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Patty's WBAI history lesson 7-10-01 |
[site editor's note: Patty Heffley is directly connected with wbai.net though it was my decision to post this stuff as retrieved from the discussion board at www.goodlight.net/wbai . - Roger M.]
patty
From the 1999 Archives They speak for themselves. Below is the first in a series of archived emails that include transcripts from "Wake Up Call". Let's not put anyone in the "infallible seat" at anytime. We as listeners must make sure the power is spread around. People forget when they are not prompted to remember. I am sorry that this is true. Here is an old email from Feb 1999 about the By Laws Changes about to be taking place. It leads into a report about the demo outside a WBAI event where Bernard White and others were alerted from the public comment section by an SOS member about the Bylaws changes. Outside SOS had passed out packet s of information. (Parentheses are placed around the poster's comments) [patty's comments are in brackets] It is important to read at least a little bit of each on to get the drift.
Patty CdPNY-(formerly SOS)
On February 26, the 15 people known as the Pacifica National Board will meet in Berkeley and attempt to push through a by-laws change which will give them total, permanent control of Pacifica and its 300 million dollars worth of assets. They must be stopped. This is a theft. THIS IS A THEFT. They are claiming that CPB guidelines are "forcing" them to this move. This is a LIE - the CPB inno waymandates thatthis solution be taken to comply with guidelines. Many other alternatives, such as democratic elections of National Board members, or elected local governing boards would also satisfy CPB regs. THESE ARE NOT EVEN BEING CONSIDERED. They will also claim that they are in a hurry and will fix it later - DON'T BELIEVE IT. Once they pass the governance change, they will have total control of Pacifca. They have been attempting this THEFT for the past two years, and have worked many years to pull this off. They will also claim that Pacifca must retain CPB funding in order to get a frequency when radio converts from analog to digital in the next decade. This is NONSENSE. The FCC, not the CPB, controls those allocations. Stations that now have analog frequencies will simply be assigned their digital counterparts. Many non- commercial stations do not now receive funds from the CPB - this has nothing to do with their FCC licenses. BE CLEAR ON THIS. ALL OF US MUST ACT NOW! All of you discussing what you want Pacifica to air, whether right wingers should be on, whether leftwingers should join the Democratic party - all of this will soon become uterly irrelevant because you will have no say it what Pacifica does or doesn't do, so buckle down, please and let's get the word out to everyone. Pacifica National has been stopped from selling WBAI by dissenting local members. Once they can eliminate these community oriented people, there is nothing to stop them. WBAI is worth at least 90 million dollars on the open market, with the interest on that sale, they will be able to replace the 6 million dollars of listener support the foundation now gets entirely. THEY CAN SIMPLY TELL YOU TO FUCK OFF. THE NETWORK BUILT OVER 50 YEARS BY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF US WILL HAVE BEEN STOLEN.
THINGS YOU CAN DO
These people are the ones who will vote. A 2/3 Majority is needed. You must make sure that your local reps vote "NO" and that they can't hold their heads up in their communities if they don't. Here are the people::
Mary Frances Berry - Chair (at University of Penn, Philly)
If you have information as to the organizational affiliations of any of these people please provide it to this list ACTIONS NEEDED 1) Notify everyone you know via telephone, leaflet, e-mail about the urgency of the matter - distribute copies of the Counterpunch article 2) Begin demonstrations in front of your local station, hand out leaflets. Go to the fund drives and inform volunteers there - call on the phone and talk to as many phone volunteers about what is happening. TELL THEM PACIFICA IS ABOUT TO BE STOLEN 3) Go to your local press and tell them that Pacifica is about to be stolen. Be to the point. Get them to cover the story. Use every contact you have. If you are a writer, please write - to every publication, to every organization. Put out calls to action in every communications medium you can get access to. 4)We are assembling a legal team - anyone who has legal expertise in corporation and communications law, and possibly criminal law is needed. 5) Take out adds in your local papers informing the community that PACIFICA IS BEING STOLEN The time for masturbatory political theorizing is past, if you want to save our stations. If you want to continue such discussions, please do so OFF THIS LIST If you do only one of these things listed above, you will make a contribution of immense value. All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for people to do nothing!!!! If you have ideas as to other actions that will help our cause, please post them. JUST HELP FOR CHRISSAKE!
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NOTE: The following is from Lynn, who is off the air today.
