Democracy May Prove the Doom of WBAI (Pacifica) - NY Times

[DinahMoeHum]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/business/media/democracy-may-prove-the-doom-of-wbai.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

(snip)
WBAI likes to call itself “radio for the 99 percent.” But most of the time the station — a listener-supported and proudly scrappy mainstay of the left since 1960 — is lucky to be heard by 0.1 percent of the New York radio audience. That disparity, and the teetering finances of the station and its owner, the nonprofit Pacifica Foundation, became apparent on a Friday afternoon this month with a tearful on-air announcement by Summer Reese, Pacifica’s interim executive director, that the station was laying off 19 of its 29 employees just to cover basic expenses like the rent for its transmitter atop the Empire State Building.
(snip)
Among Pacifica’s debts are more than $2 million in broadcast fees owed to Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!,” the network’s most popular show. To cover Pacifica’s operating costs, the network has drained most of its accounts, hobbling the organization and raising the doomsday scenario in which it would have to sell WBAI’s broadcast license.
(snip)
. . .critics have long said that its top-heavy governance, with large local boards and frequent, expensive elections, have put the organization in a constant state of gridlock, and that unless Pacifica reforms it will simply govern itself to death.
(snip)
Those same problems were on display at a public WBAI board meeting last week in an arts space in Lower Manhattan. Despite the layoffs just days before, the first 25 minutes were devoted to a procedural debate about the night’s agenda, with frequent mentions of Robert’s Rules of Order. Occasional shouts of “fascist!” and “go back to the N.S.A.!” rang out from listeners in attendance.
(snip)

More at the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/business/media/democracy-may-prove-the-doom-of-wbai.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

Would really appreciate anybody who has ever worked/volunteered at WBAI to put their 2 cents in on the discussion. Thanks.

[latebloomer]

1. Or is it "Democracy Now"?

I seem to remember years ago during the strike, Amy broke from Pacifica and went off on her own. I don't recall the details, but I remember being stunned at the time at how much the Pacifica Board agreed to pay for the program. Apparently much more than they could afford. Of course there are many other factors, but this is one of them.

[frazzled]

2. Stunning, sad, predictable

I was an avid BAI listener back in the late 60s and early 70s, and as a thread here the other week attested, we all have fond memories of those times listening to Julius Leste, Larry Josephson et al.

The takeaway from this article for me is in the line:

Former WBAI staff members complain that constant management turnover as the board instituted one “coup” after another made their jobs nearly impossible.

Yes, direct democracy based on ideological rigidity is not very good at ... well, getting things done. If you're going to accuse people of being fascists and yell out "go back to the NSA!" and let those kinds of considerations trump the running of the organization, you're going to end up with chaos and, eventually, nothing. It's the kind of anarchic, leaderless structure that the Occupy movement tried to work with, and it frankly didn't really work. Sometimes you really do need leadership (consistent leadership) and pragmatism in addition to ideology.

I guess the fact that the entire news staff was let go is a symbol that perhaps it's time for WBAI to die a peaceful death. Maybe some reforms can be instituted; maybe it can hobble along for another few years. But the long-term prospect doesn't look that great.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Well Stated...

...also it has to be made mention that WBAI has seen its donations drop significantly over the past decade. Part of the problem was the recession/depression that hit many non-profits hard (especially those with small endowments like Pacifica) as well as the rise of satellite and internet radio that has increased the station's reach but not its revenue base. I've always marveled at how WBAI and the other Pacifica stations survived over the years but what we're seeing here is a systemic failure on many levels. I hope something can be salvaged here...anonymous donations have shown up in the past...

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. Wow. This is ridiculous. When idealogues run organizations it is not good

It saddens me that a great voice in NYC could be silenced because of people's unwillingness to set aside "purity" for the sake of pragmatism. I'm guessing it's core audience is dying off and no credible efforts to win a new younger audience are being entertained.

In this case, it's all about shrinking audience and shrinking revenue.

[kentauros]

4. I haven't listened to my local Pacifica station (KPFT)

with any regularity in years. I'll tune into their technology show (Technology Bytes) from time to time, or when I need help, but I just don't listen to the radio much. SomaFM gets more listening time from me, and they're also listener-supported. However, they are Internet-only, with about twenty channels of genre-specific music.

