James Ross, candidate questionnaire
1. Why do you wish to serve on the Local Station Board?
I listen to WBAI a lot. It's a unique resource and especially valuable in these times of growing media consolidation and increasing fascistic aspect to our government. WBAI supports journalism that no other radio station around here can. I want the station to thrive. I think a good board would help.
And I want the Pacifica mission - to use the radio to understand conflict, air news unavailable elsewhere, and provide an outlet to the cultural energies of the community - to endure.
2. What skills, qualifications and experience would you bring to the board?
-LSB, 2006 - present
-LSB finance committee, 2004-present
-WBAI bylaws committee, 2002
-Pacifica audit committee, 2007
I am an environmental scientist by trade. I have applied my data analysis skills to WBAI's finances and audience numbers for a few years now. See http://radioactivist.net.
Also, I am happy to be independent. I make my own assessments. I'm not looking for air time, so I can't be bought off like that.
3. What can be done to improve the dynamics and effectiveness of the Local Station Board?
Most of all, we need people who want to do the work the LSB is supposed to do. Right now we have the opposite. Under Justice and Unity control, the LSB has farmed out its most important responsibilities, management evaluation and selection, to groups that are not answerable to the board.
And we need people who are willing to compromise. Justice and Unity NEVER incorporates suggestions from the rest of us into the policies the board passes., even though we make up 11 out of the 24 seats on the board. They just railroad through what they want. This is a recipe for conflict. We can do better.
Also helpful would be to spend more time in informal, open-ended discussion, so we can learn where everyone is coming from.
This year's budget process was absurd. Fully three times the LSB passed budgets that were rejected by Pacifica national, for obvious reasons - unrealistic income assumptions and large deficits. Yet the majority pushed them through. We need LSB members that will face financial reality.
4. What LSB committees would you like to join? What Pacifica National Board committees?
I plan to continue serving on the LSB finance committee. I would be interested in continuing on the PNB audit committee. There is a lot of work for this committee to do that we have not gotten to yet - understanding discrepancies in between the local (WBAI) and national (Pacifica) finance office reports and understanding why WBAI is spending restricted funds on operating expenses. This should not happen, but apparently it is. What controls are in place to prevent it? Why aren't they working?
5. Would you be interested in serving on the Pacifica National Board, and why?
I would be interested, but would probably turn it down because of the time constraints of family and job.
6. How do you view the dynamics between the Pacifica network and local station autonomy?
Good question. WBAI should make its own decisions. However, we have done such a poor job with our finances that we are now a burden to the rest of the Pacifica network . Pacifica network has begun to stop WBAI from running large annual deficits. This year the network forced WBAI to cut salary. Unfortunately, more such interference from the network can be expected, because the local decision-makers have not been able to get us on stable financial footing for three years or more. We have to expect that the rest of Pacifica will not continue to underwrite our recurrent annual deficits.
I support the idea of national programming. It makes sense that a nationally funded and produced program could be better, since the resources of five stations, not one, are available. There is a strong aversion by local decision-makers to giving up air time to national programs. However, listeners deserve the best radio that Pacifica can produce. I think another show on par with Democracy Now! would do wonders for our listenership.
7. How should the Pacifica Foundation find a wider audience?
Better programming!! WBAI has some excellent stuff, but not all the time and not at the best hours. We need to get our best programs on the air when the most people can hear them. National programming should be one component.
As far as I can tell, the programming evaluation and selection process at WBAI does not work well. This is a real problem that needs addressing by the LSB for the WBAI to thrive. Under the Justice and Unity control, of course, the LSB has ignored it.
Also, we need to make the audio archives more facile and searchable, so that people all over the world will stumble upon our programs by chance when they are web surfing. The audio archives is an excellent resource - now we need to improve the front end to make it as easy as possible for people to find them.
8. What can be done to preserve and share the treasures of the Pacifica Archives?
The Pacifica Archives (not to be confused with WBAI's online audio archives) is a unique repository of history. We need grant money to preserve the old tapes, because the stations clearly can't provide enough.
9. Do you have any ideas for new approaches to fundraising for Pacifica?
Better programming!! WBAI has some excellent stuff, but not all the time and not at the best hours. People donate because they want to support our programming. Let's give them as many reasons as possible to donate.
WBAI/Pacifica is listener-sponsored radio. I think it is appropriate that the bulk of our income come from listener-donors. Listener-sponsorship gives WBAI freedom to do what it does.
