******************
WBAI is doing lots of spin control about the PNB/Wash situation. This morning, Marjorie Moore had on Ken Ford by phone, who denied that he advocates sale of any station, and denied that Wash had been fired; rather, he claimed, she had months ago submitted her resignation to be effective at the end of this year. Moore chastised the unnamed producer who she said had announced Wash's firing last night; she (and Paul DeRienzo) railed against those who put out rumors as fact without checking.

Just now (1:00) at the conclusion of Gary Null's program, he aired a quick, pre-taped interview with Bob Farrell, which -- in Null's typical style -- he said was to rebut rumors flying around the Internet about alleged intentions of Board members (he said in the last two days he'd gotten "hundreds" of emails about this). He claimed that none of the dissidents putting out these rumors had checked with the PNB member in question. So now he wanted to set the record straight, so everyone could move on. Here are some rough notes, not guaranteed to be word-for-word:

GN: Do you have any intention now or in future to sell the stations?
BF: Not on my watch.
GN: Will you put it in writing on the Internet?
BF: Sure.
GN: Will you put in writing that at no point will you or anyone else put yourself in the position of being able to make money from making a sale of a station?
BF: Of course. That would be a felony.
GN: Some claim the by-laws changes would allow a small group to manipulate the board. Will you cease and desist from efforts to change the by-laws?
BF: There are some by-laws that should be changed. I'll be moving that forward as part of an agenda in meetings to come.

...

GN: Later on, on other programs, we'll deal with these issues in depth.

....

GN: There's been a lot of grievances that Local Advisory Boards, whose job it is to ask is the station meeting needs of community it's serving--there's been a lot of statements that the PNB has given short shrift to their input and hasn't had a line of communications w/LABs. Will you see that that policy is reversed and LABs are given open access to share their suggestions? BF: Yes.

GN: In the near future, I'll have you on to discuss your ideas & plans in depth. I wish you well in your efforts to bring peace and stability to Pacifica. We've run out of time, so on tomorrow's show we'll invite Ken Ford -- yesterday's SF Examiner quoted him as suggesting WBAI & KPFA be sold -- I've interviewed him, he's not suggested any such thing.

Matthew Finch, Arts Director: Stay tuned to the WBAI Evening News at 6pm - there will be official word on all the stories that have been flying around the Internet.

--------------

Posted today on www.savepacifica.net
(the Berkeley-based website coordinated by Larry Bensky and others)

Confusion In Pacifica National Hierarchy After Ouster of Executive Director

October 25, 2001: Did she jump or was she pushed? Complete confusion reigns in the already chaotic national board and management of Pacifica today, as the board vice-chair, Ken Ford, denied on WBAI in New York that executive director Bessie Wash had been fired. According to Ford, Wash "resigned" yesterday, and had planned her resignation for some time.

Another board member, dissident Pete Bramson, said yesterday that board chair Robert Farrell had told him on the telephone that he had ousted Wash. "The exact quote was 'I asked her to leave,'" Bramson said.

Ford also announced that he and other national board members will soon be in New York to try and resolve the situation at WBAI, where dozens of staff and volunteers have been fired and banned since the "Christmas Coup" last year.

Ford denied that he advocated the sale of WBAI and KPFA, Pacifica stations on the commercial FM band. He was quoted in the San Francisco Examiner this week as saying that the sale of those stations in order to buy less expensive stations for a national black radio network "is just common sense."

In the Examiner article (available online at http://www.savepacifica.net/media/200110023_sfexaminer.html), Ford called advocates of Pacifica's return to free speech community radio "zealots" and said there were "parallels (between local activists) and al Queda, the terrorists who bombed New York."

Outraged WBAI supporters have denounced Ford's remarks and demanded his resignation from the Pacifica board. The complete Pacifica Campaign response is online at http://www.pacificacampaign.org/alert1024.asp.

Meanwhile, some of the plaintiffs and clients in the lawsuits against Pacifica confirmed that they will enter into mediated settlement discussions with the board and its lawyers in the Bay Area Nov 1. Both sides have accepted retired California Supreme Court Associate Justice Edward A. Panelli, through a private mediation firm, JAMS (Judicial Arbitration & Mediation Services), as mediator.

The announcement was signed by David Adelson, Peter Bramson, Leslie Cagan, Sherry Gendelman, Barbara Lubin, Miguel Maldonado, Tomas Moran, Robbie Osman and Carol Spooner.

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Pacifica's new ED has CPB background

*****************************
Edwin johnston
Joanne Meredith new interim exec. dir.
Thu Oct 25 10:32:05 2001

From http://www.houstonradioreport.org

Leslie Cagan reports that Joanne Meredith will replace Wash as an interim director.

Joanne Meredith, phone: (202) 588-0999 x362, email: JMPACIFICA@aol.com, fax: (202) 234-7488

Who is Joanne Meredith?
From 1998 http://www.nfcb.org/WPFW.html
excerpt:
[Note: This is from the website of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the increasingly mainstream organization to which many public radio stations, including the 5 Pacifica stations, belong. - Bob L.]

(Bessie Wash) continued, "I'm very excited. I have a fantastic station management team. Joanne Meredith, our Development Director, is part CPB'S Next Generation Project. Her strong organizational skills have led us into our highest fundraising and fulfillment in the station's history. She works closely with Lou Hankins who is not only an extraordinary Program Director achieving record audience levels, TSL and AQH, but, with Joanne, he plans and executes our on-air fund drives. Completing the team is Bob Daughtry who is invaluable to the stability of the team, and is always thinking ahead as Director of Operations. Bob is responsible for air sound, space and technical operations. Together they're self-motivated and self-driving; they're catapulting us toward the year 2000. We are all different, but it's the differences that make it work."