KPFK Candidates Endorsed by New Day Pacifica

New Day Pacifica is happy to endorse candidates in the KPFK Delegates election, for KPFK’s Local Station Board.

Please rank ALL of them as the top choices on your ballot (1-7 for the Listener ballots, #1 for the staff ballot).

Your E-ballot arrived on August 16, and reminders have come on many Monday’s or Tuesday’s since then. We recommend voting for these 7 endorsed candidates (below) as candidates #1 through #7, in that order, then only those specific candidates as you want — and then stop. The voting deadline is October 15, 2021, 8:59 PM PST, but please vote ASAP.

It is very important to rank ALL of the candidates below to maximize their chances of being elected, not just your top one or two or three choices.

Click on the names of any of them to get more details about them and why they will be such good members of KPFK’s Local Station Board.

Click on these links for more information about voting:


Listener Candidates:

  1. Robert Payne – Writer, video director, university instructor
  2. Christina Avalos – Therapist, community organizer, Latina activist, artist/writer
  3. Will Ryan – Radio/TV host and writer, cineloquist, union volunteer
  4. Adam Wolman – Television creative exec, Disney-ABC diversity programs mentor, WGA member, documentary producer, Human Rights Watch activist
  5. Carlos Zavala – Mechanical engineer, Global Environmentalist & energy conservationist, economics, global issues
  6. Oye Oyeyipo – STEM teaching fellow, Advocate and docent Allensworth Park (Black historical park)
  7. Nancy Pearlman – Environmentalist,  radio broadcaster,  producer of documentaries, Community College Board Member (ret.)

Staff Candidate:

  • Myla Reson, Anti-Nuclear and anti-war activist, environmentalist, volunteer on Solartopia

Listener Candidate Details:

Christina Avalos

Christina Avalos

I am running to support KPFK programs and community outreach efforts as a representative of our latino communities. I was a weekly listener to All Things Considered, and particularly when Antonio Gonzalez broadcasted his weekly programs addressing Latino political issues.

Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    I bring my years of experience doing community outreach services for grassroots organizations, campaigns and issues such as the successfully Amending the Three Strikes law. I serve on the board for progressive organizations such as ADA SoCal, and have served with Chicano groups such as David Sanchez’ Brown Berets, Chicano Unidos of Orange County, and Los Amigos of Orange County. I am actively involved with Latina group women artists and writers such as with Naomi Quinonez, Latina women Circular,
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    I appreciate the progressive positions on our political issues, programs that address them, and speak up about them, such as opposition on the Voter Restrictions taking place across our Nation.
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    I would like to see more community input and participation with outreach to the Latino communities.
  4. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    I would like to focus on community outreach and involvement in creative ways for listeners to get involved. I would also work on outreach within the latino communities, addressing Latino issues. And, work on fundraising for KPFK.
  5. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    I would like to work on collaborating with groups and organizations for joint fundraising..
  6. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    I believe in the work KPFK does, and I know it takes group efforts and collaboration to accomplish its goals and aspirations.


Oye Oyeyipo

Oye Oyeyipo

Hi, my name is Oye Oyeyipo and I am running for a seat on KPFK’s Local Station Board.

I believe that respectful dialogue between Board Members and Management would go a long way to steering stations in the right direction. I believe programmers better serve producing content and my experience here will help me understand how I can better help this project keep going strong, during and after my tenure.

Now a little bit about me…

I have been on a planning committee that worked with the state of California to preserve a Black historical park (Colonel Allensworth State Park in Tulare County), Ive also volunteered as a docent at the same park. I currently am a fellow teaching/facilitating STEM classes to middle and High schoolers.

My Local Station Board candidacy focuses on sustainability in 3 small areas:

  • Improving Fund raising methods
  • Programming Content
  • and increased community outreach

Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    I have been a on a planning committee that worked with the state of California to preserve a Black historical park (Allensworth), I’ve also volunteered as a docent at the same park. I currently volunteer as a STEM teaching fellow.
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    The station allows for a democratic model to to play out in it`s system of governance
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    More board initiated funding
  4. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    Fund raising, Content and increased community outreach
  5. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    Tapping into communities and connections to help raise funds through community based events.
  6. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    I believe programmers better serve producing content and my experience here will help me understand how I can better help this project keep going strong, during and after my tenure

Robert Payne

Robert Payne

Robert Payne — Writer, Video Director, Instructor

I am a three issue candidate for KPFK:

Funding, membership, programming.

