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Pacifica’s Finances Call For Drastic Action

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Pacifica at the CrossroadsChief Financial Officer Report to The Pacifica National Board
December 18, 2014
Transcript

I will start with the updating of the 2013 Financial Statement.

[About the audit] Again, we’re still waiting for …. err, working with the registrations to get the remainder of the other schedules, and the documentation. We are in contact with Armanino. Through recent conversations with them, we found out that the continuation of the Pittfield work will be based on, entirely, the completeness of the documentation to avoid higher cost and a partial payment of this year’s audit fees. To date, Armanino has billed the Foundation $77,000 of audit and tax preparation fees. That’s versus what was proposed in the original engagement letter of about $50,000 between audit and tax preparation fees, so we are way over that already.

We have made initial payment of about $11,000 against the 2013 fees. There are about $28,000 still unpaid and carried over from 2012 fees. Right now our oustanding balance with them is about $96,000. And in order to continue the bill work we have to commit some kind of payment against that. With our current financial condition, we are actually working to see where we can get the money, the funds to do this. I will report on that later.

That is with the [2013] audit.

The same is true with the plans for the 2014 audit. We had planned — the audit committee a couple of weeks ago had passed a motion to recommend the iED and CFO hire CPAs or accounting professionals to ensure the preparation of these other schedules to meet the March 31st deadline.

We are in process of hiring them, who would be both knowledgable in accounting as well as the Great Plains accounting software to help with the preparation of these schedules and the year-end reconciliation both for the national office and the support for the other radio stations.

It is estimated that those accounting professionals may cost up to $6,000 per month per person. We are anticipating that we probably will need at least two accounting professionals and will be on temporary assignment for at least 2-1/2 months. This will cost the Foundation an estimated $30-40,000 thru March, and since this amount is of deep concern as funds are limited, Margy and I are kind of working with the stations, and unfortunately the stations are also having some financial issues which I will report later in this.

On the status of the CPB, we are still working on achieving 100% compliance with the technical and legal requirements. . .

On the status of the CPB, we are still working on achieving 100% compliance with the technical and legal requirements, and in conjunction with the AFRs we anticipate that by the time we file our reports for the deadline of March 31st we will be in compliance with that, according to our compliance officer.

The pension plans: our 3rd party administrator is still working on the 2012 and 2013 pension catch-up payments that should have been funded by now, but due to some of the legal issues relating to that, our 3rd party administrator is still researching, and they are advising us that it is taking longer as more research is being done. They have requested more information on employees affected by this pension deposit, so we are providing that to them.

KPFKOn the tax and finances, since the last two weeks our biggest two radio stations, KPFA and KPFK operations, are both experiencing a cash crunch that’s resulted in the last December 15th, 2014 payroll barely being funded for both stations, and this is, since I got here, has never happened before. As of today, Thursday [December 18, 2014], the cash balance for these stations are very low. The funds are being monitored on a daily basis. We’re kind of in a crisis mode. The National Office management — we are working with KPFA and KPFK management to strategize and prioritize disbursement. These low balances are due to the low pledges from the ongoing December fund drive. The funds for these two stations will be questionable in the next couple of months prior to the next fund drive in early February or late January 2015.

On a station-to-station rundown, KPFA as of yesterday had a $77,000 balance in the bank of which $42,000 is being reserved for the station’s health care bill. This leaves a balance of about $35,000 with the coming payroll for December 31 estimated between $65 to $70,000. In addition, it is estimated that pending and immediate bills are projected to be $86,000.

 Now, the tough situation in the entire network demonstrates a need for more drastic actions.

Their December fund drive was based on about 60 percent of goals. KPFA only paid 50 percent of the November Central Services, and has not paid December, either.

KPFK as of yesterday had a balance of only $37,000 in the bank. The coming payroll for KPFK is estimated at $65,000 per pay period. Likewise, KPFK only paid 50 percent of November Central Services, and has not paid December 2014, the monthly fee of $36,000. There is doubt that KPFK may not be able to fully fund their December 31st 2014 payroll. A fundraising concert is scheduled this week to augment the funds at KPFK. However, payroll runs about $130,000 per month, while healthcare bills amount to about $24,000.

KPFK on the other hand remains to be the more stable station amongst Pacifica stations. They are currently current with their health care billbacks and central services.

WBAI remains to be in a tough cash situation. As of yesterday, their balance was only $18,000, where as payroll for December 31st is estimated at $22,000. The station has not paid November and December health care costs as well as Central Services. WBAI still owes two months of health care bills from fiscal year 2014. Their monthly health care bills are about $9,000. So it’s going to be difficult for WBAI to even pay the health care bills for December.

