Dear Community of listeners:
In 1998-99 following the protests by the people of KPFA's increasingly
corporate structure, Andrea Buffa of Media Alliance approached the program
council with POOR Magazine's proposal for a radio broadcast of PoorNewsNetwork.
After some grappling the proposal was referred to the rather mainstream
sounds of KPFA's Morning Show. At first, we were offered a spot to do
a weekly show, but due to POOR's ghetto reality as a VERY poor organization
founded and led by a lot of poor folks with very little resources we
were unable to do any more than a monthly show. So it was decided we
would produce a monthly show and re-visit increasing it to a bi-monthly
show within a year when we had more resources.
Consequently, since 1999 POOR Magazine has produced a monthly radio
broadcast on KPFA's Morning Show at 94.1fm which, like all of our media
production is co-written, and co-produced by several different youth,
poverty, disability, race and inmigrante scholars locally and globally
who suffer and resist po-lice brutality, border fascism, houselessness,
eviction, gentrification, displacement environmental racism, ableism
and many more positions of oppression. As well, our show acts as a showcase
for poor artists, street journalists, hip hop skolaz, spoken wordsmiths,
poets, profits, skolaz and cultural workers on issues that we face everyday.
Voices who are never heard- Scholarship that is Never included and Solutions
that are rarely, if ever, heard! Finally - this is also a channel of
access for our poverty journalists in training in POOR's Race, Poverty
and Media Justice Institute.
In 2002, with the increase in community desire for a radio channel
to air many of the dire and urgent issues hitting poor folks locally
and globally, POOR re-approached the Morning show staff with a proposal
to increase our very popular show to two shows a month. They refused
and stated that it was because we weren't "up to their standards"
of production value and, as well that they didn't have the time to help
us do more tech work so we needed to bring our own radio editor to make
this happen. We didn't challenge this cause the fight was too time consuming
and told them we would address it in the future.
Later in 2002 POOR Magazine suffered several blows to its organizational
and personal family, not the least of which was receiving a fatal diagnosis
of Mama Dee, losing almost all of our grants and funding and having
to move and much more. Through all of that POOR continued to produce
their radio show, without any funding or paid staff.
In 2006 after the tragic passing of Mama Dee, Tiny and Leroy, the
board of POOR Magazine, and poverty scholars who were regular reporters
for PNN re-approached the staff of the Morning Show. The first thing
they said was, "No, PNN isn't up to our standards." We pushed
and asked what those standards were that we weren't meeting and said,
lets' try to amend whatever problems you have with our production value.
They said that we needed to bring in our radio editor. So the search
was on.
After two more months of hoop jumping and integrating all of their
suggestions, we met again. Once again , they said we still weren't up
to the quality that they needed to hear. We said then we'll do more
shows and an EVERGREEN show ( a show that is a back-up for any producer
if they need a filler) and we also began to work with the amazing and
very talented Sema Noor, a graduate from KPFA's own apprentice program,
who was dedicated to be POOR's radio editor - a position that was paid,
albeit a too small fee of 10.00 per hour, by POOR Magazine's own VERY
limited funds ( not KPFA) We said we would do all of this and if it
was up to their par we would go to two shows in May.
The Morning Show staff begrudgingly agreed and said that as long as
we were committed to creating quality shows and produced the Evergreen
show that they were ok with that arrangement and we could re-visit this
arrangement in a few months.
Three months passed, and we brought nothing less than 32 new voices
of poverty race, disability and youth scholars in to the radio airwaves
as well as producing two entirely bi-lingual shows with our Voces de
Inmigrantes en resistencia reporteras who discussed their own insider
scholarship on the so-called amnesty bill, an insider report on The
Gang Injunction , three welfareQUEENs segments on the state of very
poor families in California produced by the impacted families, and many
more fascinating and important shows
In July POOR went to Atlanta - to the US Social Forum to create media
on issues of poverty, racism and indigenous resistance, by the poverty
race and disability and indigenous reporters at POOR - it was VERY hard
- and we were totally un-funded. It was an unbelievably difficult trip-
and we went with no help from KPFA.
When we came back we had to respond to a threat of a slap suit by
John Stewart Company that hit both us and our media partners the SF
Bayview for telling the truth about John Stewarts' Sleazy practices
in the Bay Area. We also had the full production of welfareQUEENs on
stage at the BRAVA - suffice to say it was a struggle to keep it all
going. We did the best we could.
In August, the Executive Producer of the Morning Show approached us
and said that due to the "lack of quality " of our last show
she was considering pulling us back to one show a month. We responded
with all of the different arguments and asked why in fact didn't they
utilize the EVERGREEN show - and they replied that actually they didn't
like that either and just forgot to mention it to us.
In the end - we at POOR know that the MORNING SHOW never wanted us
to have this much airwave access and that it is totally un-founded what
they are saying but we need the community to respond to this threat,
We provide as much access for voices as we possibly can and these are
voices that are not being heard ANYWHERE else - abuse of incarcerated
peoples written by incarcerated peoples - responses to gentrification
and eviction by the people threatened with eviction, youth crime by
youth who facing profiling, and on and on- WE are here to keep this
channel of access for the people and by the people and if anything we
should be increased rather than scaled back and we hope that you all
agree and speak up or we might not be able to be heard in this arena
for much longer!
In struggle,
Tiny, Leroy, and the POOR Magazine board, staff and race, poverty
and disability scholars
To show your support, please contact KPFA and tell them NOT to deny
these important voices radio access. Please call listener comments at
510-848-6767 ext. 622
and/or email themorningshow@kpfa.org (please cc deeandtiny@poormagazine.org)
as well, please foward this letter!
