 |
|
Comprehensive Folio restoration proposal 9-8-02 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Restoring the Folio
Evaluation and Proposal By Ralph Steiner KPFA Folio Editor, 1992 - 1997 September, 2002 Remember the Folio? Pacifica stations used to publish program guide magazines that were mailed to subscribers. The program guides were either cut back or eliminated during the 1990s. Perhaps it is time to bring them back. From 1949 to 1997, the Folios were an integral part of Pacifica Radio. They were a way of keeping listeners "in the loop" about issues of concern, including station governance and priorities. These magazines were a unique community outreach tool and a living testament to progressive activism, journalism and culture. The Folios were either drastically scaled back or terminated in the mid 90s as a part of alleged budget cutting maneuvers. They were eliminated during a diversion of Pacifica's objectives away from its traditional activist mission. Cancellation of the Folios was one of several moves undertaken by national management to force the independent radio network to follow a market-driven development formula. Whether intentional or not, elimination of the program guides helped to further isolate and disenfranchise listeners and volunteers by severing a vital communication artery. In the wake of a progressive victory restoring the Network to community control, listener support for a return of the Folios is now quite high. Frequent audience comments to that effect are heard regularly during "open mic" by-laws revision and governance programming on KPFA and other stations, as well as during LAB and iPNB meetings. These publications can now be revived to provide unique membership services, in addition to providing possible sources of revenue for each station in the Network. The Internet can be harnessed to publish a new kind of Folio, one that is interactive and responsive to the needs of the grass roots, a publication that links arms with Independent Media Centers around the world. An Internet-based Folio system could be used to provide communication and program distribution services to the five sister stations and affiliates, thus helping to unite and strengthen the Pacifica Radio Network. To counter the growing digital divide, printed magazines would still be essential for low-income subscribers and listeners without access to the Internet. This proposal outlines various options for reviving the Folios, taking full advantage of modern communication technologies as well as traditional publishing venues. A recommendation to reinstate the Folio at KPFA as a model project for the entire Network is offered. The Folio restoration proposal is coupled to a recommendation to pioneer a 24-hour streaming audio archive of all that is heard on the air. The audio archive would be linked to program listings displayed on Folio web pages, so that listeners could quickly access any program of interest. This service could be subscription-based and provide revenue for individual stations and to the Network as a whole. Reinventing the Folio
This proposal examines restoring the Folios from several complementary perspectives. The goal is to strike a balance between traditional print and on-line capabilities, honoring current budgetary limitations while providing services that will grow and potentially become self-supporting.
The following descriptions are based on the costs for establishing and maintaining interactive web sites, producing and distributing print publications, and conducting required subscription database management. They are based upon the parameters for publishing a Folio at KPFA, and would have to be modified and adapted for use by the other stations.
1) The Internet Folio
Objective: To construct a KPFA Folio web site that features:
• Regularly updated local program listings.
• Audience and subscriber participation services.
• Local and national governance services.
• Local and international coverage via topical articles and reporting.
• Links to Independent Media Centers and other alternative info web sites.
• Streaming audio on demand with links to Pacifica Radio Archives, www.pacifica.org, the web sites of the five sister stations and affiliates.
• Enhanced network services for affiliate stations.
• Program Listings
At its zenith, the KPFA Folio was published monthly, and just prior to cancellation, it was published only quarterly. Throughout the Folio's history, program listings were current at best four weeks ahead. By comparison, an on-line Folio's content could be modified right up to the moment of broadcast. This would enable promotion of impromptu specials and spur-of-the-moment preemptions, making the Folio extremely responsive to breaking news events and emergency broadcasts.
Crisis Programming
The Folio web sites could provide audio file transfer services to producers and reporters in the field. The fastest way to accomplish this would be via an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server. If this method proves too arcane to staff and producers, ordinary web pages could also be set up for transferring audio files, but they are generally slower than FTP sites. These two very reliable file transfer methods may be activated during a crisis, such as an outbreak of war.
Activists and journalists could use these capabilities to send and receive breaking stories, which could then be directly sent to station news departments, Free Speech Radio News, and Democracy Now! The audio files could even be routed directly to air at any of the five stations for Network-wide coverage. FSRN currently uses this method for gathering news stories from reporters around the world. The entire daily national newscast is assembled very quickly from MP3 audio files sent over the Internet to a dedicated FTP server and web site.
Increasing the amount of programming that is sent over the Internet would also cut down the number of costly ISDN and satellite feeds, thus providing a healthy savings throughout the Network.
