WBAI in the Media

WBAI in the Media

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• Pacifica Crisis in the Media@

WBAI in the Media Links

• Brooklyn Congressman Slams WBAI on Capitol Hill Congressman Owens, NY City Council member Freed, and NY Public Advocate candidate Siegel joined ousted WBAI staffers at a press conference. Village Voice article.
  
• Crisis at WBAI Radio in New York: An Attempt to Silence Alternative Views World Socialist Web Site on WBAI with an in-depth analysis of political motives behind the take-over.
  
• Listeners Want Their Free Station Back The New Haven Register on the Connecticut Concerned Friends of WBAI and their efforts to fight the takeover by Pacifica and the interim management.
  
• Producer is a Sight for Sore WBAI With a wave of tension sweeping over WBAI after the move to fire Station Manager Van Isler, staffers got good news: producer Errol Maitland returned to join the fight. NY Daily News.
  
• A Special Report on the Latest Conflict at Pacifica Radio's WBAI WPKN's Scott Harris interviews two representatives in the Pacifica dispute: WBAI's interim station manager Utrice Leid and Pacifica Foundation board member Leslie Cagan. (RealAudio)
  
• KPFA Report on WBAI Takeover Transcript of a KPFA newscast the day after initial firings and bannings at WBAI provided by Common Dreams.
  
• Pacifica in Crisis Article about the struggle to save the last bastion of progressive viewpoints on the airwaves by Robert Nixon in the Westchester Weekly.
  
• Don't Air Dirty Linen, Manager Tells 'BAI Staff After 2 Get Ax NY Daily News article from the day after new management was installed at WBAI.
  
• WBAI Staff Blasts 'Anti-Labor' Tactics Staffers at WBAI join colleagues at KPFA in blasting Pacifica for policies that could destroy it as radio's last non-corporate alternative. NY Daily News.
  
• Pacifica Troubles NPR reports on the battle over recent changes at Pacifica's WBAI. Activists are protesting the new general manager, as a symptom of Pacifica's rightward drift. (RealAudio)
  
• WBAI Bans Talk of its own Woes Hours after protesters were arrested at WBAI, acting station manager Leid announced that she'll permit no more on-air discussion of "internal matters". NY Daily News.
  
• Union to Aid WBAI The staff of WBAI has gotten a boost in its dispute with station management: The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against WBAI and the Pacifica Foundation for unfair labor practices. NY Daily News.
  
• Sparring Continues at WBAI Critics of the present management at WBAI and its parent Pacifica Foundation are keeping up the pressure for change. Article in the New York Daily News.
  
• WBAI Supporters Take to the Streets A thousand New Yorkers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge demanding that the historically eclectic, leftwing station be returned to community control. By John Tarleton.
  
• The Village Voice - WBAI Coverage Articles about the issues surrounding the takeover of WBAI by Pacifica from The Village Voice a New York City weekly.
  
• Campaign Grows to Save WBAI/Pacifica "Supporters who favor a politically conscious, activist WBAI continued their protests while more firings and changes take place." From Workers World.
  
• WBAI Listeners Rally for Pacifica, Amy Goodman John Tarleton quotes Paul DeRienzo, host of WBAI's "Let'em Talk", stating that Pacifica's actions against Amy Goodman were politically motivated.
  
• Angry Listeners Tune Out WBAI Fund Drive WBAIs efforts to fire its audience and bring in replacement listeners appears to have failed. The stations spring fund drive netted less than half of the $850,000 it normally takes in, according to organizers of the Pacifica Campaign. By John Tarleton.
  
• WBAI Is Latest Pacifica Storm NonProfit Times on the WBAI takeover. Giving voice to Pacifica's version of events what has been called the "Christmas Coup".
  
• New York's WBAI Radio is in Turmoil Article by Associated Press writer in the LA Times one week after the initial firings and bannings at New York Pacifica station WBAI.
  
• What's the Real Deal at WBAI? Haiti Progres article calling WBAI Interim Manager Leid an "agent of a reactionary segment of the Pacifica National Board" and looking back at the post "Coup" time.
  
• WBAI-FM in Crisis Article on tenant.net relating the takeover of WBAI and changes in the Pacifica National Board to the struggle for decent and affordable housing.
  
• 'BAI Dissident Hides Out Amy Goodman, host of "Democracy Now!," moving her show to an off-site studio after continued harassment and intimidation by interim WBAI management and Pacifica.
  
