William Heerwagen – Short Statement
On the LSB, I will see to it that unanswered questions and hidden financial matters are thoroughly examined and brought to light, and will push hard for union contract observance, gag rule lifting, reversal of bannings.
Please vote for me – I really care about WBAI, and about workers’ rights.
William Heerwagen – Candidate Statement
JazzandThings@yahoo.com
I’m a father of two, grandfather of two, music lover, peace and justice lover, and host of “Jazz and Things.” WBAI has been in my ears since the 1970s.
My career in accounting, auditing, and computer systems spans several decades. My understanding of financial statements and systems will be beneficial to WBAI.
I started in the tally room in 2005. Attending meetings of the Local Station Board, its committees, and the Pacifica National Board soon followed. I was a member of or attended meetings of all LSB committees until the 2009 LSB majority changed the membership mechanism for most committees from attendance at three consecutive meetings to selection by the LSB.
After a 2007 pilot show, “Jazz and Things” aired bi-weekly, from June 2008 until the program was forced into “hiatus” starting April 14 this year.
The 2008-2009 national economic downturn hit WBAI hard. The LSB majority collaborated with the Interim Executive Director’s attempt to change locks and broadcast controls at WBAI’s Empire State Building transmitter on April Fool’s Day 2009; then the IED and LSB majority removed General Manager Tony Riddle so his replacement could (and did) fire Program Director Bernard White.
Their theories:
– new programming equals increased revenue
– studio and tower rent behind two and three months, respectively, was owing to poor management.
After fifteen months of new management and some new programming:
– Pledge drives reach declared goals, but only with ever-greater length (although the
current LSB majority and their management had called for shortening them).
– An all-time low percentage of pledgers are actually paying;
– Return mail envelope problems had checks sitting in an inactive post office box for months;
– Preauthorized installment payments were not processed for ten months;
– After a year, rents were still at least two and three months in arrears.
These foul-ups occurred under the 2009 Interim GM responsible for multiple firings and bannings who failed to produce last year’s budget until about 4 months into the fiscal year. The obfuscated budget process provided cover for a salary via the news department for a person brought in for an “unpaid” show and the conversion of a Monday night slot previously used by unpaid hosts into a $2,000/month spot.
People laid off should be brought back first.
The LSB and Finance Committee focus on WBAI not being able to pay “central services” to the national office, leading one to think we’re otherwise current. However, a balance sheet at June’s PNB meeting shows “Current Liabilities” at $1.5 million as of 5/31/10, while other stations range from $112,000 to $596,000. What other bills are not being paid?
If elected to the LSB, I’ll make sure that all the unanswered questions and hidden financial matters are thoroughly examined and brought to the staff’s attention and will push hard for union contracts to be observed, the gag rule to be lifted, and the bannings reversed.
Please vote for Bob Lederer, Louis Reyes Rivera, and me. I really care about WBAI.
William Heerwagen – Candidate Questionnaire
JazzandThings@yahoo.com
1. Why do you want to be on the Local Station Board (LSB)?
To help guide WBAI through a very tough time financially and politically.
2. How do you envision the LSB working with the Pacifica Foundation, WBAI staff and listener members?
The LSB works and should continue to work with the Pacifica Foundation through its four members elected to the PNB, other LSB member who serve on national committees, and other communication tools as needed, without going outside the scope outlined in the By-laws.
The LSB could be working through management, the unions, and the Program Council as outlined in the union contracts to outreach to staff. When the LSB receives concerns from staff, whether it be at a meeting, via mail or email, or even on the LSB phone at the station, follow-up with the staff should be pursued – though always with the understanding that the LSB has no authority over individual staff members.
3. How can WBAI better serve the community? Please define community.
If we do not want to continue the drift to bland National Public Radio-like sound, we need to re-establish contacts and content affecting underserved communities. The underserved would include people not generally heard from or about in mainstream broadcasting, including NPR: the panoply of ethnic groups, whether here for generations or recent immigrants, the disabled, LGBT community, Latinos, Africans, Asians, African-Americans, other groups in/from the African diaspora, Native Americans, children, and more.
4. Describe some actions you would take to increase the influence of the station in underrepresented communities and to increase the diversity of the listening
audience.
Re-establish the Membership, Outreach and Fundraising Committee with open membership (not selected by the LSB) and have more than the two “Town Hall” style meetings as required in the By-laws. Last year there was only one such meeting, and the current LSB majority used it to welcome their ally, the new Interim Executive Director, while she was dismantling WBAI (via an attempted transmitter takeover, a gag rule, and firings).
5. What sources of funding, other than listener donations, do you feel WBAI should solicit? Do you have any ideas with respect to improving the current funding mechanisms?
As suggested in the past, by means of more outreach meetings, working on obtaining more grants, seeking out more meaningful premiums that can be delivered quickly, and reinstituting generic premiums, modeled after those from WBGO and WNYC (bags, umbrellas, license plate frames, etc.).
6. Please state briefly the skills, experience, educational background, work history, organizational affiliations, areas of community service, areas of interest and expertise that you would bring to the Pacifica network as a member of the Local Station Board.
My accounting, auditing, computer systems and organization career skills, plus a pretty good understanding of recent Pacifica history, will be useful. When elected I promise not to curse at listeners at meetings as is the habit of some members of the current majority on the LSB/PNB and some who hope to return to the LSB/PNB.
7. On which Local Station Board committees are you interested in actively serving? If you are a current Local Station Board member, on which committees do you currently serve?
I will continue to serve on the local Finance Committee, which has open membership, and any other committees that have open membership. I would not like to, but would serve on restricted membership committees. I protest the continued existence and functioning of the Management Search Committee, which still includes two members who were appointed as LSB Listener Members but are no longer on the LSB.
8. If you are currently on the Board and wish to be re-elected please describe your 3 year experience on the LSB. What did you accomplish? What were the obstacles you faced? Do you envision any change in the next three years if you are re-elected?
N/A
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