• Audience and Subscriber Participation
A Folio web site could provide interactive communication between Pacifica's national leadership, Local Advisory Boards, station staff, subscribers and listeners. This could be done using several well-established methods that include Electronic Bulletin Board Services (EBS), periodic on-line chats, ongoing chat rooms, troubleshooting e-mail on demand, periodic electronic audience polls and cyber-conferences that are open to the public.
Subscriber service pages would allow listeners to quickly enter or delete a subscription, alter a subscription's category, make on-line payments, plus access up-to-date account information.
• Local and National Governance
Web pages dedicated to Pacifica governance issues can provide ongoing interactive communication between listeners, subscribers, members of Local Advisory Boards and the Pacifica National Board. These web pages would serve as a continuing "Report to the Listener".
Board elections could in part be conducted via Folio web sites. Results from local and national elections can be posted and updated to the sites at all five signal areas.
• Topical Articles - Information Services - Listener Outreach
The printed Folios contained articles and interviews with activists and authors who were often the subjects of radio programs. They also carried articles profiling on-air hosts, producers, and those behind the scenes at Pacifica stations. Radio interviews were frequently excerpted and transcribed for the Folios. This tradition would continue within the web sites.
Guest authors, activists, analysts, scholars and artists would be invited to write exclusive articles for the Folio. News analysis pieces would be featured, together with media reviews, commentaries, and reprints from other progressive publications. The Folio web sites could thus become both a compendium of provocative reprints, plus a source for original news, investigations, analysis and culture.
These information services could expand Pacifica's role far beyond that of a radio network. The web sites could evolve into hubs for progressive thought and strategic organizing, similar to many Independent Media Centers.
These services would also facilitate outreach to potentially new listeners who would be drawn to the Folio sites by the information content. Here they would discover the Pacifica Radio Network. Folio web sites would contain audio links to all five stations, Democracy Now!, FSRN and the Archives. Readers could then sample programming from the entire Network, choosing to subscribe to either the Pacifica Foundation as a whole, or to a local station of choice. The Folio web sites would serve as an ongoing recruitment vehicle for new listeners and subscribers.
• Links to Independent Media Centers
The Folio web sites would be linked to www.indymedia.org, and a host of other sites within the media democracy movement. Information would be openly shared and distributed.
• Streaming audio - Pacifica Radio Archives
As the Pacifica Radio Archives are being restored and digitized, a Folio web site system could be fashioned to serve as a "card catalog" of past and current programming. Program descriptions listed on Folio web pages may contain links to streaming audio files or to the PRA Online Store. Listeners would then be able to log on and listen, or alternately, to purchase tape or CD copies of entire shows.
At present, work is underway to restore and digitize tapes of historic radio broadcasts. PRA is also planning to scan and catalog pages from old Folios that correspond to those broadcasts. The two projects can be integrated so that computerized images of historic Folio pages are electronically connected to the restored audio.
Archived Folio pages may contain clickable "hot spots" leading directly to audio files of the original radio broadcasts. On-line web viewers could listen to excerpted segments from, or even hear an entire legacy broadcast streamed from a historic Folio page directly to their desktop.
The result would be a living interactive social justice museum and teach-in system; a cyber-time machine through which culturally suppressed social movements come to life. These services can be subscription-driven.
• Enhanced Affiliate Services
An unfortunate and tragic result of the Pacifica governance struggle has been a general degradation of affiliate services. The Network lost the allegiance of numerous community radio stations around the country due to prolonged lapses of managerial competence and support services.
National programming dwindled and quality deteriorated over a five year period leading up to the attempted corporate take-over which culminated in 1999 and 2000. Affiliate stations were often disrespected, treated with indifference and even hostility by Pacifica's previous Board of Directors. The censorship and eventual cancellation of Pacifica Network News further exacerbated the estrangement. This situation did not start to turn around for the affiliates until Free Speech Radio News and Democracy Now! in Exile achieved widespread independent daily syndication during mid 2001.
As Pacifica heals, great care should be applied to mending the Network's relationship with its former and current affiliates. This can be potentiated by creating services that extend a supportive hand to affiliate stations. The proposed Folio web site system could provide a number of such innovative services.
Network Distribution and Multi-level Access
Many community radio stations produce excellent local programs that deserve to be heard nationally. An Internet-based distribution system as outlined above could be used to provide affiliates with a means for sending and receiving programming to and from the entire Network. This would facilitate content sharing and cooperation among Pacifica-owned stations and the affiliates.
