WBAI

Sad to say, these days WBAI/Pacifica tends to make it into the media only when something goes wrong, so I guess no news is, indeed, good news. Today,  however, there was news: New York Times gave some space to the Reese dismissal. Here's a link.

And here's what Allen Sniffen, administrator of the New York Radio Message Board had to say about Pacifica and WBAI in his podcast today:

 

Bill Crosier, of KPFT is jubilant today. Tracy Rosenberg, whom his faction wanted desperately to see ousted, posted the following piece by him, prefaced by:

From the chair of the Houston Peace and Justice Center and one of the most decent and honorable people I know, Bill Crosier. 

Is she serious? I think not.

Mar. 14, 2014 -- Fox News is excited to announce our appreciation and recognition of the Pacifica National Board, for its vote last night to terminate its Executive Director, Summer Reese.

The vote came as a surprise even to many of the board members, who felt they were victims of an ambush that was in violation of notice requirements in the Pacifica Bylaws.  We say, don't be whiners, and welcome to the real world.  Surprises happen.  Live with it.

The majority faction of the PNB succeeded in preventing others on the board from indulging in any discussion or debate on the motion, and last night the majority reaffirmed its position that no legal or Human Resources advice would be allowed before taking actions that could create hundreds of thousands of dollars of liability to the Foundation.  We say, thanks for standing up to those members of your board who talk about trivial matters like fiduciary duty and financial responsibility.  Again, they're whiners.  They just want to slow down the operations of the board.  Informed votes are one of those luxuries that really isn't important.  Getting what we want is what matters!

Summer replacement
Margy Wilkinson

The majority on the PNB, by keeping their colleagues from discussing the motion to terminate the ED and by insisting that the termination be effective immediately, ensured that the CPB report due today would not be filed, as Ms. Reese would have been the only person able to do so.  We recognize you for the superb timing on this move to terminate her just in time to prevent Pacifica from complying with that CPB requirement.  We also recognize members of the PNB majority for your past votes in opposition to balanced budgets and for your support of excess staffing at some of the stations, thus making the cash flow situation and need for CPB funding even more critical.  We look forward to Pacifica losing all of its CPB funding this year, as we prepare for acquisitions of some of the Foundation's assets that you have put at such risk.  We think some of your assets would fit in nicely in our portfolio, and if not then perhaps Clear Channel might be interested in them.  We support any acquisition that would help our fellow mega-corporations, especially those that would provide more business-friendly broadcasts than yours do.

We want to further recognize those members of the majority faction on the PNB for ignoring how, just hours before their vote, Summer Reese was able to pay the rest of the severance for WBAI employees who had been laid off in 2013 due to a continuing deficit there.  The severance payment was due this week, and although we had been hoping that Ms. Reese would not be able to locate funds to make the payment, she was able to do it, and a press release was issued yesterday on that topic.  Unfortunately for us and our friends David and Charles Koch, this payment eliminates the lawsuit that would have resulted from the staff union members who lost their jobs, and which Pacifica would almost certainly have lost.  The payment also eliminates the penalties and legal expenses Pacifica would have had to pay along with the severance.  We were looking forward to your Foundation fighting the union in a lawsuit -- we find these fights very entertaining!   We also hoped that would make it easier for us and the Koch brothers to get the WBAI license or one of the other Pacifica station's properties, but now we'll have to wait a while for that.  Fortunately for us, the actions by the PNB, and the cash flow crises that will result, make it much more likely that we might get more than one of those properties and maybe a station license, too, in the near future at fire sale prices.  That might not take long now, especially with creditors whom Ms. Reese had been able to keep at bay, but who now may be chomping at the bit to take Pacifica into bankruptcy court.  We're told that some of the majority faction on the PNB would support such an action anyway.  Thanks so much for your help!

Of course, we also appreciate how you're doing such a good job expanding the infighting within Pacifica.  Keep up the rhetoric and don't pay attention to finances, deficits, cash flow, listenership, or membership.  We don't have much to worry about, as long as you can keep fighting each other, instead of our domination of the media.

Finally, we recognize those leaders of the PNB majority who have not only studied the methods we use in our Fox News broadcasts, but who have adopted those very same methods as their own in order to mislead, er we mean educate, new members of the PNB who now trust you.  They know that you, like us, are "fair and balanced".  We had thought that most people in Pacifica objected to our use of innuendo, misrepresentations, taking things out of context, and gross exaggerations of minor issues, especially as we repeat them over and over until people begin to believe them.  But we are honored by your use of our techniques in your attempts to attack and smear Ms. Reese. We think you did an even more extensive job on her than we did with Barack Obama's citizenship issue.   As we say here, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.   Again, we are honored that you have adopted our model.

So again, along with our friends the Koch brothers, we salute the majority of the PNB, who did so much last night to push aside the others on the board and help us in the patriotic American pursuit of profit and exploitation.

We look forward to working with you!

Feel free to repost.  We love those who love to spread the truth from Fox News!

Bill Crosier