The Indypendent Midterm Election Night Special on WBAI // 08 Nov. '22

Over the past couple of years, The Indypendent News Hour has become the premiere news and public affairs show on WBAI, a listen-sponsored community radio station whose signal beams 90 miles in all directions from atop a Midtown skyscraper. On Nov. 8 2022, we expanded our normal one-hour news show into a five-hour election night special. We not only keep track of key races in New York and nationally but provide a deeper analysis of the issues that have animated the midterms — crime, inflation, abortion rights, the threat to democracy — and ones that haven’t been discussed nearly enough: the racist backlash to Black Lives Matter, the demise of local news and the spread of conspiracy theories, the growing power of the billionaire class over the rest of society. Throughout the show, we heard live interviews with NYC voters by roving Indy reporters. Here is the five-hour breakdown. FIRST HOUR —Interview with Ben Max, editor of Gotham Gazette, about the most competitive governor’s race in New York in a generation as well as key congressional and legislative races that could swing the balance of power in Washington and Albany. —Interviews with Socialist state legislators Jabari Brisport and Phara Souffrant Forrest about Kathy Hochul turning to the New York Left to save her floundering campaign. SECOND HOUR —Interview with legendary NYC journalist Tom Robbins. —Interview with Bob Hennelly about the demise of local media and the national media echo chamber that has been promoting the “red wave” for weeks. —Grassroots report from Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis is pioneering is testing out his version of homegrown American fascism as prepares to run for President in 2024. THIRD HOUR —Interview with acclaimed Marxist-feminist-anti-racist scholar Linda Martín Alcoff. Will there be a backlash against the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade? If not, why not? —Interview with Indy Contributing Editor Nicholas Powers about the underlying causes of the public hysteria over crime, the rise of conspiracy theories and why working class people of color are now also starting to move away from supporting the Democrats. FOURTH HOUR —Grassroots report from North Carolina where Cheri Beasley is trying to become the first Black woman from the South to be elected to the Senate. —Interview with Mondale Robinson of the Black Male Voter Project. —Interview with Carrie Santoro, executive director of Pennsylvania Stands Up. —Interview with historian Max Elbaum about what the left must do to defeat MAGA and reset U.S. politics in a more progressive direction FIFTH HOUR —Interview with Linda Sarsour, Brooklyn-born Palestinian-American activist, Women’s March co-founder and national surrogate for Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020. —Grassroots report from Arizona. —Interview with Ron Daniels, President and Founder of the Institute of the Black World 21s Century about the Midterm elections and their impact on Black America.