Eben Ray, who hosts KPFK's "Project Next" and has been with Pacifica for 14 years is not at all happy with the current state of disarray. Convinced that Pacifica is here to stay, she staunchly supports Summer Reese in the show Terry Goodman has dubbed The Pacifica Parliamentary Follies.
The following audio clip is from her March 27, 2014 show. Ms. Rey's frantic delivery is a breathless pro-Reese pitch that borders on a Blosdale infomercial, which could detract from its effectiveness, but the live phone interview with Summer Reese that follows might easily make up for that. It is the most persuasive argument against the Wilkinson faction's moves that I have heard to date.
If the few calls Ms. Rey takes at the end of the show are any indication, you will hear that KPFK listeners do not embrace Marty Wilkinson and her cohorts.
You may not be a Reese cheerleader—as I certainly haven't been—but she makes it difficult to see this unfortunate dèjá vu moment in Pacifica's history as anything but another self-serving maneuver by a rogue group. As I have pointed out before, the Pacifica National Board meetings I used to attend were the antithesis of this mess. I recall vividly a group of mature professionals seated at a large table in an airy Santa Barbara conference room. There were occasional differences of opinion, but voices were not raised, and if any Board member had a personal agenda, it never surfaced. National Board and station managers (we numbered three at that time) had one interest in common: Lew Hill's original concept. I think that began to change in the Seventies and it certainly took a disastrous turn with the introduction of a fatal form of "democracy."
As you will hear here, Rey and her cohost, Roy Tuckman (aka "Roy of Hollywood"), don't directly endorse the Blosdale/Null marketing efforts, but they seem to condone them and they blast those of us who don't. In fact, they suggest that any analogy made between these scams and snake oil huckstering is tantamount to slinging insults at and underestimating the listener-shopper!
I still fault Summer Reese for some of her decisions regarding WBAI, but the job she took over was almost mission impossible. It may now have become just that.
A technical note: I made one edit in this clip, removing the KTVU-TV (Berkeley Channel 2) report by Patti Lee, because I already posted it here in video form. If you wish to see it, this link will take you to that spot.
If the few calls Ms. Rey takes at the end of the show are any indication, you will hear that KPFK listeners do not embrace Marty Wilkinson and her cohorts.
You may not be a Reese cheerleader—as I certainly haven't been—but she makes it difficult to see this unfortunate dèjá vu moment in Pacifica's history as anything but another self-serving maneuver by a rogue group. As I have pointed out before, the Pacifica National Board meetings I used to attend were the antithesis of this mess. I recall vividly a group of mature professionals seated at a large table in an airy Santa Barbara conference room. There were occasional differences of opinion, but voices were not raised, and if any Board member had a personal agenda, it never surfaced. National Board and station managers (we numbered three at that time) had one interest in common: Lew Hill's original concept. I think that began to change in the Seventies and it certainly took a disastrous turn with the introduction of a fatal form of "democracy."
As you will hear here, Rey and her cohost, Roy Tuckman (aka "Roy of Hollywood"), don't directly endorse the Blosdale/Null marketing efforts, but they seem to condone them and they blast those of us who don't. In fact, they suggest that any analogy made between these scams and snake oil huckstering is tantamount to slinging insults at and underestimating the listener-shopper!
I still fault Summer Reese for some of her decisions regarding WBAI, but the job she took over was almost mission impossible. It may now have become just that.
A technical note: I made one edit in this clip, removing the KTVU-TV (Berkeley Channel 2) report by Patti Lee, because I already posted it here in video form. If you wish to see it, this link will take you to that spot.
UN-friggin'-believable: "diversity" is putting snake-oil salesmen, quacks and conspiracy theorists on the (Pacifica) air; "that's what we're about"-- "if you don't want to hear it, you can turn the dial."
ReplyDeleteLady, they HAVE turned the dial, and now the stations are going bust. Representation like that requires no further criticism.