KPFK presents an alternative to the radio / tv / print circuses of the corporations.

KPFK offers 24-hour, 7-day-a-week intelligent and challenging voices.

Activists, writers, academics, practitioners, musicians, witnesses, survivors —- KPFK presents their experience and ideas to the world via radio and the internet.

And KPFK rejects commercial sponsorship. Corporations? Companies? Institutions? Political candidates? KPFK will not accept their money.

With commercial and political sponsors, come demands. KPFK will not accept those demands.

KPFK remains listener sponsored. Only.

I work international websites, video, and digital print-on-demand. In this way, I promote NGOs, develop projects, and publish information. I offer my experience to KPFK.

As a channel of information, KPFK presents many opportunities. Websites. Expansion to cellphones. Social medias. World membership. World programming.

KPFK must continue with progressive, values-based programming to fulfill the mission statement of Pacifica and our own humanist demands.

Cultural, ideological, spiritual, health programs will never win the numbers corporations demand.

Yet the Pacifica mission statement demands progressive, intelligent, and compassionate programming. KPFK must deliver that programming.

My issues: Funding, members, and programming.


Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    Writer, documentary maker, cameraman, developer of multiple projects in multiple languages and multiple cultures. Work in Central America, Middle East, Africa, Asia.
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    National and international programming exceeding the shallow coverage of the corporate medias.
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    • Improved radio signal throughout Los Angeles and Southern California.
    • Better audio equipment for programs recorded off-site. Utilize free media such as FaceBook, YouTube, etc to promote programs and events.
    • And as Los Angeles is an international city of 100-plus languages and cultures, I want our local voices to add to the international coverage with interviews of people with intimate knowledge of foreign events. ( This will require audio and video equipment. )
  1. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    Money. Membership. Programming.
  2. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    Exploit free internet media to offer live and scheduled programming anywhere at anytime to anyone. This will draw membership and contributions from everywhere in the world.
  3. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    Go to my website for information, experience, and documentaries: VideoAdventures.info — http://www.videoadventures.info

Nancy Pearlman

Nancy Pearlman

KPFK needs to be a strong voice for progressive change in our society for human rights, environmental protection, social justice, the arts, and more.

Having served for one year on the local station board, I am familiar with the problems of our southern California station. There are many areas where improvements can be made to make KPFK financially secure, to increase listenership, and to cover the issues in a progressive way.

I have produced and hosted over 2400 radio shows and 600 television documentaries and received numerous awards (both local and internationally).

I understand radio and will work to have the best programming possible. I have been an administrator for fifty years of a nonprofit educational / environmental / arts organization and understand how nonprofits operate. I have served on numerous boards of directors and advisory councils for NGOs,

I have also served for sixteen years as a trustee with the Los Angeles Community College District and understand that we need to engage young people and students to make the media represent their concerns.

Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    Fifty years working in radio and television with over 3000 programs and documentaries produced and hosted.
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    Discussion of current issues.
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    Needs more environmental programming. Local board needs to stop the “in-fighting.” Needs to have more political news at local events.
  4. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    • Get the station secure funding.
    • Have the local station board work better with staff to improve programming.
    • Review programming to include more social issues.
  1. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    Change fundraising tactics. Exploit social media. And now, with the return to real word meetings, we need to raise money from special events.
  2. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    I worked environmental media at the time of the first Earth Day. The absence of environmental information on corporate media inspired me to launch the first eco-radio programming. I maintain my forward momentum by embracing and developing new skills. I have much to offer KPFK.

