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Last week, when midtown temperatures broke records, air temperatures in the room at our transmitter site high atop 4 Times Square exceeded 95 degrees—hot enough to cause our unit to shut down and knock us off the air. Making sure WBAI Pacifica stays on the air and streaming online is a major round-the-clock effort that takes a committed team of volunteers and professionals.
I went to the 4 Times Square transmitter site that costs us close to $17,000 each month to house our transmitter to see firsthand what the conditions were in the space.
That's where I met WBAI's chief operator Jake Glanz who is responsible for keeping us on the air 24-7. As it turned out, the air conditioner required servicing that would run at least $1,000. Once we got back on the air, thanks to a remote assist from Pacifica's Chief Engineer Moe Thomas, Jake started his cool-down vigil with some low-tech fans while the contractor was lined up to do the AC work.
It's likely that we will need to spend several thousand dollars more to guarantee that we stay on the air as the climate crisis continues to intensify. The need to raise additional money to cover these kinds of unanticipated costs comes as our federal government is not only denying that the climate crisis is a thing, but giving the fossil fuel industry everything it wants.
Simultaneously, the Trump administration is decimating the agencies that regulate polluters as well as laying off the public scientists that track what's actually happening on planet Earth.
Since President Trump took the oath of office for a second time, WBAI Pacifica Radio in New York City has brought you the soundtrack of the resistance in the form of multiple LIVE long-format broadcasts of history as it was unfolding. Whether it was the national Hands Off protests on April 5th, the No Kings Day of June 14th, or our June Primary Election night we produced with the Indypendent Newspaper, we've brought you progressive programming you won't find anywhere else.
Yes, it's the truth-to-power broadcasting that's fueled by the people and the community itself—not multinationals or oligarchs.
On September 26 of last year, when Mayor Adams was indicted, we brought you the soundtrack of that historic day and the opportunity for you, our listener, to call in. When Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was seized on a public sidewalk by masked federal immigration officers, we stayed with the story until he was released. We were also there when New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was detained by ICE and released after Gov. Kathy Hochul intervened.
As we head into the most consequential off-year election—where New York City will pick its next Mayor and New Jersey its new Governor—the whole world will be watching AND listening. And what they hear, well, that's up to you.
When President Trump decided to bomb Iran on a weekend, we were there to counter the corporate news media's glorification of America's military might. You have come to rely on programs like Democracy Now that's kept an unflinching eye on the brutalizing of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza that followed the horrendous Oct. 7th attack on Israel.
Broadcasting breaking news events requires massive teams of both volunteers and professionals with the discipline and commitment to deliver-sometimes at some risk to themselves. If you were listening on No Kings Day June 14th, you heard reports from dozens of our Pacifica affiliates and our sister station KPFA in San Francisco, who brought us their 2-hour LIVE breakthrough broadcast of resistance radio from the West Coast.
WBAI Pacifica Radio has not gotten ANY money in over a decade from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that the Trump administration is working to zero out. We rely on you and, in the last year, unions that represent three million households. But as you know, unions like the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents over 800,000 federal workers, are also under assault from the Trump administration.
We currently have 1,306 WBAI sustaining members who contribute at least $10 a month. That generates close to $25,000 a month, roughly half our payroll that includes our five SAG-AFTRA engineers. The health care costs for our essential union board ops is close to $10,000 a month and about to go up since we have actually added an engineer to the roster.
We estimate we need at least 4,000 WBAI Buddies to stabilize WBAI Pacifica Radio's finances. If you are a WBAI Buddy already, THANK YOU, and please consider increasing your monthly donation. And if you are not a WBAI sustaining member, please consider becoming one today.
In doing so, you will be doing your part to ensure that no matter how hot it gets, 99.5 FM and the Pacifica Radio Network will be there to hold the powers that be accountable—something the Congress, the corporate news media, and the Courts have so far failed to do.
In solidarity, because it's all we have.
Bob Hennelly
Interim General Manager
WBAI Pacifica Radio
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