• A Protester Meets with Utrice Leid A listeners memo after a meeting with WBAI's Utrice Leid. Points of discussion are the bannings, firings, the boycott and Major Owens among others.
  
• Protesters Defend WBAI Against Pacifica Management Workers World on WBAI and demonstration shortly before the takeover to protest Pacifica's plan to fire Valerie Van Isler the Station Manager.
  
• Rule by Idiocy: WBAI Falls for Right Wing Conspiracy Theory Bill Weinberg on right-wing premiums in the spring 2000 fund-raising marathon by Pacifica's WBAI Radio.
  
• Background of WBAI Struggle Information on the activism and the efforts to save WBAI as a free speech radio station within the Pacifica Network from the perspective of the International Action Center.
  
• A Firm New Boss at an Old Voice of the Left New York Times article on U. Leid the interim Station Manager at WBAI which was imposed by Pacifica trough the "Christmas Coup".
  
• Pacifica Campaign Intends to Create Havoc During WBAI's Fundraising Drive. Westchester Co. Weekly on the campaign to withhold donations to WBAI to ensure that bannings, firings and censorship will stop .
  
• Council Gets Earful on Strife at WBAI The NY City Council discusses the WBAI case as its Civil Service and Labor Committee opens a hearing about the WBAI/Pacifica crisis . NY Daily News article.
  
• Christmas Coup Rocks Pacifica's WBAI Article by weekly "Haiti Progres" analyzing the removal of station management by Pacifica. Gives Background on installed Station Manager.
  
• WBAI Listeners Rally in Support of Robert Knight John Tarleton on listeners in front of WBAI for an impromptu protest in support of award-winning broadcaster Robert Knight. Knight was banned from the station.
  
• The Christmas Coup at WBAI Article in the Revolutionary Worker on Pacifica's board carrying out a coup at WBAI by taking over the station, changing the locks, firing three people; then banning staff who disagreed with their actions.
  
• Outraged Listeners of WBAI Radio March Into Studio Members of listeners group Loud Rapp protest rightward political turn of Pacifica's WBAI in programming and attacks on workers' rights. Press Release.
  
• The Struggle for The Soul of Listener Sponsored Radio WBAI host Elombe Brath about the growing resistance against the Pacifica Board 'Coup' at WBAI.
  
• Rule By Idiocy: WBAI Falls for Right Wing Conspiracy Theory Discussing recent developments at WBAI which under U. Leid has used right wing antisemitic propaganda for it's spring 2001 fund raiser. By WBAI host Bill Weinberg.
  
• Return WBAI To Its Crusading Days NY Daily News Op-Ed by Leslie Cagan a dissident on the Pacifica board.
  
• This Just In: We're Fired. A hostile takeover rocks radio's voice of the left. TIME Magazine article on "Midnight Coup" at Pacifica station WBAI.
  
• The Daily Weekly - WBAI Coverage Articles about the issues surrounding the takeover of WBAI by Pacifica from the Daily Weekly on-line magazine.
  
• WBAI - Race And Power at Pacifica Radio "U. Leid and C. Reilly, under the guidance of it's current national board, are upholding, by extension a profoundly racist and classist vision for Pacifica's future." Indymedia article.
  
• Exec Says a Healing WBAI Will Still Cause Static Bernard White, WBAI's Program Director, says that despite recent tensions at 'BAI and parent Pacifica, a higher goal won't be forgotten. NY Daily News.
  
• Coup D'Etat at WBAI! IndyMedia article by Bill Weinberg recounts events at WBAI and charges that the Pacifica Board has been stacked with individuals pursuing corporate interests.
  
• Shakeups Make Waves at WBAI-FM Juan Gonzalez in the NY Daily News. Concluding that the future of WBAI FM is up to the listeners and donors.
  
• Listeners Mobilize to Save WBAI Workers World on the takeover of radio station WBAI management by the Pacifica Foundation.
  
• WBAI The Coup on Wall Street by Mumia Abu Jamal Column in the Nation Magazine. "Coup" at Pacifica's WBAI as "opening salvo in a pitched battle designed to silence radical dissent".
  
• WBAI rally in Newark Photographs of protest held in Newark, NJ against the banning and firing of producers by the interim Station Manager U. Leid at Pacifica's WBAI.
  
