Pacifica Radio Plunging
Readers know that a couple of times a year I call out the collapsing institution known as Pacifica Radio. It’s that time again, now that new ratings numbers show that local affiliate KPFK has reached an historic low in listenership levels.
The slow-motion demise of the five station “progressive” network is one of the primary reasons I have little time for the “media reform” movement. If it can’t bring itself to scrutinize the squandering and trashing of the $500 million Pacifica network (the market value of its licenses), then why should we trust this movement to offer serious analysis of the rest of the media? And who would want the media run by feckless lefties that can’t keep their own 60 year old network viable anyway? The reform movement is prisoner of that deadly disease known as “no enemies to the left.”
Anyway, to the current point… the ratings catastrophe.
Just took a look at the numbers and they are UNBELIEVABLY DISMAL. The Pacifica affiliate in Los Angeles –KPFK– from where I departed when the “real revolutionaries” took over in 2002, now has an audience that is ONE-FOURTH of its size (or less) than it was before the “Free Pacifica” movement loonies took it over nearly a decade ago. That’s right. Some 75% of the listeners are gone. Tuned out. Lost.
The most effective way to measure the audience of a station is by its AQH, the number of listeners who tune in for any amount of time during an average quarter hour. The latest Arbitron data, the rating service to which the station subscribes, reveals that KPFK’s AQH is now down to roughly 1800. The station has the strongest signal in the western U.S. with 112,000 watts and its footprint covers a signal area of more than 20 million people. But at any given moment only an average of 1800 people are tuned in. That’s an average which includes peaks — and valleys. That means that for significant parts of the day, less than a thousand people are tuned in. That’s less daily traffic than a mid-sized blog!
How bad is that? As bad as it can get. Back in 2001, KPFK’s AQH was running at around 7,000 and had been increasing at about 12% a year over the previous five years. Take a look at the Arbitron chart just published. Look under Los Angeles and there are the cold stark numbers for KPFK (less than 10% of what KPCC pulls in). And just about the same number of average listeners who tune into KPFT, the Pacifica station in Houston which has a small fraction of KPFK’s power and which operates in a much less populated signal area. Take a look:
Compare these numbers with the chart below prepared by Pacifica management in early 2002. It shows that current AQH numbers are way, way below levels of listenership of 15 years ago. Current listener levels are half of what they were in 1994. And just over 1/4 of what they were in 2001. In fact, the current average listenership is half of what it was in 1991 when the tracking begins.
There’s little mystery as to what went wrong. In the late 90′s, precisely in response to a successful strategy of modernization, professionalization and growth, the entrenched, ossified programming faction (long accustomed to lax management that tolerated crappy programming) invented the bogeyman of the creeping “corporatization” of Pacifica. Overstepping every ethical and moral boundary, programmer Amy Goodman used her popular Democracy Now! show, abusing her presence on the air, to fuel a “boycott” movement of her own network. Knuckle-headed liberals and leftists from the ADA to some writers at The Nation, in some form or another, bought into the myth that they had to “save” Pacifica. They did so by hounding out of power an incompetent management and replacing it with a vastly more incompetent and ideologically strident and narrow management. Nice going.
Air-time was parted out to a potpourri of lefty screamers, screechers and ultra-loonies — just at a time when more than ever there was the need for an effective counter-media. The result has been catastrophic. The New York affiliate, WBAI, is drowning in insolvency. The Washington D.C. station is a Class B jazz station. The Houston station is a peanut-whistle with a skeleton staff. And KPFA in Berkeley has the same core staff it did 25 years ago and continues to talk to its self-contained and aging, granola-crunching, bubble-enclosed community bunkered around Shattuck Ave. It apparently doesn’t eve bother to pay for Arbriton (nor does WBAI).
Here in Los Angeles, KPFK suffered through a last decade marked by overt mgmt corruption and the domination of the airwaves by conspiracy nuts, 9/11 truthers, medical quacks, evangelists for Maoism and just plain bad, bad, bad programmers. Recently, a “reform” faction has gained dominance but lacks the clarity, the courage and the resources to do very much to right the ship. And part of its own coalition includes some of the same old crazies that it supposedly displaced. The wingers who, under the loonie mgmt, relied on 9/11 truth videos for fundraising, simply switched over to miracle cancer-cures in the latest “reform” backed fund-drive. KPFK, meanwhile, has no permanent manager nor program director at the moment and I wouldn’t hold my breath that things are going to change very much for the better any time soon.. It’s way too late in the game. There’s simply no pool available or credible talent to be called upon that wishes to be tainted by the tarnished legacy of the station.
By the way, after the Pacifica revolution of 2001-2002, Amy Goodman made out just fine. She struck a sweetheart deal with the new mgmt made up of her pals. Democracy Now! which was created by the network was privatized and handed to Amy as her own personal enterprise with a guarantee of well over a 1/2 million dollars a year in no-bid contracts from the network. Since then, Democracy Now! has raked in millions, literally, in foundation grants and other donations and is sitting on a pile of cash as the network from which it was born, and which it helped boycott while it was still part of, is now quickly evaporating into the ether. But, you know, Amy is a saint. And we should never wash our dirty laundry in public.
August 16th, 2009 at 2:26 am
As a UK listener, I’ve only come across Pacifica material through its From the Vault programmes broacast on BBC radio in the middle of the night here, some of which have been very good.
It’s always a shame to see speech radio go downhill, as we’ve seen with some UK stations subsiding into wingnut phone-in mush and PR-led celebrity stuff. Still grateful, for the most part, for the BBC…
August 16th, 2009 at 6:53 am
I love hearing Michael Slate from the Revolutionary Communist Party. Good stuff.
August 16th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Anyone here in New York who wants to avoid the cloud cuckooland commentary from left or right listens to WNYC, especially Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Nice little Sunday read to go along with my morning coffee — in the KPCC mug.
Have a good friend who has never missed a chance to lurch onto every marginal, impossible, and lost cause that even sounds leftward. Speaks of Amy Good in the best of hagiographic terms.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:46 am
…Amy Goodman…
August 16th, 2009 at 9:22 am
I just posted a two-part memoir of Pacifica history, starting with the founding conception of Lew Hill and ending with my second purge in 1997. The big error in my view was not broadcasting the full spectrum of political opinion–a marketplace of ideas– with opposing views engaging each other. Had we also taken a historical view of culture, social movements, and propaganda, no one could have stopped us. The “progressives” were only conservative reformers without intellectual distinction: I blame them, not the loons, as Marc calls them.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I forgot to give my website for those interested in the ideology of Pacifica from the 1940s through the 1990s. It is http://www.clarespark.com. Marc’s firing is an important part of the story. It sure did mobilize a lot of the Los Angeles radical community.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:47 am
The station is almost unlistenable. Beyond Goodman and SKolhatkur, it’s like the left version of Fox News. Lots of crazy nonsense. What a wasted resources. When progressive causes need a real voice, KPFK is so far to the left, it’s not even dealing with anything real.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:55 am
The geriatric ADAers and other myopic leftover 60s lefties are so out of touch with what’s going on in the world and political reality that it’s distructive to have KPFK give them such a powerful voice.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Were “ADAers” part of the ’60s left ? In my ragged memory, the only “leftover” from the ADA who had any impact on younger people in the early ’60s was Allard Lowenstein and he was pretty much dismissed as a “sellout” by the time the “60s” got any real traction. The ADA was Hubert-fucking-Humphrey so far as we knew. Maybe somebody put something in their kool-aid in intervening years, but this is a new one to me, and I thought I had a (boring and unhealthy) handle on the varieties of Acronymic Leftism.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Speaking of which, I’m kind of disappointed the Hitchens-Trotsky thread petered out so quickly…
August 16th, 2009 at 11:05 am
It was great while it lasted in the late 90′s. ‘Tis such a shame. What fun it was. Imagine how we could be providing a viable alternative for the nonsense spewing out of the right-wing wingnuts mouths, instead the station has relegated itself to the edge of the marginal.
August 16th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Hey, what’s wrong with Granola?
Beyond that, this is sadly true. I remember listening to
that circus and thinking, “They give to him as he gives
to the Clintons.”
August 16th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
>KPFK is so far to the left, it’s not even
>dealing with anything real.
I stopped listening to KPFK around a year ago, but I’d say the problem is it’s not really left.
Marc’s summary of the programming is pretty much right:
>conspiracy nuts, 9/11 truthers,
>medical quacks, evangelists for
>Maoism and just plain bad, bad,
>bad programmers
In fact, little of the programming reflects serious minded politics of any kind. Jon Wiener and Suzy Weisman, two of the few serious leftists, do what are by far the best two best shows. Sure, the RCP doesn’t deserve a drive time slot for its predictable and dull show, but it’s a fuck of a lot better than the truthers and the midday patent medicine lady.
This is all typical of the left these days, though. That’s the legacy of the new left with its lack of discipline and confusion of cutural fads with politics. On this anniversary of Woodstock, I blame all you old hippies.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
What about that KUSC! I am actually more suprised that a classical station is trouncing KCRW. KCRW is a much touted home of pop music gurus (djs) who make lots of cash on the side in commercial licensing. They get lots of NPR cash, donations, and grants. From my recollection, much more than KPCC. So it is even more ironic that KPCC is also trouncing them. KUSC’s numbers are amazing.
To be frank, KPFK is a given. I can’t tune in for more than 2 minutes. When Marc was on the station is was pretty good. The morning show was great and the block from like 4pm to 7pm was pretty good as well. The world music show as always pretty awful as was much of the specialty programming.
I remember being at a talk with McChesney and Nichols at the good old Midnight Special bookstore. It was when the “free Pacifica” deal with really growing. I remember someone standing up and shouting them down for not talking about Pacifica. I remember their faces. Like they were about the endorse an opinion that they did not really want to endorse out of some sort of peer pressure. I confess to buying into the movement and realizing it was a shame about a week after Cooper was off the air and the programming was moving quickly in a shitty direction.
I also remember being at a public meeting at the Office of America’s and really getting a window into just how undemocratic these folks were. They were plotting purges of programmers and spreading some rather absurd rumors about the Pacifica board.
I learned a big lesson from this fiasco. It is a window into the left’s homegrown lunacy. It also helps the more skeptical thinker to look at the Howard Zinn narrative of “the workers being thrwarted by the bosses just at the moment of revolution” with a jaundiced eye.
In due time the Pacifica stations will get sold off after bankruptcy. Wonder who Amy Goodman will blame for that?
August 16th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
besides, there is a balance between promoting a left agenda and expanding listenership for a radio station. Right now, KPFK is failing on both counts, but it’s possible to be too opportunistic and lose the whole point of having an independent left network.