The creation of such a distribution system would encourage and strengthen a truly democratic Pacifica Radio Network. Affiliated stations can retain complete independence and local autonomy, while enjoying the freedom to swap programming and cooperate during special broadcasts or emergencies.
Folio web sites can also be used to cross-promote the programming of affiliated stations in conjunction with that of Pacifica's five major outlets. The Folio sites may contain entire pages dedicated to listing and providing links to the web sites of affiliated stations. If those stations provide real-time streaming audio, nation-wide Pacifica listeners would also have access to dozens of affiliated community stations around the country. In exchange, affiliated stations would be asked to provide prominent links from their web sites to those of Pacifica's five stations and to the Folio sites. The potential revenue building advantages of such cross promotion are self-evident.
Thus Pacifica may dramatically expand its national audience without actually acquiring possession of additional stations. Network resources could then be prioritized for content production and program dissemination, rather than capital building, license acquisition and real estate purchases.
Using this decentralized networking model, Pacifica Foundation would be able to provide an environment conducive to the growth and development of the affiliates, and this in turn would bolster confidence and a sense of inclusion in a revitalized national radio network.
Folio Web Sites and Revenue Building
The creation of an Internet-based distribution system offers the potential for developing Network-wide revenue sources. Many web sites now feature streaming audio and video on-demand, and charging for access is becoming more and more common. In the case of Pacifica Radio, which is almost entirely supported by listener contributions, full access to streaming audio can be tied to membership subscriptions.
Electronic archives of legacy broadcasts and corresponding printed Folios could be made available on-line to universities and historic societies via institutional or patron subscriptions.
A general Network Membership could be instituted that would allow individuals access to Folio web sites with full streaming audio privileges. This would help to create a truly national Pacifica audience and encourage subscribers to contribute to the health of the Network as a whole.
National fund drives may in part be coordinated via the Internet. The Folio system could be used to handle and process subscriptions, distribute special programming, and provide interactive subscriber services on a scale of integration never before accomplished.
The Folio system may also provide a vehicle for continuous off-air fundraising. Listeners to all five stations could be encouraged to log onto their local Folio site for details on how to subscribe, and how to access archival broadcasts of interest. Here they would encounter chat rooms, bulletin boards on issues of interest, links to affiliated stations, to IMC web sites and other progressive publications, political action alerts, station and Network governance services, and a way to get directly involved in Pacifica's day-to-day operation and growth. It is safe to assume that such an array of user-friendly and audience-oriented services could significantly enhance the likelihood that a casual listener may become a subscriber.
24 Hour Digital Audio Archive
The following concept is being offered as a core adjunct to the Folio restoration project. This service would provide a continuously available "product line" that would always be in high demand.
A privately administered experimental prototype of the following service was established for KPFA's air following Sept. 11th, and the subsequent October 7th, 2001 onset of U.S. bombing in Afghanistan. Committed financing would be required to expand the service from this limited implementation into a model that could eventually be adopted by the entire Network.
Objective:
To provide a 24-hour streaming audio archive of everything on the air at all five Pacifica stations. The audio streams would be available to the public via the Folio web site system. Subscribers would be able access ANYTHING heard on the air that is cataloged via Folio program listing pages: Search previous Folio pages for a program of interest; click on a written description; instantly hear the show.
Since September, 2001, the limited KPFA prototype has generated several hundred hours of MP3 audio stored on large volume hard drives, backed-up to CDs and high volume DVDs. These audio files are cataloged by date and subject. If an on-line Folio system were implemented, these files could then be made available via web pages indexed by date and subject.
Due to computer time and space limitations, the prototype has been limited to cataloging only KPFA's and Pacifica's special coverage of the Sept. 11th aftermath. The subject focus has been hard news and investigative reporting. The system can be easily expanded to yield a continuous 24 hour digital air check.
I have conferred with Erick Dynamic, owner of Transbay/U.C. Computers, KPFA's web host. He is willing to provide support and infrastructure to establish both a 24 hour archival service and a Folio web site for KPFA at no additional cost.
Details for implementing the Folio/audio archive project were discussed that included the required technologies, initial out-of-pocket equipment costs, projected development timelines and maintenance protocols. (See preliminary budget.)
Preliminary Budget The suggested budget pertains to implementing: 1) A Folio web site at KPFA linked to a digital audio archive; 2) restoring a print version of the Folio. The budget is organized into modules. Thus it is possible to selectively finance elements of the proposal while deferring action on others.
These two primary categories are costed out to reflect a 10 month start-up phase. Thereafter, continuing expenses shall reflect ongoing development, maintenance and publishing of both on-line and print Folios.
