When WBAI-99.5 FM’s new acting General Manager Lavarn Williams visited the tally room during the first week of the station’s May fund drive, she was surprised to find pledge cards that had not been handed over to the fund drive supervisor four hours after the pledges had originally been received from the left-leaning radio station’s listeners.
“You would never guess how much things have deteriorated in terms of establishing controls,” Williams said. “We are getting people to realize pledge cards are like money and you can’t just leave them lying around.”
For Williams, keeping better track of pledge cards is only one part of a much larger push to transform a venerable, left-wing radio station that faces a slew of problems including more than a million dollars in debts, declining audience and membership, the threat of eviction from its downtown office and a backlogged premiums fulfillment process that has angered many of the station’s supporters.
“This was a model of failure,” Williams said, “and they wanted us to implement it throughout the network.”
Williams’ arrival is being cheered by those who believe the station has been mismanaged but others warn that the station’s longstanding commitment to racial inclusion is at risk, noting that WBAI’s General Manager Tony Riddle and Program Director Bernard White, both of whom are African-American, have already been removed from their posts.
“This is about a 25-year struggle at WBAI,” said Bob Lederer, a member of the Justice and Unity Caucus which supports the station’s deposed leadership. “WBAI was predominantly white in the 1960s and 1970s. And there has always been a rear guard of white listeners and programmers who want to go back.”
HARD TIMES AT WBAI
Williams, who is also black, is a retired corporate financial manager who started volunteering at WBAI’s sister station in Berkeley, California, in 1996. She is also the interim chief financial officer at the Pacifica Foundation, which holds the license for WBAI as well as four other radio stations in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area. The five stations, which make up the Pacifica Radio Network, reach a potential audience of 45 million people. WBAI, which beams its 50,000-watt signal from atop the Empire State Building, alone has a potential audience of 20 million people and an estimated market value of $150 million.
Pacifica was founded as the world’s first listener-sponsored radio network in 1949 by World War II-era draft resisters who dreamed of using the airwaves to “contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors.” And while the network has been a haven for marginalized voices during its six decades of existence, it has also been plagued by internal strife throughout much of its history. The feuding has been particularly intense in recent years at WBAI. Supporters and critics of the station’s leadership have vied for control of the Local Station Board (LSB), a 24- member body elected by listeners and staff.
Supporters of the station’s deposed management compare the recent takeover of the station to the December 2000 “Christmas Coup” in which Pacifica’s then-national leadership sacked White and banished more than two dozen programmers and producers.
The sacking sparked a tenacious protest movement that ultimately forced Pacifica’s then leaders from power and restored White and others to their posts.
“Last time it was Democratic Party centrists,” Lederer said of Pacifica’s previous regime. “This time it is liberals and leftists with a racist world view or who are simply opportunistic.”
“A lot of shows that appeal to people who are very progressive and black are probably going to get cut,” said Lisa Davis, also of Justice and Unity, who serves with Lederer on the LSB.
“WBAI is the only place where poor people can get their stories told in their own voice,” White said, who was suspended May 8 and banned from the station premises. “There were folks who felt that was chasing away white folks with money.”
White also expressed concern the Pacifica Foundation may sell the 99.5FM frequency and move WBAI to a less prominent location on the radio dial.
As the infighting has escalated, WBAI’s fortunes have steadily declined.
The station’s number of listener sponsors has fallen from 18,600 in January 2004 to about 15,000. While audience numbers fluctuate, the number of people who listen to WBAI at least once in a week has declined from an average of 240,000 in the fall of 2003 to 180,000 in spring of 2008, according to Arbitron ratings compiled by pacificana.org.
The time the station spends in fund drive has surpassed more than 100 days per year even as fund drive results have declined, especially since the recession hit full force last fall.
WBAI received $1,248,743 in listener support in the first six months of Fiscal Year 2008, but only took in $975,572 from its listeners in the first six months of the 2009 fiscal year that began on October 1, according to Jamie Ross, Chair of Pacifica’s National Finance Committee and also a member of the WBAI LSB. The station’s February fund drive fell short of its goal of $720,000 in pledges by about $180,000, Ross said.
In comparison, Pacifica’s Los Angeles station raised $1.042 million during its February fund drive, Williams said.
WBAI ceased making its central office payments to Pacifica in the fall of 2006 and was $999,000 in arrears by March 23 of this year, Williams said. The payments cover a number of network expenses including rights to broadcast Democracy Now!, a popular one-hour daily news show. The financial shortfalls caused by WBAI’s troubles forced Pacifica to take out a $300,000 line-of-credit from Wells Fargo last August, which Ross said was secured by using a $400,000 certificate of deposit that belonged to the network’s Berkeley station. The full amount of the loan is due in August.
ON THE BRINK OF EVICTION
By early April, the station had also fallen $128,000 behind on rent for its office space at 120 Wall Street and owed another $75,000 in back payments for its transmitter atop the Empire State Building, Ross said.
According to Williams, WBAI’s then General Manager Anthony Riddle renegotiated the lease with Silverstein Properties without notifying Pacifica’s national leadership. Riddle, the station’s fifth general manager in seven years, was removed from his position May 6. He said he was encouraged by Pacifica to revise the payment schedule.
“This was the right thing to do,” Riddle wrote in an email to The Indypendent. “There is no reason why it cannot be paid.”
Under the revised agreement, Williams said WBAI (and by extension the Pacifica Foundation) faces making two rent payments totaling almost $60,000 in May, two more payments totaling $75,000 in June and two more rent payments by July 25 totaling $45,000 or be subject to immediate eviction if it misses a single payment.
The first check for $29,444.30 is due May 18 and another check for the same amount is due May 25.
“That [May] fund drive has to be really good,” said Williams, who was officially named as WBAI’s acting general manager May 7 by Pacifica’s interim executive director Grace Aaron.
