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June 2010

June 6, 2010 - Doing the job

On December 29, 2009, KDNA Board Chairperson Irma Jimenez de Prieto is quoted in the Yakima Herald-Republic, saying of the KDNA Executive Director, Maria Fernandez “They think we are being stubborn and keeping Maria, but she is doing the job...”

What does she mean, “doing the job”?  Everything Fernandez did during her 20 month (July 2008 to February 2010) tenure was under the immediate direction, and supervision, of the KDNA Board Executive Committee: Chair Jorge Lobos, Treasurer Leonard Black, and Irma Prieto.  Further, Fernandez, after the August 2009 “listening session”, was under the mentorship of Board member Mary Rita Rohde.

It was Lobos that first described the long-term, pre-Fernandez, staff as “garbage”, using language that Fernandez quickly parroted.  From the time they assumed control, Lobos and Black were determined to purge KDNA of competent employees.  And Fernandez did the job.

Between July 2008 and April 2009, the staff kept trying to talk with the Board of Directors, telling the Board in written memos and in person that Fernandez was not raising any money; That she was alienating funders by ignoring deadlines, ignoring letters, refusing to accept or return phone calls; That she was creating a hostile work environment; That she was wasting money frivolously.  But the Board refused to act, because Fernandez was “doing the job”.

When in April 2009, the community went before the Board of Directors and spoke about the unfair and unjust terminations, about the deteriorating financial condition, about the censorship and other programming changes, the Board walked out, because Fernandez was “doing the job”.

When, during, and after, the strike (June 2009), Fernandez hired people with no experience or talent, did the Board know?  Of course they did: Fernandez was “doing the job”.

After the strike ended, Fernandez and her "right hand", so-called Station Manager Gabriel Martinez, decided to not only fire the real staff, but to also fire any volunteers that had not been willing to cross the picket line. Do you think they did this without the Board’s knowledge and approval?  Of course the Board knew, because Fernandez was “doing the job”.

In June 2009, the one Board member with open eyes, Matt Adams, resigned in protest of the Board’s refusal to “appropriately supervise” Fernandez, of Lobos and the Executive Committee participating with Fernandez in the daily operations of KDNA without review of the Board as a whole, and in the Board “coming to the conclusion that NCEC is better off without most of our committed, longtime staff“.  None of this phased Lobos, Black, or Prieto, because Fernandez was “doing the job”.
 
It was Lobos, Black and the rest, that refused, and continue to refuse, to negotiate with the Union.  Instead, Fernandez spent in excess of $100,000 on lawyers to fight the Union, and did the job.

Fernandez is now claiming she couldn't raise money because the community somehow managed to influence funders.  This, of course, is nonsense.  Over the last two years KDNA and NCEC have systematically abandoned their non-profit public service mission.  KDNA and NCEC became a place for the little Napoleons of Lobos, Black, Prieto, and Fernandez to parade their egos, and a meal ticket for otherwise unemployable.  If the funders have turned away from KDNA, it is because KDNA is not doing the work of improving lives, promoting culture, and empowering the community that it claims to serve.

If CPB has withheld funding, it is solely due to the arrogance of this Board in refusing to comply “with CPB Communications Act requirements for open meetings, financial reports, EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity), and donor lists”. (CPB Inspector General Kenneth A. Konz)

“Doing the job” that Lobos, Black, and Prieto gave to Fernandez has brought KDNA to near financial, and complete ethical, bankruptcy.

Now that Fernandez is gone, it is this Board of Directors that needs to be fired. We really do not understand what is takng the Attorney General's office so long to act and remove them. Why this Board must step down (PDF) (MS Word DOC)

June 5, 2010 - Fired director sues Radio KDNA (What can we say?)

Phil Ferolito, in today's Yakima Herald-Republic:

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The former director of Radio KDNA, Maria Fernandez, is suing officials of the Spanish-language station, claiming she was wrongfully fired in March.

