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{{short description|Pacifica Radio station in New York City}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=August 2020}}
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| owner = [[Pacifica Foundation]]
| licensee =
| webcast =
| website = {{URL|https://www.wbai.org}}
}}
'''WBAI''' (99.5 [[FM broadcasting|FM]]) is a
==History==
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In 1970, Kathy Dobkin, Milton Hoffman, and Francie Camper produced an unprecedented, critically acclaimed 4{{frac|1|2}} day round-the-clock reading of Tolstoy's ''[[War And Peace]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} The epic novel was read cover to cover by more than 200 people—including a large number of international celebrities from various fields.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} ''[[Newsweek]]'' called this broadcast "one of the more mind-blowing 'firsts' in the history of the media". The complete reading (over 200 audio tapes) was the first Pacifica program to be selected for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Museum of Broadcasting in NYC.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}
[[File:Seven Dirty Words WBAI.jpg|thumbnail|right|A poster in a WBAI broadcast booth warns radio broadcasters against using the [[seven dirty words]].]]
In 1973, the station broadcast comedian [[George Carlin]]'s iconic ''[[Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television]]'' [[monologue]] uncensored.
In 1974, WBAI program director Marnie Mueller asked [[Charles Ruas]] to become director of arts programming.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search Our Collection {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/keyword-search?search_api_views_fulltext=charles+ruas |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine |url=https://archive.org/search?query=wbai+folio+1974 |access-date=May 24, 2024 |website=archive.org}}</ref> Thus the station, already at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, the counterculture and anti-war protest, under Ruas also became a platform for New York's avant-garde in theater, music, performance, art, and poetry.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web |title=Search Our Collection {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/keyword-search?search_api_views_fulltext=WBAI |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref> When the downtown avant-garde operas ''[[A Letter for Queen Victoria]]'' and ''[[Einstein on the Beach]]'' by [[Philip Glass]] and [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]] opened at the Metropolitan Opera, the station was right there to tape excerpts in rehearsals for broadcast.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search Our Collection {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/keyword-search?search_api_views_fulltext=A+Letter+to+Queen+Victoria |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Einstein on the beach / by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson ; interview by Charles Ruas. {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/iz0059 |access-date=November 17, 2023 |website=pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref>
[[Charles Ruas|Ruas]] initiated The Reading Experiment,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search Our Collection {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/keyword-search?search_api_views_fulltext=reading+experiment |access-date=November 12, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine |url=https://archive.org/search?query=wbai+folio+1975 |access-date=May 24, 2024 |website=archive.org}}</ref> a year-long series on [[Marguerite Young]]'s epic novel ''[[Miss MacIntosh, My Darling]]''.<ref>"Bed Time Stories: Miss Marguerite Young, My Darling," The Village Voice, Vol XIX, N. 45, Thursday, November 7, 1974</ref> These readings were transformed into performances by [[Rob Wynne]], who scored them with a complex collage of sound effects, music, and opera. The participants included [[Anaïs Nin]], [[Marian Seldes]], [[Alice Playten]], [[H.M. Koutoukas]], [[Leo Lerman]], [[Michael Wager]], [[Novella Nelson]], [[Osceola Macarthy Adams]], [[Owen Dodson]], [[Wyatt Emory Cooper]], [[Michael Higgins (actor)|Michael Higgins]], [[Anne Fremantle]], [[Peggy Cass]], [[Ruth Ford]], [[Earle Hyman]] and Daisy Aldan.<ref>{{cite web |title=Marguerite Young: Miss MacIntosh, My Darling |url=http://clocktower.org/series/marguerite-young-miss-macintosh-my-darling |work=clocktower.org |access-date=May 15, 2019}}</ref>
