Chair and Interim Executive Director - Pacifica Foundation
Pacifica Launches Nationwide Emergency Fundraiser to Save WBAI in New York
Sandy destroyed studios, de-railed fund drive, threatens existence of iconic broadcaster
WHAT: National pledge drive to save WBAI
WHEN: Thursday, November 15th, from 9AM to 9PM Eastern.
WHERE: KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley, KFCF 88.1 FM in Fresno, KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles, KPFT 90.1 FM in Houston, WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, and "on-line" at www.give2wbai.org
NEW YORK....When Superstorm Sandy hit WBAI, it trapped seven of the station's staff in studios on the 10th story of a building with seawater up to the second floor.
Today, the building's wiring is still unusable, and the station's facing a second disaster: because the storm knocked WBAI off the air in the middle of a fund drive, and the station has no way to resume fundraising, it faces the prospect of laying off its entire staff.
That's why Pacifica, the non-commercial network that owns WBAI, is combining the signals of all its radio stations to broadcast a "nationwide emergency fundraiser" to save WBAI on Thursday, November 15th.
The network hopes to raise $150,000 to move WBAI into a temporary studio that the station can use to resume regular coverage and resume doing its own fundraising.
"This is precisely the time when New York needs a Pacifica station. WBAI needs to be reporting on the suffering of people who've been neglected by relief efforts, how the city's treating residents of public housing, the incredible grassroots organizing of groups like Occupy Sandy," says Summer Reese, Interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation. Currently, WBAI is mostly broadcasting archival material.
The national emergency fundraiser will include contributions from across the network, and a special broadcast highlighting Superstorm Sandy coverage by Democracy Now!, a program birthed at WBAI and now broadcast on over 1,100 television and radio stations.
Part of the Pacifica Network since 1960, WBAI pioneered the freeform radio format, served as a cornerstone of the counterculture, took precedent-setting free speech fights with the FCC all the way to the Supreme Court, has delivered cutting-edge coverage of generations of social and cultural movements, and helped launch the careers of some of America's best-known broadcasters, from NPR's Neal Conan, to RadioLab's Jad Abumrad, to Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman. You can easily give to WBAI at www.give2wbai.org
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The Pacifica Foundation operates noncommercial radio stations in New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 100 affiliates. It invented listener-supported radio.
WBAI and Hurricane Sandy
For Immediate Release: October 31, 2012
Contact: Summer Reese
Chair and Interim Executive Director Pacifica Foundation
summer at pacifica.org
(510) 849-2590
Pacifica's WBAI Radio Station in New York, Silenced by Sandy, is Back on the Air!
New York....The Nixon administration couldn't do it. Neither could the Clinton or Bush administrations. But yesterday, hurricane Sandy turned off the mics at WBAI, the historic Pacifica Foundation New York radio station that has been a listener-sponsored gadfly afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted since 1960.
WBAI's General Manager, Berthold Reimers reported that after the transit system was shut down Sunday evening, a crew of WBAI producers camped out at the station so that they could continue live coverage of Hurricane Sandy, as Wall Street flooded 10 stories below them.
"All day Sunday and Monday, WBAI ran interviews with New Yorkers, and focused on questions that, at the time, were being ignored by the corporate media," Reimers said. "Are the nuclear power plants at Indian Point in jeopardy, and should they be shut down immediately? Why did New York City shut off electricity, water and elevators more than 24 hours before the storm hit to the tens of thousands of poor and working class people living in public housing? What affect did global climate change have on this storm, and on future ones?"
By Monday evening, the waters outside rose to the second floor of the building. Con Ed shut off the power — and along with it, the ability to broadcast from that location. Announcer Michael G. Haskins was able to continue broadcasting for several hours from a remote location, using equipment that had been purchased a year ago for that purpose.
The WBAI crew, meanwhile, was trapped on the tenth floor in the station's studios at the intersection of Wall Street and South Street, in the heart of New York's mandatory evacuation zone. They were not able to safely exit the building until Tuesday morning, after the waters finally receded. At the same time, in the early hours of Tuesday, WBAI's broadcast was interrupted altogether when Verizon, the carrier of the signal to the antenna, lost its connection at the Empire State Building and WBAI went silent.
Summer Reese, the interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation, reported that "WBAI's engineers are working to restore WBAI to its studio and full programming as soon as possible."
UPDATE: October 31, 2 PM: WBAI, came back on the air late Tuesday night with archival recordings. By 2 PM Wednesday, Program Director Chris Hatzis and Michael G. Haskins were able to go on the air and announced that the station was again broadcasting live, for the time being from the studios of Gary Null's Progressive Radio Network on Manhattan's Upper West Side. We all at WBAI and Pacifica are very grateful to Gary Null for making this extraordinary and collaborative effort.
Thanks also to Program Director Chris Hatzis, Producer Esther Armah, News Reporter Rebecca Myles, Engineers Ken Gale and Tony Ryan, Technical Engineer Graceon Challenger, and several volunteers who camped out at 120 Wall Street to keep broadcasting, and who were trapped when the electricity was turned off.
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WBAI broadcasts over 99.5 FM, and is part of the progressive
Pacifica Network based in Berkeley, California.
www.wbai.org
Posted Sunday, September 2, 2012
Proposed Amendments to Pacifica Bylaws to be considered by the PNB in December, 2012 Amendments Page
Pacifica Radio Appoints
Transitional Leadership: Summer Reese
Board Chair Takes Over as
Interim Executive Director
Berkeley- The Pacifica Foundation's Board of
Directors has appointed Board Chair Summer Reese as Interim Executive Director
effective August 17, 2012, to stabilize the organization with continuity of
leadership, while a search for a new permanent Executive Director is
conducted.
As Board Chair,
Ms. Reese is well versed in the challenges facing the organization and the
steps necessary to meet and overcome them.Ms. Reese will continue to work with the board, staff, and
volunteers to stabilize Pacifica's finances, increase
listenership, and improve service to the community.Outgoing Executive Director Arlene Englehardt
will be working together with Ms. Reese for a smooth transition in leadership.
The Pacifica
Foundation looks forward to a new and energetic chapter in its history of
serving the listening public with news, information, arts and culture and
forwarding the Pacifica mission.
The Pacifica Foundation, the country's oldest public radio network, comprising 7 business units, is seeking an Executive Director and a Chief Financial Officer.
We are particularly interested in candidates who possess a vision for programming development, significant success with fundraising and experience with diverse audiences and staff
