A Negotiated Partnership With MNN – Boon to WBAI
It would:
- Allow WBAI to continue at 99.5 FM & with our valued programming.
- Dramatically reduce on-air fundraising days.
- Require MNN to pay all operating costs, including tower rent & salaries of staff (which MNN has pledged to expand), eliminating budget deficits.
- Infuse money into prime-time shows to improve production quality.
- Provide WBAI with a viable business model that could leverage loans to pay off debts.
- Add a television channel exclusively for WBAI & provide state-of-the-art studios.
- Offer producers training in social media & documentary-making.
- Provide support for WBAI’s off-air fundraising.
- Provide fair program evaluations & decisions.
- Be limited in duration, per a contract that staff and listeners would help shape.
- Lead to other community broadcasters carrying WBAI programming.
What is MNN? Correcting the Falsehoods
Manhattan Neighborhood Network (www.mnn.org)—like many public-access cable-TV stations nationwide—was created in the ’90s after grassroots demands for open channels, using clawed-back funds from greedy cable giants. Spectrum (formerly Time Warner) and others are mandated by contract to auto-forward a fixed amount of user fees to MNN every year. By law, CABLE CORPS CAN’T INTERFERE IN EDITORIAL CONTENT.
MNN is an independent nonprofit with a mission of open access to diverse grassroots voices and a board that includes community advocates. MNN’s Executive Director, Dan Coughlin, is a former E.D. of Pacifica and longtime independent media advocate who led Pacifica out of debt in 2002-2005.
As with Democracy Now! and Free Speech TV, WBAI’s listenership & viewership will greatly increase if we join with public-access already in millions of homes. To reverse WBAI’s relentless decline and endless fund drives, we have to hugely change the business model. That takes a board that will be serious about holding management accountable and moving forward boldly.
My husband, now deceased, listened to many programs on WBAI radio. He loved Demicracy Now with Amy Goodman and David Rothenberg who gave out show tickets for a donation. We went to those plays. So sorry you are having a threat to your existence.