Talk Radio — AFSCME Style
By Jon Melegrito
Broadcasts in Hawaii and elsewhere counter the slant in mainstream media.
Honolulu
Before Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, islanders here tuned in to their oldest radio station, KGU (760-AM), for news and music. So did the Japanese, who had used the radio beacon as their guide to Honolulu.
Sixty years later, KGU is still broadcasting. So are a handful of talk radio stations dominated by right-wingers like Oliver North and Rush Limbaugh.
These conservative media bastions are not unchallenged, however. Housed inside KGU is a tight little radio show called "Voice of Labor," produced and hosted by the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA)/AFSCME Local 152. Since its inception, the show has provided an alternative viewpoint on behalf of its 40,000 members. Recently, it has also taken on what its broadcasters call "owners of the new plantation" — big hotel chains raking in millions in profits with no compunction about firing hundreds of unionized workers.
HGEA Business Agent Stuart McKinley, the show’s host and moderator, proposed the idea for "Voice of Labor" to HGEA Public Affairs Officer Randy Kusaka three years ago. "I’ve always been told when I’m out in the field that the number-one problem is communication," he recalls. "Whether it’s between workers and employers or between the union and its members, that’s a big concern." His idea, therefore, "is part of an attempt to communicate better."
Kusaka readily agreed. "This is labor’s voice in the media," he says. "It’s important for people to know there’s a union out here fighting for them."
A foot, a message
With Exec. Director — and International vice president — Russell K. Okata’s blessing and a chunk of HGEA’s budget, "Voice of Labor" went on the air in October 1999, first on KWAI-AM. Although that was not a highly rated station, "we wanted to get our foot in the door and our message out," Kusaka says. In addition, the station’s costs were dirt cheap at $125 a show.
After a year, HGEA moved its program to KGU to take advantage of its stronger signal, larger audience and better time slot. Another plus: "Voice of Labor" draws holdover listeners from KGU’s popular "Call the Mayor" show, which immediately precedes it.
HGEA’s program runs on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 7. It opens with the recorded sound of a slack-key guitar expertly played by George Ku’o, an HGEA Unit 13 member and a civil engineer with the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, followed by a commercial promoting the benefits of union membership. With its focus on local issues, it features interviews with state officials, scholars and labor leaders, as well as rank-and-file members. Topics have included domestic violence, automobile insurance reform, missing children, the prison system and public education.
"It’s a pleasure to provide the music for the radio show," Ku’o says. "I’m glad we have a way of getting our message out and telling everyone how valuable public employees are." Adds Larry Nagasawa, a Unit 03 member who works for Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture: "It’s about time labor had a clearly defined voice on the airwaves. After all, corporate America spends big bucks to sell its point of view."
HGEA’s production costs are a mere $250 a week. Royal State Insurance helps underwrite that with annual funding of $6,000. (Royal provides low-cost group life, home and other insurance plans to union members.)
Although HGEA has no plans to upgrade the radio show, McKinley hopes it can move to a higher-rated station and get more sponsors. "If we had the money, we could increase the professionalism of the show," McKinley says. "We could use more fancy sound effects, music and advertising. We could also be interactive using the Internet, let people chat while we’re on the air, and extend the format to two hours."
At present, listeners can get a live Web cast of the show via HGEA’s website. More than 100 shows are now archived there.
HGEA is also exploring the possibility of public access TV as another communications outlet. Kusaka is not sure, however, if that’s cost effective at this point, worrying that "the logistics alone would be a drain on our resources."
AFSCME trio
"Voice of Labor" is one of only three outlets on the airwaves for working people produced by AFSCME members. The others are in New York and Washington state. DC 37’s "It’s Your City, It’s Our Job" has been on the air for 15 years. The award-winning, half-hour program was one of the first union-radio shows in the country. It airs twice a week on New York’s WNYE 91.5 FM — at 9 p.m. on Thursdays and 12:30 p.m. on Fridays. Hosted by AFSCME members, the program features rank-and-filers and local leaders discussing their jobs and the daily challenges they face.
