Many loyal people who have long worked and dedicated too many hours and efforts to Pacifica, KPFK or any of the other radio stations also, have expressed their dismay and concerns about the latest ' bad news' - the NYC radio station owes a huge debt to it's landowner and who all ends up PAYING the bills if WBAI in NYC cannot pay is still not clarified....at least not to us.
Some have written their thoughts, questions, concerns and there are quotes, mostly edited and selected to address the issue [and avoiding personal identifications or rants read too].
A few interesting tid bits are included below, for sharing information that may affect all / any KPFK donors / stakeholders too. That may be costly and unexpected, especially when KPFK staff repeatedly Claim loudly that they are on the verge of...........[you've surely heard it repeatedly....]
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
from a Questionner re WBAI debt –
"I still dont know how much KPFK will owe on that debt from way across the continent? "
".... and the * secrecy* surrounding it for several years, *obscured* the scale of the problem. By the time the lawsuit was filed.... , it was too late. .... the law does not often protect from the consequences of poor decisions, and it did not do so in this case. But Pacifica is in the position that its assets are larger than its debts.... . 4 real estate properties in 3 different cities total at least $10 million dollars in value and 5 major market broadcast licenses represent at least $150 million....... “
[ while each stations claims destitution, being so poor and 'sky is falling' continually and at least 4x/ yr each ? huh ? ]
another knowingly wrote: ........" Any proposed broadcast license transfers would be subject to a .... vote by the network's donors, in addition to the governance board. The summary judgment, if not paid, would open the Foundation to eventual collection efforts, which could take the form of bank account sweeps or real estate liens, so action will have to be taken fairly soon to avoid that. ....."
and the former continues : [so when have any DONORS been notified, informed, asked to vote on anything of essence at Pacifica or KPFK even ? ever ? How does that work - do they go back how far, how many years? how big a donation counts for a say ? who decides what are parameters set to insure that they get the vote-results they want... just as data-stats areoften formulated around carefully calculated perimeters to get to the preferred # and msg the statics-quoter wants to present- mostly biased but with their hidden methodology , of course ]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
More has been written re WBAI lawsuit - imagining how to pay for Empire State Bldg for renting the transmission tower there. The basic are this:
“Total defeat for Pacifica. Judge granted Summary Judgment of, I think, $1.8 million, to ESB. Rejected our "unconsionable" argument.”
A reporter wrote in Sept: RE WBAI - and she is usually correct and reporting mostly ‘facts’ - so ABOUT: what happens if NY debts then affects all 4 stations too, Is there a financial sybiosis [?] are all stations being $$$ tied together ? or stuck with each others’ problems that then spill over easily…? do they ?
“For clarity. WBAI did not sign the 2005 lease agreement with the Empire State Building. Pacifica did. WBAI moved their transmitter to the Empire State Building in 1960 and has paid rent to that propertyy for half a century. In 2004-2005, a lease expired and the renegotiation was impacted by the dramatic loss of tower rental space elsewhere in the NY Area after the destruction of the World Trade Center.
At that time, neither 4 Times Square nor the Jersey skyline had the tall buildings and tower capacity they have now, so the market was essentially a monopoly for full range radio broadcasting.
"Empire State took full advantage and tried to sign as many of their existing clients as they could to long-term licenses with very large annual rent increases that would not make any sense in a competitive market. That is how supply and demand works, not to the buyers advantage when there is no other supply. There was no other deal to turn down.
"The negotiations were handled by ...but felt that any other option which would have severely reduced WBAI's signal was at that time a severe economic threat to Pacifica, as WBAI at that time accounted for $3.5 million in annual revenue - 22% of Pacifica's total - including it's largest CPB grant.
"..... believed or hoped that either Pacifica would grow enough in the ensuing decade that the increased expense would become affordable or that the addition of competition to the tower market in the coming years would result in the lease being adjusted by the landlord. Neither of those two things occurred and WBAI became weaker over the years, not stronger.
Pacifica did try to move to another tower location. It didn't seem to be a priority until the 2009-2010 period, but I worked on it quite a bit in 2011-2012 and and eventually there was an offer to move the transmitter to 4 Times Square at 1/4 the rent and financing assistance for a transmitter replacement. Pacifica has been unable to execute on that much better option for the past four years because the existing lease does not expire until 2020 and the Empire State Building has not been willing to let Pacifica leave early. I pointed out for several years that the lease allowed for subletting the space, but no one acted on it. After more competition came online, there were not too many other customers for a sublet transmitter space costing 4 times the market value. ....[maybe] but it was the only way out of the lease....., and it did not materialize.
"It's better to be reality-based in what you say. “
A repy partly said:
"But simplistic “you broke it now pay for it” sermonizing will not address the issue..: this is a contract, and must be re-negotiated to take into account the reduced circumstances of one of the parties. Stop trying to make it into a religious cause. ..."
