Minutes of the KPFK Local Station Board Meeting of September 15, 2012

Public Session

The regular monthly meeting of the KPFK Local Station Board was held on
Saturday,
September 15, 2012 at Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721,
1545 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90017, 1:24 PM, the Chair (Michael Novick)
being in the chair and the Secretary (John P. Garry III) being present. The
minutes of the previous meeting (August 29, 2012) were approved.

Seventeen members were present, constituting a quorum: Chuck Anderson, Ankine
Antaram, Fred Blair (arrived 1:26), Lydia Brazon, John Cromshow, John De Simio,
Aryana Gladney,
Tej Grewall, Leonard Isenberg, Kim Kaufman (arrived 1:26), Fred Klunder, Jim
Lafferty,
Brenda Medina (arrived 2:05), Dutch Merrick, Michael Novick, Lawrence Reyes,
John Wenger (arrived 2:10).

Two members were excused: Margie Murray, Ali Lexa.

Five members were absent: Ken Aaron, Rodrigo Argueta, John Parker, Summer
Reese,
Lamont Yeakey.

Also present: Bernard Duncan (KPFK General Manager), Terry Goodman (Audio
Recordist, Web Liaison), Ernesto Arce (KPFK News Reporter) and members of the
public

Authority and Notice: This meeting was authorized by the LSB by a motion
approved at its meeting of February 15, 2012. The location was noticed to the
Board via email and posted on KPFTX.org on September 11, 2012. Additional
notice was posted on KPFK.org and other websites on September 11, 2012 (see
Appendix A).

Audio Recording: The audio of this meeting is available for online streaming at
the KPFTX.org Archive and is permanently stored for downloading at:

http://www.kpftx.org/archives/pnb/kpfk/120915/kpfk120915a.mp3
http://www.kpftx.org/archives/pnb/kpfk/120915/kpfk120915b.mp3

[Audio Part 1: kpfk120915a.mp3]

I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL (1:24)

The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 1:24 PM with an initial quorum
of 14.

EXCUSED ABSENCES (1:25)

Lafferty moved to accept the excused absence requests of Lexa and Murray.
Passed without objection.



ANNOUNCEMENTS (1:26)

Reyes welcomed the assembled to SEIU Headquarters. Kaufman acknowledged Reyes
for arranging today's venue. The Chair acknowledged Merrick for providing
refreshments. Merrick acknowledged Terry Goodman (member of the public) for the
same. Later, the Chair acknowledged Antaram for securing People's College of
Law as a meeting venue.

AGENDA APPROVAL (1:28)

Merrick requested that a Treasurer's Report be added to the Agenda, which was
seconded by Lafferty and passed without objection. Lafferty moved adoption of
the Agenda. Passed without objection.

GROUND RULES FOR COMMUNICATION (1:30)

The Chair asked Board members to follow the ground rules of order and adhere to
a 90 second time limit for each speaking opportunity.

MINUTES APPROVAL (1:30)

The minutes of August 29, 2012 were distributed electronically to the Board
prior to the meeting. A correction by Brazon was duly noted by the Secretary.
Minutes passed as corrected without objection.

II. SCHEDULING / LOCATION / NOTICE OF MEETINGS (1:32)

The next LSB meeting is Wednesday, October 17, 2012, location TBD. Brazon asked
the Secretary to forward a list of past meeting venues to the Board. People's
College of Law was noticed as the location for the November 17, 2012 meeting.
Peace Center West was noticed as the location for the December 2012 and January
2013 meetings.

The Chair announced that there is a $100 payment due to the Echo Park United
Methodist Church for the August 29, 2012 LSB meeting. Money was collected from
those assembled ($100), to be forwarded by the Chair.

On-Air Town Hall Task Force and the LSB Fund-Raising Working Group meets on
Tuesday, September 18, 7:30 PM at Radio Station KPFK.

