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by KPFK
Monday, Jul. 26, 2010 at 1:41 PM
kpfk.org
Alan Minsky, Interim Program Director at KPFK Radio is planning more unilateral programming changes.
Dear KPFKers, (programmers)
We’ve reached a critical point at KPFK, as the painful length of our recent fund drive betrayed.
At the beginning of my time as iPD, I was instructed by the National Office to increase the station’s listeners; in particular, as measured by the Arbitron numbers. This has occurred. Through the beginning of June, the listenership for the station had steadily risen from 120,000 before the fall 2009 programming changes up to a plateau of 180,000. This is great.
However, the increase in audience is weighted almost entirely in our Monday through Friday morning programming – in essence from 6am until 1pm – while 5pm is also substantially out-performing what was there before. With only a few exceptions, the afternoon, evening, and weekend programming is dramatically underperforming by this measurement.
Furthermore, this is true not only in terms of Arbitrons but also in fundraising – as we consistently have to pre-empt our afternoon, evening, and weekend programs in order to raise money. This is unacceptable. Lew Hill, Pacifica’s founder, understood that listeners would pay for what they value; that compelling programming would elicit the financial support required to sustain such an ambitious media project and broadcast operation; that the ability to fundraise would necessarily be a factor in determining what shows remain on the air.
Indeed, the fact that so many of our shows are not contributing to fundraising for KPFK is a major factor in the unacceptable length of our fund drives.
Therefore, I along with the current management team see an urgent need to make changes in the programming in the afternoon, evening, and weekend.
In the next few weeks, we will be making some very hard decisions. We have about eight to ten new hours of Mission-driven programming that we believe will dramatically improve our listenership and our fundraising in the coming year. In order to make room for these new shows, we need some of the underperforming shows to step aside.
Therefore, we are asking all KPFK programmers to take a hard look at their shows and decide themselves whether they can make a positive contribution to the station by increasing their audience size and raising money for the station in fund drives. If you recognize that your show cannot make such a contribution than we, the management team, would encourage you to either:
1. offer to cut the length of your show (e.g. from one hour to 30 minutes a week) 2. move your show off-air to a web-based show available on KPFK.org 3. end your show
We will wait to hear back from programmers for one and a half weeks (until 07-30), after which time we will begin to make the decisions about which shows to cut back and which to excise in order to free up the time to introduce new programming onto KPFK Radio. Please reply directly to myself, Bob Conger and Jennifer Kiser.
This is a difficult process, but essential for the greater good and health of the station and foundation.
Sincerely,
Alan Minsky KPFK interim Program Director
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by Larry
Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 at 12:11 AM
Minsky's again ignores the obvious.
KPFK financial problems have arisen in substantial part from former contributors who stopped contributing because they got disgusted with the direction of the station and getting told to go screw themselves by station and Pacafica operators, including MInsky among others.
No one at KPFK gives any thought to rebuilding the community KPFK once had but threw away.
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by kpfk-loyalist-still
Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 at 11:56 AM
The extortion is that these same programmers who refuse to budge because they could NOT ever get another on-air spot elsewhere [does that tell us anything relevant ? ] extort their loyal if few adherents to call and complain and strike and do anything but stone-throw the radio station and staff....
just to keep their POWER SPOT on a broadcasting radio station -- KPFK being the only one accessible.
That these same people may have a following is not the question...that they cannot raise much money from their loyalists to pay for the programming, equipment, and all expenses required for KPFK to remain on air, is important.
That these programmers are hoarding and grasping and then trying to elicit lawsuits, barrages of complaints and threats to those who are trying to keep the station ALIVE and thriving and growing and expanding, or just keep it on-air without constant and continual irritating begging and panting for "money - money - please send money we cant live with it, send more money !!!"
That many turn away from these constant pledge-drives as the euphemism nicely puts it, the begging and pressuring by the few staff left there, on air and in every other way... many go to listen elsewhere during that long extended time of KPFK money need. And then do these listeners return ? or When ? or if ever ?
and many do not return, because they are being treated as ATM's by people who have no more credit to access from those who have already-given more than 1x that year.
To assume that new listeners are accessible to same viewpoints when they refused to pay up before is incorrect.
To HOPE inconsolably and plead and ask and placate and play-up to anyone with extra cash in these days of less earnings and lots of unemployment is a bit foolish too. To hope is to wish, to want, to strive but not to strategize, not to change the station's basis or programming enough. To hope is not the way to get where the rent gets paid regularly and repeatedly.
The make more drastic changes without changing "the sacred Mission" is not that difficult, except no one will allow that to happen. Too much is invested and grabbed and held and hidden by the 'old programmers' and their few adherent sometime listeners.
But let Minsky try, but more innovatively.
Not like the program of gay men and 1 gay woman antagonistically ridiculing those teen-sounding religion people who dont like 'homosexuals' but are not half as insulting and humiliating as these programmers ON AIR were laughing giggling and setting-up scenarios to show how Stupid those who dont agree with their lifestyles must be....must be ?
No one is allowed another opinion of what someone else is doing with their lives ? huh ? Gayness is sacred and allowed to humiliate others- behind their backs of course, played on KPFK airtime daytime hours - with no one allowed to comment, criticize, say that is way beyond any "free speech" ethics or decency.
What a quick way to send even the un-religious listeners away forever after.
May be trial and error and that program was more than an error, but should have been auditioned, monitored and rejected as not representative of the mean-spirited attitude that KPFK claims it is not or doesnt like, and certainly "doesnt do !" huh?
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