======================
RADIO FREE SPEECH IS
BEING DENIED IN NEW YORK CITY
Mr. Speaker, tyrants in control of totalitarian
countries like China, Serbia and Iraq consider control of the airwaves
an absolute necessity. They ruthlessly enforce censorship of a kind few
of us in America can
imagine. On last Monday, however, I had
the weird and frightening experience of being gagged by a radio station
manager in my own home city of New York. It started with a routine
request that I call in for a phone
interview on a show hosted on Radio Station
WBAI by Ken Nash which focuses on union and labor news and features.
The name of the show which commences at 2 P.M. was "Building Bridges."
As the Ranking Democrat on the Workforce Protections Subcommittee I welcome
the chance to appear on shows related to working families or unions.
It is important to note that Radio Station,
WBAI is a non-profit station which runs primarily on contributions solicited
from its mass of diverse listeners. Since last December this station
has experienced considerable turmoil internally and long-term producers
and hosts have been fired or locked out of the station. Like many
New Yorkers I am concerned about the present and future of this vital outlet
for free speech on the radio. Without knowing all of the specific tensions
and confrontations within the station I have indicated my interest in working
toward the resolution of the problems hampering the continuation of the
unique and robust
programming at WBAI.
It is important to note that I am presently
seeking ways to get more avenues opened for radio free speech in my City.
Five low-powered Haitian stations have been shut down. The survival
of WBAI is vital for the entire movement seeking more access to the airways.
The bully monopolies of commercial radio provide the continuing roadblocks.
My knowledge of the reputation of certain recent appointments to the Board
of Pacifica
Network, which is the parent non-profit
institution responsible for WBAI, leads me to conclude that there is a
clear and immediate danger that attempts will be made to sell WBAI to a
commercial owner. Such a sale
would mean the loss of a vital voice for
working families in NYC.
My beliefs and point-of-view are considered heresy by Station Manager Utrice Leid. Without explanation or apology she shut down the microphones and proclaimed that she had to intervene because it was her job to allow only the "truth" over the airwaves. The following is a summary of the statement I would have made had I not been censured and shut off:
The situation at WBAI has implications
far beyond this one station. Freedom of speech over the airwaves
via radio, broadcast television, and cable television is presently quite
limited for the majority of Americans. We have a problem of great
magnitude that is not being appropriately addressed. The WBAI arrangement
and
structure offered one model to be emulated.
As a listener supported station with a very diverse set of programs, procedures
and guests, WBAI represents the optimum use of radio in the service of
ordinary people.
When I attended the memorial service for the late Samori Marksman, former WBAI Station Manager, last year in that great hall at St. John's Cathedral, I saw a more diverse assembly than I have seen anywhere in New York City. Folks from all races, religions, income levels and political persuasions were there. There were intellectual snobs who support programs broadcasting esoteric operas mingling with radical, grassroots political activists. Indeed, as a politician, one immediate reaction I experienced as I contemplated all of that diversity with solidarity was a concern that some people in powerful places would perceive WBAI as a threat. The term "power structure" applies to forces that are very real. And I felt that this "power structure" would seek to destroy what the WBAI Community has created.
WBAI represents radio freedom of speech
that does not make a profit for anyone. There are those who
see profits being made via WBAI and other Pacifica stations.
There are others in powerful places who feel that only commercial stations
should exist; or if there are public stations, they should be indirectly
controlled by
corporate grants and benign corporate
advertisements.
Some of the persons who have recently been
appointed to the Pacifica Board represent such powerful commercial interests.
In my opinion, WBAI is an endangered station as long as such business predators
are on the Pacifica Board. Persons far removed from the original
ideals and philosophy of the founders of
the Pacifica chain are not likely to promote
the original intent of this very well conceived system.
A basic question which must be tested as soon as possible in the courts is: Who owns a non-profit entity and who has a right to sell non-profit radio stations? Does the original charter or licensing by FCC permit any group of trustees or directors to treat Pacifica and WBAI as if they are commercial entities?
While the Pacifica turmoil is raging, I
strongly urge WBAI to seek to preserve its free speech function in New
York City by exploring the necessary steps to become independent of Pacifica.
As a non-profit entity WBAI should use the university structure as a model.
It should elect a Broad of Trustees through a voting process
utilizing its contributors and supporters
as the voters. The Trustees should be responsible for basic business
operations while the producers and staff should be given a role similar
to the faculty at a university. Basic freedoms similar to academic
freedom and tenure should be conferred upon longstanding producers and
long- term paid and unpaid staff participants.
I offer this as one model to preserve WBAI
as a bastion of radio free speech. We need to broaden the efforts
to promote such free speech via radio. New technology that permits
small low powered stations to broadcast at low costs has provided new possibilities
for greater avenues to radio free speech; however, five Haitian
stations have been shut down in my district
and been declared to be "pirate stations". There is a great need to test
the long accepted rules and regulations of the FCC. Too much of the
status quo as reinforced by the 1996 Telecommunications Act borders on
the unconstitutional denial of freedom of speech.
There is a larger free speech war to be engaged; however, first we must preserve the solidarity and diversity on the airwaves as represented by WBAI.