And another contradicted & wrote:
"....WBAI did NOT rent the ESB space in 1960 ! We had our antenna hookup on a rooftop in midtown (a much lower building, a less powerful transmitter). I made the decision and worked with the FCC (and an out-of-state station on the same frequency) so my knowledge is first hand. I don’t know where you got your information on this, but you had better check them out. I’m not even sure that the ESB had installed their multi-antenna system in 1960. We were among the first stations to sign up.... "
also other writings said:
"We have to suddenly do things differently if we are to survive ‘the fundamental and not paid attention issue to deal with is why the amount of people listening per hour declined steadily for over twenty years at WBAI and frankly every other Pacifica station….
NO avoid dealing with the implications of what that means.;.... a sudden end to all the obstacles of experimentation and augmentation to the existing grid must happen...the existing grid is at present incapable of making anything beyond the amount of money it has generated for the past few years not only because of premiums issues but more importantly impact issues...it no longer has large amounts of people listening...trying to get more money is exhausting .
"We need to reinvent and revolutionize what we are doing..that has been needed for years with a different tone, content and excitement we would be able to attract people with money to help....We do need immediately a practical means of audience involvement..."
More pertinent quotes here about clarifying how Pacifica's bylaws are used, to elucidate some more about who pays whose debts, like WBAI's current ones :
“ PNB has authority to interpret the Foundation's bylaws where they are ambiguous, and no such authority where they are not ambiguous. …..he Pacifica Foundation owns all five radio stations and is ultimately responsible for all station debts.... The law does not recognize the individual Pacifica stations as distinct financial entities.... some months ago tens of thousands of dollars were seized from a KPFK bank account to satisfy or partially satisfy a court judgement awarding attorney fees for a case involving WBAI. For internal accounting purposes, KPFK has probably billed WBAI for reimbursement, but WBAI is unlikely to ever pay that bill…
"In practice, a dispute on bylaws interpretation typically won't be brought to the Board's attention unless a Board Member raises a Point of Order claiming that bylaws are being misinterpreted....[ paragraph 2] make inconsistent rulings to the advantage of whichever faction has a majority when an individual case is presented…Most attempts at bylaws amendment in Pacifica fail to received approval,… bylaws do not identify the Parliamentarian as an officer on the national or local boards, and the Rules say that the only officers allowed are those specified in the bylaws...(so are ) are advisory only.... ..
Repeating of Questions needing factual information - here noted:
"...how are any/ all of the other 4 radio stations financially liable for any 1's failure, debts, misfortunes, or bad decisions? Is that written down in by laws or elsewhere ? what are the factual obligations ? and who pays ? has this happened before too , historically?
"Q 2. Who is ultimately responsible for supervising the managements/ head staff at any and all radio stations? [ instead of a large disparate group: called PNB? ] Does anyone actually have any enforcement power ? and allowed to use it when needed? like if: strange attitudes/ behaviors repeatedly are noticed by many who are involved & concerned...and also: who recommends or authorizes any kind of Reliable Evaluation on that person ? Or asks for drug testing ? or insures that everyone else involved at that station or other ones are not then left to pick up pieces strewn around ?
"Q 3. The interesting part of this group's writers are the very different styles, views, opinions, historical references about themselves and even bits of rants. But what is honest-trustworthy-reliable actual-Information here ? How to sort thru the many 'voices' shouting, a few more politely than others, but everyone demanding to be "right" .. so asking: how to sort out what is believable finally ? It gets confusing... or is that how
'it is suppose to be" ? and admittedly, this all also is fascinating....
we need to learn so much ..."
“do they have a fiduciary to the member //listener to ----- answer to ------ right now any hired and elected official can be personal sued ,,, for the liability coverage has elapsed and not sure ? ..[and more. ] "
- - - - - - - -
Any actual solutions as to who/ how/ what and when the monies owed by a NYC radio station are to come from any other radio stations across the USA has not been clarified to those who are not part of the inner circles of the Pacifica Nat'l Board nor from the interim Executive Director's words - yet.
The local worries and concerns about "KPFK is going to...." fail or go bankrupt or whatever implications can be made from all the fund-drives, money-grubbing claims of being on an edge or soon-to-be-extinct give rise to Questions not yet revealed.
"The KPFK public", just like "the American People " are not actually given full or actual/ factual information, only repeatedly asked to believe-all-we-say and pay-up, in IRS / state taxes or in station-donations. Same attitude prevails.
Those who pay $$$ are EXPECTED to comply and generously and on-time, repeatedly. Those who know what else is going on inside [the govt, the US treasury, the KPFK budget or financial status or even how it is being managed] is not revealed. It is a SECRET, of course.
That is also the sign of all dysfunctional families, communities, nations and even the UN or other more broad organizations all play the same routine blithely.
An educational & older book that spoke relevantly to some of these systemic [organizational] dysfunctions are also here:
please see amazon site for book cover image = not able to copy, after all. sorry.
https://www.amazon.com/Society-Becomes-Addict-Wilson-Schaef/dp/0062548549
(c) mj 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please share your comments or concerns clearly, concisely and courteously here. No cursing, venting, raging or trolling [bullying, hating, mean attacks et al ] allowed. These comments can inform and the rest of us and; who care about improving KPFK.Plse Use your best word skills to communicate and be informative or questioning or making yourself helpful & understood. thank youl