General Manager Don Rojas, Program Director Bernard White, Interim Public Affairs Director Kathy Davis, Arts Director Matthew Finch, Operations Director Max Schmid, Outreach Coordinators Ursula Rudenberg and Bokeem, and Web Site Editor Bob Lederer
Updates on WBAI's special war coverage, and various reports on all the exciting ways WBAI is growing.
Don Rojas: Over the past 2 weeks we have been broadcasting a daily package of special war programming featuring expanded international newscasts at the top of the hour, national programming from the Pacifica network, and locally-based discussion and debate programs . This modified programming schedule will continue through April 12th.
In the coming days more time will be allotted in the special war programing schedule for our listeners to call in and express themselves over the air.
We are delighted to report on the huge success of the March 27th anti-war rally that WBAI co-sponsored with the historic Riverside Church. This 4-hour event was broadcast live over WBAI, and featured peace-loving celebrities along with many activists, artists and religious leadersm who spoke out eloquently and passionately against this illegal and immoral war in Iraq. Some 4000 packed into the huge church. Listeners will be able to purchase a 4-hour video documentary or a 2-hour edited cd-rom of the Riverside event on the web site, as well as a 90-minute video documentary of the Feb 15 peace demonstratins in New York and San Francisco. The proceeds will go towards deferring expenses for our expanded war coverage
In the weeks and months ahead the station will be involved in other peace and justice events in partnership with major institutions around the tri-state area, and our intention is to broadcast those events live.
At the Riverdside rally I announced the launch of a million-listener campaign for WBAI - an ambitions effort to quadruple the station's listener base over the next 18-24 months. I do believe that this lofty goal is achievable if all the members of the WBAI family become actively involved in the campaign. This is a "big tent" project so-to-speak - that all the constituent elements of the WBAI community can unite around. In the past 2 months thousands of listeners have joined the WBAI ranks but there are still hundreds of thousands more who need to hear what this station has to offer, who deserve to listen to an alternative and independent voice. At a time when mainstream media is discrediting itself with its cheerleading role in the war, WBAI has an historic opportunity, and I would argue an obligation, to significantly broaden its listener base, and to strengthen its role as a fearless voice for peace and justice. I'm appealing to each of you to do your part by spreading the word far and wide about WBAI. Those who are not members of WBAI do not have to await for May. Simply go to the WBAI website and click on the button to sign up for WBAI membership. Send suggestions regarding the Million-Listener Campaign to info@wbai.org. We welcome those ideas
We are continuing with our project top upgrade the technical infrastructure in the news department, in the studios and in the offices at the station with the installation of computer workstations, servers and digital audio applications. The enhancement of our technical capabilities will also permit us to expand on our training programs for young radio journalists, audio engineers and content producers.
Soon we will be able to archive all our radio programs on the web site for up to 7 days.
We are now beginning the process of reviewing and interviewing the scores of applicants for the station jobs that have been posted. I'm pleased to report that in response to our appeals for more women and people of color, over 60 percent of the resumes on file are in those dempgraphic categories. We hope to complete this process in 4-6 weeks, and make the permanent hires by the beginning of June.
Bernard White: In our special war schedule we have pre-empted some programs in an attempt to provide another diet of information coming from sources that the mainstream media has not sought after. We've attempted to bring to you the voices of people who have much expertise in this area, and of people who are on the ground. Most media sources talk to people who are behind the guns - we talk to folks who are in front of the guns, people who are experiencing what is happening on the ground in Iraq, and we try to bring to you the untold part of the story that's not being given out to the public. We also try to bring you some of the history of the region as well as some of the connective tissue - other parts of that region that are also involved.
We have won several awards over the last year. Wakeup Call won a special merit award for a program called "Call the World: Journalists Under Fire", a Golden Reel award was won by Jeremy Scahill and Jackie Sewen for "Democracy Now Iraq Journal" , and Deepa Fernandez won an award for "East Timor Becomes Independent", Peter Bochan won a Silver Reel award for "Johnny Cash: All Mixed Up", Terry Wilson and the Midnight Ravers along with Henry Eckleson and Shawn Rhodes won an award for "Fade to Black", and an award was won for the radio drama special "What Light from Darkness Grows" with Jeannine Carter, Erika Gould and Felisha Rashad.
