[Editor's note: For pictures related to this article, click here [1].]

The dust is finally settling, I am back in Houston, and I'm ready (after catching up on sleep; I had less than eight hours during my four days in Memphis) to share with KPFT listeners the experience that was the 2007 National Conference for Media Reform.

Visit freepress.net to get hip to what this conference is about. Better yet, check the conference page [2] for audio from sessions and keynotes. Pacifica Radio, with yours truly as executive producer, hosted over ten hours of live and wrapup coverage from Memphis. It was an amazing experience. The conference was fantastic, with some amazing sessions, but first, I have to thank these people.

These folks weren't getting half the shine they should have, but for me and the rest of the Pacifica production crew, they were gods and room 202 was Mount Olympus. 202 of the Cook Convention Center was the press room and the amazing Craig Aaron, Jen Howard and squad tolerated our (mostly my) constant calls, requests, panting, sprinting through the halls, and bogarting food from 202 for the line producers at the production table. They're the people who made our broadcasts by accommodating us again and again. If I had a firstborn, I'd give it to the communications team.

Our first broadcast was Friday morning, with Bill Moyers' speech airing live and scheduled guests Bob McChesney, Amy Goodman and others. As Goodman talked, an unexpected guest plopped into the chair beside Mitch.

Those in Houston who caught our live broadcast heard Mitch do a smooth transition to Danny Glover as he chatted with Goodman. The backstory to that is that the ever-sweet Jen Howard came up to us mid-broadcast and mentioned Danny would be happy to do an interview. Would anyone say no to that? Of course not, and Danny came by, unscheduled, and added some bounce to our first show. Danny Glover had wonderful things to say about Pacifica too. A great start, for sure.

I saw some great speeches in Memphis, but, for me, hands down, the best was Jesse Jackson. Knock his politics. Knock that his speeches can sound the same. Jesse Jackson speaks to an audience that is devoted to and hungry for what he has to say. Friday I arrived at Cook at 5:45 a.m. and there were people waiting for Jesse Jackson's speech and were asking me who this Bill Moyers guy was. Rev. Jackson walked in to an overflowing crowd in a huge hall and moved them with his unique oratory. His call-and-response style got the crowd on its feet. "Stop the war / Save the children" got it going and, though he stumbled through a few lines, when Jackson got to "keep hope alive" it was electrifying to be in that room with so many people on their feet and chanting along.

Cassandra Ashley of KPFT News was Pacifica's point person for an exclusive interview with Jesse Jackson. The photo above was not easy to get. A mob at least ten deep surrounded Pacifica's broadcast table as Jackson strode off the stage and came to us, sat and put on his headphones. Flashbulbs and camera phones were everywhere. People wanted to give Jesse Jackson food, shirts and fliers, or just shake his hand and get a picture. It was my job to keep the space clear, as we were recorded rather than airing live. The guy in the back in a blue shirt kept holding up a protest placard and had to be told (by me) to leave our broadcast area, because he kept throwing up the glossy sign and bouncing flash reflections everywhere. Crazy day.

Cassandra got this shot of the Lorraine Motel after going down with James Alexander to chat with Judge D'Army Bailey, founder of the Civil Rights Museum. I'd heard a lot about the Civil Rights Museum, but had never seen it. Knowing the spot where King died and seeing the picture, though, made it sad to look at.

Friday and Saturday night's wrapup shows, I (critically) believe, were disappointing. A number of technical, communications and circumstantial factors hurt what I had hoped our broadcasts could be. As executive producer, I made several mistakes that I hope to have learned from, and I hope to correct next time. However, I want to really thank the many Pacifica people who came together and made these broadcasts do well. Mario Murillo is definitely my dude, and he swooped in and saved us during the Saturday wrap show. Did I mention again how much ass Craig Aaron and Jen Howard kick? If I haven't, please believe they most certainly did, as they helped hunt down some guests and hold it together.

Our content choices were interesting, but departing these kinds of events always makes me wonder whether what radio people like talking about is what average people want to listen to? I came up alternately between Barrio Denver Harbor to the east and Acres Homes on the city's north side, and scraped by to get to a state college, which my family couldn't afford. My perspective was shaped by a working-class life, and I am at a loss about why we spend so much time on some topics, because I wonder how much this matters to my Latino community. I'm often critical of our choices for coverage, which tend to be vanity reports on topics Pacifica people (ourselves, our allies and friends) are passionate about, but carry little weight outside of that circle. This week, I think we were no different in some respects. I'd like to think we did some good stuff, but I think we can make improvements.

Special recognition to Davey D of KPFA and Karen J. Bond of the National Black Coalition for Media Justice, who stopped by to chat and ended up talking about Clear Channel's ownership of Black stations as part of our live broadcast 20 minutes later. Not only was she a last-minute guest, but Bond was articulate and impressive in talking about radio conglomerates owning Black media not merely as an ownership issue, but as one where such companies controlled communications for the Black community. Davey D built from Bond's comments, and talked about the web and other topics.

There were several hip-hop sessions. Content-wise, I have to ask similar questions as above. More pointedly, is it appropriate to represent a Black art form like hip-hop here, where the majority of its advocates seemed to be young, white hipsters? Nothing personal to anyone, but I think such is a valid political question. Davey D talked about the contradiction of white program directors at Black radio stations talking about what was relevant to "the streets" (more bluntly "the hood" and indirectly Black communities). Blacks, he noted, are used for credibility, but the target audience is essentially whites. From there, I have to say that such isn't a phenomena isolated to corporate radio. Too often, in my political experience, young whites can occupy a space and say good things about voices of people of color, but they're still fundamentally not people of color; in truth, people of color need not just help direct the discourse, but own the spaces and (most importantly) have the political wherewithal to assert that power. This is more of a political question than a broadcast one. On the plus side of the broader questions some sessions brought up for me, Rev. Yearwood was representative of some of the best of hip-hop. His comments were powerful and intelligent.