Here’s an example. In the mid 1990s, there was a daily afternoon show on KPFA hosted by -wait, are you sitting down?- Jerry Brown. I bet the big name brought a lot of listeners who would not otherwise listen to KPFK. Also, it was a very good show. But Jerry Brown is not a progressive, and the only thing the show may have accomplished *for the left* was to attract some listeners who might have stayed for the Pacifica network news afterwards or maybe set one of their radio presets to KPFK. That may be better than pushing truther videos, but I don’t see it as a good use of Pacifica’s resources either.
August 16th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Jerry Brown’s show was great. He did appease the “progressives” by having the likes of Judi Bari and Noam Chomsky on the show. He also had lots of forward thinking environmental thinkers. I think the state of California could (and is) doing a lot worse than Jerry Brown and someone of his intellectual caliber (liberal or progressive) having a show on Pacifica can only been seen as something positive. Consider the alternative, Michael Slate, etc…
August 16th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Here in New York, the old regime management has finally been changed, thanks to victories by the “independents” in the last election to the Local Station Board, and pushed aside some of the nasty, thuggish Justice & Unity sect, which has since taken to disrupting meetings, reveling in poor financial showing (that, however, has been improving at long last) and which sent new and independent Directors to the Pacifica National Board.
However, the new Directors were able to cohere into a new and independent majority on the PNB, elected Grace Aaron of KPFK as interim Executive Director, Lavarn Williams of KPFA as interim Chief Financial Officer, and they immediately began unearthing all sorts of odious and corrupt doings and setting up proper procedures for running a radio network.
Whether this is all too late remains to be seen, as there still remains in my view a paucity of creative energies, the leaden inertia of the Pacifica way of doing things, and a fear of taking some straightforward steps to increase listenership and improve and “relevantize” programming.
At WBAI, there is absolutely no coherent and systematic investigation of the global economic crisis, the health care battles, the ecological crisis and other crucial matters. The entrenched programmers, who some portray as “leftists,” are rarely more than self-involved liberals who wouldn’t know a real leftist if they hit them over the head with a red flag on MayDay in Union Square. They are more like opportunistic and petty feudal lords protecting what they perceive as their fiefdoms, that they have a god-given right to their programs for life, without review on any level, without training, without assistance, without creativity.
Not all — there remain here and there some good shows — but the “vision” of the JUC, to call it that, is one of the megaphone, the political “line”, and a fear of real debate, exploration, and, well, r-a-d-i-o.
That said, there still is hope, but it depends on the outcome of the coming election in a few weeks. If the JUC wins a majority — and they may indeed do so if Amy Goodman foolishly issues a letter supporting them — you can kiss the network goodbye. If the independents win — and we are truly independent, of each other in many ways as much as from the JUC — we at least have a fighting chance.
Mitchel Cohen
Chair, WBAI Local Station Board
August 16th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Since left-wing radio is so pathetic, listen for more howls to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
But, there’s good money and bonuses for being a liberal failure in public radio.
That could make Amy Goodwin jealous.
August 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
“The entrenched programmers, who some portray as “leftists,” are rarely more than self-involved liberals who wouldn’t know a real leftist if they hit them over the head with a red flag on MayDay in Union Square”
That’s a great line Mitchel! Keep fighting the good fight.
August 16th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Slightly off topic Marc, but I think Mark Kleiman nails Lanny Davis here:
He “will never sell out because he’s always for rent.”
August 16th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Apropos the impotent Left:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/17/left-politics-capitalism-recession
Has the left blown its big chance of success?
The collapse of unfettered capitalism should have been a golden opportunity for the left. So where did it all go wrong?
* Andy Beckett
*
o Andy Beckett
o The Guardian, Monday 17 August 20
August 16th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
WBAI programmer Mimi Rosenberg vents during a session of the Pacifica National Board held in New York CIty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai2xcIUWRq8
More Pacifica videos at
http://www.youtube.com/djpaulypauld
August 16th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Mitchel Cohen, whose words can be read 5 or 6 comments above unwiittingly makes my point. Unless I am wrong, and I don’t think so, this is the same Mitchel Cohem who was one of the ardent promoters of the Free Pacifica revolution of which he now pretends to be an opponent. He’s a perfect example of the “reformers” now being intermingled with the crazies who brought on this catastrophe in the first place.
If I remember correctly, Cohen was a leader of the Brooklyn Green Party who had nothing better to do 8 or 9 years ago then to offter valiant efforts in “saving” Pacifica from the non existent threat of “corporatization.” I, supposedly, was among those plotting to water down Pacifica into a corporate outlet (if only we had corporate resources!) Those who read this blog can only imagine what sort of feitd imagination one must have had to identify me and others who worked with me at the time at Pacifica as being mouthpieces of the corporate Democratic Party! (P.S. in 2000, at the same moment that Cohen and other momos were attacking us for being Democratic Party tools, wt at KPFK were the only station in America to do a live braodcast from Ralph Nader’s largest campaign rally of the season, held in Log Beach).
Anyway, Cohen and Company dutifully solidered on to overthow the evil Pacifica “corporate” mgmt. His ignominious role in all this was to use the Greens to blanket the New York neighborhood of an unpaid, volunteer Pacifica Natioanl Board Member with “wanted” posters describing her as a criminal who had stolen the local Pacifica radio station. The young lady in question — who was only giving of her time for the best of reasons– was an innoncent African American woman who was a professional diversity trainer — clearly a tool of the U.S. imperialists. This organized harrassment and vilification of individual Pacifica board members in their workplaces and homes led hem understandably to cede power and allow the wack jobs supported at the time by Cohen and friends to take power. Because they were SO damn crazy they were not very reliable allies… so some folks like Cohen apparently got dealt out of the deck and have re-invented themselves now as reformers. Better they should be known as farmers. The disaster they have reaped at WBAI is of their own sowing. Thy brought to power the very same wrecking crew they now denounce.
P.S. I regret the Brooklyn Greens didn’t come out here to my neighborhood in L.A. to slander me with leaflets. I would have sued their asses with some REAL corporate-type lawyers and gotten a judgment that would have cost them down to their last futons and Berkenshires.
P.P.S. Below find a link from 2001 from journalist Juan Gonzalez boasting how, precisely, he and the Brooklyn Greens, then led by Cohen, picketed the home of then Pacifica Board member Andrea Cisco (who subsequently resigned). They did more than picket. As I said, they plastered her neighborhood with posters saying she was a criminal (Gonzalez hints at this in his own report when he boasts of having let her neighbors know how evil she was). Nice going, Mitch.
I might as well take advantage of this moment to clarify Gonzalez’ role as well. At the time (as he is now) he was co-Host of Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! and while himself an aging 60′s lefty leftover, he was mailing down a nice six figure salary as a columnist for a VERY corporate and very right-wing New York MSM tabloaid daily. Yet, Gonzalez launched the campaign to boycott his own non profit network because he didnt like its mgmt which he accused of being corporatist! Quite cynically, the launch of the boycott took place on Pacifica’s own airwaves. He temporarily resigned his post as Democracy Now co host in a 35 minute interview infomercial on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman playing his straight man shill. An appalling ethical violation by both Goodman and Gonzalez. Real little league crap. Any real news organization would have fired them both on the spot. Pacifica didn’t have the courage to do so. So for months on end, Goodman continued to use her show on Pacifica to support the Save Pacifica campaign which meant attacking the then current Pacifica that was carrying and funding her show! Gonzalez never resigned his lucrative post btw as a columnist for a corporate newspaper. He merely supported the firing of low paid workers and managers from non profit Pacifica who didnt agree with his viewpoint.
When the “revolution” finally succeeded by driving out the old board under these sort of thuggish pressure tactics, the new regime named Dan Coughlin as the revolutionary Executive Director… He was a paid organizer of the movement to boycott the network he was now taking over. Needless to say, his tenure was a complete flop. Here’s the link from Gonzalez reporting on how he and the Brooklyn Greens took their cause to the doorstep of an innocent lady whose crime was sitting on a non-profit board.
http://www.blythe.org/nytransfer-subs/2001nyc/Pacifica_Campaign_News_Update_3-20-2001
All that Mitchel Cohen is worried about is that a different faction of crazies eventually triumphed over his faction of crazies. I guess that now makes him a reformer.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
>California could (and is) doing a lot
>worse than Jerry Brown and someone of
>his intellectual caliber (liberal or progressive) >having a show on Pacifica can only
>been seen as something positive.
>Consider the alternative, Michael Slate, etc…
I picked this example because, as we agree, it was a great show. It could have been the kickass leader on a regular public radio station. But, as far as Pacifica’s mission of promoting leftist politics is concerned, it’s better *for the left* to have 2,000 people listening to Suzy Weisman than 10,000 listening to Jerry Brown. Now, Michael Slate is a different story.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Mr X: It is your logic that destroyed Pacifica. The goal of all political movements is to reach greater amounts of people. Not to talk to themselves.
BTW, I was hired in 1998 by Pacifica to replace Jerry Brown when he left his spot to run for Mayor. I listened to his show and while he was no leftist, his show was thougtful, intelligent, full of debate and oepn conversation and fulfilled EXACTLY the sort of mission Pacifica had historically been dedicated to,
My favorite line throw at me by red-faced, spittle-flecked protestor when they were trying to have me thrown off the air for my choice of guests: “We want more activists and less authors!” Would have made Pol Pot smile.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I see someone mentioned the RCP above. They have to be the single nuttiest “political party” I have ever had a personal experience with, with the possible exception of the LaRouchies.
Years ago, I worked in a book store, running the periodicals department, and the RCP sold their rag through the store on consignment. Their local person who delivered the thing would come in was completely incapable of speaking normal English; everyhing he said was loaded with some sort of Marxist jargon, plus numerous references to “General Schwartzpig”, yelled at the top of his lungs. I could practically hear Chairman Bob laughing all the way from France.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Marc, what authors did you invite as guests?
I could never listen to any of those stations because of the barf making tone of voice adopted by everyone. Horrid. The complete lack of an aesthetic sensibility. Gaggy.
And just as a special favor I would love to hear dirt on Charlie Rose. Now that is someone that gets on me tits.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
What is best for the left is for the left to actually become a real movement. While I enjoy Suzi Weisman from time to time, she certainly will not produce a revolutionary vanguard. What is best for the left is to have a Pacifica filled with thoughtful programs that engage those that are not engaged. That might mean that the host of the show perhaps professional. That might also lead the said host to cool it with the ideology and instead encourage thoughtful conversation and debate while giving space to thinkers who do not get on the air. Jon Weiner is a great example. I think that the old KPFK was on the right track. I can attest to it because the station got me engaged in left politics.