Williams has also been joined by fellow Californian Tony Bates, a former fund drive supervisor at Pacifica’s Los Angeles station who is currently acting as WBAI’s fund drive supervisor.
Besides making the tally room operation more efficient, Williams said that Bates has worked with programmers on improving their premiums and refining their on-air pitching. She said that the station had raised $225,000 in the first week of the May fund drive which began May 4.
“He’s really raised the level of consciousness of the staff,” Williams said. “He’s extraordinary. I’ve never seen anyone like him in my life.”
WBAI’s fundraising woes have also been complicated by its inability to send out premiums to listener- sponsors in a timely manner. According to WBAI LSB member Carolyn Birden, 6,000 premiums were not sent out following last October’s fund drive. Williams said the root of the problem was that the station had been relying on a fulfillment house that was not sending out the premiums because it no longer had a contract with WBAI to do so.
Ayo Harrington, who served as premiums director from Fall 2007 until she was laid off Nov. 15, 2008, said the premiums department had been plagued with problems for years due to a variety of factors including understaffing, lack of proper database management training for staff, the strain of repeated fund drives, the proliferation of premiums offered by programmers and the failure of many programmers to register their premiums in a timely manner. These problems were compounded when the station started running out of money to pay its vendors.
Williams, who had a 20-year career in corporate finance with the Xerox and Applied Materials corporations, said she plans to serve as WBAI’s general manager for three to six months. She said she will look for a business savvy replacement who “is in tune with the [Pacifica] mission.”
With WBAI’s Local Station Board currently split 14-to-10 in favor of the station’s longtime critics, 100 Justice and Unity members met May 12 to plan a multi-pronged campaign that could include lawsuits, protests and civil disobedience to reinstate White and Riddle. They are also preparing for LSB elections that will take place at the end of the summer and initiating a petition campaign to recall four members of the LSB including Birden, Ross, LSB Chair Mitchel Cohen and multi-millionaire direct mail marketer Steve Brown, who bankrolled much of the station critics’ last campaign.
Meanwhile, Lavarn Williams is ready to charge ahead.
“WBAI is in the middle of the radio dial in the media capital of the world. There’s no way this should be a mediocre station,” she said.
Find WBAI online at wbai.org.
Read "WBAI Bounces Back" by John Tarleton in the June 5, 2009 issue of The Indypendent.
Comments
This article is very different from what I have been reading. Like,
Lynn Stewart, Rosa Clemente: TAKE BACK WBAI 99.5FM
Save WBAI 99.5FM from the business/corporate takeover!
New York, NY, May 12 - Cynthia McKinney's Vice-Presidential running mate Rosa Clemente and noted human rights attorney Lynn Stewart spoke to a packed audience last night in a rally to "TAKE BACK WBAI."
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2009/05/105317.html
I don't think the corporate "business savvy" direction will have much reason to reach out to the communities WBAI is faithful to.
Will shows like the ones that exist for the Haitian community, for people in prison, for indigenous people, for youth activists fit into their model? Doubtful.
The obvious reason for WBAI's financial problems are that their landlord jacked up their rent into exhorbitance...can anyone relate? Thought so.
Pacifica's answer is to lockout the leadership who built the station... Scary!!
What a grown-up article. I'm sure it will be attacked as "racist" or "fence-sitting" or whatever. The station is broke. Right now, I'm listening to the station offering an idiot premium, a DVD called "Zeitgeist, the Movie" (a totally beserk New Age conspiracy mongering crapfest). The radio show is Haiti: The Struggle Continues - they failed to find a premium about Haiti, and are offering this garbage. Meanwhile, Bernard White has said that the failure of WBAI to offer black and Latino/a premiums proves the new racist regime... but WHOSE FAULT IS IT? Did Grace Aaron, LaVarn Williams, Mitch Cohen, Kathy Davis, or the marketing millionaire Steve Brown stop the producers of the Haiti program from offering such a premium? NO. I can't give money to a station that pushes this Zeitgeist stupidity (and yes, I believe 9/11 was an inside job - a position decried by Indymedia), that isn't serious about QUALITY and ENGAGING programming from a diversity of viewpoints.
Oh - and yes, I did give money to WBAI anyway... because I'm a sucker. But I'd like not to be a sucker, I'd like to be able to recommend WBAI to friends and not be embarrassed with a Playthell Benjamin "commentary" or something else ridiculous.
I just don't understand what's the big deal about premiums. Who cares? We get the radio station, the premiums are just frosting.
And I'm listening now, Zeitgeist doesn't sound that crazy, they are talking about corporate control over government.
But this show on Haiti I think is the essence of what's good about WBAI. Where else can you hear a dedicated program to the Haitian community?
Really, I think it is good to have a radio station where you don't like every show... other media is so monotonous... these variations in opinion are a more real representation of the city we live.
Sooo, what I want to say is, Esteban, you are not a sucker.
"Pacifica’s answer is to lockout the leadership who built the station… Scary!!"
You clearly know nothing. The one guy was there for a year. He built nothing.
White has been there for decades, in "management" for the last decade. All HE has built is a smaller, less listenable radio station that is BANKRUPT. (And a nice retirement nest-egg from his 70K per year salary.)
Think about it: the dope has a full-time job (2000 hrs. per year) for years as PROGRAM DIRECTOR. And the programming never changes! We get what, maybe a half-dozen schedule changes per year. And half of those are due to deaths. What do you suppose he does for all those well-paid hours? Any one of us could do the job as he's done it in 3 hours per week.
Try to understand the basic facts here:
1. BAI used to be a legendary radio station.
2. White and the JUC morons DIDN'T "build that."
3. They have, however, dragged it into obscurity, embarrassment, and bakruptcy.
With Caps Lock, BANKRUPT! Isn't it the technique that is always used?
Which corporation, NPO, household is NOT in "a financial situation"? We are all in that, always. it's just get USED to advance the real political agenda, whatever it is. No exception.
