Below are the candidates for the 2023 KPFT Delegate/Local Station Board (LSB) elections, who Move KPFT Forward believes have the most experience and commitment to helping KPFT, and who we are endorsing.
Why Vote?
This election is critical to protect KPFT’s bank accounts, building, staff, and programming. We need to elect effective people to KPFT’s LSB to put effective Directors on the Pacifica National Board, who can address Pacifica’s severe financial and governance crises. We also need LSB members who will keep management who understands that quality, well-produced programming is key to attracting listeners and donors. Please VOTE for candidates endorsed by KPFT Forward, as listed below under Our Endorsements.
More of why it’s so important to get good people on our LSB and the PNB:
- Pacifica has over $2 million in unpaid bills.
- In addition, Pacifica failed to make payments on a $2,080,000 government loan now referred to the US Treasury Dept for collections, and the original $3.2 Million loan from 5 years ago (that was supposed to have been paid off by now) that uses all of Pacifica’s buildings as collateral. Pacifica still has no repayment plan for those loans other than to sell buildings and possibly other assets. Yes, even though our building on Lovett was sold and we moved into our new location last year, our new building is still collateral for those loans.
- We need board members who will push for more responsible actions on the Pacifica national level, to help save KPFT as well as other stations.
Please VOTE for all 10 Candidates endorsed by Move KPFT Forward (see below), and only them.
BALLOTS:
- If KPFT has your email address, around Tue. Aug 15 you should have received an email ballot from Pacifica Foundation <invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com>, with subject line “Vote now: Pacifica Foundation Inc – 2023 Local Station Elections. You may get email reminders from that same email address, every Tuesday since then until you vote, or until the voting period closes at the end of September. The subject line in the reminder emails have “Reminder” instead of “Vote now”, but are otherwise the same.
- You may also get an SMS (text) message to your phone from Pacifica, if KPFT has your mobile number. Those were also sent out on Aug. 15.
- Or if KPFT has neither your email address nor mobile number, you should have received a hard copy ballot in the mail.
- Look for each of those and check your spam folder if you can’t find them. Each has your unique link for voting online in the KPFT election.
NO BALLOT ?
if you didn’t get your ballot as noted above, then please fill out the official Pacifica ballot request form here, and also let us know by emailing movekpftforward@gmail.com
If you don’t have a gmail address, you may skip the part on the ballot request form where it asks which of your gmail accounts to use.
It may take a few days for a response, and then Pacifica’s National Election Supervisor may ask for more details (such as when you last donated and how you made the donation), so don’t wait until it’s too late to request a ballot if you need one!
Our Endorsements
Please vote for ALL of these well-qualified candidates, not just for your top three or four choices. You may rank them in any order you wish, from 1 to 10, but please do not rank/vote for any other candidates. With Pacifica’s voting methods, ranking ALL of the people listed here will help to maximize the number of people on our Local Station Board who will work together to help Move KPFT Forward!
- Richard Uzzell – long-time KPFT volunteer, understands we must have balanced budgets & trained staff
- Elayne Duncan – BA in Business, retired buyer for Texas Children’s Hospital, familiar with contract management, spreadsheets and budgets
- Lynden Foley – Music Lover, Financial Analyst, dedicated LSB and PNB member devoted to financial reform
- Rob Lee – Fundraising Volunteer, financial background & non-profit development experience
- Torry Mercer – Poet, Writer, Musician, Composer, Songwriter, Bandleader, Retired Social Studies teacher
- Cheryl Lynn – Kind. Practical. Creative. Effective. Conflict resolution and deescalation expertise, Prairie View A&M grad, Mental Health Counselor, Social/Political Activist
- Angelle’ Mitchell – semi-retired teacher, Black Voters Matter volunteer, wants myriad of views, cultures, and music
- Andrea Riley – Strong Problem Solver, Administrative Support Specialist, Legal Support, Social Media, Political Campaign Support, Writer/Editor, Business Correspondent
- Debbie Smith – Volunteer Recruiter, Team builder, Board Leadership experience, Experienced Event planner and Fundraiser planner, Dedicated volunteer, KPFT building Committee 10 years to present, Goal-driven
- Marianne Martinez – long term listener member of KPFT, LSB & PNB member
More details on all these candidates are below. Click on any name above to go directly to their candidate profile and photo.
