If Pacifica dies, will "Democracy Now" follow?

[FM 100 Means Music]

I know that Democracy Now is technically a "spin-off" and supposedly independent of Pacifica, but they still do receive a lot of funding from Pacifica, so I just want to make sure that if Pacifica goes Chapter 7, that Democracy Now will follow suit and shut down operations.

 

[amfmxm]

Well, we've kind of talked through a number of scenarios.

We know that in the real world, Pacifica is sitting on a couple of Top 5 market commercial Class B FM stations worth way more than noted on their P&L. (Selling WBAI would be painful, but $50 million hitting the bank account would be a serious cure).

Or, maybe they need to go through bankruptcy--the legal procedure--in order to reorganize, and shake loose the deadwood. But as any Wall Street trader can tell you, going bankrupt doesn't have to impact your lifestyle!

Amy should be fine.

 

[uncamark]

Amy should be fine.

She's probably concerned about where she'll end up in Pacifica's markets--by and large, the public radio establishment finds her grating and her program poorly produced and too much advocacy, with none of that "sound-rich" quality NPR loves. There's no way in hell WNYC, WAMU, KPCC, KCRW, KUHF or KQED is going to pick her up (although KALW might and WFMU could, as they did during her brief 2001 split from Pacifica, when the show was called "Democracy Now! in Exile"--although they can't air her live at 8 a.m. because of the "Jewish Moments in the Morning" show). I don't how many commercial progtalkers who want to give up revenue to air her show (even though that's happening in Chicago and some other markets) or if she'll accept lower-powered college stations as replacements.

 

[ProducerGuy]

They'll figure out some scheme to keep going.

 

[TheBigA]

Or, maybe they need to go through bankruptcy--the legal procedure--in order to reorganize, and shake loose the deadwood.

We've gone through this on the NYC board. They don't have any serious debts. Pacifica actually had a $300K surplus last year. So I don't see bankruptcy as a serious solution.

They have management problems. They have fundraising problems. They have programming problems. But I don't see any of these as being so big that they can't be overcome. Pacifica runs 5 major market stations with $14 million. That's pretty cheap.

As far as DN, the show is carried by about 109 stations, including the 5 Pacifica stations. The show has a half million dollar budget, and it appears to be meeting it somehow. Perhaps Pacifica can learn something about marketing from DN.

 

[uncamark]

As far as DN, the show is carried by about 109 stations, including the 5 Pacifica stations. The show has a half million dollar budget, and it appears to be meeting it somehow. Perhaps Pacifica can learn something about marketing from DN.

Interesting that you say 109, while Goodman likes to say "over 1,200 stations around the world, including community, NPR, college, low-power and public access stations, and on DirecTV..." I assume she's counting Internet, pirate stations and the outlets for the TV version.

Anyway, for comparison's sake:

http://www.democracynow.org/stations