Sorry to have to educate you. I usually respect elders. But I want to know the real story. Real, political story. So far, looks like a "corporate takeover." Just like everything else.
I have served as Public Affairs Director for WBAI Radio for six years, and I am completely dedicated to the mission of Pacifica and maintaining the integrity of WBAI. I do not support and would not support a takeover by forces from within the network. Neither will I support local forces which would risk the loss of our radio station and which wage a campaign of distortion in order to manipulate the hearts and minds of our listeners for their own personal gain or salvation.
During my tenure as PA Director I have always done my best to serve the needs of the producers and hosts. I respect their work and honestly believe that WBAI has some of the best programming in the Pacifica network, and the potential for vast growth. I also understand that there are some programs that need to be improved, producers who need to be trained, and new programming that needs to be developed.
Many stakeholders throughout the network have assumed that WBAI's failure to be self-sustaining is because of the local programming.
In my position as staff representative to the Pacifica National Board, I have defended the work of our producers and have maintained that the problems in New York have not been solely due to the programming, but rather the lack of efficiency in planning at the management level. Most producers have valiantly come to the air time and again to raise funds, despite the reality that our drives have gotten longer and longer, and become less and less successful.
In my role as a senior staff member at WBAI, I have on many occasions attempted to defend producers from the actions of management that I have perceived to be arbitrary and capricious. I have filed grievances during the administrations of Dan Coughlin and Don Rojas, Gregg Guma and Robert Scott Adams, and attempted to gain the attention of Nicole Sawaya during her short tenure as Executive Director -- all to no avail. The paid staff tried to get support for proper management of the drives by writing into our contract a requirement that the staff would have at least 30 days to plan our fund drives. This was ignored. We were merely instructed to tack on more days, and make the fund drives longer. And when this strategy played itself out, we were then led to lower the financial goals of the drives. For the most part, we have still not even met most of these lowered expectations, either.
During the last year and a half the premiums situation has completely broken down. We have received thousands of complaints. While engaged in fund raising, we have received as many as 50 to 100 complaints a day. Yet, for almost a year, nothing was done to improve the situation. At one point, as many as 6,000 listeners had not received their premiums.
As a consequence of this failure, the staff has had to face two phases of layoffs and cutbacks, WBAI has not contributed to, or upheld its obligation to help sustain the network, and the network has been drained of its resources, as the money to pay bills and salaries was taken from the other stations.
This situation has been developing for years, yet nothing was done about it. The status quo was held in place by previous administrations and political operatives throughout the network. I cannot begin to speculate on the motives, but I do know that the operative mechanism for keeping the status quo in place is by COINTELPRO-style divisive arguments, and personal attacks based on race, religion and political affiliations.
The strategy has been -- and continues to be -- to attack the person without providing a coherent argument on its merits. Engaging in mass campaigns asking people to copy and paste form letters. Using mass phone calling systems to contact supporters alleging their prevailing propaganda. Personal attacks. Engaging in hostile behavior, harassment and retribution toward staff that resist or speak out. The directive of our current Interim Executive Director, Grace Aaron, to prevent libelous statements from being made on the air is just that. There is no "gag rule" at WBAI.
The truth is that the network is unable to sustain this situation any longer. WBAI has recently fallen four months behind in rent on its facilities, and concurrently two months behind on rent for the transmitter. The station has received two notices to quit, which are basically notices to pay up or get out.
If the worst were to happen, it would not release the Pacifica network from its financial obligations. Pacifica is the license-holder, and would become liable for paying the full financial obligations of WBAI -- including the full obligation of our leases, and not just the back rent. Therefore, if this situation ends up in court, Pacifica would have to liquidate its assets -- which include five broadcast licenses, three buildings, and other financial assets. Once this thing gets started, all of the network's debtors will come out of the woodwork, and all of Pacifica could be lost. Auctioned off to pay our debts.
Is this how we want to honor the legacy of this great institution?
These coming months are the last opportunity to get back on our feet, salvage WBAI and build a self-sustaining station and stronger network. No individual, political agenda or partisan politic is more important than the institution itself.
ACTION ALERT: Some things you can do to help WBAI:
1. Make a donation 2. Help in the phone room 3. Donate food and snacks for the volunteers 4. Give some time to help send out premiums 5. Use your email lists to promote WBAI and its fund drives 6. Put a link to WBAI on your website 7. Hold a fund raising party 8. Support WBAI fund raising events 9. Bring your creative ideas, talent and skills to the table 10. Run for a place on the WBAI Local Station Board 11. Vote in the upcoming Pacifica LSB elections. 12. Ask questions and investigate the truth of what you are being told. 13. Uphold and support the mission of Pacifica.
Kathy Davis
Public Affairs Director, WBAI
Independent, Staff Representative, WBAI LSB
Director, PNB
Sorry "Kathy Davis," but as a "Director" you can't be unbiased.
You are an insider. I feel your role in this is to act as if you are a "neutral informer," but you are a Director now and obviously you have a stake in who is in power at the station.
Next!
sorry for diluting my message with the "***" but you shouldn't be 'broadcasting' emails without people signing their ip's to the mesages. (I just don't to be flooded with hate mail on a subject I follow but no longer am involved (hint '...inchicago...').
To the subject, let the people who who wish to support this listener supported station decide what the listener supported station programs.
good luck to all of you...
(yeah first heard the song on 'bai)
Yeah, the new age DVD premium is beyond ridiculous. George Bush and the Illuminati? The Zodiac? Perhaps, like the housing market, this means that BAI has hit bottom.
I think if they offered Sham Wow or the Snugli thing they would get more donors!
I just posted this to Digg. Let the debate continue!
It seems to me that the problem at WBAI is factionalism. The JUC faction is quick to condemn any disagreement with them as "racist." The other has legitimate questions about the JUC's authoritarianism and competence, but is virtually all white and full of nutcases.