Who (besides Move KPFT Forward) is endorsing these excellent candidates?
The following are some of the many people who are endorsing them:
- Nibu Abraham – GenerAsian Radio
- Boyd Bluestein – Blues Cats Lounge
- Duane Bradley – Open Journal and former KPFT General Manager
- Rick Campbell – Open Journal
- David Collingsworth – Prison Show
- Wally James – The Progressive Forum
- Joanna Jetton and Dalton Harris – Bluegrass Depot
- Hank Lamb – Gumbeaux, previously the Prison Show and Electroluv
- Nuri Nuri – Blues Brunch
- James & Colleen Nagle – Howlin’ the Blues
- Ms. V and Nancy McAfee – Ms. V’s Blues
- Freddie Rothstein and Rick Norris – All Day Music
- Egberto Willies – Politics Done Right
- Jill Morgenstern – long-time KPFT volunteer, former host of Bayou Brew
- Teresa Allen – long-time KPFT fundraising and outreach volunteer, LSB member, PNB Director
- Bill Crosier – long-time KPFT tech & outreach volunteer, former LSB member and PNB Director
- Susan Young – long-time KPFT volunteer capital campaign, LSB member, former PNB Director
Listener Candidates:
Elayne Duncan
Let me introduce myself. I am Elayne Duncan,. And if elected this would be my second term on the Board. I am retired from Texas Children’s Hospital. I was a Senior Buyer, for 22 Years, with the responsibilities for contacts, billing, and purchasing for 35 location. I have a BA Business degree from Dallas Baptist University. I started my career at Pacific Bell for 6 years, then transferred to SWBell in Houston. I complete my career with 31 Years of services. I also served on the Board for for a not profit Healthcare for 10 years. I am familiar with contract management, spreadsheets and budgets. I retired to go to Nevada to take care of my sister who was sick with ALS. She passed a year later.and returned home. I like to keep busy. I enjoy working with others and listening to KPFT.
Lynden Foley
Hello KPFT members. I am soliciting your vote so that I may serve you as a representative on the KPFT LSB. If elected I would be joining the board for the second time, having previously served from 2019 through 2021 first as the LSB Treasurer and then two years on the Pacifica National Board (PNB). My most consequential achievement at the PNB was to lead the KPFT delegation in the process of selling the 419 Lovett location after it became obvious that it would not be rehabilitated. We four members from KPFT were able to steer the sale into getting our asking price of $1.215 million for the Pacifica Foundaion of which KPFT was able to keep two thirds. With this money our current IGM and others were able to secure our present location on Caroline.
My previous stint on the LSB came about because I was recruited by some of our on air talent while I volunteered answering phones during a fund drive. The reason I was recruited I was told is because I “seemed to be sane”. As homage to Alan Arkin’s Yossarian if I were sane I wouldn’t be running for this position so I must not be sane. All he same I do wish to return to the LSB so that I may support and protect the gains that have been made by the current staff and management of KPFT. I believe strongly in the direction of our programming and the promise of financial stability that has come with that. I believe that the huge disruption of the pandemic and the disaster that led to the loss of our Lovett location has had the silver lining of a fresh start on both the physical plant side and the fiscal books side. If you give me your vote I will do what is in my power to protect what has been accomplished and to expand our operations and reach. Thank you for your consideration.
Cheryl Lynn
Hello. I have been a KPFT listener and contributor since the 1990s. Here’s why I’m running for KPFT’s Local Station Board:
• I love KPFT and Pacifica. I want to contribute to its optimal health and functioning.
• Pacifica is an amazing concept and organization that serves individuals, movements, and expansive positive shifts of our world. Therefore, divisions and animosity within the Pacifica family need to be respectfully addressed — sensitively and attentively — and healed. My background in counseling, peace activism, advocacy and positive growth can be utilized in the local station board toward this end.
