On Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 6:30 PM, the WBAI Local Station Board (LSB) will meet at:

MLK, Jr. Labor Center of SEIU/1199
310 West 43rd Street -- btw 8th & 9th Ave
Manhattan

Trains: A,C, or E to 42nd Street/Port Authority or Nos. 1,2 or 3 to 42nd Street/Times Square and walk 1 block west.

There will be 3 meetings:

1. LSB members are called "Delegates" for particular functions, and under that label will vote on 4 minor proposed bylaw changes approved by the Pacifica National Board.

2. As board members, they will elect officers for 2012 and conduct certain other business.

3.  In a closed session that may follow the open meeting, there is expected to be a report from a group of people known as the Management Search Committee who are in the last stages of a search for candidates for permanent Program Director. A group by this name was elected more than 2 years ago after the Chair's unilateral exclusion of certain candidates.

The group has long fallen out of compliance with the motion that created and has "gone rogue": making its own rules, expelling members for absences at meetings for which they received no notice, and failing to report to the board.

The previous fruit of this poisoned tree was a 13-person report from a 12-person committee making a recommendation for general manager.

Pacifica's Executive Director chose a team member of the board majority who lacks broadcast and management experience, and who last year oversaw a brutal distortion of the program schedule without required worker consultation where shows of many political opponents were slashed, shrunk, or moved to off-off-hours.

Please come out to the meeting to see what they're doing in your name, to share your vision and concerns during the Public Comment period, and to wish Bernard White a happy birthday!

As you may know, WBAI radio, 99.5 FM, has been a voice for the voiceless in the tri-state area for decades. The station has been on the forefront of covering the most important progressive issues affecting our city. Sadly, the station has undergone dramatic changes, and is losing much of its democratic process. And the problem is not just local.

The Pacifica Network, of which WBAI is a part, is experiencing conservative changes broadly, with programmers of color being fired, progressive news curtailed or trimmed, and many beloved programs removed. Here’s a brief update: