LSB candidate questionnaire
Bok-keem Nyerere (longtime WBAI/Pacifica activist, member of the Pacifica Campaign staff, former WBAI Outreach Coordinator)
Bok-keem Nyerere
bokkeem@justiceunity.org, 212-591-2111
1. Why do you wish to serve on the Local Station Board?
I am familiar with varied communities within the tri-state listening area and am eager to play a role in developing more outreach to them. I wish to assist in finding the station a new location where the space is affordable and convenient to reach via public transportation, and to join in a capital campaign to make that possible. I’m very proud to be running on the Justice & Unity slate. Please vote for all 8 of the Justice & Unity candidates. The list of candidates and more information about them can be found at www.justiceunity.org.
2. What skills, qualifications and experience would you bring to the board?
My skills are that as an activist, I developed the abilities to be an organizer as a participant and leader of various activities. My working resumé includes being an organizer in the Pacifica Campaign, which contributed to winning back the Pacifica stations after the infamous “Christmas coup.” After that struggle was won, I was hired by WBAI as the Outreach Coordinator and served in that position for 2 years.
3. What can be done to improve the dynamics and effectiveness of the Local Station Board?
My focus would be concentrated in trying to create methods to get the Board working in a productive manner that is not bogged down in bureaucratic obstacles that defeat the energy to achieve results.
4. What LSB committees would you like to join? What Pacifica National Board committees?
My choice for an LSB committee is Membership, Outreach and Fundraising, where my experience as Outreach Coordinator will be most useful. From having worked with fellow Justice & Unity members on the Membership, Outreach and Fundraising Committee, I’m well aware that this committee can be very effective when working with a cooperative management. I would also like to join the PNB Programming Committee.
5. Would you be interested in serving on the Pacifica National Board, and why?
I would be interested in serving on the Pacifica National Board as soon as I became eligible, to assist in the concerns of our listeners, locally and nationally. I believe that my experience working on the Pacifica Campaign, which had a national scope, could prove very useful on the Pacifica National Board.
6. How do you view the dynamics between the Pacifica network and local station autonomy?
I believe that each station should have its own autonomy, and that national programming should only be aired when there is a national story of compelling interest to all our listeners.
7. How should the Pacifica Foundation find a wider audience?
There should be much more outreach – something which, as I have mentioned above, I have a lot of experience doing. WBAI should also resume publishing a Folio to give the station a more public presence.
8. What can be done to preserve and share the treasures of the Pacifica Archives?
There are already one-day fundraisers for the Pacifica Archives, but having 2-3 day on-air fundraisers, playing historical recordings that are pertinent to present day situations, would give the Pacifica Archives more exposure, so that the listener is enticed by the relevancy of the recording being heard and more money can be raised at the same time that consciousness is being raised about the value of the Pacifica Archives.
9. Do you have any ideas for new approaches to fundraising for Pacifica?
We should be creating fundraising carts, especially for fundraising via the internet. There should also be more off-air fundraisers. There should be a full-time Development Director. Justice and Unity has proposed the development of a Pacifica record label that could bring forward independent non-corporate musicians and poets, and I believe this would help to attract new listenership to the station and network, besides raising funds directly. I’m quite willing to participate in a station promotion campaign, since I have a great deal of experience in that area.
10. How do you view Pacifica’s potential in providing internet content?
The potential of internet content that Pacifica can provide is second only to live broadcast in importance. We should be looking to improve and expand on internet services.
11. What technologies should the Pacifica Foundation consider for the future?
Satellite radio, HD radio, and whatever else we can identify that is within our means.
12. What can be done to improve our signal strength?
I have no expertise in this area.
13. Should the station consider relocating the studio to other facilities? Where and Why?
The station should definitely be getting ready to relocate. Downtown Brooklyn, Queensboro Plaza, Queens, or Harlem should be among the places we’d be looking to move to. These areas would have lower rents if we’re not able to buy our own building, and transportation would be accessible. We should be looking for a big enough space to accommodate meetings and other events, or perhaps to share with other like-minded organizations. This is something I very much look forward to being involved in, as mentioned above.
14. How can our station better serve under-represented communities?
Once underrepresented groups have been identified, the station’s programming grid should be evaluated to find out where the shortcomings are with regard to serving those communities. Once again, the key word is “outreach.”
15. How can our station better serve the many linguistic communities of the signal area?
Those from different linguistic communities should be reached out to, to find out how their communities can best be served.
16. What do you see as our station’s strong and weak points?
The station’s strongest point is that it speaks to communities that often hear corporate spin and don’t get to hear their own voices for change. Instead, WBAI provides news and points of view that cannot be heard anywhere else. This of course leads to the weak point that because we cannot compromise this position by accepting corporate underwriting, we are continually presented with financial difficulties. And we should not dismiss the impact on our supporters of the recession that the U.S. has entered. We need to face these economic challenges with the understanding that they are the price of WBAI’s value to us as a fiercely independent media outlet.
17. Have you ever been party to, or provided support for, a lawsuit involving Pacifica or its employees? When and Why?
No.
18. How do you think the election process for Local Station Board can be improved?
The entire election process needs to be re-evaluated – everything from the use of money in the campaigns to the elections method to the timing.
19. What are your hobbies, interests, and other organizational affiliations?
I enjoy playing various musical instruments and reading. I’m a member of the National Association of Kawaida Organizations, the Peace and Justice Coalition (based in New Jersey), and the Justice & Unity Campaign.
20. What question(s) would you pose to your fellow candidates?
I would ask them how they feel the station and network can best struggle against racism in particular and other “isms” in general.