Below is a reposted statement from Grace Aaron of her super secret plan to take control of WBAI in NYC. This statement was reposted by Joe Wanzala of Berkeley, the vice chair of the Pacifica governing board. Earlier in the day, WBaI manager Tony Riddle sent out an email to his staff making it known that Grace Aaron had directed the locks to be changed at the transmitter without informing him of any of this. During the day various programmers at WBAI began bringing this coup d'etat to light and members of the WBAI local and national board who are supportive of the coup are calling for those programmers who went on the air to complain to be fired and removed from their positions.
All Pacifica stations and affiliates need to open their phone lines for a complete dialogue with listeners to get through this treacherous period.

[NewPacifica] Fwd: Statement from the Pacifica iED regarding WBAI
http://www.mcabee.org/lists/newpacifica/Apr-09/msg00040.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Grace Aaron
Date: Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Subject: Statement from the Pacifica iED regarding WBAI
To: PNB
Cc: Ricardo de Anda , gm@xxxxxxxx,
dbradley@xxxxxxxx, pinchback_ron@xxxxxxxx, Servebai@xxxxxxxxx,
ursula@xxxxxxxxxxxx, Pacarchive@xxxxxxx



WEBSITE <http://www.pacifica.org/>

Statement from the Pacifica iED regarding WBAI

Thursday, April 2, 2009

We have received complaints about programming that may be threatening the
financial and legal health of the Pacifica Foundation. Therefore, following
legal advice, we are taking preparatory measures to secure our broadcast
signals should we need to prevent legal liability as a last resort. These
precautionary measures will be taken at all five stations under advice of
Counsel. Pacifica is the license holder for all five stations and is
ultimately responsible for everything broadcast over all of them.

No one on the National Board or at the National Office or at any of our
Pacifica stations wishes to threaten any high quality, community-based
programming at our stations that conforms to the Pacifica Mission.

The Pacifica Foundation is facing a severe financial crisis. Multi-year
downtrending listenership at all of our stations has been eroding our
membership and net income. The economic downtrends in society as a whole
are also impacting us. Restructuring is occurring at most of our stations
which has already reversed the decline at a station or two.

The National Board as well as Pacifica senior management understands the
urgency of addressing the shortfalls at WBAI, which are particularly
severe. WBAI is also saddled with extremely high overhead mainly due
to leases for both the WBAI offices and transmitter entered into in
better financial times.

According to James Ross, the Chair of the Pacifica National Finance
Committee:

WBAI has operated at a deficit for years. This practice is not supportable
and in fact is a threat to the Pacifica foundation:

-WBAI owes the foundation at least $800,000 in unpaid central service fees
and billbacks. This debt has accumulated since 2006.
-Through the first five months of the current fiscal year, WBAI is operating
at a deficit of at least $30,000 per month, despite layoffs last fall
designed to cut costs and bring the station to financial stability.
-WBAI's on-air fundraising has declined in effectiveness at a rate of about
12 percent per year since 2003. Now the station's drives are close to a
month long yet still fail to meet budgeted goals.
-WBAI is four months in arrears on its office rent (balance due:
$128,072.34). It is also 2 months behind on the rent for the facility that
houses the transmitter. This bill comes to approximately $35,000 per month,
according to National Office Finance Staff. The total in unpaid rent at
WBAI comes very close to $198,000.

Pacifica no longer has the reserves to underwrite WBAI's continuing
deficits. Last year the foundation had to take out a line of credit, secured
by another station's assets, to cover costs unpaid by WBAI. This line of
credit has not been paid back, and these assets are still frozen. Further,
non-payment of bills may lead to involuntary bankruptcy, which could be
catastrophic for our foundation, given our extremely valuable assets, the
station licenses.

Currently, we are at risk of being sued for breach of our lease agreements,
which could have dire consequences. In the case of the Tower lease where
our transmitter is located a continuing breach could result in a loss of our
signal.

WBAI, however, is in the largest radio market in the U.S. With a signal
that covers a population of 19 to 20 million people, improved programming
will certainly boost our listenership, which will result in increased
membership and listener support. This approach is advocated by the Pacifica
National Board. As long as our listeners, staff and governance bodies work
together to bring needed changes we see no major obstacle to a resurgent
WBAI that is more vital than ever.

Some staff at the National Office, some Pacifica National Board Directors
and the General Manager and some staff at KPFK have come forward to offer
support and help. The GM of KPFA has also been sympathetic and offered
support in this effort. In light of that, I have planned to come to New
York with our iCFO, LaVarn Williams, along with several staff loaned to us
from KPFK, to assess what is needed at the station. We also intend to roll
up our sleeves, fix what needs fixing, wipe out any backlogs such as in
mailing out premiums, repair equipment, enhance the website and give a
boost to WBAI.

We assume that the vast majority of people associated with WBAI will not
only agree with our efforts but also offer their help. In addition, your
financial support would be much appreciated at this time.

Our success will ensure the financial integrity and continued existence of
WBAI.

In Peace,
*Grace Aaron *
Chair of the Pacifica National Board
Interim Executive Director of
The Pacifica Foundation