Below are a series of messages by different writers. As a result of the efforts to inform the public about internal matters at WBAI and Pacifica, some courageous producers are responding to the subscribers demand that Pacifica issues, particularly the Pacifica National Board's planned governance proposal, be discussed on the air in violation of the "gag rule." The articles are in chronological order. Please support all who speak out!

With hardly a handful of exceptions every WBAI listener attending
tonight's forum on "the erosion of democracy and the ominous rise of the
corporate state" readily accepted from S.O.S. and its friends the
following material:

1.) CounterPunch
2.) The San Francisco Labor Council resolution
3.) The Clare Spark article on "Pacifica's Future"
4.) Patty's fact sheet on the upcoming national board "theft" vote
5.) Lyn Gerry's flier on the status of Uriah Heep (sorry, I mean Frank
Millspaugh) 
6.) Lynn Gannett's stunning fliers.

S.O.S. arrived armed with 300 information packets. As the very last of
them were being passed out, Samori came down to instruct the building
superintendent to lock the doors, claiming that the room was full and
could hold no more. There was some speculation that this had been done to
keep the leafleters from proceeding on into the forum.

Alas for Samori, one wily leafleter had already entered. A full report on
the havoc caused by an embarrassing question will be posted soon...

- Frank

_________________________________________________________________________________

From:            SunSongs@aol.com
Date sent:       Sat, 13 Feb 1999 06:22:46 EST
To:              freepacifica@penguin.josephson.com
Subject:         Re: Sold Out on 23rd Street
Send reply to:   freepacifica@penguin.josephson.com

Eye-witness report from the "wily leafleter":

(Actually, I was still on the sidewalk out front when the doors were closed to at least 30 disappointed listeners, as well as the leafleting crew.  But as they say, "where there's a will, there's a way...")

By the way, it was beautiful to see all of my fellow collaters/leafletters/signmakers in action tonight--you guys were great!!!
 We certainly "made a splash," as Patty would say.

So, I was eventually able to get into the event, and I was able to ask the following question:

"Since the topic of tonight's forum is 'the erosion of democracy,' I'm here to talk about democracy at Pacifica.  For reasons that we all know, the ruling elite in this country would love to take over control of Pacifica Radio. That's why we must ALWAYS, ALWAYS be vigilant to guard against any secretive attempted takeovers.  At the end of this month, the members of the Pacifica National Governing Board will vote on whether or not to permanently change their by-laws in such a way that they will grant themselves, these 20 or so people, total and permanent control over the Pacifica network and it's estimated $200 to $300 million dollars in assets.  [Loud *GASPS* from the audience.]  I am extremely suspicious of their motives.  Most listeners are completely unaware that this change is even being considered.  My question is this:  considering the serious implications of this change, why isn't this being discussed on the air, and do you believe that it is *DEMOCRATIC* for this type of discussion to be taking place behind closed doors, with no listener input, or even their knowledge?"  [Loud, thunderous applause from virtually the entire audience of 300+ listeners.]

There were two panelists who responded, although I didn't hear either one of them address my main question--whether or not they believed this to be "DEMOCRATIC."

Bernard White, co-host of "Wake Up Call," responded first.  He acknowledged that there is a "gag rule."  He talked about the fact that no place that anyone works at is ever perfect, including Pacifica.  He stated that listeners needed to find out the information and do their research. People in the audience (who had all received our info packets earlier as they arrived) started to become very angry at this point, and they started shouting things out.  The whole room pretty much erupted into chaos.  I overheard comments such as: "don't blame the listeners--you never told us!"; "how come you never told us?"; "we didn't even know about this until tonight!"

Then, I was very pleased to hear Bernard suggest, "maybe we need to organize another one of these community forums like tonight's to talk about Pacifica." Again, there was vigorous applause from the audience. One person shouted out, "we need to set a date--right now, tonight!" Another person shouted: "don't wait--we only have two weeks!" Disappointingly, the organizers (from WBAI) of this evening's event did not take advantage of this opportunity to schedule an actual date.

(Keep in mind that these passionate comments were coming from just "regular" listeners--to my knowledge, I was the only SOS-affiliated person who made it inside.  The others had all been successfully "locked out" on the sidewalk out front.)