• I’m extremely concerned about Pacifica’s ongoing and growing debt. It threatens KPFT and all Pacifica stations. It is causing divisiveness that is not healthy in positive peace movements. Each station needs to be able to generate funds to pay its obligations and insure continued broadcasting of such vital independent programming.
• I deeply value KPFT’s news, public affairs, and music. I love that on every front, KPFT has unique programming that can’t be heard on most other stations. However, all shows must be well produced, respectful, and generally appealing to both current listeners and potential new listeners. I’d like a voice in helping reinvigorate these high standards.
• I want KPFT to better utilize current digital options to help listeners find our programs more effectively on the Internet. I also want to help KPFT’s archives to be more accessible so that anyone can find and listen to any archived show at any time with more ease.
• As with most KPFT listener candidates, it’s important to me that KPFT have quality, diverse programming to increase our listenership, membership, and supporter base.
* Kind. Practical. Creative. Effective. Conflict resolution and deescalation expertise, Prairie View A&M grad, Mental Health Counselor, Social/Political Activist
Marianne Martinez
I am a long term listener member of KPFT. I currently serve on the PNB and I would like to continue serving our community. I served on the interim LAB prior to the current governance structure. I participated in the work of reviewing and rewriting of the Pacifica bylaws. I am a strong believer in Peace and the Pacifica Mission Statement.
Torry Mercer
I am a writer, songwriter, poet, bandleader, KPFT volunteer (organized half a dozen or so fundraisers), and a retired Social Studies teacher.
I have nine years nonprofit experience at Pueblo to People, an Alternative Trade Organization working with cooperatives of indigenous people in Latin America. We started the Fair Trade Coffee Movement in the USA.
I produced radio and television programs and helped publish a magazine in the late 1980’s at Studio X Media, where I was a late-night DJ on a Persian subscription radio station, SAINET (South Asian Information Network), which broadcast on a subcarrier of KPFT.
I was a founder of Houston Radio Collective, which created the LPFM station Montrose Radio, 94.9 FM, in the late 1990’s in response to the decay of public affairs programming on KPFT. I was on the programming committee and developed many public affairs and cultural programs.
I want to be on the KPFT Local Station Board to give back to the Houston Pacifica community a little of what this radio station has given to me.
I started listening to KPFT in 1976 at age 16. I tuned in after school to hear esoteric genres of music from all around the world. It was the only place on the dial at that time to hear such an eclectic mix. Then in the early evenings the alternative information programs came on. I stayed tuned in. For a 16-year-old suburban kid from a segregated neighborhood, I had never heard such things before. It changed my life. I felt connected to a much larger world. I started to hang out at KPFT on an almost daily basis. I became a political activist. I became a musician, composer, poet, and bandleader.
I owe much of my present identity to the alternative culture and information that were brought to me by this radio station when I was young. I want other young people to be drawn in to the social and political activist and artistic communities through Pacifica as I was.
At a time when regressive political forces in this country want a consolidation of opinion, Pacifica represents the last network dedicated to diversity of opinion. It is our last best hope for a broadcast free speech media in an increasingly bland, sterile, servile, and rightwing “marketplace of opinion”.
If elected to the KPFT Local Station Board I will work diligently, just as I have for many years, to keep alternative culture and public affairs programming on the air in Houston.
Angelle’ Mitchell
I’m Angelle’ Mitchell, a native Houstonian and veteran teacher. Currently I’m semi-retired but have taught in Houston and Aldine ISD. I’ve had the opportunity to serve as Family Council president for families of nursing home residents and participate in canvassing and assisting with Black Voters Matter.
As a new listener, I am excited and impressed with the work that KPFT does and feel that I can aid in that work to bring different views and cultural insights to the airwaves. I also particularly enjoy the music -it’s fun, healing, it’s freeing and it unites.
It’s my personal belief that diverse representation helps us understand one another better. It allows us to appreciate our differences, while showing just how similar we are. I’d be honored to serve on a board whose goal promotes a myriad of views, cultures, and music. Please give me your vote.
