Don Mathisen Candidate Statement
Some say I was born a radio studio. I’ve held every radio job you can think of – disc jockey ... weatherman ... news writer ... police reporter ... investigative journalist ... news anchor ... executive producer ... Program Director ... even General Manager of a station with over a million listeners. I’ve worked in “commercial” radio – at Bloomberg Multi-Media, NBC, WMCA, and WINS (ever hear Shadow Traffic?). And I’ve worked in “public” radio – at WNYC, NPR, the BBC, even Gary Null’s radio station.
So I know radio. And as a listener for 25 years, I know WBAI. That’s why I’m running for the board. WBAI is in serious trouble. It is $200,000 in debt. Membership has fallen to just 16,500 (in an area with over 19 million radio listeners!). The staff is fighting among themselves. And some of our best programmers – Gary Null and Robert Knight, among others – have been fired by for no apparent reason. According to official tallies, we lost 20% of our membership in just 12 months. The station is bankrupt, with no cash reserve. Can it be rescued? Absolutely! WBAI possesses one of the most powerful transmitters in the metropolitan area, and a potential audience of millions who are eager to hear and support its unique message and programming. But WBAI has been prevented from reaching out to this audience – and has driven away a good part of the audience it used to have – by a management (and a station board) that have not allowed WBAI to be WBAI.
Please understand that I do not know the management of WBAI personally. Nor do I know any of those who have controlled the governing board for the past 4 years. This faction, which I believe calls itself the JUC, probably means well. But as anyone can see, they do not know how to operate, manage – or finance – a public radio station.
But I do. I am neither a wizard nor a genius. But I have 30 years of solid experience in radio management and radio finances at stations of all sizes. I want to put this experience to work for WBAI as a member of the board. This election is especially important – because WBAI has reached the “tipping point.” If we fail to elect new board members – who can bring fresh ideas and real-world radio solutions to WBAI’s problems – it may be too late, and WBAI could be lost. For the past 4 years, other Pacifica stations have paid our losses out of their own pockets. But they are now staggering under our burden, and we are dragging the whole network under. This is not fair, and it is not sensible.
Please elect me to a board seat, so I can give something back to the radio station that has given so much to all of us.
I hope you will also vote for James Ross, Bernardo Palombo, Lee McClure, Jennifer Jager, Carla Cubit, Seth Goldberg, Stefan Neutstatder, Gerald Sider, Bob Gold, Ken Laufer, Albert Solomon, and Pat Logan. Thank you.
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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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