And Zeitgeist? A weird mix of leftist anti-corporatism and far-right horseshit, apocalyptic conspiracism about the Illuminati and the pyramid on the dollar.
Take a look at www.wbixradio.org There are some good interviews.
Who is on which side of the argument tells much.
I have been observing the battles at WBAI as a longtime listener, "member", not the longest.
I made my choice.
For those interested in some of LSB emails they put online publicly, to which we, the listeners can not reply, get on the list via www.wbai.org
Note that Bob Lederer provides no evidence for his mischaratcterizations of those of us who want WBAI to survive.
I, on the other hand, provided a ton of evidence that the station is in decline.
Why does Bob get away with this?
All this online "He said, She said" is dizzying. and turns me off. So I went to the Community Activist Coalition on WBAI meeting this week, to see who was involved, hear their voices, think things through. It was great! All different kinds of people, lots of varied points of view, everyone welcomed.
I encourage anyone concerned about WBAI to come to the next meeting:
MAY 26, 2009, 7pm
at Dist. 1707, 75 Varick St. (n. of Canal St.), 14th Fl., Manhattan (A or 1 train to Canal St.) – Sponsor: Ad Hoc Community Activist Coalition on WBAI – for info on this event & those below, call 212-561-7231.
It is so much easier to see clearly when you are in the same room with people.
Peace, everyone. Together we can do this.
Yeah, I went to that "Ad Hoc Community Activist Coalition on WBAI," anticipating so-called "evil juc thieves/hoodlums/thugs."
That label is wrong. There was a very diverse crowd, including Lynn Stewart, Rosa Clemente, Stanley Aronowitz, as reported on Indymedia.org http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2009/05/105317.html
The "JUC thugs" image is manufactured by I think Mitchel Cohen/Kathy Davis side.
Compliments to John for a clear and level headed article. I just wish it would have been longer, filling in more details about the controversy and divisiveness at WBAI, and included a note about CEMOTAP and it's relationship to JUC.
Otherwise well done!
If the Los Angeles Pacifica interloper crowd and the so-called Independents, formerly known as ACE, on the WBAI Local Station Board are not here for a takeover of our beatiful diverse WBAI programming, why don't we hear more from them about getting out from under the exorbitant rent at the 120 Wall Street studios, which from what I've read/heard is somewhere between 5 to 7 times the rent load that any other Pacifica station has to shoulder?
There are a few corrections I*d like to make to John Tarleton*s decent attempt to make heads or tails out of what*s really happening at WBAI.
The last paragraph is filled with the typical Justice and Unity way of framing the issues without realizing it. Let*s look at it:
>With WBAI’s Local Station Board currently split 14-to-10 in favor of the station’s longtime critics,100 Justice and Unity members met May 12 to plan a multi-pronged campaign that could include lawsuits, protests and civil disobedience to reinstate White and Riddle.They are also preparing for LSB elections that will take place at the end of the summer and initiating a petition campaign to recall four members of the LSB including Birden, Ross, LSB Chair Mitchel Cohen and multi-millionaire direct mail marketer Steve Brown, who bankrolled much of the station critics’ last campaign.<
John, what happened to the truth, suddenly? Steve Brown did NOT bankroll the last campaign. Hundreds of people contributed funds to pay for the election mailing. It was one person*s check that paid for the Justice and Unity campaign.
See how easy it is to fall for the JUC lying framework, due to their mass publicity blitzes thanks to Sara Flounders, the Workers World Party and the International Action Center*s misuse of their mailing lists? John, I hope you correct this info.
Mitchel Cohen
Chair, WBAI Local Station Board
Brooklynite: "If the Los Angeles Pacifica interloper crowd and the so-called Independents, formerly known as ACE, on the WBAI Local Station Board are not here for a takeover of our beatiful diverse WBAI programming..."
One set of confusions at a time:
(1) It is not a "Los Angeles" Pacifica, it is a delegation authorized by THE Pacifica Foundation board of directors, which was elected by listeners and staff representatives from ALL FIVE PACIFICA STATIONS. They are not "interlopers", they are implementing corrective measures found necessary by the body (PNB) which has LEGAL responsibility for the survival of the entire Foundation, and of the radio stations it OWNS.
(2) There are no "independents formerly known as ACE". This is a label promulgated by the JUC (= CEMOTAP = Bernard White turf protectors), on the basis of ACE having endorsed SOME independent candidates for the LSB (not all).
(3) These independent LSB members are not "interlopers" and are not "here for a takeover" -- they are WBAI listeners and staff ELECTED by WBAI listeners and staff to represent their interests and protect THEIR station from the catastrophic outcome a continuation of its 6-year decline would result in. Moreover, most of them favor programming MORE diverse than what Bernard White has put in place (without consulting with Program Council or LSB Programming Committee).
OK, on to the next set of confusions and/or outright falsification:
"...why don’t we hear more from them about getting out from under the exorbitant rent at the 120 Wall Street studios, which from what I’ve read/heard is somewhere between 5 to 7 times the rent load that any other Pacifica station has to shoulder?"
I am a member of the WBAI Finance Committee. We have investigated this question VERY thoroughly over the past several years. Our findings have not been secret. When I say "our" findings, I include JUC as well as non-JUC members who have participated in this research and in discussion of options. Contrary to what you insinuate, independents are usually quick to state what the findings have been, whereas JUC operatives (and Bernard White) dis-honestly tell the "suckers" that WBAI'S problems are due to high rent and the solution to WBAI's problems is to move somewhere else.
What's dishonest about this? The JUC members of the committee know very well that (1) we have a lease through 2012, (2) if we break the lease the landlord may demand ALL of the remaining rent, IMMEDIATELY [which would surely push us into bankruptcy], (3) even if a suitable new location were to be found, MOVING expenses + building and equipping new studios would be another cash demand we CAN NOT MEET.
