Things on my mind  (4/13/01),
by a Pacifica listener.
 

I.  How can we get hold of the membership list? the list of subscribers is key to structuring a democratic Pacifica with listener input.  Is this a legal question?  Is one or more of the lawsuits demanding access to this list? If not, how can we?

II.  I favor the boycott, because it is the only referendum listeners have to voice our disapproval of the firings and bannings, removal of favorite programs, agenda-drive remake of our stations (with the possible exception of KPFA).  The Pacifica board must resign, for a start.  I support the lawsuits.  I think we should start a FOIA suit to identify all government activity in Pacifica.

III.  Listener empowerment, free speech, workers rights.  Any democratic process in Pacifica must include producers as well as listeners.  Their rights as workers and their free speech rights should be defended.  However, my gut tells me that many producers enjoy the status and privilege and the feeling of being "in" and don't want encroachment on their turf by listeners and in many cases don't want to hear from the listeners.  So that the airwaves can be closed to listeners by producers under "normal" conditions and by "gag rule" in crisis periods like we're in now.  In New York, a big part of the problem is that producers in the station and listeners outside the station perceive the situation so differently.  The internet message boards are the only place I know of where the two mingle/clash.

One obvious way to open the radio station to listeners' voices is to expand WBAI to the internet.  WNYC (the NPR affiliate in NYC) has several sites where producers and listeners interact (wnyc.org/soapbox).  Can't WBAI do even better?  There should be a regular "Listeners Report to the Station," that includes the (democratically elected) LAB and grassroots listeners.  If WBAI ran a "free speech" mega website, listeners could partly produce this and other programming right on the web.  A strong connection to the IndyMedia centers, as Amy Goodman developed during the Battle of Seattle, is crucial as well to bring in aspiring webcasters/broadcasters/voices from the grassroots.  I would like to hear discussion on the educational component of Pacifica's mission.

Meantime, see you on the Bridge, 4/28.