Will Ryan

Will Ryan

I love radio. I love KPFK. I’m a student of the history of radio. Just finished reading Lasar’s history of Pacifica’s first half-century. A once-great network has somehow fallen into a financial mess and questionable dealings. I’d like to see the station and network make its way out of this mess. Experience: Radio (host, writer, continuity director); Board member of several not-for-profit organizations; Active member of union committees (member of 4 unions over the years). Also: TV writer-producer, with Emmy and Writers Guild Award nominations. It seems civility has been less than prominent at KPFK board meetings. I’ve never served on a board where this is case.
CRAZY IDEA: Perhaps if we bring enough new blood – and experience – to the Local Station Board, civility will return to the meetings, and productivity might return.

Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    Radio work (host, writer, continuity director, etc.); board member of several not-for-profit organizations, union committees. Also TV writer-producer.
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    Ralph Nader, Amy Goodman,, Ian Masters, John Wiener, and others who may or may not still be on the station (as so many recent lay-offs have occurred).
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    Upward, rather than downward, progression.
  4. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    Sanity. Order. Productivity.
  5. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    Shape up.
  6. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    Change is overdue here.

Adam Wolman

Adam Wolman photo
Adam Wolman

Those of us desperate to rescue the country and the world from the clutches of corporatism, oligarchy, fascism, plutocracy, kleptocracy, and systemic racism need to wake up. We can’t win hearts and minds if we’re outmaneuvered. Right wingers have savvily bought up the majority of American media outlets. What does the left have as a counterweight?

KPFK. Pacifica. KPFA, KPFT, WPFW, WBAI. And that’s pretty much it for the public airwaves and major broadcast media.

So we desperately need Pacifica to survive and thrive. That’s why, even though I hate the idea of taking sides among factions — I want us all to band together — I researched and supported the idea of taking bold action to stabilize and revitalize Pacifica, and that’s what New Day Pacifica has pledged to do.

Having assisted on that campaign, and being deeply committed to the progressive movement, I’d like to take my volunteer work on behalf of the station and network to the next level. That’s why I’m running for the LSB and seek your support.

For the past 11 years I’ve been VP, Communications for the Palisades Dem Club, co-chairing the PaliDems Political Courage/Human Rights Awards and twice co-managing the Westside Democratic Headquarters. I campaigned for both Sanders and Warren in the primaries, then fought all-out for Biden/Harris and (D)/progressive candidates and props in the general.

Have called, texted, postcarded, trained, registered, captained a bus, and had doors slammed in my face for multiple campaigns in California and Nevada, and in Florida for Obama in 2008. Truman Award recipient. Serve as co-chair of the Human Rights Watch L.A. Film Club Committee and on the HRW L.A. Advocacy & Executive Committees. Spent a year as an elected DPSFV E-board member and as an alt to the PP Community Council. Have volunteered with CA Clean Money, Health Care for All–CA, the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence, and Palisadians for Peace.

When not politicking I work as a creative consultant, having been a television exec at HBO Digital, Disney/ABC, and MTV, all of which has informed the perspective I have on the critical importance of mass media and its ability to shape society.

Before working in entertainment, started out post-college as a speechwriter/lobbyist for Mass Citizen Action, a Boston public interest org. Married to a comedy writer; our two kids just graduated from college in NYC after attending local public schools, and our two cats are destroying the furniture….

But back to the point: I love KPFK and revere both Pacifica’s history and its potential. I’m running in hopes of playing a small, supportive role in seeing Pacifica keep its cherished independence while nurturing and growing its diverse cultural and political influence.

Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    Network television experience, political organizing skills
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    Love the feeling of community, from music shows to news/talk programs not heard anywhere else. Diversity and inclusion among hosts and audiences
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    Would like to see a management structure that allows for democratic participation, with all voices heard, without hurting the station’s ability to function
  4. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    Financial solvency, maintaining and growing audiences, fostering harmony among stakeholders with different POVs — we’re all on the same team fighting for the station’s success
  5. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    Maintain independence from corporate influence by cultivating major left-wing donors … more off-air fundraising from listeners, with sweeter incentives to join
  6. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    Been listening to and loving KPFK since 1994. These days I’m not just a fan and supporter; I see the station and network’s survival as critical to the success of the progressive movement, as well as the quality of life of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community in L.A., Southern CA, and beyond

Carlos Zavala

Carlos Zavala

I studied economics, environmental science and global issues while getting my engineering degree. Starting with the Navy, civil service doing 25 year lifecycle cost analysis & computerizing buildings for energy conservation. I’ve helped design build and operate facilities: semiconductors for cell phones, solar panels and medical devices, hospitals, educational institutions and the entertainment industry.