Fernandez filed the lawsuit against the station's board of directors and interim director in Yakima County Superior Court on Tuesday.

It seeks unspecified damages for her termination and alleges that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and gender discrimination. The lawsuit also claims her privacy was violated.

Fernandez's attorney, J.J. Sandlin, said the station's board of directors also failed to follow through on a promised severance package.

But station officials deny the allegations and say they are taken aback by the lawsuit.

"Those are her allegations, but that's not what happened," board chairwoman Irma Prieto said Friday.

Fernandez, an independent consultant, took the helm in June 2008, after longtime director and Radio KDNA founder Ricardo Garcia retired. But her tenure was marred by controversy over labor disputes stemming from a series of firings at the station.

In early March, the board of directors announced that it had hired an interim director and that Fernandez's departure was a mutual decision between her and the board.

Ongoing labor disputes were distracting her too much from her duties, board treasurer Leonard Black said at the time.

But Friday, he said Fernandez was fired after she failed to resign. He said she was asked to resign because she didn't bring enough new revenue sources into the nonprofit public station, which is housed in the Northwest Community Education Center at 121 Sunnyside Ave. in Granger.

"We were continually waiting for her answer if she would resign," Black said. "We waited for several weeks. In fact, until this day, I don't think we ever withdrew the offer."

In the lawsuit, Fernandez accuses board members of repeatedly coming into the station and questioning workers about their duties.

She also accuses the board of poisoning her relationship with employees because they failed to establish a transition plan for her predecessor, leaving workers to believe Garcia was "forced out," the lawsuit said.

In addition, Fernandez contends board members took issue with the fact that a woman had taken the reins.

Black said none of that is true.

He said the board did drop in on the station, but only to offer Fernandez support.

"But we never did anything to undermine her or her authority," he said.

Black said that while Fernandez was employed there, she enacted an insurance policy to protect the station if it were ever sued. He thinks she's now trying get a settlement from it.

"I believe this is just a ploy for (her and her attorney) to activate the policy so they can get money from it," he said.

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.

April 27, 2010 - Public radio is about the community

A couple of weeks ago the Yakima Herald ran a story about the CPB audit. We want to make it clear for everyone that the only thing that made this audit unlike a typical CPB audit is the community. Audits come in different styles: there are financial audits, there are compliance audits, there are performance audits, there are lots of audits. Yes, this audit had a financial component, but that's not why CPB is threatening to withhold the CSG grant.

Phil Ferolito in the YHR article got it right. He said "But in his 24-page draft audit report, Inspector General Kenneth A. Konz suggested the Corporation's management consider withholding $104,161 in federal funds KDNA is scheduled to receive later this year "until the station adequately demonstrates compliance with CPB Communications Act requirements for open meetings, financial reports, EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity), and donor lists."

CPB's issue with NCEC and KDNA is that they have treated the community with contempt. They have treated the station's founders and funders with contempt. They have treated CPB with contempt. The Communications Act requires that recipients of Federal support have (and practice) policies and processes that allow the public input into the governance and programming of public radio stations. Every year since they started receiving CPB funding, the board of directors has signed a statement certifying that they are complying with these provisions. The truth is now revealed.

Now what? The Board must step down. They have shown themselves to be incompetent and irresponsible. They must be replaced. See Why this Board must step down (PDF) (MS Word DOC).

Until the Board is replaced, they must be denied financial support. The only reason they pretend to listen and respond to CPB is that CPB has the money. Do they have the ethical standards to recognize that they are failures as prudent custodians, as fiduciaries, as caretakers of the public's trust? No. The only reason they will listen to the community is because the community will continue to successfully argue that the funds being pumped into this shell of a public radio station are being wasted.

Now is not the time to give to NCEC or KDNA. If you care enough, write to them and ask that the Board resign and the station be returned to the community. And only when that happens renew your membership or make a donation.

