General Manager's Monthly Report to LSB

2024-07  General Manager's report July 2024

The move and finances

      The close of escrow was postponed again from July 8 into August. The ED is confident that the problems with clearing liens on the property are very close to being disposed of, as the Small Business Administration finally clarified what the hang-up had been with the paperwork and it has been resolved. Once the SBA lien is removed, the private lenders for the FJC loan will follow suit. The latter had also asked for a new appraisal of the property, which was done, and it satisfied them that the property was not under-valued in the sale.

     However the repeated delays in closing escrow, completing the sale and having the funding available to cover the moving expenses, as originally planned, is putting stresses on both our finances and our staff, as we have had many additional expenses because of the move, including ongoing rental payments for the space we are now in, and having to duplicate the Internet and some other utilities at both locations over a protracted period. Pacifica national is planning to shut down the Internet at 3729 (which will also affect the phones, which are VoIP). I prevailed upon the ED and the national technical officer to delay that until the billing date in mid-August by which time escrow should have closed. But we do need to complete the move-out process as expeditiously as possible, as soon as practicable.

     We can also eliminate payments for the rental of the trash and recycling dumpsters at 3729, and the trash hauling, which is a separate fee, as well as the water and power bill there from the LA DWP (we do not have a separate utility bill at the new location).

      We are working on adjusting the broadcast studio at the new location as a part time recording studio, for pre-recording or pre-producing programs when it is not being used for live broadcasts, and when its use will not distract the board operators. This is needed, as we will be losing access to Studio C at 3729 Cahuenga, and right now there is only a single small recording and editing studio at the new location. It has phone lines and an internet zoom connection that can be used, but only accommodates two people physically present.

    Many other technical issues have arisen as a result of the move, including the need to replace or rewire some of the equipment initially installed, and to train people on the new hardware and software, some inevitable glitches which people both paid and unpaid have been working diligently to overcome and/or prevent. As the ED said last month, we anticipate that once escrow does close, KPFK will be reimbursed for many of the expenses we have borne as a consequence of the move since May or even before.

FCC compliance and other staffing issues

     As people are aware, the FCC and Pacifica reached a settlement agreement or so-called consent decree over issues with how WBAI and potentially other stations had been fundraising during on-air drives. In addition to the payment of a fine in installments, this has also resulted in a mandatory FCC compliance training process for all managers, programmers and producers which has in the main been completed, although there are some stragglers, and special arrangements being made for Spanish language programmers. Training will be ongoing to make sure everyone completes it, and that new staff are also brought on board. The  consent decree also calls for a two-year probationary period during which there will be close scrutiny by a national compliance officer, and required reports to the FCC of any breaches of the regulations and how they have been dealt with to ensure against repetitions. KPFK has been in general compliance with the regulations for some time, including vetting all our recent underwriting with the national compliance officer, and limiting the use of thank you gifts during the on-air drives, avoiding costly and big-ticket items or hiring consultants for "fund drive specials".

      But part of the consequences of that have already been reduced revenues during on-air drives (which had previously been inflated by large and costly "premiums" from which the station actually realized much smaller sums), but it does represent a change in culture from how most Pacifica station have been conducting on-air drives for many years, essentially pitching with and for, and training our listeners to expect, items of substantial value rather than the programming and community service of the station. The coincidence of multiple deadlines, including the prospective move and the on-air drive with that for the training was also very stressful. We also had to deter additional underwriting efforts until greater clarity was achieved about the training and the regulations governing underwriting and program sponsorship and the reporting involved with that, both related to but different from the on-air fundraising regulations. We look forward to resuming the solicitation of additional underwriting and dealing with new reporting and paperwork requirements related thereto.

     Additionally, paid staff, managers, interns and some operations volunteers also just had to complete an on-line Sexual Harassment Training Program that Pacifica national asked us to complete to satisfy EEOC reporting requirements.

