Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Irwin Jacobs newsroom votes to unionize

State-run KPBS may face new scrutiny as AFL-CIO unit seeks pay hikes

Workers at San Diego State University's taxpayer-funded broadcasting arm, KPBS radio and TV, have voted to sign up with SAG-AFTRA, the big media union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, according to an online posting by the labor organization.

Upcoming contract negotiations between management and labor are likely to cast a new light on the station's financing and fundraising operations, including their relationship with Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs.

The new bargaining unit will cover 55 public media professionals who produce, report, host, and present content for television, radio, and the Internet. This election allows them to move forward to negotiate a first contract.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“KPBS provides a unique and valuable service to the San Diego community,” said Peggy Pico, host of Evening Edition for KPBS. “We look forward to a role in decision-making and to starting our negotiations."

KPBS is the second public media station in Southern California to organize with SAG-AFTRA this year. In January, staff of KPCC in Pasadena voted to join SAG-AFTRA. SAG-AFTRA also represents public media professionals at National Public Radio (NPR), KQED in San Francisco, WNYC in New York, and other stations.

A major difference between KPBS and KPCC is that while the Pasadena station is run by a non-profit corporation, the San Diego operation is an arm of the public university, reportable to SDSU's president through the station’s general manager, Tom Karlo, a state employee.

As previously reported here, Karlo makes a handsome state salary of $215,262. In addition to its state funding, public contributions and federal grants solicited by the stations are routed through a university-controlled fundraising arm.

The school's non-profit San Diego State University Research Foundation — run by a board including $400,000-a-year SDSU president Elliot Hirshman, UCSD grad school dean Kim E. Barrett, and an array of other top-dollar state university employees — pays a Washington D.C. lobbyist $40,000 a quarter to look after its interests in Congress, the source of millions of dollars of annual revenue to SDSU.

The arrangement has created prickly conflict of interest and governance questions for the public broadcaster, as when earlier this year it investigated GOP congressional candidate Carl DeMaio's campaign fundraising in his race against freshman Democrat Scott Peters, a self-proclaimed champion of public money for the university.

A chief private funder of the KPBS operation is San Diego's richest man, Qualcomm founder and La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs, whose political interests have been known to intersect with his public giving.

A seven-figure backer of Barack Obama who is currently helping to bankroll the campaign of newly-hatched Democrat Nathan Fletcher for San Diego mayor, Jacobs donated $2.9 million to renovate the KPBS newsroom, which was subsequently named after him and his wife Joan.

“KPBS is one of the better sources for news and information in our region,” said Jacobs, whose proposed Balboa Park transportation remake has drawn fierce criticism from some quarters. “Joan and I wanted to do something that would enhance their ability to cover local news.”

Earlier this year, the Jacobs couple were prime sponsors of a lavish downtown society fundraising bash for KPBS held at the Grant Hotel. Attendees were encouraged to wear costumes from public television’s Downton Abbey.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

India Hawthorne is common in coastal gardens, Citrus trees are in full bloom

The vernal equinox is on March 19
Next Article

Gilbert Castellanos, Buddha Trixie, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Shane Hall, Brian Jones Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival

Grand Socials, gigs, and record releases in Del Mar, City Heights, Solana Beach, Little Italy, and Ocean Beach

Workers at San Diego State University's taxpayer-funded broadcasting arm, KPBS radio and TV, have voted to sign up with SAG-AFTRA, the big media union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, according to an online posting by the labor organization.

Upcoming contract negotiations between management and labor are likely to cast a new light on the station's financing and fundraising operations, including their relationship with Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs.

The new bargaining unit will cover 55 public media professionals who produce, report, host, and present content for television, radio, and the Internet. This election allows them to move forward to negotiate a first contract.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“KPBS provides a unique and valuable service to the San Diego community,” said Peggy Pico, host of Evening Edition for KPBS. “We look forward to a role in decision-making and to starting our negotiations."

KPBS is the second public media station in Southern California to organize with SAG-AFTRA this year. In January, staff of KPCC in Pasadena voted to join SAG-AFTRA. SAG-AFTRA also represents public media professionals at National Public Radio (NPR), KQED in San Francisco, WNYC in New York, and other stations.

A major difference between KPBS and KPCC is that while the Pasadena station is run by a non-profit corporation, the San Diego operation is an arm of the public university, reportable to SDSU's president through the station’s general manager, Tom Karlo, a state employee.

As previously reported here, Karlo makes a handsome state salary of $215,262. In addition to its state funding, public contributions and federal grants solicited by the stations are routed through a university-controlled fundraising arm.

The school's non-profit San Diego State University Research Foundation — run by a board including $400,000-a-year SDSU president Elliot Hirshman, UCSD grad school dean Kim E. Barrett, and an array of other top-dollar state university employees — pays a Washington D.C. lobbyist $40,000 a quarter to look after its interests in Congress, the source of millions of dollars of annual revenue to SDSU.

The arrangement has created prickly conflict of interest and governance questions for the public broadcaster, as when earlier this year it investigated GOP congressional candidate Carl DeMaio's campaign fundraising in his race against freshman Democrat Scott Peters, a self-proclaimed champion of public money for the university.

A chief private funder of the KPBS operation is San Diego's richest man, Qualcomm founder and La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs, whose political interests have been known to intersect with his public giving.

A seven-figure backer of Barack Obama who is currently helping to bankroll the campaign of newly-hatched Democrat Nathan Fletcher for San Diego mayor, Jacobs donated $2.9 million to renovate the KPBS newsroom, which was subsequently named after him and his wife Joan.

“KPBS is one of the better sources for news and information in our region,” said Jacobs, whose proposed Balboa Park transportation remake has drawn fierce criticism from some quarters. “Joan and I wanted to do something that would enhance their ability to cover local news.”

Earlier this year, the Jacobs couple were prime sponsors of a lavish downtown society fundraising bash for KPBS held at the Grant Hotel. Attendees were encouraged to wear costumes from public television’s Downton Abbey.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

India Hawthorne is common in coastal gardens, Citrus trees are in full bloom

The vernal equinox is on March 19
Next Article

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.