Station liberation
Democracy comes to KPFA and Pacifica, for better or worse

By Mitchell Anderson

When KPFA-FM supporters angrily protested the centralized decision-making of the Pacifica National Board in 1999, the prospects for independent radio in the United States looked dim. But almost five years and four lawsuits later, the outlook is hopeful.

At King Middle School in Berkeley – where the new, democratically elected Pacifica National Board met March 12 through 14 – many of the same media activists who partook in the legendary struggle of 1999 could be seen floating around the courtyard, delighted that KPFA is finally in the hands of democracy.

"I came into the conference cautiously hopeful that we would have more functional governance at Pacifica," said Adrienne Lauby, outreach and fundraising coordinator for Free Speech Radio News. "And I came out of this weekend with more hope and less caution."

At a time when behemoth media conglomerates are devouring the airwaves with no sign of satiation, the baptism of the Pacifica National Board marks a historic moment in media democracy. It is the first time in the United States that a media network has given listeners a substantial role in governance.

But democracy can be as messy as it is virtuous.

The directors of the new national board, who were elected in February (see "Saving KPFA?," 1/28/04), at times appeared as if they were thrust onstage, given a script, and expected to play roles they hadn't yet assumed. Persistent quibbling over both substantive and procedural issues characterized a good portion of the weekend. At one point on Saturday – to the outrage of the public, primarily elderly media activists – the board motioned to cut the allotted time for public commentary virtually in half as a result of its failure to keep up with the set agenda.

But all things considered, the democratization of the Pacifica Network, which will create more avenues for listener participation and a channel of accountability between the local stations and the national board, represents a leap away from the murky waters of closed-door power politics that characterized the network in the '90s.

Sitting next to a mural of Martin Luther King Jr. outside the conference, Richard Moore, one of the first voices to air on KPFA more than half a century ago, said it best: "When it's hope against hope, well, you hope."