by The Editors
More than a year after a new board majority assumed control of WBAI-FM, Pacifica’s New York radio station, the losing side in what they called “the coup” has set up shop on the Internet. Within two months, the “exiles” of WBAIX hope to offer “a 24-7 broadcast grid of programs.”
WBAIX Launches Daily Programming on the Net
by The Editors
“White asserts that the majority that came to power on the board of directors last year are seeking a whiter and more affluent audience for the station.”
The side that lost the battle for control of New York’s Pacifica-owned radio outlet WBAI-FM has a new home on the Internet. WBAIX – the “X” stands for “in exile” – begins operations July 1 with original programming from 6:00am to noon, to be “looped” to run throughout the 24-hour cycle. “The first three hours will be a morning program that is essentially the old Wake Up Call with new content added, some international news,” said Don DeBar, who produced the morning news before being terminated by Pacifica in June of last year. “Then, from 10:00am to noon, we’re working on some ideas with some former producers at WBAI – and one who’s still a producer at WBAI.” The biggest difference, said DeBar, will be that Bernard White, the former WBAI program director, “will have a free hand.”
The new venture is designed to fill what White calls “a vacuum that has been created by WBAI’s decision to abandon their traditional role in allowing the community to come forward and present issues.” White asserts that the majority that came to power on the board of directors last year are seeking a whiter and more affluent audience for the station. “They are going to make an appeal to a broad cross-section of the white population, because that’s where they believe the money is,” he said. “They believe this group has money and is more capable of supporting the radio station.”
“Everybody is working as volunteers, and the streaming is free.”
As an example of the shift in emphasis, White cited last week’s press conference announcing the founding of the Freedom Party, an independent, Black-led political party. “I was there,” said White. “I saw nobody there from WBAI. This is amazing. This is an important historical event that has the possibility of challenging the Democratic Party and the hegemony that the two party system has in this town.”
How will WBAIX sustain itself? The streaming service is free, and so are the personnel. “Everybody that we have working, and it’s a handful now, mostly from WBAI, are working as volunteers, so there’s no overhead now,” said DeBar, who anticipates the “exiles” will launch a talk-variety show in the 3:00pm – 6:00pm slot, and an evening news program. “We hope that within about two months, by the beginning of September, we’ll be doing a 24-7 broadcast grid of programs.”
Don DeBar and the WBAIX team can be contacted at WBAIX@yahoo.com, or 914.374.2475 or at don.debar on Skype. Visit WBAIX at http://www.livestream.com/wbaix.
This week’s featured author is Sami Schalk. Schalk is Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Her book is Black Disability Politics.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is the soft power arm of the CIA. Its operations in Haiti have played a large role in undermining sovereignty.
The recording of racist remarks by Los Angeles politicians is the tip of a neo-liberal iceberg of political corruption, and the Black political class are of no use to their constituents.
The conflict between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF has been marked by a well coordinated disinformation campaign. The effectiveness of that campaign should not forgotten, even as the parties…
The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #42 focuses on the role of AFRICOM in creating coups across the continent and speaks with Ameth Lô, who is a member of the Group for Research and…
