In fact, as of 10:10 a.m., when a press conference-turned-rally ended in front of the locked and boarded up Berkeley "Free Speech" radio station,
there was still no indication of when the station would reopen. During the impromptu rally, attended by about 100 people, CS Soong, co-producer of KPFA's investigative news magazine, Flashpoints, noted at
9:25 that the staffers still did not have the keys to the station. "If we do not receive the keys soon," he said, " we will be forced to conclude that Dr. Berry's statement[s] that KPFA will
reopen at 9 a.m. today were insincere, manipulative, and in bad faith." His opinion was echoed by several other programmers.
But it appears the delay in reopening the station was attributable, as
least in part, to safety concerns. Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean told the crowd that KPFA Operations Director Jim Bennett had requested city officials to conduct a health and safety inspection of the station,
which has been locked down since July 14.
Dean reported that a preliminary inspection by the city manager, the deputy police chief and the director of environmental health had found "some problems
with broken glass from the front of the windows and some security problems in reference to the front door." Dean refused to speculate on how the glass was broken, and she did not describe the nature of
the front door "security problem." The mayor stated that the city was conducting a "room by room" listing of problems and that a camera had been called for to record them. She called for
the repair of any problems for the safety of the workers and anyone else going into the station.
According to Flashpoints co-producer Dennis Bernstein, the building opened sometime between 11 and 12. He
said that the safety inspection had turned up "various damage," and that not more than 10 people at a time would be allowed into the building. Bernstein declined to speculate on the cause of the
damage, and added that he had no idea when programming would resume.
KPFA staff, which at first had decided to reject Pacifica's offer to reopen the station, changed its mind late last night. Phillip
Maldari, host of KPFA's Morning Show said, "We're going to take possession of the station and then proceed from there." Maldari, who did not participate in the decision to reenter, nevertheless
agreed with it, saying, "I think it's the right decision." However, he also noted, "We've got no guarantees."
The lack of any written guarantees as to the future of the station is
one of several sticking points in mediation between the Pacifica National Board and a steering committee made up of staff and community supporters.
Bernstein, the investigative reporter whose suspension
on July 13 touched off two and a half weeks of protests that have resulted in 96 arrests, told this morning's crowd that he "had great concern that we have no indication from Dr. Berry and the board
that they are not planning to sell this station. And, for weeks, various of us have been asking for a guarantee in writing that they will not be selling this important community institution out from under
the community. And we will fight the battle to make sure that there isn't a heist of our community radio station."
The reopening of the station comes with Pacifica's promise to stay out of its
day-to-day management. But Dr.Berry indicated that the board would re-evaluate KPFA in about 6 months to a year to see if it was meeting Pacifica's goal of a larger and more diverse audience.
Staffers are asking what resources the beleaguered station will have for programming, now that Pacifica has spent untold sums to retain a highly sophisticated, armed security force--which was withdrawn this
morning--a lawyer reputed to charge $350 per hour, and consultants, including most recently, a pricey San Francisco PR firm.
News co-director Aileen Alfandary said, "We don't know what kind of money
we're going to have to operate with when we get back in."
Without adequate resources, the station's failure to meet Pacifica's still amorphous audience growth goals could be a foregone conclusion. And
failure to meet the goals could result in the sale of the station.
At a press conference two days ago, Pacifica National Board member Peter Bramson of Oakland stated that, during a telephone conference
call on July 27, Pacifica Board Vice Chair David Acosta put forward to the executive committee of the board a proposal to take out a $5 million loan against the value of the KPFA license, in order to set up
another station, possibly in Palo Alto. According to Bramson, Acosta also proposed selling the KPFA frequency, which has an estimated value of $65 to $75 million.
A call to Pacifica's PR firm to ask about
KPFA's future operating budget was not returned by deadline.
KPFA's supporters are also looking for changes in Pacifica's internal structure. Attorney Van Jones, of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights,
said "to send these workers back into this building with no guarantee with no structural changes is like sending earthquake victims back into a building that hasn't been retrofitted."
Jones
called for marchers in the tens of thousands to appear for a protest scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday. "Now is the critical hour, " he said.
Tomorrow's march begins at Sproul Plaza on
the campus of UC Berkeley, the place where the Free Speech Movement was launched on the Berkeley campus 30 years ago. The march will proceed past KPFA to Provo Park where a rally is scheduled to begin at
1:30 pm. Interested parties can obtain more information at
