GrassrootsKPFK: Lydia Brazon

I joined the KPFK Local Advisory Board 10 years ago, served as its chair for one year, served on the Interim Pacifica National Board briefly, was elected to the Local Station Board in 2004, served on the Pacifica National Board in 2006 and 2007 and co-hosted a show in 1996.

I have served as Executive Director of the Humanitarian Law Project for almost 15 years and joined its board in 1988. The Humanitarian Law Project is a non-profit, non-governmental organization with consultative status at the United Nations. Our First Amendment case was heard last month by the Supreme Court, whose ruling, regrettably, dealt a devastating blow to Freedom of Speech. Our case challenged the broad wording in the Patriot Act which clearly erodes free speech and which has historically been given the greatest weight in previous court decisions. This decision only reinforced and deepened my appreciation for Pacifica Radio and its legacy of providing one of the most valuable forums for speech and content otherwise not heard elsewhere.

The breadth of my experience makes me uniquely qualified to serve on the Local Station Board. My political and community activism provide much of the experience necessary to expand the station’s listenership without sacrificing the historically progressive mission of Pacifica Radio. My cultural and media endeavors have enabled me to hone the requisite skills to further enhance KPFK’s broadcast and programming quality. My long history with KPFK will provide the experience necessary to strengthen, nurture and support the station’s listeners, staff and fellow board members. Flourishing as a station must be our ongoing and ultimate goal.

BACKGROUND Apart from my years with KPFK, I’ve spent much of my time as an activist in the diverse communities of Los Angeles working to give voice to the voiceless. Since 1978, I have been committed to human rights here and abroad. My mother was Nicaraguan and provided my introduction to human rights work in that country.

In 2004 I was elected President of the Southern California Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action and served as its President until November of 2009.

I co-founded the Central America Information Project (1982-1989), a media information organization which focused on issues relating to Central American and the Carribean.

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Q & A

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

I consider it both a privilege and responsibility to devote my time and energy to participate in helping to care for KPFK, a most precious community resource.

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

The LSB as a committee of the Pacifica National Board of the Pacifica Foundation is able to, when functioning optimally, to support and compliment the local and national goals and activities of both. The LSB can best support the staff and listeners by being as transparent and open as possible.

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

KPFK can better serve the community by going beyond geographic limitations and becoming equally as conscious of demography, culture and the inherent progressive commonality for which the station is known. Even sociologists are hard-pressed to define community, but in my opinion, community includes, but is not limited to, geographic proximity, demographics, language, economics, politics, race, culture, and a broad spectrum of generational and social commonalities.

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.

In order to reach underrepresented communities, the station would need to be able to address issues which have a direct impact on their everyday lives. Given the demographic growth of the Spanish language community, it is also imperative to develop and sustain Spanish language, bi-lingual and intra-lingual programming as well as some website translation both from Spanish to English as well as from English to Spanish. Community events might be organized in diverse, underserved communities featuring some of our on-air personalities and board members.

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?

KPFK and Pacifica are unique in that it is a non-profit organization as well as a radio network. As such, we need to realize that your average Executive Director and in KPFK’s case, General Manager, would normally spend 75% of their time fundraising. That includes not only events, dinners, mailings, etc. which are often administered by other staff members, but most critically, developing relationships with donors. Board members must likewise spend time identifying donors and assisting the General Manager in developing those contacts.

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.

Professionally, I have been employed as a social worker in a nursing home and light psychiatric facility, I later worked in advertising where I also learned to produce informative ads around the Central America struggles of the ‘80’s. Since then, I’ve served as Executive Director of the Humanitarian Law project. I’ve worked around countless progressive local, national and international issues.

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 want to serve on the Governance Committee.

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