A step forward at WBAI-Pacifica
By John Catalinotto
New York
The New York metropolitan area's progressive radio listeners
won a victory Nov. 29 in elections for the Local Station Board
(LSB) of Pacifica's listener-sponsored WBAI radio. Winning
seven of 12 contested positions, the Justice and Unity slate
wound up with a slim but firm majority of the 24-member
board.
The vote in effect endorses the current Black and Latino
WBAI management, staff and board members who have anchored WBAI
in the communities of color in New York City.
WBAI's political discussion and cultural shows represent a
broad spectrum of New York ethnic and other communities,
especially the most oppressed. The station is also the only
broadcast outlet that provides an opening for anti-imperialist
analysis of important world events.
On no other station can you find strong coverage of police
brutality, reports on political prisoners, and reports from
embattled Palestine and Iraq. WBAI also provides a tribune to
mobilize for movement events. Many anti-war, anti-racist,
pro-labor and other progressive activists in the area tune in
to find out what protest to attend that day or that week.
Three years ago a pro-corporate attack grabbed WBAI for the
better part of a year until a people's movement won the station
back. Since then the station has recovered from program and
fiscal mismanagement under the pro-corporate group and made a
comeback. It has been expanding its listener base, especially
in the Black and Caribbean communities in the region.
General Manager Don Rojas and Pro gram Director Bernard
White, both Black men and skilled media professionals, have
overseen this comeback. The station is eighth in listeners
among 800 or more public radio stations. It is "the most
ethnically diverse public radio station in the nation," says
Rojas.
Despite this successful track record, the management and
much of the staff came under sharp and quite controversial
criticisms from some members of the prior board majority. Those
most hostile included the Listeners and Staff for Progressive
Elections (ListProg) slate and business associates of Gary
Null, a WBAI producer and entrepreneur whose focus is
alternative health.
The new board members expect that the working relationship
with WBAI's staff and management will improve now that five of
the nine Justice and Unity slate members running for
listener-elected positions won and won strongly, as did two of
three staff members.
Omowale Clay, a December 12th Move ment organizer whose name
is linked with the slogan "No justice, no peace," won an
overwhelming vote total. At the head of the Justice and Unity
slate, he was the only candidate elected in the first round in
the complicated vote procedure aimed at guar anteeing
proportional representation.
Youth media activist Evan Tobias and Inter national Action
Center Co-director Sara Flounders were elected on the second
round. None of the opposing candidates--those sharply critical
of WBAI management--won until round 13. People on or close to
the slate won two other listener seats and two of three
contested staff positions.
WBAI listeners know Flounders and the IAC not from media
work but for political activity and analysis, especially
regarding Iraq, Palestine and Haiti. The Justice and Unity
victory may also at least partly reflect the growing number of
activists from the Haitian, Middle Eastern and South Asian
communities who are WBAI listeners.
Reprinted from the Dec. 16, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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