Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Bill Campisi remarks re Adriane and Cerene


Apropos personnel changes, here is a brief excerpt of Bill Campisi's remarks from the February 25th KPFA's LSB meeting, as referred to in Jim's comment. It is Bill Campisi addressing the unseating of perennial unfavorites Adriana Casenave and Cerene Roberts.

Bill Campisi at KPFA LSB.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Interesting development at KPFK


Management Change at KPFK-FM 
Los Angeles


February 27, 2017

Los Angeles – KPFK-FM will have a new general manager, effective immediately.

Senior Producer Christine Blosdale will be stepping into the general manager role temporarily, for a period anticipated to be 4-8 weeks, until a longer-term interim general manager is selected. Blosdale has been a long-time employee of the station, and her success in fundraising for KPFK has been widely noted.

Interim Executive Director Bill Crosier commented: “KPFK is an important part of the Pacifica Foundation, and is our biggest and most powerful station in the second largest media market in the United States. The station has been through some difficult times recently. I want KPFK to take a leadership role, both within our radio network as it recovers, and in the Southern California media landscape as the country meets the challenges presented by the Trump administration. This change will position KPFK to do so”.


KPFK joined the 5-station Pacifica network in 1959, the second radio station to be acquired by the nonprofit founded in Berkeley, CA in 1946, and is the most powerful public radio station in the Western United States. Pacifica's independent news, information, and cultural programming provides perspectives rarely heard in mainstream broadcast media and features the voices of artists, activists and public intellectuals.
Bill Crosier, Interim Executive Director

Friday, February 24, 2017

A mission derailed...


It has become all too clear that those who call the shots and take aim at today's diluted Pacifica, haven't the foggiest notion or deliberately ignore the purpose for which the Foundation was formed.

Kathy Davis, who straddles the fence between a spiritual goodie-goodie pretense and fraudulent hucksterism (remember double helix water?), thinks the answer to Pacifica's staff-made crisis lies in getting the word out. Here's how she put it.
  
“Artful promotion would also be useful to expand awareness of the core Pacifica mission.”  —Kathryn Davis

A solid idea, per se, but creating awareness of Pacifica’s core mission has to begin within the station and include a weeding-out or re-design of programs that do not conform with the original concept—this is, of course, not to say that Pacifica should revert to its old general approach, but there is no reason why the station could not maintain the old spirit of serving as a platform for fresh ideas or that it needs to kill the principles that once attracted  diverse, intelligent listenership.

Today, as WBAI teeters precariously on the brink of oblivion, the overwhelming majority of its listeners have dropped out, many unable to relate to the ludicrous focus on one small segment of the NYC area’s population. They refer to themselves as a “community” station while all but excluding the multicultural makeup of a potentially large population. Promoting failure is folly.

Making matters worse is the street level sub-concentration on America’s dark past while its dark present is left subject to translucent embellishment and distortions that detract from the gravity as much as pointing to it. There is very little original analysis or thought on WBAI compared to what we hear on the shallow commercial media. The obsession with slavery also tends to misdirect the spotlight and when it is used as a marketing ploy, its historical importance is diminished. We need to hear great speeches by remarkable orators, but we do not need to hear them delivered against a background of Lex Baxter or Evelyn and her Magic Violin.

Our good friend, Indigopirate has been as appalled as anybody by the recent PNB meetings and the utter ignorance and incompetence they reveal, so he brushed away the cobwebs and feather dusted the Bylaws to come up with a sorely needed reminder.

Here—in retractable PDF format—is the entire lowdown, but you might prefer to read indigo's well-chosen extracts and comments, is what he found.
__________________________________ 

The Bylaws, which run to fully 45 pages, may be found here.

On page 5, the first page of text following the Table of Contents, we have, in its entirety, without editing...

Article One, Identity and Purpose, Section 1: Name
The name of this corporation is the PACIFICA FOUNDATION, and it shall be referred to in these Bylaws as the "Foundation".


Article One, Identity and Purpose, Section 2: Purposes
The purposes of the Foundation, as stated in Article II of the Articles of Incorporation, are as follows:
To establish a Foundation organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any member of the Foundation
.

To establish and operate for educational purposes, in such manner that the facilities involved shall be as nearly self-sustaining as possible, one or more radio broadcasting stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission ("Commission") and subject in their operation to the regulatory actions of the Commission under the Federal Communications Act of 1934, as amended.


