BOARD CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

submitted by

Gerry Bill

Our radio station has come a long way in the last thirty-two years, and I would like to see it continue to move in a positive direction.  The station has evolved into a true community radio station focused on meeting our needs locally.  One way we serve local needs is by bringing the best of KPFA programming into the Valley.  The other way we do it is by providing quality local programming of a type that is not available anywhere else.  Both of these activities are important and should be maintained in a proper balance.  I am pleased with the increase in local programming we have added in recent years, and I will work to maintain it.  I am also open to the possible expansion of local programming in the future, as long as the best of KPFA programming is maintained.

I have appreciated the opportunity to serve you on the board for the last five years, and I hope to continue to do so.
 

Responses to questions:
 

1.   Background Statement

I have lived in Fresno for over thirty years, and for the last twenty-some years I have been a regular listener to KFCF.  I am a current Foundation board member, Treasurer for the Foundation, and chair of the Budget Committee.
I have also been a long-term, consistent contributor to the Foundation and to KFCF.  I have been teaching sociology at Fresno City College for the last thirty-five years, and I make it a regular practice to introduce my students to KFCF.  I have served on several nonprofit boards of directors over the years.  Currently I serve on the board of the Fresno Center for Nonviolence and on the governing committee of the Beth Anne Harnish Lecture Committee at CSUF.

2.   Value of KFCF/KPFA to Central California

KFCF is an invaluable asset to the Central Valley, both for its local programming and for its rebroadcast of KPFA. We need to keep a balance between local programming and the programs offered by KPFA.  KPFA provides us with state/national news and information programming that are way beyond the scope of anything that we could produce locally.  Our local needs, however, are not adequately addressed if we rely 100% on KPFA.  We need to keep these two aspects in balance in order to maximize the effectiveness of the great community resource that KFCF has become.

3.   Proper Role and Responsibility of Board Members

The radio station exists to serve the listeners, and the Foundation exists to serve the community. Board members need to keep their focus on what is best for the people we are supposed to be serving.  With regard to the radio station, that means providing programming that meets the needs of the listeners, as determined by the listeners themselves.  Board members have a responsibility to see that the station and the Foundation are being run in a sound, business-like manner, with monies spent prudently and assets protected properly.

4.   Increasing Audience Size and Diversity

To increase audience size the station needs more visibility.  Good efforts are already being made in that direction, but there is always more that could be done.  One thing that helps is to have good visibility at public events such as marches and rallies. Many young people who come to a demonstration for the first time have never heard of KFCF.  High visibility at such events is an important form of outreach.  One kind of diversity we need to encourage is age diversity, and visibility at events attended by the young social activists in our community is a key to that.  Racial and ethnic diversity also needs to be expanded.  The same principle of outreach applies here. We need to make sure that we are visible at events in our area that address the needs of specific racial and ethnic groups.  I believe the station has improved in this regard in the last two years, and I am looking for even more visibility in the future.

5.   How the Board Can Work with Pacifica, KPFA, and the KFCF Community?

I believe we currently have a good working relationship with KPFA, and through them with Pacifica.  KPFA and Pacifica are still wrestling with their own internal struggles; our representation on the KPFA board allows us to bring a perspective from the outside, which can be very helpful.  We have built up some goodwill with KPFA because of our support in the crisis of 1999, and that goodwill is worth keeping.  We should continue to support KPFA and help increase KPFA’s influence on Pacifica.  However, I believe we should remain independent of the Pacifica network; our independence was a great asset during the time of the troubles.  We also need to do our best to learn from some of the mistakes made at KPFA and not repeat them here in Fresno.

In terms of working with the KFCF community, I believe we do that best by participating in and even co-sponsoring local events of interest to our members.  In addition, we need to increase our contact with the membership via occasional emails and greater use of our web site.  Postage rates keep going up, making it ever more expensive to send letters to the membership.  However, the proportion of the membership with regular email service continues to increase.  Occasional emails to the membership with information related to the Foundation and the radio station would serve as a gentle reminder to every one of them that they are members of the KFCF community, and it would let them know that we have not forgotten about them.

| Mark Hernandez | Janet Slagter | Gerry Bill | Sue Kern | Ali Rezapour |