Is the General Manager of KALW Weaponizing the Language of Diversity to Further Her Career, and Kneecapping Our 80-Yr-Old Local Public Radio Gem in the Process?
Tina Pamintuan became KALW’s new general manager three years ago. After tanking the station’s finances, creating a toxic work environment, and making sweeping and unpopular programming changes, she’s moving on to a more prestigious position at St. Louis Public Radio. What’s more, by creating a nonprofit arm that she heads, she will retain power over KALW from afar. The SFUSD Board (KALW’s license holder) hired her, but is no longer even nominally involved in the daily workings of the station.
Pamintuan claims her decisions are made in service of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI), and any opposition to her is an expression of white entitlement and faux liberalism. These claims don’t stand up to scrutiny. Pamintuan hasn’t promoted any BIPOC folks or women into her inner circle; she has surrounded herself with white yes-men. In a recent interview with the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Pamintuan characterizes all criticism as stemming from racism, xenophobia, and white privilege. Her ongoing struggle with JoAnn Mar — a distinguished, award-winning AAPI journalist, who’s worked at KALW for over 30 years — isn’t mentioned, because it doesn’t fit Pamintuan’s narrative. When Mar requested a meeting to discuss programming concerns, Pamintuan retaliated by giving her a negative evaluation and unilaterally changing her work schedule. This was not a lone instance of retaliation — Pamintuan has created a toxic work environment in which dissent equals betrayal, resulting in multiple union grievances and unfair labor practice charges. She’s fired or pushed out so many people that KALW is now chronically understaffed.
Pamintuan’s ageism is blatant, as is her disregard for expertise, loyalty, and the local. She does, however, display a taste for status, speaking glowingly of the pedigrees and reputations of expensive outside consultants. Her attitude toward community feedback is dismissive, arrogant, and patronizing; she speaks proudly of not responding to listener, donor, and programmer concerns. She decries the ubiquitous “public radio voice” as speaking for and to a thin segment of the population — yet KALW’s duplication of the exact same NPR and BBC content that is being aired on KQED remains ubiquitous, while local voices and live programming are axed in favor of automation. This all amplifies the “public radio voice” she rails against, dilutes KALW’s unique local sound, and does nothing in the service of DEI.
When Pamintuan took the helm in September 2018, KALW had amassed a surplus of $470,000. But — after her six-month probationary period — she fired the very successful development director who had kept KALW running in the black for many years. By the end of fiscal year 2019 the station was operating in the red, and has been ever since. This can’t be blamed on the pandemic, or on white entitlement. Pamintuan and her poor fiscal management — including lavish expenditures on outside consultants for a puzzling rebranding campaign and controversial new music programming — have certainly contributed to KALW’s current precarious financial situation.
Pamintuan made her big move in July, while already vying for the St. Louis position; the timing makes it easy to see the sweeping changes she instituted as a cynical ploy to gain cred and advance her ambitions. On the advice of an L.A. consultant and a Denver firm, young BIPOC DJs, most with little or no previous radio experience, were recruited, trained, and given 20 hours a week of prime-time programming; 10 hours were given to a single DJ (no other voice on the station has close to that much airtime). With only a few weeks’ notice, KALW’s world-class music programmers, who have volunteered their time and expertise — some for more than 25 years — had their shows cut and their schedules and lives upended. Listeners, supporters, and programmers were neither informed of the changes in progress nor asked for input; subsequent feedback has been ignored, or dismissed as reactionary weaponization. If the “new sound” were successful in attracting a new audience, one not currently listening to terrestrial radio, that would be great — but these extensive changes were instituted abruptly, without putting in place any timeline or mechanism for evaluating their success. The L.A. consultant who advised and oversaw the process has since been hired as Music Director (a new position, yet another novel expenditure in hard fiscal times) — and will be working from his new home in Mexico! How’s that for local!
Let’s hope the SFUSD Board does a better job when choosing the next GM, and this time includes qualifications, skills, and experience in their rationale for hiring. And let’s hope that KALW makes it to 85 without collapsing financially or becoming unrecognizable — a homogenized, automated soundbot, rather than the scrappy, innovative, eclectic local jewel it is.