The Folio web site would be produced in conjunction with the print edition. The same graphical layout would be used to generate both publications.
1) Folio Web Site
Objective: To build a model KPFA Folio web site as a database-driven archival and communication system that could be adapted by the Pacifica Network at large.
The Folio web site project is subdivided into two sections: A) Development of a preliminary Folio home page with basic services; B) A rudimentary round-the-clock digital audio archive and web-based retrieval system.
All budget projections are subject to revision. All cost estimates are provisional and tentative.
A) KPFA Folio Web Site
Overall Deployment Period - 6 months
Primary Implementation - Timeline: 3 Months from Initial Financing
Project Description
Design, program and launch a Folio site that includes the following content and services:
Anticipated Labor & Development Costs
2 web developers, full time for 3 months:
Folio editor/publisher/graphic designer
HTML programmer/web designer
Database programmer
Web hosting via Transbay: No additional cost to KPFA.
TOTAL FOR PRIMARY LAUNCH (FIRST 3 MONTHS): $15, 000
Secondary Implementation - Timeline: 6 Months from Initial Financing
Project Description
To develop and add the following:
Projected Labor & Development Costs
Folio Producer/Publisher/Designer/Audio Archivist - Full Time
HTML programmer/web designer - Half Time
Database programmer
TOTAL FOR SECONDARY LAUNCH (SECOND 3 MOS): $12, 000
ESTIMATED TOTAL FOR 6-MONTH WEB DEVELOPMENT: $27, 000
B) Digital Audio Archive & Web Site Based Retrieval System
Timeline: 10 months. Completion of this phase to follow the initial 6-month web site deployment.
Project Description
• To implement a rudimentary round-the-clock digital audio air check and listening stream to be operational after an initial 6-month launch of the Folio web site. The audio stream will be linked to the Folio's program listings pages, which will be chronologically archived. Readers will be able to search current and previous Folio pages, locate a program or topic of choice, click on the program description text, and hear either RealAudio or MP3 audio via the Internet. Tape or CD purchasing options to be made available as well.
• The Folio Producer will be responsible for recording, archiving and indexing the daily audio stream. Audio files will be stored in compressed MP3 format. The files will be uploaded to a master server housing both the Folio and the audio archive. Back-up copies of all audio files will be kept on high-volume DVD optical disks.
Anticipated Labor & Development Costs
Folio Producer/Audio Archivist - Full Time@ $2,000/Mo. for 4 mos.
HTML programmer/web designer - @ $2,000/mo. for 4 mos.
Database programmer - @ $2,000/mo. for 4 mos.
Creation and debugging of interactive subject index database linking web pages to streaming audio files.
TOTAL PROJECTED LABOR FOR AUDIO ARCHIVE: $32, 000
Equipment and Supply Acquisitions:
These items are based upon consultation with Eric Dynamic, CEO of Transbay, KPFA's web hosting service provider. Transbay is willing to build and donate a dedicated high-volume UNIX server for the cost of acquiring the needed hardware components.
4 - 120 Gigabyte internal IDE hard drives @ $200 ea.
RAID controller card
Recordable DVD Media for Back-up and Transport:
DVD-Rs are record-once optical disks that contain 4.7 GB of data and can hold six and a half times the volume of CDs. Each DVD will hold approximately 120 hours of compressed audio, or 5 days of round-the-clock programming. Like CDs, DVD-Rs are impervious to erasure and cannot be overwritten once recorded. Their shelf life is projected to exceed 100 years. They will be used for permanent removable back-up storage. DVD-R's can be flawlessly copied just like CDs. Thus it is possible to create a number of identical sets of back-up disks to store at multiple locations.
The audio files are too voluminous to upload to the server via the Internet. Large volume portable external hard drives are the ideal transport solution. They are fast, inexpensive and reusable.
DVD-R/DVD-RAM recorder
Recordable DVD-R disks
73 back-up disks per year @ $2.80 ea.
2 - 120 Gigabyte external hard drives
ESTIMATED TOTAL FOR AUDIO ARCHIVE DEVELOPMENT: $34, 704
2) Print Folio
Objective:
To restore a moderate printed Folio that is compliant with current Postal Service non-profit 2nd or 3rd Class bulk mailing requirements at minimum production and distribution costs.
The print Folio would contain most of the essential information and communication options provided on the web site in abbreviated form. Articles, letters and commentaries featured on multiple web pages would eventually make their way into the magazine. The print Folio would also provide information and balloting services for LAB and National Board elections, regular "Report to the Listener" columns, letters-the-the editor pages and detailed program descriptions.