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I applaud Bernard for having the courage and integrity to make these statements "ON AIR." He is no doubt aware of the genuine risks involved. This is a very significant turning point for us, especially considering the fact that he is a much-loved, long-time host with a very loyal audience, a prize time slot (6:00-9:00 AM, Monday through Thursday--that's 12 hours a week, which to my knowledge is the most air time per week for any single producer), and he is also a *KEY* asset to the station during fund-raising marathons. (If you live in the NY area, or even if you don't, please call Bernard at 212-209-2815 and thank him for what he's doing. Some people have been eager to criticize producers; let's also be just as eager to congratulate them when they do the right thing!)
* * * Perhaps Bernard's statements will embolden other producers to
follow his courageous lead. (Think about it, folks... seriously, they
can't fire ALL of you at once now, can they?)
BERNARD: ...but now at the end of the meeting... ERROL: ...at the end of the meeting... BERNARD: ...on, uh, Friday, a very important issue was raised, also, and it has to do with, uh, with Pacifica. [sound of rustling papers in the background] ERROL: Yes. BERNARD: People raised the issue about a, a, um... what might be happening with the Pacifica Board, and, uh, there's an article called "CounterPunch" that I've read... tells the facts and names the names; it's called "The Neutering of Pacifica," and, um... the article is pretty accurate, and I'd like for people to get this article, as many people as possible, and raise as many questions, uh, about the veracity of this article, as possible. And I think... where can you get this? You can get this at, uh, if you have a website, at, uh, [this part was nice and slow] W... W... W... dot... radio... 4... the number 4... A... L... L... radio4all... dot... O... R... G... slash... forward slash... freepacifica. Now, one more time, that's www, dot, radio4all, dot, org, forward slash, freepacifica, and, um...JANICE: Is freepacifica one word? BERNARD: Freepacifica is one word, yeah. So, pick up the article and, uh, read it, um, if you go to any, uh, BAI programs, uh, you can pick it up right out in front of the program, 'cause there's always some people out there passing it out, but I think it is something that you should read, uh, absorb, question, and, uh, if you feel so moved, get, uh, involved in trying to, um, find out just what's going on and make... or, have whatever input you need to have. As I've always maintained here, that, um, *this* institution is no different than any other place that people come to work, it is *always* a struggle, um, to get information out, it is always a struggle to keep organizations in line with, uh, their mission, and, um, you have a responsibility as a WBAI listener to do just that. Now, we're gonna give this out, um, uh, several times this week, and hopefully, at some point, you will be able to pick up a copy, uh, or get... um, be able to view and read this in its entirety. We also made some other suggestions about this particular topic. Those of you who were there, if you wanna do that, then you should do that. [Is this a reference to Bernard's suggestion for a "Community Forum on Pacifica"?] ERROL: Right. BERNARD: If you do have a... open a discussion, instead of calling people names, um, you know, folks are willing to work... ERROL: Right. BERNARD: Other people are doing something on one level... because they're not doing what *you're* doing, doesn't mean that they aren't doing anything, so, um, hopefully, um, folks will stop attacking people and just, uh, decide that they're gonna do some work around it.
ERROL: Exactly.
(By the way, we all, of course, owe Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein a great big "THANK YOU" for writing the "CounterPunch" article which has succeeded in getting so many people's "attention.") P.S. For those who are not in the WBAI listening area, Bernard always closes out his show by saying, "Stay Strong and Pay Close Attention." ----------------
patty
PART 2 [Here is part 2 that explains the contention and support for the programmers finally doing the right thing. telling the people. Also this shows that people did know about what was going on. PS there is a foreshadowing event concerning Utrice already showing herself.] patty
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Dear Jim [Dingeman] and All, It is extremely important that at this time that we support Bernard and Errol who have taken serious risks to speak out. Never mind how it long it took. Their courageous act NOW was desperately needed to save our radio stations. As a person who was the target of a campaign of removal for speaking out several years ago (and not even on the air!) and who did lose my job, and far worse, has been slandered and made into a pariah by KPFK management to such an extent that friends of mine at the station are afraid to be seen in public with me for fear it will rub off, I know a lot about being bitter at a lack of support in the past. So, please listen Jim and everyone. This takeover would not have been possible without a conscious exploiting of the divisions and rivalries within Pacifica. And part of the sickness of this organization has been the failure to openly accept that these differences exist, that people have perhaps conflicting interests, and to negotiate compromises in a civilized and fair manner -- as opposed to a cycle of purging and power games. If everyone who now does what needs to be done catches shit because they didn't do it sooner, you and I, Jim can feel very self- righteous while we drink a few beers at Pacifica's wake. Stopping this heist is the task immediately before us, or all else is moot. But it is only the beginning of some really serious work that will have to go on: finding a way to insure that processes exist where all of the people involved may be guaranteed the right to bring their concerns and desires before the group and have those issues seriously deliberated upon. And to know that choices and decisions can always be revisited in an organization that has the integrity and maturity to admit when it has done the wrong thing, and make amends. If we can't do this, we can expect to spend the rest of our days fighting recurring takeover attempts - and they will happen, as 5 big transmitters worth a few hundred million will always be a lightening rod for the greedy, the megalomaniacal and the manufacturers of consent. love and solidarity,
Lyn [Gerry]
For whatever reason or reasons, Bernard and Errol were moved to recommend the Counterpunch article and recommend that listeners check the freepacifica website, I think we must applaud the move as a positive one, and not preoccupy ourselves as this time at microscoping the reasons for their decision to do so. This is a particularly critical time in Pacifica's future and that is what needs to be our focus for the present.
