Last week The Village Voice posted a good piece on WBAI which identified overgovernance as a primary source of Pacifica radio’s woes. It credited me as someone who helped craft Pacifica’s by-laws, but I obtained a correction. I’m also cited as suggesting that around 2,200 people “are directly involved in the voting process” at Pacifica. […]
Former KPFA manager Andrew Phillips’ reconstruction of Pacifica station WBAI in New York City is on its second month. All of the station’s on-air paid talent were let go in month one. Now I’m noting quite a bit of west coast Pacifica content on the ‘BAI Program Schedule, specifically from KPFA in Berkeley and KPFK in […]
The New York Times has weighed in on situation at Pacifica radio station WBAI in New York City with a story titled “Democracy May Prove the Doom of WBAI.” The New York station has laid off a huge percentage of its staff, we reported last week. Excessive fixed costs and inadequate programming played a big […]
A sobbing Executive Director of the Pacifica foundation disclosed on Friday that union negotiations at Pacifica station WBAI have concluded and across-the-board layoffs are very near. “It is with great sadness that I have to tell the WBAI listening audience that many of the voices that you have been listening to for many years will […]
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Ombudsman Joel Kaplan’s anticipated second commentary on Pacifica station WBAI in New York City is out, and Kaplan says he’s gotten some responses to his original request for comment on gripes about “questionable fundraising ethics” at the station. They come from ‘BAI Public Affairs director Kathy Davis and interim Development Director […]
As we reported last week, everyone at Pacifica station WBAI in New York City has received layoff notices. The move follows a long spate of bad luck, most notably an unsuccessful marathon and Hurricane Sandy. Here’s a guest blog post from long time WBAI programmer Sidney “Uncle Sidney” Smith, with his take on the situation: […]
Pacifica National Board member Tracy Rosenberg has sent us her own assessment of the crisis situation at WBAI in New York City. I post most of her response to my Friday piece here. I’m not sure that I would describe the following as “cautiously optimistic,” but Rosenberg suggests that “if the station can cover much-reduced […]
6/22/13 – 9:47 PM. Update on this story here: an assessment of the situation from a Pacifica National Board member. Full disclosure: trying to verify anything at Pacifica radio these days comes down to citing around 5,000 unofficial spokespersons in the absence of even one of the official variety. But this statement purporting to come […]
Last week Joel Kaplan, Ombudsman for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, posted a commentary on Pacifica radio station WBAI in New York City. “So far during my tenure as ombudsman there have not been a significant number of complaints about any of the Pacifica stations—until now,” Kaplan noted. He then cited one from one Mr. […]
I was stunned when I heard the news that three program hosts at New York’s Pacifica station WBAI-FM were found dead this week. On June 3, Ibrahim Gonzalez died in his sleep. The long-time WBAI staple (he’d been at the station for 23 years) and host of In The Moment and Radio Libre is being […]
