Short answers, pulled from the story.
WBAI is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station broadcasting at 99.5 FM in New York City. It is owned by the Pacifica Foundation and operates studios in Brooklyn, with its transmitter located at 4 Times Square.
The station began as W75NY in 1941, operated by Metropolitan Television, Inc. It moved to the 99.5 FM frequency in 1947 and was reborn under the WBAI call letters in 1955, after two years off the air.
The case arose from WBAI's 1973 broadcast of comedian George Carlin's Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television monologue, aired uncensored. The Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 in 1978 that the federal government has authority over broadcast material it deems indecent.
WBAI program director Samori Marksman founded Democracy Now! in 1996. Marksman served two stints as program director at WBAI and also hired Amy Goodman, who went on to helm Democracy Now! after his death in 1999.
The Christmas Coup occurred in December 2000 when a faction led by radio host Utrice Leid padlocked WBAI's studios and seized control of the airwaves. The action followed the death of program director Samori Marksman and a succession dispute. General manager Valerie Van Isler was among those fired immediately.
In August 2013, Pacifica management laid off 19 of the station's 29 employees, including the entire news department. At the time the station owed $2 million in broadcast fees to Democracy Now! alone and had only $23,000 in cash on hand. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting had also suspended payments to WBAI that year over accounting irregularities.