The following cost estimates are based upon the assumption that printed Folios would be produced and mailed directly to subscribers as they had been prior to the magazine's cancellation.
Alternatively, less costly methods of distribution include shipping quantities of Folios to local community support groups, book stores and other places in the signal area where they would then be picked up and distributed by volunteers. This would obviate escalating postal expenses, but would also eliminate the timeliness of sending Folios directly to subscribers.
Projected print costs were derived from queries solicited of two web offset printers in Northern California: Alonzo Printers of Hayward, and Healdsburg Printing, Inc., of Healdsburg. Alonzo printed and mailed KPFA's Folio from 1978 through 1997. Healdsburg printed North Bay for KPFA's restored Folio from December 1999 through December 2000.
Format
Printer's estimates are based upon the KPFA Folio's format one year prior to its cancellation in 1997. Both printers were asked to evaluate a 16 page stapled "flexi book" document on recycled newsprint with one "spot" color to be used on the cover. One Alonzo estimate also includes use of a whitened cover stock for price comparison.
Estimates are based upon print quantities ranging between 20,000 to 30,000 copies.
Alonzo Estimate
Est #-47797-A
Est #-47797-B
Healdsburg Estimate
16 Page "flexi magazine" finished size: 8 3/8" X 10 3/4"
NOTE: Price includes printing and binding only - Does Not include any additional charges.
TERMS: New accounts - 50% with artwork; 50% upon completion
Healdsburg has offered to ship Folios directly from their regional P.O. in Petaluma, thus eliminating the need to ship Folio copies back to Berkeley for mailing.
Shipping via USPS
These costs are based upon consultation with the Post Master at Berkeley's main P.O. They reflect current rates for 2nd and 3rd Class bulk mailings for comparison.
Inquiries were made regarding reinstating KPFA's bulk Non Profit 2nd. Class permit, and those costs are factored into the estimates.
Postal cost estimates assume a shipment quantity of 20,000 Folios.
The 16-page "Flexi book" format is printed on standard letter-sized or smaller stock, center-stapled and folded over once to comply with current periodical size specifications. The 16-page format on recycled newsprint weighs in at less than one ounce.
2nd Class shipment of 20,000 copies:
3rd Class shipment of 20,000 copies:
Non-Profit Permit Re-entry fee:
Entry fee to allow posting from location other than Berkeley Main P.O.
2nd Class vs. 3rd Class - Pros and cons:
3rd Class bulk would obviously be more cost-effective than 2nd Class. The disadvantage is that the Folio would arrive at some locations 3 to 4 weeks from the time of mailing. Even when using 2nd Class, this frequently occurred, making it very difficult to rely upon the Postal Service to deliver time-sensitive material without resorting to exorbitant 1st Class rates.
Recommendation
The large overhead involved in producing and shipping a printed magazine strongly suggests that a printed Folio be published either twice yearly or quarterly at most in order to minimize costs and insure a timely delivery. Maintenance of a non-profit bulk postal permit currently REQUIRES at least a quarterly publication schedule.
Print and On-Line Advertising - Evaluation and Recommendation
The full-blown 36 to 40-page Folio supported a local ad line yielding approximately $3,500 to $4,000 in monthly revenue. This helped to significantly offset printing costs.
Reinstating local advertising would require the hiring of a sales representative on either a halftime or commission basis. The ad line's viability would only increase in proportion to the magazine's circulation. However it was never possible to expand the ad line beyond 25% of total Folio content.
Today, severe printing and postage cost increases constrain the number of pages in order to keep the periodical's weight under one ounce. With these constraints, the maintenance of advertising in the printed Folio would not be cost-effective. Advertising would seriously constrict the amount of space available to content. Unless the Folio were allowed to increase in page number beyond the proposed 16-page limit, display advertising is not recommended.
Many non-profit web sites do include banner ads from like-minded groups or projects. Since the number of on-line pages is flexible, it is possible to include paid advertising on the Folio web site. These options should be explored once the site is operational and stabilized.
Database Management
The KPFA Folio was discontinued in late 1997. Prior to elimination of the magazine, the Subscriptions Department provided a mailing list database that was used by Alonzo Printing to sort and mail the Folio to subscribers. This database was developed and maintained in conjunction with the station's Computer Department. Since the discontinuance of the Folio, knowledge and procedures for preparing a subscriptions database for bulk mailing has been lost. This capability would have to be re-established if a printed Folio were to resume.
A month's time period should be set aside for re-creation and debugging of a mailing database. The Subscriptions Director and Computer Director should be jointly compensated for this deployment.