April 12, 2010 - Word of the CPB audit spreads

Current is a national publication about public broadcasting in the United States. The results of CPB's examination of NCEC and KDNA are not a typical audit report. The disregard that the NCEC board of directors has shown for the community and for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is pretty extraordinary. As a result it has drawn the attention of Current and public broadcasters around the country. The concern always is that shameful behavior like that of this board of directors will be used by politicians as an excuse to reduce funding for all public broadcasting. This is, of course, not an issue for the incompetent NCEC board of directors who are concerned only for their inflated egos.

Read the Current article here.

April 10, 2010 - So much damage in so little time

How sad it is that in 21 short months nine people can cause so much damage. Jorge Lobos, Leonard Black, Irma Prieto, Jesus Armendariz, Mary Rita Rohde, Natalia Ybarra, and the rest of the NCEC/KDNA board of directors appear to have made their mark and achieved their mission. By silencing the voice of the campesino they have set back the cause for equity and justice for the poor and marginalized of Yakima by thirty years. KDNA was once a trusted source of news and information, and a place where a people were empowered to speak freely about issues of importance and of concern to their community. The board of directors put a stop to that, with the result that people no longer trust the board. They don't trust the current staff. They don't trust what they hear on KDNA. And they don't trust the people that they now hear on the air.

KDNA has become a source of misinformation and of half truths. Now its just another music station. When it runs "news reports", they are rip and read, and are the the same sensationalist nonsense you get on other commercial stations. There is no interpretation, no explanation, no intelligence.

Here's the result: No longer being able to use radio, the community now has to rely on cell phones to share information. As Paula Zambrano said, "The truth of the matter is that the only tool we really have used is the cell phone."

Read the story in the Yakima Herald: Rallying supporters for trip to Seattle immigration event

April 8, 2010 - CPB publishes audit findings, and its a win for the community

We had hoped that the receipt of the board minutes below was a first act of good faith, but two days later and Conteras has not bothered to respond to our email asking about the missing documents. Now we know why Contreras suddenly decided to share a few documents. Its because CPB was finishing up its audit report, and KDNA is in serious hot water. KDNA was cited particularly for their arrogant refusals to comply with the conditions of its Community Service Grant.

Jorge Lobos' repeatedly telling us that we "are not the community" has come back to haunt all of them. We are the community, and even if they disagree with us they will be compelled to treat us with the respect tax paying citizens are due. It is our money that CPB has been giving to Lobos, Fernandez, and Prieto. We have a right to know, and influence, how it is spent.

"Treasurer" Leonard "el professor" Black's oversight of KDNA's finances has led to a disgraceful audit report. We are sure that his Heritage College students will find a lot to learn from this case study.

The battle is not over though. This Board must go, and go it will. We will be writing much more about the audit findings, and the absurd promises the Board has made to correct the many deficiencies.

But for now, here is a link to CPB's Examination of NCEC, KDNA-FM for Fiscal Year 2008, so you can read it for yourself.

April 7, 2010 - What has that Board of Directors been up to, anyway?

There are two things we need to talk about tonight.  The first is that Laura Contreras in a letter to friends of KDNA stated that a KDNA/NCEC board meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 30, 2010.

Learning about a board meeting in advance is a good thing, because many of us would like to attend, witnessing for ourselves what this board does, and, if given the opportunity, let them know what we think needs to happen to restore KDNA to some minimal level of credibility and functionality.

But today it hardly matters that we know the date. The open meetings provisions of the Public Broadcasting Act require that the board hold its meetings in a public place that interested community can attend. But the board has secured a restraining order that prevents members of the community from entering the KDNA building.

If the meeting is held at the KDNA building, the community, including friends of KDNA, cannot attend, because the Board has threatened us with arrest.  CPB needs to know what the board has done.  Please write to them and let them know that you want, that you demand, a voice on public radio.

