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11/97 |
| FOR FOUR WEEKS IN JUNE AND ON INTO JULY, we did not know if we were going
to lose long-time KPFA programmer Mama O'Shea to a severe heart attack and
pneumonia complicated by diabetes. She was on a breathing tube for most of
that time until one night when she yanked it out herself. (She claims not
to remember this). I am much relieved and thankful to report that while weak
and very sick, she is still with us and getting better every day. As I write
this she has gone from a three week stay in the Intensive Care Unit at San
Francisco General Hospital to a nearby facility where she has definately
made an impression on the unsuspecting doctors and nurses!!
In the June/July issue of the Sonoma County Free Press, we told you about the final rejection letter Mama received from the management at KPFA after nine months of leading her to believe she would be back on the air. The paper had barely hit the streets when she collapsed. I am not the only one who sees the connection between these two events coming as they did within two weeks of each other. The following open letter to station management went immediately onto the Internet and many people responded to it although it has not been answered or even acknowledged by any of the women it was addressed to. Here also is a sampling of only some of messages sent to her during this time. Wish we had the space to print more. Special thanks to Janice Leber, Barry Korngold and Doug Dowd who along with Oz & Beth Grimes and myself kept an anxious watch over the situation. I wish we could print all the messages she has received but please know that your good wishes have made a difference. Needless to say, there have been no comments from the station management at KPFA. |
Mary Moore |
| I'm trying to capture in elusive words the emotions that have come to
the fore over Mama O'Shea's recent collapse. The doctors are calling it a
heart attack complicated by pneumonia and diabetes. Many of us see it as
a broken heart coming on the heels of your final rejection letter to her.
As I write this we don't know if she will recover. What I do know is I'm
not the only one holding you at least partially responsible.
Make no mistake. It was Mama's spirit that kept her body going--not the other way around. It was that spirit that kept her believing for the past nine months that she would still be "shoutin' out and fighting back" after last Fall's sudden purge of many long-time programmers. I worked with her during the insulting process as we met with management, submitted proposals and even a demo tape (totally unneeded after 22 years on your airwaves). For all those months we were all led to believe by station management that she would be back in some form at some future date. When she did get her final rejection letter in May, there was no human touch, no phone call, no asking a friend to intervene in breaking the news. Just a cold rejection letter that contradicted everything we had been told. I now believe there was never any intent on your part to re-instate her. You were simply leading her on until the fuss from last falls purge subsided because you knew there was such wide support for her from your listeners. Shame on you!! Mama had two things going against her with you women who have taken on the Old-Boy management style. First--she never lost her humanity. Even when she was at her lowest, she was always concerned about other people's feelings. That must have been very annoying and threatening to you because it's the very quality you have had to give up to do your job. Mama's first priority was always to her listeners--not to you . Secondly--she wouldn't shut her mouth to accommodate you or to lie for you. Your designed-to-intimidate program memos may have done their job with the majority of your programmers but she never caved in, and even when she appeared to be going along with your bully tactics, she let the listeners know that there was, indeed, reason to be concerned with the direction that Pat Scott and her eager-to-please underlings have been taking what used to be "our" station!! Ginny once told me, in explaining that her politics weren't going down the tubes, that she wants to see a revolution. Well don't we all. But the revolution that many of us are working toward is much more than a systemic, political one. It puts first how we treat each other and it does not ignore and disrespect its elders nor does it toss them on the trash heap when they become sick. You can't accomplish the goals of this revolution by using the old patriarcial models to get there. The cold hearted, mean spirited and selfishly ambitious way in which you do your job and justify your actions tells us all what you have had to give up. Your "vision" for Pacifica/KPFA is to go for the money, and it bears no resemblence to the "vision" of its founders. There is more real dialogue between real people going on on NPR and even the commercial stations than there is on the current Pacifica network. The activist community which was once the backbone of these stations has been shut out of your format. You cannot keep a lid on the truth no matter how hard you try to control the "spin" coming from the staff and programmers that remain. And now you are attempting union busting!!! We can only hope that the union will have the integrity and courage that Mama O'Shea had when she resisted your dismantling of everything this station has ever represented. My sincere hope for you is that you never forget this. I hope that when you are Mama's age that your actions now will haunt you then. I hope that whatever denial you are in now will be stripped away then and you will get the full emotional impact of what it means to be tossed aside without compassion and caring. I hope that someday wisdom catches up with you. When it does, Mama will forgive because that is her nature. Perhaps someday you will understand this.
