VOTE FOR A WBAI LOCAL BOARD OF TRANSFORMATION & GROWTH! 
BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59PM, FRI., OCT 15, 2021. 

WBAI used to be the voice of the movements, the people’s megaphone. 

Dear WBAI Family,

WBAI will thrive again when it is perceived as essential by area communities and by our neighbors who are taking it to the streets – literally and electronically.

Justice & Unity is serious about making genuine and lasting change. WBAI must center the needs of those affected by the destructive isms and be an ally-accomplice-collaborator. Our communities have the right to exist, and to protect and benefit from the planet which is our home. We urge you to show up for racial justice on every level, for immigrants, youth, and other marginalized groups.

JUSTICE & UNITY wants to revive WBAI through these policies & practices

SHARE: Open the doors and the microphones to those engaged in struggle

• Combine similar programming and make space for new voices, ideas & audiences.

NURTURE AND LEARN FROM OUR YOUTH: Add youth to the broadcasts. Add children.

• What better way to ensure the continued existence of the Pacifica mission?

MAGNIFY: Increase our webstream capacity, reconsider the use of our subcarrier/sidebands

• Without incurring the costs of HD, explore ways to increase broadcast opportunities.

RESPECT LABOR: Treat workers the way our broadcasts say corporations should treat workers

• Support & constructively evaluate staff, post job openings, properly classify hires.

AMPLIFY: Super-charge our efforts thru affiliation with community-oriented organizations:

• Community access TV in NYC (BCAT, BronxNet, MNN, QPTV, SICTV), counties north of NYC, and in northern New Jersey; “Our Time Press” and other conscious publications

• COVID-19 has changed how life is lived: colleges, universities, non-profit publishers, libraries, and other organizations produce work that is accessible without travel. They regularly hold discussions and debates on a wide array of subjects that we could advertise (for a fee) on our website and share on our air.

WBAI IS A COMMUNITY RESOURCE,
NOT A PRIVATE PLAYGROUND.

For listener delegates who reflect your priorities, please vote only the 9 anti-racist Justice & Unity listener candidates and in the ranked order below to increase our chances:

Errol Maitland: former “Wake Up Call” producer & “Democracy Now!” engineer – 1

Hazel Pinder: retired teacher, member of CEMOTAP & UNIA – 2

Geoff Munroe: Westchester community & media activist – 3

John David Brinkley: Plainfied, NJ activist, Frontiers Int’l, People’s Org. for Progress – 4

Harriet Hines: Brooklyn-based disability rights activist, African Graves Matter – 5

Sarah Klepner: NJ organizer re. environment & human rights; adult educator – 6

Cerene Roberts: WBAI enthusiast, organizer – 7

Kim Ives: filmmaker and journalist, English-language editor Haiti Liberté – 8

Rachel Barr: child educator, Cuba worker, teen-listener, frequent radio caller – 9

REPORT CARD ON THE LSB MAJORITY

• Failed to approve annual budgets and has actually voted against tracking intra-Pacifica lending and enquiring about vendor payments due to WBAI / Pacifica.

• Failed to annually evaluate General Manager (GM) including stalling for more than a year on the second evaluation since his formal hire 11 years ago.

• Failed to insist on a transparent collaborative programming process while the station has become a revolving door through which many younger than 55 have exited.

• Failed to create a candidate pool for permanent Program Director since 2016 when the GM did not hire from the pool created. Renewed the “search” more than a year ago.

• Failed to hold 2 annual town hall meetings…apparently, they know what you want*.

• Failed to perform community needs assessment and using misleading language provided by former lawyer James Sagurton, voted to “grandfather” a self-selecting group as the “Community Advisory Board” that does not reflect the listening area.

DEM REGULAR TRADEMARK Fear and distortion

Incapable of an honest sale**. Or a truthful recounting of events.
Playing on the pain of the October 2019 lockout and attempted silencing, the group known as “Indy Caucus-ACE” is seeking praise for things that were collectively achieved:

• A photo of the October 2019 City Hall press conference called as part of the fightback when folks from California and Houston and a guy from Westchester kicked in our door? IT WAS LARGELY THE RESULT of speakers brought on by Mimi Rosenberg who is always in the streets and who has always endorsed Justice & Unity.

• The claim that the chair of the National Finance Committee spearheaded the national audits? OUR BYLAWS FORBID the involvement of Finance Committee members in the Audit Committee. Showing up at an Audit Committee meeting to say we really need to finish the audits is not particularly laudatory. The audits had fallen behind and a re-hired CFO made no progress.

• Suggestion that they brought in “black Programming”? (Lower case “b”.) EVEN IF THIS WERE TRUE, the job of the LSB is to ensure that a respectful, collaborative process exists for program changes – additions, removals, modifications, not to lobby for individuals. Instead, they give programming 10 minutes on the monthly meeting agenda, do nothing about the arbitrary practices and disorganization, and are trying to export to other stations the multi-hour, daily preemptions that have us paying people to not work and misses the mark by $25,000 per month.

• So they’re not going to sell WBAI? Or swap our place on the dial? Or “lease” the station? NO ONE IS. THE STORY WASN’T TRUE when it was fresh and it isn’t true now. The proposal for a Public / Program Service Operating Agreement (PSOA) came from Indy Caucus-ACE allies. Justice & Unity then pushed to open the process. After about 15 proposals, many group discussions, a special PNB session, and listener-community meetings, Justice & Unity decided that a limited-time PSOA whose terms would’ve been skillfully negotiated and would’ve kept Pacifica as owner of our license was better than the planned bankruptcy which would’ve turned all Pacifica assets over to a federal appointee or a multi-million-dollar loan that used all Pacifica real estate as security. The PNB majority decided to go with the loan. And there is still no clear plan to repay that $3.2 million dollar loan.

PLEASE USE YOUR BALLOT FOR A WORKING BOARD:

Spoiled your ballot by mistaken choices?
Reset and re-vote on a new ballot.

Gave at least $25 from 7/1/20 to 6/30/21? Please use your ballot to save our station.

Gave at least $50 from 7/1/20 to 6/30/21?
A 2nd household member can get their own ballot.

Received your e-ballot? Search “vote@simplyvoting.com” and “nes@pacifica.org” or request an e-ballot by WED., OCT. 13.

Misplaced your bright blue voter’s postcard from Pacifica? Get your credentials by email.

BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59PM, FRI., OCT 15, 2021.

In Solidarity,
Sharonne Salaam
– People United for Children
– Justice 4 the Wrongfully Incarcerated
– When They See Us
– WBAI Justice & Unity Campaign

* Pacifica now has a Communications Policy that requires regular communications with all members including interactive on-air reports from local and national management, the Local Station Board, and other governance groups. The policy was created and pushed by Justice & Unity and allies because an informed membership is an empowered membership.
Station management and the Indy Caucus-ACE majority won’t implement it.

** Truth crushed to earth