I’m Allegra Thompson, a KPFA Protector Endorsed Staff Candidate for the KPFA Board. As a lifelong Berkeley resident, it’s a dream come true to host a show on my hometown radio station, especially one with such a storied history as KPFA. Folk music has been part of KPFA from the beginning, a symbiotic relationship I am honored to carry forward into the 21st century. I take my responsibility as a broadcaster very seriously, and consciously work to present the complex landscape of traditional American music as fully as possible and connect independent artists with our listeners. I am a musician from a musical family with a history here in the Bay Area going back over 60 years, so I have seen firsthand the important role community stations like KPFA play in the music world. I’m eager to give back to this station that has given so much to me and the Northern California music community, and to do my part to safeguard KPFA for future generations.
I’m the host producer of KPFA’s Pig in a Pen, which celebrated 50 years on the air this June, though I myself am a newcomer to the KPFA staff. In the few short years I have been involved with the station, I have witnessed for myself the detrimental effects of Pacifica’s financial crises on KPFA’s operations. When I took over the show from Ray Edlund, the original host, in January 2022, KPFA was still emerging from COVID-related partial closure. Like other hosts I learned to think creatively, conducting interviews over Zoom or in my home to produce programming remotely, all the while looking forward to the time when COVID restrictions would lift and we could bring guests into the station once again. When a tentative date for the reopening was announced, I immediately started planning for my first guests to play music live on the air.
Just when those restrictions were set to be lifted, we learned that Pacifica had allowed its stations’ liability insurance to lapse, further prolonging the station closure and preventing the KPFA building from operating at its full potential. The KPFA building’s value is not merely as real estate, but as a functional resource to facilitate the important work we do, lifting up voices and communities without pressures from capitalistic interests. This was barely 9 months from when US Marshals seized over $300K to cover an arbitration award incurred by Pacifica, taking money raised by KPFA from our community of listeners for KPFA’s general operating costs. If elected as a member of the KPFA LSB, I hope to work towards equitable and sustainable solutions that protect KPFA and the work of its staff.
Please vote for me Allegra Thompson and the KPFA Protectors Staff Candidates. I am endorsed by Tim Lynch, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Aileen Alfandary.
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