Andrea Riley
- My name is Andrea Riley, and I’m honored to be a candidate for the KPFT Board. I’ve worked with local and state officials and volunteer regularly for various nonprofits.
- Variety is the spice of life, and I love interacting with people from diverse backgrounds.
- KPFT provides the best diversity in their programming and allows marginalized voices in our community to become part of the mainstream.
- I believe in the First Amendment, and everyone should have a voice on our airwaves and our communities to make sure we’re all inclusive.
- I love listening to jazz music and political blogs. I want to see more of these programs continue with KPFT.
- My background and career experience helps me to reach new and current listeners and create programs that will appeal to them and bring more people to listen to the radio station.
- Vote me #1
Debbie Smith
I’m Debbie Smith, running for KPFT Listener Candidate. I’ve been a Building Committee Volunteer for 8+ years, Member for 15+ years. Have served on other Committees for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities as President, and as Social Committee Chairman fundraising for miscellaneous organizations. Have promoted KPFT to many friends who are now listening and supporting KPFT.
Being involved with our Local Station is very important to me. KPFT has made me aware of the need to let everyone know many truths that aren”t told on other Media. Being on the Local Board would allow me to Voice many ideas, work with a team and support community radio. Currently own a Personal Caregiver/Nanny Business. Having served as a KPFT Volunteer, Member and Listener I would like to further my commitment to KPFT.
Please give me your #1 vote.
Richard Uzzell
Fellow KPFT Members,
Listener candidate, Richard Uzzell, KPFT LSB Secretary here asking for a few minutes of your time to talk with you about our upcoming Pacifica Election. Whether you are just getting into the concept of Pacifica Delegate Elections or you’ve been plowing this field for some time. It’s the process developed by past and some current members to assure diverse, community-wide representation on our Local Station Board and the Pacifica National Board.
I was elected to the first elected Board. I served quite a while and did a fair amount of work at our Lovett Street location. On the Board, my main job has been that of Board Secretary. I was also the National Board Secretary for a couple of years. A fellow member and I sent two weeks in New York renovating that station, WBAI; and I joined with the tech crew that built a new station for our Washington D.C. station, WPFW.
I took off for four years, but about three and a half years ago I came back to help as Secretary. I am now a candidate for re-elections because in the last couple of years, I have been part of our new station at KPFT and I would like to complete a final 3 years helping to assure that our new station on Caroline becomes the success that I know it can be.
As your candidate last time I strongly urged,
“Time is short !! Our beloved KPFT is on the edge of bankruptcy and possibly even extinction. Unfortunately, Pacifica has too many overly large Boards that have been populated by too many Delegates who have had been, for various reasons, bad players.
This must STOP !!
The current LSB is moving away from this destructive past. This year’s election is critical to consolidating a local Board that will tend to business. A Board that will insist on a balanced budget, lean effective trained and motivated staff and a program schedule that will have listeners tuning in and stepping up to help.”
All that was true and to a somewhat less degree is still true. But in the past three and a half years, we have accomplished a great deal. The Board that we put together (with your help) has been very effective. We have delivered balanced Budgets! We have found and designed a building for our new station! And we are hard at work building a new station on Caroline Street. Our revenues are increasing. Our programming is getting stronger. Our lean staff is trained and motivated.
I WOULD LIKE TO HELP ASSURE THAT WE BECOME WELL ESTABLISHED.
I ASK FOR YOUR #1 VOTE !! Thanks, Richard Uzzell, Listener Candidate.
Rob Lee
I am a long-time listener who loves the programming especially music and public affairs. I believe in diversity of opinion and the need for progressive views to air. I have a financial background and experience from other non-profit boards.
Most importantly, I believe being fiscally prudent to ensure KPFT and Pacifica will be around for future generations. My area of specialty is membership development. I have 3 years of experience working in this at a nonprofit and have served on development committees for several organizations.
I look forward to serving on the local board and helping Pacifica.thrive in the years to come.