My perspective on KPFA, part N of N

This is a post I made to a KPFA discussion in The WELL, my online home of 25 years.

Part of the problem is that the station is regarded as too mainstream (“in the pocket of the Democratic party”) by many people – staff, board members, listeners, would-be programmers, etc. There is a struggle for local control between KPFA and an increasingly costly and decreasingly effective Pacifica, AND a nasty struggle within KPFA between the “establishment” and some more radical types.

I, and I know many others, want to strike a balance between effective/attractive programming and edgier content. The station can’t survive if this supposedly “mainstream” programming is replaced by fringy or radical stuff that can’t attract an audience. We can’t allow “makes money for the station” to be the sole determinant of a program’s value, but neither can we afford to populate the grid too densely with programs that satisfy tiny and/or penurious constituencies.

I spent an afternoon last week with Robbie Osman*, who is not a visible combatant these days but is aligned with the Independents for Community Radio “side.” Robbie lamented the fact that the progressive broadcasters who make news around the water coolers of America are Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart and not KPFA. He also asserted that if Rachel Maddow had tried to rise through the ranks of KPFA, she would have run afoul of the “KPFA establishment” and gotten nowhere. I don’t know if that’s true, but I can easily see that it looks that way to many people. I’d love it if KPFA sent forth a progressive ass-kicker or three. Brian Edwards-Tiekert may be one of those, and Mitch Jeserich is doing great work on “Letters to Washington.” But that’s not enough, or those guys aren’t radical enough, to please some factions.

It’s also true that there are people on this scene who just want to run things, or want their hobby horse riding at the head of the parade. Some of those won’t be happy until they are put in charge, but they aren’t qualified and they don’t have any idea about how to actually do the job. We can’t let them get hold of the reins, and it’s really hard to get people to admit or understand they don’t belong in power. That kind of pain in the ass is never ever gonna go away.

I’ve been contributing to KPFA since 1986 and I have had a weekly show since 1990. I started with an hour and went to two hours in 1995. I serve an audience that gives generously, and I believe my work is generally regarded as being of good quality, production-wise. But I need to be willing to step aside at some point to make room for somebody else – especially if I expect to have any credibility when I state that no show or time slot should be entitled to lifetime tenure.

It’s incredibly complicated, and I see myself getting sucked into it; it’s a fascinating puzzle. Everyone involved in this struggle is pretty much on the same side of the bigger, higher-stakes battle to keep corporations from destroying humanity and the planet; I would dearly love to see that fact acknowledged so we can all get to work taking Fox News and the Republicans down.

*Please visit Robbie Osman’s web site and read his essay “The Value of Democracy” for his side of this struggle. I spent the time with him because I have been a fan of his show for many years and I consider him a friend. I gained an immensely valuable depth of perspective from our conversation, even though there are many points on which we disagree.