Friday night, January 5, a KPFA program called "Full Circle" put aside its scheduled 2017 roundup to devote an hour to the current financial situation.
The Pacifica guest is Grace Aaron, who expresses her opinion, answers questions, and touches on what occurred at this week's super secret PNB executive meeting. They also take calls.
This discussion is handled professionally, which contrasts the Kathy/Cerena/Reimers blather WBAI aired Thursday afternoon.
For the sake of brevity, I deleted the musical interlude.
Full Circle is run by the KPFA Apprenticeship Program perhaps the best thing Pacifica has going for it. Many people have been trained in the program. Franklin Sterling is part time and dedicated and many have gone before him. There are hidden gems like this within Pacifica and the model of the Apprenticeship program could and should have been duplicated throughout the system but....Grace Aaron, apparently a current or former Scientologist has been around Pacifica prodding on boards and elsewhere including Executive Director for years. Her contention that a loan will solve problems maybe partially correct but how will inept Pacifica pay it back? And what about other debt she failed to mention like the pension fund - about $1million now. The building next door to KPFA is a wreck. Some out there have been calling for its sale for years but nothing ever happened. The nature of Pacifica and its governance engenders gridlock at just about every level. It's so obviously an unworkable system and yet Pacific does nothing to change it - and probably cannot - in fact it was designed to be this way - with best intentions I may add but we know about "best intentions"!. And this talk of a new and wonderful Executive Director. I'm wondering who that might be and how this will help. The good thing about Summer Reese was that she was an outlaw and ran roughshod over boards, bypassing their nonsense in an attempt to get things done BUT she was crazy and didn't follow through and did I say crazy?
ReplyDeleteDon't know who the new ED is. Mitch sent this to Berthold, and the financial direction of Pacifica.
Delete"FYI
Berthold
Friday evening, KPFA's program "Full Circle" aired a discussion with former interim Executive Director Grace Aaron (current director from Los Angeles' KPFK), that we might find to be informative about Pacifica's situation.
https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=276395
Grace goes into the various choices available: the downside of filing for bankruptcy vs. taking loans to pay off the summary judgment to the Empire State Realty Trust.
The Pacifica national board meanwhile correctly voted instead to take loans secured by Pacifica's real estate, rather than file for bankruptcy. The board is also hiring a new Executive Director, which seems to be the right decision too.
More to come.
Mitchel Cohen
former Chair, WBAI Local Station Board"
Who is he or she? When does he or she start?
DeleteSo Robert Mugabe has a new job? Cool!
DeleteSDL
I'm sure Berthold Reimers' hiring was anticipated with similar great expectations. His mission, which he accepted without hesitation, was to rescue WBAI by winning back lost listeners. He told a reporter that he had a plan which would double the income and audience within an unrealistically short time. He headed right for the "premium" room (I didn't know there was such a place) and emerged about a year later, claiming that he had straightened out the fund raising mess and all paid-for "thank you gifts" had been mailed.
DeleteOf course, that wasn't true—the station was slipping deeper and deeper into obscurity as his failure to act as manager opened doors for an inept, self-serving group of narcissists and con artists.
Remember, Pacifica is populated by people to whom tenure is more important than broadcasting skill, so I don't hold high hopes for whoever they balance on a pedestal next.
The callers were interesting to listen to. If we are honest and objective in looking at this situation, WBAI really is a burden on Pacifica. They would truly be best in ultimately doing a signal swap or sale of it and getting money out of it rather than losing money in keeping it. Sorry, but WBAI has no importance in the NY radio market to speak of.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Now this literally comes down to each person fighting to protect their own turf (as they perceive it). Crosier continues to play his role as he sees it of being "the voice of stability". When in reality he's anything but that.
ReplyDeleteDespite all of this airing of dirty laundry, the various warring factions (they know who they are) just don't fucking care. I don't care how bad this makes me, the station or the network look. I don't care how much we lose in listener pedges. This is goddamn war. And I will literally do ANYTHING I have to get control. The fact that top management is incapable of facing these facts proves that they don't deserve to be in business.
Now, how will the rest of Pacifica get rid of BAI without them screaming bloody murder? That'll be a neat trick.
Where is the mis-information on nine eleven tower transfer to ESB coming from? Who is the latest "Messiah" to safe Pacifica?
ReplyDeleteI imagine that several stations that were connected to WTC on 9/11 moved or returned to the ESB.
DeleteWBAI has been hooked up to the ESB antenna since the Sixties when I made the original deal with them.
Thought so!
ReplyDeleteI just realized something. Pacifica is looking at this mess in the totally wrong, ass backwards way. What they should be doing is going to ulra-right wing groups and demanding a loan so they continue being a lousy, irrelevant, left-wing network instead of getting smart and improving their programming.
