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Background on Motion to Slash WBAI Expenses by Moving Out of Wall St.
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Motion to Slash WBAI Expenses by Moving Out of 120 Wall St.
Whereas WBAI continues to run budget deficits and interminable pledge drives that are unsustainable for the station and the Pacifica Network, and
Whereas two significant causes of this are the extremely high rent and utilities costs for the offices/studios at 120 Wall Street and the antenna atop the Empire State Building,
Therefore the WBAI Local Station Board strongly urges the General Manager:
1.NOT to sign a three-year lease extension on the offices/studios at 120 Wall St. that expires on December 31, 2012 (as the GM has announced is his intent.)
2.to immediately work to obtain temporary smaller quarters at another location in the signal area at a lower rate of rent.
3.to immediately seek technical advice on possible options for relocating WBAI’s antenna from the Empire State Building to a lower-rent location without losing signal strength or reach.
4.to quickly involve paid and unpaid staff, listeners, and LSB members in brainstorming and discussion about how to accomplish this and an emergency fundraising campaign to bring this about.
Details on How to Implement the Motion
(not part of the motion itself) (Updated 8/30/12)
WBAI should quickly scale down its rental and utility expenses in the following manner:
1.On a temporary basis WBAI should move to one or two smaller locations (i.e., storefronts, community centers, colleges, etc.) within the broadcast area, until a capital campaign can be mounted to raise funds for a move to a permanent, owned location. The interim space(s) should be large enough to house staff, two studios, and fund-drive volunteers. An estimate has been obtained (from real estate expert Steve Bernhaut, the same person who gave the board’s Finance Committee moving estimates in 2005) that such an interim move could be accomplished for under $200,000.
2.All excess equipment can be placed in storage until a new permanent location can be found or sold, if feasible.
3.The station should mobilize staff, LSB and listenership around seeking revenue for both a short-term emergency transitional fundraising campaign and a major long-term building fundraising effort.
Background and Rationale for the Motion to Move WBAI
(Updated 8/30/12)
Background:
1. In 1998 at the urging of Pacifica’s then-Executive Director, Pat Scott, WBAI moved to 120 Wall St. The move was marketed as a positive episode in WBAI’s history. However, our experience with this relocation reflects a different reality.
2. As part of WBAI’s 15-year lease agreement, the landlord subsidized the build-out and reconstruction of the physical plant making the move appear attractive. This agreement had an initial savings of thousands of dollars.
3. WBAI’s rent was discounted for the first five years of its lease. After the five-year period came to a close, WBAI’s rent escalated to market value.
4. Concurrent with the increase in rent was a rise in the cost of utilities and staff salaries and benefits – latter due to necessary cost-of-living increases and ballooning of health insurance premiums.
5. In addition to the foregoing, there was a concerted and organized effort by one of WBAI’s Local Station Board members to discourage listeners from monetarily supporting the station. Dozens of emails were sent to our listenership on a regular basis falsely depicting a negative and corrupt station environment and strongly implying that they should not support the station. At one point, this individual went as far as to make a request that listeners send their donations to his home.
6. In October 2007, Pacifica Foundation’s then-Chief Financial Officer, Lonnie Hicks, submitted a report titled, “Pacifica Foundation WBAI Recovery Plan: Analysis and Action Items and Other Finance Items.” In that report, Hicks stated the following:
While Listener support is definitely a factor in the WBAI deficit, (as seen from above) it is not as significant a factor as the one examined below.
The driving factor is clear from the chart below. WBAI has the highest rental, utility and tower
costs of any unit in the Network—more than 7 times the costs of any other unit at 736k.
“It is clear that the station must move to less expens[iv]e quarters.”
7. In 2008 WBAI’s then-Program Director, Bernard White, formed a committee of listeners and staff to search the city for new quarters. Additionally, a “Building Fund” had earlier been established and $150,000 had been donated. This effort was aborted by the management installed in 2009. In 2011, manager Reimers resumed some efforts, although without either consultation with, or timely disclosure to, the unpaid programmers or Local Station Board. Reimers later claimed that Pacifica’s Executive Director blocked further action, citing inadequate funds, but more recently asserted that a possible deal fell through due to changed terms by the property owner after he learned more about WBAI/Pacifica’s financial condition.
Having failed in its efforts to move and offering no viable alternative, management has said it now intends to sign another $32,000-a-month lease – for three years! – with its present landlord. Yet the $150,000 in the Building Fund could cover most of the cost of a temporary move, as per an estimate recently obtained from a real estate expert.
Conclusion:
It is obvious that if WBAI is to survive, it must move to a new location. There is no logical reason for a community radio station to be located on Wall St., paying rent at market value. “All” terrestrial media are undergoing a decrease in listenership and readership. Media entities across the nation have resorted to scaling down staff and selling their assets to make ends meet. Some in the Pacifica Foundation are also unfortunately and unwisely considering these options. WBAI can counter this push to dissolve the network by relocating and scaling down its rental expenses and ultimately relocating in a reasonably-priced facility that it owns.
Desperate times call for bold and creative alternatives.
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