Program proposals are still coming in. if you're interested in doing a program at WBAI, send in a 1-page proposal describing the program you'd like to do and we will pass it on to the Program Council, to see if we can accomodate you. As you all know it's a very long line and we have only 168 hours a week, so it's difficult, but people manage to work their way in, so hopefully if you submit something that looks good ,it will get to the air.
Matthew Finch: We've been bringing artistic voices to the fore on issues of war and peace. We're looking to do some very special projects in the next few weeks, talking to some veteran broadcasters - beloved voices who you have not heard on this air in quite some time.
Currently we're trying to revive our tradition of new voices, and not just in music. The expolosion of poetry on these airwaves has been glorious. This is national poetry month, and we should do this every year. We shouldn't wait for a war to let the poets speak.
Max Schmid: There have been many technical advances. I can't count the number of new computers for editing and radio production and now we have to catch up in training the staff in the use of the new technology, so that is on going.
In regards to our streaming signal, we have had the good fortune of having the folks at 2600 with Emmanuel Goldstein provide our streaming. Right now it is limited in capacity, but we do have in place the computer to get many more nodes for streaming, so that we don't have to hear people complaining every day that they can't connect to our stream. We get calls from around the country and around the world - from people who are tuning into WBAI more and more for war coverage and just our good programming! So within a week we expect to have many more nodes of accessibility.
We're looking into some off-site space because we have a finite amount of space in the station, and as we hire new staff the place is becoming packed. We're looking for some new methods of utilizing space, both in and outside the station both for short-term use and for tape archiving - climate-controlled places where the material won't deteriorate.
We're investigating more in-house production of premiums such as cd-production, to save considerably on the amount it costs us to provide premiums.
We're looking for some help for Grayson Challenger - we need to hook up all our computers and get our studios functioning properly. Any qualified broadcast technicians out there can give Max a call.
And spring cleaning is coming to wbai as well, more on that as it happens!
Bob Lederer: I'm happy to report that the WBAI web site, which I'm temporary editor of, continues to grow by leaps and bounds. We have a wonderful team of people working on both the content and the technical end. It continues to expand, for listeners and for people who may not even know the station, but learn about us from what we offer on the web.
In recent weeks we added a whole section of peace links that enable listeners to get in touch with a range of anti-war organizations and news sources.
The entire WBAI web site is now updated once or twice daily. Frequent updates on upcoming programs and advance notice on special presentations with a focus on war programming and coverage of the anti-war movement.
We continue to build on the existing sections:
Daily news headlines and full-length articles from multiple alternative media from around the world.
A growing number of commentators have agreed to provide commentary for the web site.
A calendar of events - you can load your own event - it makes it easy to get your event out to the larger community.
A new feature is the photo galleries - there are several galleries up for anti-war demos, and soon there will be a gallery for the Riverside Church event. There's a wonderful essay written by a listener who was at that event that's already posted.
A call to volunteers - we need help with data entry, links to progressive orgs, calendar, photography, photo editing, news editors, community reporters, press release writers. To volunteer in any of those areas email Bob at editor@wbai.org That is also the place to send feedback or suggestions about the web site.
Sign up for a daily email newsletter that offers you a digest of what's going on at the website, at the radio station, and on programs. You will receive on a daily basis top headlines and notices of upcoming community events. Subscribe from the web site.
Outreach Coordinaters (Ursula and Bokeem) Fridays at BAI for Volunteers 120 Wall St, 10th Flr (take 2,3,4,5 to Wall St and walk towards the river) Come down to the radio station Friday evenings to participate to make banners, to stuff envelopes, socialize and meet new friends. At the first meeting we will be kicking off 3 volunteer teams: the leafletters and tablers, the special events crews amd the WBAI speakers bureau
Contact The Community Bulletin board if you want your event promoted on the air: cbd@wbai.org or fax it: 212-747-1698 attn community bulletin board
You can also promote your event on line at wbai.org
Inform the outreach office of protests and peace demos and we will pass it on to WBAI producers. Also call us at the outreach office to discuss planning a community forum in yor neighborhood or a grassroots meeting to inform your community about WBAI, or call to inform us of when you plan to hold a community event that we could send speakers or leafletters to .
Outreach Committee 212-209-2869 outreach@wbai.org
We're announcing our first T-Shirt contest All graphic artists send in your designs to WBAI 120 Wall St NY NY 10005 (1 or 2 color design must include the words WBAI Pacifica Radio 99.5FM Peace and Justice Radio) Deadline for the designs is April 21
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