Pacifica showing signs of stress

Conscientious objector, Lewis Hill, started th first listener-supported radio station in 1946 to create a more powerful venue to spread a pacifist message.

Hill's vision grew to encompass Pacifica Radio, made up of a network of stations in Berkeley, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Houston. And while Pacifica stations are the go-to radio for progressives during times of war, in-fighting plagues the institution and mars the movement for progressive media.

But Nicole Sawaya addresses Pacifica's failures in her departure letter from her short tenure as Pacifica's exeuctive director.

Pacifica calls itself a movement, yet currently it is behaves like a jobs program, a cult, or a social service agency. And oftentimes, the loudest and most obstreperous have the privilege of the microphone. There are endless meetings of committees and “task forces”– mostly on the phone – where people just like to hear themselves talk. Sometimes they get lucrative contracts from their grandstanding. It’s been grueling for someone in my position, someone like me who is not a process person, much less a political gamer. I keep asking: what’s the endgame? Paralysis has set in, coupled with organizational drift.