Recommendation:
Ongoing Production
Following the initial 10 month start-up phase, continuing labor required for maintaining and updating the Folio web site, the digital audio archive, and to publish the print magazine, is recommended here as a contract proposal.
As of this writing in the Fall of 2002, KPFA's former Folio Editor has created and now maintains a prototype digital audio archive. Many of the technologies and procedures described above are already up and running on a trial basis at his home-based Berkeley production studio. This facility is 10 minutes away from KPFA.
This studio contains all of the necessary audio production and desktop publishing systems needed to create a Folio web site, a print publication, and maintain the audio archive service. If this studio were utilized, no equipment or workspace would be required within KPFA. There would be no tooling-up period. Deployment could proceed immediately.
KPFA's web hosting service, Transbay, located in Oakland, has volunteered to provide free server space for the Folio and the audio archive in exchange for KPFA covering the cost of acquiring the server hardware that would be used exclusively by the Folio project.
Proposed Contract Services:
Folio Producer @ Full Time with Studio Rental and Maintenance
Folio Publication Services
Digital Audio Archive Services
What Happened to the Folios? - Background and History at KPFA
From 1949 to 1997, the Folios were an integral part of Pacifica Radio. Back issues of Folios from all five stations reveal a unique glimpse of social history and struggle. Here you can find exclusive interviews with such ground-breaking luminaries as Paul Robeson, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Gore Vidal, poets Alan Ginsberg, June Jordan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, journalists Jessica Mitford and I.F. Stone, scholars Noam Chomsky and Cornell West, historian Howard Zinn, activist Helen Caldicott, to name but a few. For nearly half a century, the Folios served as an official record of Pacifica's stormy evolution, one that parallels and critically tracks the turbulent Cold War era.
Prior to the outright elimination of KPFA's Folio, its content was censored. Restrictions were imposed upon its editor that could not be easily explained or justified by budget-cutting prerogatives alone. I was specifically told by management NOT to include letters from listeners that were critical of recent programming changes or policy decisions. When I refused to censor the letters and other content, I was persistently reprimanded, and the Folio was then ordered reduced in size and content still further in order to "save money". The pressure was unrelenting. The Folio was gradually placed under a soft gag rule, its size and frequency of publication progressively diminished, until it was discontinued altogether without warning or notification to subscribers.
By the mid 90s, those who were quietly shaping Pacifica's future seemed fully aware that listener input needed to be silenced and somehow voided in order to implement a radically different agenda.
In February of 1995, a "public radio development consultant" was hired by Pacifica to make recommendations to KPFA regarding contemplated format changes. His recommendations ultimately resulted in a significant number of veteran programmers being taken off the air. Entire programming departments that had been established at KPFA by tenacious struggle over many years, particularly a Women's and 3rd World Department, were soon eliminated. The cancellation of numerous shows and the dismissal of volunteer producers resulted in a dramatic loss in programming diversity and community representation, all done in the name of broadening KPFA's audience.
The consultant had warned that unless Pacifica stations undertook measures to cultivate more of a mainstream audience, the Network would eventually go broke. Stiff competition from corporate-sponsored NPR and PRI was cited as a growing threat to Pacifica's survivability. This consultant advocated instituting "strip programming" that was either all talk or all music in regular and consistent time slots. The idea was to hook drive time NPR listeners who would then turn around and subscribe at higher rates.
Some within the Network's top management were eager to buy into this viewpoint. Here was justification for those wishing to "professionalize" Pacifica's air sound. The problem was that such an attempt would ultimately come at the expense of the Network's progressive politics and original mission: To uphold the First Amendment and provide a voice for the voiceless. We observe the result of Pacifica's reliance upon this type of advice in the wall-to-wall music programming that was forcibly installed at KPFT and WPFW during that time period. Most news and public affairs programming was abolished; activists and volunteer programmers were purged.
The public radio consultant advocated mass audience building techniques based on the Arbitron media market survey system. This system is central to the marketing methods of commercial radio stations, which are designed to attract advertisers. The Aribitron rating system has little or no relevance to the health of community-based listener-sponsored stations that carry no advertising and only minimal, if any, corporate underwriting. Please keep in mind that Arbitron rating standards were later touted by corporate usurpers on Pacifica's Board of Directors to justify purges and the imposition of a Network-wide Gag Rule.
One of the consultant's recommendations was to also eliminate the Folio because "a radio station does not require a printed program guide to get listeners to subscribe." The increasingly expensive to produce and distribute magazine was deemed irrelevant. Pacifica's Executive Director then started to push for immediate cancellation of the Folios at all five stations.
