It would be sad if Lew Hill’s vision died due to incompetence.
It shouldn’t affect any KMUD programming however. I believe that Amy Goodman and FSRN both broke off and syndicate independently now.
Part of the problem from my point of view is that the network was taken over by a New Left clique which has pretty much homogenized the ideological content. They made the talk shows boring, and then extended their hours so that there is less alternative music and more straightjacketed political blab throughout the day – week days and weekends. That narrowed the scope of donors. In the very old days Lew Hill made sure there were varied voices. Even Cap Weinberger had a show as KPFA‘s token conservative. But there were debates – vital discussion, with nobody excluded – something that didn’t exist anywhere else really.
There was jazz. Gospel music. It’s where I first heard Reggae. Ambient music. Even some avante-guard stuff, often marginally listenable, but always different from anything anywhere else. And there were local producers of programs heard once a week or once a month (kind of like KMUD now). Now it’s all syndicated or local, but in a homogenized schedule, same thing every weekday. No morning concert. No morning reading. And even Over the Edge isn’t what it was.
I rarely listen to it now when I’m in the Bay Area.
I do hope they survive, but I’m not optimistic.
17 comments
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July 16, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Tom Sebourn
Bummer. I like Pacifica.
July 16, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Anonymous
“Part of the problem from my point of view is that the network was taken over by a New Left clique which has pretty much homogenized the ideological content. They made the talk shows boring, and then extended their hours so that there is less alternative music and more straightjacketed political blab throughout the day – week days and weekends. That narrowed the scope ”
ha ha ha Sounds just like our local HCDCC
July 17, 2012 at 2:11 pm
iknowme
The same could happen at KMUD………. Right now there is an incredible gender problem. 8 of the 10 positions are women and the board is 8 women and 1 man. Also the new hiring committee for station manger is made up of 5 women. 2 of the women were picked from the community. Why not pick some men? How can KMUD be called a COMMUNITY radio station when the community is not made up of 95% women?………….
July 17, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Anonymous
You’re right.
Bring in some men.
July 17, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Eric Kirk
Damn! The women are taking over the world! Pretty soon, they’ll all become lesbians and men will be kept alive, but stored in cubicles for sperm harvesting only!
Rise up men! You have nothing to lose but your…., well, we won’t lose those. They’re needed for sperm harvesting.
July 17, 2012 at 9:13 pm
bob
i think the situation is more complex than you paint it, eric. and i believe you are “conflating” kpfa with the pacifica network as a whole.
it sounds like your description of programming malaise and new left cliques is based on your experience with kpfa, pacifica’s berkeley station. and i guess it’s made kpfa less listenable for you these days. but that reality, if it is reality, isn’t what’s causing the network’s financial woes. kpfa’s fundraising and finances are in much better shape than those of other pacifica stations. kpfa has been pretty much in the black and contributing to the support of other pacifica stations, particularly wbai(nyc) and wpfw(dc).
that said, it would be a great loss to the world if pacifica, which more or less invented listener sponsored radio, were to go under.
July 18, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Bolithio
men will be kept alive, but stored in cubicles for sperm harvesting only
I think many men would be OK with that… LOL
July 18, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Eric Kirk
Have you ever seen the old film “A Boy and His Dog?”
July 18, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Dave Kirby
Before I sign on…what kind of stimuli will be used to encourage sperm production? Seriously… it is only natural that women would take a larger and larger role in communication. They are much more into it than men are. I remember listening to Elliot Mintz (sp) on Pacifica 40 years ago it was really my first experience with alternative media. That and the L.A. Free Press. What was the name of that lefty pamphlet that had Sammy Davis Jr. boinking Dick Nixon on the cover?
July 19, 2012 at 9:06 am
Bolithio
Eric, I have not, but have read about it on various sci-fi blogs. Its one of those cult favorites… I have a love hate with those types of films, some are good, some are very hard to watch.
Is it worth watching?
July 20, 2012 at 9:51 am
anon
good show last night, you dealt with the true believers, my yahoo hillmuffin brethren well…
really appreciate you in this community…
July 20, 2012 at 11:52 am
Eric Kirk
Thanks anon. I will be putting a blog post on topic later on.