There is moreover the shameful fact that WBAI could (if it had its act together) reach and keep enough of its potential 18,000,000 listeners to support itself AND one or two of the other Pacifica stations.
We are hoping that the rescue team from Pacifica will not just save us from bankruptcy but initiate sound management practice, creative program development, and actual ADVERTISING of the station, actual OUTREACH to the many communities (not just Benard's "community") sufficient to make it the meaningful voice in NYC and national affairs it falls so short of being now.
Also, the 14 independents on the Board were voted in by the Listener and Staff members of WBAI. All of us are SUPPORTERS of the station, and criticize management, including at the time management*s moving of WBAI to Wall Street to begin with. Most of us opposed the 2000-2001 coup at WBAI and were very active in those struggles, contrary to how we are being portrayed.
One might well ask Valerie Van Isler, who appointed Bernard White as Program Director back when, why SHE filed the papers with the National Labor Relations Board that succeeded in breaking the union at that time and moved WBAI to Wall Street, over Samori Marksman*s and my own (and in fact, all of the Independents') objections. One should understand Bernard White*s attempt to resurrect her at the JUC*s recent meeting (which avoided discussion of many of the real issues) in that context.
>100 Justice and Unity members met May 12 to plan a multi-pronged campaign that could include lawsuits, protests and civil disobedience to reinstate White and Riddle.<
Maybe, maybe not. But note, no real discussion of how or why WBAI lost so many thousands of members over the last 4 years, or of the fantasy budgets continuously passed by the JUC when it held the majority, and which has contributed greatly to the severity of the current financial crisis at WBAI.
Mitchel Cohen
Chair, WBAI Local Station Board
And one more thing.
Under Bernard White's supervision, the Premiums department was put into the hands of one of his cronies, Ayo Harrington, who has a long and sordid history on the Lower East Side in disrupting progressive initiatives pertaining to housing and public schools. (Harrington sided with right wing City Council rep Antonio Pagan, and helped to disrupt the work of Miriam Friedlander and other leftists.)
White and Harrington failed to send out over 6,000 premiums that had been ordered and paid for last year by listeners to WBAI. This is a HUGE problem. I read through over 900 complaints that people sent in, some saying that they'd called 6 or 7 times. These are folks who sent in more than $200,000 in aggregate, and many of them said that they would not contribute again until management straightened out this mess.
I volunteered personally at the station to tackle this project, and so did other Indy Board members Jennifer Jager and Carolyn Birden. We sent out a few hundred backlogged premiums, but management blocked our efforts to systematize the process so that they could all be sent out. An so, most them have not been.
You would think that regardless of political faction, that this would be a no-brainer, that EVERYONE would want the premiums sent out. Well, guess again!
THAT is one of the reasons why new management is needed, in my opinion. THAT is what is meant by making better business decisions -- NOT the NPRization of WBAI that some are accusing me and the other Independents of wanting.
There is a reason why all the Stalinists, from different parties and organizations, have congregated in the Justice and Unity faction, and all the anti-Stalinists side with the Independents. Check it out for yourself.
Mitchel Cohen
The article uncritically echoes some of the race-baiting initiated by Bob Lederer and Bernard Wnite. What evidence for instance does Mr. White have that anyone in Pacifica is thinking of selling the frequency? Absolutely none! This is just a scare story he is putting out in order to appeal to those people who came out in support of WBAI in 2000 after the Xmas coup. I was one of those people and as a result of our efforts Mr. White came back to WBAI as Program Director. I leave it to the public to judge for themselves whether Mr. White's tenure as Program Director has been successful. We have lost 25% of our listeners in the past 5 years and contributions to the station are similarly down.
One naive letter writer blamed the station's problems on the landlord jacking up the rent! But the rent has not been raised since WBAI signed its lease 8 years ago! It's not the rent, it's the Programming stupid!!
The JUC are opportunists who have no principles. They get their friends on the air in exchange for watching each others behinds. The Haiti show is a good example. It is not, contrary to some opinions expressed here, a bastion of progressive views. It is a show that reflects the point of view of the pro-Aristide crowd in the Haitian exile community. They purged other, more radical voices from their collective. There is also much pro-Obama programming on WBAI. Is that what people think is progressive?
WBAI has sunk into a horrendous financial crisis thanks to the mismanagement fostered by the Justice and Unity Faction and their communal politics that try to divide everyone along racial lines. They are the real racists. They have turned off lots of listeners and the changes being implemented now are long overdue.
Expect to see lots more mudslinging as the elections for LSB officers of WBAI get started in the next couple of months. This is the only weapon these people have because they cannot stand the truth. They are the Karl Roves of the left.
I hope everyone here will support WBAI.
Alex Steinberg
Listener member of the WBAI Local Station Board
Chair of LSB Programming Committee (speaking in a personal capacity)
Wow. Were you guys in the same room or something?
Mitchel Cohen Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Frank LeFever Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Mitchel Cohen Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Mitchel Cohen Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Alex Steinberg Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
I have been looking up and these guys are all "Mitch Cohen's Side" board members.
Huge Posts, too. Previous poster said that cohen's side are all white and nutcase but ...
I can kind of believe that at this point.
Wow, I'm confused. I like some stuff on BAI, and dislike other things; i fucking hate this Zietgiest crap, but I really don't know which side to suport. I voted JUP last time because i heard the List-Prog folks were tied with that Gary Null loon, but now I'm lost. What's an anti-Stalinist, independent socialist to do? I'd like to know what sorts of shows the anti-JUP folks would put on, and which ones they'd ditch.
These comments are a pretty good mirror of the JUC v. Independent split on the BAI station board.
The independents and their supporters offer lots of fact and argument with their attacks.
The JUC supporters offer just the (personal) attacks. No facts and no argument. Just like the station they have run into the ditch for the last 8 years: no listeners and no money.
