July 13, 1999
Are Pacifica Stations for Sale?
Explosive Pacifica Radio
Memo Raises Storm
Here at CounterPunch we have always predicted
that the end game of Pacifica's national board would the sale
of some or all of the 5-station network's assets, worth some
$300 million. Such a sale would finally destroy the listener-subscriber
basis of this once progressive radio network.
Latest evidence of the Board's bad faith comes
in the form of an email, purportedly from Micheal Palmer, a real
estate broker in Houston who is treasurer-elect on the governing
board. The text of the memo follows. Palmer's email to Pacifica
national board chair Mary Frances Berry puts forward a plan to
destroy grassroots opposition and raise money to pay for the
voracious cash needs of the national superstructure by selling
either KPFA, the network's flagship station in the Bay Area,
valued at around $70 million, or WBAI in New York, probably worth
even more. Thus far Palmer has not responded to CounterPunch's
phone messages left at his office, home and cell phone, explaining
clearly the reason for our calls.
There are a couple puzzling features in the
address panel of the email. Berry's name middle name is incorrectly
spelled, though Micheal is the proper spelling of Palmer's first
name. How can such an explosive memo be seeing the light of day
instead of remaining locked in Mary Frances Berry's safe? The
truth is ironic and extraordinary. The IGC internet service provider
did a trace and confirms that the email originated at Micheal
Palmer's email account. (Click
here to read the IGC trace of the email's origins.) But it
was sent to the email address of Andrea Buffa, director of the
San Francisco Media Alliance and one of the protesters on whom
Pacifica manager Lynn Chadwick had conducted a citizen's arrest
for demonstrating outside the Pacifica national offices in Berkeley.
Buffa was arraigned on July 13 directing the attention of the
press to the text of the letter on CounterPunch's website. (Click here to
read press release from the Media Alliance.) It seems that
Palmer in one of the most momentous Freudian slips in recent
memory managed to direct his email to an active opponent of all
the schemes being hatched by him and Berry.
The memo shows that a small clique on the
national board has been planning all along a strategy which even
many people disapproving of the Berry strategy had regarded as
inconceivable. Here at CounterPunch we are not in the least surprised.
A year ago we were told by an entirely reliable source that the
notion of selling one of Pacifica's frequencies has long been
debated inside the high command. Four years ago, then Pacifica
national director Pat Scott and others were actively lobbying
for the sale of WBAI's prized frequency on the New York FM dial,
arguing that the proceeds would in part purchase a less valuable
frequency and be otherwise invested in projects dear to the board's
heart. In sum, the content of Palmer's damning email is well
within the bounds of credibility. Its inadvertent release promises
to raise the Pacifica battle to a new level and draw in many
previous fence sitters in the struggle against Berry and her
clique.
From: Palmer, Micheal @ Houston Galleria, mpalmer@cbrichardellis.com
To: 'Mary Francis Berry', ma@igc.org
Hello Dr. Berry,
I salute your fortitude in
scheduling a news conference opportunity in the beloved Bay Area
regarding one of the most pressing issues of our time............
But seriously, I was under
the impression there was support in the proper quarters, and
a definite majority, for shutting down that unit and re-programming
immediately. Has that changed? Is there consensus among the national
staff that anything other than that is acceptable/bearable? I
recall Cheryl saying that the national staff wanted to know with
certitude that they supported 100% by the Board in whatever direction
was taken; what direction is being taken?
As an update for you and
Lynn I spoke with the only radio broker I know last week and
his research shows $750,000-$1.25m for KPFB. There would be a
very "shallow pool" of buyers for a repeater signal
such as this and it would be difficult to do a marketing effort
quietly due to the shortage of buyers. So there is no profound
latent value to that asset. The primary signal would lend itself
to a quiet marketing scenario of discreet presentation to logical
and qualified buyers. This is the best radio market in history
and while public companies may see a dilutive effect from a sale
(due to the approximate 12 month repositioning effort needed),
they would still be aggressive for such a signal. Private media
companies would be the most aggressive in terms of price, which
he thinks could be in the $65-75m range depending on various
aspects of a deal. It would be possible to acquire other signals
in the area, possibly more than one, to re-establish operations,
but it could take a few years to complete if we want to maximize
proceeds from the initial license transfer, or leave only $10-20m
in arbitrage gain when purchase(s) is complete. None of this
reflects tax consequences. This broker, just like any other that
would undertake such an effort, would need certain agreements
in place prior to starting.
Mary I think any such transfer
we would ever consider requires significant analysis, not so
much regarding a decision to go forward, but how to best undertake
the effort and to deploy the resulting capital with the least
amount of tax, legal and social disruption. I believe the Finance
Committee will undertake a close review of the Audigraphics data
provided recently to determine what it is costing us per listener,
per subscriber, per market, per hour of programming...in order
give the Executive Director and the General Managers benchmarks
for improvement. Even with that data my feeling is that a more
beneficial disposition would be of the New York signal as there
is a smaller subscriber base without the long and emotional history
as the Bay Area, far more associated value, a similarly dysfunctional
staff though far less effective and an overall better opportunity
to redefine Pacifica going forward. It is simply the more strategic
asset.
With this in mind I would
encourage frank description of the realities of the media enviornment
we operate in and of Pacifica's available resources to participate
and have impact in the evolving media world. The Executive Committee,
at a minimum, should have access to experts (whether from Wall
Street, NPR/CPB, Microsoft or otherwise) to get a strong reality
check (me included) about radio and Pacifica's position in it
so that informed decisions can be made. My feeling is that we
are experiencing a slow financial death which is having the normal
emotional outbursts commensurate with such a disease. We will
continually experience similar events, in fact we have been experiencing
similar events over the past several years, primarily because
we are not self supporting through subscriber contributions and
have a self imposed constraint on asset redeployment that leaves
us cash starved at a time when our industry is being propelled
in new directions, each requiring capital outlays of consequence.
We're boxed in at our own will. This board needs to be educated,
quickly, and to take action that will be far more controversial
that the KPFA situation. How can we get there?
So, now I've exhaled more
than I should, but you know where I'm at. Let's do something.
MDP
For more information on Pacifica visit these
sites:
http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica
http://www.savepacifica.net
An afternoon panel discussion on the Pacifica
crisis will be held Saturday, July 24 from 1-4 p.m. at the Sepulveda
Unitarian Universalist Society, 9550 Haskell Avenue in North
Hills. Panelists include former Pacifica board president Peter
Franck, fired Pacifica national programmer Larry Bensky, KPFK
local advisory board chair and litigant David Adelson , and long-time
KPFK programmer Roy Tuckman. Dr. Helen Caldicott will also address
the issues via a pre-taped presentation.
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