The second item is this: For nearly two years, friends of KDNA has been writing to the KDNA/NCEC Board of Directors, asking them to comply with the conditions of the "Community Service Grant" they receive each year from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).  In almost all instances, letters sent to individual Board members and their Executive Director Maria Fernandez were ignored.  In those few instances where replies were received, they failed to address the concerns of the letter writer.  Requests for a schedule of board meetings, a list of the trustees, a financial report, or copies of board meeting minutes have been consistently ignored. 

That is, they were ignored until now.

Apparently at the suggestion of the CPB auditor that visited the station in early November 2009, this week friends of KDNA received a package from Laura Contreras.  It contained some of the documents that the public is entitled to see, but that the Board has heretofore refused to release.  We don't know whether requested documents not included were omitted intentionally or accidentally.  Ms Contreras and CPB's Office of Inspector General have been advised of the missing documents, so we will just have to wait and see if the remainder show up.

In the meantime, we are going to start sharing what has been received so far.

Board minutes

Supposedly we have received minutes of all the board and board committee meetings held between July 1, 2008 and March 28, 2010.  If this is true, in 21 months the Board as a whole only met 7 times, and the executive committee only twice. It is extraordinary that during 21 months of turmoil and crisis, the board only met 7 times. This is what Leonard "el professor" Black and Jorge Lobos think is accountability? Talk about irresponsible.

According to Contreras, there have been no board or executive committee meetings in 2010. We have to ask how is it possible that they fired Fernandez and hired Contreras without having a single meeting? How exactly does this board conduct business?

Note: Contreras did not send the December 2009 Agenda or financial's.

March 25, 2010 - Leonard Black in the news

Last week, KBCS in Bellevue ran an update on the recent changes at KDNA. It contains interviews with former KDNA Board members Roberto Maestas and Matt Adams, Juan Orozco from the community, and Leonard Black, current Board member. You can hear the story at the One World Report archives (scroll down to Features), or Click Here.

Board Treasurer Leonard Black is also featured in the letter below. He and the rest of the KDNA/NCEC Board of Directors have refused to respond when the community asks them these same questions. We are anxious to see the answers.

March 12, 2010 - Business as usual

We really want to believe that KDNA's new Executive Director, Laura Contreras, is not just another Maria Fernandez or Jorge Lobos inebriated by the power of their petty dictator roles. Everyone we talk with wants to "give her a chance", and hopes she will see that she can accomplish a lot more with the help of the community than she can without it. But the clock is ticking, and her first week on the job has not been reassuring.

In fact, before she officially started, at the press conference on the 5th, almost the first words out of her mouth were that she "wouldn't promise anything", and she needed to (in Maria Fernandez's word) "investigate". What can that mean? Investigate what? Can someone tell us?

Then, this week members of the community started receiving copies of the mysterious restraining order (from December 9, 2009) in the mail, with "John and Jane Doe" replaced with their names. Whose handiwork is this? Can the County Clerk tell us if there really is a restraining order active against the community that says they cannot enter their Community Center?

Which brings us to this morning, when Ms Contreras went on the air and told listeners that they (anyone) could come and visit the radio station. So that she can have them arrested for violating the Board's restraining order? We don't get it. Is it legal to dummy up a phony "restraining order" and "serve" it on people you don't like? The community has already seen, in the Saida's case, how KDNA management will use phony restraining order documents that are not legally enforceable to intimidate people.

If the December 9 restraining order is still in effect, Ms Contreras would seem much more credible if she would take a moment and have it withdrawn.

So far, there have been no signs that KDNA management has turned over a new leaf, but it is almost Spring. Please let us know if you see anything positive happening.

March 10, 2010 - Why this Board must step down

Boards of directors of not for profit organizations have two primary functions. The first is to protect and safeguard the assets of the organization, which means they need to make sure the organization has policies and procedures of internal control to insure that the money and property of the organization is not lost through incompetence, misuse, or fraud. They also need to make sure that those procedures include keeping them well informed of what their employees are doing with those assets. There should be regular and reliable financial and operating reports that are reviewed by the Board. And each Board member needs to make sure they understand what those reports are telling them.

