Protest set for Jan. 6
Listeners mobilize to save WBAI from corporate
takeover
By John
Catalinotto
New York
It was a nasty but not too surprising wakeup for WBAI
listeners on Dec. 23 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. 16 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 7-8 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.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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