"Grandpa" Al Lewis was the other panel member to respond to my question. He also acknowledged, several times, that there is a "gag rule" at WBAI, and then would say, "but there's not a gag rule here tonight!"  I waited each time, with bated breath, for him to follow this by saying something scandalous or radical... but I didn't hear him say anything that seemed the least bit controversial.  He talked about WBAI being the only one of the Pacifica stations operating in the black, and what a wonderful accomplishment this was (although, as the next question-asker pointed out, what about Valerie's claimed $300,000 deficit and the canceled folio, etc.?).  He ended by referring to himself and the other good folks working
at WBAI, saying that "*WE* would never let anything like that happen!"  He was presumably alluding to my suggestion that there may be people trying to take over the Pacifica network.

Grandpa, I don't know if you subscribe to this list, but my response to you is that you and most other WBAI programmers are *ALREADY* "letting this happen." And as long as all of you continue to comply with the "gag rule," and refuse to discuss and expose, ON AIR, the corruption within Pacifica, perhaps in fear of losing your individual shows, I feel that you are putting the entire station at risk, and perhaps even the entire Pacifica network.  The Pacifica Board members are counting on your silence!!!  And if they get away with changing their by-laws at the end of this month, in the future, they aren't going to be coming to Al Lewis or anyone else at WBAI asking for their permission!

I would say to all of the people who work at WBAI (including some, such as Bernard, whom I consider to be friends), I believe that one sure-fire way to prevent this vote from going through would be for  EVERY  ONE  OF  THE
PRODUCERS  to violate the "gag rule"--we need your help before the end of this month!  Are you willing to consider this?

To those on the freepacifica list who live in the NY area, we should definitely make Bernard's offer to organize a "Community Forum on Pacifica" a rallying point, and flood the station with phone calls and faxes requesting that this "Forum" be scheduled ASAP (before February 26)!!!

Here are some contact numbers:
212-209-2835  Samori Marksman (Program Director)
212-209-2815  Bernard White (co-host of "Wake Up Call")
212-209-2900  on-air line
212-747-1698  fax

In closing, I would like to play "prophet" for a moment.  You know, when I first heard about a week ago about tonight's forum, I was confused. Something didn't seem quite right.  Why, I asked myself, would WBAI be organizing a political forum?  You guys usually announce other people's events but, with all due respect, you aren't usually the ones organizing
them (with some obvious occasional exceptions).  So, why the sudden inspiration?  Then tonight, all of a sudden it clicked.  You're going to be pitching videotapes and audiotapes of tonight's forum to us as premiums during next week's fundraiser, aren't you?  You just needed some new material for your "premiums."  Once again, it's all about money, isn't it?
 We'll know soon enough if my "prediction" comes true...  Also, I'll be very curious to see if my question about democracy at Pacifica and the two responses end up on the final premiums which go out to the listeners...any guesses from the list on this one?

I look forward to the day when the decision-makers at WBAI will steer away from this perpetual series of sporadic, unrelated fund-raisers thinly disguised as "community forums", "political events", "anniversary celebrations", etc., and instead to begin utilizing the as-of-yet largely untapped, tremendous potential power of WBAI's airwaves to organize ongoing, sustained, inter-related events purely for the sake of movement building and political organizing, in a genuine effort to help the people
in this world who are suffering, rather than to help increase WBAI's "bottom line."

I also hope that they decide to join us in our struggle to restore democracy and integrity to Pacifica.

This is what the listeners deserve.

Lynn Gannett
____________________________________________

Date sent:       Tue, 16 Feb 1999 10:14:50 -0500
From:            Frank Lusardi <flusardi@panix.com>
To:              freepacifica@penguin.josephson.com
Subject:         Bernard White "Pays Close Attention"
Send reply to:   freepacifica@penguin.josephson.com

NOTE: The following is from Lynn, who is off the air today.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In response to our highly successful leafleting campaign
last Friday, (see "Sold Out on 23rd Street" series of posts), a remarkable
thing happened around 6:30 Monday morning (15FEB99) on WBAI.  Bernard White (who
was the moderator at Friday's forum and, for those who don't already know
this, is the co-host, along with Amy Goodman, of "Wake Up Call") talked about the
"CounterPunch" article *ON AIR* and gave out the Free Pacifica website
address!!!

I applaud Bernard for having the courage and integrity to make these
statements "ON AIR."  He is no doubt aware of the genuine
risks involved. This is a very significant turning point for us, especially
considering the fact that he is a much-loved, long-time host with a very
loyal audience, a prize time slot (6:00-9:00 AM, Monday through
Thursday--that's 12 hours a week, which to my knowledge is the most air time per week
for any single producer), and he is also a *KEY* asset to the station
during fund-raising marathons.

(If you live in the NY area, or even if you don't, please call Bernard at
212-209-2815 and thank him for what he's doing.  Some people
have been eager to criticize producers; let's also be just as eager to
congratulate them when they do the right thing!)

