Dear Editor:

As Phil Ochs told us in one of his most famous and poignant songs, there comes a time when we all get left "on the rolling river shores of changes." As global politics, key issues, and regional demographics have changed from one era to the next, change has inevitably come to Pacifica as well. It is truly sad that one thing that has yet to change is that this institution, founded on the principles of peace and dialogue, has typically dealt with such periodic transitions with strife and ill will. But whether through peaceful or conflict-ridden means, change simply had to occur, and thankfully now it has.

The KPFK of the declining years of the 20th century reflected in many ways the lack of inspiring new protest movements, the general dearth of radical ideas in the US, and the social apathy characteristic of the 1990s. At KPFK, as in the university, leftists from the 60s found a haven for progressive intellectual discourse, and engaged mostly in dialogue with people of their own class and milieu. There is no reason in the world to disparage the good work they did during this difficult time.

Today, however, our political and ethnic landscapes have changed dramatically, and KPFK is going to have to meet the challenge of this transformation. California is the first state to have a white minority. Up and down the coast, thousands of young people have hit the streets passionately protesting corporate globalization and emerging threats of world war. Immigrant workers in Latino and Asian communities have created a new union movement and are transforming the culture of Los Angeles, one of the most globalized cities on the planet. Dynamic debates about radical ideas and activist strategies fill coffeehouses and artspaces. These compelling, new, often multilingual voices simply did not find a voice at the KPFK of the recent past. The overwhelmingly white, aging public affairs department was unable, unwilling, and just plain lacked the necessary vision to transform itself to be fully relevant to this new era. Its members were collectively ill-equipped to stay on the cutting edge of ideas, culture, and movements.

Ella Taylor got it all wrong. The "family feud" at KPFK is not about the past--it's about the future, about what kind of community alternative radio we need to meet the new challenges of the 21st century. There is an exciting, broad exchange taking place on and off the air as we strive to develop answers to that question. If some programmers who were comfortable with the earlier regime understand radio, good! Let them share that knowledge with new folks. Otherwise, as the other 60s folk singer-songwriter prophecied, "Your old road is rapidly aging--Get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand--For the times they are a-changing." But no one needs to be excluded--whether you're 18 or 80,tune into 90.7 FM and become part of the solution.

Leone Hankey
Los Angeles