Eben Rey is sounding like someone desperately attempting to convince herself that she is still relevant, and has no real idea on how anything in Pacifica really works. The more people tune out, the less money the stations make, and all the snake oil will not save it.
ReplyDeleteThe (former) ED chose this show to air Pacifica's dirty laundry. Now, I'm not a fan of the dirty laundry rule, but it's just a little strange to me that someone claiming me to be the ED is breaking the rule she's supposed to enforce. Of course, this is the ED who's overseeing document shredding and cutting locks to address grievances, so I guess this is all acceptable... But I digress. Appearing on Project Next Radio, a show with a clear and partisan agenda, has to be taken as an endorsement of this type of program. If the former ED is reinstated, we can expect to hear more of this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.projectnext.us/wordpress/
If someone is claiming you to be the ED, they must know who you are. :)
DeleteSince most of us here on the East Coast are unfamiliar with the nature of Eben Ray's program, I doubt if it has much bearing upon how we interpret Ms. Reese's words. The host may well be a Nullish snake oil promoter, but some of us are more interested in what the Pacifica ED has to say than we are in who happens to be holding the microphone. I am not a Reese follower, per se, but given the present alternative, reason speaks to me.
What, if not "clear and partisan", is YOUR agenda?
KPFK is ALTERNATIVE RADIO. During Fund Drives, non FDA health solutions, 911 Truth, and other alternative premiums are what sell the most..THAT is what people want to hear. And by the way, there are TWO THOUSAND Architects and Engineers of Architect and Engineers for 911 Truth that say the 911 Commission Report is wrong on Science. We KNOW that the Pentagon wanted to kill Americans and shoot down airliners to blame Cuba..and use it an excuse. We KNOW we were lied to about Iraq (and SOME of us know that Obama's "Humanitarian" Wars are anything but). The head of FOOD at FDA is from Monsanto, and we know about Prozac and other FDA approved drugs. There IS a place for alternative health. The Chinese have practiced that health for 5000 years. We don't WANT that which we can hear on CIA controlled media. We don't WANT Pacifica to be an NPR which has Council on Foreign Relations people on all the time..do we?
ReplyDeleteYes, we know a lot of things, including the fact that Pacifica in recent years plays loosely with the truth and rarely, if ever, opens the microphone to opposing views. We also know that this sort of deceit is not what people want to hear from a Pacifica station, and that is borne out by dwindling audience figures.
DeleteI think you misunderstood Lew Hill's concept of alternative radio. Pacifica (i.e. KPFA) was not designed to attract listeners by telling them that snow is black, water is dry, war is peace, etc. To the founders of Pacifica, it was important to broadcast the truth, because—sad to say—that gave them an alternate to much of what they were hearing on commercial radio. Is there good reason to question the commercial and political establishments? You bet there is, but prevailing suspicions and actual findings certainly contain enough plausible and documented information to render idiotic and (I believe) counterproductive such embellishments as are added to market all these books and videos. The supermarket tabloids owe their existence to lies and distortions—Pacifica ought not stoop down to that level, regardless of how much money it brings in. The same can be said of the snake oil hucksters Pacifica embraces. Alternative medicine is centuries old and to be taken seriously, but selling phony "cures" in order to pay for inferior radio programs conducted by vainglorious charlatans is an insult to intelligence.
So, yes, there is indeed a place for alternative health, but not for the fakery Pacifica employs to rob its listeners. The Pacifica I became a part of many years ago respected themselves as well as the listeners. All sides of an issue were discussed, truth was sought, and listeners were spared the kind of propagandizing I see in your anonymous comment. The idea was to give them something to think about, not to tell them what to think. As for not wanting "CIA controlled media," I couldn't agree more, but if one exercises freedom of speech, any kind of control is impossible to implement. Pacifica stations no longer honor the right to free speech—have you listened to the PNB audios? Have you followed the political maneuvers that take place at KPFK and the other Pacifica stations?
It does not look like it to me.