III. PNB REPORTS (1:45)

III (a) Directors: Brazon reported. Discussion followed. Brazon noticed the PNB
Elections Committee meeting, Sunday, September 16, 2012, livestreamed at
KPFTX.org.

Reyes moved to extend three minutes. Passed without objection. Discussion
continued.

III (b) Committees: Omitted due to the expiration of time

IV. PUBLIC COMMENT I (2:00)

Public comment was heard for four minutes.

Brazon moved (amended by Merrick) a time-certain adjournment of 2:30. Klunder
seconded. Failed by substitution.

Point of order from Cromshow: The seconder must approve an amendment.

Merrick moved to substitute: A time-certain adjournment of 2:45. Medina
seconded. Motion passed by a show of hands: Yes-11, No-4.

V. PRESENTATION OF GENERAL MANAGER'S MONTHLY REPORT (2:09)

The GM summarized his report, which was forwarded electronically to the Board
prior to the meeting (see Appendix C). Ernesto Arce (KPFK News Reporter) made a
presentation. Discussion followed.

[Audio Part 2: kpfk120915b.mp3]

Grewall requested that the GM implement the Spanish language programming
required by a passed PNB motion. Arce also responded to Board comments.

Reyes moved to extend 10 minutes. No second. Lafferty moved to extend 2
minutes. Merrick seconded. Passed without objection. The GM responded to Board
comment.

VI. PUBLIC COMMENT II (2:39)

Omitted because no member of the public came forward.

VI (a) TREASURER'S REPORT (2:40)

Kaufman (Treasurer) commented on the station budget. Discussion followed.
Responding to a request from the Treasurer, Merrick committed to forward
financial information to the Treasurer for the purpose of a follow-up
investigation. A hand-written copy ("Partial list of unaccounted for
checks...") was submitted to the Secretary for record-keeping.

IX. PUBLIC COMMENT III (2:46)

Public comment was heard for two minutes.



VII. WAIVER REQUEST APPROVALS (2:48)

The Chair reported on the Waivers Committee meeting: A maximum of 14 waivers
are expected.

VIII. COMMITTEE REPORTS OR ANNOUNCEMENTS

Omitted.

The meeting adjourned due to the expiration of time at 2:49 PM. The Board
reconvened in closed session from 3:06 to 4:25 PM in the same location.

Respectfully submitted by John P. Garry III, Secretary
(these minutes were approved on October 17, 2012)

********

Appendix A-Public Notices

Emailed by Terry Goodman on September 11, 2012:

The KPFK Local Station Board will meet on Saturday, September 15, 2012
at 1:00 pm at the headquarters of the Service Employees International
Union (SEIU) Local 721, 1545 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90017
(near South Union Av.), phone 213-368-8660.

Refs:
http://www.kpfk.org/lsbpnbmenu/93-calenderandnotices/6379-lsb-meeting-
91512.html
http://www.kpfk.org/eventcal.html?task=view_detail&agid=2804&year=2012&month=09&
day=15
http://www.kpftx.org/pacalendar/cal_show1.php?eventdate=20120915

********

Appendix B-Approved Agenda

Proposed Agenda for the KPFK LSB Meeting of 9-15-2012
(all times include board discussion time)

Public Session

I. Call to Order, Roll Call, Excused Absence Requests, Agenda Approval,

Ground Rules for Communication, Announcements, Minutes Approval (7.5
min)

II. Scheduling / Location / Notice of Meetings including on-air Town Hall
and Updates on action items (local news, LSB fundraiser, etc.)
(7.5 min)

III. PNB Reports (15 min)
a. Directors
b. Committees

IV. Public Comment I (Questions regarding PNB)
(7.5min)

V. Presentation of General Manager's monthly report (10
min)

VI. Public Comment II (7.5 min)

VI (a) Treasurer's Report

VII. Waiver request approvals (5 min)

VIII. Committee reports or announcements (5
min)

XI. Public Comment III (before any pending motions) (7.5
min)

Time Certain for Adjournment: 2:15 PM

********

Appendix C-General Manager Report

PACIFICA RADIO KPFK 90.7 FM
MANAGER'S REPORT TO THE LOCAL STATION BOARD

Saturday, September 15, 2012

(Bernard Duncan, General Manager)

Manager's Overview

. The October fund drive will begin on the 2nd and run for 21 days. The
target was set at $1 million in KPFK's original budget draft for
FY2013. It is an ambitious target and may be reviewed.


