NYC Radio: The Battle Over WBAI-FM Far From Over

Pacifica radio station, WBAI 99.5 FM , was back on the air as of midnight this past Wednesday, but the struggle to keep it a community radio station is far from over, according to counterpunch.org.

Three and a half weeks after a corporate coup abruptly shut down the listener-supported station, a favorable ruling by a state-court judge effectively put the station back in the control of its staff. But none of the activists who worked to bring about the reversal of the coup are under the illusion that this latest struggle is anywhere near over.

The coup was hatched on October 7 when the Pacifica interim executive director, John Vernile, arrived with security guards and summarily announced that everybody was fired and must vacate immediately. The team led by Mr. Vernile that descended on the station that morning dismantled studio equipment, rendering it impossible to broadcast; seized the station bank account; took checks left in the office; put padlocks on the doors; and told the station’s landlord she should find a new tenant while cutting off rent payments.

In the place of WBAI’s 104 programs, 97 of which are local, Vernile substituted syndicated programming almost entirely consisting of California shows discussing local California issues. Fine for California but not relevant to listeners 3,000 miles away.

After several trips to court, the judge finally handed down a ruling on Wednesday afternoon. It was a narrow ruling based on interpreting the plain meaning of the Pacifica bylaws, which Vernile and the minority pro-coup faction on the Pacifica National Board had flagrantly violated. The coup was executed in secret with no authorization, and when the National Board was convened via phone conference in an attempt to provide retroactive approval, five board members had their phones muted and were blocked from voting because the pro-coup faction knew they would lose the vote.

WBAI 99.5 FM (10 Kw) Courtesy of Recnet.com

So why isn’t this fight over? Because the takeover, which must have been plotted in secret for several weeks given the multiple points of attack, is only one strand of a plan intended to sell off WBAI and use the proceeds to benefit the remaining stations. Many listeners and staff at those other stations, it must be noted, oppose this action and have showed solidarity with WBAI and its listeners. Further, the 12 board members opposing the coup, who are a majority of the National Board, include at least one director from each of the five Pacifica stations.

As one of the leaders of the WBAI Fightback group that quickly coalesced, Mimi Rosenberg, put it, there is the “white-collar” line of attack and the “thuggish” line of attack. The brutal shutting down of the station represented the “thuggish” strategy. The “white-collar” strategy is an attempt to change the Pacifica bylaws to eliminate democratic accountability. That fight, unfortunately, has only begun.

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