To be or not to be....

I vividly recall a time when WBAI regarded its listener-sponsors with respect. Not because they paid the bills, which they did, but largely for the independent thinking that made them keep us on the air. No, they were not all of one mind when it came to political and artistic preferences, but most of them possessed the kind of curiosity that demanded hearing all sides of an issue and honest evaluations of creative endeavours. I believe our regular listeners knew that our in-house produced reportages and reviews were independent whether we covered the Civil Rights struggle, the Vietnam War, or the most outré artistic expressions. We also aired non-topical material from the BBC, which was quality radio—uncontroversial except perhaps for the occasional highly avant garde music concert.

This is not the WBAI any of us wish to return to literally, but a fresh and intellectually stimulating  overhaul does not have to trample on the original principles of Pacifica nor alter the station's mission.

Sure, our paid staff of twenty-five and the numerous volunteers we attracted had differences of opinion, but we were united in purpose—WBAI was a true voice in the wilderness that we were proud to be a part of, and we took pride in working there. To most of us, the lure was participation in this remarkable experiment and the opportunity to provide a much needed alternative to commercial radio.

It was indeed meant to be an alternative rather than a replacement—we all acknowledged that there was also much good radio to be heard on either side of us. Being in the middle of the FM dial, our frequency, 99.5, was an ideal spot; My good friend, Lou Schweitzer, who gave WBAI to Pacifica, had a suggestion for prospective listeners: "On your way from NBC to CBS, stop in for refreshments." Many heeded that advice. 

Today, Alex Steinberg and Mitchel Cohen regard themselves as the "good guys", but one does not have to be a JUC faction member to play a big part in what is wrong with Pacifica. Stubborn leftovers from another era, they cling to an ideology that has long since been proven not to work. Instead of coming up with a new direction that incorporates the functional elements of the old Left (there were some, indeed), they want it all back…. They cannot get it into their clunky, old-fogeyish thinking that Lew Hill stepped into a new day and KPFA was not a plugged-in Marx device.

Alex and Mitchel have doggedly moored themselves to a rusty buoy, clinging to it with their goo of fantasy and waving a tattered red flag. It isn’t working for them, as one might expect, nor has anything bandied about by the current contingent of imaginary traffic cops—the stagnated afro-eccentrics whose flag is less tattered but even more effective in driving WBAI’s listenership numbers to the current nadir. This was not Lew Hill’s dream, as both these factions feign to believe. In fact, Mr. Hill could not have imagined his Pacifica being molested to the extent that it has.

Pacifica’s aim included several targets, not the least of which was commercial broadcasting’s perpetual telling of white lies, but lies are lies, whether you paint them red or black and when told routinely—as they are on WBAI—they reach deaf ears. It is laughable to hear Mitchel stand up for Berthold Reimers who, along with scammers like Tony Bates and Kathy Davis thrive on a steady diet of calculated untruths. Putting aside the criminality involved, their mindsets are the antithesis of the Pacifica Lewis Hill and his associates brought to life in 1949.

Steinberg and Cohen may think they are keeping up with the times, but—like Mimi (the bargain basement black), O’Brien (the Mumia mom) and a dozen other opportunists du jour, their expiry date is but a fading footnote. In redefining the term “community radio” and moulding it to fit into their respective narrow grooves, these vandals—whether driven by naïveté or selfish agendas—deny that principles and progress can move hand in hand. Berthold Reimers is the perfect pawn in this game, a fact that appears to be recognised on the PNB as well as local levels. Wearing his see-thru veil of lies, he covertly traipses along a path of conveniently concocted calamities and picks up an inflated paycheque month after month, year after year.

Now there appears at last to be hope for Pacifica, but it is—not unexpectedly—being challenged. So, the game goes on with the same cast and, one might presume, the same faction-based venom. Is anybody listening?

That’s the real question.

Chris Albertson
Former WBAI volunteer, staffer, manager.