Bernardo Palombo Candidate Statement
“Estamos todos en el mismo barco, pero el barco hace agua ... WBAI esta a punto de hundirse.” (We are all in the same boat, but the boat is leaking ... and WBAI is about to sink.) That’s not one of Dick Cheney’s phony terror alerts. WBAI really is sinking. The radio station on which so many of us have depended – for so long – and for so much – is bankrupt.
How did that happen? Simple. The management we hired to watch the station (and the board of directors we elected to watch the management) did not do their jobs.
They drove away thousands of listeners (and their financial support). They engineered the firing of Robert Knight and Gary Null simply for exercising their free speech. They inflamed racial tensions by making African-American-, White-, and Latino staff members fight each other for scarce air time.
Even sadder, they did not know what to do – except watch – as our membership declined to a mere 16,500, and daily revenues fell by half. WBAI now owes more than $200,000 that it does not have, forcing more staff layoffs and loss of services.
But this doesn’t have to happen. WBAI has a powerful transmitter, a powerful message, and a potential audience of 19 million listeners with a powerful need to hear that message.
I know how to reach them, and how to enlist their support for the station. My own cultural foundation, El Taller, which I founded 28 years ago, faces and solves similar problems every day. My years of experience in gaining community support – and managing non-profit finances – can help rejuvenate WBAI by showing management how to reach receptive new audiences, not only in the Latino community (which now comprises more than 30% of New York City’s population), but also in the multitude of diverse cultural communities in which El Taller has been a dynamic and catalyzing force for over a quarter century.
When I came here from Argentina in 1969, I did what most immigrants do, wash dishes and work in a factory. Listening to WBAI helped form my personal vision of a just and creative society. I want to repay that. I can get well known artists to participate in WBAI benefits. I maintain an ongoing dialogue with organizations all over Latin America and Africa who do similar work. A more active connection with them will create more vibrant and diverse programming – which in turn will increase our membership and financial support.
No podemos permitir que la radio de todos desaparezca por la irresponsabilidad de algunos. (We cannot allow the radio of the many to disappear because of the irresponsibility of the few.) Please vote for me, and also for these very capable candidates: James Ross, Lee McClure, Jennifer Jager, Carla Cubit, Seth Goldberg, Stefan Neustatder, Ken Laufer, Albert Solomon, and Pat Logan. Es hora que los dirigentes del fracaso sean reemplazados por lideres competentes. (The time has come for the leaders of failure to be replaced by competent ones).
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Show/Hide commentsI'm sorry if the reverse chronological order of comments made it seem that I was commenting on his statement. I was, of course, commenting on the typical J&U racist attack in the comment just preceding mine.
--Frank LeFever
And when a black critic confronts them for their incompetence, he or she is vilified as an "Uncle Tom" or (as in their attack on Bertholde Reimers, a man of Haitian origin and first chair of the LSB), "he's your boy".
When I confronted Nia Bediako (chair of the Programming Committee) for her mishandling of planning for an abortive "Town Hall" meeting, I was told I had a "melanin deficiency" disease.
This racial divisiveness has crept into WBAI's broadcasting and I believe that accounts for some of the year-by-year loss in membership. I believe the loss includes not only white members but also black members of good will, intelligence, and integrity.
Disgusting.
--Frank LeFever
Spooner 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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