What gives us the right to say they need to have these things? Well, its because they, the Board of the NCEC/KDNA, promised they were going to do certain things for the benefit of the community, and in exchange for that promise the United States Internal Revenue Service exempted them from
paying income taxes. To repeat, the money that NCEC receives from its funders has been exempted from income taxes because the Board promised to use it responsibly to benefit the community.

By making that promise the Board members became "trustees", entrusted with collecting money from the community and from other organizations that wanted to assist in work that benefited the community. That money has now been squandered, and the Board members have demonstrated that they are not worthy of our trust.

Repeatedly, since July 2008, the alarm was raised by the community about what was happening at KDNA. We all saw it happening, and wrote to the Board of directors, over and over again, telling them that their Executive Director was not raising any money, only spending it.

The Board ignored the warnings.

We wrote to them about their failure to comply with regulations of CPB and the FCC, and of how that would jeopardize future funding, or result in financial penalties.

The Board ignored the warnings.

We wrote to them of their Executive Director's incredible abuses of the long-time staff, of the hostile work environment she had created, and of how that drove the staff to unionize.

The Board ignored the warnings, and then had the staff fired.

We wrote to them of how they, and their Executive Director, were systematically alienating all those that had contributed to building KDNA, and that it would eventually have serious consequences for KDNA.

The Board ignored our letters, the letters of funders, building tenants, the Commission on Hispanic Affairs, the Yakama Nation, and from friends that built this radio station and kept it going for almost 30 years.

If the Board of directors was blissfully oblivious to what was happening, the community saw disaster on the horizon and tried to warn them. The response of the Board was to spit in the faces of the community.

The events since July 1, 2008 are evidence of the gross negligence of this Board in their failure to exercise minimal diligence in the performance of their duties. Firing Maria Fernandez, if that is what they did (will they ever tell the truth?), will not excuse them from failing to act as responsible Board members during the last 20 months.

Perhaps it is finally time for the State Attorney General to act and remove them.

The second function of the Board of a community radio station is to serve the will of the community.
This NCEC/KDNA Board has no special knowledge of radio or community service that qualifies them
for positions on this Board. It was only a result of a flaw in the process by which they were selected, an unfortunate accident, that they ended up on the Board. None of them have shown, individually, or as a whole, that they have anything to contribute. They have held onto their Board positions only out of spite and rancor. They have made no effort to understand what KDNA's community of listeners need or want from a radio station. The only interest of this Board has been to impose their will on a community that they think to be of less status than themselves.

This Board must step down, and be replaced with members, trustees, that represent the will and desire of the community, and that are worthy of the community's trust and respect.

So who is the NCEC/KDNA Board of Directors? This is one of those things that they have chosen to either keep secret or confuse with conflicting lists. The list on their web site omits some people that sit at the Board table during their occasional meetings. Is that because they aren't Board members, or is it because Jorge Lobos and Maria Fernandez don't like them? We don't know. As best we have been able to determine (with no help from them and after repeated requests), this is the list, in alphabetical order:

Jesus Armendariz
Leonard Black
Patricia Flores
Irma Jimenez de Prieto
Jorge Lobos
Becky Mares (not listed on "official" NCEC web site)
Sergio Marquez (not listed on "official" NCEC web site)
Mary Rita Rohde
Natalia Ybarra
Julio Romero

March 8, 2010 - Quiz

Weekly Quiz in the Yakima Herald-Republic

March 6, 2010 - The press conference

New: Click here for audio of yesterday's press conference.