|
| Mary K. Moore P.O. Box 296 Occidental, CA 95465 |
| KPFA has a responsibility which they are not fulfilling. This is a time
we all need to be united and instead they're going their own separate ways.
Thank you for all your cards and letters. They are helping me get back to
life. Mama O'Shea, San Francisco |
| Dear Mama, |
| I have just heard that you are in the hospital--I'm so sorry. My husband
and my children join me in wishing you a speedy recovery and we hope to
hear you back on KPFA if it ever recovers from its mismanagement. |
| Fond regards, Margaret Billings El Cerrito, CA |
| For Mama O'Shea, |
| My heart is with you, as is the grove of redwoods. Forever. I have missed you very much because you enriched my life beyond any words I can write. |
| Gigi |
| Mama O'Shea: Hi, my friend. |
| This is K.C. writing to let you know that my love, thoughts, prayers and respect are with you now and always. I know that you are a fighter and because you are you will get better in no time! And I pray that I will find you back on the air doing what you do the best! You have made alot of friends Mama, and I am so proud to say that I am one of them! So for me and all your other friends and fans, |
| Sincerely and respectfully, K. Cooper Death Row San Quentin Prison |
| Dear Mama, |
| I hope your recovery has begun. Miss you on KPFA. |
| With gratitude, Mary K. Friebe El Cerrito |
| Dear Mama, |
| Though I am 72, you are still "mama" to us all, making of us one very large family. Mary has told me of your current struggle in which we wish you well along with all your many, many admirers. It is not an easy time of life and you have "put up with it" with more dignity, guts and humor than I am able to do. But I'm going to keep trying and hope you will feel the many arms embracing you. |
| Love and admiration, Woody Schwartz Sebastopol, CA |
| Hello to Mama! |
| This is a hello to my dear friend Mama O'Shea and a chance for me to say again "I love you, Mama!" I love your spirit. I love your humanity and concern for those who have lost so much of their power in this tug of war between human rights and greed, and I love your voice when you "Shout Out!".... and look forward to the next manifestation of it. Perhaps you're going to have to go international and get on the Web??? |
| Charla Green Oakland |
| We're happy to say that Mama is looking much better. We join all her
other friends and fans in wishing her a complete recovery. We miss her
strong voice "shoutin' out and fightin' back" and we look forward to
the day (may it be soon) when we hear that clear voice speaking up once more.
Get well, Mama.
|
| Oz and Beth Grimes Petaluma |
| About two weeks ago, Mama wrote on a piece of paper "Am I dying?" to visiting friends. They didn't know how to answer. As I write, she is taking short walks with the physical therapist, beginning to look and sound very much like her usual self. Only a few of the hospital personnel have heard of Mama or her program. But now, when they are told that her program was 'Shoutin' Out & Fighting Back' they nod their heads in understanding. That's showing them, Mama--we always knew you had it in you. |
| Doug Dowd San Francisco |
| Mama--You're too damned tough to stay down long and too damned good to have to hurt, so we guess you'll just have to toss off the covers and get back to stirrin' up stuff!! Take care, you're a precious commodity! |
| Marianne Torres and Michael Poulin Oakland |
| As a denizen of Los Angeles, I've never had the opportunity to meet Mama
O'Shea, but I once heard her on the radio while driving in the area. I didn't
know what KPFA's frequency was but when I heard her voice I said, this
sounds like KPFK, it must be KPFA. All my best wishes.
