WHEREAS the powers, duties and responsibilities given to Local Station Boards in the Pacifica
Bylaws, Article Seven, Local Station Boards, Section 3: Specific Powers and Duties, include, “G.  To work with station management to ensure that station programming fulfills the purposes of the Foundation and is responsive to the diverse needs of the listeners (demographic) and communities (geographic) served by the station, and that station policies and procedures for making programming decisions and for program evaluation are working in a fair, collaborative and respectful manner to provide quality programming,” and

WHEREAS the Morning Mix aired on KPFA at 8 am Monday through Friday for approximately three-and-a-half years, and

WHEREAS the Morning Mix was produced and hosted by a diverse team of KPFA staff, and

WHEREAS KPFA’s interim General Manager canceled the Morning Mix without ever holding a meeting with the Mix hosts, nor was any evaluation of the Morning Mix prepared, and

WHEREAS KPFA’s interim General Manager notified the Morning Mix hosts by email on May 22, 2014 four days before the programming change was slated to begin, and did not explain why the Morning Mix was being canceled, except to say that the replacement show, Uprising from KPFK in Los Angeles, had “performed well” in the preceding three days of fund drive, when it preempted the Morning Mix,

WHEREAS the cancellation of the Morning Mix, with no prior consultation or program evaluation which was extremely disrespectful of the Morning Mix listeners and the KPFA staff who worked on the Mix, set a poor example of management-staff-listener relations, and

WHEREAS replacing a locally-produced program with a program from outside Northern California will inevitably diminish the quantity and quality of local coverage during the 8:00 am hour, and

WHEREAS, the restoration of the Morning Mix has been endorsed by the National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 214, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, and the San Francisco Labor Council,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

The KPFA Local Station Board urges KPFA’s General Manager to promptly restore the Morning Mix to the 8:00 am hour, Monday through Friday, and

Before a locally-produced program is canceled or subjected to a major schedule change, a policy should be followed that includes a program evaluation, consultation between the programmer(s) and management, and a time period granted for remedying perceived problems.

(Offered on June 6, 2014 by Janet Kobren for June 6, 2014 Local Station Board agenda.  This is a modified version of the original motion.)