Night of the Living Dead
KPFK is where North Korea meets North Hollywood
Let it also be noted that the five Pacifica stations have a market value of perhaps $500 million, making this perhaps the most egregious squandering of resources in history by the left. Masters and his allies are now gearing up to defeat the incumbents in upcoming elections for KPFK’s local board. Last time around, barely 10 percent of the station’s 18,000 subscribers among its 150,000 listeners bothered to vote. Translation: ?Those “elected” to oversee KPFK represent ?about 1 percent of those who listen.
But now Brazon, White and the other ossified lefties who run the board and whose life identities have melded with this dying institution have come up with an election gambit that would make Hugo Chavez blush. Concerned that Masters and his allies might drum up enough votes to oust them, the station board has invented a so-called “hardship” waiver. No longer do you need to have donated at least a paltry $25 to the station or, alternately, to have logged a leisurely total of three hours of volunteer work over the past year to have the right to vote. Just sign the new Internet form these revolutionaries have made available saying the above was far too much of a burden and they will provide you a ballot anyway — especially if you’re a friend of theirs.
Anyway, who cares? As former manager Schubb argues, the current mini-revolt comes mighty late in the game. “Where were the dissidents in 2002 while these fundamentalist thugs drove out 85 percent of the professional staff? They let themselves be used to give listeners the illusion of stability during a blood bath. I wish ’em luck in their fight, but from my view it’s way too little, way too late.” Every time a fiery factional struggle breaks out at Pacifica — about every five years like clockwork — that old cliché is dusted off: “It’s one more fight for the deck chairs on the Titanic.” This time I beg to differ. This newest episode is but a scramble for the swim fins and masks. Glug. Glug.
Now Trending
