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WBAI updates?

B

BarryATL

Years ago the main reason I started following the NYC forum was the ongoing drama at WBAI. It seems everything has been radio silent for a few months. Have they solved their financial problems? Did the foundation that has the license ever get operational control of the station? Is the staff still fighting with themselves?
 
WBAI is still there.

I haven't listened lately (they lost me with those pill programs they were pushing a number of years ago. If they're still doing that, that the end of WBAI for me. I tune to stations like WBAI to get away from that garbage.)
 
lanceventa said:
You don't hear much because the people who documented much of it have all died as they were already well into their 70s during the drama.
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I was a regular reader of former WBAI GM Chris Albertson's blog, which was highly entertaining and enlightening. Unfortunately, the steady flow of insider information mostly stopped after he passed away in 2019.

The WBAI Treasurer's Reports were still being published by R. Paul Martin, at least up until November 2025. I don't know why he hasn't published any more since then. At that time, he wrote:
We have $25,000 on hand and we just made payroll.
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In the report dated September 10, 2025, he wrote:
At the August 20, 2025, local Finance Committee meeting the interim General Manager told the committee that WBAI had about $65,000 cash in bank and about $4,700 in PayPal. He said that the station had just made a payment to 4 Times Square due to the generosity of a Major Donor and that the station was only one month behind on the Tower Rent.
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Treasurer's Reports

glib.com glib.com

lanceventa said:
The Pacifica Foundation ALWAYS had the license. The issue is there were multiple factions within the foundation battling for control.
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You say that that as if it's in the past tense. Are they all getting along now? I haven't kept up.
 
lanceventa said:
You don't hear much because the people who documented much of it have all died as they were already well into their 70s during the drama.
Click to expand...
Guess they weren't taking the "supplements" they were hawking? Or did they get tossed out of the station because their hearing aids were causing transmitter interference? You get too many of those in one room there could be an implosion/explosion and eardrum loss.
 
Yabadabado1 said:
Guess they weren't taking the "supplements" they were hawking? Or did they get tossed out of the station because their hearing aids were causing transmitter interference? You get too many of those in one room there could be an implosion/explosion and eardrum loss.
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I thought they was an official complaint to the FCC a few years about about selling the supplements. I guess nothing came of that.
 
Just wondering if ,and that's a big if, WNED goes commercial, during the next financial crisis for WBIA, will they go the same route and put their stuff on the Internet? It costs a lot less to run several streams than pay tower rent in NYC. What would a New York signal LMA for?
 
secondchoice said:
Just wondering if ,and that's a big if, WNED goes commercial, during the next financial crisis for WBIA, will they go the same route and put their stuff on the Internet? It costs a lot less to run several streams than pay tower rent in NYC. What would a New York signal LMA for?
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This comes up all the time, and while they already stream, they believe retaining the FM signal is core to their mission. It's something the local staff has fought for. The Pacifica foundation tried to do that about 5 years ago, and the local staff sued them. So it's not a consideration at all for them.

In the meantime, Emmis is trying to sell it's full market FM station at 98.7 right now, so if anyone wants to buy or LMA a signal in NYC, it's available. In fact it's been on the market for two years. The demand is not what you think it is.
 


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