I know Pacifica is up with the times and streaming now, but perhaps WBAI would do better going all Internet-streaming and dropping the broadcast tower. They could make a lot of money selling off their commercial frequency (the only station in the Pacifica network that isn't on a public-airwaves frequency, i.e., below 92.1 Mhz.)

Oh, and it seems that Pacifica has gone from one extreme to another. Back in the 1990s, when I was a volunteer at KPFT, the Pacifica board was overrun by corporate-types, some even wanting to sell off the entire network. That didn't go over well with the listeners or volunteers, so they subverted things from within, ditching the "crazy-quilt" programming for middle-of-the-road Adult Contemporary music and no local news teams any more.

When the Corporate types were finally booted out, Pacifica went to the extreme left, and now we're seeing the results of that, sadly.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

5. Great history

[kentauros]

6. In a nutshell :)

I hated what the corporate-friendly people did to the station locally and nationally, yet I didn't like what I saw early in the change back to "sanity" as the Left Ideologues took over.

The reporting of the use of Robert's Rules of Order in the above piece makes me cringe from memories of its use back then. My conclusion at the time still holds true today: Control-freaks love Robert's Rules of Order, and will abuse it every chance they get.

[KamaAina]

8. Slight quibble: Flagship KPFA in Berkeley is on 94.1

[kentauros]

10. I didn't realize that.

I only recall the big deal that was made in the mid-90s when they were considering selling off the WBAI frequency. Luckily, the listeners stood up to that

[deutsey]

14. The last two pledge drives for KPFA have been modestly successful

after a series of grueling drives that dragged on forever and were less effective. I listen online on the East Coast so I don't know the inside story, but it seems like the far left ideologues aren't as much in control there anymore after they booted the Morning Show off a couple years back.

[DinahMoeHum]

7. kick

n/t

[Lee-Lee]

9. I guess to a degree any form of public radio has problems

Or any nonprofit media.

Because 90% of regular listeners never donate.

Sounds like a dysfunctional management coupled with the typical apathic level of financial support a public radio station audience provides.

[KamaAina]

15. NPR fills in that gap with corporate donations and ads

excuse me, "enhanced underwriting credits".

Pacifica doesn't.

[Lee-Lee]

16. So what it really comes down to

Is that listeners don't value it enough to support it.

[RagAss]

11. Don't have much to say about this but I do recall as a 12 year old...

tuning in to BAI in the early 70's on the radio in my bedroom and feeling like a "little subversive citizen" while listening to some of the greatest discussions I ever heard on radio. Those days are gone.

[DinahMoeHum]

13. kick

.

[MineralMan]

17. If it was truly "radio for the 99%," it would be wallowing

in money. The reality is that it is not that at all. The account of the board meeting reflects the fractionalization of the left that has caused everyone with a cause rejecting every other cause and supporting only the cause they think is primary. That leads to things like that board meeting, where each tiny fraction accuses every other fraction of not being relevant.

Lacking a real direction, the station broadcasts a weird mix of content that attracts only a small fraction of its potential listenership and only for the short periods when that fraction hears its own message about its own cause broadcast. That doesn't lead to active donors contributing very much, and many listeners don't have the necessary funds to donate meaningful amounts.

Fractionalization is the weakest point of left politics. We see it here on DU, as well, unfortunately. It's also visible in the Occupy movement. It marginalizes all points of view and cripples a unified message.

Too bad.

[KittyWampus]

18. I can just imagine the Chair trying to invoke Robert's Rules of Order & getting shouted down as a

fascist. That may not be how it went down… but I've been in small organizations where stuff like this happened.

It's almost as if Pacifica decided to become "Radio for the OTHER 1%"… the Other 1% being the far-idealouge left.

[MineralMan]

19. Yup. Someone trying to create order out of chaos,

bringing up the very sensible Robert's Rules of Order, specifically designed to create order out of chaos. So, shout down some semblance of an orderly discussion and watch the meeting disintegrate.

I believe you have it exactly right. There are two 1% segments. The 98% is the rest of us, and we're not being represented, so we just go about our daily affairs and leave the 2% to duke it out among themselves.

When every person decides what the only priority should be, there are no priorities at all.