. Planning and processing of ballot lists for the upcoming Local Station
Board elections is well underway with the deadline for membership and
nominations passing as this report is being written.


. During the week just past KPFK received a bequest of $2,000 from the
Kohane Living Trust, and also took possession (at no cost) of three
used computers (that are younger than most of the PCs we currently
have) due to the efforts of LSB member Ankine Antaram. Jonathan
Alexander is currently assessing and configuring the machines for
deployment at KPFK. Our thanks to Ankine.

. We have begun a targeted letter campaign to recent and past major
donors to build a capital fund of $100,000 for the purchase of a second
Nautel NV20 solid state transmitter for installation on Mt Wilson. We
begin the campaign with the transfer of the remaining $16,000 collected
for the abandoned solar project, and the offer of $10,000 from an
anonymous donor to get the ball rolling. We are hopeful that the
remaining $74,000 can be raised in this campaign.

. With a view to re-establishing local news broadcasts on KPFK the
Program Director has made three possible proposals. His report is
attached to this report. KPFK's Ernesto Arce will be present at the LSB
meeting on Saturday to offer his perspective.

Outreach and Development
. Membership - There will be an indoor Yard Sale organized by the
Membership Department on Saturday, September 22 from 10am to 2pm. The
purpose of this sale is to generate revenue and to reduce inventory
before the September 30th close of fiscal premium inventory.


. Events and Sponsorships - On September 9th, KPFK media-sponsored an
event organized by Interfaith Communities United for Peace and Justice
(ICUJP), honoring the Reverend James Lawson. KPFK recorded this
historic talk to make available as a thank-you gift to our membership.


Two new events are being planned for October: On October 19 KPFK will
host Amy Goodman on tour with the book The Silenced Majority: Stories
of Uprisings, Occupations, Resistance, and Hope; and on 30 October
Vandana Shiva is in town.


. Community Advisory Board (CAB) - A meeting of the ad hoc CAB has been
planned for Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 7pm. The Whittier Area
Peace & Justice Coalition will host the meeting at the Episcopal Church
in Whittier and invite their organization members to attend. There are
two objectives outlined for the meeting:


1. To distribute the programming survey; and
2. To continue to recruit membership for the CAB so that it may be
formally constituted by the end of the year.


. Film Club - We were media sponsors of the following film festivals:
Noor, Topanga, Feel Good Film Festivals. Sponsorship means they print
our logo in their programs, it appears on their website and often on
the screen prior to screenings. The sponsorships allow for additional
screenings for our Film Club, which has featured over 40 films in the
last two months (24 films in the last month).


Programming

. Conventions - Pacifica Radio's special coverage of the Republican and
Democratic conventions ran the past two weeks from 5pm to 9pm Monday
through Thursday the first week, and Tuesday through Thursday the
second week. Combined with Democracy Now's expanded coverage from
Tampa and Charlotte, convention coverage dominated our air waves the
final week of August and the first week of September. The responses
we've received about the coverage have been largely positive, with
listeners emphasizing how distinctive our approach is from the rest of
the broadcast media. Along with KPFK's Margaret Prescod, who co-
anchored the broadcast both weeks, a number of other KPFKers were
involved, including Alan Minsky (working as a volunteer), Jimmy Dore,
Lila Garrett, Antonio Gonzalez, Ian Masters, and Smiley and West among
others.


. Summer Fund Drive - In the weeks preceding the convention coverage,
KPFK had a very successful summer fund drive in August that surpassed
its goal and assured that the station would end the fiscal year with
cash in the bank and bills paid.


