The venerable progressive radio station 99.5FM WBAI has gone into yet another month-long fundraising drive this September as bitter infighting continues on the station’s ruling Listener Station Board (LSB) and the budget deficits mount. The middle-of-the-dial New York City station has been running a roughly half-a-million dollar deficit over the past five fiscal years and owes “six digits” to its parent organization, Pacifica Radio, according to multiple board members at an August meeting.
“We’re in major negotiations with Pacifica over this,” said Mitchel Cohen, WBAI LSB chairperson, who believes WBAI owes at least $300,000. “WBAI has been unfairly billed and we’re asking for a line-by-line accounting.”
The first public radio network in the nation, Pacifica Radio was founded in 1946 by two pacifists and has five member stations, including WBAI. Pacifica Radio does not accept corporate donations and instead relies on listener support to operate and community members to produce programming. WBAI and Pacifica Radio have a troubled recent history, squabbling over money and governance structure.
WBAI’s total budget in fiscal year 2008 was $2.4 million, and the LSB has yet to approve the 2009 budget. The station is weighted down by a heavy rent burden at its 120 Wall Street headquarters, paying $277,969 a year. And it costs a pretty penny, $350,778, to transmit the signal from the Empire State Building.
Further complicating matters, of the $2.1 million projected listener donations in 2009, the station will lose a significant amount to uncollected contributions. Station board member Steve Brown estimated that the station might only collect 68 to 72 percent of pledged donations. Although Brown, a millionaire direct mail marketing executive, wants the station to come up with different fundraising strategies, the station will be rolling out yet another four-week fundraising drive from Sept. 8 to Oct. 4. Even with multiple fundraisers a year, there is discussion on the LSB of layoffs at WBAI.
The listener board has been contested real estate between two rival factions since what is known as the 2000 Christmas Eve weekend “coup,” which lead to the firings or resignations of many progressive radio hosts including Democracy Now!’s Juan Gonzalez.
Listeners should be concerned about the financial fiasco. The most recent Sept. 3 LSB meeting — which drew only 15 members of the public — was delayed half an hour in order to reach quorum, then quickly descended into hour-long bickering over the agenda, Robert’s Rules of Order (which outlines meeting process) and what constituted an excused absence.
Finally, after almost two and a half hours of thinly veiled contempt and bickering, the LSB meeting began addressing the most pressing issue — the budget.
Comments
Right on - the fact is that listeners left in droves over the last 6 years - no sane person can be involved in WBAI at this stage. between loonie Black nationalists, 911 deniers, and quack health buts, its over. The LSB meetings are farcical - north korean style zombies vs. idealogs from the 60's and between them they have half a brain cell when it comes to
a) RADIO
b) FINANCE
Solution - remove ALL the PAID air staff - start over with NEW people mostly under 40 years of age. That way WBAI might have a chance. With the current "programmers" its curtains.
Hi
Thanks for paying attention to WBAI.
The station has money problems, basically because it cannot raise enough money through on-air drives to cover expenses (salary, office & studio space, rent for transmitting from the Empire State Building, payments to Pacifica national, etc.).
compared to other Pacifica stations. WBAI's costs are high. What needs to happen is either
a) the station cuts costs, perhaps becoming a smaller operation altogether, with a smaller over-the-air reach, or
b) the station makes a concerted attempt to provide programming that more people in our (very populous) listening would tune in for and help us afford our antenna rent, etc.
Right now we are paying for the big signal, but not really using it to draw in enough listeners. That is an untenable course.
one fact-check: WBAI's budget in FY 08 called for $3.9 million in income (not $2.4 million).
thanks
Jamie Ross
WBAI local station board, listener delegate
Pacifica board of directors.
The first time Egypt was successfully invaded was during a civil war. Until the factions at WBAI stop fighting, they will continue their downslide. If they go to a frequency with a smaller, cheaper signal, they will have a smaller, cheaper audience.
When the WBAI was all white, people never complained about white supremacy and white nationalism but now that some black people are there and airing programs geared to minority communities, people like ex-listener gripe and talk about black nationalists. Many white listeners have stopped donating precisely because programming has been geared to address pressing issues specific to the minority communities. This is very needed but people raise the red herring of pacifica mission. Even on issues that can help everybody like health shows, the ex-white listeners contemptuously dismiss a very qualified host as unqualified just because a former white host is no longer on the air. Those pointing fingers can't see how biased they themselves are. Anyway, I'm confident the station will weather this crisis.
I disagree, what you called a "red Herring"
is a misiion statement that REQUIRES PROGRAMMS TO BE VEHICHLES
BY WHICH WE CAN ALL GET ALONG,, AND UNITE BEHIND THE OPPRESSION THAT WE SHARE
FOR SOME REASON MANY HOSTD HAVE NO INTEREST IN THIS
AND THEN AGAIN WBAI WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FOR JUST YOUR GROUP
RIGHT?
wbai was never all white.
the progran director of wbai would long ago have received a pink slip at any other station.
WBAI is my station. It's democracy and that's not always pretty. Learning as we/they all "go". I don't like every program, every LSB (board member),but I love WBAI. I get what I need. Radio is great. Fundraising is a problem. Ok, it's been a long, hard but I do stress LONG success story. Power battles go on and on. Yet, I'm optimistic. Why? There's a hard core of listeners who want the station to continue. And new listeners to be found.
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