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| Democracy Now! Off the Air 5-18-01 (be sure to scroll down entire page) |
From Juan Gonzalez Pacifica Campaign Action Alert Dear Friends, Pacifica stations KPFK in Los Angeles and WBAI in New York continue to keep Democracy Now! off the air. At KPFK, an old edition of the program was aired Thursday. At WBAI, Democracy Now! was preempted entirely.
Despite hundreds of calls, and a significant drop in pledges during their
fund drives, KPFK General Manager Mark Schubb and WBAI Acting General
Manager Utrice Leid are digging in. Make no mistake. This is an attempt to
permanently cancel Democracy Now! We must not rest until Amy and
Democracy Now! return in full to KPFK and WBAI. As Amy told Time
magazine last January, there is a political purge underway at the
network. She is being targeted. See
We must keep the pressure on. I'm resending yesterday's Action Alert with a few changes. Note the addition of e-mail addresses. Show them what listener sponsorship really means!! In solidarity, Juan *****************************
Pacifica Campaign Action Alert
PROTEST THE ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY NOW!
Call KPFK at 1-818-985-KPFK (5735)
E-mail:
WBAI Acting GM Utrice Leid: uleid@escape.com
Protest Pacifica management's harassment and censorship of Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! and demand that the editorial integrity of the program be respected. Call for Democracy Now! to be played in full, every day. Ask for the real deal, no fakes and no frauds. That day's version of Democracy Now! only. Let your voice be heard! Please be polite and patient. You will be speaking with tally room volunteers. Let them know what is happening. Please call as many times as you feel necessary to get your message across. And Call the Office of The Vice Chair of the Pacifica Board -- Ken Ford Ken Ford works for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in Washington, DC. Please call NAHB President Bruce Smith, Ken Ford's boss, and let him know that Ken Ford's work at Pacifica is damaging the public reputation of the NAHB. Ask Mr. Bruce Smith to urge Ken Ford to resign from the Pacifica Radio Board. Be polite but be firm. Call NAHB executive office at 800-368-5242 x303 or x408.
The NAHB is a major foe of disability rights activists and
**********************************************
http://www.pacificacampaign.org
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Thursday, 5-17-01
Today, KPFK broadcast an old DN! program from July 2000 about the life of Yip Harberg. What did LA DN! listeners miss? A debate on the subject of Bush's energy plan and energy solutions between Harvey Wasserman and a spokesperson for energy resellers who was involved with the drafting of the Bush plan. California's so called energy crisis came up repeatedly, but Southern California heard nothing. Furthermore, listeners who have called the phone room at KPFK (818-985-5735) to inquire about DN! have been told by phone room volunteers that the official line being given to them by the KPFK management is that Amy refused to participate in the fund drive. Yesterday, approximately 100 people demonstrated outside of KPFK in support of the boycott. Some of them were dressed in vulture suits representing members of the Pacifica Board. For more info on the Pacifica Campaign's actions in Los Angeles, be sure to visit their great new site www.boycottkpfk.org Lyn ---------------------
...from Bryan Williams,NYC(of Concerned Friends of WBAI)
This morning I spent 20 minutes or so attempting to have a rational conversation three different tally-room "volunteers" at WBAI from 9:00 AM onward. One man who identified himself as "John" and refused to tell me whether he was being paid or not for his work, or whether he was an employee of WBAI hung up on me twice, and the third time laid down the phone and said he was going to "get someone to talk to me." For about 10 minutes I was happy to know that I was tying up a phone line and able to listen to the goings on in the tally room (before he finally hung up on me for a third time.) I am sure others have heard the talking points about Democracy Now! being employed by the tally-room workers, no doubt at Utrice's instruction. Among the variations of the new party line I heard were: "Right now Democracy Now is being preempted because it won't make enough money for the station, but there will never be Democracy Now ever again if you keep calling." "If you keep up these phone calls, Democracy Now! will be yanked off the air forever." ...and my personal favorite: "By making these phone calls you are voting against Democracy Now." (And some say there is no democracy in Pacifica!) The phones are ringing off the hook, but it appears that NO PLEDGES ARE BEING COLLECTED. And boy are they getting mad. Keep it up, comrades. Tally room# 209-2950; Utrice Leid's#: 209-2800. --Bryan Williams --------------
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 16:06:11 -0400
Pacifica Campaign Action Alert
Amy Goodman was yanked off the air today (Wednesday) at Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles and WBAI in New York. At WBAI, Democracy Now! was preempted entirely. At KPFK, an old edition of the program was aired.