In radio broadcasting operations to encourage and provide outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community; to conduct classes and workshops in the writing and producing of drama; to establish awards and scholarships for creative writing; to offer performance facilities to amateur instrumentalists, choral groups, orchestral groups and music students; and to promote and aid other creative activities which will serve the cultural welfare of the community.


In radio broadcasting operations to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors; to gather and disseminate information on the causes of conflict between any and all of such groups; and through any and all means compatible with the purposes of this Foundation to promote the study of 
political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms.


In radio broadcasting operations to promote the full distribution of public information; to obtain access to sources of news not commonly brought together in the same medium; and to employ such varied sources in the public presentation of accurate, objective, comprehensive news on all matters vitally affecting the community.


That's quite straightforward, I'd say, but let's look at it again, piece by piece, as it appears to have proven far beyond the comprehension of Pacificans, whether on account of limited abilities or limited willingness to pay Pacifica's actual foundationally defined purposes the least mind.

If you are in fact a Pacifican, try and keep up now, okay...?

Now, note perhaps in particular that the very first description as to purpose is as to the arts and education supportive of the arts, specifically stated as:

In radio broadcasting operations to encourage and provide outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community; to conduct classes and workshops in the writing and producing of drama; to establish awards and scholarships for creative writing; to offer performance facilities to amateur instrumentalists, choral groups, orchestral groups and music students; and to promote and aid other creative activities which will serve the cultural welfare of the community.


Following that we have as the next description as to purpose a dedication to greater understanding as to differences in politics, and study and consideration of differences amongst groups, specifically:

In radio broadcasting operations to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors; to gather and disseminate information on the causes of conflict between any and all of such groups; and through any and all means compatible with the purposes of this Foundation to promote the study of 
political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms.


Thirdly and finally as to purpose, we have a dedication to 'accurate, objective, comprehensive news...' specifically worded as:

In radio broadcasting operations to promote the full distribution of public information; to obtain access to sources of news not commonly brought together in the same medium; and to employ such varied sources in the public presentation of accurate, objective, comprehensive news on all matters vitally affecting the community.


So... these being Pacifica's purposes for being, for existence, as defined... anyone perceive any actual relationship between what the bylaws call for and what Pacifica actually is?
What Pacifica actually does?
It takes quite a stretch...
Though I suppose madness might suffice....
~'indigopirate'

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Phone sex it ain't...


Since the most urgent immediate crisis faced by Pacifica is the record-low economic crisis, I thought it important that we listen to the February 21, 2017 meeting of the PNB Finance Committee. Here it is in its entirety, with a little Fab Four help.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Where is my thank you gift?


Theft at WBAI? I thought that group had been rehabilitated!

The Exiles' Report Feb. 19, 2017



Berkeley- After a brief interval of being able to conduct business due to the voluntary exit of the remnants of the Siegel/Brazon faction from the February 10 board meeting, the respite ended on Thursday February 16. Four hours of chaos ensued. Despite the able chairing of newly-elected chair Jonathan Alexander, the angry former minority put on a show, displaying their ample ability to interrupt, bully, shout, scream and disrupt. The board took two votes of almost no consequence, one to revote on acceptance of the affiliate director vote tally that includes the votes of WBAI's directors that had been excluded, and one to postpone discussion of a bylaws conflict. Not much for four hours of work. The comparison to the productive meeting on February 10 is striking. 

A tentative count (don't quote us on this) over the course of 4 hours and 17 minutes is: 78 points of order, 55 points of information, 38 points of personal privilege and 6 different challenges to the chair.  While we would normally try to provide a more extensive summary reel, since it is a little hard to listen to, we are providing a five minute clip, which pretty much sounds like all the other 4 hours and 12 minutes. The full audio is available for streaming or download at kpftx.org. A Mozart sonata would have improved things immensely, but no such luck was to be had. 

An executive director report was provided by new interim executive director Bill Crosier, but the national board couldn't be bothered to hear it. You can read it here.
The new board majority will have to re-establish order at the next board meeting, which is currently scheduled for the evening of February 24. 

To subscribe to this newsletter, please go to www.pacificainexile.org

Support Pacifica's new iED


For open/public session:

I want to be the iED for all of Pacifica, not just one faction. I hope we can all agree that it's critical for the survival of Pacifica and all of our stations, and for our mission, to focus on getting caught up with audits and other regulatory compliance issues as fast as we can, and to stabilize our finances. We cannot keep running deficits year after year, losing listeners and members, and raising less money per fund drive day while making fund drives ever longer, if we're going to survive. Our tax exemptions, both for California and nationally, depend on having current audits. Without our tax exemption, we'd probably lose the licenses of stations below 92 MHz in the part of the FM band reserved for tax exempt nonprofits. And no tax exemption would make it very difficult to raise money and impossible to get grants.