When the station fell apart (weeks after it was “saved”), I instantly felt like I had lost an important outlet. I honestly can say that all of my friends (college at the time) at that time were KPFK listeners. It did have a kind of subversive edge to it, even when it was “taken over” by professionals. What I am trying to say is that I think in LA a lot of younger college aged kids who do not read The Nation and perhaps struggle to find an engaging blog are turning to Jon Stewart. That is all in good fun but the KPFK of Cooper’s time had lots of programming that made radicalism seem plausible mostly because the programmers were pro’s and not loonies.
It really is too bad. I think Marc is right to point out all the people who knew better but went along with the Free Pacifica movement (the Nation wrote something at the time characterizing it as a fight amongst family. ha!) rather than having the courage to stand up to the kooks.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
For years my wife ran a drop in center for the homeless mentally ill. This reminds me of my occasional visits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbQIIqM4rzg&feature=related
August 16th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
The Revolution is Coming, Off the Pigs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiHV9BXLJsc&feature=related
August 16th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
My god these are great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMoC1QqZis&feature=related
August 16th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Can someone please acknowledge that it is kind of amazing that the Classical and Jazz/Blues station are beating KCRW!
August 16th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I didn’t mention it above, but I haven’t listened to KPFA in years. I turned them off for the last time when I heard some clown express her enthusiasm for the INLA.
I still see the occasional car with a KPFA sticker on the back; the driver behind the wheel usually conforms to the stereotype Pacifica listener.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
It’s hard to argue the numbers, though to be fair, all radio metrics are down. Clear Channel ain’t what it used to be either. And we could go on about TV and newspapers. Pacifica’s problems are a perfect storm of changes in how media is used, a historical cat fight among staff, volunteers and a small minority of vocal listeners about what Pacifica stations should produce, a failure to engage its own listener-members in the direction of the stations and foundation and a batshit crazy “overlord” system that changes by the year and is too disconnected from media reality to maximize the potential of five flamethrowers in the biggest media markets in the country — to either remain solvent *or* bring intelligent radio and other “new media” to their potentially huge, but presently embarassing, audiences. A competent radio person or fundraiser can expect to be smeared within an inch of their lives for their efforts should they even survive the one-year waiting period to rise to directorship level.
It pains me deeply, as someone who had such great hope for not so much a “saved” Pacifica but the media reform movement Marc decries, to see Pacifica implode into a mass of bickering factionistas and *competent* staffs outside of BAI that are forced to take to the bunkers to stay out of the crossfire — which sucks energy and creativity,and producing at best status quo radio — which ain’t cutting it in the new media world. It’s now been, at least in the case of KPFA, 10 years of creative soul suck.
But first, I must critique Marc’s lack of clarity as regards KPFA. Without a definition of “core staff,” I must point out that the vast majority of staff, paid and upaid, on-air and not, has come on board in only the last, say, 5-7 years. Very few of them sport the famous gray ponytails. The unfortunate label, at least at KPFA, of “entrenched staff” reflects not longevity, but is applied mainly to staff that resist the crackpot idea that KPFA can vastly increase its listenership, and income, if only it would hand the microphone to anyone with an issue who is willing to scream into it. As for DN, why begrudge Amy for being successful? The blame isn’t hers — it belongs to a Pacifica that 1) maybe gave her a more generous deal than it could afford and 2) ultimately, Pacifica has been content to rely on DN and NOT produce a quality progam to replace or even outperform it.
Part of the problem that I see as a former “insider” of the reform movement culminating in a bylaws rewrite in 2002, is reflected in the comments. I have to admit it’s become more about crackpottery, and less intelligent, informative and soul-affirming. My POV comes primarily from my experience with KPFA, though I’m well-versed in the programming issues and “station cultures” in the other four sister cities.
The virtual elimination of Mission-mandated “debate and discussion” model of public affairs programming has resulted in Pacifica’s megaphone being handed to single-issue screechers, agenda-driven self-proclaimed “activists” and, yes, some long-time prima donnas preaching to a choir I never particularly belonged to. I miss the debate, and I miss the cultural programming that Pacifica was once famous for — literature, art, film criticism and music. I *am* pleased to see one slight ray of light — the statewide news program that incorporates northern (from KPFA), southern (KPFK) and central california (thanks to collaboration with its Fresno affiliate) . It feels like a base from which smarter programing can grow.
Bless your heart, Mitch Cohen, for what you’ve had to contend with at BAI. Many outside of New York are cheering you on against the ridiculous JUC. But you (as has KPFK director Grace Aaron) have made bizarre bedfellows with what you see as “saviours” from the West Coast. Unfortunately, years of animus between knowledgeable and competent staff, management and listeners at KPFA against a clique of TRULY entrenched governance “insiders” there has been incorrectly interpreted as “support” of the JUC factionistas at BAI. There has to be some consistency in how our station staffs are treated and certainly union rules come into play. The difference is, how do you apply that consistency with a grandfathered-in JUC power clique on the BAI and staff elsewhere that has performed well? At KPFA, the much-maligned staff, or at least HAD, managed to generate a bylaws-mandated reserve of at least three months before it got tapped to cover shortages at BAI and elsewhere. The National Office didn’t — and surely still doesn’t — pay rent for its space in the building that KPFA donors paid for.
But I digress.
In Los Angeles, KPFK has suffered from a political-correctness FAIL model as well as a GM whose background should have raised red flags to begin with. Now I suppose Pacifica will pay her off as well as those who sued her for harassment. The Houston station has to deal with, well, being in Houston. That it survives at all in Bush Land is a testament to a gritty and gutsy staff and supporters and I applaud them. WPFW in DC? They’re largely disengaged from the rest of Pacifica and that is truly a lost opportunity. BAI could have well brought down the entire network, and may do it yet. Assuming a rash of lawsuits because of a lack of care in HOW Pacifica got rid of those who needed to be got rid of could very will bankrupt Pacifica.
And this leaves KPFA. Those who are bucking up the anti-JUC faction aren’t doing it because they disagree at all with the ideological bent of the truthers, nationalists, anti-semites and medical quacks that are the JUC hallmark of programming incompetency, but to establish a precedent for eliminating competent staff (and staff that respect professionalism and the “debate” mission) network-wide. The charge is led by Aaron and Williams advisor and Pacifica Vice Chairman Joe Wanzala, who has deftly played the system with main goals: protect Dennis Bernstein and his cadre of screaming, crying, bad-poetry-spewing sycophants, eliminate CERTAIN paid staff (hell no Dennis won’t go, he’ll stay on and you bet your ass he’ll get paid), push 9/11 conspiracy crap, and complain about who DARED “leak” financial news to local media despite having “leaked” a confidential personnel matter before it was even completed. Ideologically, he is in tune with the JUC clique but sees an opportunity to take them out first, in order to take out the KPFA staff who’ve either tangled with Dennis “the truth is what I say it is” Bernstein, or oppose additional conspiracy programming — exactly the nuttery that is taking BAI down.
Pacifica will have to find a way to undo these insane bylaws that enable maybe 50 obsessives at its largest stations to drive it into the ground under the guise of “democracy.” BAI may be “saved” but KPFA will end up with its old 9/11, nationalist, screaming meemee programming model. And when KPFA, which has kept the foundation afloat despite itself, devolves into crackpottery it will finally all be over.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
KPFA is not quite the hotbed of quackery that the other stations are. Instead, it is like an ethnic radio station that narrowcasts to the ready-made believers who have long inhabited Berkeley. Sorry, Mr Witheld. But I’m right and you’re wrong. The core NEWS and Public Affairs staff are the same folks quite literally from 1982! The KPFA newscast which is now heard in Los Angeles isn’t nutty. It’s just plain boring, 100% predictable, stiflingly politically correct and an electronic museum of Telegraph Ave memorabilia. KPFA, like every other Pacifica station, forfeited whatever future it might have had. And KPFA was the CENTER of Pacifica nuttery in 1999 when its staff went on the air for 100 straight days to incite a revolution against its own network. You now freely trash Dennis Bernstein. Fair enough. He’s a nut. But he was the nut behind whom the ENTIRE KPFA staff rallied to help blow up the network nine years ago.
You seem very steeped in the current factional fighting, as if anyone outside a small circle of professional meeting-goers knows or cares what the JUC is (they are indeed crazies). There are no good guys here. Only self-serving opportunists who, in the end, only care about defending or securing a slice of air time.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Anna,
Thanks to some great producers, like Heidi Pickman who has commented above, we had on every type of author imaginable. From the entire list of Nation writers to Arthur Schlesinger, Robt McNamara, Pico Iyer, David Brooks, and, um, Howard Zinn among zillions of others. We were interested in dialogue and intellectual exploration… not the writings of Chairman Bob Avakian,
August 16th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
OH I agree with you Marc that Dennis not only qualifies for but often leads the tinfoil brigade. So do his sychophants on the board of directors.
I’m willing to give the statewide newscast some time to grow and improve. But the “Telegraph Avenue memorabilia” crack is stupid. Can’t be an “ethnic station” while navel-gazing the aging white tourist district at the same time.
And as for the remark about public affairs programming being the same as 25 years ago, you may not have bothered to check that the PA lineup has almost entirely turned over, with the exception of the news dept heads (the staff has definitely turned over) and Bernstein.
Bensky, Mandel etc are long gone. However, with the exception of “Against the Grain,” the newcomers are pretty unremarkable. You’d have a better gripe if you critiqued that which you’ve actually heard in the last 10 years.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I heard Mark Meracle last week anchoring the news. I heard Aileen Alfandary maybe six months ago when I was in the Bay Area. Was I imagining this?
August 17th, 2009 at 12:35 am
While I am loathe to agree with Marc Cooper on much I see both merit, omission and bias in this critique of KPFK, in particular.
First of all, no one here is including the Spanish language programming in the analysis. In my view some of the non-english programs embody the spirit of the Pacifica mission far more adeptly than most of the rest of the programming in question.
I do share Mr. Cooper’s disdain for the programs produced by and/or catering to the 9-11 speculator/obsessors, and I have railed against the mid-day snake oil show for years. I am not pleased with the RCP having a regular weekly show in the person of Micheal Slate, nor of ANSWER having its own forum in the person of Jim Lafferty. Marc’s jab at the ADA (most likely a reference to David Adelson and Maria Armoudian) lacks any relevance as the ADA’s own politics are not particularly reflected in the station’s over all flavor.
