WMNF Community Radio in Tampa is in the greatest crisis it has seen since its inception. It is a self-inflicted economic down-turn but also a great membership loss, and most importantly, it is a crisis of legitimacy. 

The new General Manager recently attributed the loss of income coming from the community to a shift in demographics of the listening audience from older people to younger ones. But she failed to account for why so many of the older supporters left the Station. The fact is that WMNF has undergone a coup and is now under the control of an conservative clique that has stated its wish to discard the very mission of the Station: Diversity, News + Public Affairs, and even the commitment to Peace and Social Justice. The music we broadcast, in their plan, will be subject to “Restricted/Controlled Playlists.” The aim here is to mimic and compete with commercial radio where DJs have no creative freedom and must air playlists that were given to them.

The firing of co-founder of WMNF and top-notch journalist, Rob Lorei and the implementation of their conservative and racist plan is why droves of faithful listeners and strong supporters have left the Station.

Although the talking heads at WMNF blame the previous General Manager for the changes undertaken a year ago and which moved the Station away from its mission, these changes obey word for word the plan laid-out years ago by the previous Program Director and leader of the coup. Furthermore, none of the nefarious decisions made by the previous General Manager have been rolled back, and he left his job immediately after participating in the sabotage a year ago. In that year, they have done nothing to correct the situation and they haven't acknowledged the mistakes they've made, or having taken the wrong path. They have no interest in re-directing their course.

Now, at a time when freedom of expression is under attack, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is conducting litmus test political surveys to eliminate progressive thought, talk and action, and when violent fascist thugs, such as the Proud Boys, are threatening our activists and communities, when protestors and even people at the supermarket are being killed, when the state legislature has passed laws protecting would be murderers crashing cars into peaceful demonstrators, WMNF, our Community Radio station has been taken over by a conservative clique that seeks to eliminate the News and Public Affairs Department, and Black and Brown programmers and shows, leaving the listeners and our activists without a voice.

We demand the station returns to its mission and original principles, and: 

1.  Implements immediate integration of the staff, of programming, of the Stubblefield Board of Directors, and at all levels of the Station. They have always been mostly White. We demand that WMNF adopts an unbreakable and public commitment to diversity.

2.  WMNF must bring back Rob Lorei, co-founder of the Station and with lifelong dedication to it, to his position as Director of the WMNF News and Public Affairs Department and must restore the time taken away from the Department, including the drive time news hour. 

3.  The Board of WMNF must make public a clearly stated determination to reject the corporatization of WMNF and not to request or accept underwriting from major corporations such as Walmart, McDonalds, Ford, banks, etc. WMNF is for the benefit of the people, not a mouthpiece for the corporations.

4.  That the Station reinstates and increases Indigenous, Black, and Latino programming, which has been viciously cut or forced out of the schedule.

5.  We also demand the deconstruction of restricted/controlled playlists and to give DJs and programmers greater freedom to express their talents and knowledge of music. Changes in this area must be approved democratically by DJs.

6.  WMNF must organize 6 months of open meetings and honest discussion of changes to be made to the programming schedule and adherence to the internal bylaws, the Programmers’ Agreement, other guiding documents, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) rules, regulations of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and other regulatory entities. 

7.  WMNF must proclaim publicly a total and complete commitment to Peace and to Social and Economic Justice. At present, the Station’s statement on the Russia/Ukraine conflict lacks depth and knowledge of the issue and it doesn’t recognize the role played by the US/NATO in provoking the war. There was no debate of WMNF affiliated people; no opposing or alternative views were/are incorporated or permitted. Why didn’t WMNF pronounce itself regarding US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, the blockade of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc? Commitment to peace cannot be selective.

 

The conservative clique at WMNF has caused chaos and will be back on the attack and won’t rest until they have destroyed WMNF as a community radio station or until they are defeated resoundingly, which we all must with your support! If this situation is not yet happening at your radio station, please be on the lookout, it could happen and you don’t want to be caught unprepared.

To end, let me say, please join us!

 

Help us change conditions to return and defend WMNF as a Community Radio Station.

 

SaveWMNFCommunityRadio@aol.com, 813-829-4958

https://www.facebook.com/Save-WMNF-Community-Radio-103473509017372