So getting caught up on audits and getting our finances under control are my biggest priorities. But our mission is very important to me and I will not compromise on that.

I had a very good conference call meeting with the GMs and PDs yesterday, and another one planned for tomorrow, with much of the discussion about best to implement the motion passed by the PNB regarding network-wide fundraising for getting the audits going.

In case anyone is wondering, I will not accept any salary as iED, and will stay in people's homes when I'm traveling, whenever possible, in order to minimize expenses to Pacifica.

Per a motion that the PNB approved last Friday, I have hired Sam Agarwal, former CFO, on a consulting basis, until we can rehire him as Chief Financial Officer. I think it's essential to get him on board, so we can identify what we need to get the audits done, including all the preparatory work, and then get that work finished as soon as possible. He has already provided a great deal of help regarding recommendations of what is needed to get the audits going, but we need to make more detailed assessments and determine what resources we need.

Sam is on vacation now but sent me some initial ideas he had regarding recommendations for the FY15 and FY16 audits, and I forwarded them to you. Bear in mind that these are just his initial ideas, and we have not done assessments yet regarding details of what's needed in terms of work that must be completed before the FY15 audit can start, how many accountants or other people we may need to help with that, nor how long it will take.

All we have now are rough estimates, but we should know better in a few weeks. Regarding one item in his recommendations that has alarmed a few of you possible mortgaging of the KPFK property I want to assure you that I have no plans for that, I've heard no one on the PNB talking about doing that. I did not even notice that myself until a couple of people contacted me this afternoon. But we have no plans to mortgage the KPFK building!

I got a call from CPB yesterday, and I followed up with another phone call and email today. They had heard about the change in iED, and wanted to make sure I knew we had compliance issues with CPB. I assured them that I did know, and that one of my top priorities is to get the audits up to date and get in full compliance although we are still assessing what needs to be done, what resources are needed for that, and how long it would take. I asked them to send me whatever notices had been sent, and they said they generally do that through John Crigler (who has been our CPB/FCC attorney for many years).

I had already been in contact with John Crigler (our FCC/CPB attorney) several times this week and forwarded the email response I got from CPB this afternoon, and asked him to send me what he had received. At least one of those was a "CPB CSG Management Determination Letter dated March 28, 2013" and I'll follow up to make sure he can get that to me.

We have almost 100 agreements for affiliate stations that have been waiting for approval for up to several months, and I am working with Ursula Ruedenberg to get those approved as soon as possible. Besides formalizing new and renewal agreements, those are needed for some of the affiliates before they can pay us. We now have about 220 affiliates and that's growing.

I've been working hard on this every day, starting last Saturday. Please understand that I'm getting a lot of phone calls and emails, which I welcome, but understand that I can't get to all of them right away. It's perfectly OK to remind me if you need to talk and I don't get back to you in a day or so. I do appreciate all the suggestions and advice, even if I can't implement all of them by myself or right away.

Some of the good news is I'm hearing from a lot of people who want to help they just want to know what to do. So I'm asking those of you on all of our LSBs to please work with management at your station to harness the energy of volunteers to help with fundraising and getting new listeners and new members. There are thousands of people out on the streets and in demonstrations, upset with what is coming out of the White House and Congress, and we need to let them know that we are there for them that we want to be their voice. Let's work hard to connect with them.


I'm planning a trip to Berkeley for the first part of next week, then to Los Angeles later in the week. I want to meet with staff and board members and other volunteers in each of those locations and not just from one faction or group. Details are being arranged.             —Bill Crosier

Saturday, February 18, 2017

The Chef was in the kitchen...


From: Berthold Reimers <reimersberthold@yahoo.com>

Dear esteem LSB members,

I am announcing to you that WBAI has finally raised $20,000.00 in one day of funddrive today. This has not happened since 2012 when we were at 120 Wall Street and Tony Bates was interim Programming Director. This is a big development because this number was continually going down as R Paul Martin articulated when we were discussing the Budget projections last time. Note also that our average per day is $12,192.00 not counting the Gary Null Retreat which is over $5,000.00 as of now. 