All of that, however, is largely beside the point, which is more adroitly identified by “withheld” – namely that while there may be greater diversity in the racial, sexual, and cultural makeup of the programmers at KPFK ( admirably) there has been a narrowness (note that I do not say “narrowING”) of the divetrsity of ideas being discussed. Certain programs really do sound demagoguic and penadntic, and that’s damned annoying. This is by no meand universal, however, and certain other programs (both in english and spanish) remain exemplary. American Indian Airwaves comes to mind. There you will often hear differing views from within the Native American community contrasted and in dialogue with eachother – just as the Pacifica model, ideally, would encourage. Uprising is another good example. The host is adept and alert, challenging and yet not inflammatory or driven by any discernible political agenda. She lets the listener know where she stands on a few issues, or, like Amy, drops a hint here and there, but is fair with her interviewees ( better, in some instances, than Amy Goodman, in my view). Maria Armoudian’s show is also pretty straight forward and informative, and while Middle East in Focus is very clearly weighted on the pro-Palestinian side ( fine with me) it usually does a good job of promoting equitable discussion between opposing viewpoints, which is rare given the topic.
I’m not as concerned about KPFK’s Arbitron ratings, nor am I convinced, as Mr. Cooper seems to be, that they are a good or appropriate measure of a station’s effectiveness. When Mr. Cooper was on the air and his own program was, sadly, one of the more radical programs that survived under the “incompetent management” KPFK’s over-all relevance was at a low ebb. There was an appalling paucity of analysis and the Morning Show more often consisted of idle banter between the seemingly un-informed and un-interested ( and un-interesting) hosts more than of actual reporting, interviews, or discussion.
I’d rather that KPFK serve a statistically smaller number of people very well than to entertain and titillate a larger “market share” of listeners who may not be inspired to action confronting any of a number of injustices KPFK is best poised to expose. I’d rather that KPFK broadcast critical talking points for the people who are most likely to use them than to talk OVER and around the critical issues of the day. Most of all, though, I’d like to see KPFK feature genuine multi-faceted DIALOGUE through which listeners can gain a broader comprehension of ANY issue, and feel invested and involved
August 17th, 2009 at 3:29 am
While I’m not in one of the areas served by Pacifica broadcasts, I listen to them often through mp3 downloads. They clearly have some of the best programming available and they fill a void that would be there without them.
Many people listen to or watch “Democracy Now”, but there are other great shows such as Ian Masters shows from both KPFK and KPFT. “Progressive Forum”, and “The Monitor” are both great shows from KPFT. Though it is a bit intense in style, KPFA’s show, “Flashpoints” often provides original reporting from places like Iraq, Palistine or Haiti that is simply unavailable elsewhere.
Whether or not you live in an area not served by Pacifica broadcasts, I would urge anyone to download and listen to these shows; they are quite exceptional. And please contribute to these stations and to the network. We need them to survive.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:52 am
Jesus Christ, Jerry Brown and Marc Cooper should be mentioned in the same breath because they are both the worst aspects of a conservative effort to bring down Pacifica. Jerry Brown was/is nothing but a bumbling opportunist who should NEVER have been on the air in preperation of a mayoral run. Thats ILLEGAL. Marc Cooper is a total dirt bag with an agenda completely contrary to the Pacifica listener’s. So cal scumbag.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Marc, that would sound good to me!
Why the ah “um” over Zinn?
I think I mentioned once before when his name came up– that I met him. Lovely man. And adored by hundreds of thousands and abroad, too.
Has anyone checked into the Guardian link I posted on the Left’s failure to get a grip when unfettered capitalism blew up in everyone’s face?
The issues being raised as to why Pacifica foundered can only be understsood if looked at as a PSYCHOLOGICAL problem. Which they are. You can rant and rave all you want, but you will never get to the core of the problem.
MOVE ON. A million other sources have overtaken the void KPFK originally filled. You know…like uh we do have the internet now.
KPFK is a dinosaur. There are millions of internet streaming radio stations from all around the world. Who gives a shit that this big clunker is till begging for donations and is now cutting a sweetheart deal with this Amy Goodman twat and her so called Democracy Now (ha ha) program.
I still want to know the deal with Charlie Rose. Now that is someone REALLY annoying.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:25 am
My local Pacifica radio station had an election to the board about a year ago. The new board has fired the smart progressive voice that led the morning drive-in time slot, without explanation, and has replaced its talking points with nutty stuff like Social Security using duplicate numbers on its new applicants, an outright lie that got me fleeing to another station.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Marc. How about you writing up a wish list of who you think would make interesting programming. I mean name hosts and commentators you would like to see get a radio program on a regular basis.
I think you will find the best of the best write investigative pieces and books or make documentary films… and then get a few minutes as a guest on what would make your fantasy radio program.
I know there are great radio shows all over the web that get all the really interesting people on to interview…the ones that a white elephant like Pacifica wouldn’t manage.
They are toast. But it would be more constructive imagining what you would like to hear rather than what isn’t and won’t be–on Pacifica.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:48 am
Michael Vic fans buying “I believe in forgiveness” jerseys.
60 Minutes putting this pile of puke on the air last night. (I turned it off)
This is one time I would like to hear a talk radio scream fest baying for someone’s blood.
Whats that quote from Gandhi about judging a civilization by the way it treats animals…
I never followed the MV story because anything to do with animal abuse makes me sick and American football, in general, is a sport I find pointless, graceless and stupid. Flag wavers, pit bulls, thuggery and football all seem pretty much of a muchness to me.
But rehabilitating this piece of shit is just one more indication of how low, atavistic and putrid as a country we have sunk. To admire a man who tortures animals.
Fuck this country.
Dana Kennedy: Tortured Dogs and My Problem with “Forgiveness”
Jul 18, 2007 … Dana Kennedy. Veteran broadcast and print journalist … After hearing about NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s indictment in connection with a …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-kennedy/tortured-dogs-and-my-prob_b_56805.html – Cached – Similar
August 17th, 2009 at 7:09 am
>RCP…single nuttiest “political party” I
>have ever had a personal experience
>with, with the possible exception of
>the LaRouchies.
well, we’re off topic and my main organizing experience was 20+ years ago, but the RCP are nutty, not insidious. They wear a uniform so you always know who they are, and I don’t remember them undermining the movement because they couldn’t control it, as, say, the Sparts did. I also vividly remember that when the cops got rough at demos, the RCP were ready to go down front and take a beating.
Worst. sectarian.group. ever would have to be the old League of Revolutionary Struggle, best known as the ideological home of Amiri Baraka. The RCP are the Jehovah’s Witnesses of sects, LRS were the Moonies. They even managed to dupe Todd Gitlin into writing their line in the Nation for a while.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:23 am
[...] the ever-opinionated Marc Cooper posted his reflections on the future of Pacifica Radio, for which I am KPFT’s program director. [...]
August 17th, 2009 at 7:38 am
“They even managed to dupe Todd Gitlin into writing their line in the Nation for a while.”
yeah, like that would be hard to do. Thats the little slime ball that started screaming about Nader.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Used to listen to KPFK. Since then, have switched to KCRW just because I got tired of stories that sounded made up by the crazy person on the corner.
Also, I’d like to know if the classical station beats KCRW for online listeners and podcasts. I don’t know anyone my age who has a radio in his/her office or cubicle.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Whatever disaster that KPFK has become– wouldn’t rely to heavily on those PPM numbers. Read that they’re not that reliable and Arbitron can’t explain why the numbers previously reported in diaries were not. Some stations lost 100,000s of listeners in the change of measurement from the previous diary system. Makes one wonder if they were ever there in the first place or if they didn’t go anywhere at all.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Perfect! You don;t know if you would rely on those numbers, eh? Actually, all of the historical trends developing for all stations over the last number of years are well reflected in the arbitron ratings, even with some ambiguity.
What numbers would you rely upon then?
Or do you believe them unimportant?
Should The Nation magazine not care about circulation? Or the DailyKos not worry about page views? Shoduld progressives publish only to make their staffs happy?
Get real.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:46 am
They need to go to Freeworldradionetwork.net to see what real progressive radio is all about. To bad it’s on the internet but they could take some pointers.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
“I never followed the MV story because anything to do with animal abuse makes me sick and American football, in general, is a sport I find pointless, graceless and stupid.”
That’s because you live a pointless, graceless and stupid life. Everyone deserves a second chance.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
This is a couple years old piece by my pal Sam Husseini which at leats moves towards making a constructive contribution in terms of the debate, which admiteddly I dont knopw the in and outs of. Here’s Sam
http://husseini.org/2006/06/can-pacifica-li.html#more
August 17th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Although I am a 60 year old female progressive who doesn’t find the government’s theory that 19 guys with box cutters CONSPIRED with a guy in a cave to bring down the U.S. to be backed up by science, I do not see myself as a crazy person…nor do I fit the mold of a granola crunching liberal. My husband (a small business owner) and I live in a very affluent Republican neighborhood in O.C., Ca. My husband’s dad was a leader here in the Republican Party for many years but his parents were always free thinkers. They voted for Clinton over Bush Sr.. I am sure they are rolling in their graves over the Christofascist who have taken over their party. If they had lived long enough to learn what I have learned about the events of that day, I am sure they would have questions as well.
My introduction to KPFK by a friend during the mid nineties totally changed my worldview… my life. The first time I heard questions regarding the government’s 9/11 story was during an interview on KPFK with David Ray Griffin when he discussed his book, “The New Pearl Harbor”. Since then I have spent hundreds of hours doing my own research and fact checking.. I prefer to stick with the science and support the work of http://www.ae911truth. I take issue with the slurs directed toward those of us who are asking questions and demanding a new investigation. There are now over 750 architects and engineers refuting the government’s conspiracy theory. There has been almost a total media blackout on the valid questions surrounding 9/11, not unlike the media blackout of stolen elections in Ohio in 2004. Why didn’t the NY Times report the testimony of over 100 first responders that included numerous reports of explosions in the towers? Why was their testimony excluded from the Commission Report? It is normal protocol for the fire department to check for explosives at the scene of a fire..but they didn’t bother on 9/11 …Why? Is this firefighter crazy too?http://firefightersfor911truth.org/?p=300 . I will take the firefighter’s word over Marc Cooper’s beliefs and the word of the government paid NIST employees with ties to military contractors.
One more thing…Two years ago my husband and I donated to KPFK in return for dinner with Amy Goodman in N.Y. But her refusal to honestly cover the events of 9/11 has caused me to divert our financial support to independent media who will interview credible professionals, i.e. AE9111 Truth. …I chose not to put Amy on the spot with questions re 9/11 and gave her more time to come around ..but no more. KBDI 12 Colorado is an example of a PBS station that has had very successful fundraising by airing documentaries like 911 Press for Truth and 911:Blueprint for Truth.
http://www.kbdi.org/community/viewer_buzz.cfm?s=110&ta=1 .
