The crisis at Pacifica was only simmering until April 7th, 1999 when Nicole Sawaya was terminated as station manager of KPFA. Now it began to boil. Soon the listener community was mobilized by the building crisis. With the firing of veteran broadcaster Larry Benski that community poured into the streets. A gag rule, imposed on KPFA staff in an attempt to prevent discussion of the crisis on the air, would soon be defied by venerable music show host Robbie Osman, leading to his termination as well. Massive protests in the streets and the jackboot termination of "Flashpoints!" program host Dennis Bernstein were accompanied by overwhelming fusillades of letters, faxes and emails to the Pacifica organization.
Despite the dogged resistance of the Pacifica board to the demands of their listener community the tide was turning against them, towards free-speech community radio. For awhile Pacifica backed down. Soon most of the fired staff would return to the air and the crisis would return to a slow simmer. The first round had been won by virtue of the solidarity of staff and community, but the struggle for control of Pacifica still went on. It was not long before things came to a head again- this time in New York City at Pacifica station WBAI.
As listeners organized to file lawsuits meant to wrest control of Pacifica from the ever more
corporatized coterie of the entrenched governing board, Pacifica board chairwoman Mary Francis Berry
said Pacifica should "grow up" and accept corporate funding.
Amidst the swirl of lawsuits and ongoing attempts of Pacifica to
censor radio content the freelance
reporters of Pacifica Network News went out on strike and soon formed their own alternative, community-funded
news organization: Free Speech Radio News.
The censors at Pacifica continued their campaign to soften hard-edged reportage, finally bringing the
hammer down on Amy Goodman,
dedicated host of popular and renowned news program "Democracy Now!"
Then, using tactics similar to those employed during the crisis at KPFA, Pacifica announced the imminent removal of Valerie Van Isler from her long-time post as general manager of WBAI in New York. On December 8th, 2000- in what has come to be known as the "December Coup"- she was dismissed and the next day New York listeners took to the streets in protest. It has been 1999 revisited ever since.
Many viewers of this page may be unfamiliar with the history of the
Pacifica Foundation.
Founded over fifty years ago in Berkeley, California, Pacifica created the first
community-funded radio station in America.
Much has changed since then with the network now grown to five stations. What this struggle is really
about is putting the "community" back into community radio- it's that simple.
Below are links to the various Pacifica stations as well as others to take you to the people who are
currently working to restore community radio by restoring control of Pacifica to its community
of listeners. If you haven't tuned in to one of the stations in your area, take some time to listen
and find out why it is worth fighting for.
Chad Chadwick, poster-maker
May 21, 2001
Pacifica NOW: 21 June, 2002
Pacifica Stations
KPFA 94.1 FM: Berkeley, CA.
KPFK 90.7 FM: Los Angeles. CA.
KPFT 90.1 FM: Houston, TX.
WPFW 89.3 FM: Washington, D.C.
WBAI 99.5 FM: New York, NY.
Pacifica Home
Pacifica
Take Back Pacifica
savepacifica.net
Free Pacifica Radio!
Flashpoints!
WBAI: Save Our Station
Coalition for a democratic Pacifica
Lewis Hill- Report to the listeners: January 4, 1952
Pacifica founder Lewis Hill was a funny guy,
as you'll see at the other end of this link
"Report to the Listeners"
from
Matthew Lasar's site.