One final note, for the ignoramus who keeps demanding that Steve Brown leave the station board:
"Hey stupid, if you actually knew anything about what goes on at BAI, you'd know Brown is termed out at the end of the year." (Typical JUC supporter, ignorant of facts but possessing a loud, nasty voice.)
SWL said:
"These comments are a pretty good mirror of the JUC v. Independent split on the BAI station board.
The independents and their supporters offer lots of fact and argument with their attacks.
The JUC supporters offer just the (personal) attacks. No facts and no argument."
thanks for noticing SWL - I appreciate that. I don't even think what I offered for the article was an attack - more like an analysis. Neither was Kathy Davis's piece an attack.
The basic point is that our station cannot continue as it has been. We have to change.
Wbai's Radio Free Eireann, hosted by John McDonagh and Sandy Boyer, advertised a fund-raiser for the election campaign of their longtime political cohort, the fascist Gerry McGeough. A Pacifica station supporting fascism. What a mockery of its founders ideals.
-The reality of McGeough’s and his cohorts’ ideas are more clearly expressed in The Hibernian. The professionally produced magazine has carried articles outlining the threat to Ireland from “multiculturalism”, as well as prayers, pictures of the Virgin Mary and long pieces in each edition promoting the infamous Father Fahey. Fahey, a 1930s Irish priest, called for the destruction of the “worldwide Jewish, communist and Freemason conspiracy”, however he did not support the Nazis, suspecting they were also part of the Jewish conspiracy.-Searchlight
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=172
Posters SWL =Jamie Ross.
That's obvious.
Unless you have no literacy.
Also, what stands out here on this board is:
All the "Board Members" are in favor of the new station manager appointed by interim Pacifica Director Grace Aaron.
This reminds me of some poster saying
"Coupster board members are all professional activists."
I mean who has time to bombard a board with organized talking points like these people?
I sympathize w the other side (JUC)'s board members rather.
They appear more like normal working people, honestly.
Just a feeling.
The ignorant, fascist-supporting, white nationalism of Radio Free Aryann is completely acceptable to Mitchell Cohen, Steve Brown and other Ace-ists. Which means that there is a strong racist component in their attacks on the JUC.
Hey "Len Torres"
Can you clarify who are and What "Ace-ists" are?
Before you leave?
I hear you, Hasan, when you said you were confused.
As a listener, one thing I know is WBAI under Bernard White hasn't sold out. There are many shows that are crucial to otherwise underserved communities.
There is certainly room for improvement but that will only happen through more people getting involved, especially younger people.
I am really leery of the anti-JUC people who seem to be talking out of both sides of their mouth. I checked out their own discussion board and I was really turned off. Making fun of people speaking spanish, gratuitous attacks on people's appearance. Just corny really. If I can't take their windbag posts on internet, imagine on radio!
I've talked to JUC people and the vibe is the furthest thing from how anti-JUC characterize them. Open, serious, committed, smart, friendly!!!... And hey, I'm white!
As for Zeitgeist, um yea, it sucks, but I think it mostly sucks because of the cheesy background music.
It's instructive that WBAI program director Bernard White has said often that he shares the vision for the station developed by former PD Samori Marksman, who died in 1999 at the age of 51. Marksman's tenure proved that New York listeners would support a radio station featuring, radical, progressive, diverse programming that paid special attention to the needs and voices of historically repressed communities. Under White's tenure, that support dropped precipitously.
Set aside for a moment the question of financial supporter—which does include elements beyond the control of any program director. Consider just the number of listeners. WBAI has the potential to reach 18 million people at any hour of the day or night. Under White's direction, it isn't pulling in 200,000 listeners in an entire week. But Marksman's success demonstrates that White's failure isn't due to white racists rejecting the philosophy of WBAI's current schedule. It's due to listeners of all kind rejecting the quality of the programming offered to communicate that philosophy. What Bernard White's critics claim is that in order to survive as a listener-sponsored station, WBAI needs to produce good radio.
I think an audience exists who will support radical, progressive, diverse programming as long as it's good radio. Marksman proved he knew how to find that audience. Bernard White hasn't been able to.
Watch recently-fired GM Anthony Riddle and Pacifica Interim Dir. Grace Aaron on Al Jazeera English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkdcoQZ4PmI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish...
NY Indymedia
Lynn Stewart, Rosa Clemente: TAKE BACK WBAI 99.5FM
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2009/05/105317.html
Gil Noble's show "Like It Is", Sun. May 17th, 2009 will have Bernard White, Imhotep Gary Byrd, Omowale Clay and others. ABC TV, CH.7 12N-1pm
For videos of interviews with people who were at the meeting of May 12th and people at a protest, listeners and others, go to www.wbixradio.org
I heard on WBAI, during a fund drive segment, a person from CEMOTAP announce that this organization would be donating money to WBAI... except that this was a lie. They would be handing the check to "Brother Bernard" White. Now, this is a real test of Bernard's integrity. Bernard SHOULD refuse the money and insist that the CEMOTAP representative mail this desperately needed money to WBAI's address or, if CEMOTAP needs to make a statement, hand deliver it to the station. Let's see if Bernard has the integrity to stand up for WBAI. It would also be good if the Justice and Unity crew would also insist that money raised for WBAI go DIRECTLY to WBAI and not be held hostage to faction politics. When Gary Null was using his platform and time on WBAI to denigrate the station, the station's management, and the station's other producers - I was glad to see him canned. (Also because he's a quack and walking-talking commercial enterprise who doesn't belong on non-commercial radio.) So, I think that Justice and Unity buddies who behave similarly - who threaten to withhold financial support, who personally attack others associated with the station - should not be allowed to broadcast. The GALL of coming into WBAI and then announcing that a private group was handing over money, but not to the station, but to its suspended program director as some bargaining chip... the fact that they USED MY STATION TO DO THIS is absolutely unforgiveable. Period.
