radio has always been good when I am able to listen, and so are a couple morning shows, but often I end up going past KPFA to other stations, kalx for music, 104.1 or 104.9 for interesting stuff, kqed if other people are in the room and we need a truce, or kgo if I want to hear what the general public is saying.
But it strikes me that several times over the past 6 years, there has been a situation where people are saying that so-and-so in top leadership at KPFA has gone completely nuts, and is doing egregious things like firing good people, keeping all the money, or beating on others. I don't doubt that it's true, but this sounds like what you'd expect in a sweatshop. Is it that most workplaces have situations like this but it's less openly discussed, or people with hidden personality disorders end up running KPFA, or maybe there is some special stress associated with kpfa that makes them go bad?
But it strikes me that several times over the past 6 years, there has been a situation where people are saying that so-and-so in top leadership at KPFA has gone completely nuts, and is doing egregious things like firing good people, keeping all the money, or beating on others. I don't doubt that it's true, but this sounds like what you'd expect in a sweatshop. Is it that most workplaces have situations like this but it's less openly discussed, or people with hidden personality disorders end up running KPFA, or maybe there is some special stress associated with kpfa that makes them go bad?
there is a long letter above, and lots of general claims and accusations, but there are no specific details to support them.
please provide.
please provide.
What responsibility does Weyland accept for his role in this sordid little shouting match being conflated into a full on "violent" street brawl (despite nary a punch being thrown)? None, apparently. It sounds like he feels he should be, in fact, rewarded with more money and an ISDN line to a home studio if other reports of this nonsense are to be believed.
I agree, KPFA should be organized as a collective. It seems the hierarchical strucutre is counter to the goals of KPFA and its listeners.
I love Hard Knock Radio. I'll send a letter.
I love Hard Knock Radio. I'll send a letter.
I had long and strongly AGITATED for an ALTERNATIVE to ALL the general public affairs shows icons at KPFA being WHITE (at least when I started listening to KPFA somewhat before the 1999 crisis -- somewhere, increasingly then, between 1995 and 1999).
And while I strongly support Hard Knock Radio (and have even regularly pledged money during their show during pledge drives), this has sometimes gone unappreciated by some of the telephone screeners at Hard Knock Radio; this, when they tried to block me, after the given host had opened up the phone lines. And I strongly support it for the PUBLIC AFFAIRS information that it provides, with voices of color that you don't necessarily hear on other KPFA programs, let alone elsewhere in the general media. One time I was told (by Ranjita?, sp?) that I called in too often and she wasn't going to let me on the air -- in spite of the fact that I always spaced my calls far apart (and recorded the dates of all my KPFA calls on my calendar just to be sure).
Other *Progressive* Black grassroots activists, much more prominent than I, had experienced similar problems (like one who is even a veteran music promoter).
I told the screener that I hadn't been heard on KPFA in THREE months!! -- I had actually found it more useful to call into KALW (not that it's really progressive, but there is, in certain cases, at least more opportunities for true progressives to be heard) -- and gave the exact date and time that I was then last even heard on KPFA.
(It was in an interview of me and an intellectually kick-ass female Green Party official by Davey D on the issue of our abandoning/ignoring/dumping RepubliCrat candidates for president in order to build up an alternative to the RepubliCrat monopoly on American politics. Remember when people said that Kerry just 'had' to sound Republican-lite, namby-pamby and wishy-washy, then, because he was running for office! Does Kerry sound any different since the elections? And now the next KPFA candidate for president -- Hillary -- is an unabashed imperialist supporter of the American occupation in Iraq; she's talking about more anti-abortion candidates in the Democrat party; and she's talking about including more conservative Christian perspectives in the Democrat part. How many times do liberals in the American public have to be shit on by the Democrats in exchange for smaller and smaller crumbs?)
