With the implementation of the new Pacifica bylaws, the election of new Local Station Boards (LSBs) and the convening of these LSBs the Pacifica Foundation has entered a new era.
The 2010, Pacifica election cycle has begun. A National Election Supervisor has been hired, she is Renee Asteria, and the Local Election Supervisor for WBAI is Nichole Justice Hylton. The official Web site is here.
The Local Station Board (LSB) is the primary governance body for WBAI. When meeting as delegates the LSB members elect the Directors of the Pacifica National Board, which is the governance body for the entire Pacifica Foundation. The Pacifica Foundation owns WBAI.
This election is crucial for the survival of WBAI and Pacifica. The Sixth WBAI LSB, which will be created by this election, will last for two full years. WBAI and Pacifica are in a precarious position right now as current interim Management attempts to reverse the death spiral that the station and the network have been in for years. If some bunch of chuckleheads gets a majority on the WBAI LSB they'll be able to change the composition of the Pacifica National Board and revert to corrupt, incompetent and malfeasant Management, they might even sell WBAI.
We need decent people on the WBAI LSB who will be interested in preserving the station, not in selling it or running it into the ground. I hope that the listeners will educate themselves about the candidates and vote for good ones.
The official Web page where you can see updated information about the election is here.
In the Spring of 2009, WBAI's deepening financial crisis prompted action by Pacifica Management.
The WBAI LSB held its ninety seventh meeting on Wednesday, December 23, 2009.
The WBAI LSB held its ninety eighth meeting on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.
The WBAI LSB held its ninety ninth meeting on Thursday, February 25, 2010.
The WBAI LSB held its one hundredth meeting on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.
The WBAI LSB held its one hundred first meeting on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
The WBAI LSB held its one hundred second meeting on Wednesday, June 9, 2010.
The WBAI LSB held its one hundred third meeting on Thursday, July 29, 2010.
The WBAI LSB held its one hundred fourth meeting on Wednesday, August 11, 2010.
The next regular WBAI LSB meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 8, 2010, at a location to be announced.
The Executive Director of Pacifica, Arlene Engleheart, appointed another new interim General Manager of WBAI on June 24. So far there's been a Staff meeting to introduce Berthold Reimers as the new iGM, but Pacifica Management has not issued anything in writing yet. When they do I'll post a link to it.
At its January 21, 2009, meeting the LSB voted to hold its meetings on the second Wednesday of every month and/or the last Thursday of that month, subject to change by the LSB, which gives us the following schedule:
•
The First WBAI LSB - February 19, 2004, to November 30, 2004.
The Second WBAI LSB - December 15, 2004, to November 29, 2006.
The Third WBAI LSB - December 27, 2006, to March 25, 2008.
The Fourth WBAI LSB - April 23, 2008, to November 11, 2009.
•
The following is the composition of the Pacifica National Board as of April 27, 2010.
The Directors of the Pacifica National Board
| WBAI | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nia Bediako | Jennifer Jager | Alex Steinberg | Kathy Davis (Staff) |
| • | |||
| WPFW | |||
| Alonzo Brown | Campbell Johnson | Marcel Reid | Kimory Orendoff (Staff) |
| • | |||
| KPFA | |||
| Tracy Rosenberg | Andrea Turner | Joe Wanzala | Shahram Aghamir (Staff) |
| • | |||
| KPFK | |||
| Summer Reese | Leslie Radford | Ricco Ross | Shawn Casey O'Brien (Staff) |
| • | |||
| KPFT | |||
| Bill Crosier | Alberto Luera | Richard Uzzell | George Reiter (Staff) |
| • | |||
| Affiliates | |||
| Jim Bennett - WMNF | Efia Nwangaza - WMXP | ||
The first regular meeting of the new Pacifica National Board was held in Berkeley, California, March 12-14, 2004. More about that here.
Here are the minutes of the March 2004, PNB meeting.
The second regular meeting of the Pacifica National Board was held in Houston, Texas, Friday through Sunday, June 4 - 6, 2004. Here are Roger Manning's notes on this meeting.
Here are the minutes of the June 2004, PNB meeting.
The third regular meeting of the Pacifica National Board was held in Rockville, Maryland (which counts as Washington, D.C.) October 1 - 3, 2004. Here are Roger Manning's notes on this meeting.
The fourth regular meeting of the Pacifica National Board was held in Berkeley, California January 13-17, 2005. At this time there are o minutes for this meeting available.
The fifth regular meeting of the Pacifica National Board was held April 1-3, 2005, at the Doubletree Metropolitan 50th Street and Lexington Ave., New York City. Here's the official Web page about it.
The sixth regular meeting of the Pacifica National Board was held June 17-19, 2005, at the Berkeley Doubletree Marina in Berkeley, California. Here's the official Web page about it.
The seventh sort-of-regular meeting of the Pacifica National Board was held October 28-30 2005, at the Houston Media Source in Houston, Texas. So far there's no official Web page about it that's at all up to date.
In addition, the PNB holds special meetings where occasionally important things happen. All of the minutes, both approved and draft, of the PNB meetings are here.
The Pacifica National Board (PNB) met in person in Los Angeles January 30-February 1, 2009, you can listen to the audio of that meeting here. At that meeting Grace Aaron of KPFK was elected Chair of the PNB. In the absence of an Executive Director Ms. Aaron also assumes the role of interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation. She has issued a statement regarding governance and Management changes at Pacifica.
At that PNB meeting the General Managers of the five Pacifica radio stations and the Archives Manager presented their 3 year plan to revitalize Pacifica.
The National Finance Committee of the PNB met on February 10, 2009, and a lot of information about the state of the Pacifica foundation was disclosed during the course of that meeting. You can listen to the archived audio of that meeting here.
The PNB held an in-person meeting in New York City from July 24th, to July 26th, 2009. It was grossly disrupted by operatives from former Program Director Bernard White's faction. Here's the Web page I did about that, with links to various media.
On April 1, 2009, WBAI General Manager Anthony Riddle sent an E-mail to the WBAI Staff Notices list, and to the Pacifica National Board (PNB) mailing list, with a cc: to the General Managers of the other four Pacifica stations regarding the orders given by Pacifica interim Executive Director and PNB Chair Grace Aaron that the locks on WBAI's transmitter room at the Empire State Building be changed.
WBAI General Manager Anthony Riddle's April 1, 2009, memo.
Pacifica interim Executive Director Grace Aaron's statement of April 2, 2009.
WBAI General Manager Anthony Riddle posted this timeline on April 5, 2009.
There was a sudden Town Hall meeting held on Monday, April 13, 2009, at 7:00 PM at The Fortune Society, 630 Riverside Drive at 140th St. in Manhattan. Here's a flyer that was passed out at the event.
On April 20, 2009, Pacifica interim Executive Director Grace Aaron sent WBAI General Manager Anthony Riddle a memo titled “Directive to WBAI General Manager regarding Programming & Personnel Policy.”
Follow this link to hear excerpts from the reports that were given at the April 24-26, 2009, PNB meeting, along with a statement by one Director.
UPDATE: As of mid-May Lavarn Williams was interim General Manager of WBAI, and as of early June Tony Bates is the interim Program Director of WBAI.
Here is the Pacifica Foundation's official non-discrimination policy.
To the old Pacifica Theft Page.
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