The amount discussed was $1000 from CEMOTAP, plus (if I remember correctly) whatever was collected at the CEMOTAP Great Harlem Debate. We'll be watching to see if that check goes to WBAI. Or if Bernard holds onto it as a (very very small) bargaining chip. His choice.
...umm... Says:
Posters SWL =Jamie Ross.
That’s obvious.
Unless you have no literacy.
==========================================
Hey, thanks for proving my point about you JUCer's having nothing to offer but insult and personal attack.
For the record, Ross and I are two VERY different people. In fact, because of his sickening censorship on the BAI goodlight BB, I don't even like the guy.
Keep grasping at straws however, rather than trying to justify how a no-talent like Bernard White deserves to keep a do-nothing a job that:
... pays him MORE THAN $70,000 a year!
A few years ago, his salary has to be made public by law because he was one of the FIVE highest paid employees in the entire Pacifica network!
That's right, skippy... listener donations are used to pay a nice fat middle-class salary to a guy who has a long, uninterrupted record of incompetence.
But if you criticize that loony state of affairs, you get called a "racist" (whether you're white or black).
And don't even get me started on the money he "misallocated" from a public fundraising event (a 9-11 meeting at riverside church) in order to pay for a memorial service for a friend of his. That was investigated by the JUC-controled LSB at the time. Their report was later made public, so this is not "hearsay" on my part.
SWL
One poster here asked what kind of programming the Independents would like to see on WBAI.
I'll give you a few of my suggestions. But please note that the Local Station Board is not responsible for the politics -- good or bad -- of individual programs, but of ensuring that a competent program director is hired and that the programming expresses the progressive Pacifica mission statement, which can be found at .
These are a few of my own personal ideas for programs (that is, they are not necessarily reflective either of the Local Station Board nor the Independents on the Board, who are focusing on the making a fair PROCESS for programming).
- One or more shows added -- perhaps 15 minutes every day -- on the global economic crisis of capitalism. Marxist economist Rick Wolff would be one of the hosts of a wide-ranging, radical show on this topic, complementing and deepening the work of Doug Henwood and Susan Lee.
- One or more shows added on the global ecological crisis and related politics. Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report) and Cynthia McKinney would be excellent co-hosts here, complementing the one general environmental show hosted by David Occiuto and Ken Gale, as well as the Healthy Homes show that provides good information on a limited topic.
- A new show added on a radical look at New York City issues such as housing and transportation that goes beyond the Working Familes Party orientation preferred by Bernard White for the few shows that exist on WBAI examining local issues. Nellie Hester Bailey would be great at this.
- A daily show that follows up on the issues raised on Democracy Now and continues the discussion on those issues, drawing on the enormous talent in and around New York. In other words, continue some themes throughout the day, instead of boxing them off.
- Networking with High School radio stations and putting the best of those shows onto WBAI's airwaves.
- Returning Robert Knight to the airwaves, both as host of Earthwatch and as special commentator.
- Adding at least one and hopefully more news reporters to cover City Hall, especially in this election year. Eric Williams had done a great job at this before he was laid off last year. Expand news coverage, develop week-long themes that follow up on special reports every night, such as the great week-long and hardhitting series a few months ago on the difficulties of young LGBTQ folks in NYC and surround areas.
- Drawing much more strongly on the magnificent arts/culture community around NYC, and expanding arts programming.
- DEEPENING the discussions of all topics, and expanding debate (within the Pacifica Mission) -- when was the last time we heard actual debate over the air concerning relevant issues to our movements?
- And, yes (I know some folks posting here won't like this), returning Gary Null to WBAI's airwaves. Null does extremely hardhitting and well-informed attacks on the health industry. As I've written, in a pamphlet informed greatly by Gary Null, the choice is between the Capitalist System and the Immune System. Those who disagree and who want to censor Null's views on HIV, for example, should be willing to debate publicly rather than to censor.
There needs to be a general openness to discussion, debate and exploration over the airwaves rather than the imposition of a political LINE, which today seems unfortunately to rule.
Please note that all of these show ideas were submitted to WBAI's prior management. They went nowhere, "Yessed" to death, despite some very elaborate proposals submitted by Rick Wolff, Glen Ford, Cynthia McKinney.
Please don't believe the rhetoric of those who pigeonhole the Independent members of the Board. The truth will out.
A FEW THINGS WERE LEFT OUT OF THE ARTICLE, (Part One, to be cont'd later)
1. THERE IS A GAG RULE IN EFFECT AT WBAI
(So TUNE INTO "Like It Is" TODAY, SUN noon-1PM. Gil Noble interviews Bernard White, the fired and BANNED WBAI Program Director.)
COMING SOON: www.takebackwbai.org
meanwhile, visit www.wbixradio.org
WBIX started during the last attempted corporate coup. It's the radio voice of the banned and fired.
ASK YOURSELF: How democratic is the new interim regime if they need a GAG RULE?
Do you believe in FREE SPEECH?
To protest the gag rule, write to the Pacifica National Board at pnb@pacifica.org
2. Also left out: How about UNION BUSTING?
Are you into that?
Under the pretext of "BAD PROGRAMMING" Pacifica has sent out its shock troops.
- Ignoring laid off staff who need the work, and hiring procedures and Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee regs:
..... Pacifica ships in three African Americans to front for the white Interim Executive Director, GRACE AARON, a Hillary Dem who's allied with the predominantly white ACE faction that currently dominates the WBAI Local board.
- Bernard White is goose stepped out of his office. His keys taken, not allowed to get his belongings. This was preceded by a "snap review" at a SECRET meeting of the local board thanks to the ACE faction... during which board chair MITCH COHEN tried to throw TONY RIDDLE our of the meeting!
- African American Producer Ayo Harrington IS PHYSICALLY BANNED FROM THE STATION AND FROM THE AIR.... without any hearing! Nothing like attacking a leading spokesperson for people in prision... WHO ARE MOSTLY BLACK AND LATINO.
