Urban Unrest

22 May 2006 | Pacifica, Politics | Ernesto Aguilar

A few Monday morning notes for everyone.

• We are wrapping up our pledge drive Thursday night, and it is going to be quite a footrace to reach our $300K-plus goal. My quick math puts us at needing to make about $25,000 per day, which is possible, but tough. Please make your pledge of support KPFT. We are listener-supported, commercial-free radio, and we can only stay that way through the efforts of good people like you. Visit www.kpft.org to make your pledge.
• If you get a chance to tune in Wednesday afternoon, I would highly recommend catching Dr. Alexandra Simotas on our pitch. Not only is Alex a great Open Journal host (doing Her Sex, Her Health on KPFT), but she’s platinum on the mic. Her banter with the Technology Bytes crew last week was priceless! She and Zin (SOS Radio, 3 p.m.) were fun to listen to as well. I know everyone says Amy Goodman and Duane Bradley have a fabulous pitch together, but Alex is well worth catching too. Word is she was recently sought by the Houston Chronicle to blog for the paper, which sounds very promising for her.
• Chicago Media Action, Boston ACME, Media Alliance, FAIR, Paper Tiger, and many others will rally thousands of people across the country to protest AT&T, Bell South, Qwest and Verizon. “These companies are spending $1 million a week to buy votes in Congress for their deregulatory legislation COPE HR.5252 and S.2686,” organizers write. “Local cities have expressed their opposition to this legislation—now it’s time for the public to stop this phone company backed legislation—and demand accountability to local communities and the public interest.” Visit here for more information about how to get active in the national “Day of Outrage.”
• Speaking of FAIR, the group has a snarky/sharp rip on Tom Friedman of the New York Times. Friedman’s famous for his warm-fuzzies about the Iraq War, and FAIR quotes numerous articles by Friedman. Great stuff. Visit FAIR’s site for the scoop.
• What’s a great way to make a program director happy a few days before his birthday? Give him a shirt with a classic line from a classic rapper. That’s what those great folks at Oh Word? did. The incredibly cool hip-hop site just launched its online store and gifted me with one of its “Give Me That Beat Fool” tees. Old-schoolers will immediately name that tune; it’s the opening line of Ice Cube’s “Jackin’ for Beats” off his Kill At Will EP, the release that paved the way for his fiercely political concept disc, Death Certificate. Rather than read me waxing poetic about the virtues of mid-’90s’ Cube — and I sure can — check out Oh Word? sometime. Great interviews, intelligent commentaries and a visually arresting style make it one of the best hip-hop sites on the Internets..
• Speaking of lovely gifts, though my black Chucks are to live-and-die-by, the new Public Enemy sneakers are pretty damn cool!

Please remember to make your pledge to community radio this week! We most definitely need you.

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