 Month
          
Pledged
Orders
Paid
 Shipping
 Details
02/06/17
117
$12,592.62
$9,731.76
$317.62
123
02/07/17
127
$15,048.41
$11,151.83
$293.41
131
02/08/17
119
$11,773.78
$9,335.89
$253.78
122
02/09/17
74
$5,788.48
$3,722.58
$118.48
78
02/10/17
107
$11,304.03
$7,937.72
$194.03
116
02/11/17
86
$8,540.94
$5,723.91
$130.94
115
02/12/17
111
$8,509.58
$5,326.87
$124.58
124
02/13/17
108
$14,276.37
$10,061.07
$236.37
125
02/14/17
71
$9,280.04
$7,397.99
$185.04
77
02/15/17
104
$16,524.94
$14,608.83
$384.94
110
02/16/17
109
$12,290.83
$8,947.49
$260.83
115
02/17/17
118
$20,377.87
$15,861.95
$192.87
138
Ave
104
$12,192.00
$9,151
$224
115
Totals
1,254 
$145,989.77 
$109,951.01 
$2,689.77 
1,376






Thanks,

Berthold

Friday, February 17, 2017

Bleeding the listeners, again....

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

PNB Special Meeting - Feb, 16, 2017


This exceedingly long PNB meeting is posted in its entirety for no other reason than to demonstrate the futility of incompetence and the obstructive game played by Cerene and Adriana. You won't listen to the whole thing, but here are 4:17:46.5 hours of nothing...

You may miss it, but during one vote we hear one member tell another how to vote! 

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Exile Newsletter: February 11, 2017


2017 Board Finally Shows Up



Berkeley-15 days after being seated, the 2017 Pacifica National Board finally threw off the shackles of the previous board, refusing to concede to an imperial order from 2016 officers Adriana Casenave and Janet Kobren to unilaterally adjourn the February 10 meeting without conducting any business. The expired officers got on the phone call, established a quorum was present, and then claimed the previous year's officers had to "approve the meeting in advance" and therefore the meeting was to be adjourned without any vote. The ploy didn't work and a quorum of the board remained on the call after half a dozen Siegel/Brazonites hung up, passing several motions and then moving on to an executive session. Quorum was re-established in the closed session and the 2017 board made a change in the interim executive director position, relieving former board member Lydia Brazon of the position and appointing Houston listener rep Bill Crosier, pending the hire of a permanent executive director. A 20-minute summary reel of the open session of the meeting can be heard here. The meeting notice can be seen here. 

The leadership change occurred after a two week period during which the remnants of the Siegel/Brazon faction had blocked the new board from selecting their own officers and convened two frustrating meetings on January 26 and February 2. Using the made-up title of "Acting Chair", a position the 2017 board never granted her, Casenave presided over a 3 hour mess on January 26 that never got past a single point of order and was marked by a screaming match between Casenave and newly-elected KPFA director William Campisi. You can hear Campisi's frustration on this brief clip from that meeting. 

On February 2nd, still in the grip of the outgoing 2016 majority, the PNB never made it out of an executive session called to discuss pressing financial matters that include litigation with the Empire State Building and growing pressure from the Registry of Charitable Trusts investigation. Campisi issued a public report on the meeting that you can read here. Campisi was elected as a Save KPFA-affiliated representative, but was apparently unimpressed in his first encounters with his factional cohorts. On February 10th, all 4 KPFA LSB-elected directors remained on the telephone with the new board majority in the open session and did not participate in the attempted adjournment. 

After the failed adjournment, the board elected KPFK's Jonathan Alexander as a pro-tem chair and KPFA's Akio Tanaka as pro-tem secretary. WBAI director Kathryn Davis, one of three WBAI directors whose votes were excluded from the affiliate director election in December of 2016, introduced a point of order to reverse the exclusion. Her point was upheld by pro-tem chair Alexander, challenged by Campisi, and the chair was upheld on a 10-1-1 vote, indicating a 12 vote majority of the 22 person board was present and voting. The board's action seats the winner of the affiliate director election, David Beaton, as a member of the 2017 board. The board then moved on to the delinquent audits and unanimously passed motions supporting supplementary fund drives to pay for catch-up audits, an RFP for a possible 24-month audit to get back into legal compliance by June of 2017, and rehiring former CFO Sam Agarwal in a consultant capacity. The board also indicated it would be looking to replace corporate counsel Siegel and Yee in the near future.