* * * Perhaps Bernard's statements will embolden other producers to follow his
courageous lead.  (Think about it, folks... seriously, they can't fire ALL of
you at once now, can they?)
 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Following is a transcript of Bernard's remarkable
statements, along with Errol Maitland and Janice K. Bryant, as they reflected on last
Friday's "Erosion of Democracy" forum:

BERNARD:  ...but now at the end of the meeting...
ERROL:  ...at the end of the meeting...
BERNARD:  ...on, uh, Friday, a very important issue was
raised, also, and it has to do with, uh, with Pacifica.  [sound of rustling
papers in the background]
ERROL:  Yes.
BERNARD:  People raised the issue about a, a, um... what
might be happening with the Pacifica Board, and, uh, there's an article called
"CounterPunch" that I've read... tells the facts and names the names; it's
called "The Neutering of Pacifica," and, um... the article is pretty
accurate, and I'd like for people to get this article, as many people as
possible, and raise as many questions, uh, about the veracity of this article, as
possible.  And I think... where can you get this?  You can get this at, uh,
if you have a website, at, uh, [this part was nice and slow] W... W...
W... dot... radio...4... the number 4... A... L... L... radio4all... dot... O...
R... G...slash... forward slash... freepacifica. Now, one more time,
that's www, dot, radio4all, dot, org, forward slash, freepacifica, and, um...
JANICE:  Is freepacifica one word?
BERNARD:  Freepacifica is one word, yeah.  So, pick up the
article and, uh, read it, um, if you go to any, uh, BAI programs, uh, you can
pick it up right out in front of the program, 'cause there's always some
people out there passing it out, but I think it is something that you should
read, uh, absorb, question, and, uh, if you feel so moved, get, uh, involved
in trying to, um, find out just what's going on and make... or, have whatever
input you need to have.  As I've always maintained here, that, um, *this*
institution is no different than any other place that people come to work, it
is *always* a struggle, um, to get information out, it is always a
struggle to keep organizations in line with, uh, their mission, and, um, you
have a responsibility as a WBAI listener to do just that.  Now,
we're gonna give this out, um, uh, several times this week, and hopefully, at some
point, you will be able to pick up a copy, uh, or get... um, be able to view
and read this in its entirety.  We also made some other suggestions about
this particular topic.  Those of you who were there, if you wanna do that,
then you should do that.  [Is this a reference to Bernard's suggestion for a
"Community Forum on Pacifica"?]
ERROL:  Right.
BERNARD:  If you do have a... open a discussion, instead of
calling people names, um, you know, folks are willing to work...
ERROL:  Right.
BERNARD:  Other people are doing something on one level...
because they're not doing what *you're* doing, doesn't mean that they aren't
doing anything, so, um, hopefully, um, folks will stop attacking people and
just, uh, decide that they're gonna do some work around it.
ERROL:  Exactly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bernard made similar statements later in the program (around
8:30 AM), repeated the website address, and gave out a phone number
for more information, which turns out to be Ken Silverstein's number
(in D.C.) from the "CounterPunch" article.  (I called Bernard's office later in
the morning and gave Errol the S.O.S. phone number.)

(By the way, we all, of course, owe Alexander Cockburn and
Ken Silverstein a great big "THANK YOU" for writing the "CounterPunch" article
which has succeeded in getting so many people's "attention.")

P.S.  For those who are not in the WBAI listening area,
Bernard always closes out his show by saying, "Stay Strong and Pay Close
Attention."

____________________________________________

Date sent:       Thu, 18 Feb 1999 13:07:16 -0500 (EST)
To:              freepacifica@penguin.josephson.com
From:            Paul DeRienzo <pdr@echonyc.com>
Subject:         Andrew Phillips back on WBAI
Send reply to:   freepacifica@penguin.josephson.com

We had a great show last night on WBAI. Andrew Phillips spoke at length
about the Pacfica structure and the implications of next weeks board
meeting. Patty H. called and gave out loads of info on the issue of
governance and the failure of Pacifica to meet its promise as a community
radio network. We even discussed my labor problems at WBAI although we
still need to talk more about the general  lack of respect for paid staff
at BAI and the other Pacifica stations as well as towards listeners and
unpaid staff.

Many long time listeners, volunteers and former programmers called in and
a lively discussion ensued. It seems the "gag-rule" is ridiculously out of
date with the advent of the Internet and the crisis facing community
radio. Hopefully more programmers will open the phones and let listeners
participate in these momentous changes.

Paul DeRienzo
--Stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal--