This Listener is on it

A thoughtful listener is on this issue as her comments so indicate. Now is the time , more than ever for listeners, supporters and all who say you are interested, to be vigilant, to question, and continue to connect the dots! You, as the stations’ member supporters hold the key, and must be prepared to insist on accountability from everyone who represents themselves as an interested party.

SARAH MARSHALL’s comments are incisive, telling, and questioning with the razors edge of skepticism that we must maintain each step of the way, until WPFW is rid of the poison that has weakened it for years. Eyes on the prize. Aluta Continua….

“I appreciate that ms. price is on the scene to hopefully keep Wpfw afloat, however we must not rest on our laurels & assume all will stay the course w/out our constant attention & oversight. For example, will the programming be restored before, after or during the move? Will jazz be played in the mornings again? ever? these are serious questions that must be answered. The real elephant in the room: JOHN HUGHES. When is his termination final? Summer Reese is holding that bag.”

THIS IS YOUR STATION!   WHOSE STATION?   OUR STATION!

May 25th.

Tuesday’s hearing in Landlord & Tenant court has resulted in a different and final date in which the station must vacate its current premises. We had been told of a later date at the recent town hall last Thursday (18th), however, May 25th, a Saturday, is the drop dead date for WPFW on Champlain Street.

Adjusting for this earlier date also necessitates the earlier moving of its scheduled pledge drive to now begin May 5th and according to our sources, the drive will go through the 25th! 

Questions regarding the relocation are being handled by Michelle Price at the station. Ms. Price has been brought in as a move consultant, by interim Executive Director, Summer Reese. Ms. Price is in charge of relocating the station. She has effectively freed the station from the dual grip of indecision, and lack of leadership. Members of CMS (Concerned Members and Supporters) and UCSPB (United Committee to Save Public Broadcasting have indicated that there is a noticeable improvement in activity to prepare the station for its move. Price’s leadership  has been, to paraphrase several observers  “…a breath of fresh air.”

More to come…

Friday, April 12th in Judge’s chambers.

The United Committee to Save Public Broadcasting filed a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop the sublease with Clear Channel from going forward. There was a hearing in Judge Geoffrey Alprin’s chambers, Friday morning (12th). The Judge did not issue the TRO, but did agree to the plaintiff’s motion for a hearing on a Preliminary Injunction, which is slated for April 26th.

 

The Plaintiffs (Jared Ball, Robert Daughtry, Salih Latif, and Thomas Porter) were out to stop the imminent execution of the lease, which has been teetering on the edge of completion for months. They have as an additional, and equally important goal, the full disclosure of the truth about the sublease, and how it came to be. There have been violations of the stations own bylaws pursuant to disclosure of the sublease, and illegal secrecy regarding its terms and all manner of obfuscation (e.g. with the other LSB members) and all this in the guise of so-called ‘confidentiality.’

 

Summer Reese, the interim Executive Director of Pacifica appeared without counsel. She indicated in response to Judge Alprin that she had “concerns” (about the sublease) and subsequently conceded that she ”regretted” signing the sublease. Reese, responding to the Judge stated that the Foundations’ name had been appropriated during a period when the corporate status of the Foundation was not in good standing. According to Reese this was due to a lapse by her predecessor(s). She stated that the organization is now chartered as Pacifica Foundation Radio, which for now seemed to satisfy the judge’s questions about the sublease’s validity. Reese seemed to indicate that it is “unlikely” that the Clear Channel deal will go forward. Further, she stated in supporting that statement, that she was “pursuing other options in DC,” but she did not elaborate.

 

Consider this part one – More to come………

Regarding Clear Channel

1)     From Louis Wolf on Clear Channel:

Ten Reasons (And More) Why WPFW Cannot Sublet from Clear Channel

1. Clear Channel’s 1,200 radio stations and 40 TV. outlets are avowedly conservative and pro war – WPFW is founded on the principles of pacifism. Founder Lew Hill refused to serve in the military during WWII. Hill would be turning over in his grave if the network he founded was funneling money to Clear Channel.

2. Ultra-right wing talk radio hosts infamous for their homophobic, sexist, xenophobic, racist political rants find a cozy home on Clear Channel stations nationwide. It’s a ‘Who’s Who’ of rabid prominent conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Glenn Beck.

3. Clear Channel was purchased by the infamous Bain Capital (Mitt Romney’s former company) in 2012 and due to its’ highly controversial status was forced to be converted to a private company.

4. WPFW, the jazz and justice station is founded on the principles of free speech and cultural diversity in programming whereas Clear Channel issued a memo in 2001 after the September 11th attacks banning a list of songs termed as ‘lyrically questionable’ including songs like Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin on Heaven’s Door’ and Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World.’

5. When Dixie Chick Natalie Maines criticized President George W. Bush for leading the country to war, saying she was ashamed the president was from Texas, Clear Channel vilified the group, put their music on a ‘blacklist’ not to be played and held cd stompings of their music. WPFW practices free speech, and disavows censorship.

6. Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, a mother who launched a one woman protest in front of the White House when her son was killed in Iraq, produced a paid ad against the war, and the Clear Channel TV. station KTVX was the only station nationwide that refused to air it! Meanwhile WPFW presented Cindy Sheehan with the ‘Unvarnished Truth Award’ for her heroism.

7. A Clear Channel station in Cincinnati practices open disdain for the least fortunate members of society. They hosted a so-called ‘Derelict Rodeo Roundup’ in which employees gave homeless people a $20 bill, a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor and a bus ticket to the edge of town.

8. They show equal disdain for peace activists – Madison, Wisconsin’s Clear Channel Fox TV affiliate host Mark Hyman calls peace activists ‘whack jobs,’ progressives ‘the loony left’ and the so-called liberal media’ the hate America crowd’ or ‘the Axis of Drivel.’

9. A Clear Channel disc jockey in Denver suggested that Iraq war opponent and then Vermont Governor Howard Dean ‘should be shot’.

10. Long time progressive activist and KPFA radio talk show host ‘Davey D’ was fired from KMEL allegedly for airing voices that opposed the war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Clear Channel is facing a rapidly growing number of legal challenges, Congressional hearings, investigations and targeted campaigns by a variety of unions. U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has introduced a bill targeting the conglomerate’s brutal domination of the radio and concert industry and its rapidly gaining public and congressional support

***Clear Channel’s hate radio model is in direct contradiction to WPFW’s mission ‘to provide outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community, to contribute to a lasting understanding between individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors, and to promote the full distribution of public information.’

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In addition to being morally repugnant, any financial relationship or collaboration between WPFW and Clear Channel would be wholly antithetical to the letter and spirit of the Pacifica mission, its’ bylaws and the Articles of Incorporation.

This says it all!

1)   From Jared Ball, on his Friday Show:

“The issue, for me, is less the move to CC, or the specifics of that legal/political relationship.  The issue is the process that brought us here, the secrecy involved, the wasted time, the rushed pressure imposed, the blame of the community for its relative lack of clarity, the previously existing list of issues raised in a no confidence vote against Hughes, the narrow reactionary circle of PNJ’s (Pete Tucker, Tony Norman, John Hughes) sway over this and their related PR campaign against the people with false claims of unity and family, the liberalization and whitening of the station and network, the colonial relationship we have with Pacifica, the political direction of our programmers and the future role this station is to play in fostering radical thought and organization.”

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