Jeff
Hi all, Today I went to WBAI today and distributed about 150 SOS/Punch Packets to all the mailboxes and phone volunteers. Errol Maitland said they have been getting calls as to where they could get the article (can you imagine that there wasn't one CounterPunch around the station? Or maybe no one tried very hard). I left him some as well as in another secret place so Valerie doesn't find them. From the response I got it would seem that people are not against somebody (all of a sudden) doing something against the Pacifica Machine. Maybe they are even happy about it. Some of the workers lack of interest was pretty interesting. I got no dirty looks from Samori or no requests to cease and desist either except from Utrice Leid (Paid producer of TalkBack). Unfortunately I did not pick Amy Goodman's brain but now she has the SOS/Punch Packet and next week I shall go there and ask her and some of the others what they think. It would be interesting to find out. RE: Utrice Leid I was waiting for her to finish her talk with Amy Goodman. While waiting I looked into the window of Master Control, when Utrice asked me what I was doing or some such thing. I said I was waiting to give Amy some papers and she said "We're trying to do something here" and to that I replied "Pretty soon you won't have anywhere to do it at". Upon leaving a comrade told me he had heard her telling the receptionist something to the effect of why were people allowed to go around "bugging people"? She is not our friend......... That's the story for now. Patty -----------------------------
patty
PART 3
This part is the real sad story. What happened? Patty (((((((o)))))))))
Errol Maitland arrived safely in the Bay Area tonight and is Presently ensconced at Baliwick Blankfort. He did not spend his first night in jail, but just barely, having thrown out of an Executive or Hatchet Committee of the Pacifica Board: Frank Millspaugh, June Makela, Their Miss Brooks, Mary Frances Berry, and a certain Mr. B, who identified himself as :head of security" and said everyone knows who I am in the US. Except Errol who he escorted out of the hotel, threatening to have Errol arrested, pulled out of his cell phone and dialed a number and said Code 68, Code 68, and asked Errol if that's what he did all day long, harassing people. He told Errol that he must remove his traveling bag because "I don't know what's in there." he asked me who I was and he saw Errol's WBAI button, and said W-B-A-I, "maybe we'll have you on the radio station some day." What station he didn't say. When he came to the town he went to the hotel and asked Pacifica was there, and a man at the desk said says and directed Errol upstairs. As he was coming up the stairs to the room Mr. B opened the door and was invited in. Errol sat down. Brooks or someone said this an executive committee meeting, so please leave. Mary Berry, said "just leave." (This is all from Errol's notes.) On going down stairs, Errol asked if he could have a room in the hotel, the clerk at the desk said there were no vacancies. Mr. B said "I bought it all, you'll have to come back next month. " Errol asked the clerk what his name was. Mr. B said the clerk didn't have to tell his name, and to just call him Mr. K. Errol's first night in Berserkely.
Jeff Blankfort -(formerly of Take Back KPFA)
{transcribers comments appear in these} (On WBAI's Morning Show today Errol Maitland gave his report of yesterday's National Board Meeting. He said not a word about the public comment session. He did not say that the vote had been unanimous and that the LAB members from WBAI had defied their own resolution to table the by-laws change. Maitland praised Mary Berry and told the listeners that the CPB was concerned only with assuring that local area boards remain independent "watchdogs". He portrayed the entire proceeding as a reasonable and necessary response to CPB requirements. Morning Show host Bernard White assured listeners that no major changes were in store, saying of the National Board: "I don't see them totally turning around.")