Despite the consultant's recommendations, support for maintaining the Folio at KPFA was quite high. Thus it persisted for yet another two years in a severely diminished form. The Folio's final edition was published in September, 1997. At this time it was abruptly terminated by then Acting General Manager, Lynn Chadwick under order from outgoing Pacifica Executive Director, Pat Scott.
Chadwick would shortly thereafter replace Scott as Pacifica's Executive Director, working directly under the newly appointed Chair of the National Governing Board, Dr. Mary Frances Berry.
Chadwick and Berry would then go on to perpetrate a horrific July, 1999 lock-out and armed take-over of KPFA. We now know that the ultimate goal of these actions was the forcible reprogramming and probable sale of KPFA, Pacifica's flagship and founding station. The following year, a similar take-over and coup would all but destroy New York's WBAI, driving Democracy Now! out of the station and off of Pacifica's airwaves.
During the governance crisis that nearly destroyed Pacifica, a Northern California listener's group, North Bay for KPFA, briefly took it upon themselves to publish an uncensored Folio. This occurred following the 1999 lock-out and take-over in Berkeley. The North Bay Folio ran articles supporting the struggle to save Pacifica. Together with www.savepacifica.net and related web sites, the North Bay Folio became a beacon to free speech activists who eventually were able to reassert community control over KPFA. The North Bay Folio also became one of the springboards from which a Listener's Lawsuit was able to effectively challenge the control of an illegally self-appointed Board of Directors.
Runaway centralization of control at the top and a cutting of ties to listeners and the activist community marked the tragedy that engulfed Pacifica during the Mary Frances Berry era. Since a court-ordered legal settlement in December, 2001 restored effective control of Pacifica to those core activist constituencies, listeners have been enthusiastically calling for reinstatement of the Folio program guides. Audience comments to that effect are heard regularly during By-Laws revision and governance programming on KPFA and other stations, as well as during LAB and iPNB public meetings.
The progressive community wants a strong Pacifica with its vision, mission, and traditional services intact. As we have repeatedly observed since regaining control over the Network, listeners also appear ready and willing to pay for that restoration.
The Shifting Means of Empowerment
The communication landscape has dramatically changed since the dark and misguided days of 1995. The steady rise of the Internet has made it possible to provide public services heretofore unimagined. The Web has also created an expectation for immediate communication, together with a means for achieving near-instant feedback between the stations and their audiences.
The Internet also played a key-organizing role in the rescuing of Pacifica, and it shall increasingly play a vital role in its rebirth and future growth. The Internet has also diminished the paramount role that print publications sent through the mail once held as a service provided by community radio stations.
At the same time, costs for producing and distributing print publications have skyrocketed. The steady upward trend in paper cost and postage fees was the kernel upon which the initial policy decisions to discontinue the Folios was based. Plans to reinstate the Folio must take these very real budgetary constraints into consideration.
The Pacifica Network is restoring itself, but it is doing so while retiring a nearly 5 million dollar debt left over from the malfeasance of the previous National Board. First and foremost, the Network's priorities need to be triaged and fine-tuned based upon the need to provide essential broadcast services. If the Folio's functions can be restored to provide innovative revenue streams to stations and to the Network as a whole, then it should be given a significant priority in the Foundation's national budget.
It is now clear that any cost-effective renaissance of the Folios should be largely based upon on-line capabilities. The costs of creating and maintaining basic web sites are far less than that of producing and shipping a monthly print magazine. If timeliness of content is a significant factor, the Web can run rings around a print periodical.
The down side is the growing "digital divide": Not all KPFA and Pacifica listeners are on-line, particularly low-income senior populations and communities of color. A significant number of traditional Pacifica listeners still do not own, nor cannot afford to acquire, a computer. A printed Folio would continue to provide essential services to those who can only afford a very basic membership subscription.
A realistic proposal to reinstate the Folios should present an accurate cost-benefit assessment that balances on-line and traditional print publication options. We need them both.
Seizing the Edge
Since the 1999 WTO protests and the "Battle for Seattle", Independent Media Centers have sprung up all over the globe. These institutions were created using increasingly affordable digital audio/video editing technology and the Internet. They emerged spontaneously from the heart of the anti-corporate globalization movement.
At the dawn of the IMC phenomenon, Pacifica was down for the count, in the throws of an attempted corporate-style hostile take-over attempt. The IMCs filled the gap, providing many of the journalistic services that the Pacifica Network had traditionally provided. The IMC's non-hierarchical structure has since come to represent the cutting edge of a movement for media democracy. Into this turbulent and creative environment emerges a resuscitated Pacifica Radio.