KPFA sent a video team, funded by the national office, to record events and eventually create a DVD for use as a premium. Stay tuned for that.

Yup, that's me kicking it in my Walgreen's-purchased black hoodie (it's colder in Memphis than I realized) with Laura Flanders on her Air America program. Laura moderated the "Winning Alternatives" panel I spoke on with Amy Goodman, Robert Greenwald (Iraq for Sale, The High Cost of Low Price) and Duncan Black. Laura Flanders was incredibly gracious, charming and (along with Goodman) gave Pacifica crazy props, which is more than I can say for some folks (cough won't mention any names who promoted a load of other media/broadcast groups except Pacifica during opening ceremonies from the main ballroom cough).

I'm sure my comments are available on the FreePress conference page. If you hear it, please note that, at the risk of saying this and never getting invited again, I was a late invitee and had nothing prepared. My speech was actually the product of a hotel conversation I had the night before with Cassandra and Pacifica engineer Dalece Lum about Rev. Jackson's speech, and I came up with that idea as I sat in my chair on stage. I talked about building winning alternatives like Pacifica meant building on messages of hope, because when the poor, the oppressed and even people like those in the audience have nothing else, hope keeps us strong and gives us the determination to keep fighting. I referenced Pacifica's mission statement and such, but my point was about finding value in what we do in the lives of diverse communities.

The first question from the audience came from a Revolutionary Communist Party guy who took a shot at my remarks (saying not everyone could be hopeful), then asked about building a communist republic (or something similar; the RCP is great at sloganeering what the old(er) school used to just straight call a dictatorship of the proletariat, which is what the party hopes to build). I didn't get to respond, which was probably best, but here, I'd like to note that I think it's key to understand two things about the RCP, which was out passing out its newspaper, formerly called the Revolutionary Worker. First, I believe it's fundamentally unfair and even racist for the RCP to assume, and peddle its newspapers, off the premise that the poorest immigrants and people of color (and others who'd fall squarely in the category of lumpen proletariat) are boiling mad and are the vanguard of an RCP-led armed struggle (since that's actually what the RCP means in using the word 'revolution'). Second, I've known of the RCP for over 15 years and it consistently markets in misery as a political strategy; there can be no glimmer of hope living under this system, it reasons, and so there is nothing hopeful at all. While I may share some of its political positions about capitalism and other matters, I believe the RCP's approach is flawed and best likened to negative campaigning. It's easy to campaign against an unjust system and crappy presidents, but gets stickier when people learn you favor 'reeducating' gays and lesbians (as the RCP did until 'changing' positions very recently) and prey on liberal free-speech ideals that the party itself does not believe in (favoring democratic centralism instead) and would most assuredly ban if in power. The RCP is based in Chicago, which is a decent drive, and so I expected them to show in numbers as they did.

After the panel, Laura Flanders asked the panelists to pop by during her broadcast. I did and had a good chat about community radio. She was very cool and we talked about striking up a broadcast partnership next year. Very down woman. Pacifica loves Laura Flanders, or at least I do!

Geena Davis was badass as a keynote speaker, but the Bar-Kays got everyone dancing. The Bar-Kays have parlayed early soul successes into a unique musical model that you should definitely learn more about.

After the broadcast, we dashed out to celebrate the birthdays of stupendous Line Producer Kat Aaron and Technical Director Jon Almeleh. Here's Jon having fun after days of pacing and working hard. Although we bailed early, I stayed up until 6 a.m. editing audio and such. Plenty of time to hit Denny's with Cassandra and head for the building for closing ceremonies.

Van Jones and Jane Fonda were our closers. Malkia Cyril, who introduced Jones, was awesome, asking for a standing ovation for the people of color who came to this conference. Fonda's time, however, was probably the best of this session. Line of the speech was seeing media consolidation from her own bed. Nice.

Memphis was a positive, invigorating experience. Suggestions for next year: more people of color, especially Latinos, as presenters and organizers, and more floor volunteers to help direct people and answer questions (we at the Pacifica production table did more directing to rooms, toilets and such than I care to recall), and a bit more guidance to those who wanted to pass things out (many groups, the RCP in particular had 3-5 people positioned at key traffic points and proceeded to impede it by passing out stuff, when they probably should have been guided elsewhere or, better yet, instructed to pony up and pay for a booth).

Big thanks to Mark Torres from the Pacifica Radio Archives for being such cool gente, and Ursula Ruedenberg for her guidance and great energy. Thanks also to Armando Gudino, PD at KPFK, and Sasha Lilley, interim PD at KPFA, for their input.

Our production team was: Kat Aaron (whom I didn't get to know as well as I wanted to, but respected tremendously for her knowledge, liked a lot for her work ethic and dug for her determination and decisionmaking skills), Jon Almeleh (our incredible tech cat), Cassandra Ashley (who did a solid job as well), Mitch Jesserich (who was so very cool as a person and professional as a host tasked with doing tremendous things under pressure), Dalece Lum (who was tech support and generally our negotiator for everything) and me. I loved y'all.

Mostly, thanks to the listeners. You all are the ones who made this issue the one to watch. I enjoyed doing this program, and making it all it was, and owe you my gratitude for the experience.