BACKGROUND OF WBAI STRUGGLE

Janury, 2001--It was a nasty but not too surprising wakeup for WBAI listeners on  Dec. 23, 2000., when, instead of happily playing Broadway tunes and selling  theater tickets to raise funds, David Rothenberg had to spread the news that popular morning show host Bernard White had been  summarily fired overnight.  

That show’s producer, Sharann Harper, and WBAI’s general manager,  Valerie Van Isler, were also fired. Other popular WBAI producers were barred from the station by armed guards or by the locks that had been changed overnight.

The news was so nasty that 200 listeners rushed down to defend  WBAI outside its offices on Wall Street from what many considered an attempted corporate takeover. This FM radio station attracts an audience that stretches from Brooklyn’s Caribbean community to Chelsea, the Upper West Side and East Harlem, from Jersey City to Long Island.

And when more of these listeners found out what happened, over  1,100 of them, young and old, came Dec. 27 to a meeting at the  Service Employees union’s assembly hall. Many spilled out into the  vestibules as the meeting discussed what actions to take to save the station. Many applauded International Action Center Co-Director Sara Flounder’s suggestion for a mass demonstration outside the WBAI offices—later called for Jan. 6.

WHY THEY DEFEND WBAI

Why the strong reaction to the attack on WBAI? Because you don’t hear this kind of news and discussion anywhere else in the mass media.

For example, a “debate” on foreign policy in the corporate media on  U.S. policy toward a nation that Washington doesn’t like usually  consists of people representing the following three positions:  

The ultra-right position is that the Pentagon should nuke nation X. The centrist position is that the Navy should blockade X and starve its population into submission. And the “liberal” position is that U.S. or maybe UN “peacekeeper” troops should occupy X and enforce “human rights” there.

On National Public Radio or PBS, which are supposed to be free of  undue influence from the corporations, you hear the same three  positions, but maybe with more facts to back them up.

On WBAI you hear someone from country X, someone from the  movement in solidarity with X, and someone who is critical of X but  doesn’t think the U.S. should bomb it. The invited administration  spokesperson often doesn’t show up.

For many on the left it may be the only discussion they can listen to without having to repress the urge to smash the radio with a sledgehammer.

WBAI also broadcasts both political discussion and cultural shows  representing a broad spectrum of New York ethnic and other  communities, especially from among those most oppressed.  

In addition, WBAI provides a tribune to mobilize for movement events that reaches almost all progressive activists in the New York metropolitan area.  

WHY THEY WEREN’T SURPRISED

The listeners were stunned and upset by how the crisis took form, but not really surprised that WBAI was under attack. The Pacifica Foundation National Board, which runs the five Pacifica radio stations, has a conservative majority that has moved three of the stations to the right. In 1999 it tried to move against WBAI’s sister station KPFA in Berkeley, Calif. Only a mobilization of 15,000 listeners has slowed this assault.

The recently expanded board’s members now include a lawyer from a  firm that specializes in keeping companies "union-free," a board  member of Citicorp and an entrepreneur who specializes in selling  radio stations.

During the fall WBAI was feeling pressure from the board in  Washington. The board had threatened “Democracy Now!” producer  Amy Goodman for her bold coverage of the Democratic National  Convention. Goodman also drew attention when she debated President  Bill Clinton on Election Day after he called her show to urge a big voter turnout.  

The board complained about too much coverage of Black political  prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and too much time on Fidel Castro’s Sept. 8 speech in New York.  

Another issue was WBAI’s coverage of the Palestinian Right of Return March held Sept. 23 in Washington. According to Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, a source at the station said that the Pacifica management admonished General Manager Van Isler after receiving a complaint from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a presidentially- appointed agency that provides funding to the Pacifica Foundation.

In early December Pacifica Director Bessie Wash gave notice to Van  Isler.

So the surprise was not that the other shoe dropped just before  midnight Dec. 23, but that Wash was able to enlist afternoon call-in show host Utrice Leid to become the new interim general manager. Apparently Leid and other WBAI staff have opposed Van Isler in the past over many administrative questions at the station that have no direct bearing on the political direction of WBAI and of which outsiders would have no direct knowledge.  

The takeover and firings have led to a conflict among WBAI staffers. In this conflict, there are people who produce progressive programs on both sides, and people from many communities on both sides.  

Many of WBAI’s supporters, including those on the staff, see the  takeover as a maneuver by the Pacifica board to take advantage of  internal differences to weaken the station. One speaker at the Dec. 23 rally outside WBAI compared the events to the 1983 U.S. takeover of Grenada after a split in the New Jewel Movement.

Bernard White, Elombe Brath, Amy Goodman, “Grandpa” Al Lewis and  barred “Wake-Up Call” volunteer producer Janet K. Bryant were all at the Dec. 27 meeting to defend the station.

"Since when have we cared about management's opinion about a  guest?" asked Bryant. "People that work there are afraid of being fired. Free speech took a big hit Friday night … we must [work to make sure] it is not fatal."

Still co-hosting “Wake-Up Call” from 8-9 a.m. along with “Democracy  Now!,” Goodman has been repeating that Leid should hire back White and Harper and unbar Bryant and others so that the station can begin to resolve its internal differences. Wash had said on the air that Leid had the authority to do just that.

For updated info. contact Concerned Friends of WBAI: 800-825- 0055; 718-707-7189; www.savepacifica.net

 

 

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