I’m hoping my managerial skills might help KPFK become and remain sustainable.

We can not win KPFK’s future without recognizing the forces that confront us.

Through the ups and downs in the economy, capitalism breeds consolidation, consolidation leads to an unholy relationship between politicians and the monopolies that develop – essentially fascism. True capitalism requires competition. But capitalism’s bright side is the claim that it efficiently provides consumers with higher selection of quality products at a lower cost.

If you compare economics to fluid mechanics, money being water, efficiency being the ease at which people get what they need, this example might make it clear.

A perfect pipe has no friction. The fluid flows at the same speed across the whole pipe. Only a tiny pump is needed to move water uphill.

A real pipe has friction. The water at the side of the pipe sticks to it so the center moves faster. A medium pump is needed to move water around.

A rusty pipe has corrosion through the whole pipe. A real big pump still might not move much water.

Economists should look at economics not as the way people allocate scarce resources, but as the way people get what they need. Economics can not be measured in dollar signs but is really lived in quality of life.

In that way, the US Capitalist Economy is the least efficient as demonstrated by the number of homeless, the wealth disparities, our willingness to pay for war and destroy the planet with global warming topped off with nuclear waste.

Can we inform others on how mankind can retool our economy concentrating on healing the planet, increase our resources through conservation, recycling CO2 into fuel. (Where are we going to store it all? No need to throw away combustion energy economy, just the fossil fuel part.) The byproducts of the various processes might be clean drinking water. (And pollution.)

We need people to start asking relevant questions beyond other’s limited horizons.

Today’s “for sale” media is filled with content lacking the substance that nourishes our knowledge.

KPFK is the hearty meal for our brains. Let’s help keep Los Angeles one of the most culturally diverse cities on the planet with KPFK.

Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    I’ve pulled back from blogging years ago when I noticed the people started arguing like people who din’t know the language, the launch of bots .My arguments for a sustainable future won friends, even in the oil industry. I argued: 1.) conservation, 2.) high efficiency solar panels controlled by consumers on roofs – not utilities taking fragile desserts ecosystems, 3.) produce fuels from atmospheric CO2 using biological, industrial, and any means possible to reduce global warming’s effects as soon as possible. .. It’s cheaper than fighting wars that rob society of the capital to fund schools, roads, hospitals – communities … I’m connected to a lot of people even after an 8 year hiatus.
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    Reporting on hard hitting journalism, commentary filled with questions others avoid pursuing. Where and when there are entertainment shows, they drip with the imaginations of their creators.
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    If bringing on commentators “selling” wellness with a back and forth dialog between two people, STOP. That is not public radio. That is just as much advertising as NPR saying they are funded by philanthropists X, Y and Z. It is fine to have a wellness program, but bring in diversity, different “experts”, not just one. A
  4. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    Maintaining my sanity might be one, but seriously – try to bring more inquisitive questions to the news shows, more entertaining entertainment, and more of a connection to the community, one where KPFK can concentrate on programming, not fundraising.
  5. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    I don’t have experience in the business of broadcast. I have been a lifelong consumer of broadcast and prefer it’s anonymity and egalitarian freedom to todays technologies tracking of our every move, and for what? Profit.. KPFK can be sustainable with a little effort in attracting ore people to the station. Have you ever thought about printing up bumper stickers with that catchy logo you used on the mugs and T-shirts?
  6. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    Thank you for reading this. Namaste

Staff Candidate:

Myla Reson

Myla Reson

I’m running for the KPFK Local Station Board to support our station, its staff, independent news and well produced community programming at this urgent time. I want to make sure that what goes on the air stays true to the Pacifica mission, which is to promote a better understanding among people through dialogue and culture. I will do all I can to insure that the Pacifica Foundation support KPFK as it faces serious financial challenges. I especially seek to protect KPFK’s building. I hope to improve listenership and attract people to the station who have media, management and financial skills. I am a long time, hard working supporter of KPFK and Pacifica.