ALL the other stations out there are propaganda and mainstream. Pacifica, especially now, when, as Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report is not being the Lesser Evil, but the more Effective Evil because his election has neutered much of the already moribund left...Now, more than ever, we need voices of truth, not those whose shows are DESIGNED to subtly gatekeep...like Ian Masters does. Ever listen to Mae Brussell?
DeleteGary Null's programs on Fascism, 911Truth, and much else are excellent. And nutrition is not snake oil. I personally have no medicines in my cabinet, and take no antiobotics. I have Never had a vaccine. I DO take many supplements, which are not snake oil. I do eat super green foods, and take super green powders. I have never had a cavity, nor broken a bone, nor had to be hospitalized...and I am close to 60. I look 43. Much of what is discussed on the ALTERNATIVE health shows is valuable..some may not be.
WBAI is not mainstream, but there are times when one almost wishes it would become that, even for just one hour. It is, however, in large measure, propaganda. There are still wonderful programs at 99.5, but not many—not enough to stem the exodus of intelligent listeners.
DeleteGlen Ford strikes me as a propagandist, which bothers me, although not to the extent that Cornel West does. I generally agree with the message, but not the delivery, and I thought John Henry Clarke was an opportunistic phony. I like to be told the truth, unembellished and without interwoven personal agendas; I like to be regarded as having independent thought, and I think that's how Pacifica should view its listeners.
I'm all for alternative medicine—as I near 83, I take only one Vitamin D capsule every day and my medicine cabinet has only a bottle of Exederin™ for the very occasional headache. I had the usual childhood vaccines and, a couple of years back, one for pneumonia. Except when asked to lecture on jazz or blues, I haven't been in a classroom since I was 14. Whatever I know, including English, came to me outside of school. I don't know what that proves, if anything, but natural curiosity, sprinkled with skepticism worked for me. :)
I am not familiar with Mae Brussell, but Ian Masters offered great relief when he contrasted intelligence with the pretentious clap-trap of a local hack named Robert Knight, who pretended to be a network anchorman.
Having heard his gross exaggerations and self-agrandizement ad nausea, I cannot take Null's "documentaries" seriously. I am not suggesting that nutrition is snake oil, just that Null and some of the other Pacifica merchants sell their stuff in a manner that is very reminiscent of the old circus hawkers and con artists. That said, Null has been kept on, because his infomercials bring in money, and he apparently thrives on the free advertising WBAI gives him.
If I sound cynical, it's because I have been listening to what's left of WBAI.
Summer Reese was given a 3 Year Contract in January...then fired in March. They WOULD NOT articulate the reason(s) for her termination. They also did not consult with their legal counsel. This stinks. Summer is articulate, intelligent, and amazing. We NEED alternative radio. I agree with the previous poster that we need real radio, and not a Democratic Party radio station. A Neocon is a Neoliberal is a Fascist. Summer, real activists support you. Smart Women are great. Fight on.
ReplyDeleteWhy do Progressives/Liberals allow Noam Chomsky and Ian Masters to tell them that "who killed JFK doesn't matter", and that the official 911 Commission Report (that Commission was to be originally chaired by Henry Kissinger until the families loudly and vocally protested)....they say that 911 could not be kept secret. Remember the Manhattan Project?...3000 people kept that secret. Aside from that, we need alternative Pacifica...though many there supported Clinton and his Kosovo lies (on behalf of The Rand Corporation and the CIA/CFR for whom all Presidents have fronted/shilled since JFK FIRED Allen Dulles as head of CIA, and wanted to "shatter them into a thousand pieces"...and now Obama and the Fake Media are telling us that Libya, Syria and Ukraine are Humanitarian Wars, and not our fault..though these are demonstrable lies. We need a Real Left Radio. REAL Left Radio would have applauded, and played Rand Paul, when he recently called for a new Church Committee.