Now, even given this, I don't demand or expect to be put on the air anytime the lines are opened, but I just wanted some of the Hard Knock background crew to be aware, and maybe realize a *little* APPRECIATION from some of them, of my agitation and contribution to the idea for a people of color show like theirs.
For more historical information/reference on KPFA see:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/11/1705136.php
And while I strongly support Hard Knock Radio (and have even regularly pledged money during their show during pledge drives), this has sometimes gone unappreciated by some of the telephone screeners at Hard Knock Radio; this, when they tried to block me, after the given host had opened up the phone lines. And I strongly support it for the PUBLIC AFFAIRS information that it provides, with voices of color that you don't necessarily hear on other KPFA programs, let alone elsewhere in the general media. One time I was told (by Ranjita?, sp?) that I called in too often and she wasn't going to let me on the air -- in spite of the fact that I always spaced my calls far apart (and recorded the dates of all my KPFA calls on my calendar just to be sure).
Other *Progressive* Black grassroots activists, much more prominent than I, had experienced similar problems (like one who is even a veteran music promoter).
I told the screener that I hadn't been heard on KPFA in THREE months!! -- I had actually found it more useful to call into KALW (not that it's really progressive, but there is, in certain cases, at least more opportunities for true progressives to be heard) -- and gave the exact date and time that I was then last even heard on KPFA.
(It was in an interview of me and an intellectually kick-ass female Green Party official by Davey D on the issue of our abandoning/ignoring/dumping RepubliCrat candidates for president in order to build up an alternative to the RepubliCrat monopoly on American politics. Remember when people said that Kerry just 'had' to sound Republican-lite, namby-pamby and wishy-washy, then, because he was running for office! Does Kerry sound any different since the elections? And now the next KPFA candidate for president -- Hillary -- is an unabashed imperialist supporter of the American occupation in Iraq; she's talking about more anti-abortion candidates in the Democrat party; and she's talking about including more conservative Christian perspectives in the Democrat part. How many times do liberals in the American public have to be shit on by the Democrats in exchange for smaller and smaller crumbs?)
Now, even given this, I don't demand or expect to be put on the air anytime the lines are opened, but I just wanted some of the Hard Knock background crew to be aware, and maybe realize a *little* APPRECIATION from some of them, of my agitation and contribution to the idea for a people of color show like theirs.
For more historical information/reference on KPFA see:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/11/1705136.php
Davey D. is not an interesting person to listen to. The guy's a cliche-monger and a bore. He isn't a radical, even in pretend-land.
Davey D is NOT a bore. In fact, he is quite refreshing -- especially on KPFA national conferences/convention coverages -- compared to the USUAL monopoly of white anchor voices like pseudo-"leftist" Larry Bensky, who's knowledge may SEEM enclyclopedic, but who merely tells you, like the commercial network anchors, what you've just already heard (let alone his trite analysis) -- OH, and then he tells you a lot more about *HIMSELF*, Larry Bensky!! All Larry Bensky's lines of questions and comments always come back to Larry Bensky -- pumping himself up.
Davey D's knowledge of the media is certainly greater. And, whether Davey D is a radical or not, he certainly has been known for putting a greater variety of voices -- including radicals -- on than most of the other interview shows, including leftists he may disagree with in terms of political strategy.
While all the other shows -- except Flashpoints -- operated as the Northern California Democrat Party media campaign headquarters for Kerry, Davey D had voices on -- like M1 of Dead Prez, Boots of the Coup, Peter Camejo, probably Nader (I know Davey really wanted to get him), Victoria Ashley (a real leftist official) of the local Green Party, and even me (and we too sometimes respectfully differ politically on strategy, but not on progressive goals). How many other KPFA hosts have guests on from the left that they disagree with, and give those guests a fair opportunity to articulate their views (and field listener questions)?
Davey D's knowledge of the media is certainly greater. And, whether Davey D is a radical or not, he certainly has been known for putting a greater variety of voices -- including radicals -- on than most of the other interview shows, including leftists he may disagree with in terms of political strategy.