We can increase the number of donations by staying in better contact with former donors. Also, WBAI's fund drives reportedly have a lot of organizational problems - too many premiums, not enough advance preparation, etc. The result is many times people don't get premiums, and they become turned off. This needs investigation by the LSB. Naturally (stop me if you've heard this before) the LSB under Justice and Unity control has done nothing about it.
We have to treat our donors with great respect.
10. How do you view Pacifica’s potential in providing internet content?
Excellent! All five Pacifica stations have audio archives. We could expand this by putting more material online that is solely web-based (i.e., not on the radio).
Searchable and linkable audio archives would be a big step forward. Imagine a system whereby when you download audio from WBAI on a certain topic, you are directed to audio from the sister stations and affiliates on the same topic. We have to make it as network-y as possible so people all over get accustomed to looking to Pacifica for quality audio.
11. What technologies should the Pacifica Foundation consider for the future?
HD (digital) radio is appealing because it allows for multiple over-the-air streams. And of course anything that makes the audio archives more accessible and shareable.
A wiseacre (but truthful) answer to this question would be "pocket calculators for board members" so Pacifica's fiduciaries will better grasp our deepening financial crisis. Many is the time I have been the only person in a finance committee meeting of 20 people with a calculator.
12. What can be done to improve our signal strength?
Actually WBAI has a great signal - 50,000 watts - that can reach 20 million people over the air. What we need to improve is our listenership. That means improving our programming.
13. Should the station consider relocating the studio to other facilities? Where and Why?
Yes. We need to save money on rent. However, people should understand there will likely be no short-term savings from such a move. Moving is not a solution to our immediate financial crisis.
14. How can our station better serve under-represented communities?
Better programming!! The station serves its listenership, both actual and potential, by providing the best programming possible. To better serve specific under-represented communities, under-representation needs to be assessed, and specific outreach done towards members of communities under-represented on WBAI.
I strongly believe that shows aimed a specific community need to have some appeal for the wider audience. Several of the "community" shows on WBAI meet this standard, which is a good thing.
15. How can our station better serve the many linguistic communities of the signal area?
This is a good question. If non-English-language broadcasting is to be done, it needs to be done in a way that does not lose the English-speaking audience. WBAI has essentially been conducting an experiment for the past year, by running the Spanish Language News at 11:30 PM. It would be worthwhile to examine arbitrons, fundraising data, etc., to see how and whether this change has affected our listenership.
WBAI can stream and archive non-English language audio. Also, with the advent of HD radio (which has multiple streams over the air), a stream can be devoted to non-English language audio. With proper management, the station's audio archive could be a place where people of many languages find interesting programming.
None of these potentially worthwhile ideas will come to fruition until we solve our financial crisis.
16. What do you see as our station’s strong and weak points?
Strong points for me would include programs like Democracy Now!, Behind the News, Explorations, Counterspin, WBAI news, Shocking Blue, and several others. Another strong point is a lot of the people who work at WBAI. They are committed, talented and interesting. Also the listeners - WBAI listeners are a great group of people.
Weak points: WBAI/Pacifica has a sick culture that rewards people who fight and don't share. Management is ineffective. It is not clear that either employees or programming is regularly evaluated. The governing boards do more turf war than actual governing. And of course there is our deepening financial crisis. These problems are linked. I believe we need to solve them or WBAI will be left in the dust.
17. Have you ever been party to, or provided support for, a lawsuit involving Pacifica or its employees? When and Why?
I contributed money to Carol Spooner's listener lawsuit in 2001.
18. How do you think the election process for Local Station Board can be improved?
We need more well-informed voters. That means more air time devoted to debates during campaign season and to reports from the LSB throughout the year.
19. What are your hobbies, interests, and other organizational affiliations?
I'm pretty busy - with family (2 kids), work, and WBAI. There is not a lot of time for hobbies. I do play the guitar a little. I'd like to take singing lessons some day, so I don't frighten the family ... I participate in political blogs like dailykos.com a little.
The local peace group, Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice, runs a vigil every Saturday in Nanuet that is a blast. I attend when I can.
This spring I was active in a campaign in my village to pass an impeachment resolution. See http://nyackimpeach.org .
Through my work, we managed to highlight the problem of diesel emissions from idling trains at night in a nearby village.
20. What question(s) would you pose to your fellow candidates?
Dear fellow candidates: Are you serious about the LSB fulfilling its oversight responsibilities? If so, let's go! WBAI needs us to get busy.