ReplyDeleteChris, what do want opposing views on? Either what Obama/Ian Masters tells us about Syria/Libya/Ukraine is true..or it is not. People DIE around those mistruths. A few months ago, Kerry/Obama Begged Congress for a resolution to invade Syria...a General next to Kerry would not back him up on that request, in front of a Senate Committee..now Obama went to Saudi Arabia to figure out another way to attack Syria, which most Americans don't want..are there two sides to that? Sometimes, there is just the Truth....we can get the "other" (government) perspective on all the other channels.
ReplyDeleteThink about it..when Naomi Klein wrote the Shock Doctrine, and told us about the IMF and the World Bank and what they would do...we believed them, and Bush was bad. Now that the IMF is moving into Ukraine..hardly a peep out of the "Left"..because Obama is President. He is not the Lesser of Two Evils..he is the more EFFECTIVE evil, as Glen Greenwald said, because his election neutered most of the protest among blacks and the Left. It would be great if SOMEONE on Pacifica would talk about this. THAT is why listnership is so low....Pacifica should have interviewed the 118 NYC First Responders at the Twin Towers who said they saw Explosions in the buildings...or asked Larry Silverstein, owner of Building 7 and the Twin Towers (and of the building from which Amy Goodman broadcasts..and she SAW Building 7 fall, and WILL NOT discuss it...at all). BTW, she rents from Larry Silverstein, who owned the Twin Towers/Building 7...he famously said about Building 7 the Demolition Term "we had to PULL the Building"...and that 47 story building is not mentioned ONCE in the official 911 Commission Report, and...it's THE lie which propelled us into illegal wars and led to the completion of a Homeland/Police State. And Ian Masters calls anyone who discusses this "lunatics". Who do you think made the term "conspiracy theorist" a pejorative? Three Letters, starts with C, and ends with A....
ReplyDeleteOkay, I think we all know where you're coming from with all those comments, but could we get back on track and discuss the current crisis at Pacifica?
DeleteTo the horde of the Anonymous, I deal in facts. That's why I read investigative journalism and white papers from academic sources. I got news for you - Pacifica's reporting for most part is on the level of National Enquirer. Big on editorializing, fact poor and source poor. I have seen the 9/11 wreckage first had and then years later I hear 9/11 Truthers confabulating on BAI and being rightfully challenged on other news sources. Journalism is the world's second oldest profession, and everyone whose lips move has a bias and an agenda, but my currency is facts and actionable knowledge, and guess what, Al Jazeera, BBC, NPR, CBC, they all produce better journalism as a rule than BAI and your beloved conspiracists are on the same level of fact checking and scientific scrutiny as the Ufology investigative specials on TV. But hey, Anon, that's okay! Hitler had his astrologer, Pope Pius XII trusted in his barber more than he did in modern medicine, and you, Anon got your alternative media, grassroots community whatever, which is succumbing to economic pressures.
ReplyDeleteSummer Reese's biggest problem, is that she things Pacifica is a business and she tries to run it as such, supporting it by marketing of premiums, when it is supposed to be a non-profit foundation dedicated to education.
ReplyDeleteThis is funny.... Reese is hiding behind her $315,000.00 contract to keep her job! Wasn't she part of the PNB for a few years? That's probably the most money she ever seen. She really wants this job... that's why she probably shouldn't keep it.
ReplyDeleteFunny, how Reese conceals her own fringe beliefs. She introduced the California public affairs broadcasting to BAI to replace the programming that went off the air at BAI when she fired most of the staff. Reese allegedly used to work for Null and enjoys Blosdale's support, whom she promoted. Yep, Reese is reliant on pitching premiums, that's her favorite model, and she will keep Reimers on as GM at BAI.
ReplyDeleteAccording to her own admission, Pacifica lost a grant for Spanish broadcasting because they did not reach enough Hispanic listeners. And there we go again: More grant money Reese is bringing in to switch over to internet broadcasting. There is something to it. Also, Reese fighting to keep her job as an Executive Director and now campaigning to change how the listeners are represented.
