Louis Reyes Rivera,
an Exclusive Interview, November 1st, 2010
http://peaceandjustice2005.blogspot.com/Louis Reyes Rivera,
an Exclusive Interview, November 1st, 2010
ab: Louis, what's new?
Louis: I just got a phone call yesterday (October 31) from the interim Program Director at WBAI (Tony Bates) informing me that, as of the week of November 15, 2010, I will no longer be hosting my weekly radio program.
ab: What were the reasons given for your dismissal?
Louis: I was informed simply that changes in programming were being made and that with the new grid (i.e., the programming schedule) in place, I was not on it and my program would no longer be aired.I'd be allowed two final segments and that after the 15th, that's it.
I asked if I could be given a different time slot (my show airs from 2 to 3 p.m., on Thursdays).
The answer was a resounding, No!
You won't be on the air at all.
ab: Please tell us about the reasons for the firing and about your program on WBAI.
Louis: It's got nothing to do with quality or performance.I've been at WBAI hosting a weekly show, "Perspective," for nine years with a focus on a blending of the arts and the social politic that drives the artist.
With this format and a concentration on both poetry and Jazz, I've been able to interview poets, journalists, novelists, social activists, librarians, arts administrators and educators, promoters, social activists, musicians, composers, et al.
"Perspective" is the only Arts program that does this.
In addition, I've brought to the station live bands (as many as 22-person orchestras) to perform on the air at no cost to the station.
In addition, I'm among the very few producers with direct ties to performing artists, and I've produced a number of programs that featured contemporary poets, Spoken Word Artists, etc., as specials.
I've had the youngest performers (as young as six years old) and among the elders in arts (as old as 86 and still working).
In effect, by the time WBAI would be finished with me, I'd have established a genuine oral history of this period in relation to both the performing arts and the social activism that drives them.
In effect, throughout its nine-year stint, "Perspective" has enjoyed a huge following (relative to the station's listener base) from the New York Greater Metropolitan Area.
As well, you should know that I have served as one of the five Shop Stewards of the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee, the contractual union for all unpaid staff, for the past seven years.
Please take note that the staff at WBAI consists of less than 40 paid employees covered under AFTRA and well over 200 unpaid employees who have no other bargaining voice outside of USOC.
The overwhelmingly majority of those 200 are the producers and staff of the programs aired.
ab: What do you believe led to your being dismissed?
Louis: It happens that, this year, I ran for one of the staff representative positions serving on WBAI's local station board (the station's basic governing body).
One of the requirements for running was to submit a 500-word statement on my candidacy.
I did so and in an unfettered manner.
Consequently, my statement was the only one of eight that was literally censored [see below -- ab] and not permitted to be posted in full on the station's web page for three weeks.
I pursued a series of email exchanges with the National Election Supervisor over this censorship.
Eventually (three weeks later), she recanted her earlier position and posted my full statement fully restored back on the WBAI web page.
You should know that, along with four other sister-stations, WBAI is owned and governed by the Pacifica Foundation and that, roughly two years ago, a reactionary moderate-right wing had won a new majority on both the Pacifica National Board and WBAI's Local Station Board.
Since then, more than 21 people have been eliminated from the several sister stations, a dozen of which were from WBAI alone.
During the course of this year's election and the events surrounding the censorship of my candidate's statement, the National Election Supervisor met with the Pacifica Election Committee (a network-wide committee).
The committee raised questions concerning the censoring of my candidate's statement.
At that meeting, the Election Supervisor accused me of perpetuating lies (she described my statement as consisting of a bunch of lies).
When pushed by the committee to explain the basis for such an accusation, she admitted that her information was based on what she was told by both Pacifica's Chief Financial Officer and its interim Executive Director -- in short, that each of the censored sections of my statement had been deleted by her (subject to my rewriting those sections) at the direction of these two Pacifica executives.
This, of course, is a violation of election guidelines and Pacifica by-laws regarding the conduct of the NES and its fairness doctrine.