     Finally, I re-circulated the Pacifica policy related to endorsement of or opposition to candidates for public office, which has become a very salient issue as the political/electoral season heats up. Program hosts, understood as speaking for the station, are proscribed from endorsing or opposing candidates and any incidents where that line may have been or may be crossed, either by syndicated hosts or by KPFK programmers, have been or will be addressed accordingly. As a noncommercial educational broadcaster, and a non-profit educational media institution it is very important the KPFK adhere to these restrictions carefully. I note that Pacifica is mentioned specifically by name as a target of the Project 2025 policy plans, not only to eliminate government funding (which we do not receive), but to lift the non-commercial educational licenses of Pacifica and other stations.

     The station continues to be short staffed, as people have retired, passed away, or resigned, and not been replaced, putting added burdens on the small paid staff and on management and operations volunteers, for traffic and other responsibilities. We are very grateful to our unpaid technical and operations staff, Charlie Wilken, Ian Scott, and Richard Dawson, whose work has been invaluable, and to paid staff like D'Angelo Jones, Mark Maxwell, Yaotl Orozco, and other board operators who have taken on additional duties without complaint.

Community engagement and station promotion

     With the assistance of programmers from Bike Talk and support from the Eco-Village, we tabled at the CicLAvia South LA with very positive response, including donations, a potential underwriter, and a recorded listener testimonial. Voices from the Front Lines was also tabling at a separate location on the route. Station DJ/programmer Kevin Lincoln of Radio Afrodicia will be DJing as part of a Grand Performances event in DTLA, and the station is a media sponsor. The Spanish Language Programmers Association is sponsoring a family fun day event, "Dancing for Our Health" to benefit KPFK and celebrate Colombia's independence day at July 20 from 3-7 PM at the El Sereno Community Gardens.

     With the involvement of a radio/audio engineering student intern who is with us through August, and Charlie Wilken, and on the advice of Peter Imbres, a social media marketing professional who has donated some pro bono consulting time and expertise via the Taproot Foundation, we have launched a social media promotional campaign, Behind the Scenes at KPFK. Programmers are providing short (45 - 90 seconds) videos that are being placed on TikTok and a few other platforms to introduce themselves as individuals, and their programs, to potential new audiences.

     The other shorter term project is to increase the reach of our email marketing and promotional efforts, and we will be consulting with him further on the best way to accomplish this, and on next steps as the first efforts bear fruit, on how we can translate some success into additional capacity to do more and increase our reach and impact and ability to follow up.

     We have solved the problems with our stream, and with help from Ian Scott, I've been trying to get KPFK directly on the Echo platform (Alexa, play KPFK), and with help from Dan Hendrickson and D'Angelo Jones to  get KPFK set up with a Google for Nonprofits account, as all the other stations have been for some time. This will hopefully correct and eliminate the incessant problems we seem to have with our email from outlook/Microsoft. We have signed up with Hungry Friend, a kind of loyalty program for non-profits to get automatic donations from members' dining out, and are working to promote it on the website and Dispatch and eventually on air, as a member benefit and a source of revenue. I have also reiterated my request to the ED to get Pacifica signed up with Free Will as a way to encourage bequests to the station; I believe this is awaiting the close of escrow.

     We ran some special programming during the June on-air drive, one jointly by a number of our environmentally oriented programmers, led by XR Now! (Extinction Rebellion) and the other marking the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion and the (upcoming) 50th anniversary of IMRU, with participation from other LGBTQ+ programming on KPFK including Out-FM, carried during Something's Happening, and Revolucion Arcoiris (Rainbow Revolution), the relatively new Spanish-language LGBTQ+ program on KPFK.

     Assistance from Board members or other volunteers in setting up house meetings, and in deepening relationships with existing donors or recruiting new ones, is very welcome. I would again urge the board to schedule a town hall -- two are mandated each year -- to listen to listeners and their concerns. We could do a hybrid event, in person and by zoom and if there is sufficient interest, we could even run it on-air.

Elections

     The delegate election process is well underway with a substantial complement of both listener and staff candidates. I anticipate that we will start airing candidate carts and scheduling on-air candidate forums prior to the beginning of the voting period in mid-August, and continuing during the period through the end of September.

Respectfully submitted

Michael Novick, interim General Manager