I believe it was Andrew Phillips who brought California programs to WBAI. It was, he said a stopgap measure to fill time slots with something listenable until WBAI itself could come up with good radio. That made sense to me. I think it was Phillips' departure,that, in turn, saw some of those programs discontinued. The 19 layoffs were, I believe Summer's stroke—I was glad to see some of these people go, especially Cathy Davis and Robert Knight, but it was a mixed bag.
DeleteI think Reese's decision to bring back Null, Blosdale, and the damn infomercials was both a programming mistake and an unfair stab in the back of Phillips. He did the right thing by resigning at that point. I really don't believe that Reese supports the snake-oil.gloomsday premium sales as a means of support, but something had to be done and it was too late to do the right thing. What Reese should have been doing from the moment she was handed the reins is organize a real fundraising effort—concerts, outside drives, events, etc. Not easy, but going back to that which never really worked, that which drove listeners off, was insanity.
Reimers is still the GM, but not because Reese wants it that way. She fired him, remember? How he managed to stay on is a mystery—it lends credence to the theory that he is holding something over the empty heads of Pacifica.
Reese is by no means a favorite of mine, but as things stand, I see nothing better hiding in that organization. I still think 2014 is going to be Pacifica's last year—certainly WBAI's.
I finally heard the whole thing. Reese is disingenuous. She is a demagogue and an opportunist. The disturbing fact is that she has claimed to have brought in millions of grant dollars for digital (internet) broadcasting, which means that she could have secured a small fraction of that money to keep Pacifica functioning as a regular radio broadcasting network, but it not in her interest. She supports premium pitching, because that's how she plans to sell the Pacifica audience - as a potential market for advertisers. Once they go digital, I think that they get out of reach and regulation of the FCC. Right now she is outmaneuvering the rest of the board, which will probably object to going Internet.
ReplyDeleteNotice how she only addressed her conflict with the Pacifica National Board, but mot the source of her million dollar grants, and she did not mention how she plans to tackle the financial debt owed to Democracy Now! She never talked about how she came to power and does not talk about the real issues, such as loss of listenership.
And also, ask yourself this question - the variant of going internet was on the table long before she secured the internet broadcasting grant for the BAI. If you had the value of the BAI broadcasting license and if you had that incoming huge grant to go Internet, was it really necessary to lay off the BAI news department and most of the staff? Reese had no problems being the hatchet person for the KPFA set when she dismantled BAI, except now there is a conflict between Margie and Summer. Just at the time when FSRN found a funding model to bring itself back on the air, it conflicted with Reese's plan for the internet broadcasting, and hence the break with the rest of the Pacifica board. I think that ultimately her internet broadcasting scheme will fail, just as Gary Null's PRN did, and Summer Reese will go down in history as the person, who took Pacifica off the air.
I haven't the time for a detailed response, but here I disagree with most of your conclusions. I hope someone will post a more thoughtful response.
DeleteThat is fine, and I can be wrong, but here is my question - Has there been any talk or discussion of FSRN coming back? If this is in the works, and was mentioned by the Margie faction, shouldn't Summer Reese embrace it as well - BAI newsroom coming back into existence. Why is Summer Reese Camp silent about it?
ReplyDeleteSecond, Summer Reese discussed internet broadcasting previously, and mentioned two multi-million grants to develop internet broadcasting for Pacifica. Why is there no discussion of where the grants come from, or any discussion of switching to the internet at all?
When something is silent and barely mentioned that is cause for concern. If Reese is keeping silent on FSRN, that means that she is not intending to bring it back on Pacifica or BAI. Switch to internet broadcasting is even more ominous - I heard this mentioned for the third time now, once by Reese or Blosdale and twice by Reese. And yet no one else picket up on this - took a position or reacted to it. Time will tell.
I don't recall hearing any talk of FSRN returning. In fact, there isn't much talk of any meaningful changes at WBAI, that I know of. Reimers' patchwork attempts are random throws to see if a flag pops up and lights go off. Although they are not admitting it, I have a feeling that even the most deluded of them have come to realize that the light at the end of the tunnel is a GAME OVER sign.