While all the other shows -- except Flashpoints -- operated as the Northern California Democrat Party media campaign headquarters for Kerry, Davey D had voices on -- like M1 of Dead Prez, Boots of the Coup, Peter Camejo, probably Nader (I know Davey really wanted to get him), Victoria Ashley (a real leftist official) of the local Green Party, and even me (and we too sometimes respectfully differ politically on strategy, but not on progressive goals). How many other KPFA hosts have guests on from the left that they disagree with, and give those guests a fair opportunity to articulate their views (and field listener questions)?
tries to reach people, especially young people and people of color, by integrating politics and culture
now, I'm sure that he has his own contradictions (I don't always agree with him), but, at least he's making an effort, and he does program his show creatively outside the box
heaven forbid someone develop a social approach that actually aspires to reach otherwise politically alienated people
needless to say, while it hasn't been a lot, I've listened to Davey D. much more than Bensky (see my comment in that thread), because people like him stand at a critical intersection between culture/politics/social experience (an experience very different from middle class suburban America), and you ignore his perspective at your own risk
if KPFA is demeaning Hard Knock Radio and promoting Benskys as ideals, if so, there's a big problem
--Richard
now, I'm sure that he has his own contradictions (I don't always agree with him), but, at least he's making an effort, and he does program his show creatively outside the box
heaven forbid someone develop a social approach that actually aspires to reach otherwise politically alienated people
needless to say, while it hasn't been a lot, I've listened to Davey D. much more than Bensky (see my comment in that thread), because people like him stand at a critical intersection between culture/politics/social experience (an experience very different from middle class suburban America), and you ignore his perspective at your own risk
if KPFA is demeaning Hard Knock Radio and promoting Benskys as ideals, if so, there's a big problem
--Richard
THIS JUST IN!!:
Subject: Re: West-Block Dissident Book & KPFA's Hidden History
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:54:16 -0700 (PDT)
Folks,
Could this be the 'smoking gun' about Bensky's nefarious past? Some of us have been suspecting Bensky to be an 'operative' for many years. Some people say its his ego thats the problem or he's concern about being PC, but I myself tend to think he's an agent of some sort.
Coincidentally, between 1964 and 1966, Bensky (a former Yale University student newspaper editor during the McCarthy Era) apparently was employed as the Paris editor of The Paris Review magazine. In an April 18, 2002 article that was posted on the http://www.antiwar.com website, Richard Cummings made the following interesting reference to an alleged historical link between the Central Intelligence Agency and The Paris Review magazine that used to employ the Pacifica national affairs correspondent who trashed Blum's book on the CIA's hidden history:
Thought you might be interested in posting on your site the following article, since it contains an interesting reference to the Pacifica/KPFA gatekeeper who apparently used to be the former Paris editor of The Paris Review magazine.--bob
Tinker, Writer, Artist, Spy: Intellectuals During the Cold War
http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i30/30a01901.htm
Excerpt:
Indeed. The Hudson Review, The Sewanee Review, Poetry, Daedalus, and The Kenyon Review all benefited from a C.I.A.-backed program to boost the sales of the right sort of publication. The Kenyon Review was edited by C.I.A. agent Robie Macauley; *The Paris Review was cofounded by then-C.I.A. employee Peter Matthiessen*. (emphasis added)
[Everyone knows that the CIA has often used journalists as its cover, spies, and propaganda spinners. --JA]
Subject: Re: West-Block Dissident Book & KPFA's Hidden History
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:54:16 -0700 (PDT)
Folks,
Could this be the 'smoking gun' about Bensky's nefarious past? Some of us have been suspecting Bensky to be an 'operative' for many years. Some people say its his ego thats the problem or he's concern about being PC, but I myself tend to think he's an agent of some sort.
