WBAI interim program director Bob Hennelly is fired

Nicole Levy

WBAI general manager Berthold Reimers has fired the radio station's interim program director, Bob Hennelly, according to an email Hennelly sent colleagues this morning.

Hired by the noncommercial, listener-supported station at 99.5 FM in December with a decade of experience reporting for New York's NPR-affiliated WNYC under his belt, Hennelly led an initiative to retool WBAI's programming during the afternoon driving hours. As Capital reported yesterday, he replaced public affairs programs imported from WBAI's sibling stations in California with new call-in programs hosted by volunteer producers from New York.

Since the station's winter fund drive began on Feb. 3, the same week it aired new programs like "Health Styles" and "PolitiSIZE," Hennelly was assigned to raise $500,000 by the end of the month. He particularly appealed to labor groups for donations.

Hennelly gives as the main reason for his firing "Pacifica's dysfunctional governance and the trouble WBAI business model," which gave him, he wrote in his email, "no running room."

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/02/8540339/wbai-interim-program-director-bob-hennelly-fired