When [[William Burroughs]] returned to the United States from Tangier, Ruas invited him to present a retrospective of all his works.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wave Farm {{!}} Historic Audio from the Archives of Charles Ruas: William S. Burroughs: The Making of Naked Lunch |url=https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/qfhv40 |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=wavefarm.org}}</ref> The series consisted of four programs, beginning with ''Junkie'' and followed by ''The Yage Letters'', read by Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg, ''The Last Words of Dutch Schultz'', and, finally, ''Naked Lunch''. Bill Kortum oversaw this series as well as retrospectives of the works of [[Jerzy Kosinski]] and [[Donald Barthelme]], co-produced with Judith Sherman, the station's music director.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=WBAI Radio (New York |first=N. Y. ) |url=http://archive.org/details/wbaifoliomay76wbairich |title=WBAI folio |date=1976 |publisher=New York : WBAI |others=Pacifica Radio Archives}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine |url=https://archive.org/search?query=wbai+folio+1976 |access-date=May 24, 2024 |website=archive.org}}</ref>
A semester of [[Allen Ginsberg]]'s poetry seminar held at the [[Naropa Institute]] in Colorado was presented by Ruas, and for many years the station covered the annual New Year's Eve celebratory poetry marathon at St. Mark's Church.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Mark's Poetry Project: 1976 New Year's day (Parts 1 and 2 only) {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/iz1364 |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |title=Clocktower - Radio |url=https://clocktower.org/series/historic-audio-from-the-archives-of-charles-ruas |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=clocktower.org}}</ref> The day the Vietnam War ended, poet [[Muriel Rukeyser]] came to the station to read her poem on peace.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The reading experiment: performing poets in support of WBAI (Episode 33 of 33, Part 1 of 2) {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bc070933a |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine |url=https://archive.org/search?query=wbai+folio+1977 |access-date=May 24, 2024 |website=archive.org}}</ref>
[[Charles Ruas|Ruas]] inaugurated the Audio Experimental Theater, a series presenting the works of avant-garde artists: [[Meredith Monk]], [[Yvonne Rainer]], [[Ed Bowes]], [[Ed Friedman]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chinoiserie / by Ed Friedman. {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/iz0071 |access-date=November 17, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref> Michael Newman with Joan Schwartz and [[Switched-On Bach|Benjamin Folkman]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=A.K.A.L.Q. : also known as Lenny Quantum / by Michael Newman ; scored by Benjamin Folkman ; adapted for radio by Joan Schwartz. {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/iz0070 |access-date=November 17, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Vito Acconci]], [[Charles Ludlam|Charles Ludlum]], [[Jacques Levy]], [[Willoughby Sharp]], [[John Cage]], [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]], [[Philip Glass]], [[Richard Foreman]], and [[Joan Jonas]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Other Titles in this Series {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/keyword-search?search_api_views_fulltext=Audio+Experimental+Theatre |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>
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From 1976 to 1979, poet [[John Giorno]] hosted ''The Poetry Experiment''<ref name="Rubery2011">{{cite book|author=Matthew Rubery|title=Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zearAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA84|date=May 9, 2011|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-73333-8|pages=84–}}</ref> and presented, with [[Charles Ruas]], his eight-part series ''[[Dial-A-Poem]] Poets''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bc268602-07|title=Dial-a-poem. | Pacifica Radio Archives|website=pacificaradioarchives.org}}</ref>
