October 26, 2000
Pacifica Management Gives KPFT Producer The Boot

Reiter, who is a professor of physics at the University of Houston, was called by KPFT Program Director Edmundo Resendez today and told that his show would be cancelled because of Reiter's participation in the protest. Reiter said that his show had been doing well since its inception six months ago; KPFT listeners say that he has one of the few progressive shows left on KPFT today.

This is not the first time that Pacifica managers have fired employees when they exercised their free speech rights. Robin Urevich, who produced news for Pacifica's KPFK in Los Angeles, was banned from the station in 1999 when she wrote an article critical of Pacifica policies for an alternative newspaper. Pacifica has also used its "gag rule" as an excuse to fire KPFA programmers who mentioned the crisis within the Pacifica network on the air--even when mainstream media outlets were reporting on the crisis. And Pacifica Network News Director Dan Coughlin was removed from his job when he ran a two-minutes news story on a national boycott of Pacifica programming.

Here's how you can fight back:

1. Call KPFT's Station Manager Garland Ganter and Program Director Edmundo Resendez and tell them to put Reiter's show back on the air, and get rid of the gag rule at KPFT.
Studio # 713-526-5738
Office # 713-526-4000

2. Help us take back Pacifica Radio by getting Michael Palmer and John Murdock off the Pacifica Foundation Board of Directors Now!
Main offices for phone, fax, email action:

Epstein Becker & Green
Washington, D.C.
1227 25th Street, NW
Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20037-1175
Phone: 202/861-0900
Fax: 202/296-2882

CB Richard Ellis
2500 W. Loop South
Suite 100
Houston, TX 77027-4502
Phone: 713-840-6500
Fax: 713-960-8583

Michael Palmer, treasurer of the Pacifica board, has publicly advocated selling one of the Pacifica stations. He has been an active participant in the Pacifica Board's executive commitee throughout some of their most outrageous actions - from the decision to lock out the staff of KPFA with armed guards in the summer of 1999 to the removal of Pacifica Network News director Dan Coughlin from his job when he ran a 2 minute piece on a one-day boycott of Pacifica programming. Palmer works for CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate company with offices throughout the world.

John Murdock, a recent addition to the Pacifica board, is a corporate attorney whose law firm, Epstein Becker & Green, specializes in "maintaining a union-free workplace." Murdock's law firm is representing the Pacifica Foundation in lawsuits that have been filed against the board by concerned listeners, local advisory board members, and other national board members. Murdock has taken a leadership position on the board and has already volunteered to rewrite the bylaws of the Foundation.

Pacifica listeners throughout the country plan to tie up the phone and fax lines and overwhelm the e-mail systems of Epstein Becker & Green and CB Richard Ellis Associates. We also encourage pickets and other protests at these companies until Palmer and Murdock resign from the Pacifica board.

These men have no place driving the agenda at the only progressive radio network in the United States. Let's save "Democracy Now" and take back Pacifica!

See offices above for fax and phone numbers. Following are the addresses of other offices for leafletting, pickets, protests:

Epstein Becker & Green:
Dallas
Park Central VII
12750 Merit Drive
Dallas, Texas 75251-1219

Los Angeles
1875 Century Park East
Suite 500
Los Angeles, California 90067-2506

New York
250 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10177-1211

San Francisco
Two Embarcadero Center
Suite 1650
San Francisco, California
94111-3994

CB Richard Ellis:
Washington, DC
700 14th St. NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005

Los Angeles
CB Richard Ellis
333 S. Beaudry Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90017

San Francisco
Embarcadero Center West
275 Battery St.
Suite 1300
San Francisco, CA 94111-3305