It has come and, as predicted, it is not a happy one.
Summer Reese and her West Coast amateurs have succeeded in killing WBAI once and for all. What we heard on the air this morning between 6 and 8 was a very sad and frustrated Program Director, who knew little more than the rest of us, having been kept out of the loop by the Pacifica gang. They did not even have the decency to inform him of the station's status—he read it in the NY Daily News.
Typically, not a peep has been heard from Berthold Reimers, an excuse of a man, who could have turned things around if he had the backbone, knowledge, and interest. He had none of these, so he allowed the likes of Robert Knight, Kathy Davis, Gary Null, and a smug, dysfunctional group of opportunists to have their way with the station. These are people who have neither conscience nor a sense of responibility—they richly deserve the obscurity that awaits most of them.
We should all express our thanks to Andrew Phillips and the handful of producers and hosts who continued to make listening to WBAI a bearable, if sporadic, experience. May they all re-emerge in a healthier broadcasting environment.
Tomorrow morning at seven, Gary Null takes over that one-hour slot. What will he say? What will he sell? Who will believe him? Who will care? The assignment came from Summer Reese, a woman who turns out to be every bit the mistake I had her pegged as.
Also this morning, as if on cue, the BlueBoard forum, known to some as the snake pit, was down. A coincidence? Perhaps. As for this blog, I will keep it open for as long as there may be a need for a troll-free outlet for discussion of WBAI.
Please use the comments option to tell us what you think.
Ironic that shortly after Andrew surprised producers with sudden program changes he himself felt the irritation of being left out of the loop of an important decision that affects him.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the increased Null is a last ditch effort to raise more funds.
Of course as Andrew alluded to, it's tough to convince people to contribute to WBAI when the station is almost buried.
So Andrew presented it as a contribution to the severance pay funds.
Looks like the 'Blue Board" is still down. Was RPM told to take it down?
Yes, there's a bit of irony there—kind of a boomerang, don't you think?
DeleteThe Blue Board is back up, but an uneducated guess tells me that it's days are numbered. Well, unless it becomes the Green Stuff board. :)
Well - it looks like it was good luck that I couldn't get thru to make a pledge the other evening!
ReplyDeleteSome of us are blessed from time to time.
DeleteChris, you wrote:
ReplyDelete"What we heard on the air this morning between 6 and 8 was a very sad and frustrated Program Director, who knew little more than the rest of us, having been kept out of the loop by the Pacifica gang. They did not even have the decency to inform him of the station's status—he read it in the NY Daily News."
That is not true. Andrew was very much part of the loop. He was part of meetings with Summer Reese and Berthold Reimers in which the LMA and the need to change programming *during the fund drive only* was all discussed. Maybe they didn't see eye to eye, but that's a different matter altogether than what you've speculated above and presented as fact. Wrong!
Mitchel Cohen
He may have heard of it before the Daily News article appeared, but I think it is clear that he was sidelined. Why, if he knew that Summer had such plans, would he have made arrangements with hosts and producers, and gone on the air to announce them? That does not makes sense to mr, Mitchel.
DeleteI hope Andrew can join us with a clarification, but I would not blame him if he has had enough of Pacifica. They really used him.