DeleteInternet broadcasting is till in its infancy, but it should certainly be considered—not as an alternative, but rather as an adjunct. If it was all that good, you can bet Null would not keep returning to WBAI.
Pro Reese posting accused the Margie camp of selling out to some large corporate fundraiser.
ReplyDeleteThen Save KPFA pro Margie posting mentioned BAI's FSRN finding a way to finance itself and coming back on the air.
Why did everyone fail to notice this?
Then a while ago, long, long time ago, when Blosdale first appeared on BAI, I read something that she wrote, where she was saying that if Pacifica went on the Internet, the Pacifica audience will be a goldmine for the Internet marketers.
I am surprised people overlooked this, or Summer Reese's claim of a TEN MILLION dollar grant for BAI to broadcast over the internet (claimed on the broadcast here)
These people only see and hear what they want to see and hear. Blosdale is a despicable, dishonest marketing person. I still wish we could obtain some solid information on the much-talked-about, humongous internet grant. It's another fantasy thrown into this stew, I think.
DeleteIf this is humongous grant is a fantasy, then Summer Reese is either delusional, dishonest, or is a liar. The most worrisome aspect of it is that I can see a deal, where someone gets a 30+ million BAI's broadcasting license by giving BAI a 10 Million dollar "grant" to set up an internet broadcasting network and getting the use of the BAI transmitter in return.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chris, for the audio clip, & for all the posts you have made - & to everyone who comments, in trying to make some sense of all this.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say that doesn't the continuity announcer, introducing the programme, risk being discipled for saying that Ms Reese IS Pacifica's executive director? Surely the decision of the National Board stands, even if at some later point it is overturned?
(And given the financial straits of Pacifica why hasn't Ms Reese been invoiced for destroying Pacifica property, namely a bulky lock? The peeps deserve an explanation.)
But is it, indeed, the National Board? That's an important question...and a very debatable one. As for the bulky lock, it might well have been an unauthorized Pacifica purchase by the self-proclaimed board....right?
DeleteYes, we all deserve an explanation (i.e. the truth) just as Pacifica deserves an entirely new cast. :)
Thanks for your input here.
Good point on the lock, Chris. Maybe Ms Rey will ask you on to next week's programme: you seem to know how minds can work in these shenanigans.
DeleteBut on the National Board: has anyone contested that Thursday, 13 March, was a properly constituted meeting? For example, does a motion to dismiss a Pacifica senior employee have to be on the circulated agenda? Am I correct in saying the Ms Reese dismissal motion wasn't on the circulated agenda? In the spirit of Ellison, has the circulated agenda been published for the enlightenment of the peeps?
I believe you are quite correct regarding the—shall we say—irregularities surrounding the Reese firing. As if to add credence to that, the dismissal letter she received, signed (with first name only) by Ms. Wilkinson, was written on obsolete—some say "doctored"—Pacifica stationery.
DeleteThe "majority" that ousted Reese is not lawful. One member of that ruling faction clings to a seat on the board, despite the Pacifica bylaws (art. 5, § 1, ¶ B) under which he has resigned because he simultaneously serves as a commissioner on Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B of the District of Columbia.
ReplyDeleteAnother de facto director, also a member of that faction, has drug convictions. Under the Anti-Drug Abuse (part of the "war on drugs," like it or not), he clings to a seat on the board, jeopardizing the issuance of all licenses and permits from the FCC to Pacifica, which could not continue broadcasting any full-scale radio without him. And that de facto director has a fiduciary duty to be loyal to Pacifica! (How can he be loyal when his very presence on the board jeopardizes Pacifica's nonprofit mission?)
(How can a lawful vote be cast by a director of a corporation who, under its own bylaws, has resigned? Or by a director who defrauds the corporation to which he has a legal duty to be loyal, even jeopardizing its nonprofit mission by his continued presence on the board?)
There are so many unanswered questions in connection with this and subsequent behavior by the so-called "majority" has only substantiated them.
Delete