- Frank
Dear Friends ~
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BERNARD: Now, we're going to go to, as I, as we said, we're going to plug up the time machine and take folks back to last Friday at Town Hall, but before we do that, you've just landed... ERROL: ...just landed, just came back from Berkeley, California. Didn't see any redwood. I didn't do anything, just went to a meeting, Pacifica National Board meeting, and you know, it is nice to meet listeners from all over the country, and earlier [on "Wake Up Call"] you were talking about what Pacifica meant. I got back in town, one of the first things that I heard was that this Town Hall event, that THE thing or THE person or THE organization that got the loudest applause was WBAI. DRED: Without a doubt. ERROL: And I met people all across the country who said, gee, they were politicized, they got their college education, through WBAI, and it seems the Pacifica Radio network is one that is LOVED throughout the country, and also one that people tend to guard, because it is so different, when media has been bought up and is owned by fewer and fewer corporations, and dissenting voices and alternative programs are so rare to come by, to hear people all going up and down that said, please keep Pacifica as an institution that we can hear the truth on. And the Board was making some changes this weekend as a necessity to bring it in compliance with a Federal regulation on how community, how the National and Advisory Boards are selected, and the fact that they wanted the Advisory Board to be in a stronger position to be able to give unfettered advice to the National Board, according to the CPB, that's the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, so 'BAI and Pacifica usually do things a little bit differently, and it seems for like over 20 years, the way Pacifica was functioning was different and unique from other community radio stations, and came time when we had to come into compliance or face the possibility of losing 1.5 million dollars in funding. That means we'd have to come to the air and beg you some more, and people in the system felt that we are taxpayers, we contribute, part of this money's ours, and we had a right to it, and just the time-frame in which we are facing, it would be an extreme hardship to try to get that funds by coming back to you on the air. We did gear up a few years ago when we were threatened with a loss of funds, came to the air, and our listeners supported us, and they backed, the government backed down. So that is not a problem, and the corporation [i.e., Pacifica... interesting choice of words here] is prepared to go that way if getting government funds would mean that we'd have to alter our mission or the way we did business. But listeners and individuals, like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn and others, just wanted to make sure that changes that came about were still democratic. The Board did vote to eliminate the selection process that we now have that CPB said was a conflict, that is, at this point, each station and their 5 sister stations that make up the Pacifica network elected from its Local Advisory Board 2 members who, in practice, over the last 20 or 30 years, automatically got seated on the National Board. Concurrently, they also serve on the LAB. They were asked to resign, either from the National Board or from the Local Board, and that happened yesterday. They were re-elected to serve out their remaining term on the, on the National Board, and I would expect those individuals would come back here and resign, formally, from the Local Board. They're working out the process, and part of this worried people, that it's sort of a fake [fake? I wasn't certain about this word] thing that the listeners, that the Local Board, will have input in terms of nomination and sending people to the National Board. BERNARD: um hmm... ERROL: The National Board itself always had the right to select who its members are, like, you know, the same thing happens in Congress, you can vote for someone, but the Congress votes to seat that member when they come up. BERNARD: um hmm... ERROL: If you remember the election between Dornan [sp?] in California and Sanchez, there was a question as to who won, and this is even happening in presidential politics in this country--that the person who gets the popular vote is not necessarily the one who gets seated, because the body itself has the right to select... BERNARD: ...to select... ERROL: ...its member. And folks, we're just concerned that that may, at some point, you know, you may get some people who, a small group of people who are organized who could exert enough pressure to take over the institution [Errol, what do you think just happened???], and so we will see. DRED: Errol, what would you like, since this is a "fait accomplit" in terms of the dissolution of those, the present by-laws, what would you like to see as far as the structure? ERROL: One of the hard problems that I had was that there was no time to think about and to mull solutions {Errol, although you personally may have only found out about the proposed by-laws changes within the last few weeks, the National Governing Board has had LOTS of time, over 4 months now, to "mull solutions," so what they proposed and subsequently passed this weekend is obviously all the "solutions" they feel they need}, but one of the solutions that was proposed quite earlier, is that... and came from the 'BAI Local Advisory Board, is that the Board