While the White House, Federal Communications Commission, and corporate boardrooms spew out hostility towards independent voices, WBAI remains the tri-state area’s only radio forum for those who refuse to be silenced, the platform for those who love justice and cherish peace. Meanwhile, we continue working to improve and broaden our services to the listeners. We are young and old, female and male, gay and straight, able-bodied and differently-abled. We are singers and writers, dancers and drummers, teachers and poets, journalists and scribes. We are a gorgeous multicultural, multiracial mosaic unified in a mission to reshape this world into a place where all people are safe, well-fed and able to find decent work with decent pay. The publication in your hands marks the proud return of WBAI’s program guide. In the five years since the last issue, our internal and external worlds have changed significantly. Then-Program Director Samori Marksman, the brilliant intellectual and Caribbean community leader, is much missed, having made his transition and become an ancestor in 1999. Then-General Manager Valerie Van Isler has moved to a position at Pacifica National. We honor them and others no longer with us for their contributions. We have also gone through a terrible period in which WBAI and Pacifica were snatched by hostile forces that purged progressive dissenters. But then, thanks to the herculean efforts of many of you, our station and network were reclaimed for the people.

This is a new day at WBAI. We have restored stability and credibility to the station, and we have renewed our dedication to the Pacifica mission: strengthening and diversifying the cultural welfare of the community, accessing alternative information, and disseminating it through news and public affairs programming on vital community concerns. We are also organizing and broadcasting a series of critical public forums aimed at helping to resolve conflicts based on race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, and philosophy. In this age of new global aggression by Washington, these forums will examine several aspects of the deepening crisis in U.S. democracy. We are up to the challenge of making WBAI the premier listening/sharing experience for the growing tri-state progressive community. We will take full advantage of our strategic location in the center of the FM dial, our powerful 50,000-watt signal, and our ability to broadcast our content worldwide over the Internet. We can only do all this with your support and constructive critiques.Please share them with us. We also encourage your volunteer involvement in many aspects of the station (see ways to volunteer)

And of course, your financial support is needed more than ever to allow us to maintain our independence (see ways to support us)

There is no better time. Forward Ever, Backward Never!

Staff sampler:
WBAI’s gorgeous mosaic
Design: Pauline Li