The Elections Committee members were outraged, to say the least.
She was instructed by the committee to produce a copy of my candidate's statement so that its members could evaluate my statement themselves.
Immediately after that meeting was adjourned, the election supervisor notified me that my statement had been fully restored and downloaded onto WBAI's web page for all staff to read.
The meeting, by the way, was taped.
So, it's easy to verify. When election results were finally announced, it happens that I did too well in the first round ballot count to be ignored...
Enough people voted me as their number one choice to raise all manner of eyebrows.
Both my candidacy and the election results speak to the fact that I do have support among the producers.
The short of it is this: I almost won a full seat and did garner enough votes to place me as the First Alternate.
The moment a staff representative vacates any one of the staff seats, I automatically take office.
In such a position, I become too much of an intimidating factor.
Couple this with the fact that I refused to water down my candidate's statement, and that all of the staff, paid and unpaid alike, was able to read it in its entirety, the obvious becomes eventual -- get rid of Rivera.
It boils down to basic arithmetic.
As it stands now, the right of center wing that now constitutes a majority numbers 13 out of 24. If I take my seat, the left wing minority increases its weight to a 12/12 distribution.
Any single one of the truly independent board members on the LSB would turn the tide against right-wing policies.
This would conceptually alter the template.
ab: What by-laws can you turn to that would make your removal subject to review, etc.?
Louis: The answer is about process and the extent to which we willingly accept violation of due process.
Before any program can be removed, it must be reviewed by a Program Council that consists of all affected parties (the unpaid staff, the administrators, members of the Local Station Board).
No one can arbitrarily remove or change programming.
This is written in stone and can be accessed via the Internet.
I was not evaluated.
No Program Council has met to discuss changes in the schedule, my programming skills and personal/professional contacts have not been assessed, and, more importantly, neither USOC Shop Stewards nor LSB members have been consulted prior to the action.
Of course, I'm not the only one who's being arbitrarily removed, and that's the central issue.
These changes are rooted in a right wing agenda flavored with serious vindictive motives that are both detrimental to the station and to the Foundation.
Understand that Pacifica is supported by its listeners at each of the five sister stations (Los Angeles, Berkeley, Houston, Washington, D.C., New York).
Accordingly, it is governed by those local station boards -- i.e., those who are elected to act on behalf of the listeners. That's what makes all of this subject to scrutiny and objection.
No one can be simply removed from the air without due process and without adherence to both by-laws and contractual agreements.
ab: What can the community do to support you in this struggle?
Louis:One: listeners and supporters can call WBAI and demand that my program and I be placed back on the air.
The phone number is 212.209.2800.
Two: they can email the following people to insist that due process is adhered to, that all program changes should be tabled until their own by-laws are followed, and to insist that the decision to dismiss me be rescinded:
Program Director at WBAI/ Tony Bates at tony@wbai.org;
The Pacifica National Board at pnb@pacifica.org,
The interim General Manager at WBAI, Bertolt Reimers at breimers62@earthlink.net ,
The Chairperson of WBAI's Local Station Board atmitchelcohen@mindspring.com,
Justice and Unity at info@justiceunity.org ,
and the Coalition to Take Back WBAI at info@takebackwbai.org .
Pacifica supporters, particularly in New York can accompany their insistence with the promise of continued financial support and with the threat of ceasing to continue to support the station directly because its managers are in direct violation of both the Pacifica Mission and its own by-laws.
The point here is that both Pacifica and its five stations are supported by subscriptions donated to the stations.
Thus, WBAI, et al, are virtually owned by its listeners (its stockholders), who are duly represented by those who sit on the Local Station Board.
Arbitrary governance is directly against the interests of those stockholders, and each of the five LSBs have an obligation to both the respective station and its listener base.
ab: Louis, thanks so much for taking the time to inform the community of this development.
Louis: And thank you for allowing me this opportunity.