MASS PROTEST PROMPTS CITICORP EMPLOYEE TO DROP BID TO JOIN PACIFICA BOARD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 17, 2001
Concerned Friends of WBAI
www.savepacifica.net
Contact: John Riley (917) 653-7267 or
WBAI Listener Action Hotline: (718) 707-7189
Email Updates: www.savewbai.tao.ca
Mass Protest Prompts Citicorp Employee to Drop Bid to Join Pacifica Board
New York, New York: Supporters of New York Pacifica station WBAI (99.5 FM) will demonstrate in front of the radio station's offices at 120 Wall St. today, from 4-7 p.m., to draw attention to what critics are calling on-air censorship, the silencing of staff dissent and the banning of two additional unpaid staffers at the listener-sponsored, noncommercial station.
On the eve of a protest that was to begin in front of the Citibank Financial Center at 110 Wall St. and march to the embattled studios of WBAI, Citibank Vice President for International, European, Middle Eastern and African Private Banking, Francesco Rocciolo, told Free Speech Radio News reporter Miranda Kennedy that he was no longer interested in pursuing his candidacy for a seat on the board of the 51-year-old Pacifica Foundation, a board where many businessmen and lawyers have been seated in years.
Rocciolo told Kennedy that he was no longer a candidate for the board partly due to recent protests during which his candidacy and place of employment were criticized.
"This is the first victory in our campaign against a national board that has lost a 50-year tradition of grassroots radio, and we will not allow these pro-corporate elements to silence our network," said Concerned Friends media-committee member John Riley. On Saturday, Pacifica issued a statement saying that "its board of directors does not have any members who are Citicorp employees."
The latest in a series of incidents of censorship and bannings at WBAI occurred during the Martin Luther King day broadcast of WBAI's morning program "Wake Up Call," co-hosted by Amy Goodman" (recipient of the 1999 George R. Polk journalism award), when the interim host ordered that Goodman's microphone be shut-off after she expressed regret that recent firings and bannings of producers had not been rescinded by the interim General Manager.
On Monday, Jan. 8, award-winning producer Peter Bochan announced over the air that one week earlier, one and a half minutes of his year-end round up tape had been deleted without his knowledge or permission. One removed segment referred to the firings and bannings at WBAI.
Speakers at today's demonstration reflect the increasing number of community and advocacy groups which have joined the resistance to Pacifica management's recent actions. Charles Kernigan, from the National Labor Committee, a human rights group at the forefront of the anti-sweatshop movement, Ray LaForest, a member of WBAI's local advisory board and a longtime union and Haitian-community activist, and college students from CUNY is Our Future will speak about the importance of WBAI to their efforts.
"Pacifica was founded to be a voice for grassroots community activists and the disenfranchised--an essential part of truly democratic discourse. The irony is, at a time when we need Pacifica's voice more than ever, the network has lost its way and seems ready to extinguish those voices," said E. Anthony Mackall of Concerned Friends of WBAI and SEEDS, a sustainable-development organization working in African ancestry communities worldwide.
Resistance to the firings and bannings has grown since the December 22nd takeover, which supporters call a "Christmas Coup," in which the Pacifica Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., took control of WBAI, a historically autonomous station, changed locks, fired the program director and a producer/union steward, as well as banned several other producers. No reason has been given for the firings and bannings.
WBAI has been a bastion of free speech for 40 years, offering progressive and multicultural programming serving the Tri-state area. The action group, Concerned Friends of WBAI, formed three months ago, along with many staff members, are demanding that the fired and banned producers be reinstated, security guards be removed from the station, and a democratic process for selection of a General Manager be adopted.
Concerned Friends of WBAI is composed of listeners, local advisory board representatives, and producers at the station. The group has organized demonstrations and vigils, and shortly after the firings, held a mass meeting of 1,200 people to forge a campaign to regain local autonomy for WBAI.
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