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$450,528.85
The "Buddies" total came to 154. Now we have to see how much of this money is actually received. It would not be unreasonable to also expect an accounting as to how it was spent—but don't hold your breath.
If these numbers are at all accurate it appears they may be nearing being forced into bankruptcy, either voluntarily or at the hands of their creditors.
ReplyDeleteAt that point it may be interesting.
~ ‘indigopirate’
Remember, too, that these are only pledge totals—reality is far worse. So far, these totals come to a daily average of circa $12,600, a figure that—even if it were net income and bills weren't already piled up—is far below what is needed. Pacifica will have to sell something other than its soul to get out of this one. I wonder how patient WHCR and the owners of the Atlantic Avenue premises are? The ESB wolves must already be circling close...
DeleteAt this point it's difficult to blame Pacifica's many creditors for losing all patience and simply wanting their damn money.
DeleteI suspect they may be so paralyzed by internal divisions and opposition in any attempt to take action to sell anything that they'll wind up in forced bankruptcy at the hands of their creditors, but, of course, that's only a guess.
~ 'indigo'
Sounds plausible. I imagine that one reason why the station itself will only go so far as to declare this a "dire" situation is its fear that telling the truth will discourage sales. Notice how people are calling in for the overpriced merchandise while very few are going the "Buddy" route—they know that the return on that one is very iffy. Null and Blosdale are the only ones I have heard spell out the depth of the problem, but we are still not given un-gilded figures.
DeleteThe media has been amazingly quiet about all this, but I'm sure the balloon will soon pop.
I heard from a KPFA listener, who claims that the daily pledges of the KPFA have almost doubled once Reese lost the court case. It may be that there is a listener-supporter division to match the factional rift at Pacifica.
ReplyDeleteThat may be so, but bear in mind that this is the sort of claim one is bound to hear from biased people.
DeleteWhen I left WBAI, the membership increased considerably. In his rather awful book, Steve Post mentioned that, attributing the rise to my departure. The truth is that one of my last acts at WBAI was to successfully negotiate with the FCC and a PA station, airing on the same frequency, the increase of power, purchase a new transmitter to handle that increase, and have it hooked up to the antenna atop the Empire State Building. As you can imagine, WBAI now reached a far larger audience and its programming, as well as approach to broadcasting, increased membership.
Ask your KPFA listener to give you his/her source for this information. Until we get some evidence to support the claim, I'll hold onto that sizable grain of salt. :)
The one-day surge appears to have been caused by an Alan Watts DVD special package that sold a lot of copies and a Mario Martinez special. The woo-woo stuff. KPFA's fund drive was budgeted for $745,000 in 19 days and it and was extended for 4 additional days. By NY standards nowadays, that's great results, but by California standards its a lackluster fund drive.
ReplyDeleteSuccess is difficult to measure when the net income and actual cost to the station are unknown. The way Reimers operates, the withholding of full information gives reason to believe that the results of these WBAI drives are less than satisfying.
DeleteAccording to Null (hardly a disinterested bystander) very few are listening to this station - certainly not new listeners. So, are we to believe that the few long-time listeners -- who have already been inundated with fundraising and have probably bought a premium -- are now shelling out even more money to the dying BAI? Can anyone explain how they could possibly raise $204,000 in two weeks?? It doesn't make sense unless the numbers are false.
ReplyDeleterj
I think only a small percentage of the pledges are made to save the station. Of course this is pure assumption on my part, but I think many of these pledges come from a drive-by audience, people who have more interest in these products than in the station's programs. That seems to be borne out by the drop in pledges that occurs each time the offer is in keeping with the original Pacifica aims. I further believe that the predictable failure of the "program is the premium" approach is due to the fact that decades of dumbed down schedules has dumbed down the audience.
DeleteA large percentage of what is now aired by WBAI would have been rejected right off the bat in the earlier years, and host/producers who got the nod would not have been kept on past their expiry date. Many moved on, as was expected, and that allowed the program schedule to constantly renew and stay fresh. As I have pointed out so many times, the original incentive we gave listeners was WBAI itself, not any individual program, just the station. We expected subscribers to hate some of our programs—that was a measure of our success.
The choir can only be preached to for so long before it gets bored.