In the following executive session, the board made the change in the interim executive director position. The board's report out can be seen here.  The Pacifica Foundation announced the change this morning on the website at www.pacifica.org. The leadership shift follows a series of disturbing incidents including a seizure warrant and frozen bank account at Los Angeles station KPFK over an unpaid legal bill for Dan Siegel's defense in 2007-2008, a $285,000 adverse judgment from arbitration with SAG-AFTRA for labor contract violations, a lawsuit from the Empire State Building for unpaid transmitter rental fees, and delinquency letters from the State of California for failure to file required audits. The board complained bitterly about Brazon failing to report these events to the board for months at a time and withholding documents from them. The final straw was probably Brazon's failure to inform the board of a mid-January request from the California Attorney General's office to meet with Pacifica's board. The meeting was conducted in secret by the outgoing 2016 board officers with no notification to the rest of the board of directors, before or after the meeting. In attendance were Dan Siegel's law partner Alan Yee, Brazon, Casenave, Kobren, 2016 board chair Tony Norman, and controller Efren Llarinas. The meeting's existence only became known after Norman privately informed Campisi and Campisi released the information publicly on January 27.


In other news, Pacifica Foundation corporate counsel Dan Siegel formally registered the "KPFA Foundation", the secret corporation he founded with Margy Wilkinson in 2013 to "catch" Pacifica's broadcast licenses, with the Registry of Charitable Trusts. Siegel appointed himself the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the nonprofit and Margy Wilkinson as the secretary. The nonprofit, which uses the Pacifica Foundation's 1946 mission statement, replicated Pacifica's own troubles with the Attorney General, already collecting a delinquency letter of its own.  

NOTE: To subscribe to this newsletter, please visit Exile's website at www.pacificainexile.org


A ray of hope?



At the start of the meeting, all the children left the room leaving the adults to play. And here is the result...

February 11, 2017

Pacifica Foundation Appoints New Executive DirectorTo Grapple With Financial Challenges

Berkeley— The five-station Pacifica Radio network opted for change in 2017 by removing Lydia Brazon, the interim executive director since 2015 and replacing her with 2010-2012 and 2016-2017 Director William Crosier.

The change comes as the network faces an un-precedented political situation in the United States, which is reeling from the assault of the newly elected Donald Trump administration on constitutional freedoms and governmental assistance programs. Pacifica's alternative news, information and cultural programming provides perspectives rarely heard in mainstream media and features the voices of artists, activists and public intellectuals.

The network, founded in 1946 in Berkeley, California, faces an increasingly acute financial situation, with litigation recently filed by the Empire State Building for unpaid transmitter tower rent for station WBAI, and an investigation in progress by the California Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts over delinquent financial audits.

Crosier commented: “Pacifica's mission of alternative educational broadcasting is crucial to the future of this country. I will do everything in my power to ensure the Pacifica Foundation's survival until I can hand over the network to the care of a new visionary leader. I thank my colleagues on the Pacifica National Board for their faith in me. I know we have serious challenges ahead, but I look forward to working together with Pacifica staff and volunteers to catch up on the things we've been neglecting, and guide us to a better place”.

Crosier holds a master of science degree in bio-medical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and thirty-five years of experience in the development of computer-based electronic and electro-mechanical hardware and software systems for biomedical research. He is a long-time radio aficionado and the former Chair of the Board 
and President of the Houston Peace and Justice Center.

The Pacifica National Board made the change on Friday evening during a national teleconference. Outgoing director Lydia Brazon had held the interim position since October of 2015.

PNB meeting re audit delinquencies.


Here, from last night's (Feb. 10, 2017) open PNB telephonic meeting is a reaction to two letters that threaten Pacifica's tax exempt status. A self-inflicted, negligence-based situation brought on by the Foundation's failure to submit audits for 2015 and 2016. 

Typically, the delinquency has been known to the PNB since the deadline passed, but the warning letters had been swept under the rug until discovered and made public by an unnamed person. Here is an audio of the discussion that took place prior to the PNB moving into an "executive session" and slamming the door.

This is not exciting stuff, but the gravity of the subject warrants your time—I have edited out the roll calls, etc. that took up the first half hour of the meeting. If nothing else, you might find it interesting that the auditor have yet to be paid for their work on 2014, and refuse to continue unless that bill is taken care of. It's about $32,000 and Bill Crosier (the sanest member) who brought this important matter up, mentions that the auditing could cost as much as $200,000. 