During the governance crisis, Democracy Now! and Free Speech Radio News joined forces with IMCs, webcasters, micropower radio and community television stations to hold the line against the attempted corporate take-over of Pacifica. Had the crisis taken a turn for the worse and the Network lost, there is little doubt that a decentralized national "free speech broadcasting network" would have emerged from the remnants of the Pacifica community combined with a rapidly expanding world-wide IMC infrastructure. Today, Pacifica stands to gain tremendously by closely aligning itself with the IMCs, micropower broadcasting, community TV, digital satellite radio developers, and progressive web casters around the world.
Given the opportunities now before us, an on-line Folio publication can be closely tied into the world-wide IMC family of web sites. These web sites already provide many of the story leads for Free Speech Radio News, and a far-reaching audio distribution service for grass roots reporters and producers. Linking the Folios with the IMC system would also ensure engagement with the media democracy movement, placing and keeping Pacifica within the heart of that movement.
The Role of Digital Archiving
As the Pacifica Network heals, a blast of fresh air and creativity is wafting throughout the system. The Pacifica Radio Archives are currently being restored and digitally remastered. The perennial struggles for peace, justice, civil rights, environmental sanity and democracy, all chronicled in more than half a century of irreplaceable programming, may soon be available to the public via streaming audio provided over the Internet.
The Folios have a role to play in this process. The Folios started out as monthly program guides detailing the content and culture of community radio stations. In its heyday at KPFA, the Folio inhabited a 36 to 40-page newspaper-like monthly publication sporting detailed program listings and articles by and about authors, musicians, journalists, scholars, activists, artists and volunteer producers. Dedicated subscribers relied upon the Folio to schedule their listening habits throughout a given month. Prior to fundraising drives, one-of-a-kind special programming was given advance publicity in the Folio.
Listeners also used the magazine's program listings to identify past broadcasts of interest. If they were lucky, they may actually have succeeded in obtaining recordings of what they were seeking. More often than not however, they would not succeed in doing so. There has never been a reliable archival system in place at any of the stations to allow for accurate retrieval of fleeting broadcasts. Additionally, volunteer producers often take their exquisite creations with them, leaving the station with little record of what had been heard. If a Network-wide Internet-based digital archive service were established, a Folio web site system could serve as its catalog and entry point.
Subscribers could then locate and listen to audio excerpts, even entire programs, on demand. Those willing to pay for a complete program copy could obtain a CD or cassette. Those with broadband Internet access could listen to or download entire programs in RealAudio or MP3 format. As of this writing, Democracy Now! has provided such a streaming audio service on their web site for more than a year. Free Speech Radio News also provides an on-line archive. Additionally, a number of programs and producers around the Network provide streaming audio archives on their personal web sites. Such a service has yet to be created for the Pacifica system as a whole.
A combined Folio/Digital Archive Service could be subscription-based, providing a source of revenue for the Network and local stations together. This would also facilitate better communication and coordination between the five stations and Pacifica Radio Archives (PRA). Such a service could then be promoted to educational institutions, activist groups, historical societies, stock footage houses, libraries and the like. A potentially robust subscription-based revenue stream could thus be developed.
Instant Feedback
Two years prior to its actual phase-out at KPFA, the Folio was earnestly used by then well-meaning station management and staff to poll listeners about controversial program format changes that were under consideration. The first attempts at electing Local Advisory Board members utilized the Folio as a means of distributing ballots to subscribers. KPFA's management and staff clearly recognized the magazine's potential as a membership service fulfillment tool.
A restored Folio could today provide all of these services, with the addition of immediate on-line connectivity. In the printed Folio, two columns provided regular feedback links between station staff and community: Letters-to-the-Editor ("Pros & Cons" at KPFA), and "Report to the Listener", an article usually written by the Manager, Assistant Manager, or Program Director.
An Internet-based Folio could build upon the traditional "Letters" column by providing subscribers with a means of interacting with station and Network staff in e-mail, list-serve, chat room, or EBS settings. Regular feedback pages could be instituted whereby polls of listener opinion could be an ongoing adjunct to the governance debate and Network restoration efforts. Communication between listeners, media democracy activists, local/national Board members, station and Network staff, could thus partake of a continuous electronic forum. LAB and PNB elections could, in part, be conducted over the Web using the Folio web sites as entry portholes.
The potential for an integrated Folio system to facilitate democratic process is virtually unlimited.
|
top of page | home |