continue the nomination process in the same fashion, but upon your being nominated... BERNARD: ...then you have to sever your relationship with the Local Board. ERROL: ...to sever your relationship with the Local Board. BERNARD: That makes a lot of sense. ERROL: You know, and one way you can look at it that's real clear, that is concrete for us in this area, is the fact that Chuck Schumer [sp?] was a Congressperson. He sat, you know, on the Judiciary Committee and the impeachment of Clinton. He ran for the Senate. He won in the Senate. He then had to give up his seat automatically in the House once he accepted the seat in the Senate, and this seat was declared vacant, and it was on February the 4th, 14th, that a special election was held to fill that vacancy. The same thing happened with Tom Dwayne [sp?] in Chelsea, that he ran from the City Council for a higher office in Albany. He got a seat in the Assembly. Once he took his seat in the Assembly, his seat was declared vacant, and he served, and there... I donit think that would be a conflict, and that would be a fixed [one?]... [There appears to be a short break in the tape here.] BERNARD: I could see the language... I'm not... of course, none of us know how it's gonna turn out, but I could see the language saying that there, that each Pacifica station would have the right to send those 2 people to the National Board. Now, the question always will be, well, one hopes that as a result of the 10 people coming in from the Local Boards,that they would always maintain that relationship with the Local Boards. ERROL: Right, we hope so. BERNARD: 'Cause if they don't, then... DRED: (chuckling) ...what good are they? BERNARD: No, but that becomes very... no, absolutely, but that becomes very important, and I just have the feeling, and it's a minority opinion, that given the amount of pressure, given some of the history of some of the people there [here, I am certain that Bernard is referring specifically to Mary Frances Berry, and perhaps others], that they would not want to just totally eliminate the Board input, the Local Board input. Now, some people might feel differently, but I don't. And Pacifica's always... I don't know how many people heard the program this weekend, a very good program that was here going through the history of Pacifica, the history of Pacifica's turmoils, of which, you know, Dred, we, ever since we've come here, it's always been embroiled in some turmoil. This is just the latest one, and it's always been a struggle for democracy and probably always will be, because democracy, you always have to struggle for it, because there are always individuals who want to take it away, and it's just like, I've been saying since, you know, we've started here, that wherever workers are in the workplace, it is always a struggle for workers to get their rights, and WE HAVE TO EXPECT THAT {emphasis added... Bernard, I guess if that's what you EXPECT, then that's what you'll continue to get and to settle for}, and not always feel that, you know, that the end of the world is coming. This is just a part of an ongoing struggle that has to be waged. One of the problems that we have in society is that, for instance, take the Civilian Complaint Review Board. People struggled for a Civilian Complaint Review Board. Once they got it, then they stopped struggling. DRED: um hmm... BERNARD: So what happened? The people who were against it all along wind up taking over the Civilian Complaint Review Board... DRED: ...they co-opted it... BERNARD: ...and used it against the interests of the people. DRED: um hmm... BERNARD: So the people, you know, this is a sustained struggle that has to continue, and it's not the... I don't think it... YET... it's the end of the world, but, you know, certainly the pressure has to be turned up, and it should be targeted and not, you know, personalized. That's one of the things that makes it real nasty, when you start talking about people and their parents, you know--just focus on the issues. DRED: Yeah. Now, when will there be, when will the discussion for the way they're gonna construct this new Board? ERROL: Well, one of the things... dialogue that has to take place, they... no set deadlines have been made on it. What happens is the process is now... there's an idea that the National Board now... the Structure and Governance Committee has the right to accept nominations from almost... it's... the process is open, anyone now can make a recommendation to the Board. Before, it was more exclusively the, it was the right, it was the right of the Local Board... BERNARD: ...to have 2 positions... ERROL: ...to have 2 positions, people of their choice, either people on the Board or off the Board, but to send them to the National Board, now that process is open, and the National Board reserves the right to itself to select exclusively who the members, who the members will be, and they have vowed that the nominations will come from the signal area. I don't know if some of the safeguards are there, and that's where we need to look at the language, be a part of the development of the language, and continue the dialogue in a way where we can have an input. BERNARD: Absolutely. ERROL: None of this turned out clear in the minds of ANYONE, because this problem, it is so difficult, it is, it came up basically so suddenly on a bunch, on a lot of people. The Board had new people on it who just got seated, and they had to be brought into t |
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