 |
|
Staff cuts at WBAI Update, 10-3-05 |
The proposed staffing cuts at WBAI took effect recently, to some controversy. AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), which represents paid WBAI staff, met in late September and early October to participate in deciding who would lose hours. GM Indra Hardat has received some criticism from station members in the "Justice Unity" camp for instituting layoffs. One producer, Deepa Fernandes of "Wake-Up Call," has asked for listener support to overturn the layoff of Leslie George, news anchor of that show. WBAI's continued precarious financial position was the motivation for the cuts. Specifially, the station needs to reduce expenses in order to lessen the pressure on on-air fundraising, whch has increased in the past two years. on this page:
***** From Sidney Smith (host, Carrier Wave, WBAI paid staff, operations) as posted on the goodlight board (where he writes in cartoon dialect), 10-2-05: Give up my Comixz fer dis joint?! But seriously folks I had a taste of "Hard Ball" labor negoiate'n today. AFTRA said they could save my job intact, ... but there's a catch. What with my 6000 years seniority da bumz can't touch me, but to restore the taken hours they'd have to screw over someone else. Nice huh? Thanks to Bernard White's disastrous mismanagement of our air which is to say the deliberate drive'n away of a certain demographic. The unilateral dismissal of popular hosts, destroying staff morale etc., etc., over the last 4,or 5 years has led directly to this financial crisis. A crisis which forces many painful cutz. Well to save my butt all I'd have to do is agree to the partial destruction of a fellow workers position, and income. My g-d, damn this place. Damn the fools that brought us to choices like this. Btw, the chief fool is still cash'n a full paycheck. Of course I said "Out of the Question", I ain't save'n my ass on over da body of a comrad worker. Yeah, yeah, soundz like commie stuff but when da crunch comez I guess I'm more "Red" than yellow. ***** From Don DeBar (contributor, Wake-Up Call), public e-mail 10-1-05 A SPECIAL REPORT ABOUT A DEVELOPING CRISIS AT WBAI-FM SILENT COUP: WBAI DUMPS WAKEUP CALL REPORTER LESLIE GEORGE Program Director's Assistant And Outreach Director Also Fired In Violation Of Pacifica, Union Guidelines NEW YORK - Wakeup Call host Deepa Fernandes informed WBAI listeners on Tuesday that morning news reporter Leslie George would no longer be making her reports on the station's airwaves. George is one of a number of BAI staffers who were recently terminated by newly-appointed interim manager Indra Hardat in her first months at the helm. Click here http://www.regionalroundup.org/coup.htm for more [link no longer active - text read as follows] WBAI Dumps Wakeup Call Reporter Leslie George Program Director's Assistant And Outreach Director Also Fired In Violation Of Pacifica, Union Guidelines NEW YORK - Wakeup Call host Deepa Fernandes informed WBAI listeners yesterday that morning news reporter Leslie George would no longer be making her reports on the station's airwaves. George is one of a number of BAI staffers who were recently terminated by newly-appointed interim manager Indra Hardat in her first months at the helm. Also terminated were Shirley Irons, administrative assistant to Program Director Bernard White, and Bok-keem Nyerere, Outreach Coordinator. Several other staff members, including Peter Bochan and Dred Scott Keyes, suffered severe salary cut-backs. Fernandes today called for listeners to contact the station to demand George's return to the airwaves. She asked listeners to send emails of support to her at wakeupcall@... and to visit the WBAI website at www.wbai.org for contact information of the station's management. Irons, meanwhile, pointed out in an interview recently that she was fired by Hardat upon her first day as interim GM. Irons maintains that the firing was done in violation of Pacifica's rules, and that the real purpose of the firing was to disable the Program Director's office. Hardat was promoted for the interim GM position by members of the so-called List-Prog group, whose leadership, including Local Station Board member Steve Brown, has repeatedly called for the firing of Bernard White. Nyerere, the fired Outreach Coordinator, pointed out that the bulk of the firings and cutbacks were of members of the Justice and Unity bloc, which supports White and the station's efforts under him to include programming for the Black, Latino and progressive white communities. Irons has repeatedly called upon Hardat to respond in writing to her written requests for information relating to her termination. Hardat, thus far, has refused. Irons recently retained counsel to address the matter. ***** From Mitchel Cohen, member of WBAI Local Station Board, 10-1-05: I have tried to keep what passes for "debate" over WBAI from polluting the various Green lists, but Don DeBar's recent post [above] deserves response since it is inaccurate (by a wide margin). The previous station manager, Don Rojas, stacked the station with paid consultants -- often friends of the so-called "Justice & Unity" faction. These were unbudgeted positions with no oversight, that went unreported to the Local Station Board and were part of the reason for the ungoing financial shortage at the station. Last year management submitted its proposed budget to the Local Station Board; the non-Justice & Unity members on the Board, which included members of List-Prog and independents, challenged the inflated figures and asked for documentation. Management refused to provide the list of consultants and contractors, and the Board majority at that time sent the budget back to management for re-tooling. One of the concerns the Board majority had at that time was that more and more airtime was being spent on begging the listeners for moey. Where every other Pacifica station raises its funds in under 46 days of on-air pitching, WBAI was now spending over 91 days doing so. (I can send the exact figures if anyone is interested.) This has been a huge burden on the station's listener-members, and has been reflected in repetitive and histrionic programming designed especially to suck additional dollars from an already tapped-out listenership. The Local Station Board last year acted responsibly and pointed out that presenting an inflated budget, as management had done, would mean layoffs a short way down the road. It was imperative, if the station was to save jobs, for it to present a budget in line with what would actually be coming into the station and not just assume a "fuck you" attitude to the already overburdened listener-contributors and expect each of them to cough up hundreds of dollars more. The Pacifica National Board decided to cut the proposed budget but only partially, without properly earmarking the places they expected additional revenues to come from to pay for the difference. Of course one answer would be to expand the listener base; but instead, the listener base has shrunk dramatically. The reason for this, in some opinions, has been poor programming decisions on the part of Program Director Bernard White as well as a culture of thuggery that exists at the station. Bernard White fired Gary Null, the station's leading fundraiser for many years; he axed Robert Knight, the station's most skilled and brilliant news commentator and host of Earthwatch show. All of this has led to rapid disenchantment with the Program Director and the Justice & Unity Caucus members who have rationalized away this reality while attacking those of us who have presented serious measures on how to get the station back on its feet. Thus, by its actions, the Justice and Unity Caucus is responsible for last year's inflated budget and thus this year's layoffs. For Don DeBar to try to pin this on those of us who have been fighting AGAINST layoffs by challenging the corruption, waste, phony or overpaid consultants and contractors, and terrible programming decisions, is simply disingenuous. Don DeBar should know better than that.
Mitchel Cohen |
top of page | home |