. New Programs - We continue to develop a number of new programming
projects, including On Resistance, a roundtable show featuring veterans
of Occupy Los Angeles, which aired its first show a few weeks ago.


. Interstitials - We've also added some dimension to the station's sound
with some creative new short pieces that air throughout the day,
including Sara Shakir's excellent "people-on-the-street" interview
spots, which asked people about their response to the RNC and DNC; and
short satires by The Billionaires.


. Special Programming - Upcoming special programming includes numerous
Presidential Debates, including forums that include "third" party
candidates.


Operations

. Tech Soup - We recently joined Techsoup.org, a non-profit that
helps provides other non-profits and libraries with technology and
software to help them fulfill their missions and serve their
communities. It was discovered during the application process that
the Pacifica Radio Archives and KPFT were already associated with this
organization. This highlights the need for greater communication and
continuity between sister stations and the foundation. If the Pacifica
Foundation as a group became associated the benefits may be greater
across the board. In future we will look to Techsoup for our software
needs and or any other benefits that may help KPFK.


. Credit Card Processing - KPFK recently purchased a unit that enables us
to process credit cards where ever there is an internet connection. The
unit being used is the Aircharge. Securepay provides the gateway and
payments are processed by Cynerdata and deposited into our bank account
24 - 72 business hours later.

Engineering

. Studios - The KPFK studios are generally in good condition and repair.
The audio network server will be replaced within a few weeks.


. Malibu Booster site - We are working on alternatives to an antenna at
the Saddle Peak site as well as other means of program delivery to the
booster.


. Rancho Bernardo translator site - This translator is in good condition
and is operating well covering Northern San Diego County.


. Santa Barbara translator site - The translator is in good condition and
is operating properly covering the coastal area of Santa Barbara.


. Mt. Wilson transmitter site - Although some progress has been made in
the effort to repair the old Armstrong transmitters, repairs of these
transmitters have not been completed. The use of the Armstrong
transmitters will never be reliable from the KPFK site on Mt. Wilson.
Now is the time to order another new Nautel solid state transmitter.


The emergency electrical generator and the backup transmitter are
available for use during electrical power outages.

Business Office

. Financial status as at September 13 (cf. August 28) -


o Total Cash in Bank is $500,000 (565,000)
o Total payables stand at $35,000 (25,000).
o Central Services fees owed to National Office stand at $233,000
(326,000). We have also instructed National Office to apply the
first installment of our CPB funding (around $70,000) to National
Office dues. A further CPB contribution of around $80,000 is due in
the near future.

Bernard Duncan
General Manager
September 14 2012

********

Appendix D- Revitalizing the KPFK News Department

Revitalizing the KPFK News Department (a rough draft)

The KPFK LSB has called for an expansion of local news delivery on KPFK by
October 1, 2012. Here are three proposals, which in theory could be
implemented immediately after the October Fund Drive (scheduled to start on
Oct. 2nd).

#1 A Half Hour locally produced News show from 6pm to 6:30pm, followed by
either FSRN or Al Jazeera.

#2 A continuation of the KPFA-anchored news show with two separate cut-aways
that feature local news, the first from 6:10pm to 6:20pm and the second from
6:48 to 6:58pm, adding up to 20 minutes per evening of local reports and reads.

#3 A continuation of the KPFA-anchored news show with one cut-away from 6:15 to
6:30 that features local news reports and reads.

KPFK management recommends that whichever of these three strategies is adopted,
that it be complemented by the launching of a new website news.kpfk.org, which
is described in considerable detail below.

Currently, KPFK is producing approximately 32 to 40 minutes of local news
reporting every week for the 6pm M-F news hour. Plan #3 would double this
amount to 75 minutes per week. Plan #2 would generate 100 minutes. Plan #1
would mandate that 145 minutes of programming be organized in the KPFK news
room, but it should be noted that in the recent past locally produced news
shows on KPFK only occasionally featured local content as the majority of the
show. Also, the hard work of formatting a complete news broadcast from KPFK
will almost certainly require the full time attention of one producer, along
with an anchor or two.

