New General Manager Blocks ‘Blunt Post with Vic’

Below please find the letter of four board members to Michael Novick, edited for space:

Dear Michael,

We, the KPFK LSB members, request immediate reinstatement of Vic Gerami’s show, “The Blunt Post with Vic” (TBPV) for several reasons, starting with the most pressing.

TBPV is an exceptional program that embodies KPFK’s spirit. When covering national, regional, and local news, Vic gets his guests to open up with a friendly and warm demeanor but still asks tough questions. His catalog of interviews is impressive by any standard, including over 100 members of Congress, Governors, Mayors, local politicians, and beloved high-profile public figures. Among other noteworthy shows, when Vic interviewed Marianne Williamson at the KPFK studios in 2019, she disclosed her plan to drop out of the presidential race.

This is one of the most extraordinary times in our nation’s history and possibly the most important election in our lifetime. Vic has interviewed over one-hundred members of Congress and is able to land interviews with some of the most significant high-profile people in the news, politics, and current events. Without Vic, KPFK and Pacifica are  missing this opportunity to have major newsmakers on our air, and it’s a huge loss for KPFK and Pacifica to  be missing these opportunities.

Not a single program on KPFK has an Armenian host who covers topics which are particularly important to the roughly SoCal’s 700,000+ Armenian community, especially at a time when the Armenians are going through the 2nd Armenian Genocide and are targets of anti-Armenian and Armenophobic hate crimes locally.  Of course, Maria Armoudian has a terrific show, but she rarely touches on “Armenian” related topics.

Vic is a well-known gay Armenian-American activist, with a vast network of dedicated and intersectional supporters and listeners. KPFK should be maximizing Vic’s notoriety to reach more listeners and members, not driving them away. We also cannot afford to lose the kind of PR and marketing he brings to the table that benefit KPFK. He produced KPFK’s Pride Marathon for a few years, but the station hasn’t done anything significant for Pride in 2024.

Since Vic, as a staff member replaced a board member who was elected in 2021, he is up for reelection this year.  TBPV should be reinstated in June in order for him to qualify running as a staff member. Vic, as the convener of the Programming Oversight Committee (PrOC), is working on a substantial and much-needed project that includes analyzing all programs on our grid, that benefits the station greatly. We want him to continue his service.

It becomes hard not to consider attributing the cancellation of TBPV to a negative bias towards the Armenians, as this show is the only one that was targeted and eliminated with no rational, reasonable, and legitimate cause. Out of KPFK’s 138 programs, not one has an Armenian host which regularly  addresses issues important to the Armenian-American community. Finally, the fact that unlike four other programs moved from their 8:00 a.m. time slots, TBPV was the only one not given an alternate one-hour time slot, which further highlights the unfair, questionable, and possibly illegal cancellation of Vic’s program.  We hope this serious breach of ethical practices in the business of mass communication can resolve fairly, honestly, and free of any prejudice or discriminatory agendas towards one of the largest minorities and most vulnerable and disenfranchised communities in Southern California, the Armenians.

We urge you to give TBPV a drive-time hour-long time slot immediately so the station can benefit from his unique and important interviews and programming and we can keep one of our dedicated programmers on air and on the LSB.

Respectfully,

Tatanka Christopher Bricca, Chair, KPFK LSB

Harvey Wasserman, KPFK—Pacifica National Board Director

Evelia Jones, KPFK—Pacifica National Board Director

Jan Goodman, KPFK—Pacifica National Board Director

Myla Reson, KPFK—Pacifica National Board Director