The wars, healthcare, torture, loss of liberty…nothing will change until we get to the truth.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
“Although I am a 60 year old female progressive who doesn’t find the government’s theory that 19 guys with box cutters CONSPIRED with a guy in a cave to bring down the U.S. to be backed up by science, I do not see myself as a crazy person…nor do I fit the mold of a granola crunching liberal. My husband (a small business owner) and I live in a very affluent Republican neighborhood in O.C., Ca. My husband’s dad was a leader here in the Republican Party for many years but his parents were always free thinkers. They voted for Clinton over Bush Sr.. I am sure they are rolling in their graves over the Christofascist who have taken over their party. If they had lived long enough to learn what I have learned about the events of that day, I am sure they would have questions as well”
And blah, blah, blah. It should be noted that an earlier generation before expanded a tremondous amount of energy and resources into weaving all sorts of webs of conspiracy about JFK’s assisation and that too was a huge waste of time and energy. You sound like someone who wants to earnestkly beleive that you think “outside the box” whatever that means and you have some interest in piecing together the dots in the hopes to discover that our government may not always be a good or honest actor on the world stage. Instead of spending “hundreds of hours” masturbating over some unproven conspiracy perhaps you could pour some energy into whats in front of your own eyes. You want to connect the dots, do you remember oh so not long ago the war on Gaza in whihc the IDF used white phosphorus on a civilian population and killed 400 kids. Start out by reading about how our policy has colluded with an occupying force which has sought to marginalise Palestinian’s in the political, economic and cultural sense. There’s lots of material for you. What about faulty intelligence drummed up for a war on Iraq, which has further entrencehd existing sectarian and confessional identities? I could go on but my point really is that there’s enough going on in the real world to put our energy into and document, which often isnt covered by the NYT, than to engage in lunatic and cultish conspiracies
ps given the heavy lifting Amy Goodman does and her unrelenting journalistic integrity, she qualifies, for me anyway, as a kind of saintly figure
August 17th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Diane, common sense goes a long way in uncovering “the truth”.
For one sane perspective try reading the rather interesting investigative tome that is the book:
102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers (Hardcover)
by
Jim Dwyer Kevin Flynn
You will find far more evil and “conspiracy” in the banality of greed and stupidity than in the fantasy you are chasing.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I remember when I first heard KPFK. I was working at my first of two jobs of the day (delivering the LA Times) when I ran across Roy Tuchman on the dial. I was already so tired of all the crap on the radio (and this was before Clear Channel dominated the dial) that hearing him and his topic that night was like experiencing one’s first orgasm.
I learned a lot listening to KPFK, and became a very devoted fan of Charles Morgan. His astute political commentary is sorely missed today.
I also remember the conflict over control of the network, and frankly Marc, your personal bad attitude didn’t make things easier for me to remain a listener. In a way, Pacifica became the circular firing squad the left is often accused of being, and I had to reluctantly conclude that KPFK was lost to the clash of titanic personal egos. The crap that passed for programming after you lost was only rancid icing on the decayed cake.
I just recently again began to listen to KPFK, and I’m again hearing some of the programming I once expected to hear. Some of it is as good as it ever was, and some remains terrible. But I’m thinking that it is about time to update the language and retire a lot of tired rhetoric. It isn’t reaching people to use the stereotypical and tired phrases of the revolutionaries of the 1960s. The cliche-infused speech turns people off since the reich-wing talk radio has converted those words into a sick and sad derogatory joke.
If we haven’t yet learned any lessons from the government infiltration programs such as COINTELPRO, it’s high time we did. We have to speak like the people we seek to gain access to in order to establish a connection, while at the same time not abusing the trust we seek to inspire in them. If it worked for the FBI, it can work for us.
People have to know what we mean as we speak and not have to quit listening because they don’t understand the meaning of the five-syllable words we like to use to display our intelligence. We have to talk WITH them and not AT them. They get turned off if they think we are patronizing them. We have to be real. It has to show in what we say and how we act. It all also has to mean something to them personally, or nothing will reach them.
So Marc, you are an experienced journalist. You know how to do these things I cite in your own writing. When you really care about a topic, it comes through. I have read pieces of yours that I saved for future reference they were so good. It is no different in your broadcasting. But maybe it’s time to abandon the radio arena to the corporations and take advantage of newer technologies which don’t cost $500,000 a year just to keep the transmitter humming. Pacifica could do a lot of blogging and distributing news and commentary using other new technologies with the proceeds of selling off the 1920′s buggy-whip white radio elephants. The entire library could be streamed and podcasted and iTuned and the selection of what to hear could be the listeners choice rather than that of the program director. Isn’t that what true democracy is all about? It would be a great example of democracy in action!
It’s time to abandon old ways of thinking and seek new means of fighting the good fight, Marc. We lost on the radio battlefield and now have to revert to guerrilla media tactics. Get with it! It’s time to let go and move on to a new creativity.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
> red-faced, spittle-flecked protestor…Would >have made Pol Pot smile.
I make a point that reasonable people might disagree with (that’s the fricking point of posting!) and you respond by calling me Pol Pot. That’s just the kind of reasonable tone that’s lacking at Pacifica these days.
Just as an experiment, I think I’ll call Jerry Quickly and tell him I’m pretty sure it was Al Qaeda that attacked the World Trade Center, not the Freemasons. If he only compares me to, I dunno, Suharto, then I’ll have to suppose it’s actually the cooler heads that prevailed at Pacifica.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Ahmed,
whenever you want to know the real story about Saint Amy Goodman’s “heavy lifting” you let me know. Don’t know if ur strong enough to take such bitter truths that would be revealed. It ain’t pretty, amigo. Not by a stretch. And this isn’t about “honest differences” or conflicting points of view. It’s about public and documented behavior that violates every ethical norm. Sorry. Truly disgusting, hardball and intellectually dishonest comportment. And with self-interested lucrative factors mixed into it.
Mr. X… I plead guilty to over-reaction. Nothing personal aimed at you and I apologize if it comes off that way.
Realist, I moved on from Pacifica nearly a decade ago. Thanks, very much. I refuse to as much as be a guest on any of its shows, let alone invest any hope in it. I think it irrlevant at best, counter-productive at worst, I also agree that it missed the digital boat. I don;t know what you mean what refer to as my “attitude” during the Pacifica crisis. For the most part, I was on the receiving end of all the fury and rage. Unlike Amy Goodman who used her program to advocate and organize for one side in the conflict ( A GROSS ethical violation), I NEVER referred to it or said anything about on the air. Never. With one exception… near the end of the game, I invited on as a guest one of the chronic dissidents to try and explain his case and he in fact got a very rough ride from me as an interviewer, poor baby. Perhaps you caught that one 1/2 hr show. Otherwise, I was completely silent about the conflict while on the air. 100%.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Hi Marc and all –
I wrote a detailed response to Marc’s use of Arbitron statistics Monday morning at 8 a.m. EST, and included a discussion of the Pacifica Campaign and my role in it; I hit send, but it never was posted to this Board.
Marc, would you please look in your inbox and allow my post to go up onto the site — if that is the cause. There didn’t seem to be any glitch on my end, on the computer, so I assume that you are moderating the posts? If not, where can it be?
Unfortunately, I didn’t save it … aaaargh!
Mitchel
August 17th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
“My husband’s dad was a leader here in the Republican Party for many years but his parents were always free thinkers. They voted for Clinton over Bush Sr.. ”
What is this irrelevant biographical information supposed to prove? As if voting Clinton over Bush, while being registered as a replublican is some kind of brave, unique act requiring an immense amont of courage.Get over your narcissictic self and grow the fuck up. A number of years ago when I drank cola daily, I would always choose coke over pepsi, so what? As for your husbands folks ho would be spinning in theier graves because a bunch of yahoos took over the Repulicans when Bush came in, I think you protest too much. The main movers and shakers in W’s administration were veterans of the Reagan and Nixon crew, you know the beloved Republicans of past
August 18th, 2009 at 7:23 am
I don’t know KUSC radio but I know about USC having one of the best music departments in the country. And we are talking breathtaking. At least it was. I remember going to a Master’s Class performance in some little jewel of a hall with Rostropovich and Menuhin ( I think) playing…something like that. God, it was heaven. So, yeah, they would have a top drawer classical station! And why wouldn’t that trump listening to pop shit?
August 18th, 2009 at 7:27 am
To Mr. Football thug: Its just one big testosterone, homo erotic, head banging, meat beating, flag waving, Coke and Bud drinking fest that feeds the corporate maw. Its a stupid game.
Now baseball and basketball are something else.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:46 am
coming from the opposite extreme, someone on the far right of the political spectrum, kpfk has always been valuable as an outlet to hear what the LW nut jobs are up to . also , i listened mostly to the anti-zionist hour , to hear what self-hating jew they can drum up this week. in that alone i feel better, knowing how small the audience is ….
August 18th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
In your ranting about how bad KPFK has gotten, I wonder Marc, why dost thou protest so much to the questioning of 9/11?
This was the single event that helped launch two wars (and counting)…that has robbed our treasury…that has allowed for the invasion of our privacy on the phone, in emails, and internet…that has allowed the government to spy on grannies opposing war…that has allowed the government to rendition innocent people and torture them…that has increased the military spending to unprecedented amounts in human history…etc…
I am sure that the citizens of Germany would have appreciated your “conspiracy nuts” comments after the Reichstag fire gave their government the same powers the current US government has over its citizens.
I invite you to visit http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/
to see that there are a lot of us “nuts” out there.
200+ Senior Military, Intelligence Service, Law Enforcement, and Government Officials
700+ Engineers and Architects
200+ Pilots and Aviation Professionals
400+ Professors Question 9/11
230+ 9/11 Survivors and Family Members
Add to that list…
Lt. Col. Guy S. Razer, MS Aeronautical Science, U.S. Air Force (ret) – Retired U.S. Air Force command fighter pilot. Former instructor; U.S. Air Force Fighter Weapons School and NATO’s Tactical Leadership Program. As an Air Force weapons effects expert was responsible for wartime tasking of most appropriate aircraft/munition for target destruction to include steel and concrete superstructures. Former aeronautical structures flight test engineer with McDonnell Douglas, working on advanced DC-9 autopilot systems and DC-10 flight envelope expansion stress and flutter analysis. Tactical aircraft flown: General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark fighter/bomber, McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle, General Dynamics / Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet, Boeing B-1 Bomber, MiG-29 (Russian fighter), and Su-22 (Russian fighter/bomber). 3,000+ fighter hours. Combat time over Iraq. 20-year Air Force career.
Statement to this website 3/25/07: “After 4+ years of research since retirement in 2002, I am 100% convinced that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were planned, organized, and committed by treasonous perpetrators that have infiltrated the highest levels of our government. It is now time to take our country back.
———————-
Col. Ronald D. Ray, U.S. Marine Corps (ret) – Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Reagan Administration and a highly decorated Vietnam veteran (two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart). Appointed by President George H.W. Bush to serve on the American Battle Monuments Commission (1990 – 1994), and on the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces. Military Historian and Deputy Director of Field Operations for the U.S. Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, D.C. 1990 – 1994.