WPFW has a balance of $63,000 as of yesterday. Payroll is about $22,000 per pay period. We believe that WPFW will be able to sustain their operations through their next fund drive. However, the situation will be tight towards the back.

Now, the tough situation in the entire network demonstrates a need for more drastic actions. The National Office relies heavily on the success of each radio stations to sustain its operation. The National Office is also faced with the challenges of paying prior years’ financial obligation. Its efforts to cut costs in the National Office resulted in its ability to pay these past two bills through proper management of available funds and proper scheduling of these payments.

The management team of Pacifica, that includes the Executive Director, CFO, the general managers, program, technical and operational managers are deeply concerned with the condition of Pacifica and they are working together to come up with a solution on a national level, rather than from their individual stations. They are already aware of the respective stations’ financial issues, and are making efforts to rectify their stations’ deficiencies. However, as a group they believe that the PNB should take more drastic actions that only PNB is able to execute and implement.

Transcript by Mitchel Cohen:

Please note that some footnoting is needed. For instance, a “pay period” is used in some places, while what is owed in payroll for the month is also used. This might lead to confusion. A “pay period” is every two weeks. And, of course, while we have a static picture as of Thursday projecting expenses into the near future, funds continue to come in to be applied to the upcoming pay periods. And I am not familiar with some of the terms, such as “registrations”, etc. 

I have also isolated the questions and discussion from directors of the PNB regarding the CFOs report, and removed around 14 minutes of procedural motions, votes and chatter. You can hear it here:

Mitchel

Public Comment by Carol Wolfley and Robin Collin (KPFA CAB) at KPFA Local Board Meeting on 12-13

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https://soundcloud.com/ann-garrison/kpfa-community-advisory-board-at-december-2014-local-station-board-meeting

On December 13, 2014, before the marches and rallies against police violence in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, Carol Wolfley and Robin Collin of the KPFA Community Advisory Board addressed the KPFA Local Station Board about the urgency of reporting breaking news and local news and engaging with KPFA’s local community at this time.

Is This Really What The Majority of Members Want?

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A blog post by local activist Don Macleay

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I know it has been said here before, but I want to repeat the point.

We have spent this week in Oakland seeing helicopters over head with protests every day to demand that black lives matter.

As these things went on, tuning into KPFA was to listen to a radio station that could not be bothered to interrupt their regular programing to cover the protests in our community, one of which literally went past their doors.

Most of the time we had one talking head selling some guys book, an investigative reporter talking to his friends and some guys dishing out music that people stopped listening to a long time ago.

Today the Emergency Alert System has turned on twice to talk about the rain storm that has closed the local school because there are flash flood warnings and we are being asked not to drive anywhere for a few hours.

So do you think we could interrupt Amy Goodman in Peru hanging out with the NGO road show being ignored by the national governments of the world to provide local news? NO WAY. But we did get Brian Edwards-Tiekert to cut in to talk about how we in the “soggy” bay area are privileged to get a different take on his fund drive. They are going to interrupt only a few moments at a time instead of a 20 minute rant. He is calling Democracy Now the critical breaking news and leading edge that we will get right back to as we help him make his $800 matching fund.

So this is two ways in one week that our community radio station has shown that the community is not their priority. Not only will my wife not contribute to it, she won’t even listen to it any more.

So we have book interviews and political tourism instead of putting our local protests and well being first?

Is this really what the majority of members want?

Berkeley Police Out Of Control … Even Broke My Phone And Assaulted Me

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By Lisa Dettmer, KPFA unpaid staff member. Dettmer sent this email to her colleagues at 2:00AM on Monday, December 8, 2014 and consented to having it published here. Dettmer is a producer on KPFA Women’s Magazine.

Police attack protesters in Berkeley, California

Last night, I was covering the demonstration around  midnight. In response to protestors setting garbage on fire the police got into a line and began pushing the crowd down the street.  I was on the sidewalk and trying to explain to them that I was “press” and I was videotaping for KPFA, and instead of allowing me to continue videotaping from the sidewalk where I was not in their way at all,  they hit the phone out of my hand and broke my phone and then shoved me and wouldn’t let me get my phone back.  When I tried to approach a police car to ask to get my phone back, four armed police jumped out of the car with their guns drawn and told me to get away from their car.  They seemed quite  out of control generally,  which is not new.  I managed to get my broken phone back, but have not been able to upload my video coverage of the protest and my encounter with them from my Samsung  to my Mac after they smashed the screen. If I am able to tomorrow,  I will send the audio to the news department.

