Save WBAI!
Partner with Manhattan Neighborhood Network!
Urgent Community Meeting
Sat., Feb. 10 3 – 6 PM
MNN’s Firehouse Studio
175 E. 104th St.
(bet. Lex. & 3rd Aves.), East Harlem
WBAI and the Pacifica Network have been in serious financial decline for some time.In October, a New York court found that Pacifica – which means all 5 of its stations – must pay a $1.8 million debt to the Empire State Building due to making only partial rent payments for housing WBAI’s transmitter. Faced with this, some Pacifica National Board members have called for destructive solutions like:
- Swapping WBAI’s powerful signal at 99.5 for a much weaker one, costing half our listening range in exchange for millions in cash,
- Shutting down our station and piping in out of state programming, or
- Having Pacifica file for bankruptcy and allowing federal appointees to decide our fate.
Other Board members fought back against those devastating proposals. The Pacifica Board has now authorized a loan to cover the amount of the court judgment, but that just “kicks the can down the road.”What if we told you that you could continue to hear programming you value, staff could operate in a state-of-the-art studio with a fixed transmitter, radio shows could be simulcast on TV, WBAI could be relieved of that $60,000 monthly Empire State Building rent, and fund drives could be greatly shortened?
Sounds too good to be true? It’s not!
This could happen if WBAI formed a partnership with the nonprofit Manhattan Neighborhood Network or MNN. MNN’s proposed partnership would also:
- Allow WBAI to continue broadcasting at 99.5 FM
- Infuse money to prime-time shows to build production capacity
- Provide multi-session trainings for all WBAI producers in everything from social media promotions to making documentaries
- Provide support for serious off-air fundraising for WBAI
- Create a mechanism for sharing WBAI’s TV programs with other public-access stations throughout the tri-state region and around the country.
Your support can help make all this happen. To learn more, come out with producers and other listeners for this important community meeting.
For more information, including a summary of MNN’s proposal, visit savewbai.org
Sponsor: Coalition to Save WBAI
(not an official WBAI event)