"Whether we’re talking politics or the housing crisis, the listening audience is getting a point of view not usually heard on mainstream radio," says Lee Saunders, the council’s administrator. "The DC 37 show gives labor a powerful voice that reaches into the communities of our city to talk about those issues that make a difference in the lives of all New Yorkers."
The Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28, on the other hand, is the only AFSCME union that utilizes local cable access. Its TV program, "Our View," airs at least once a month on 19 networks across Washington state, with a potential audience of 2.6 million viewers. It is also accessible in Oregon and Idaho. Produced by AFSCME member Chuck Bolland (Local 443), a veteran radio and TV personality and an education specialist with the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department, "Our View" began broadcasting six years ago. It recently featured a mock fashion show put on by Olympia high school students to educate others about sweatshops and child labor abuses.
The half-hour "Our View," which is produced on a shoestring budget, is hosted by different AFSCME members. And unlike most cable-access TV shows, it is shot not in a studio but out in the field.
Positive perception
"We got into it because it’s a cost-effective way to try to counter some heavy anti-union rhetoric from a couple of local Rush Limbaugh wannabes," says Bolland. "Now it’s helped create a more positive public perception of unions."
Former host Kristine Kraig, a Local 443 member with the Division of Disability Determination Services in Olympia, is pleased with the show’s success. In her view, "Anything we can do to promote ourselves is good. It’s important for people to know we are good workers and the union is there working for them."
AFSCME councils in Wisconsin are very proactive about taking to the airwaves to promote the work their members perform. Councils 24 and 40 collaborate with other unions to sponsor radio and television ads during peak holiday driving periods that urge motorists to slow down and stay alert when passing through construction zones.
Each Labor Day, the two councils run "Wisconsin Made, Wisconsin Proud" spots that build on AFSCME’s founding in the Badger state. The budget for the annual campaign is $14,000.
This fall and winter, Councils 24, 40 and 48 — representing all AFSCME members in Wisconsin — are developing a series of ads touting public workers, to air during University of Wisconsin basketball games.
"Our union was founded here in 1932, so we’re kind of a Wisconsin product," says Paula Dorsey, who is president of both Local 426 and Council 48, and a circulation assistant in the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. "These ads help put a human face on the variety of quality public services that AFSCME members proudly provide here in Wisconsin. At every level of government, from those working behind the scenes to the front-line employees interacting with citizens each day, we want them to know that every AFSCME member contributes in some way to the high quality of life we enjoy in this state."
Adds Sandra Bloomfield, area field services director: "We have relatively high taxes in Wisconsin, but the public demands a high level of services, and they’re getting their money’s worth. So we’re trying to turn the argument around, from high-tax state to high-quality services state."
HGEA on the Air
Guitar strums fade in. Host Stuart McKinley adjusts his microphone. "Here we go guys, 15 seconds," he tells his nervous guests with a reassuring smile. Waits. Then the upbeat baritone voice goes to work:
"And aloha everyone! Welcome back to the ‘Voice of Labor’ show. Happy to have you with us today. As we do every week, we try to bring you interesting, stimulating hour-long conversation. You’re welcome to join us — at 296-7676 or 1-800-472-7676, if you’re out on the neighboring islands, and pound-760 if you’re on your cell phones. But for heaven’s sake, please pull over — don’t drive and talk to us. You might have a tendency to get upset at what some of us might say."
McKinley’s guests break into laughter. On this one Tuesday night, he is featuring three national officers of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) which is holding its convention in Waikiki. He introduces them with a light-hearted touch: "One is very sleepy because she just flew in from the East Coast, and two are local boys made good, one handsome and one [brief pause] more handsome." More laughter.
In quick order, McKinley is bantering with his guests and the show moves on from there. Every 15 minutes, he interrupts with some late-breaking news, a commercial break and a call to arms to demonstrate in front of a Waikiki downtown hotel in solidarity with the fired workers. "We want to teach these owners a lesson that we’re not just a little morsel out here in the middle of the Pacific for them to come and exploit," he tells his listeners. "Working families live here."
For the final quarter-hour, the smooth-talking host opens the phones. He typically gets three or four callers — some friendly and some antagonistic. McKinley says he’s not bothered by the latter: "I welcome the dialogue with our largely conservative audience — so we can counteract the usual slant that people get in the news."