While  this kind of behavior  is not new for the Berkeley Police who have no better record than Oakland or anywhere else, I feel very strongly KPFA should be covering this – and not just  from our desks.   If Al-Jazeera can cover this  from thousands of miles away,  surely we can from one mile away.

I really hope others were out there this weekend and have tape and also will be covering this for the fund drive tomorrow. I think this is what is of interest to our audience, and selling premiums on an un-related topic feels  quite uncomfortable, given what is happening.

Is KPFA Now Irrelevant?

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Posted by Thomas Payne on the Bay Area Independent Media Independent Center on December 8, 2014 

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/08/18765195.php

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As riots erupt across the nation and in Berkeley – the home of KPFA – and is covered by every news outlet including MSNBC, CNN and the rest of the web but not on KPFA, we need to ask is KPFA irrelevant?

KPFA seems unable to cover breaking news or be a station that truly represents our community, and instead seems more interested in creating the illusion of being a community radio station by hiring a new marketing service to sell the concepts of community and authenticity.

Where was KPFA when riots were erupting in Ferguson, NYC, Oakland and Berkeley? Nowhere to be seen.

With the exceptions of Flashpoints and Hard Knock Radio,  they were airing canned shows by journalists who are proud to say they are not activists and who have little real understanding of what is happening in the streets or our communities. Are you tired of hearing canned shows with tired hosts who spend 80 days a year hawking premiums rather than getting out of their cushy job for life and covering the news? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR STATION?

Seems like when KPFA became a station that was largely dominated by paid staff who are largely white and seem to have a job for life, it lost its vitality and connection to what was happening on the ground. Instead it instituted a two tiered system where the journalists of color were pushed into the middle of the night, not paid, and treated as little more than slaves.  But they are the ones who are producing 60% of the programming on the air, and most of the more vital programming, and the white males who are not activists are all on prime time. So when Ferguson and Berkeley were burning, what you heard on KPFA was pre-produced shows.

Now, KPFA is managed by a slick former MTV person who has more interest in spending our hard earned money hiring a marketing firm to improve the KPFA logo and image and is selling KPFA to us as “community radio”,  packaging the station as authentic rather than caring about producing cutting edge-political journalism and creating a station that truly “is” the vision it is selling. KPFA’s new GM seems to have no politics and is only interested in selling a new image to raise more money to pay the staid hosts with a job for life who have no real connection to activism or the community and proudly say they are not activists but journalists, as if activism was some kind of dirty word – except of course when they want your money. Then we hear how we are supposed to support our community radio, the station that only wants to hear from us when we send a check.

When unpaid staff members suggested KPFA have special live coverage of the march to block the Israeli Zim ship docking in the Oakland port, KPFA’s GM went along with the news department rejection of such a plan. Which is to be expected from journalists who have a job for life and who have been at KPFA for 40 years with a sweetheart contract so they don’t need to be creative or create more dynamic news coverage because they basically can’t ever be fired. KPFA fund drives all the time expecting us to pay for these lifers with a union contract that makes it impossible to cut anyone even when they spend their time suing the station and creating a hostile place they want to run for themselves. They seem to live in an alternative universe, the crazy world of Pacifica, where they keep churning our the same old product, rarely taking calls from listeners, or covering community events or demonstrations and producing almost no live programming. Certainly none that is taking place in the community or covering a march or demonstration which even CNN does better than KPFA or Pacifica, while at the same time selling us the community as their brand. KPFA’s CWA union is so corrupt and the network so dysfunctional and yet they just keep asking us for more money rather than trying to fix themselves. And perhaps they can’t fix themselves because like so many corrupt unions they are only interested in their paychecks and fundraising to keep getting that paycheck and have no real interest in the community.

So now there is yet another fund drive at KPFA where they will once again try and sell themselves as “free speech radio” or “community radio” while they take our money and in return have no interest in hearing from us the rest of the time. KPFA is now becoming irrelevant as people turn to Democracy Now directly on the web and other news online that is more immediate, interesting, challenging and diverse. Kind of like the Democratic party, KPFA has become corrupt, and dominated by old white men who are only interested in getting their paychecks and keeping the status quo lead by an Obama-like Manchurian manager who is slick. He is so arrogant he doesn’t see how transparent he is when he sells KPFA to us as representing us!

SO maybe instead of shelling out more money and keeping the status quo – Call into KPFA this fund drive – and tell them you are no longer going to to subsidize KPFA until KPFA gets its act together, and becomes what they preach, a transparent, activist, community-involved open place that walks the talk.