Click on image above to open a window to view the KNDO story about the firing)

Yesterday, the Board held a press conference, where they presented their new interim (3 month) executive director, Laura Contreras. While the Yakima Herald claims "Radio KDNA board wants to end turmoil at station", there is still no evidence that the Board has any interest in recognizing the will or rights of the community. The press didn't ask a single question, but community members asked all the right ones. The Board was as secretive and patronizing as ever, avoiding answering most questions by claiming they needed time to investigate - like they haven't been there for the last two years. It is unclear what they plan on doing after three months, when the interim executive director's appointment ends.

There is a rumor that Mary Rita Rohde (in support of her disciple Maria Fernandez?) has resigned from the Board.

A little later today, we will post the audio from the event. In the meantime here's the YHR story:

Phil Ferolito, in the Yakima Herald-Republic:

GRANGER -- A day after Radio KDNA's beleaguered director departed, the station's board said it would work to end the controversy that has roiled the public Spanish-language station for more than a year.

The day after Maria Fernandez left, more than 65 people filed into a news conference to learn what direction the board of directors planned to take the station.

Reading from a prepared statement, board president Irma Jiminez-DePrieto all but promised to improve relations with the community, but wouldn't promise 11 fired workers they'd get their jobs back.

"I want to assure the community and our listeners that programs will continue," she said.

She introduced interim director Mirta Laura Contreras and promised that the station would work to strengthen its relationship with the community and work efficiently, and that the community center's "mission of empowerment and service to the community remains a compass that will lead the organization into the future."

Some in the crowd not only asked that those who were fired during the past year be rehired, but that a restraining order barring several people involved in a labor dispute with the station be lifted.

They even accused the board of working to give control of the station, known as the voice of the farm worker, to Heritage University in Toppenish.

Contreras said she'd let those issues make their way through the legal process. She has taken a leave of absence as lead attorney of Columbia Legal Services in Yakima to be interim director of the station for at least the next three months.

"I am not going to promise you anything," she told the crowd. "All I can tell you is that I will do my best to listen to you and bring Radio KDNA into a new chapter."

Fernandez sparked controversy with a series of firings and program changes not long after she took over the station in June 2008. As tensions escalated, the station sought restraining orders against several of its critics.

Her departure from the station was announced Thursday. The station's board of directors said Friday that she left as part of a mutual decision, and they said a report in Friday's edition of the Herald-Republic that she'd been fired was wrong.

However, Tony Sandoval, a community activist who said he's close friends with Fernandez, said she was fired and surprised by it.

"She's hurt," he said.

Fernandez did not return phone calls Friday.

KDNA board member Len Black said the board and Fernandez decided it was best if she parted ways with the station.

He said the controversy was too much of a distraction for her.

During Friday's news conference, several people noted that two board members work for Heritage University, which they fear is trying to gain control of the station.

Both Jiminez-DePrieto and Black work for the university, and both of their supervisors were at the news conference supporting the board.

"The university as far as I know has no interest in the management, direction or ownership of KDNA," Black said.

Officers from the local Teamsters union, which represents nine of the fired workers, asked the board and interim director to make solving the labor dispute a priority.

"We should be included," said the union's principal officer, John Parker. "We're more than happy to partner with you to move this thing forward."

Several of the labor disputes are headed for arbitration.

Among those at the conference was longtime farm worker advocate Tomás Villanueva, who said if anything, the ordeal has reminded people how important the station is to the community.

"It brings a strong message to the community to stick together," he said. "It's too bad that it had to hap-pen this way. I don't think anyone has ill feelings toward Fernandez."

March 5, 2010 - News

Update: The YHR has posted a longer story this morning.

Board members will discuss their interim plans for the organization at a news conference at 11 a.m. today at the station, 121 Sunnyside Ave in Granger. Members of the community that the Board has not intimidated with a restraining order preventing them from entering the "community center" might want to attend.

Replacing the executive director is only one step in restoring KDNA to its mission. Community radio must be governed by the community it serves. The current Board must be replaced, and the organization must adopt standards of behavior and operation that make the station responsible and accountable to its community of listeners.

