Non-com WBAI 99.5 FM Monday cease all local promgramming. Listener-supported Pacifica Foundation abruptly fired 12 members of the WBAI staff and replaced its local programming with shows drawn from Pacifica’s four other stations.
Berthold Reimers, WBAI’s general manager, told producers in an email on Monday morning: “There is a show on the air now that I do not recognize. This means your shows are no longer on WBAI.” Mr. Reimers declined to comment.
Pacifica leaders said that the decision to shut down WBAI’s operations in New York had been in the works for months, and that it was an essential step to save the larger foundation from ruin.
WBAI had fallen short of its fund-raising goals in recent years and was unable to make payroll and other expenses, forcing the larger Pacifica Foundation network to bail it out.
WBAI and Pacifica had been under strain for years. Pacifica has not released any financial statements since 2017, when its auditor cited doubts that the organization could continue as a going concern.
The foundation faced possible bankruptcy after a New York State court ordered it in 2017 to pay $1.8 million in rent and other fees to a trust affiliated with the Empire State Building, where WBAI transmitted its signal.
Last year, Pacifica settled with the trust after obtaining a loan from FJC, a nonprofit lender. Pacifica apparently had been meeting its obligations under the loan agreement. However, Sam Marks, the chief executive of FJC, declined to comment for The NYTimes.
WBAI, founded in 1960, was a leader in the free-form radio movement, and has had a history of extraordinary moments in broadcasting. Bob Dylan made early appearances on the station, and in the 1970s WBAI was cited by the Federal Communications Commission for indecency for running George Carlin’s routine on seven “filthy words,” a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.
As WBAI’s audience has dwindled, its finances have grown shaky.
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