Answers to Candidate Questionnaire

  1. What experience, connections, skills or traits would you bring to the local station board to advance the station’s mission?
    I have worked on many projects and programs for KPFK and use both my research, technical, administrative and organizational skills to help the station. I appreciate connecting with the community through my peace and justice activism. I have a deep understanding of the legal, broadcasting and management challenges we face in light of what I believe to be the current mismanagement of the Pacifica National Board.
  2. What do you appreciate and value in the station’s current operations?
    I appreciate the diverse KPFK grid and the programmers, hosts, technicians, engineers, and other support staff keeping KPFK on the air and I appreciate the Listener Members for their financial support.
  3. What would you like to see improved or changed in the station’s current operations?
    I would like to see more training programs for staff at KPFK and all Pacifica stations to help them become financially self sustaining. We need to address the mismanagement of Pacifica’s that resulted KPFK’s building being used as collateral for debt incurred at WBAI.
  4. Describe what you anticipate would be your top three priorities or areas of focus if you were elected to the local station board.
    I would like to see governance changes to give KPFK a more representative voice in the network. KPFK has 11,633 members one of the other stations has less than 4 thousand. Right now each station has 4 directors on the national board. We need more proportional representation. We also need more media, outreach and fund raising efforts from our board members.
  5. Sustainability is an important part of any nonprofit operation. What are your thoughts on how the board can help to improve the station’s financial footing?
    We need proper management of staff pensions, and elimination of nonstandard accounting practices that allow Pacifica to change the assets of the stations to Pacifica assets. I want KPFK donations to be used for KPFK.
  6. Is there anything else you would like prospective voters to know?
    Please vote for me and other candidates who supported the new bylaws when you get your staff ballot in August.

How to vote?

Ballots will be sent out August 15. Members for whom KPFK has a current email address in their member list should get an email on that day with voting credentials and a link for voting online.

The deadline for voting in this election is October 15, at 9 pm PDT. But we recommend that you vote as soon as you get your ballot – in case you lose/can’t find your voting credentials, get sick, or whatever.

If KPFKhas your e-mail address, you may get weekly e-mails sent from “Pacifica Foundation <vote@simplyvoting.com>”. So look for one of those e-mails. It will have your online voting credentials.

If KPFK does not have your e-mail address, you should receive an envelope with a paper ballot (or paper instructions and credentials for voting online) during the last half of August.

You can vote online. Use the Elector ID and password at the top of your paper ballot, or use that ID and password if they were e-mailed to you. In either case, go to pacifica.simplyvoting.com to enter that ID and password, and to access your online ballot.

Be sure to click on the Confirm or Submit button after you rank all of our candidates, so your votes will be counted!

Didn’t get a ballot?

Look in your e-mail for a message from Pacifica Foundation,  vote@simplyvoting.com, with instructions on voting online. E-mail reminders may be sent regularly, if KPFK has your correct e-mail address. Otherwise, you should receive a paper ballot during the last half of August. If you do not get either a paper or electronic ballot by Sep. 1, please fill out this ballot request form today and provide all needed information – and be sure to click on the Submit button at the bottom: You should immediately get an e-mail confirmation of your request, but it may take up to two weeks to get your membership verified and for you to get a ballot.

If you donated at least $25 to KPFK during the period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, then you are a member eligible to vote in these KPFK elections, and should receive a ballot. If two people in your family jointly donated at least $50 during that year, then you should receive two ballots. So fill out the above form if you did not get your ballot (or both ballots if there are two of you).

Our National Election Supervisor has asked that we be patient on replacement ballot requests, especially if they have to look up donation records. She also asked not to submit two requests. But don’t wait until the last minute to request a ballot, as your ballot must be received by October 15 to be counted!

And thanks for supporting KPFK!

KPFK endorsers:

The following are some of the many people who are endorsing our candidates.

  • Ian Masters
  • Sonali Kolhatkar
  • Roy Tuckman
  • Bill Gardner
  • Ed Asner
  • Alan Minsky
  • Jackson Browne
  • Hector Resendez
  • and more!

So Pacifica can survive for future generations
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