Please write the Board, demanding their resignations, open elections of new Board members, an explanation of what has become of the over $300,000 that was left in the station's reserves before Fernandez took over, access to the FCC public file, public Board meetings at times when the community can attend, access to board minutes, full financial disclosure, an empowered Community Advisory Board, and for the staff that were fired by Fernandez to be returned to their positions with full wages for the period since their terminations. Please write also to the CPB and to the FCC, letting them know you are still waiting for them to respond to your complaints.

And, please don't forget that amongst this rogues gallery of a Board sits Maria Fernandez's coach and mentor: Mary Rita Rohde.

March 4, 2010 - Radio KDNA director fired

Editors note: Please do not celebrate yet. This is a community radio station that has fallen into the hands of an incompetent dictatorial board of directors that has no idea what they are doing. It took them nearly two years to figure out that Maria Fernandez, following the orders of Directors Jorge Lobos, Leonard Black, and Irma Prieto, was taking the radio station in a "different direction". Until there is an independent review of what has transpired during this period, we will not know the full extent of the damage that has been done. We do know that last night, under this Board's direction, the station started promoting, on the air, an "adult" video store, to the length of giving away a free "adult video". This Board needs to be replaced with representatives of the community that care about quality radio, and do more than pay lip service to democracy and transparency.

NEW Radio KDNA director fired
Yakima Herald-Republic, Melissa Sanchez

GRANGER, Wash. — The controversial figure at the helm of the Yakima Valley’s Spanish-language public broadcaster was dismissed today.

After a year of internal conflict and public protests, Radio KDNA’s governing board dismissed executive director Maria Fernandez in a meeting today.

Her replacement is Laura Contreras, an immigration lawyer with Columbia Legal Service in Yakima. She begins Friday, said Len Black, a member of the Northwest Communities Education Center governing board.

“It’s just a culmination of things that said we probably need to be in a different place, going in a different direction,” Black said this evening. “And it’s a good opportunity for Maria to begin pursuing other opportunities.”

Fernandez took over the direction of the nation’s first Spanish-language public broadcast station in summer 2008, replacing its longtime director, Ricardo Garcia. Almost immediately, station staff complained about her management style and many were fired or quit.

The problems spilled onto the airwaves, and throughout much of 2009, employees, former employees, volunteers and listeners staged protests and demanded Fernandez’s resignation.

February 1, 2010 - The origins of KDNA

Twenty-six years ago KDNA was a very different place: It was staffed by a dedicated group of professionals that saw radio as a means to improving the lives of the community they served.  The programming during those first few years set a standard  that the current organization has proven incapable of matching in concept or quality.

This video, shot in 1984, contains examples of public service programming, production of news and children’s (Jardin de los Niños) programming, and an interview of Rosa Ramón, one of the founders and KDNA’s first station manager.  In addition to Rosa, also participating are founder Julio Cesar Guerrero, Mario Z Alvarez, Norma Olguien, Roberto Alviso, and Ezequiel Ramirez.

KDNA Tenth Anniversary – A Tribute to Senator Warren G Magnuson, Yakima Convention Center, November 10, 1989

On the occasion of its tenth anniversary celebration, KDNA paid tribute to Washington Senator Warren G Magnuson, who had passed away just five months before.  Senator Magnuson was instrumental in helping KDNA to secure its construction permit and initial funding.  He and his wife Jermaine attended KDNA’s ground breaking.  As the Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, he was an outspoken advocate for public broadcasting and, in the Senate, introduced the bill that became the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

We are sharing this video so that you will better understand KDNA’s influential role in changing how Latinos and the Spanish speaking participate in, contribute to, and are served by public media.  Before KDNA there was no similar programming available to the Spanish speaking of Washington State.  It is unfortunate that the current management of KDNA is seeking to not only erase KDNA’s history changing record of community service, but to also deny those services to future generations.

See January 2010 posts

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