{"id":7508,"date":"2018-01-15T13:06:53","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T21:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=7508"},"modified":"2018-01-15T13:08:32","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T21:08:32","slug":"loan-offered-pacifica-likely-shielding-kpfa-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/01\/15\/loan-offered-pacifica-likely-shielding-kpfa-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Loan offered to Pacifica, likely shielding KPFA from crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
By\u00a0Natalie Orenstein<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
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\"KPFA
KPFA\u2019s future is less hazy than it was last week, due to a loan offered to its parent company. Photo: Siciliana Trevino<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Supporters of the Pacifica Foundation, which owns Berkeley\u2019s KPFA station, have offered the radio network a $2 million loan, likely averting an immediate financial crisis\u00a0that threatened to take some stations off the air<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pacifica\u2019s interim director, Bill Crosier, said the network has received \u201cverbal commitments,\u201d but no details in writing yet, from supporters of KPFK, Pacifica\u2019s Los Angeles station, offering a short-term loan. Crosier said the Pacifica National Board expects to receive loan documents and vote on approving the loan within the next week or so.<\/p>\n

Some members of\u00a0KPFA<\/a>, Berkeley\u2019s longstanding listener-supported, progressive radio station, feared doomsday when a judge ruled in favor of a New York real estate company looking to collect close to $2 million in back rent and fees from Pacifica. New York station WBAI has long been unable to pay its rent to the Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT), which owns the Empire State Building, where WBAI\u2019s transmitter is located. Since 2005, the station\u2019s lease has included a 9% annual increase. According to KPFA board members, the director who signed that lease is no longer alive.<\/p>\n