It is the opinion of KPFK management, that given the lack of a budget to hire
more people to work on a 30 minute broadcast, the best option is to start with
plan #3. Not only will this lessen the pressure of building a complete
broadcast (though there will still have to be considerable attention paid to
the formatting of those 15 minutes), it also forces the News Department to
produce 15 whole minutes of Southern California reporting - while the
Statewide, national, and International content will continue to be produced
from Berkeley. I do not think that the KPFK News Department has averaged that
much original local content, every night, in a long, long time.

Once the 15 minute cut-away is perfected, KPFK management is in favor of then
expanding to two ten minute cut-aways. 20 minutes per night in the 6pm hour
would certainly represent a high-water mark in recent years for on-air local
coverage during the news hour. (And, as outlined below, all of this will be
complimented by an ambitious news department website that will primarily
feature local news.) We would also want to have hourly headlines across the
day, at first Monday through Friday, and then on the week-end too. Once we get
to 100 minutes a week of local coverage, we can consider doing a locally
produced stand-alone broadcast.

When considering this proposal - to feature cut-aways as opposed to a unique
broadcast - keep in mind that KPCC has substantial local coverage (its news
department is the largest department at the station), and it does not have a
news hour either in the morning or the evening. KPCC is able to achieve
(effectively) a sense that it is a leading local news outlet simply by using
cut-aways, headlines, and its website. Of course, KPFK will continue to frame
stories in a radically different manner than KPCC - one that we feel will
attract a substantial audience (and nothing is better for the station than
having a strong presence in the field!)

Also, when considering this proposal, keep in mind that the current 6pm hour is
much better "formatted" than any evening news show that has been produced at
KPFK in a long time. The team up at Berkeley does a fine job of stitching
together a very complex broadcast. Plan #3 allows this high quality work to
remain as part of KPFK's 6pm hour (which, by the way, performs well both in
fund drive and according to Arbitrons relative to previous 6pm configurations
on KPFK).

To achieve the expansion of Plan #3, and to do it well, we would need either
1.5 more employees (and this is without considering the website), or a stringer
budget (approx. $80 per story) to pay for the doubling of the amount of locally
produced content. It is our opinion that it will be very difficult for the
coordinator of such a project to insure the delivery of quality reports
without, at least, the option of offering payment for stories. (another
possibility would be raising money for specific "beat" reporters, see details
below)