• Can WBAI be Saved? Village Voice article about post "Coup" censorship, bannings and firings at WBAI, a changing Pacifica Board and efforts to restore WBAI to it's original mission.
  
• Cutting a Congressman off the Air Nat Hentoff in the Village Voice describes congressman Major Owens' beeing censored by WBAI's U. Leid and compares to censorship in dictatorships.
  
• Peoples Video Network: Save WBAI Demonstration at Pacifica's WBAI the morning after Pacifica coup that fired the Station Manager, the Program Director and Producer Sharon Harper. (RealVideo)
  
• Pacifica Management Moves to Undermine WBAI's Independence Echoing the 1999 KPFA attack, Pacifica told WBAI's General Manager Valerie Van Isler that she is beeing removed. Fair Media Advisory.
  
• Pacifica's Temporary WBAI Minion U. Leid Censors On-Air Discussion NYC Indymedia article compares WBAI's Coup to an occupation. "Like all occupation forces, they are illegal, immoral and they are going home."
  
• Resistance Grows to "Christmas Coup D'Etat" at WBAI WBAI producer Bill Weinberg gives the history of the conflict and an update on the current struggle to save free speech radio at this Pacifica radio station.
  
• WBAI Fights Managements Move to Turn the Station into NPR Lite Village Voice article by Bharati Sadasivam about changes made at WBAI by interim Station Manager Utrice Leid.
  
• Firings Strengthen Pacifica Control of New York Outlet From Current, a public broadcasting newspaper, about the removal of management at Pacifica's WBAI. Quotes the fired and banned.
  
• WBAI and Czech Public Television Fearful Symmetry Article by WBAI host Bill Weinberg relating events at WBAI to the struggle for free speech in reporting at a Czech TV station.
  
• WBAI Rally on Wall Street WBAI listeners converged in front of the station's studio to protest the firings of WBAI's station manager, program director and a producer of the popular morning show Wake Up Call. Images of the protest.
  
• Mimi Rosenberg: On my Removal from the Air Mimi Rosenberg guest column in The Black World Today about her banning by management of Pacifica Station WBAI.
  
• Bernard White Interview Fired WBAI Program Director, Bernard White on WPKN's Counterpoint program, full-length interview by Scott Harris. (RealAudio)
  
• WBAI Outcasts Broadcast their Message Over the Net The Villager on broadcasts by WBIX, WBAI in Exile, which broadcasts daily, featuring the banned and fired continuing to uphold the pre-coup quality of WBAI programming.
  
• WBAI Protests Disrupt Secret Pacifica Meeting in NYC Station managers Pacifica stations and the Executive Staff of the Pacifica Foundation arrived in New York City for a secret meeting. Members of the Pacifica resistance movement organized a spontaneous, disciplined, peaceful protest.
  
• Gotham Gazette - WBAI Miranda Kennedy in the Gotham Gazette about the current situation at WBAI.
  
• Pacifica Begins Moves to Silence WBAI Just as in 1999 in Berkeley, when Pacifica fired KPFA's general manager, it is trying to fire WBAI's general manager, Valerie van Isler. NYC Indymedia advisory.
  
• NY Radio Station Axes Two Leftist Producers Rediff.com article on the banning of WBAI producers Deepa Fernandes and Biju Mathew. "It's a total political purge," says Fernandes, who co-produced "Behind the News" with Mathew.
  
• The Pacifica Counterrevolution Hits WBAI Article on infoshop.org by Edward S. Hermann encouraging people to get involved in the struggle against Pacifica in order to save WBAI.
  
• Amsterdam News on WBIX Radio in Exile Herb Boyd about the internet broadcasts by the banned, fired and exiled from WBAI's airwaves. WBIX is continuing a tradition of excellency in journalism which has come under attack at WBAI.
  
• Bernard White at WPFW-LAB Meeting Bernard White fired Program Director provides a personal account of the "Christmas Coup" at WBAI at a meeting of WPFW's Local Advisory Board. DC Indymedia. (RealVideo)
  
• Dissidents Confident They'll Win WBAI Fight The usual subplots and minidramas swirl in the ongoing conflict at WBAI (99.5 FM), but dissidents who oppose the current management say one critical area has come down to a numbers game they think they can win. NY Daily News.
  
• WBAI Rally Denounces Pacifica Herb Boyd in the Black World Today on one of many demonstrations at Pacifica's WBAI to protest the firings, bannings and censorship.