WPFW's Turmoil

The recent firing of Ron Pinchback as general manager of Pacifica's WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, D.C. was badly timed and ill-considered, not because of Pinchback's ability - truth is, he was a mediocrity who reached the apogee of his meager skills years ago when he was responsible for public service announcements and calendar of events - but because his termination coincides with the departure of Bobby Hill as program director. These actions render an already shaky, floundering organization even more unstable. The station prides itself on 30 years of community service but the truth is, it has failed miserably to inject its programming with the imagination and energy sorely needed to compete in a dynamic, ever-changing environment created in large part with the emergence of the internet and other technologies.