The premiums mess was brought up on the Personal Computer Show tonight. Somebody
who can penetrate Reimers' protective shield should tell him that all callers
to his office are not "crazy"—as he told the Village Voice—then make him sit down and listen to WBAI.
Among the things he needs to hear are the following two soundbites, which
I have excerpted from this week's show, but left uncut. The first caller is a
listener named Lamont whose e-mails are never answered. He is still waiting
to receive a product he paid for a couple of marathons ago.
The second caller finally got his premium, which impressed the PC hosts
until they learned that it was a Gary Null product—then they pointed oiu that Null gets special treatment (which he does). Calls such as these are becoming more common, but most hosts haven't the spine to speak their mind. These call-ins say more than any of us can possibly convey in this forum. Note, too, the remarks regarding the appalling technical work by "Chief of Operations," Tony Ryan, which make call-ins difficult and downright embarrassing.
Somehow I don't think that Reimers is either left wing, or progressive, or that he even has any political views. He comes across like an arrogant bean counter. Null claimed that people get positions of power at BAI/Pacifica based on their left wing affiliations. What left wing? What we have at BAI/Pacifica today, with several notable exceptions, is a bunch of Lassais Faire would be entrepreneurs trying to cash in on their intellectual property, selling it to the audience in the guise of premiums, showing a lacksy-daisical/negligent attitude towards fulfilling their end of the bargain and actually sending out premiums.
ReplyDeleteI think you describe them correctly. They may be (or think they are) leftists, but only until someone comes along with an agenda that might possibly become the next internal trend. That's when the spots change in a New York minute. I think a recent instance would be Haskins, who followed the wavy black line until Hennelly drew a fork in the road and declared WBAI the voice of labor. Although he has had no positive effect on the programming, this ordained iPD from New Jersey has the title that readily sways a "radio guide's" little mind—and with a GM who traipses about in a state of semi-conscousness, a skilled Pied Piper can forge new paths with a single trill.
DeleteMuch of what is on BAI is a Rush Limbaugh type caricature of the "left" I would not call this the left at all - an embarrassment is what it is!
ReplyDeleteI recall a Monty Python sketch in which someone was described as a "zany, bitter, disillusined Marxist tycoon."
ReplyDeleteDid they know anything about Null, Reese, Reimers or any of the others in the BAI/Pacifica peanut gallery?