As a point of information: In the iED's report to the PNB (open session) this evening he indicated his concern that the numbers indicate that the audience increases specifically during those periods when what he referred to as the 'get rich quick and live forever' 'premiums' are available. The audience at other times, he indicated, is significantly less. He was clear that he was 'uncomfortable' with this 'model', which has been in place and failing for a number of years, and he was equally clear in his preference for seeking underwriting.
DeleteOn another note: I was struck by the fact that the CFO, in his report (also open session) indicates there is no tracking of monies owing at either the individual stations or as a consolidated overview.
Impressive.
~ 'indigopirate'
"Get rich quick and live forever" may be a better model than the hair shirt. Something in between?
ReplyDeleteThey could sell hair shirts to listeners who aren't suffering enough.
DeleteEvery time I been tuning in to BAI this past week, all I hear is Blosdale selling some miraculous nutritional meal replacement powder with a bamboo tooth brush and Gary Null pushing various DVD's. All recycled like a TV commercial. I can't endure more than 40 seconds of it.
ReplyDeleteWell what the hell's *wrong* with you? You don't *want* to get rich quick and live forever? Not even *one* of those two wonderful possibilities available only now, for a limited time, for only [Fill in sale price, er, uh, price of 'contribution' here]?
Delete~ 'indigopirate'
I heard the bamboo tooth brush commercial too! They are really reaching now! I'm amazed they got anyone to pledge money to this station, never mind that much. The programs are just an abomination.
DeleteI thought the bamboo toothbrush was a free bonus gift! Also—correct me if I'm wrong—I heard tell that Null's DVDs have been individually blessed by Cathrine (the former Kathy Davis).
DeleteHow about the immunity candles? They, too, are gratis add-ons—it's the "but wait, there's more" mode de scam.
DeleteHey, you forgot the race hustlers.
Deleterj
It's like a bad joke! But I do always check in here to see what comments you guys come up with! Always hilarious. It's sad how low WBAI has sunk. And yes you are right it was an add on to I believe it was some kind of natural toothpaste unlike the chemical concoctions we all use that are full of poisons. I'm sure their untested/unregulated toothpaste will be perfect....
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that the bamboo toothbrush is akin to Null's "Heavenly Shampoo"? I haven't heard that mentioned recently, perhaps they took it off the shelves. Perhaps it went to heaven, lured there by angel hair. Yes, that's it—I have noticed that the air contains less dandruff these days.
ReplyDeleteInsanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result.
ReplyDeleteWe're hearing the same pitches, programs, interviews and such as we've heard in the past few fund drives, all of which have bombed. Are Berthold et amis expecting a different result this time?
All they seem to be interested is paying the most pressing bills. They know not to expect patience when it comes to the Empire State antenna hookup, so it gets paid just as those wolves begin scratching the door. The rents owed at CCNY and Atlantic Avenue are another matter—last I heard they were 3 months in arrears at each place, but the people there have been ever so lenient thus far. That, I think, will eventually change—there will come a time when Reimers can no longer play his game. This is all because these clowns don't plan beyond the next due invoice. Look at all the time they have wasted by sticking their heads in the sand rather than thinking ahead and tackling the problem of a lost audience. The line that might separate steadfast loyalty from downright stupidity is sometimes barely visible. Listeners were charged an extra fee for shipping and handling, but the money was spent on something else. It should have been used for hiring people to perform the s&h task while the absolutely vital work of making the station listenable was taking place. As long as the stagnant programming is allowed to remain stagnant, getting the heavenly shampoo, hiphop CD or other products to the buyer is not going to help WBAI rise from the trash heap.
DeleteBad programming does to a radio station what a strong condom campaign might do to a daycare center: all but eliminate the customer. :)
I never got to hear his heavenly shampoo ad. I only caught the tail end of the eco-friendly bamboo toothbrush add on. The products all sound so dubious!
ReplyDeleteOnce one of the promoters said "I would tell you all the things this can cure, but I'm not allowed to by the government" ?? Can't remember which product it was (this was years ago) but I almost drove my car off the road laughing.
Maybe those homeless angels from Kathy's show are using the shampoo??
I wonder if Null's Heavenly Shampoo keeps one's halo clean and shiny?
DeleteChris, thank you for your thoughtful and thorough response to my queries on Reimer's 2K/hour expectation and marathon history in the other thread. Looking at the updated tally, it is obvious that the marathon is going to go through June. It is the only way they can even come close to what they need, and frankly even going through June won't do it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that's 4 months out of 6 dedicated to mind-numbing money begs. Why would any new listener tune in?