Coincidentally, between 1964 and 1966, Bensky (a former Yale University student newspaper editor during the McCarthy Era) apparently was employed as the Paris editor of The Paris Review magazine. In an April 18, 2002 article that was posted on the http://www.antiwar.com website, Richard Cummings made the following interesting reference to an alleged historical link between the Central Intelligence Agency and The Paris Review magazine that used to employ the Pacifica national affairs correspondent who trashed Blum's book on the CIA's hidden history:
Thought you might be interested in posting on your site the following article, since it contains an interesting reference to the Pacifica/KPFA gatekeeper who apparently used to be the former Paris editor of The Paris Review magazine.--bob
Tinker, Writer, Artist, Spy: Intellectuals During the Cold War
http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i30/30a01901.htm
Excerpt:
Indeed. The Hudson Review, The Sewanee Review, Poetry, Daedalus, and The Kenyon Review all benefited from a C.I.A.-backed program to boost the sales of the right sort of publication. The Kenyon Review was edited by C.I.A. agent Robie Macauley; *The Paris Review was cofounded by then-C.I.A. employee Peter Matthiessen*. (emphasis added)
[Everyone knows that the CIA has often used journalists as its cover, spies, and propaganda spinners. --JA]
Thanks for this brilliant footwork. I guess we can also conclude that the socialist writer Graham Greene was a CIA agent since he was also an editor for the Paris Review.
West-Bloc Dissident Book & KPFA's Hidden History
by bob feldman
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/06/1749885.php
by bob feldman
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/06/1749885.php
LaVarn Williams should be thrown off both Pacifica's national board and the KPFA Local Station Board for advocating that paid union jobs at KPFA be replaced by unpaid staff, and that paid staff should be reduced by "attrition". Such anti-worker sentiment has no place at KPFA or Pacifica. Other Peoples Radio supporters should publicly disavow her. Union busting is disgusting anywhere, but particularly at a progressive institution like KPFA.
According to the Berkeley Daily Planet:
"LaVarn Williams, local and national board member, expressed little sympathy for the plight of Hard Knock Radio and other programs asking for more funds. “Everyone wants more staff,” she said. “Roy (Campanella) has indicated that is not the best use of resources.” She thinks paid staff is “bloated” and needs to be reduced by attrition.
“Are we here to build up staff or are we here to build up programming?” Williams asked. “We need to bring ideas from those who are not paid, rather than building up fiefdoms.” Staff and equipment should be shared among shows to equalize resource distribution, she said.
According to the Berkeley Daily Planet:
"LaVarn Williams, local and national board member, expressed little sympathy for the plight of Hard Knock Radio and other programs asking for more funds. “Everyone wants more staff,” she said. “Roy (Campanella) has indicated that is not the best use of resources.” She thinks paid staff is “bloated” and needs to be reduced by attrition.
“Are we here to build up staff or are we here to build up programming?” Williams asked. “We need to bring ideas from those who are not paid, rather than building up fiefdoms.” Staff and equipment should be shared among shows to equalize resource distribution, she said.
