$200K WBAI Deficit - A Well-Kept Secret

by

CdPNY

(1070 words)

 

Let's assume, since you're reading the Folio, that you're interested in listener-sponsored community broadcasting. With that said, readers of the Folio would have missed the armed takeover of KPFA in Berkeley in the summer of 1999 only if you were living under a rock.

At the time, a group of WBAI listener-sponsors now known as the Coalition for a Democratic Pacifica - New York chapter, or CdP-NY, organized a series of protests and informational rallies. These protests and rallies expressed strong support for the staff at KPFA and for the staff at WBAI. CdP-NY members asked the WBAI Local Advisory Board to take action against the Pacifica Foundation consistent with their responsibility to act as the contact between the community, paid/unpaid staff members and management at the station and the Pacifica Foundation Board of Directors. CdP-NY members also called for full discussion of the illegal actions of the Pacifica Board on all programs at WBAI.

By way of background, in August 1999 the WBAI LAB issued a call for the immediate resignation of both Lynn Chadwick and Mary Frances Berry, a vote of "no confidence" in the national board, and for the democratic restructuring of Pacifica's national board. During that period of restructuring WBAI's LAB told the national board not to take any actions to sell or otherwise affect the value of the board's assets (e.g., any action to sell, transfer, or lessen the value of WBAI).

Email discussions on the "freepacifica list" at the time (the list has since closed) were quite robust. Valerie van Isler, General Manager at WBAI for the past 10 years or so, attended the LAB meeting of 28 September 1999 and responded to questions about the station's finances.

Actually, Ms. van Isler failed to respond to those questions -- the email list discussion at the time included reference to the fact that Ms. van Isler failed to provide the station's financial documentation (as required by Corporation for Public Broadcasting guidelines) to the LAB meeting attendees. Ms. van Isler did not provide any reason justifying her inability to provide that documentation at the meeting of 28 September, and she has not provided that documentation in the past, despite repeated requests for several years.

Now skeptics among the Folio readers might suggest, "surely this writer isn't relying upon undocumented email list discussions for her proof, is she?" Of course not. The Chief Steward of WBAI's union United Electrical 404 at the time, R. Paul Martin, wrote to the list in an email 29 September 1999 (the day after the LAB meeting) that "General Manager Valerie van Isler once again revealed what a whiz she is at managing money by announcing that WBAI's deficit stands at $124,000. However, this figure is as of July [1999]. It is projected that the final deficit figure for WBAI in FY 99 will be $181,000." Mr. Martin went on to say that "almost a year ago Management suddenly announced that there was a $188,000 deficit at WBAI for FY 98. By January 1999, the figure was finalized at $204,000. For FY 98 the deficit was supposedly caused by excess costs of premiums. One has to assume that this hole got plugged sometime in the last 11 months. So we're wondering where the money's leaking out now." Recently, WBAI broadcaster Paul deRienzo <http://pdr.autono.net> mentioned the persistence of a $200,000 deficit "that no one seems to know where it came from" and suggested that diligent fundraising would help.

A listener-sponsor heard and believed Mary Frances Berry's on-air assurance (made during one of her broadcasts from WBAI in 1999) that Reports to the Listener were going to be made available on the Internet and in the WBAI office at any time. The listener-sponsor heard the assurances of WBAI General Manager van Isler during the most recent Report to the Listener that station financial reports would be available as well, and stopped in at the station. The listener-sponsor asked to see the budget for WBAI. Told no such budget or report was available, she asked to see the station manager or whoever else was responsible for the budget. Valerie van Isler was "in a meeting" came the reply from the person at the desk, who then asked the listener to leave a name and address to which the budget could be sent: it would have to be retrieved from Pacifica's offices.

Earlier we mentioned CPB reporting guidelines. The CPB open financial records requirements are posted at http://www.cpb.org/grants/certification/certreq3.html. Of particular note at the website is the section labeled "Interpretations". We read, "The provisions of [Section 396(k)(5) of the Communications Act], above, prohibits CPB from distributing its federally appropriated funds to any public telecommunications entity unless that entity allows public examination of any annual financial reports filed with CPB, any audit reports or financial statements on the financial condition of the station performed in compliance with Section 396 (l)(3)(B) (which requires at least a biennial audit or, under certain circumstances, a financial statement), and any other information regarding finances that CPB may request of an entity under Section 396 (l)(3)(B)."

Dry, technical bureaucratese perhaps -- but an important guideline for concerned listener-sponsors. The dilemma faced by listener-sponsors who see unexplained, six-figure deficits persist year after year is a real one: we don't want our money going into a bottomless pit, and we don't want to see the station shut down. Unfortunately, programmers like Clayton Reilly at WBAI -- who has stated his vigorous support for Mary Berry repeatedly in the past -- typically respond to anyone who questions the management of the station by labeling their concerns as "an attack on WBAI staff." No, not an attack -- simply a call for careful management as we watch former Voice of America personnel like Robert Coonrod (now CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) ally themselves with powerful politicos in an apparent plan to seize the Pacifica network and disempower people who cherish independent, listener-sponsored community broadcasting.

Watch the Folio for more news about the efforts of WBAI listeners to stop the theft of one of the jewels in Pacifica's network.

 

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Indira Hardat is the financial officer responsible for the budget at WBAI, however: if you would like to see a copy of the budget, or the latest Report to the Listener, call her (212-209-2841) or General Manager Valerie Van Isler (212-209-2830). Or write to either of them at WBAI, 120 Wall Street, 10th Floor, NYC 10005.