When Ira Weitzman became Director of the Saturday night Free Music Store program, he was as interested in performance as dedicated to music. He oversaw [[Meredith Monk]]'s performance of ''Quarry'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=WBAI Radio (New York |first=N. Y. ) |url=https://archive.org/details/wbaifoliomay76wbairich/page/n1/mode/2up |title=WBAI folio |date=1976 |publisher=New York : WBAI |others=Pacifica Radio Archives}}</ref> as well as producing Broadway actress [[Marian Seldes]] in ''Portrait of an Unknown Lady: Eleanor Wylie''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Portrait of an unknown lady: the life and work of Elinor Wylie / with readings by Marian Seldes. {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bc2928?nns=ira+weitzman |access-date=September 13, 2024 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref> He produced ''Performing Poets in Support of WBAI''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The reading experiment: performing poets in support of WBAI (Episode 33 of 33, Part 1 of 2) {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bc070933a?nns=ira+weitzman |access-date=September 13, 2024 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The reading experiment: performing poets in support of WBAI (Episode 33 of 33, Part 2 of 2) {{!}} Pacifica Radio Archives |url=https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bc070933b?nns=ira+weitzman |access-date=September 13, 2024 |website=www.pacificaradioarchives.org |language=en}}</ref> with the country's most notable poets. His best known production was an evening with the performing poets [[Ed Friedman]], [[Helen Adam]] and [[Patti Smith]], who performed her first concert.<ref>{{Cite book |last=WBAI Radio (New York |first=N. Y. ) |url=https://archive.org/details/wbaifolio76wbairich/page/10/mode/2up |title=WBAI folio |date=1976 |publisher=New York : WBAI |others=Pacifica Radio Archives}}</ref>
During those years, WBAI became a cultural force as these programs were disseminated nationally through the Pacifica Network.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lavey |first=Nate |date=August 26, 2013 |title=A Weak Signal at WBAI |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-weak-signal-at-wbai |access-date=February 2, 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref>
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In 1977, there was a major internal crisis at WBAI which resulted in the loss of the physical space of the station. WBAI was located in a former church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. For many years, WBAI had believed it was exempt from New York City real estate taxes as an "educational" institution, but in March 1977 the City Tax Commission denied that status<ref>{{cite news |title=WBAI-FM May Sell Its Studio |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/26/archives/wbaifm-may-sell-its-studio.html|work=The New York Times |date=November 26, 1977 |access-date=December 30, 2016}}</ref> and WBAI eventually sold the church (which it owned) to pay the back taxes. WBAI signed a new lease for the 19th floor (the former Caedmon Records office/studio) plus one office on another floor of an office building at 505 8th Avenue on the West Side of Manhattan.
{{Disputed
===Turmoil and change===
After the events in 1977, the station began a shift to a more profound international direction. In 1980, Caribbean immigrant and Marxist activist [[Samori Marksman]] was hired as WBAI Program Director and with his ascension, there was more of a focus on international issues and the promotion of people of color to the WBAI staff which caused grumbling among long time white and Jewish progressives who felt they were being pushed out of the station. In 1983, Marksman abruptly left for the Caribbean island of Grenada to participate in a new government – a government that was thwarted by the [[US invasion of Grenada]] in October 1983.
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On December 17, 2014, the California State Attorney General opened a full and formal investigation into the Pacifica Radio Foundation, owner of WBAI, with respect to its alleged irregularities as to its finances, violations of California law with respect to nonprofit organizations, and violations of its own bylaws. In 2015, WBAI moved to new studios and offices at 388 Atlantic Avenue in the [[Boerum Hill]] section of Brooklyn.<ref name="FCC">{{Cite web|url=https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/fm-profile/wbai|title=WBAI - FM Station Profile|website=FCC Public Inspection Files}}</ref>
On October 4, 2017, the court rejected WBAI's pleadings as ill-founded and granted the Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) a summary judgment, in the amount of $1.8m plus attorney's fees, for the monies due through the initial filing date of late 2016. ESRT was awarded with an additional $600k for the lease through the date of the court's ruling, with obligations of approximately $50k+ per month through lease expiration in 2020 also remaining in place.