July 20, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Anonymous
“Part of the problem from my point of view is that the network was taken over by a New Left clique which has pretty much homogenized the ideological content.”
left/right/lib/conserv/dem/repub…YOU, eric kirk, are BORING. YOU perpetuate that exact crap. YOU work for the park…what is the park about? Left? Right? libtard? republocrat? prog? fucking bullshit…it’s all bullshit, you’re already a dinosaur. A boring dinosaur blog blog blog, letting the internet program your brain into another cyst of historic irrelevance. Dumbasses, just about all of you. What is the park system about? Preserving nature or $$$$$???? Take away YOUR money, eric kirk, you would flip burgers for money. Not because you want to, but because that’s what you and I and everybody else needs to survive in this first world run by people who know exactly what kind of moron you and just about all these blogger chumps are.
Hey there’s bolithio!!! sucking up to the park man on his blog! Hey bolithio, go clearcut some more forest for the future, dumb motherfucker!
Block this if you want, do whatever the fuck you want, eric…this blog is your world, we’re just living in it. The real world outside is going to crap fast thanks to the bu$ine$$ a$ u$ual bull$hit you choo$e to perpetuate.
July 20, 2012 at 11:39 pm
Eric Kirk
Somebody didn’t take his meds tonight.
July 22, 2012 at 9:11 am
marianne
I remember going to a Barn Raiser 10 years ago to get WRYR on the air in Maryland. At the closing plenary the topic was ‘how do we get more women in this field?” Radio has always been predominately men. KMUD is at the head of the pack in this regard, or is that Edge of the Herd..:). IMHO, it’s about who steps up to do the work. In this moment in time it’s the women.
In reference to Pacifica: It pains me to see the struggles there when we have so much to do, so much to cover. KPFA is doing well but WBAI is not. With the 5 affiliates being tied what happens to one does effect the others.
We need Pacifica. When it comes to covering national events, no one community radio station can afford to cover it and picking up MSM coverage is not an option. Hope the structural issues they are dealing with now get figured out.
July 22, 2012 at 9:42 am
Eric Kirk
Bolithio – It was pretty good among the 1970s low budget dystopian movies. Not quite as good as Solyent Green, but I think better than Logan’s Run or Mad Max.
My point was that there is a “sperm harvest” element to the movie which Dave would most certainly not sign onto.
I’m with Mary Anne by the way. Unless there is some sort of conspiracy or social climate which is driving men away, I’m not really concerned about the sexual makeup of the management and board. If there is evidence of either, then a discussion should be had. But otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you want more men involved, then ask some men you know.
July 22, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Anonymous
no meds, eric. Wouldn’t it be telling, though, if all respondents listed such things. A couple of drink after a good night on the town is where my 11:03 was coming from, thought I’d see where things stand in blogland. Business as usual. Oh the irony that you, mr. left/right/prog/whatever calling more of the same “boring”…you’re absolutely right, it’s disapointing and sad as well. My interest in your blog is that you’re somehow involved in the parks…a director? Everybody knows you have to keep a lid on your most candid thoughts. Whatever…I’ve totally lost interest in humboldt’s political blog scene altogether. There are information fishers working the rounds, insiders trying (and succeeding) in hacking and manipulating this and that…trolls trolls trolls galore. Fuggit…not real life.
I wonder where the big picture stops and starts with you, politically, eric. With me, it’s the very physical state and continuing alteration of the planet…nothing metaphysical about it. I have to wonder when you think everybody’s business as usual will have to dramatically change gears. 100 more years? 200? How about 100 years ago. Maybe for you it’s if and when random diseases start killing people in droves and the fresh water really dries up? (in this country that is, obviously not of too much concern to you that it’s happening right now somewhere else). If part of your yard was on fire, you wouldn’t continue going about your day until it started to burn your house down. If a family member was dying of starvation, you wouldn’t continue about your normal day until they were comatose. If you were losing money fast, you wouldn’t wait until you were homeless and without material posession to adapt and generate more income.
So in humboldt we’ve got more globalized franchise to further ruin our county (an insignificant new amount, right? Isn’t it always). We’ve got more pavement being laid down in an old growth grove (an insignificant new amount, right? Isn’t it always). Logging companies continue to trample the land (but it’s all legal, and insignificant in the big picture, right? Isn’t it always). Everybodys “greening up” but we now have over ten years of internet history of these exact discussions being disected to every end, yet here we are: global drought, epidemic, and heat. All on the rise. When is it going to be too much for YOU?
You had asked me something like “when was the last time you had a revolutionary change of mind”…and I answered and asked the same of you, no response. No surprise either…boooorrriiiiinnng.