|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information contact:
Name: Phil Osegueda, Pacifica Radio
Tel: 510-849-2590 ext. 210
Email: philo[at]pacifica.org
PACIFICA FOUNDATION HIRES MANAGER
FOR NEW YORK RADIO STATION
WBAI/Pacifica 99.5 FM Welcomes
New Manager Anthony Riddle
NEW YORK, New York, February 6 — On Saturday January 26th, Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation, announced that Anthony Riddle was hired by the foundation as station manager for WBAI-FM, Pacifica's radio station in New York City.
"We're very happy to have Anthony with us. He has a great history in media, civil rights advocacy, and building organizations. We are very confident that he's going to provide long term leadership to this station and make WBAI again a crown jewel of the Pacifica Network," noted Siegel. Anthony Riddle replaces Interim station manager Robert Scott Adams, who will stay on for a few weeks to assist in the transition.
WBAI-Pacifica, 99.5 FM, is a community-based radio station that broadcasts at 50,000 watts to the Tri-State Area from atop the Empire State Building. Its motto is "Peace and Justice Radio." The renowned 48-year-old radio station has historically broken national and international news stories and has won numerous prizes for outstanding journalism. WBAI is also known for introducing some of our country's greatest artists to the public and has produced many ground-breaking programs, including Democracy Now!, Counterspin, and Radio Unnameable.
Riddle brings 25 years of varied experience in community media to the position. He began his career as a late night DJ at a radio station in Chicago (WHPK), and went on to work as press secretary and speechwriter for Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson. Later, Riddle served as national chair of the Alliance for Community Media, and Executive Director of Manhattan Neighborhood Network, where he started the first nationwide Youth Channel. Riddle was also Executive Director of Minneapolis Telecommunications Network, a member of President Jimmy Carter's Commission on Radio and Television, program consultant at the Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange, and most recently served as Executive Director of the Alliance for Community Media.
Most recently, Riddle traveled to Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Caribbean to help build international coalitions around community control of media – and helped to organize nationally in response to assaults on community television by the cable and telecommunications industries.
"I view this as a great opportunity and an extension of that same work." Riddle said at the meeting of the Pacifica National Board when his hiring was announced. "The medium may be different but the process itself is what's most important. We are demonstrating community – how people with disparate interests can come together around commonalities."
WBAI-Pacifica was donated to the Pacifica Foundation in 1960, by New York philanthropist Louis Schweitzer. The Pacifica Foundation is a community-based radio network founded in 1949 as a visionary alternative to commercially-driven media. Pacifica owns 5 radio stations, including WBAI-FM in New York City, KPFA-FM in Berkeley, KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, KPFT-FM in Houston, and WPFW-FM in Washington, DC., as well as the Pacifica Radio Archive, which houses over 50 years of unique and historic audio history. The Pacifica Network also includes 135 affiliated community, college, low-power, and Internet stations throughout the USA, Africa, Central America, and Europe.
Pacifica's mission is to promote peace and justice through communication between all races, nationalities and cultures. |
