Nov 15 2012
Pacifica Network Pulls Together for WBAI, NY
When Superstorm Sandy hit WBAI, it trapped seven of the station’s staff in studios on the 10th story of a building with seawater up to the second floor.
Today, the building’s wiring is still unusable, and the station’s facing a second disaster: because the storm knocked WBAI off the air in the middle of a fund drive, and the station has no way to resume fundraising, it faces the prospect of laying off its entire staff.
That’s why Pacifica, the non-commercial network that owns WBAI, is combining the signals of all its radio stations to broadcast a “nationwide emergency fundraiser” to save WBAI on Thursday, November 15th.
The network hopes to raise $150,000 to move WBAI into a temporary studio that the station can use to resume regular coverage and resume doing its own fundraising.
The national emergency fundraiser will include contributions from across the network including Uprising with Sonali Kolhatkar, and a special broadcast highlighting Superstorm Sandy coverage by Democracy Now!
Part of the Pacifica Network since 1960, WBAI pioneered the freeform radio format, served as a cornerstone of the counterculture, took precedent-setting free speech fights with the FCC all the way to the Supreme Court, has delivered cutting-edge coverage of generations of social and cultural movements, and helped launch the careers of some of America’s best-known broadcasters, from NPR’s Neal Conan, to RadioLab’s Jad Abumrad, to Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman.
For the Eton FR160 solar-powered radio thank you gift make a $150 pledge by calling 1-877-435-4386 ONLY on Thursday November 15, 2012.
You can also make donations of any amount online www.give2wbai.org.
One Response to “Pacifica Network Pulls Together for WBAI, NY”
a hundred fifity grand for a temp studio wah? something aint kosher here, we know sandy did damage not just to wbai, but it seems wbai is still doing damage to itself and to it’s listener’s by still missing the point. We want there wbai there in times of crisis, not on ftp sent taped shows. that is not going to cut it, and to now use the storm as an excuse to raise new money for newly discovered must needed funds wont fly with the listener’s either.