Article 7/1/06: “The former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under the Reagan Administration and a highly decorated Vietnam veteran and Colonel has gone on the record to voice his doubts about the official story of 9/11 – calling it ‘the dog that doesn’t hunt.’ ‘I’m astounded that the conspiracy theory advanced by the administration could in fact be true and the evidence does not seem to suggest that’s accurate,’ he said.”
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Lt. Col. Robert Bowman, PhD, U.S. Air Force (ret) – Director of Advanced Space Programs Development under Presidents Ford and Carter. U.S. Air Force fighter pilot with over 100 combat missions. (PhD in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering, Cal Tech). Former Head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering and Assistant Dean at the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology. 22-year Air Force career. Also taught Mathematics and English at the University of Southern California, the University of Maryland, and Phillips University.
Member: Political Leaders for 9/11 Truth Association Statement:
“Scholars and professionals with various kinds of expertise—including architects, engineers, firefighters, intelligence officers, lawyers, medical professionals, military officers, philosophers, religious leaders, physical scientists, and pilots—have spoken out about radical discrepancies between the official account of the 9/11 attacks and what they, as independent researchers, have learned.
They have established beyond any reasonable doubt that the official account of 9/11 is false and that, therefore, the official “investigations” have really been cover-up operations.
Thus far, however, there has been no response from political leaders in Washington or, for that matter, in other capitals around the world. Our organization, Political Leaders for 9/11 Truth, has been formed to help bring about such a response.
We believe that the truth about 9/11 needs to be exposed now—not in 50 years as a footnote in the history books—so the policies that have been based on the Bush-Cheney administration’s interpretation of the 9/11 attacks can be changed.
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Col. George Nelson, MBA, U.S. Air Force (ret) – Former U.S. Air Force aircraft accident investigator and airplane parts authority. Graduate, U.S. Air Force War College. 34-year Air Force career.
Licensed commercial pilot. Licensed airframe and powerplant mechanic.
Essay: “In all my years of direct and indirect participation, I never witnessed nor even heard of an aircraft loss, where the wreckage was accessible, that prevented investigators from finding enough hard evidence to positively identify the make, model, and specific registration number of the aircraft — and in most cases the precise cause of the accident. …
The government alleges that four wide-body airliners crashed on the morning of September 11 2001, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 human beings, yet not one piece of hard aircraft evidence has been produced in an attempt to positively identify any of the four aircraft. On the contrary, it seems only that all potential evidence was deliberately kept hidden from public view. …
With all the evidence readily available at the Pentagon crash site, any unbiased rational investigator could only conclude that a Boeing 757 did not fly into the Pentagon as alleged. Similarly, with all the evidence available at the Pennsylvania crash site, it was most doubtful that a passenger airliner caused the obvious hole in the ground and certainly not the Boeing 757 as alleged. …
As painful and heartbreaking as was the loss of innocent lives and the lingering health problems of thousands more, a most troublesome and nightmarish probability remains that so many Americans appear to be involved in the most heinous conspiracy in our country’s history.”
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Lt. Col. Shelton F. Lankford, U.S. Marine Corps (ret) – Retired U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot with over 300 combat missions flown. Decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross and 32 awards of the Air Medal. Aircraft flown: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, Lockheed C-130H Hercules. 10,000+ total hours flown. 20-year Marine Corps career.
Article Twenty-five U.S. Military Officers Challenge Official Account of 9/11 1/14/08:
“September 11, 2001 seems destined to be the watershed event of our lives and the greatest test for our democracy in our lifetimes. The evidence of government complicity in the lead-up to the events, the failure to respond during the event, and the astounding lack of any meaningful investigation afterwards, as well as the ignoring of evidence turned up by others that renders the official explanation impossible, may signal the end of the American experiment. It has been used to justify all manners of measures to legalize repression at home and as a pretext for behaving as an aggressive empire abroad. Until we demand an independent, honest, and thorough investigation and accountability for those whose action and inaction led to those events and the cover-up, our republic and our Constitution remain in the gravest danger.”
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Lt. Col. Karen U. Kwiatkowski, PhD, U.S. Air Force (ret) – Former Political-Military Affairs Officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Also served on the staff of the Director of the National Security Agency. 20-year Air Force career. Member adjunct faculty, Political Science Department, James Madison University. Instructor, University of Maryland University College and American Public University System. Author of African Crisis Response Initiative: Past Present and Future (2000) and Expeditionary Air Operations in Africa: Challenges and Solutions (2001).
Contributor to 9/11 and American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out 8/23/06: Account of Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, Pentagon employee and eyewitness to the events at the Pentagon on 9/11. “I believe the Commission failed to deeply examine the topic at hand, failed to apply scientific rigor to its assessment of events leading up to and including 9/11, failed to produce a believable and unbiased summary of what happened, failed to fully examine why it happened, and even failed to include a set of unanswered questions for future research. …
It is as a scientist that I have the most trouble with the official government conspiracy theory, mainly because it does not satisfy the rules of probability or physics. The collapses of the World Trade Center buildings clearly violate the laws of probability and physics. …
There was a dearth of visible debris on the relatively unmarked [Pentagon] lawn, where I stood only minutes after the impact. Beyond this strange absence of airliner debris, there was no sign of the kind of damage to the Pentagon structure one would expect from the impact of a large airliner. This visible evidence or lack thereof may also have been apparent to the secretary of defense [Donald Rumsfeld], who in an unfortunate slip of the tongue referred to the aircraft that slammed into the Pentagon as a “missile”. …
I saw nothing of significance at the point of impact – no airplane metal or cargo debris was blowing on the lawn in front of the damaged building as smoke billowed from within the Pentagon. … all of us staring at the Pentagon that morning were indeed looking for such debris, but what we expected to see was not evident.
The same is true with regard to the kind of damage we expected. … But I did not see this kind of damage. Rather, the facade had a rather small hole, no larger than 20 feet in diameter. Although this facade later collapsed, it remained standing for 30 or 40 minutes, with the roof line remaining relatively straight.
The scene, in short, was not what I would have expected from a strike by a large jetliner. It was, however, exactly what one would expect if a missile had struck the Pentagon.
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Commander Ralph Kolstad, U.S. Navy (ret) – Retired fighter pilot. Former Air Combat Instructor, U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (Topgun). 20-year Navy career. Aircraft flown: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom, Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, and Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Retired commercial airline captain with 27 years experience. Aircraft flown: Boeing 727, 757 and 767, McDonnell Douglas MD-80, and Fokker F-100. 23,000+ total hours flown.
Statement to this website 8/20/07: “I started questioning the Sept 11, 2001 “story” only days after the event. It just didn’t make any sense to me. How could a steel and concrete building collapse after being hit by a Boeing 767? Didn’t the engineers design it to withstand a direct hit from a Boeing 707, approximately the same size and weight of the 767? The evidence just didn’t add up. …
At the Pentagon, the pilot of the Boeing 757 did quite a feat of flying. I have 6,000 hours of flight time in Boeing 757’s and 767’s and could not have flown it the way the flight path was described.
I was also a Navy fighter pilot and Air Combat Instructor, U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School and have experience flying low altitude, high speed aircraft. I could not have done what these beginners did. Something stinks to high heaven!
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Capt. Daniel Davis, U.S. Army – Former U.S. Army Air Defense Officer and NORAD Tac Director. Decorated with the Bronze Star and the Soldiers Medal for bravery under fire and the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in Viet Nam. Also served in the Army Air Defense Command as Nike Missile Battery Control Officer for the Chicago-Milwaukee Defense Area. Founder and former CEO of Turbine Technology Services Corp., a turbine (jet engine) services and maintenance company (15 years). Former Senior Manager at General Electric Turbine (jet) Engine Division (15 years). Private pilot.
Statement to this website 3/23/07: “As a former General Electric Turbine engineering specialist and manager and then CEO of a turbine engineering company, I can guarantee that none of the high tech, high temperature alloy engines on any of the four planes that crashed on 9/11 would be completely destroyed, burned, shattered or melted in any crash or fire. Wrecked, yes, but not destroyed. Where are all of those engines, particularly at the Pentagon? If jet powered aircraft crashed on 9/11, those engines, plus wings and tail assembly, would be there.
Additionally, in my experience as an officer in NORAD as a Tactical Director for the Chicago-Milwaukee Air Defense and as a current private pilot, there is no way that an aircraft on instrument flight plans (all commercial flights are IFR) would not be intercepted when they deviate from their flight plan, turn off their transponders, or stop communication with Air Traffic Control. No way! With very bad luck, perhaps one could slip by, but no there’s no way all four of them could!
Finally, going over the hill and highway and crashing into the Pentagon right at the wall/ground interface is nearly impossible for even a small slow single engine airplane and no way for a 757. Maybe the best pilot in the world could accomplish that but not these unskilled “terrorists”.
Attempts to obscure facts by calling them a “Conspiracy Theory” does not change the truth.
———————————–
So you can call me a conspiracy nut all you want Marc, but I think I’ll take the word of these seasoned professionals over a glorified blogger’s any day!
August 18th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I am a loyal KPFK listener, and do not understand why you are trashing the station, along with Amy Goodman and 9/11 truthers…
Maybe they have lost listeners, but what is your REAL ponit?
I look up to and deeply respect Amy Goodman and the work she does. I am involved in the 9/11 truth movement, and despite recent attempts by right wing radio and television hosts, we as a collective group are not racist, violent, or “nut jobs”.
The movement simply wants a new investigation. It’s difficult to believe that Bush and co lied about so many things – yet were completely honest about 9/11. What is wrong with transparency? I have never heard of you before, but i wanted to write in and stand up for KPFK, Goodman, senior producer Christine Blaasdale, and the many others that make KPFK what it is.
I am not a conspiracy nut, i am a human being who wants answers, and am sick and tired of being marginalized by people like you who refuse to look at the facts. The American public was lied to on and after 9/11, and its time we learn the truth.
I could list numerous resources for you to check out on 9/11, but my instinct says it wouldn’t make a difference.
Whats true is this, we need people standing up for the truth, standing up for those who do not have voices, even if people like you call them “crazy”.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Here come the tambourine shakers.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I suppose so… get ready
August 18th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Interesting piece, but, alas, not convincing. Cooper starts with factual information, i.e. statistically proven loss of KPFK audience, offers a list of criticisms, but tying the two together requires essentially an act of faith.
KPFK has traditionally wanted to be providing the care and education that mainstream media, including NPR, would not. Why should they not be involved in fringe issues, some of which may be speculative while others, like 9/11 truth, would bo solid?
