An unvarnished blog that dips into the past and comments on the present of WBAI-FM, a once significant, intelligent New York radio station that for years has suffered chronic abuse from within and now nears extinction. Your comments are welcomed and will not be censored.
Is this a joke? Why 51K to Gary Null, wasn't he fund raising pro-bono? Why 6 grand for his water filter? How long has Andrew Phillips been in charge? 3 weeks? He got 10 grand for that? 30,000 for the call center? They couldn't staff it with volunteers?
ReplyDeleteTo me it seems that BAI is some kind of a feeding trough. I seen this happen at the NYU film school where all kinds of parasites latch on to film students, renting them film equipment at exorbitant prices and such, but the BAI listeners are not rich kids studying films, most of them are retired people surviving in the NYC off their pensions, and you got a whole fund raising industry surviving off their backs? And they call themselves progressives? I wish Eugene Debbs and his boys were here to clear the BAI studios of the swine!!!!!!!
Makes sense to me. You have to pay for premiums, they aren't free. Your problem is that you just raised enough to monkey along for another month after 30 full days of fundraising, all day every day. 25% of the total went to repay the station that bailed you out last month, 30K went to your old landlord for rent you never paid and yet you sit here calling Gary Null and Summer Reese names when without them, you'd be in court for unpaid debts and evicted from your tower right now. The entitlement on this blog is extraordinary. Grow up and figure out how to pay the bills and stop blaming everyone else for your troubles. No one owes WBAI a permanent loan while you all call each other names for fun.
ReplyDeleteAnon--I agree that the station has to repay the station that bailed them out, back rent and such. But if you read other posts, you won't see a sense of "entitlement." If anything, Chris and others have said that BAI and Pacifica, in their current form, don't deserve to continue. Also, I think that the people I've mentioned are not slamming Null per se, but instead are pointing out that over-reliance on him is not healthy for the station, as over-reliance on the appeal of one person is not good for any organization or movement.
ReplyDeleteAlso, while I think most posters would agree that BAI should pay its back rent and such, they are rightly appalled that the employees who were let go have yet to receive back pay, let alone severance. Whatever you think of those employees or their work, I think you would agree that their not getting what's due (legally as well as morally) to them is not a good thing.
Anonymous, are you implying that the BAI premiums aren't free? I thought they were donated, like copies of John Densmore's book. So, if Densmore and others can, why is Null charging for his premiums? I will tell you a bit more. Chinese intelligence raised money for its operations in the West from sales of its literature, which they DONATED in unlimited quantities to their agents. Koch brothers DONATE to causes they support, and yet millionaires like Null and others (if there are any) PROFIT from the BAI premiums? And why is Amy Goodman charging BAI an arm and a leg and distributes her content free of charge to others? Is it like selling lemonade to your parents? Then you mentioned entitlements, there are other ways to fund your art and culture besides ripping off your listeners. It has been done under monarchs, tyrants, Capitalists and Communists, there are commercial and public sectors, and you seem to be confusing the two.
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