PROTEST THE ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY NOW!
Call KPFK at 1-818-985-KPFK (5735)
Protest Pacifica management's harassment of Amy and Democracy Now! and ask that the editorial integrity of the program be respected. Call for Democracy Now! to be played in full, every day. Ask for the real deal, no fakes and no frauds. That day's version of Democracy Now! only. Let your voice be heard! Please be polite and patient. You will be speaking with tally room volunteers. Let them know what is happening. Please call as many times as you feel necessary to get your message across. Background: Democracy Now! was canceled in the wake of yesterday's Congressional hearing on the Pacifica crisis before the Progressive Caucus. Also yesterday, Board Treasurer Micheal Palmer resigned. Pacifica managers were clearly worried about whether Democracy Now! would cover the story, which The Washington Post, among others, reported on today. KPFK management, in an attempt to discredit Amy, provided listeners with the flimsy excuse that Amy supposedly refused to provide fund drive programming to the station. Even if this charge were true, which it is not, that is hardly a reason to run an old edition of the program. KPFK could have easily played today's version. Amy is pitching normally at Pacifica stations WPFW and KPFA. At WBAI, as tri-state area listeners know, Amy is being harassed on a daily basis by General Manager Utrice Leid. On-air and off-air, she has called Amy a racist, a liar, unethical, and publicly claimed that Amy "defecates" and "vomits" on the air. Twice this week, and only minutes before air-time, the station manager kicked Amy and the Democracy Now! production team out of WBAI's main broadcast studio and forced them into a small, sub-standard production studio. Democracy Now! is the only program that has been relegated to the space -- a clear demonstration of Pacifica management's consistent campaign of harrassment and censorship of Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!
http://www.pacificacampaign.org
------------------------ May 16, 2001 Radio Host Amy Goodman Denies She Refused to Fund Raise for KPFK 90.7 by Karen Pomer LOS ANGELES- -Today, "Democracy Now!" a popular Pacifica Radio national show hosted by Amy Goodman, was pre-empted by KPFK 90.7/Pacifica's management. An archived show, was played instead on the first day of KPFK's fund drive. KPFK announced on- air to listeners during the 6 AM and 9 AM broadcast that she had "refused to cooperate with KPFK and provide fund drive programming." Goodman, an award-winning journalist strongly denies management's version. Reached by phone she said "Wherever a general manager of a Pacifica station wants me to fund raise, I fund raise. Pacifica management informed me, KPFK General Manager Mark Schubb did not want me fund raise live on the air." The subject of today's "Democracy Now!" was the Independent Media. One of the news item's was the recent resignation of Pacifica National Board member Micheal Palmer, a vice-president, of CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate firm, was one of targets of a national grass roots campaign lead by listeners who sought to oust corporate board members. KPFK pre-empted the show with an old show. In New York's WBAI/Pacifica choose not to air the show at all and management threw Goodmanand the Democray now staff out of the control room minute's before they went on- air. Goodman did fund raising pitches for several other Pacifica stations. In the last months, AFTRA and UE (United Electrical) have filed formal grievances against Pacifica's management on Goodman's behalf around the issue's harassment, censorship and a hostile workplace. Close to 100 unhappy listeners picketed outside KPFK 90.7 studios this afternoon in support of Amy Goodman and to urge others to boycott the station's fund drive. One of the most powerful broadcaster in non-commercial radio, the Pacifica Foundation owns radio stations in five major metropolitan areas: New York (WBAI), Los Angeles (KPFK), Berkeley (KPFA), Houston (KPFT), and Washington, DC (WPFW). In sum, Pacifica signals can reach approximately one in five households. Total assets of the foundation may exceed $300 million, predominantly from station licenses. |
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