ReplyDeleteSDL
SDL--I love it!
DeleteJust finished listening to this. Towards the end Aaron makes a comment about LSB and National board meetings. They're PURE HELL to sit through. But in "closed session", we get a LOT of thing done. Really, such as? Well, of course we can't say them publically due to ongoing debt negotiations with the ESRT (on advice of our attorneys, and so on).
ReplyDeleteWrong answer. That's a typical politician dodge. In this case, hiding behind the "confidential information" label. Name one rich Bay area investor (individual, corporation, LLC or fund) that would bail out Pacifica. I'm willing to bet that not one would say yes. Why? Because of Pacifica's horrible reputation. Most could care less about the "noble history" of Pacifica. Do you really think that Murdoch who bought into Vice Media gives a shit about what their management thinks? No. All he cares about is his damn money.
sounds like another race based monday morning across the board .
ReplyDeleteamy, law and disorder , and then daniels to round out the blackness.
Reimers and Bates are smiling . clueless morons .
The Rev. Dennis Dillon is sitting in for the vacationing Daniels this week. Dillon and his South African wife were on talking about setting up and investing in an African Bank. Perhaps they can make Berthold Reimers the CEO after it's established.
DeleteOr extend a bridge loan to Pacifica. Who's the new Pacifica ED?
DeleteI had no idea KPFA was broadcasting from occupied territory Chris. It also gives me insight into why Pacifica can't grow its audience. Of course, they'll tell you KPFA is doing much better than WBAI.
ReplyDeleteI think the tax liens and pension liabilities say otherwise.
I'll be very disappointed if a solution is worked out and WBAI survives this crisis.
ReplyDeleteI despise Bates, Reimers, Haskins, Davis, and the rest of the charlatans and mountebanks that are feeding off of WBAI.
I'd like to see them all dead but would settle for seeing them unemployed and destitute. Bates and Reimers should be in prison.
I agree - let me add some others - Marksman, Knight, Murillo and Van Isler are also responsible. Marksman thankfully is dead and so is Knight. Van Isler has only one lung and Murillo is worthless and should be in prison too. True collection of scumbags.
ReplyDeleteIts bad enough to be talking about Pacifica's issues on air but I had not realized the extent to which specific arguments are being made on air. Instead of trying to improve the on air content, blatant appeals for the MNN deal are made on air at WBAI while KPFA is arguing on air for bankruptcy while scaring the hell out of their listeners.
ReplyDeleteFree-speech radio at it's worse, a tower of Babel!
DeleteFrom KPFA LSB member Mary Tilson facebook feed. KPFA update. The Pacifica National Board voted to accept a loan provided by a board member to partially pay 1.8 million owed to Empire State for WBAI antenna rent. Empire State turned down the proposal and as of today may legally put a lien on KPFA's building and can garner KPFA's (and other Pacifica station bank accounts.) There is no word yet on how the board will respond.
ReplyDeleteThis becomes more confusing (muddled) by the minute. THere's an LSB meeting at WBAI tonight (Tuesday), so this will undoubtedly be discussed (or shouted out).
DeleteThe WBAI website says that the LSB meeting is tomorrow.
DeleteIf this is true, so much for the ESRT taking partial payment and forbearance.
DeleteSDL
The ESRT turned down this loan because they want their damn money. Set aside the stuff about the ESRT are just a bunch of greedy businesspeople. Even if that's true, put yourself in their position. Are they a corporation or an LLC? They'll say we have a fiduciary duty to our stockholders to make as much profit as possible.
DeleteWhy haven't more rich benefactors come forward to bail out Pacifica? With a long history of various factions ripping each other to pieces to try and get control of the network, why would these people want or need that kind of stress? It's obvious that from Pacifica national on down, they're convinced that because this is the great and noble progressive Pacifica network, all of the decades of petty idiotic bullshit that continues to this day is perfectly okay. Actually, in the real world, it's not okay. Now it's time to face the consequences.
Hang on, according to Tracy, "Friends of Pacifica in Southern California have now secured bridge loan funds of $2 million dollars to pay off the summary judgment amount to the Empire State Building. An escrow account has been set up and full payment will follow shortly afterwards. Full payment of the judgment due will remove the threat of asset seizure."
ReplyDeletehttp://pacificainexile.org/archives/2537
Even if true, this only gives WBAI a temporary reprieve. Pacifica will still have to pay off the loan(s), and pay its other debts. This will just give Pacifica ,more time to do a signal swap with WBAI's frequency. That is going to happen with or without bankruptcy.
DeleteNo matter what happens, they need to use WBAI for its potential cash revenue, rather than letting it drain money from Pacifica. A signal swap is the best alternative, since the few listeners they would lose won't matter, considering they have so few listeners, anyway.
DeleteSDL