Pacifica's Executive Director Bessie Wash is expected to be on WBAI's Wake-Up Call Tuesday morning, taking questions from listeners. The show runs from 6-9 a.m., and Wash will be on from 7-9 a.m. The station's call numbers are 99.5 F.M. in the tri-state area, and WBAI can also be streamed from two locations: www.porus.com and www.wbai.org.
Wash paid a visit to WBAI this past Tuesday and attempted to fire without notice or warning or reason, its general manager. This firing echoes the firing of the general manager at Berkeley station KPFA which started the conflagration and lock-out at that station last year.
Bessie Wash was formerly general manager of Pacifica station WPFW in Washington. Below is one description of that station under her reign from a WA Post writer earlier this year.
onward, Eileen Sutton WBAI News Volunteer Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship
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Washington Post decries censorship at Pacifica; radio review column calls WPFW one of the "most egregious censors" at Pacifica
Excerpted from: On WMZQ, More Twang for the Bucks By Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 11, 2000; Page C01
West meets East quietly and suddenly, the troubled Pacifica Foundation radio network has moved its headquarters from Berkeley, Calif., to Washington. The leftist public network, which has five stations across the country, has been besieged by a nasty labor struggle over the past year, pitting the foundation's board of directors against its employees.
The conflict has included the firing of longtime air personalities and frequent censorship of its own news programs that have tried to cover the troubles. WPFW (89.3) here in Washington has been among the most egregious censors. The network says it has moved east to put its staff closer to federal agencies and public-interest groups based here. But consider this: Last summer there was a 10,000-person free-speech march against Pacifica in Berkeley. Here in the District of Columbia, WPFW has been relatively unbothered. Do the math.