GrassrootsKPFK: Jim Lafferty

For the past Twenty years I have been the Director of the National Lawyers Guild in Los Angeles, and the host of The Lawyers Guild Show, heard each Thursday evening on KPFK. And a couple of years ago I had the privilege of serving as KPFK's Interim General Manager.

My experiences as a volunteer programmer and as Interim General Manager of the station have greatly enhanced my knowledge and appreciation for both the programmatic and administrative needs of KPFK, and for its immeasurable importance to the progressive community in and around Los Angeles. At a time of enhanced monopolization of the main-stream media by Corporate America, we need a fiercely independent KPFK now more than ever in our 50+ years of broadcasting.

Both as an active member of the volunteer programmer community and as a paid staff member, my main focus has been on keeping KPFK true to its original mission. By that I mean keeping it clearly on the left or progressive side of the political divide, and free of partisan politics. As main-stream radio becomes more and more conservative or, at best, a mouth piece for the ever more centrist Democratic Party, it is incumbent upon KPFK to remain a strong and independent voice, speaking, as Amy Goodman puts it, " truth to power." That means that our programming, while always mindful of the need to provide honest, intelligent and well-informed radio journalism to our listeners, must also be unafraid to host programs that take on Corporate America, its imperialist wars and occupations, and capitalism's Wall Street bail-outs at the expense of Main-Street.

Our programming must also reasonably reflect the demographics of the community we serve. That means, at a minimum, insuring that we broadcast progressive Spanish language programming, as well as programming about the various other constituencies in our KPFK community: women, immigrants, people of color, the GLBT community, the civil rights and liberties community, etc. In short, while other local public radio stations, for example, KCRW, are fine stations, they are not KPFK, and KPFK should not and must not become a pale imitation of such stations simply on behalf of raising our listenership. We can increase our listenership and stay true to our mission if we work to enhance both the quality of our programming and the on-air skills of our programmers, myself included!

Lastly, if elected to KPFK's local station board I will redouble my long-standing effort to find common ground with all members of the KPFK family, put an end to unproductive infighting within the KPFK community, and engage the LSB in work that will enhance the financial status, programmatic reach, and over-all well-being of KPFK. We should all remember that while we sometimes have sharp differences between ourselves, all members of the KPFK family are just that...members of the same family; a family that must stand unitied against the ever-growing media monopoly of mindless, often hateful, corporate-interest-serving radio programming that poisons our airwaves.

Email Jim by clicking here.

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Q & A

Why do you want to be on the Local Station Board (LSB)?

I want to serve on the LSB for all of the reasons set forth in my 500 word candidate's statement. But, in general, to help KPFK increase its listeners, stay true to Lou Hill's mission, and gain financial stability.

How do you envision the LSB working with the Pacifica Foundation, staff and listener members?

The LSB should work with: a) the Pacifica Foundation in a spirit of network-wide cooperation and solidarity, and with an eye towards making sure that KPFK is treated equally with all other stations in the Pacifica network; b) the LSB should work with the KPFK staff in a respectful and supporting spirit, recognizing that most of the KPFK staff are unpaid volunteers who, along with the paid staff, are dedicated to KPFK and its mission, want it to flourish, and... in case of the paid staff... work hard under ver difficult circumstances for low wages. In short, the LSB should recognize that the KPFK staff, paid and un-paid are simply the life blood of the station and should work with them accorKPFK can better serve the commundingly; c) the LSB should work with the listeners in recognition of the obvious fact that without them there would be no KPFK, or LSB, etc. Indeed, the LSB should remember that most of their members have been elected by the listeners! Therefore, they should be open to meeting with and listening to the listeners and ever vigilant in working on behalf of, what is, after all, the listeners' station.

How can your station better serve the community? Please define community.

KPFK can better serve the community by hosting more programming in community centers, union halls, etc., on topics of interest to the community. In this regard, while our public affairs programming will, of course, cover topics of national and international interest, we must also include in our public affairs programming a balanced number of topics of local/community concerns. KPFK is, first and foremost, a "community radio station." Indeed, I follow this practice with respect to programming on my own show, The Lawyers Guild Show. And, in general, we must always be mindful of the need to keep our programming as diverse as our listeners and the various communities they live and work in.

Describe some actions you would take to increase the influence of the station in underrepresented communities and to increase the diversity of the listening audience.

To increase the diversity of our audience and our influence in the broader L.A. community, I would, as suggested above, conduct more live broadcasts of KPFK from the various underrepresented communities that make up the greater KPFK listening audience. For example, more shows on immigration issues in East L.A., more shows on police misconduct issues in Watts, more shows on labor issues from union halls in various communities. Another way to serve these communities is by doing the sort of thing I implemented at the station while I was employed as the KPFK's Interim General Manager. I initiated the practice of quickly announcing Immigration raids on our airwaves as they were being conducted, so that immigrants would know of the raid, ans so that the immigrants' rights support community could go to the place of the raid to support those targeted by the ICE police. This was greatly appreciated by members of our immigrant communities and their supporters.

What sources of funding, other than listener donations, do you feel your station should solicit? Do you have any ideas with respect to improving the current funding mechanisms?

Beyond listener donations, KPFK, being located in a part of the Hollywood community, can increase its financial suport from high-profile entertainers, both directly through contributions and indirectly through concerts featuring high-profile entertainers. In addition, the LSB should be doing more than it has in recent years to raise money for the station. For example, most LSB members have access to a personal and/or organizational e-mail list that could be used not only during fund drives, but all year long as a vehicle for soliciting contribution to the station. And there is no reason why the LSB, itself, could not host a fund raising party to benefit the station. And certainly many LSB members have contacts at various foundations that might provide a project-specific grant to KPFK.

Please state briefly the skills, experience, educational background, work history, organizational affiliations, areas of community service, areas of interest and expertise that you would bring to the Pacifica network as a member of the Local Station Board.

My years of work experience and past organization experience include, but are not limited to: a BA degree from the University of Michigan: a JD from Wayne State University Law School: Director of the Civil Division of the Wayne County Michigan Neighborhood Legal Services Program; 20 years as Director of the National Lawyers Guild human right bar association in Los Angeles: 25 years experience as a civil rights and workers' rights lawyer; National Coordinator of the largest anti-war coalition during the U.S. war in Vietnam; Associate Director , Center for Seafarers'Rights in NYC: Adjunct professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City; President of the Board of the Office of the Americas: Fellow at the University of Southern California's Institute for the Humanities; Co-coordinator of the L.A. Coalition to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Steering Committee member of the L.A. ANSWER anti-war coalition; founder and Chair of the largest A.C.L.U. Chapter in the State of Michigan; Co-National Coordinator of the Campaign to End U.S. Intervention in Central America/the Caribbean; and, of course, former Interim General Manager of KPFK and, for 20 years now, the host of The Lawyers Guild Show on KPFK.

On which Local Station Board committees are you interested in actively serving? If you are a current Local Station Board member, on which committees do you currently serve?

I would like to serve on the LSB's programming committee and staff review committee.

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