System/Policy
Pacifica considers appeal of decision that restored WBAI to the air
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A New York state judge ruled last week that local hosts and producers could resume their shows.
Current (https://current.org/tag/wbai/)
A New York state judge ruled last week that local hosts and producers could resume their shows.
The order prevents Pacifica from firing WBAI’s staff or interfering with the station’s programming and “orderly administration.”
Covering WBAI’s persistent shortfalls was “endangering the entire Foundation,” according to a board member.
“I have to ask my friends for help so I can keep on working and … producing,” says the man known as the “sage of independent producers.”
“This is incredibly painful, despite all their efforts to make the decision easier,” said host Jay Smooth.
The foundation is also in the “final stages” of relocating the transmitter for WBAI in New York City.
The Empire State Realty Trust sued Pacifica and WBAI over unpaid transmitter rent.
Pacifica has been “chronically late” on payments, according to the Empire State Realty Trust.
The reel-to-reel tapes preserve “a moment in broadcasting that might not come again — when an individual producer got to make the selections without having to get the suits to OK it.”