Seth Goldberg Candidate Statement
I am running because I believe that WBAI is in serious financial trouble, and could use my help now. My expertise has nothing at all to do with radio or organizing – I work on cancer research at a very small non-profit medical foundation. But my professional experience, training, and skills in independent analysis and thinking – I am a 61-year-old physician-scientist who has had successful business experience – may be very helpful to the local station board at this time. Carol Spooner, who was the guiding intelligence in the lawsuit that brought democracy and listener sovereignty to Pacifica in 2002,
WBAI needs that kind of experience because, according to Pacifica's most recent public audit, WBAI is currently insolvent, that is broke, after losing about $100,000 a year (out of roughly $3,000,000 of income) for each of the last three years. Pacifica has lately had its own financial challenges in addition to the weight of our debts. I do not know why our LSB – which has long been controlled by a voting majority called the JUC – has let the station spin so dangerously close to disaster in this way, but it needs to stop, now. WBAI's latest proposed budget continues to assume an unrealistically high projection for listener donations this fall, in the face of historically falling donations, just in order to break even. This appears to me as wishful thinking. According Pacifica's latest financial projection, at this rate WBAI will have difficulty meeting its payroll in a few months.
We can still fix this. Long outvoted, independent LSB members have been warning about this for several years. Therefore, at a minimum, the next LSB needs to be controlled by independents. Because the board is staggered, with only 1/2 of its members elected this year, and for safety, that means pretty much voting only for independents this year. As a scientist, and a physician, who has two decades of real-world business experience in running and overseeing two successful family owned companies, both somewhat larger than WBAI, I have learned to look at painful facts early so as to help make best treatment and recovery plans in good time. That means not being unduly reliant on hope or unchecked opinions. I will thereby try to give something back to this station which has meant so much to me and to so many of my friends for the last 35 years. www.sgwbai.blogspot.com or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Show/Hide commentsSpooner made sure, in a nasty offensive, that bylaws at Pacifica would not include affirmative action remedies in election results, which opened the foundation to control by whites majorities.
Spooner is angry that WBAI is not controlled by whites yet, so she is sticking her nose in at WBAI.
Her husband, Gregory Wonderwheel, regularly attacked many African Americans at WBAI in various attempts to force them out using lies, hyperbole and standard Republican-style put-downs. Make no mistake about it, Carol Spooner and her California cohorts want to control WBAI.
I'm endorsing --
#1 - James Ross
#2 - Seth Goldberg
and, in alphabetical order,
Carla Cubit, Robert Gold, Jennifer Jager, Ken Laufer, Pat Logan, Don Mathiesen,
Lee McClure, Stefan Neustatder, Bernardo Palombo.
I hope you will rank James #1 and Seth #2 on your ballot, and then go on to rank the others listed above in order of your preference. James Ross is the only encumbent who deserves re-election this year. He has worked diligently to uncover and understand the station finances and to make recommendations to deal with the problems. Unfortunately, his efforts have been blocked by the current majority on the LSB (the "Justice & Unity" faction). Seth Goldberg has the financial and business skills that WBAI so desperately needs at this time. All of the above-named candidates are sincerely committed to helping to right the station by hiring station management that will strengthen & revitalize programming, restore the listener-base and rebuild financial stability. They can be the seeds of sanity at a very troubled institution if you elect them to serve this very important community resource.
This is a critical election for WBAI. I believe it is absolutely essential that NON "Justice & Unity" slate candidates take a majority of the seats on the Local Board if WBAI is to survive, and perhaps even Pacifica itself. As I wrote to you a few weeks ago, WBAI is bankrupt. It is paying its bills by borrowing money from the Pacifica National Office which is borrowing the money from other Pacifica stations. This whole house of cards could come down if the problems at WBAI are not solved quickly. There have been very serious financial irregularities at WBAI, including use of "restricted" grant monies for unauthorized purposes. In addition, when WBAI terminated Gary Null's program it also terminated a major source of listener-support for the station. Regardless of what you think of Gary Null's program, the station needed a realistic plan to replace that income or to reduce its expenses to live within its reduced income. It did neither, and that is one of the causes of the current bankruptcy. Other causes are overall mis-management, waste, poor staff morale, not enough good programming, and competition from other alternative media sources, both on the radio and on the internet.
The "Justice & Unity" faction has held the majority on the LSB for the past three years and has been blocking necessary management changes and other changes at the station. In addition, the LSB majority elects 3 of the 4 WBAI seats on the Pacifica National Board and they have been blocking necessary action by the Pacifica Executive Director and National Board. For this to change, at least 5 of the 9 listener seats , and 2 of the 3 staff seats on the LSB must be won by independents who are not part of the "Justice & Unity" slate. I honestly don't know why the "Justice & Unity" slate has been so destructive to WBAI, they have good "political" credentials and you would think they would want the station to grow and thrive. However, they have not acted that way, and if they are permitted to continue to control the Local board and to confuse and mislead the national board, then I am very very pessimistic about the future of WBAI and Pacifica. This is tragic in a time of national crisis where EVERY form of alternative media
Again, please vote -- Every vote matters. With "ranked choice" voting just one vote can determine who wins the last seat on the board.
Thanks, and best regards,
Carol Spooner
Pacifica National Board Member - Jan 2002-Jan 2005
Lead Plaintiff - Listeners' Lawsuit to remove the old Pacifica Board - 1999-Dec 2001
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