WAIF Meeting Was Ugly

A lawsuit will likely follow this year’s turbulent annual membership meeting for WAIF-FM (88.3) community radio station. The session was marked by a near-fistfight in the parking lot and at least one person kicked out amid allegations of mismanagement and cronyism against the board of trustees.

As a dues-paying member of the station, I attended the meeting Sunday at the former Swifton Commons shopping center in Bond Hill. The raucous session included several moments that bordered on the absurd.

Although the meeting was slated to start at 4 p.m., with registration beginning at 3 p.m., the unusually large turnout — estimates pegged attendance at more than 200 people — caused a glitch in the schedule. The business portion didn’t start until about 4:35 p.m., while registration was still underway.

The meeting began with Donald Shabazz, a minister and disbarred attorney who chairs the board, talking at length about what he considered WAIF’s accomplishments in the past year, including paying off the station’s mortgage. His remarks were followed by a lengthy report from Howard Riley, WAIF’s station manager and security chief.

Candidates seeking election to the board were told that no campaigning would be allowed at the meeting, but Riley ended his remarks by telling the crowd, “I applaud your vote.” At one point earlier in his remarks, Riley referred to the crowd as his “congregation,” and it was obvious a certain segment came to the meeting directly from his church, still wearing their Sunday finest.

The large turnout was due, in part, to people upset that the board has expelled several members in recent months. The expulsions occurred to members who disagreed with the board’s management style, including how station finances were handled and whether WAIF has complied with FCC regulations. When some people in the crowd interrupted Shabazz and Riley to make various motions and ask questions, the pair repeatedly told them that they would be addressed in the portion of the meeting set aside to discuss “new business.”

But after Shabazz took a nearly 50-minute break so people could eat a buffet dinner and listen to smooth Jazz, time had run out for using the rented conference room. As a result, WAIF’s membership never voted on proposed new bylaws that would give the board more power, and the portions of the meeting designated for new business never occurred.

Moreover, the results of voting to elect five members to the 11-person board of trustees hadn’t yet been tallied.

Some members accused the board of using delaying tactics. They questioned why people didn’t get their food at the beginning of the meeting so the board could conduct business as people ate.

While the votes were counted, members were told to wait in the parking lot. For more than an hour, people waited as dusk fell and the counting continued. Once tallied, the votes had to be recounted because of a tie between two candidates. When the second count was completed, the tie still remained.

The top vote-getter was Riley. He was followed, in order, by Vinay Satyal and Shabazz, all incumbents who were re-elected. In fourth place was Cynthia Dye Wimmers, a non-incumbent who was kicked out of the meeting earlier by Shabazz for allegedly being disruptive. Tied for fifth place were incumbent Victoria Straughn and challenger Vince Morton. As the evening ended, it was unclear how the tie would be broken.

Wimmers, who has been at the station for 20 years and hosts the Kindred Sanction show, said her ouster from the meeting was unnecessary. As she addressed the board from the audience, Shabazz told her to speak louder. When she did, she was told she was disruptive and Shabazz had her escorted out of the building by four off-duty Cincinnati Police officers who were providing security. She eventually was allowed to return.

“All I was trying to do was ask if people could give a one- or two-minute speech because Howard was campaigning from the podium,” Wimmers said. “We’ve always done that before. There weren’t that many people running for office.”

When people who were waiting on the recount were told to leave Jordan Crossing by a female member, tempers flared and a fight almost broke out.

Meanwhile a group of expelled members, led by writer Joe Wessels, weren’t allowed into the meeting. Although WAIF’s bylaws clearly state that anyone expelled has the right to appeal the ruling “at the next meeting of the membership,” Shabazz disagreed. He said an appeals committee would be formed later to hear their complaints.

“(WAIF) sent me a membership card, the newsletter and a reminder card (in the mail),” Wessels said. “The bylaws state I have a right to be there for an appeal.”

Wessels has consulted with an attorney, who is preparing a lawsuit that will be filed within the next six weeks, he said.

The bylaws apparently were violated again when the board failed to mail a newsletter to the membership on a monthly basis. Other than a September issue advising people about the meeting, an issue hasn’t been sent in months.

“Is $800 worth it every month to get the WAIF alert out, or should $800 be spent to do something around the station?” Riley asked the crowd.

Critics, however, questioned Riley’s estimate. Further, they said current by-laws should have been mailed along with the proposed changes so members could compare and make an informed decision.

“If you haven’t looked them over, trust me, you can vote for them,” Riley said. “They’re good bylaws.”

Until confronted by some members, during a report about the station’s finances, Shabazz didn’t mention a $12,000 back tax bill owed to Hamilton County. The city of Cincinnati also is suing WAIF, seeking the return of a $2,464 grant for not abiding by the terms of its contract. When questioned about the lawsuit, Shabazz dismissed the action, adding it was caused by a misunderstanding. City officials say the lawsuit remains active.

Shabazz might have broken station rules against not publicly criticizing members when he called Wessels “Joe Weasel” and called station critics — including CityBeat — “white, right-wing racists” on the program Shabazz hosts, The Final Call Radio Show. Because WAIF is non-profit, Shabazz also may have violated FCC rules by allowing a commercial on his show for the tax business he owns, instead of merely underwriting the program.

Describing the meeting later, political activist and WAIF member Brian Garry said, “It was very ugly and horrible. It was the worst meeting I’ve been to in my life.”

Despite not getting a chance to speak at the meeting, a group of members — many of whom have been with WAIF for a decade or more — say they will continue pressing for an independent audit of the station’s finances.

— Kevin Osborne

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