"I wound up again in the Bay Area, the fourth time I had moved there, this time renting a…room…from a man who heard me being interviewed on KPFA…
"Another listener to my interview was Larry Bensky, former manager of the station, who had hired me ten years earlier, and was now Pacifica's chief national affairs correspondent. He phoned me at the station and asked me to leave a copy of the book for him in his box. He wanted to include it in a review of similar books he was doing for a local weekly…
"When it came out I was stunned. Bensky wrote that the book was not `worth the effort of either writing it or reading it' and that it would `be forgotten as soon as the next book comes along.' The review, as short as it was, also contained several factual inaccuracies about what I had supposedly left out, when in fact they were plainly there…It was clear to me that he had not read the book as much as he had perused the index, and even that he had not done very well, criticizing me for not touching upon the CIA and its airlines, when the index stated: `CIA: airlines' with reference to six pages. Another of his criticisms was that I had not discussed the CIA's domestic activities…I had not gone into this because the book dealt only with foreign interventions, a fact obvious from even a cursory glance…
"Another listener to my interview was Larry Bensky, former manager of the station, who had hired me ten years earlier, and was now Pacifica's chief national affairs correspondent. He phoned me at the station and asked me to leave a copy of the book for him in his box. He wanted to include it in a review of similar books he was doing for a local weekly…
"When it came out I was stunned. Bensky wrote that the book was not `worth the effort of either writing it or reading it' and that it would `be forgotten as soon as the next book comes along.' The review, as short as it was, also contained several factual inaccuracies about what I had supposedly left out, when in fact they were plainly there…It was clear to me that he had not read the book as much as he had perused the index, and even that he had not done very well, criticizing me for not touching upon the CIA and its airlines, when the index stated: `CIA: airlines' with reference to six pages. Another of his criticisms was that I had not discussed the CIA's domestic activities…I had not gone into this because the book dealt only with foreign interventions, a fact obvious from even a cursory glance…
the person attacking Lavarn Williams as a 'union buster' is pround to be a union member but not proud enough to sign his/her name s he/she 'defends' workers.
What Lavarn said is in no way 'union-busting'. It is ironic that this term should be used (by someone I strongly suspect to be a paid staff member at KPFA) since the KPFA staff, in the late 1990s voted to swtich from the United Electrical Workers to the Communication Workers of America in a deal negotiated by the union busting American Consulting Group - part of this deal was to have to the paid staff vote to remove the unpaid staff from the union. All the 'union members' now at KPFA who were there at the time are guilty of collaborating with union busters.
The older, and correct, in my view, definition of 'work' at KPFA was intellectual product that you do not necessarily get paid for. Mothers, for example, do a lot of work that they do not get paid for - it is work nonetheless. Having more unpaid staff does not mean less 'work' it does mean less paid work. The tradition at KPFA historically was for it to have a small paid, operational staff and a large unpaid pool of producers. This shifted in the 1990s.
Of course, people need to be paid for their work especially in todays economy. The problem is that KPFA operational model is not sustainable. There has been a 100% increase in the number of people on payroll in the last three years.
What Lavarn, (and I) is saying, correctly, is that we have to be realistic. KPFA cannot sustain itself with the current overhead costs and we have to take a cold hard look at the numbers.
There is lots of 'work' to be done and ways should be found to compensate people for it fairly. (It is also worth noting that many unpaid producers, like Guns and Butter raise a lot of money for the station and yet the program recieves no support from the station at all.)
Joe W.
What Lavarn said is in no way 'union-busting'. It is ironic that this term should be used (by someone I strongly suspect to be a paid staff member at KPFA) since the KPFA staff, in the late 1990s voted to swtich from the United Electrical Workers to the Communication Workers of America in a deal negotiated by the union busting American Consulting Group - part of this deal was to have to the paid staff vote to remove the unpaid staff from the union. All the 'union members' now at KPFA who were there at the time are guilty of collaborating with union busters.
The older, and correct, in my view, definition of 'work' at KPFA was intellectual product that you do not necessarily get paid for. Mothers, for example, do a lot of work that they do not get paid for - it is work nonetheless. Having more unpaid staff does not mean less 'work' it does mean less paid work. The tradition at KPFA historically was for it to have a small paid, operational staff and a large unpaid pool of producers. This shifted in the 1990s.
Of course, people need to be paid for their work especially in todays economy. The problem is that KPFA operational model is not sustainable. There has been a 100% increase in the number of people on payroll in the last three years.
What Lavarn, (and I) is saying, correctly, is that we have to be realistic. KPFA cannot sustain itself with the current overhead costs and we have to take a cold hard look at the numbers.
There is lots of 'work' to be done and ways should be found to compensate people for it fairly. (It is also worth noting that many unpaid producers, like Guns and Butter raise a lot of money for the station and yet the program recieves no support from the station at all.)
Joe W.
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