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KPBS opposes unionization

B

Bob Hudson

New Participating Member
Proving that it is not a progressive liberal organization, KPBS has brought in a hired gun to fight employee efforts to become part of the SAG/AFTRA union (both TV and radio). San Diego City Beat has the story at http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/blog-1389-labor-conflict-brewing-at-kpbs.html

I found it interesting that management's anti-union email included this statement:

"We sincerely want what’s best for our staff because you have helped build this organization from a college TV and Radio station to a trusted, successful and vital news organization..."

Is there anyone at KPBS who was even alive when it was a "college" station, let alone helped build it? I guess Tom Karlo was around when students still worked there, as was the late Gloria Penner, but it is a long, long way from ever having been a college station, if indeed it really ever did have programming directed and hosted by students.
 
After graduating high school in 1968, I wanted to see if anybody would take on an eager newcomer to broadcasting. One of the first places I went to was the then KEBS-FM, on the campus of San Diego State. The manager's name, if my memory is correct, was John Witherspoon. Long story short, he told me that no students were part of the staff of KEBS. I wound up getting my feet wet that summer at a junior college in San Bernardino that welcomed people who wanted to try it, and when the regular school year started, at San Diego City College, all good learning experiences that don't exist anymore.

I wish the KPBS staff well in their unionization efforts. I worked at a couple of places that tried to unionize but were unsuccessful. To call any Public Broadcasting outlet liberal is inaccurate. While not conservative, they are usually managed by people who would much rather err on the side of caution, and play it safe.
 
RicoGregg said:
After graduating high school in 1968, I wanted to see if anybody would take on an eager newcomer to broadcasting. One of the first places I went to was the then KEBS-FM, on the campus of San Diego State. The manager's name, if my memory is correct, was John Witherspoon. Long story short, he told me that no students were part of the staff of KEBS. I wound up getting my feet wet that summer at a junior college in San Bernardino that welcomed people who wanted to try it, and when the regular school year started, at San Diego City College, all good learning experiences that don't exist anymore.

I wish the KPBS staff well in their unionization efforts. I worked at a couple of places that tried to unionize but were unsuccessful. To call any Public Broadcasting outlet liberal is inaccurate. While not conservative, they are usually managed by people who would much rather err on the side of caution, and play it safe.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree that the NPR and PBS affiliates do have to balance their books to. But For Some reason its always somebody from the Sarah Palin/Ted Cruz crowd that Falsely accuse PBS and NPR for being liberal and somebody from the Pacifica KPFA crowd accusing PBS and NPR for being Right wing. But I do understand that stations like KPBS has to figure out how to survive in the web age such as renting stream space on iheartradio to reformat their programming to get younger audiences to donate and volunteer at their PBS and NPR affiliate. Also its that PBS and NPR struggles with the definitions of Center, Moderate, Objective and Independent.
 
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In the 60s and 70s, KPBS student employees had to be in the Radio/TV academic program. John Witherspoon was at that
time General Manager of KPBS FM and TV. Tom McManus was the FM Program Director during most of that time.
The only other full-time FM employee was Chief Announcer Jerry Zullo.

I was one of several student announcers on-air on FM in those days. Ken Kramer conceived "About San Diego" during this
timeframe while he was a student at KPBS-FM. I engineered Ken's late night Folk Show back then.

Another campus radio station, KCR AM 540, came on air in 1969. This station was open to all students, unlike KPBS.
I was one of the principle founding members of KCR, and was the first person to broadcast on KCR air.
 
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