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rew-online.com/2017/10/empire-state-realty-pacifica-wbai-lawsuit/|title=Empire State Realty wins lawsuit against non-profit radio station Pacifica WBAI|first=Christian Brazil|last=Bautista|date=October 5, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://current.org/2017/10/judge-rules-against-pacifica-wbai-in-1-8m-lawsuit/|title=Judge rules against Pacifica, WBAI in $1.8M lawsuit|first1=Tyler|last1=Falk|website=Current|date=October 6, 2017}}</ref> A further settlement was announced on April 6, 2018, releasing WBAI from the court judgment and its obligation to continuing leasing the Empire State tower into 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/pacifica-settle-nyc-tower-dispute|title=Pacifica Settles NYC Tower Dispute|first1=Randy J.|last1=Stine|website=Radio World|date=April 6, 2018|access-date=May 5, 2020}}</ref> They began broadcasting from [[4 Times Square]] on May 31, 2018.<ref>{{cite Q|Q70229711}}</ref> A bailout loan from listeners of sister station KPFK eventually covered the remaining fees on the lease.<ref name=evictiondanger/>
On Monday, October 7, 2019, the Pacifica Foundation announced they were shutting down WBAI's local operations, leaving only two workers to keep the station's signal on the air. WBAI began airing a national network feed known as "Pacifica Across America" - a curated collection of original content produced by Pacifica stations [[KPFA]] in [[Berkeley, California]], [[KPFK]] in Los Angeles, [[KPFT]] in [[Houston]] and [[WPFW]] in Washington, D.C., among other sources (the post-shutdown WBAI schedule included commercial progressive talker [[Thom Hartmann]] and Native American free-form series ''[[Koahnic Broadcast Corporation#Programming|Undercurrents]]'', which is mostly syndicated to public radio). John Vernile, interim executive director of the Pacifica Foundation, said the station's fund raising and audience had declined in recent years, to the point where the rest of the Pacifica network was subsidizing WBAI's operations on top of servicing its unsustainable debt load.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sisario|first=Ben|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/business/media/wbai-pacifica-layoffs.html|title=Layoffs and Canceled Shows at WBAI-FM, a New York Radio Original|work=The New York Times|date=October 7, 2019|access-date=October 8, 2019|quote=replaced its local programming with shows drawn from Pacifica's four other stations. ..."Listeners in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and Washington, D.C., have been supporting the efforts in New York," Mr. Vernile said. "It has gotten to a point where we can no longer do that."}}</ref>
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In Manhattan Supreme Court, Judge Melissa Crane ordered Pacifica to return control of the station back to WBAI. She upheld the October 20, 2019, board vote to annul the decision to shutter WBAI. A lawyer for Pacifica, Kara Steger, said that the company planned to appeal the ruling. WBAI resumed local programming on November 7.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2019/11/06/nyc-based-radio-station-wbai-to-go-back-on-the-air-at-midnight|title=NYC-based radio station WBAI to go back on the air at midnight|website=New York Post|date=November 7, 2019}}</ref>
In April 2024, WBAI announced it had again fallen into arrears on tower rental and that the owner of 4 Times Square was threatening to remove WBAI "at any time" unless the station paid the $150,000 in debt it owed to the building. WBAI, which stated that such a move would mean "the end of WBAI" (a statement the general manager insisted was "not hyperbole") immediately launched a [[pledge drive]] hoping to raise the funds.<ref name=evictiondanger>{{Cite web |last=Venta |first=Lance |date=April 10, 2024 |title=WBAI In Danger Of Being Evicted From Another New York Tower |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/267334/wbai-in-danger-of-being-evicted-from-another-new-york-tower/ |access-date=April 10, 2024 |website=Radio Insight |language=en-US}}</ref> Later that month, Pacifica agreed to a consent decree with the FCC over its pledge drive content containing unlawful calls to action, accepting a $25,000 fine and having its license renewal shortened to two years instead of the usual eight; the complaint had been filed by Pacifica Safety Net, a pressure group formed in hopes of rectifying Pacifica's overall financial situation, up to and including selling the WBAI license.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 24, 2024 |title=Fine, Short-Term License Are Prices Pacifica Station Pays For Ad Rule Violations. |url=https://www.insideradio.com/free/fine-short-term-license-are-prices-pacifica-station-pays-for-ad-rule-violations/article_8da4aae6-025d-11ef-b451-c3fa3abe5ba0.html |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=Insideradio.com |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
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==External links==
* {{Official website}}
* {{FCC-LMS-Facility|51249}}
* [
{{Pacifica Radio}}
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