By pursuing Plan #3, as a starting point with a mind towards moving to plan #2
along with hourly headlines, we are confident that we can revitalize KPFK's
local news reporting while maintaining the highest quality.
The following passages are adapted from the KPFK iPD's document "Building a
Powerful Pacifica." They concern the development of a stronger news
department, and of a powerful distinctive website for KPFK's News Department
Re-Commit to News Delivery and Local News Coverage: Along with quality evening
news shows, we should have headlines at the top of every hour in daytime M-F -
these should include a short (90secs to two mins) summaries delivered by a
national news desk from 10am to 8pm EST (7am to 5pm PST) supplemented by an one
to two minute local package. This means getting the national package from FSRN
or a re-configured Pacifica national news desk, plus having at least one person
from the news department overseeing the local headlines M-F.
I am not a detractor of the KPFA/KPFK 6pm partnership, however, I think the
project should be expanded so that we have cut-aways for local news and SoCal
no longer will hear NoCal news (and vice-versa). This will require hiring at
least one more person for the news department.
Or we could use "beat" reporters, who could be paid from something other than
the station's general fund. For example, if we had an environmental beat
reporter who filled a news story every day - perhaps an environmental
organization would pay them or, more likely, we could have a special fund
raising effort where the money would go into a separate fund. As KPFK is not
currently drawing money from wealthy environmentalists, this would not be money
that would otherwise not be coming in. With a labor "beat" reporter, we could
not have Unions pay for the position directly as that would be a conflict of
interest, but we could raise the money through targeted outreach or even from
fundraising events (Tom Morello would certainly be game for that one!) My
vision for a labor, or environmental, "beat" reporter is that they'd file one
news story a day - three local stories a week, one with a national perspective
and one international - and they'd oversee unique web pages that would be
SoCal's leading labor, or environmental, news page. At any rate, if we had a
"beat" reporter or two, they would provide enough local coverage to fill out a
cut-away from the KPFA produced 6pm show, so that we'd no longer be hearing
NoCal news, which is the main complaint we get about our news hour.
The other, and even more significant, component of my plan to rebuild the news
department at KPFK (and this can be an example to emulate) is the establishment
of a powerful news department website: news.kpfk.org (which will be discussed
as well in the web section of this document). The intention is to make this as
strong a website for local news as any website in SoCal - and through its
development, re-establish KPFK as the local outlet that truly covers the news
in all of SoCal's communities. A central component of this website is an open
publishing news column which allows anyone to post a story; and to assure that
this remains functioning, we will recruit a "stringer" in every niche of the
vast SoCal sprawl. Through that initiative we will dramatically expand our
pool of volunteer reporters and promote citizen journalism like never before.
Through this re-commitment to the news department, we will be re-establishing
one of the essential components of a true community radio station: having an
active presence in the communities themselves by covering the news there - in
contrast to every other outlet, actually caring about what people are concerned
about right where they live. For too long our local news gathering capacity
has been left to founder, this must be reversed - more about news.kpfk.org in
section #2.
News Department Websites: Pacifica stations should have high-profile,
distinctive web pages for their news departments. They should have simple, easy
to remember URL's like news.kpfk.org, and a link to the news web page will be
prominently displayed on the front page of the station's main website. These
news websites will be constantly updated with our coverage of local news and
events with the latest stories assigned by the news director prominently
displayed in the center column of the front page.
The center column will be our "officially sanctioned" stories and will feature
all of the audio files produced on assignment by the news department. As
appropriate for a top-flight news website, the center column will also include
"print" stories - sometimes as complements to audio files, but reporters will
also post original written reports. These will make the website more popular
while allowing us to cover many more stories. The goal, after all, is to make
the websites as influential and popular as possible, by providing the best
possible coverage of the greatest number of stories.
The news web page will also include an open publishing news wire through which
anyone can post a story - facilitating actual citizen journalism. To use KPFK
as an example, we will recruit volunteer stringers in every niche of Southern
California, who will then be asked to post stories to the website whenever
something happens in their community. Postings will be required to include a
tag that states what community is being reported on - that way a search can be
done to find all the coverage about any location. Every day the news director
will choose some of the stories from the open publishing news wire to place in
the more prominent, and less busy, center column - and every story posted on
the open publishing column will have its title read on air at the end of the
evening newscast.
The news webpage must also include an embedded Twitter feed for a news
department Twitter account, distinctive from the station's general Twitter
account. This Twitter feed will not only feature tweets about each story
posted by the news department but will also include the words of anyone who
includes #kpfknews in their tweet. We will encourage people to report breaking
news this way, which will take citizen reporting to a new level.
By focusing on local news reporting, these sites will achieve the greatest
level of community engagement in the network's history! While there should be
a space on the site where readers can see the national and international
headlines generated by the Pacifica news desk - the clear emphasis will be on
local coverage. Indeed, one side column should list the latest talk show
segments that cover local news stories. As local coverage declines
precipitously in the mainstream media, we can establish ourselves as head-and-
shoulders above the competition, so long as the highlighted stories (in the
center column) are of the highest standards of journalism.
We should set up unique web sites for other major projects. For instance, if
we hired a labor beat reporter, we would want that project to have an excellent
site of its own (e.g. labor.kpfk.org), so that the reporter can provide more
reporting and relevant information to the audience than a three-to-five minute
daily report. Also, special high-profile series (see description in section
#1) should be featured on the station's front page with a prominent link to
their own web pages.
********