- ACE faction supporters on staff have started a "GUILD" to undermine the UNPAID STAFF ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, or USOC
... HA HA HA this "Guild" (as in the word geld, or gold or money) has supposedly formed to promote "QUALITY PROGRAMMING"... remember? the excuse for the CA invasion was poor programming which ACE and AARON claim is THE root cause of WBAI's financial crisis (but not NPR's financial crisis or the Boston Globe's financial crisis etc)... BUT SOME OF THE NEW GUILD MEMBERS ARE AMONG THE ABSOLUTE WORST, MOST BORING PRODUCERS AT THE STATION!!!
NEXT: RACISM AT WBAI, LSB CHAIR ASSAULTS CITY WATCH PRODUCER, more inside stuff
WBAI has more uneducated and dumb people on the air than just about any station I've ever heard.
The morning show usually can't be tolerated for more than a few minutes. There's some guy on there who sounds like he has a developmental disability.
I say give the new people a chance. Change is good.
It's tragic that Mitch and the "Independents" hate LGBTers so much that they want to bring back an HIV-denialist like Gary Null. I would say that it's as bad as having a Nazi Holocaust denialist on WBAI's airwaves, but in fact, ... it's FAR worse. You see, there is actually, RIGHT NOW, an HIV epidemic, especially among people of color in NYC (yes, I know, not a major concern of Mitch's, but still). Null is also a Christ-complex quack: with regular assertions like - I knew everything 20 years before everyone else - and - now everyone is out to get me!
Null will simultaneously tell you that (1) Pacifica is the voice of the voiceless and that he's a victim... and (2) he's never been off commercial radio and he's "sought out" by the world's leading research scientists... not to mention his many, many books and website. So, here's a guy who ALREADY HAS SEVERAL platforms for his (dis)information - a walking-talking commercial enterprise like Oprah Winfrey... no one who cares about health, about community, about NON-commercial radio, about "going to where the silence is" (what Amy Goodman USED to care about), about reaching out and serving people... anyone who cares about these things will not want Gary Null back.
Then there is the fact that Null used his platform to attack the station, the station's management, and the station's other producers - this GARBAGE BEHAVIOR MUST STOP. One of the Pacifica visitors - a fundraising specialist whose name I can't recall, but seems reasonable enough - put it well at a meeting in Berkeley: EVERY producer in Pacifica has a FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBLY for the health of the station. Attacking the station or its other members on the air confuses and upsets listeners... and leads to a reduction of resources. Null was trying to use his popularity to undermine the station itself and force a change in management and programming throughout the broadcast day. And the station CORRECTLY booted him. Recently CEMOTAP is trying (in its smaller, pathetic way) to do the same by "raising money for WBAI" but handing it to Bernard White at its Great Harlem Debate and ANNOUNCING THIS PARTISAN GARBAGE ON THE AIR! As that Pacifica guy said, This Must Stop. Now.
On the other hand, the "Independents" (independent from what?) are real creepy on this point. Every conversation ends up with "Gary Null must return to WBAI" - like cult robots. "Gee, it's raining outside... but Gary Null must return to WBAI." Very sick. I mean, they toss in some other points, so that they don't appear like total flippin' loons, but it always (ALWAYS) comes back to Null. Like frothing at the mouth crazies. I'd have no problem with Robert Knight. But Null? Surely he has enough (too much?) exposure. He doesn't need WBAI... and more importantly, WBAI doesn't need him. And even more importantly... Aren't there enough dead queers for the "Independents"?
John McDonagh and Sandy Boyer, hosts of Radio Free Eireann, regularly use the program to promote the National Irish Freedom Committee, including fundraisers. McDonagh is a spokesman in the U.S. for the NIFC.
The NIFC is the U.S. section of Republican Sinn Fein. Republican Sinn Fein is designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organisation.
It is against U.S. law and FCC regulation to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Radio Free Eireann is using WBai's facilities to give material support to a terrorist organization thus placing in jeopardy Wbai's license.
S. Reilly said that the hosts of Radio Free Eireann promotes a US branch of a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). But Republican Sinn Fein is not on the US State Department list. RSF is also not an offshoot of the IRA like Continuity or Real IRA.
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm
That said, most of the groups lists are phantom creations of the US CIA (most famously, "al-Qaida" or "al-CIAda") or national liberation groups like the Party of God (no, not the Republicans! I mean Hizbollah, the OTHER Party of God) and HAMAS. Citing a list of terrorist organizations from the US government is dabbling in fiction, to put it mildly.
My problem with Radio Free Eireann is that it's tedious, dull, and in the Obama camp. The hosts were so proud to be white and Obama supporters - look at us! we're Irish Americans who aren't TOTALLY explicit white supremacist - yay!, we're so cool! zzzzz.... And who's that clown who dishes out the bits of Irish-American history, you know, the excrutiatingly dull stuff about this Irish person fought valiantly at the Battle of WhoCaresTown under the brave command of Patrick O'WhatsHisFace. For the 4 people who care about that kind of crap, there's the library and the internet. Radio has to be a bit more, uh, enticing and engaging than that.
Republican Sinn Fein, and its military wing, the Continuity IRA are both designated by the U.S. State Department as terrorist organization. (This fact is easily verified).
But you're right about the 'historian'. The Civil War to him means Irish nuns doing charitable work. He ignores the NYC Civil War riots where blacks were massacred and ethnically cleansed by the Irish.
What are people's 3 favorite shows on WBAI? And you can't mention Democracy Now!. If you can't name them, then we're in real trouble.
... three favorite shows .... that's a good question
here's some of my favorites (in addition to DN):
Exploration, Behind the News, Shocking Blue, Underground Railroad, Counterspin.
there are others I like
1) Democracy Now
2) Counterspin
3) Barrio Block
4) New World Gallery
5) Beyond the Pale
6) Talk Back
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