The December 2001 settlement of lawsuits against the former Pacifica Board of Directors—for “gross abuse” of authority and diverting Pacifica from its founding purposes of promoting peace and understanding among people of all races, creeds, colors, and nations—created an interim board which is required to revise Pacifica’s bylaws.

Proposed new bylaws provide for listener-sponsors at each Pacifica radio station to elect 18 Delegates and for non-management staff (paid and unpaid) to separately elect six Delegates. These 24 Delegates would serve as the Local Station Board (LSB). In turn, each of the five stations’ LSBs would elect four of their own Delegates (for a total of 20) to also serve as Directors on the Pacifica National Board (PNB).

Each LSB would have considerable responsibilities. These include: approving the station budget; conducting annual performance reviews of station managers and program directors; and ensuring that “station programming fulfills the purposes of the Foundation and is responsive to the diverse needs of the listeners (demographic) and communities (geographic) served by the station.” It is hoped that decentralized LSBs will provide more knowledgeable and accountable oversight of station management than the remote national board did in the past. However, all legal responsibility and authority for oversight of Pacifica management—and of all five Pacifica radio stations—ultimately rests with the PNB, which may overrule an LSB if necessary.

In addition to reiterating the founding purposes of Pacifica, as written in the original Articles of Incorporation, the new bylaws state: “The Foundation is committed to peace and social justice, and seeks to involve in its governance and operations individuals committed to these principles.”

Approval of the bylaws has been delayed by concerns that elections might not provide sufficient representation for society’s underrepresented groups. Some are advocating that special “Committees of Inclusion” set diversity goals for each station based on signal-area demographics. If an election fails to meet the goals, up to five additional Delegates could be added from the highest vote-getters among unelected candidates in the goal-identified groups. Others believe this proposal undercuts democratic accountability and may be illegal. The Interim Pacifica National Board and the five existing Local Advisory Boards (LABs) are split on this issue. Legal opinions are being sought in hopes that final bylaws will come to a vote by the end of June. The bylaws must be approved by two-thirds of the Interim Board and by majority vote of at least three of the five current station LABs.

WBAI/Pacifica History Available

A lively essay summarizing the history of WBAI and Pacifica, including the pro-corporate takeover of the ‘90s and the successful mass struggle to overturn it, is now available. Go to
http://www.wbai.org/about/wi_history.php or send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to WBAI History, 120 Wall St., New York, NY 10005