Michelle Price-Johnson, the new interim general manager, has set up a website to get direct feedback from listeners, staff and programmers.

Raise your voice about restoring your favorite shows, new content you would like on the station etc. at: http://wpfwconnect.com/

WPFW-CMS Letter to Price

Dear Fellow Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW,

WPFW General Manager John Hughes has been placed on paid administrative leave; and an interim general manager is expected to start this week.

This surprise announcement was made by Local Station Board Chair Yves Point-du-Jour on Saturday, Sept. 14 in two email messages sent to programmers and members of the Local Station Board, in which he reported that Hughes has been placed on administrative leave and is “no longer responsible for the day-to-day management and operations of WPFW.”

Point-du-Jour’s messages was followed by a letter sent by Summer Reese, interim executive director of the Pacifica Radio Foundation, which owns WPFW, along with four other stations around the country.

Hughes, who has been the target of a community campaign for his removal, has been a lightning rod of controversy since beginning his tenure at the station three years ago. One of his first actions was to fire the respected interim program director, Bob Daughtry, as well as to strip Daughtry of his on-air time slot.

After brushing aside a letter of no confidence signed by 80 programmers, Hughes was embroiled in several more controversies, including financial mismanagement, unilateral programming changes, charges of unfair labor practices, FCC violations, a plan to import corporate–funded programming, as well as a plan to lock the station into an eight-year lease with the right-wing radio network Clear Channel, home of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

For at least two months, WPFW has been in a “low-power” mode, with vast swaths of the listenership unable to hear the 50,000-watt station. Despite the situation, Hughes launched into a major fall fundraiser that, so far, has had abysmal results—at a time that the station is facing substantial financial challenges.

The message from Point-du-Jour stated that Michelle Price, a consultant previously called in by Pacifica to facilitate WPFW’s move from Champlain Street, will be the interim general manager and is expected to start in the coming days.

You may not hear much about this change on the air since both Point-du-Jour and Reese cautioned programmers to not mention Hughes on their shows or in any other media.

Since Hughes’ programming grid change of December 2012, Concerned Members and Supporters of WPFW have sent hundreds of letters, email messages and phone calls to Pacifica Foundation interim executive director Summer Reese, demanding Hughes’ removal. In addition, hundreds more have signed petitions and urged the Local Station Board to vote for his removal, which the board did on January 31 of this year.

While elated at this long overdue community victory, CMS is determined to press on with other demands, including the restoration of our programming, programmers and listening audience.

We will be supporting a new campaign to regain our dwindling listenership, by letting listeners know that we are back and ready to, once again, fulfill WPFW’s mission for jazz and justice.

The City Paper has published an article on this subject.

Stay Tuned!
Whose Station? Our Station?
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When we last looked in on WPFW General Manager John Hughes and the aggravating ‘low power’ situation, he was sitting at the July Local Station Board meeting oblivious to the fact that listeners could not hear the station.

After several community members and board members asked about poor reception of the station, Hughes asked, “You can’t hear the station?” And, in response, there was an incredulous shout from the crowd of “No!”

Now, as of this writing, he is trying, and failing, to run a major on-air fall fundraiser when many listeners still cannot hear the station and many—assuming WPFW is totally off the air—have completely abandoned the station.  As an ominous sign of how damaging the unannounced low power situation has been, early fundraiser returns have been abysmal.

This continuing management debacle is occurring as Hughes is set to be formally evaluated by the Local Station Board, paid staff and programmers. It is vitally important for these parties to return their evaluations, and for the those remaining in the station’s dwindling listenership let Summer Reese, Pacifica’s interim executive director, know that we want John Hughes gone and replaced with someone who will uphold our station’s mission for jazz and justice. Raise your voice by signing the NEW PETITION. If you have already signed, commit to getting at least 5 more signers. (The old petition had continuing technical problems.)   

Stay Tuned!

Attorney Suji Sutler, longtime listener-member of WPFW, has created a NEW PETITION demanding the removal of John Hughes for the survival of the station. While hundreds of people signed the original petition at Change.org, there appear to be unsolved technical glitches with that petition, so sign on to the NEW PETITION at Care2 to keep up the community momentum and pressure. Sign TODAY and share with your friends.

WHOSE STATION? OUR STATION!