Tag Archives: wbai

Proceeding With Things

August 11, 2016 Pacifica In Exile 3 Comments

Berkeley-On July 28th, a second special meeting on finances was held, once again boycotted by the entire board majority, with an attempt to unliaterally cancel the meeting by board chair Tony Norman. You can listen to the entire meeting here,a highlights reel here, and read a written summary of recommendations here.

The Siegel/Brazon board majority did attend the August 4th board meeting a week later, a meeting which which focused primarily on bylaws amendments, elections and disciplinary retribution. A highlights reel can be heard here. Among the subjects discussed:

After a two-year delay, New York station WBAI was re-licensed by the FCC, although the station’s lack of a local or toll-free telephone number since June 23rd place it in violation of broadcasting law (Section 47 C.F.R. 73.1125(e)). The Siegel/Brazon majority on the national board celebrated with Brazon announcing “The really good news is that WBAI has been granted their license renewal until June 1, 2022. That is really important in that it allows us to proceed with a lot of things (giggle) including negotiations that we have with debtors {sic} and so forth”. License renewal is what permits a sale or lease transaction of a broadcasting license. License renewal has no value in a negotiation with a creditor due to FCC prohibitions on using the value of broadcast licenses as collateral. Continue reading Proceeding With Things →

Audio

The Agreement Not To Decide Anything

Audio May 20, 2016 Pacifica In Exile Leave a comment

A clip from the 5-18 PNB elections committee. The actual conversation about the motion to agree not to decide anything was twice as long, but this is enough the provide the idea. This followed a 45 minute question and answer session with the 2015 election supervisor Joy Williams for her to present her report and that session had already occurred. The sub-committee report referred to had reading time as tested with a stopwatch at about 3 minutes 15 seconds.

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Witch Hunts Redux

May 18, 2016 Pacifica In Exile Leave a comment

Berkeley-Houston’s KPFT, usually the quietest and smallest of Pacifica’s five radio stations, exploded into witch hunt mode this week after a dust-up about frequently absent board member Maria Elena Castellanos trying to “rescind” her resignation a month after submitting it. After the Siegel/Brazon majority in Houston supported the absurd claim, the board doubled down and proposed suspending 4 members of the independent faction for six months for sending emails advocating that Castellano’s resignation couldn’t be taken back a month afterwards per Pacifica’s bylaws – which state board seats become vacant upon the occurrence of a resignation. The targeted board members include Bill Crosier, the former president of the Houston Peace and Justice Center, George Reiter, a professor of physics at the University of Houston, long-time KPFT volunteer Teresa Allen and Prison Show producer Hank Lamb, a former Siegel/Brazonite who broke with the faction in July of 2014 after telling them to “cut the crap” and calling for Margy Wilkinson’s removal as board chair.
Continue reading Witch Hunts Redux →

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Two Lawsuits And A Judgment

April 3, 2016 Pacifica In Exile Leave a comment

Berkeley-It was a busy week for the Pacifica Foundation in the New York court system as two new lawsuits were filed against the radio network, a judgment was entered and a complaint was temporarily withdrawn. On April 7th, a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) will be heard In New York City to restore voting rights for WBAI’s PNB delegation and seat elected staff delegate Kathryn Davis. The complaint can be seen here. Continue reading Two Lawsuits And A Judgment →

Audio

Kicking The Can

Audio March 19, 2016 Pacifica In Exile Leave a comment

This is a highlights reel from the Pacifica national board meeting of 3/17. It’s a bit lengthy, but easier to absorb than the full 3 hour meeting.

It begins with the board mandating an “email election” to resolve the mess caused by the board’s determination to seat the last place finisher from an election 3 and a half years ago on WBAI’s local board. The board’s interference gives the Siegel/Brazon majority a 50% plurality by refusing the seat the independent candidate who won the seat in the 2015 election.

Independent rep Bill Crosier observes he was disconnected and kept off the call for a 14 minute interval despite calling in 4 times for reinstatement. Crosier finally emailed a public list-serv protesting he was being kept off the call to force his re-admission to the conference call.

The board passed the “WBAI email election” initiative.

Humorously, the board secretary then tried to announce the results of another “email election” done for a national committee and could only produce one winner for the two seats available (the one from the Siegel/Brazon faction). Not a good testimony to the efficacy of “email elections”.

Then the board turned to the financial crisis and the dissolution motions passed on Tuesday at the National finance committee. The meeting broke into dissension with Siegel/Brazonite Jose Luis Fuentes breaking with board treasurer Brian Edwards-Tiekert over Pacifica’s failures to complete audited financial statements and attempting to send the dissolution motions and all the draft budgets back to the finance committee. He almost succeeded, losing due to one vote changed at the last minute.

Fuentes and chair Tony Norman then got into a conflict over whether Pacifica’s management letters from their auditors are confidential or not. (They always have been considered so and since the board has now decided they are not, they may be publicly released in short order).

Finally the clip contains the votes to a) refer the dissolution motions and budgets back to committee (i.e. reject them), which was narrowly defeated and b) the motion to require a plan for the DC station including liquidation or sale, which passed narrowly on a 6-5 vote with multiple abstentions.

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