Several important aspects of Pacifica’s Mission inform and guide the day-to-day work of the WBAI Program Department:
“to encourage and provide outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community”
“to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds, and colors”
“to gather and disseminate information on the causes of conflict between any and all of such groups; and...to promote the study of political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical, and racial antagonisms”
In pursuit of this Mission, we have added 24 new programs to our menu since our return to WBAI in January 2002. These new offerings strengthen our programming diversity on issues of concern to women, youth, prisoners, Latinos, Haitians, Native Americans, and people with disabilities, as well as adding new health, arts/culture, and political comedy programs. We also provided special expanded war/antiwar coverage for the first three weeks of the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
Because our Spring Fund Drive was hurt by a long phone-service interruption, we have developed a plan to recoup our projected income: We’ll hold a mini-drive June 24-27, each day with a different theme: U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Domestic Policy, Health, and Arts & Culture. There will also be a previously-scheduled mini-drive August 18-22.
We thank all the new and renewing subscribers for your pledges (please pay them promptly!), and look forward to your continued
generous support. Please stay tuned.
ARTS
Matthew Finch, Arts & Cultural Programming Director
In yet another era of political and economic uncertainty, the return of a regular program guide is cause for dancing, and the Arts Department hopes to dance up a storm for you through the summer.
As listeners receive this Folio, we’ll have just completed the second annual broadcast of “Bloomsday on Broadway” (live from Symphony Space), a project that began on our airwaves in the 1970s. Listeners can look forward to August specials from the producers of “Morning Dew” and “Liquid Sound Lounge,” among others. Later, expect the return of regular radio drama—“America’s other indigenous art form,” which has brought WBAI numerous awards.
Today, every form of music is starved or misrepresented by
commercial radio, and with the recent FCC decision on media consolidation, this can only get worse. Artists and programmers increasingly rely on Internet portals, self-distribution, community-access TV, and stubbornly independent outlets like WBAI. Listeners are just as hungry, especially for new sounds. We hope to bring those to you. In this complicated time, sometimes dancing is the only way to conjure a future.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Kathryn Davis, Public Affairs Director (Temporary)
My primary focus in life is to integrate the principles and processes
of healing. I feel that the missions of Pacifica and WBAI can be well served by this focus. Our goals are more than lofty ideas; they must
be grounded in our everyday function and interaction.
As Public Affairs Director, my objective is to bring integration to the responsibilities of this department, and to help improve communication within and between the departments, as well as between the radio station and its listeners.
WBAI’s listener-supporters, producers, and other staff have a unique relationship in that we share a common goal—to bring peace and justice into the world. We must collectively strive to broaden the reach of this radio station so as to have a real impact on public opinion, the mainstream media, and other forces of power.
NEWS
Jose Santiago, News Director
The WBAI News Department is finally moving into the digital age
with the addition of several new computers, new editing software,
and networking capabilities. We are already broadcasting the WBAI Evening News on the Web—building an international audience—and our 24-hour audio archives will soon expand to offer an entire week’s newscasts to visitors to www.wbai.org
The technical advances in the News Department are long overdue, much needed, and greatly appreciated by a news staff that has been cranking out a daily newscast in the nation’s most competitive news market using technology which, in some cases, dates back to
the 1950s! But new technology alone can’t guarantee better coverage. The true test of our service to the community is our ability to train reporters to go into the field, cover the issues of the people in our listening area, develop our own sources, and produce original reportage. The challenge is to maintain our commitment to local news because the stronger the links, the stronger the chain.
To Do:
Promote Your Organization’s Events
WBAI is here to help your nonprofit grassroots group get its message out. Here’s how:
Website Community Calendar: Submit events to the Calendar at www.wbai.org/calendar/index.php via our simple online form—items usually published within 48 hours.
On-Air Community Bulletin Board: (five-minute events listing aired three times per weekday): All Website Calendar events are considered (very few selected). Or email:cbb@wbai.orgfax: 212-744-1698, Attn: CBB. Deadline: two weeks in advance
On-Air Interviews: Contact Public Affairs Dept. at: PAD@wbai.org • 212-209-2826; Wakeup Call at: sharper@wbai.org • 212-209-2817; or other programs listed at wbai.org
We at the Folio send our best wishes for a speedy recovery to three ailing WBAI family members:
FREDERICK GEOBOLD (Fred Kuhn), station receptionist and producer/host of Light Show (Wednesdays, 2-3 p.m.), YASMEEN MAJID, contributing producer for Wakeup Call, and
JON COHEN, member of the WBAI Local Advisory Board and progressive activist from Rockland County.
Monthly Report to the Listener
On-air updates by management and
department heads, with listener
call-ins. For times, stay tuned or
go to www.wbai.org
