A different Pacifica Board brings back Sawaya

Originally published in Current, Oct. 9, 2007
By Mike Janssen

The Pacifica Foundation’s board of directors voted unanimously Sept. 29 [2007] to hire Nicole Sawaya as executive director, choosing a leader whose popularity as a Pacifica station manager in the ’90s is stoking high hopes for her return to the left-wing radio network.

In 1999, Sawaya’s dismissal as g.m. of KPFA, Pacifica’s flagship station in Berkeley, Calif., escalated a bitter, two-year conflict between activist supporters and an earlier version of the national board.

She succeeds Greg Guma, who held the stressful job for nearly two years. He said earlier this year that he would resign effective Sept. 30.

Philip Maldari, host of KPFA’s Morning Show, gave Sawaya an optimistic welcome as he interviewed her Oct. 2. “I think you’re going to have a real base of collegiality and support to encourage you to do the right thing,” Maldari said.

Cohesion among progressives will be vital, Sawaya replied. “The state of the media, the state of our country, the state of the world demands that we get over whatever we may disagree with each other on in the immediate, or small differences, and really protect this institution so that it can fulfill its function into the 21st century,” she said.

When word of Sawaya’s appointment spread through a KPFA reception for the Pacifica Board during its meeting in Berkeley Sept. 28-30, the event turned into a “huge, festive party,” says Lemlem Rijio, the station’s interim g.m.

After Sawaya’s dismissal from KPFA, “the fact that Nicole was not hired back and that the issue was not resolved has always been a thorn in everybody’s side,” says Rijio. Her appointment as executive director marks the end of Pacifica’s “crisis mode,” Rijio says, “and we’re entering a new phase, a hopeful phase.”

Sawaya did not answer Current’s requests for an interview; she and Pacifica agreed that she would not be required to talk publicly about her hiring before starting the job part-time Nov. 12. She takes the reins full-time Dec. 3.

Welcoming back an insider

Sawaya started her first stint at Pacifica in 1998 when she joined KPFA after serving as g.m. of KZYX, a community station in Philo, Calif. She earned respect from the Berkeley staff for boosting morale, improving fundraising and strengthening the station’s ties to the community.

When Sawaya was fired by Lynn Chadwick, then national executive director of the five-station chain, programmers took to the air to denounce the decision. Two lost their jobs as a result.

At the same time, debate was growing throughout the Pacifica network over the national board’s decision to become a self-selecting entity. In the fight for control of Pacifica, listeners and activists invaded KPFA’s offices and marched in the streets of Berkeley. Staffers and board members took the dispute into the courts, where lawsuits dragged on for two years.

In 2001, the weakened and isolated national board surrendered control of the network. A year later, the new leadership installed a bottom-up governance structure intended to prevent future meltdowns.

But internal struggles — both within stations and between stations and national leaders — continue to hinder Pacifica’s rehabilitation.

In one sign of the ongoing strife, Eva Georgia, g.m. of Pacifica’s KPFK in Los Angeles, recently announced her resignation after two station staffers filed lawsuits accusing her of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. Programmers had also questioned her leadership, while the Pacifica Board expressed support for Georgia.

Guma, Pacifica’s outgoing executive director, says the network’s infighting and democratic structure sometimes frustrated his efforts to upgrade national programming and hold stations accountable to network-wide standards. But Sawaya may be able to overcome those roadblocks, he says.

“I was an outsider,” says Guma, who edited and co-founded progressive publications before joining Pacifica, “and although people felt that I was honest and had the right political perspective, they didn’t know me or necessarily have reason to trust me or give me, in a sense, the grant of authority to make change.”

Sawaya’s return is “somewhat of a restoration or the continuing of a restoration,” Guma says. “She’s coming back as someone who was driven out of the network—she comes back with a sense of trust and anticipation. I think that gives her a lot of freedom of movement, potentially.”

A board reacting with smiles

Guma arrived in January 2006, intending to serve as a transitional leader for two to three years. But he had not planned to leave as soon as he did. His departure date was a compromise between members of Pacifica’s national board who wanted him to stay until next year and others who wanted him to leave sooner, he says.

He notes that the national board hired him by only a slim majority vote. The unanimous support for Sawaya shows “some sort of progress,” he says.

Pacifica’s board, composed of 20 representatives from the five cities where it operates stations plus two reps of the network’s many independent affiliates, began looking for Guma’s replacement in April, says Chair David Adelson. They considered a strong slate of candidates, but when they interviewed Sawaya, “you could see the smiles breaking out on people’s faces,” Adelson says.

Sawaya impressed board members with her understanding of the Pacifica network and of the challenges particular to community radio. Because most staffers at community stations work for little or no pay, Adelson says, they often feel entitled to do their jobs their own way and can be hostile to superiors who demand changes.

But they do respond positively to inspiring leaders, says Adelson. “You’ve got to get people excited about what you’re doing,” he says. “And that’s Nicole’s great strength.”

Sawaya previously served as g.m. of KALW-FM, the public station licensed to San Francisco’s school district, from 2001 to 2006. She has been freelancing since leaving KALW.

Dan Siegel, an attorney from Oakland, Calif., who formerly served as Pacifica’s corporate counsel, is now filling the executive director’s seat on an interim basis.