Dear WBAI Family,

It’s time to think of WBAI as more than a single broadcast entity with 168 hours a week.

Not only are there 5 Pacifica stations and hundreds of affiliate stations that carry some Pacifica programming, but each of our own stations can become a self-supporting hub – a regional center of organizing, training, and information-sharing by partnering with alternative print and visual media, and by using social platforms and technology to push clips and long form programs. A powerful people’s media world waiting for us if we are willing to face the challenge and grow!

However, despite it being a primary directive, the LSB majority has failed to demand that management create a process for program changes and evaluation which could include ways for producers and listeners to provide feedback and suggestions. Instead, they misuse their influence lobbying for airtime for friends. In 11 years, only 2 “annual” evaluations of the General Manager have been attempted and they’re on the 6th Interim Program Director with the last one hanging around for a few years while the LSB stalls a search.

What Justice & Unity stands for:

As commercial media ownership tightens, and the chant builds for war on China, Cuba, and Venezuela and other nations the US can’t control, this powerful mission-driven station must grow and use our power to broaden debate and deepen dialogue, to examine comfortable ideas and form new ideals, to review our assumptions and revise our practices – always with a mind to greater inclusion of those who are otherwise marginalized.

EXPAND, ENGAGE, MENTOR, DIVERSIFY:

• Partnering: Community access TV (BCAT, BronxNet, MNN, PPTV, SICTV) is in every NYC home with cable. “Our Time Press” and other community papers cover neighborhoods.

• Engage with listeners: Use surveys. Take calls. Bob Fass would say call if you can hear me, but there’s also Twitter, texts, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and more”.

• Work with students of all ages in public schools and colleges: Plan for longevity by bringing in the next generations of Pacifica thinkers and workers. Learn from them..

• Vary income sources: You don’t have to be wealthy to leave a legacy. Encourage adding the station as a beneficiary on life insurance policies.

• Give programs target dollar goals and the opportunity to raise those amounts through on-air pitching and approved off-air events. Amounts raised would offset the current weekly and monthly preemptions that alienate the audience.

The Big Lie:

The accusation that Justice & Unity wants to sell or swap WBAI’s powerful signal is false. The proponent of selling Pacifica’s radio licenses “while they still have value” is the multi-millionaire leader of the LSB majority who are now claiming to be the station’s savior.

The Facts:

WBAI continues to be unsustainable. We are $26,000 in “the red” each month, starving the national office and the Pacifica Radio Archives, and constantly borrowing.

Instead of thoughtful examination and full board discussions with listeners and staff, the LSB majority pats management on the head and offers poorly-thought-out rationales for fiscal failure. Saying that the deficit is equal to the amount of a grant we haven’t received in 7 years doesn’t pay any bills. Claiming that ongoing preemptions of scheduled programming to repeatedly hawk magic water, curative powders, and positive thinking, or even to re-broadcast good programs to the extent of memorization, costs audience. Yet, bizarrely they’re trying to market the practice to other Pacifica stations, even as it fails to meet our needs.

VOTE FOR TRUTH BY FRI., OCT. 15, 2021.

A little history about the PSOA (Public/Program Service Operating Agreement):

2013: An Indy-ACE majority on the Pacifica National Board (PNB) laid off 75% of WBAI’s paid staff and solicited a PSOA with a radio station that lacked strong public affairs programming and promoted the pro-apartheid Netanyahu Israeli government. Justice & Unity pressed for open proposals and arranged for broadcast space at Harlem’s City College when WBAI had to flee from 120 Wall Street.

2014: J&U argued for and created a sustainability plan (that Indy-ACE blocked), supported negotiation with community access television which is funded by a tax on cable companies. (Like C-Span, local access TV is not owned by the corporations. It is open to community residents, has built-in audiences of millions in NYC’s boroughs, and made a commitment to Pacifica programming.)

2017: Pacifica lost a lawsuit to Empire State Realty Trust and in 2018, settled using a $3.2 Million loan secured by all the foundation’s real property… that it still can’t pay back.

A PSOA would have been carefully crafted by Pacifica’s attorneys. It would have been limited in time, covered all operating expenses, equipped the station with state-of-the-art studios, staff training, and a dedicated TV channel, provided a role for the local board, and allowed financial respite for the station which has been operating in the red for more than a decade. Public information sessions were held (see: wbairising.org). Hundreds asked that the idea be considered.

But a PSOA is not on the table, so the strident statements aimed at Justice & Unity are mostly a distraction from an under-performing board majority. Proving they don’t understand the purpose of the LSB, the majority brags about moribund committees and fail miserably at the tasks that really matter: annual evaluations of management, selecting final candidates for management vacancies, approving the annual budget, monitoring income & expenses, ensuring a collaborative program process, and assessing community needs.

Community endorsers and Justice & Unity board members, get the work done (partial):

• Doc Shya K. Bey, Cinque Brath, Sis Betty Davis, Sis Betty Dopson & CEMOTAP, Sara Flounders & the Int’l Action Center, Larry Hamm & the People’s Organization for Progress, Mrs. Rita Marksman, Ralph Poynter & the Lynne Stewart Organization, Sharonne Salaam, Michael Tarif Warren, Bernard White.

• King Downing, Vajra Kilgour, Bob Lederer, Basir Mchawi, Dr. James McIntosh, Ken Nash, John Riley, Mimi Rosenberg

For a staff delegate committed to obtaining support, training, and respectful collaboration for workers, Justice & Unity, David Rothenberg, Harmony Hope, and Madi proudly recommend Andre “Imani” Ward of On the Count!

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

PLEASE USE THE FULL VALUE OF YOUR BALLOT:

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.

Need a paper ballot? Request it by October 1 online, or by calling (510) 993-0320.

Received your e-ballot? Search “vote@simplyvoting.com” or request one by October 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 love and struggle,
Errol Maitland

PS: There are serious election problems:

1. After an administrative struggle, and a full month after ballots were sent, candidate statements began to air. Many have been censored — chopped without consultation or consent.

   • One-minute statements should be restored and rotated around the full schedule for a month before elections close.

2. The 2 on-air candidate forums / debates were extremely crowded with as many as 13 participants at a time. This affected candidates’ ability to express ideas and were harder to follow.

   • Management should provide airtime for 5-6 candidates per hour.

3. Ballot requests are taking weeks without acknowledgment.

   • Election supervisors should contact potential voters within 72 hours.

More at: PacificaFightback.org

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