|
| Lyn Gerry Los Angeles |
| Please let Mama know that I think of her every day many times--being so close to her--just a few blocks away makes a difference, I think. Tell her that every evening before I go to bed, which is between midnight and two, I go to our roof from which I can see a corner of SF General and the plume of the heating tower and I think of her and send her extra love, because I know that the nights can be tough. |
| Mariah Gilardin San Francisco |
| For what it's worth, "Blues By the Bay" didn't air here in Fresno this
morning for some reason. One of the KFCF people took over playing music and
at the end of the show made an announcement that Mama was in SF General,
and that those who love her are keeping her close in their thoughts. Considering
the treatment she's gotten from parent KPFA, I thought it was significant
that one of KFCF's on-air personnel bucked management to give Mama a public
salute. It was at 1 p.m. ..an hour I believe has relatively heavy
listenership here. So Mama got a shout out from Fresno!! We'll keep the hugs
coming!
|
| Debbie Speer Fresno |
| Dear Mama, |
| I'm a KPFA staff member who pre-dates even your historic self. I left
the job of Production Director at KPFA in 1966 to become Pacifica's London
Correspondent. Two years ago I returned to Berkeley to research a history
of KPFA. As I was driving along Shattuck Ave. on the way to the station I
heard a commanding voice on the radio. I pulled over to the side and listened
'til the end of the program, about half an hour. I learned that it was someone
called Mama O'Shea. I thought, 'this sounds like the KPFA I used to
know. Lew Hill would have been delighted. Phone her up and arrange an
interview.'
It didn't happen; there just wasn't time. But now that you're ill, I must add my voice to all those who are telling you that your presence is still more powerful than that of the apparachiks who kicked you out. Like Nero, they will be remembered for their destructive rather than their creative deeds, while you will take your rightful place in Pacifica's hall of Fame. |
| John Whiting KPFA Staff Member - 1953-1968 |
| Please tell Mary that lurkers like me appreciate her spelling out what we all know. By "we" I mean me and the many phone room volunteers who saw and over the years, began to acknowledge that Marcy, Ginny and most of all Pat and even Kris and Philip, were automatons devoted to personal survival. Most of them seemed not to listen to the programs that caused us to take time from our own work to volunteer at the station. Like Mama O'Shea......we scared the hell out of them. |
| Zoe Klippert |
| Hope you WILL get better. I think of you often and miss your show. I first heard about all the changes at KPFA when I listened to your show and heard you saying goodbye. You were trying to be soooo polite and not air your anger right out there where we all could hear it.....NO MORE truth getting through the airwaves. We miss you, Mama, and hope your road back to recovery can be speedy indeed. |
| Nyla Gladden, a 25 year listener |
| Mama, th ank you for being there for all of us. Your words made me think, made me laugh and brought me to a higher level of being |
| With warmest regards, Glenn Martin San Francisco |
.
| Dear Mama,
I was very sorry to hear you have suffered a heart attack with complications. You have my very best wishes for a speedy recovery and all the love I can send your way. I'm very well aware of the hospital scene; spent countless months in acute facilities, not to mention the long term so-called "care" facilities. So you have my empathy as well.
As far as KPFA is concerned, forget em, and come join the micro radio movement.
It's smokin'! And it's real free speech. I love it. So hurry up and get well
so you can join us. We definitely need your warm, loving voice back on
the air. |
| Love in buckets, Kiilu Nyasha former KPFA programmer |
| Dear Mama,
I want to thank you for all the help you gave the International Hotel tenants back in the late '70s. Your interviewing one of them was always much more than just a good interview. . .it was a building block in the ongoing struggle. Tenants would come back from those several interviews energized and enthused and proud to have your backing in a way that was a joy to see. |
| Bill Carpenter San Francisco |
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