Love,
August 18th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I happen to like the tamborine. Do some research Marc before disrespecting the 911 Truth. Do you Know the truth about 911? I don’t, and niether do many others around the country and world. We are’nt suppose to know the truth. Why after 8 years and still no evidence pointing to OBL. KPFK made me take a look into the questions surrounding 911 years ago. I, like others did reading and research and I have come to the conclusion this was indeed an inside job. We now have a perpetual war(on terrorism) and 51% of your tax money goes overseas to pay for this fraud. Instead of calling people names, do some reading. You seem to have a vendetta against KPFK for whatever reason.<Icould care less. Carry on.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I recently heard Sonali Kohatkar denigrate 911 Truthers while referring to those questioning President Obama’s US Citizenship. I was very disappointed. As an American it is our duty to pledge time toward looking into what really happened on 911. I challenge you to spend one hour digging because when you do, you will be so disurbed at what you uncover that you will not be able to help but KEEP digging. Don’t fall into this collective demonization of citizens who simply seek to find the truth. Get up off your behinds and research for yourself. When we get a real investigation and uncover what really happened, we will finally be able to restore the civil liberties that have been stolen from us. That and all the other atrocities that “marccoopersnemesis” has noted above.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
With respect to “conspiracy nuts and 9/11 truthers”, tell me how much longer you are going to ignore the presence of active thermitic material in 4 (of 4) dust samples collected shortly after 9/11 in NYC?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13049
http://www.bentham-open.org/pages/content.php?TOCPJ/2009/00000002/00000001/7TOCPJ.SGM
August 18th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
“to hear what self-hating jew they can drum up this week”
And those “self haters” probably also believe that (gasp!) A-rabs are not simply sub human creatures and should probably be treated better than animals. The horror. Good to hear that you’re on duty keeping track of these heretics!
August 18th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Upgeya: For the rest of my life.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Yeah, Pacifica Radio where if you are a Republican and related to someone through 7 degrees of seperation.
Like the cousin of someone , who knows someone, whose uncle is some person, who did business with such and such, and their nephew was in a picture with Bush off the campaign trail in a huge audience,
then you have all the trappings of a conspiracy of Bush with the original person. These Pacifica Radio people are huge morons.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
dont you mean nutters, conspiracy nutters. yeah thats better just add er at the end. dont you feel alot safer now.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
When The Nation magazine accepted the Warren Commission’s preposterous single bullet theory for the JFK assasination, that venerable venue’s subscriber ranks plummetted; not because conspiracy theorists were found in contempt, but because laws of the known universe were found irrelevant to the truth as the powerful wished it to be.
Mr. Rosen might acquaint himself better with why Americans are suspicious of progressive news reporting: it is inconsistent and constantly gainsayed, as with the critique offered here zeroing in on the woes of Pacifica Radio.
The Nation magazine failed to learn its lesson: after the 9/11 Commission report, The Nation went out of its way to attack those calling for a real inquiry. In both instances–JFK and 9/11–laws of the physical universe were held in abeyance and contempt by “special commissions” with absolute no whiff of disbelief by mainstream media.
Rosen here parrots a favorite past-time of media critics: attack those who doubt the received wisdom of scoundrels in high places. No doubt Mr. Rosen’s esteem for The Nation increased with its scorn for the Truth Movement. In any event: Nature shall hand down her indictment, eventually. You cannot flout laws of the known universe without at some point being yourself scorned; not even one who is as studied in contempt as Mr. Rosen.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
OK, I’ve ridiculed the truthers right here, within the last few hours, but let’s stop and breathe.
Someone needs to explain the difference between a serious-minded critique of the *system* of capitalism (or of neoliberalism or whatever else we oppose), and a faith-based conspiracy theory. No, we’re not going to convince the folk who posted above, but we’ve all known a lot of people on the left who had trouble with this distinction. Let’s take the opportunity to develop the rap.
The most important point is not even that making wild claims with no evidence makes the left look crazy. It’s that diverting attention to the supposed secret schemings of a few powerful individuals obscures the real issues, which are systemic. We’d be a lot better off talking about, say, how to organize unions than about this stuff.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
911 Truthers are real Patriots who actually understand the agenda being carried out against our Nation. Until we accept the truth that 911 was an inside job, we can not stop the agenda set off from the events of 911 against our Nation and our Freedoms. Endless wars costing 100 billion dollars every four months, torture, bailouts for the criminals who caused the crisis (not one arrest from a system full corruption and fraud), the Patriot Act, detention without representation, so on and so on, but their endgame will be the “New World Order”. A government we will not elect and will be unaccountable to us. So keep up the name calling since it is the only hope you have in stopping your readers from taking the time to do their own research and fine out the truth about 911. People are standing in line asking for our DVD’s at our street actions. 8 years later and not one shred of evidence a 757 flew into the Pentagon. The day before 911, Sept 10, 2001 Donald Rumsfeld annouced that he (the Pentagon) could not account for 2.3 Trillion dollars, that’s 2,300 Billion dollars. Google “the last official act of any government” and your readers will find out the answer is “too loot the Nation”. I am sure you already know these facts.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
[...] Marc Coopers story No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)From In Your Face Radio, post Pacifica Radio In Trouble [...]
August 18th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
As the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, I would observe that our members, building on prior research by earlier students of 9/11, have established more than a dozen disproofs of the official government account, the truth of any one of which is enough to show that the government’s account–in one or another of its guises–cannot possibly be correct.
1. The impact of planes cannot have caused enough damage to bring the buildings down, since the buildings were designed to withstand them (as Frank DeMartini, the project manager, has observed), the planes alleged to have hit were similar to those they were designed to withstand, and the buildings continued to stand after those impacts with negligible effects.
2. The melting point of steel at 2,800 degrees F is about 1,000 degrees higher than the maximum burning temperature of jet-fuel-based fires, which do not exceed 1,800 degrees under optimal conditions; but the NIST examined 236 samples of steel and found that 233 had not been exposed to temperatures above 500 degrees F and the others not above 1200.
3. Underwriters Laboratory certified the steel in the buildings up to 2,000 degrees F for three or four hours without any significant effects, where these fires burned neither long enough or hot enough—at an average temperature of about 500 degrees for about one hour in the South Tower and one and a half in the North—to weaken, much less melt.
4. If the steel had melted or weakened, then the affected floors would have displayed completely different behavior, with some degree of asymmetrical sagging and tilting, which would have been gradual and slow, not the complete, abrupt and total demolition that was observed. Which means the NIST cannot even explain the initiation of any “collapse” sequence.
5. William Rodriguez, who was the senior custodian in the North Tower and the last man to leave the building, has reported massive explosions in the sub-basements that effected extensive destruction, including the demolition of a fifty-ton hydraulic press and the ripping of the skin off a fellow worker, where they filled with water that drained the sprinkler system.
6. Rodriguez observed that the explosion occurred prior to reverberations from upper floors, a claim that has now been substantiated in a new study by Craig Furlong and Gordon Ross, “Seismic Proof: 9/11 Was an Inside Job,” demonstrating that these explosions actually took place as much as 14 and 17 seconds before the presumptive airplane impacts.
7. Heavy-steel-construction buildings like the Twin Towers are not generally capable of “pancake collapse,” which normally occurs only with concrete structures of “lift slab” construction and could not occur in redundant welded-steel buildings, such as the towers, unless every supporting column were removed at the same time, floor by floor, as Charles Pegelow, a structural engineer, has observed.
8. The demolition of the two towers in about 10 seconds apiece is very close to the speed of free fall with only air resistance, which Judy Wood, Ph.D., formerly a professor of mechanical engineering, has observed is an astounding result that would be impossible without extremely powerful sources of energy. If they were collapsing, they would have had to fall through their points of greatest resistance.
9. Indeed, the towers are exploding from the top, not collapsing to the ground, where their floors do not move, a phenomenon Wood has likened to two gigantic trees turning to sawdust from the top down, which, like the pulverization of the buildings, the government’s account cannot possibly explain. There were no pancakes.
10. WTC-7 came down in a classic controlled demolition at 5:20 PM after Larry Silverstein suggested the best thing to do might be to “pull it,” displaying all the characteristics of classic controlled demolitions: a complete, abrupt and total collapse into its own footprint, where the floors are all falling at the same time, yielding a stack of pancakes about 5 floors high.
11. The hit point at the Pentagon was too small to accommodate a 100-ton airliner with a 125-foot wingspan and a tail that stands 44-feet above the ground; the debris was wrong for a Boeing 757: no wings, no fuselage, no seats, no bodies, no luggage, no tail! Not even the engines were recovered, which means that the official account is not true.
12. The Pentagon’s own videotapes do not show a Boeing 757 hitting the building, as even Bill O’Reilly admitted when one was shown on “The O’Reilly Factor”; at 155 feet, the plane was more than twice as long as the 77-foot Pentagon is high and should have been present and easily visible; it was not, which means that the video evidence also contradicts the official account.
13. The aerodynamics of flight would have made the official trajectory—flying at high speed barely above ground level—physically impossible, because a Boeing 757 flying over 500 mph could not have come closer than about 60 feet of the ground, which means that the official account is not even aerodynamically possible.
14. Data from a flight recorder provided to Pilots for 9/11 Truth by the National Transportation Safety Board corresponds to a plane with a different approach and altitude, which would have precluded its hitting lampposts or even the building itself, which means that, if this data corresponds to a Boeing 757, it would have flown over the Pentagon rather than hit it.
15. If Flight 93 had come down as advertised, there should have been a debris field about the size of a city block, but the debris is distributed over an area of about eight square miles, which would be explainable if the plane had been shot down in the air but not if it had crashed, as required by the government’s official scenario.
There is more, especially about the alleged hijackers, including that they were not competent to fly these planes and their names are not on any original, authenticated passenger manifest. Several have turned up alive and well and living in the Middle East. The government has not even produced their tickets as evidence that they were even aboard the aircraft they are alleged to have hijacked. Did Osama call from a cave in Afghanistan and charge them to his MasterCard?
President Bush recently acknowledged that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. The Senate Intelligence Committee has reported that Saddam was not in cahoots with Al Qaeda. And the FBI has acknowledged that it has “no hard evidence” to tie Osama to 9/11. If Saddam did not do it and Osama did not do it, then who is responsible for the death of 3,000 citizens that day?
We believe that it is the highest form of respect to those who died on 9/11 and their survivors to establish how and why they died, which our own government manifestly has not done. With the American media under the thumb of a corrupt administration, we cannot count on the press to perform its investigative function. But we can do our best to expose falsehoods and reveal truths about 9/11.
James H. Fetzer, Ph.D.
