WBAI Is Going Off The Air!

THIS JUST IN Regarding WBAI 99.5 FM
(Listener-Supported Radio, www.wbai.org)

According to a memo from the WBAI General Manager Anthony Riddle an order to change the lock on the WBAI transmitter room in the Empire State Building has been issued that would be effective today, Thursday, April 2, 2009. This will mean that WBAI Radio, as you know it, will no longer exist.

Note this URGENT CALL TO ACTION for ALL members and supporters of WBAI:

1. Email GRACE AARON (Interim Executive Director, Pacifica) to seek clarity about this issue. The email address is graceaaron@ca.rr.com

2. Call GRACE AARON at 510.849.2590 to seek clarity about this issue.

3. Join the new rally to Save WBAI Radio!
Convene Saturday, April 4 at 11:00 am. Rally begins at 12 noon. Gather at these corners: Leonard Street, Franklin Street, White Street (all between Broadway and Lafatyeete). For more info, go to the organizers' website: www.unitedforpeaceandjustice.org. Or call 212.868.5545.


More about WBAI Radio (from the official website, www.wbai.org)
The Pacifica Foundation was launched by pacifist Lew Hill in 1949 with the first ever listener funded radio station - KPFA, Berkeley. The Pacifica Mission called for radio that would foster understanding amongst nations and individuals, encourage creativity, and promote innovative, uncensored distribution of news.

In 1960, WBAI 99.5 FM in New York joined Pacifica when philanthropist Louis Schweitzer gave the station to the network, which now has 5 radio stations (the other four are in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Houston, and Washington, DC) and more than 50 affiliate stations across the U.S.

The Pacifica Foundation is a California non-profit corporation. Its governance procedures are laid out in its bylaws and Articles of Incorporation (which includes the Mission Statement). The board of directors, referred to as the national board, has fiduciary responsibility over the network. On and off over the years, there have also been local station boards with varying degrees of responsibility that were to work with the national board.

In December 2001 a settlement agreement was reached with regard to several lawsuits that had been brought against the then Pacifica National Board. The suits were filed by Pacifica listeners, various Local Advisory Board members, and several National board members charging the board with taking Pacifica away from its mission and other illegal activities destructive to the network.

The settlement mandated that an interim Pacifica National Board composed of people from both sides of the conflict revise Pacifica's bylaws. The new Pacifica bylaws were required to establish membership status for listener-sponsors and station staff along with a process for network-wide elections of somewhat empowered Local Station Boards in the 5 listening areas. After an extended period of discussion, debate and drafting, the new bylaws were adopted in September 2003. The first elections for Local Station Boards under these bylaws were held in January-February 2004.