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In the last year, KPFK, the listener-sponsored free speech Pacifica radio station in Los Angeles (aired from Santa Barbara to San Diego) has gone from running a nearly half-million dollar deficit to operating, just barely, in the black for the first time in almost five years. It has added the first fresh programming in a long time in both morning drive time and late night, including seasoned Black female journalists and commentators like Thandisizwe Chimurenga (a KPFK newscaster and public affairs host, published author, print journalist at the LA Watts Times and social media columnist for the Daily Kos), Nana Gyamfi (movement human rights lawyer and previously on Internet radio) and sister Charlene Muhammad (long-time public affairs host and producer at KPFK, and west coast correspondent for the Final Call newspaper). Many new volunteers have been trained in all aspects of community-oriented and -supported radio and have started to work on station operations, radio production and news-gathering. The station's "Film Club" premium membership has been restored and expanded, with new theaters in different parts of the region including Long Beach and Orange County. Listener sponsorship has climbed back up from a low of about 15,000 members to c. 18,000. New youthful voices have been added in late night as well, with programming such as Sex Please, a public affairs show about matters some people like to keep private "behind closed doors," looking at issues of racism, sexism and criminalization facing sex workers and others.
KPFK is currently doing the best of all five Pacifica stations, the only one current this year on its payments to the national office and to the Pacifica Radio Archives (which it hosts free of charge on the station's premises, as well as paying the largest fees of all the Pacifica stations). It is provisionally in the black since the beginning of the current fiscal year last October 1, although that has only come at the cost of reductions in hours and pay for all the paid staff and management, as the new station manager, Leslie Radford, who has effectuated these changes, sought to preserve most jobs by implementing across-the-board percentage cuts, including for herself and other managers. Even though the paid staff (unlike the managers) received a subsidy for the...