Founder
Scholars for 9/11 Truth
August 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
The impact of planes cannot have caused enough damage to bring the buildings down, since the buildings were designed to withstand them (as Frank DeMartini, the project manager, has observed), the planes alleged to have hit were similar to those they were designed to withstand
Not true. They were designed to withstand 707′s according to some, but it doesn’t seem to be well-documented.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Loving all the Truthers. Good stuff.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Fetzer gives a basic outline of 911, and right on cue Paul alludes to the 707. Laughable.Get real Randy if planes can take down buildings in that manner demolition companies would be out of business. So what about building 7? Shock and awe, definately! Large scale mind control,absolutely.
August 19th, 2009 at 3:46 am
So what about building 7
The stupid mistake Giuliani made in locating diesel fuel there to power his emergency operations center.
Fetzer said a 767 was similar in size to a 707. It’s 20% larger than a 707. One needn’t have a PhD to know the difference.
A colleague of mine, Jane Simpkin was on UA 175. I wish you’d stop dancing on her grave for your silly-assed agenda.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Please Sir “may i have some more” 9-11 truth topic !
bring on these expert 9-11 researchers…get them on the air and let them share there findings….this will boost the plunging ratings
Talk about the “Elephant in the room” that no one will address!
George Norie on Coast to coast just had Richard Gage on for an entire show ….this is what kpfk needs ….the people are hungry for it !!
August 19th, 2009 at 9:37 am
WTC 7 was the wake up call for me. How does a ~50 story building collapse EXACTLY like a controlled demolition? I had no idea there was a 3rd building that fell that day until I saw a report on it on public TV. Then I come to find that it was not even mentioned in the 911 Comission report and that the owner of the building said they had to “pull it”. The official story is that a few fires on some of the floors cause the complete collapse/pulverization of the building?
Give me a break!
How stupid do they think we are? VERY stupid indeed. The see us as “useless eaters”, on the couch watching mindless television, eating poisonous GMO and pesticide ridden junk, sipping high fructose corn syrup sweetened toxic fluids. And thats what some of us are, but not all. The less brighter of us are getting off their butts, learning about the poisons that surround them and are incapaciting their minds. They’re changing things around them for the better, and are becoming properly INFORMED. Because of this the truth is spreading and the days of the criminals who truly are behind what hapened on 911 are numbered.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Mr.Paul, I have no agenda only the truth about the tragic events of 911,sorry for the lost of your friend my condolences,however the perpetrators of this crime of mass murder are still walking the streets. The diesel fuel fires were not valid. NIST said the building came down from office materials(carbon combustion)if this were the case the building would still be there.The only way fire could bring down building 7 is if it was a wood supported structure.Look at what over 700 architects and engineers have to say about this topic.www.ae911truth.org . We need an independent investigation( with subpeona power)The 911 commission(omission)was a worthless waste of resources and our tax money.Re: the planes, I don’t care if 5 planes hit the building(all at the same time)These buildings would still have some structure/framework still standing. When the broadcast came over the radio that the building WTC2 collapsed ,I thought the media was sensationalizing the event, when I saw it on T.V. minutes later something did’nt look right. I believed the official Govt. version for a few years,but in the back of my mind it all seemed to easy for terrorists to pull this off. Once I became aware of False Flag Events and researched other sites and most importantly what Governments are capable of, I knew I was lied to,Quite possibly througout my lifetime.I am 53.Carry on.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
And you offer not a shred of proof other than your bloviating.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
August 20th, 2009 at 7:17 am
[...] off, Cooper details (Pt. 1, Pt. 2) how listenership for KPFK has dropped off a cliff. It has the strongest signal in the [...]
August 20th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
“As the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, I would…”
WOW! I’m convinced and that our despicable government would allow this to happen- shameful!
So where do I donate money for the truth?
August 20th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Someone wrote:
“The most important point is not even that making wild claims with no evidence makes the left look crazy. It’s that diverting attention to the supposed secret schemings of a few powerful individuals obscures the real issues, which are systemic. We’d be a lot better off talking about, say, how to organize unions than about this stuff.”
The same, however, can be said about ANY issue, but some folks seem to apply that logic only to this one. Why is that?
Exposing powerful individuals and their roles as interlocking directors on the boards of multinational corporations used to be a solid pasttime of the Left. Domhoff’s “Who Rules America?” was standard reading, back in the day. But now you’re implying that those kind of exposes are invalid. I don’t agree.
I and most everyone I know — even some of those who decry the 9/11 Truthers (like me) — have signed onto the petition in New York for a new, independent investigation of what happened on 9/11 and subsequently. Why not fight for it instead of disparaging that effort?
Mitchel Cohen
August 21st, 2009 at 4:19 am
Huh. Looks like the numbers are actually going up according to the chart. I’m glad this isn’t just a smear campaign.
August 21st, 2009 at 4:37 am
Why is the “truthers” stuff (irrelevant to the topic) left here while my legitimate question about the charts is censored? So much for journalistic integrity.
Go ahead, delete this one too since it’s all about pushing your opinion rather than having an open debate.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:09 am
The comments are revealing, not for their information about 9/11 issues but that they are arguing about a p0litical matter when the issue was the plunging audience and journalistic and programming standards of the station. When KPFK and Pacifica stops trying to be a political orgination and starts being a real radio station — they’ll be listenable to by more than just a few conspiracy idiologues and serve their potential audience.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:29 am
John M…
none of ur comments were censored. sometimes the commenting software gets hungry and swallows something on its own.
Nilli, youve put ur finger right on it. Pacifica was supposed to be an electronic town square open to all sorts of views and political debate. Founded by pacifists during the MCarthy period and given the nature of commercial media it is natural for it to lean left. But over the years it has been transformed into a narrow platform for ideological rants — into a very very narrow left wing outlet that isnt really very left wing as much as it is dogmatic, detached and yes rife with conspiracy NUTS.
I agree with Randy. The 9/11 Truthers are not just bonkers, they are also an INSULT to the dead, their families, and to the American people. I see NO difference between them and the Birthers. 9/11 Truthers, if born in a different era, would be sitting in the pews of Amme Semple McPherson warning of the End Times.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Let’s get back to the Pacifica issue.
Last year, Arbitron switched over to a new way of measuring listenership. We found at WBAI that in one period Arbitron measured the listenership dropping, when measured in the new way, by 75 percent from the period immediately preceding (that is, from one month to the next).
We know that listenership had declined slowly over the last 5 years for WBAI. But to think that it dropped by such a huge margin — which corresponds to Marc Cooper’s interpretation way up above in this thread — is simply incorrect.
Pacifica listenership has NOT dropped anywhere near what Mark suggests, and it may even have rebounded somewhat this year.
Mitchel Cohen
Chair, WBAI Local Station Board
August 21st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Marc, I see Conflation 101 in progress here. Let’s not lump Marxist programming with the 9-11 truthers or with problems with management at a community station.
I had read with much admiration about your salad days in Chile working for Allende and how when the coup arrived your own government shut the embassy door on your face. That you have changed over the years is a matter of conscious and must be respected.
In the spirit of Allende and Neruda I see the USA has betrayed its constitution does not exist in the interest of its citizens.
But now, especially when the limits of neoliberalism are demonstrated by socializing the loses of corporations deemed too big to fail coupled with an argument that universal health-care is off the table, Marxist viewpoints should be aired; precisely because ordinary people are estranged by the two parties who are beholden to special interests.
That people voted to end war and their government will not abandon the ‘national interest’ notwithstanding the peoples mandate.
To shut that down is to narrow the permissible discourse to corporate media or to NPR who is fearful of the republicans in congress that threaten to cut funds.
Like a few who have posted here I particularly enjoy Michael Slate’s show for the guests and communist viewpoint precisely because there is nowhere else in the electronic media where it is available.
I am puzzled as to why reforms at Pacifica means that the political discussion is confined to the two party system.
September 27th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I’ve been a long time listener of Pacifica Radio in Orange County and a long time supporter of Pacifica Radio, how ever when the classical radio station from Tiajuana started blocking out the signal in South Orange County and San Deigo, I started listening to Pacifica online. I’ve found that out of the 5 pacifica stations, I’ve enjoyed KPFA in Berkley most. I recently moved to Japan and I listen to all 5 pacifica stations from Japan everday. I enjoy listening to KPFA more, because their archives are kept up to date and are posted correctely. Often when I go onto the KPFK archive page, I’ll click on a show I want to listen to and it will be the wrong show that comes up after I download it. I’ve never had that problem with the archives of KPFA. Also I enjoy more of the programs on KPFA. My favorites are Democracy Now, Guns and Butter, the Visionary Activist Show and Against the Grain. I feel really sorry for people who believe the official US government’s conspiracy theory and who want to silence the truth about what really happened on 9/11 by calling them “nuts.” Those people are the real coincidence theory nuts. The majority of people in the US don’t believe the official US government’s conspiracy theory that is so false it’s laughable.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
The 9-11 nuts have taken over at WBAI, too. Every other hour is the same swill, spookie music, and all. The other hours are “health” related. What junk. Unbelievable.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
[...] we last looked, back in August, the local KPFK station had reached an all-time new low in listenership — an average about 1800 listeners per quarter [...]
August 24th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
I’ve found your blog from bing.good posting…surely get back again
September 30th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Marc,
Our eldest son graduated from USC last year. During Parents Weekend I always made sure I scheduled time to hear you speak when you were a resource on media related issues. It just so happens, Richard Gage, the founder of Architects and Engineer for 911 Truth, graduated from the USC School of Architecture as well. Obviously, you and Richard are both smart, well educated men, but I would defer to your expertise in the area of film making and Richard’s in the in the area of the architecture and the engineering of buildings. We have a right to our own opinions, but the laws of physics are not suspended three times in one day in the course of history.
As a KPFK listener I was well aware of censorship in the MSM, but my research into the events of 9/11 and the media blackout (including on the left) during the theft of our elections took me further down the historical rabbit hole…and it has not been a pleasant journey.
I have no proof…but the suppressed evidence leads me to believe the reason the public is being denied a science based, independent investigation into the events of 9/11/01 is because the evidence might point to rogue elements from within the intelligence organizations/MIC of the U.S. and several of its “allies”. Since ignorant people might paint entire groups with a broad brush…there is tremendous fear innocent people could be swept up in the unleashed anger of the masses. There is a common trait numbers of these innocent people share and many have older relatives who have been down this road in the past (myself included)…This is why I will not behave like a “good German” and go along to get along. Someday in the future, Richard Gage, David Ray Griffin and the 911 Truth movement will be compared to Sophie Scholl and The White Rose Society.
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Neon Trees<3|DCsabrinaFTSK|Neon Trees<3
December 13th, 2010 at 11:04 am
I don’t often comment on blogs, but just wanted to say I completely enjoyed reading. Thanks
May 11th, 2011 at 7:16 am
Extremely useful post. Your point of view is very to the point and also thought provoking. I will certainly be following your RSS or Atom. I hope you will publish frequently on very similar things. But I’m curious what your resources for your write-up are? Thanks a lot.