One wonderful idea is to have the five stations raise the money next month... bear in mind that WBAI is currently in the first week of another four-week fund drive. I can hear it now: "The current fund drive has been pre-empted so that we can bring you another fund drive" For comic relief, I bring to your attention the time-keeper who can't keep time!

Pacifica's non-profit tax exempt status threatened.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

PNB eloquence


It's fund raising time at WBAI. On the air, Maggie Prescod tried to sell those 15 copies of the Robeson package that she has been pitching for over two years, the Bates-Davis team had another go at curing cancer, Ron Daniels attempted again to sell himself, others had pirated music to move from under the counter, I think there was a $400 trip to Hackensack, etc. Not much of anything seemed to be working, however, but we were told that the station is strong and on the upswing. Sound familiar?

As planned, nothing was accomplished. R. Paul Martin suggested, daringly, that the ESB arrears (over 1.4 million and growing faster than a Wonderbread kid) needed to be discussed, but the Board would have none of it. So, that's pretty much what they got.

Our friend Indigo captured a 13-minute essence, which you can hear here as you, too, wonder where the money went.
________________________ 

Why would the Finance Committee have anything to do with Finance?

R. Paul Martin moves to have some discussion of the possible financial impact of the possible California Attorney General’s stripping Pacifica of its tax-exempt status, and of the possible financial impact of the Empire State Building’s suit for ~$1.4m+.

This is ruled as outside the authority or mandate of the National Finance Committee.

He appeals the ruling of the Chair, and is unanimously voted down.

All is silent, all is well in Pacifica Land.


~ ‘indigopirate’

PNB Finance Committee meeting (first 13 minutes)

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

An anonymous suggestion...


It is no secret that Pacifica has been driven to the periphery of ruin, where it is precariously balanced, ready to plunge into oblivion at the mere gust of further mismanagement.

This is not a result of bad economic times, a New York storm, or shifting public taste—it is more accurately due to years of ineptitude and greed, spurred on by a corrupt, scheming faction of the PNB and LSB cohorts. It is a take-over game led by California manipulators and sanctioned by pseudo armchair activists. It is clear that this unlikely cabal is willing to sacrifice WBAI and other Pacifica-owned stations in order to achieve their goal.

As the game became clearer and the programming shifted into low gear, some alarmed Pacifica supporters remained faithful while the majority simply tuned out. This has resulted in the lowest listenership ever measured.

Many suggestions have been sent to the manager, Berthold Reimers, but he does not even acknowledge receipt of them. Calls are neither answered nor returned, and fundraising stale fundraising infomercials (most are deceptive, some even criminal) have become a steady diet.

The following was received as a comment, but it occurred to me the writer and Pacifica would be better served if it were posted on the main body of this blog. On-air callers with criticism (constructive or otherwise) are likely to get abused and disconnected, but your observations and suggestions might reach them if published here, a spot that many WBAI people—including "management"—read. —Chris Albertson

UNKNOWN WRITES: 

Since Pacifica has been a horror show now far longer than its period of true greatness [and on behalf of the dwindling number of those who remember that period, let me assure the doubters that it was truly great], the solution to this has been obvious, though evaporating, for some time. Sell WBAI [though it will garner maybe 20% of what it would have even ten years ago] and yes, even KPFA, which sit on commercial frequencies and would get a nice pile of cash, and turn Pacifica's sights on a website that would gather progressive broadcasts and writings worldwide and be a source of podcasts, also available worldwide. Such a site would have an enormous audience and influence and unite progressives not just in the United States, but around the world, at a time when they are under attack everywhere whether by Trump or LePen. To waste this money on a dwindling audience in areas circumscribed by an FM signal is ridiculous, especially when at least two of those signals would create a debt free Pacifica with the power to be a worldwide influence, and bring people from countries worldwide together and not just Brooklyn & Crown Heights. It would also mean freeing Pacifica from the sad connections to the Gary Null and Voids of this world. The technology is available for video as well and at costs that make the pouring of dollars into the antiquated technology of radio a tragic waste spent merely for the sake of nostalgia for the year by year smaller number of us who awaited the Folio each month and the joy of the most intellectually consequential radio stations of their day. It is time to move on, but I doubt you can reach agreement at Pacifica on anything, much less a radical reworking in technologies as new as FM was when Lewis Hill [Louis Schweitzer?]* gave a gift so recently and horribly abused as WBAI. 
* I added Lou Schweitzer's name, thinking that the writer may have made a common mistake.

Apropos that ESB hookup...

I was strolling down memory lane the other day when a yellow postcard caught my eye...

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE