Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Milking the listeners...

This post was added on August 5, but I decided to update and move it up, because very serious questions are being raised as to the accuracy of the figures made public by the station's GM. We are told on the air that WBAI is moving out of the red, but the optimism has a shallow ring to it. Where, indeed, did the money go?


Over on Nalini's list, where there has been an active but largely useless exchange going on for days on end, Kenya Lewis posted the following reality check, She doesn't post often, but she is among the few who can get right to the point and seems not to have been hypnotized by one faction or the other.

Many of us have seen Mitchel Cohen's everything's-comin'-up-roses defense of current mismanagement; Michael Haskins fantasizes about a rebuilt, rejuvenated WBAI, and last weekend, Tony  Ryan ("Sledgehammer") told Gary Byrd that he has plans to build a studio at the Brooklyn site, using his own money. He also said that the bills were almost paid, at last. This news both delighted and surprised Mr. Byrd, for very good reason: the facts belie it. Someone obviously delivered a case of rose-colored glasses to the Atlantic Avenue building and Reimers has been handing them out freely. He knows that he'll never find another $100,000-a-year job that demands no skills.

Obviously sick of this chronic delusion, Ms. Lewis offered something to think about:


Surely, I am not the only one who wonders why Berthold Reimers is still around. Anyone wish to take a guess?

UPDATE (8/12/2014)
A post that appeared overnight on the dying Blueboard shows that some people are counting as they wonder. The following was posted by "MYCROFTXXX" in response to the July 9th General Manager's Report to the LSB. Click on the green text to download that report).

Doesn't anyone there know how to add? 
The last five lines of the "PREMIUMS" graphic shows numbers that make no sense; the totals should be 1945, 3912, 56, 86545, 23, 92496, 10, 39120 rather than 
2086, 3912, 111, 162755, 46, 169999, 10, 39120.
I don't know what reason the totals for "Printed," "Paid & Shipped," "Returned" & "Total" are roughly double what they should be, nor what effect this would have on BAI's reported finances overall, nor if someone is pocketing $82,000 somehow, but I do know that the lack of ability to do simple addition demonstrated by this chart would get one an "F" in grade school.


Sorry, folks, with math like that I ain't sendin' yas no mo' money. An' I been sendin' yas money since 1971.... I think WBAI's finances should be made public iffen yas want any mo' money from da public, and dat da public probably deserves a forensic accounting of, say, the past 15-20 years' income & outgo. —"MYCROFTXXX"

If Berthold Reimers' resumĂ© is not fiction, we must conclude that the discrepancies in his report are an deliberate attempt to delude us into believing that all is as well with WBAI as he continues to suggest. 

All the more reason to ask why this totally inept man has not been shown the door.

24 comments:

  1. Quite the catalogue of despond, isn't it?

    Reimers is of course a catastrophuck, but who, in WBAI/Pacifica isn't?

    I'd imagine they'll simply snarl, circle, dance their delusion dances, plot and plot away until externalities take them down in a cascading series of implosions.

    Taken a very, very, very, very long time, that's for certain.

    ~ 'indigo'

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  2. Reimers doesn't "rock the boat" and plays along like a good boy. Maybe he has some friends to protect his worthless butt, also. I know if I were Reimers, I'd do whatever I could to keep my job and save and/or invest my money while the going is good. Maybe he also has a contract and Pacifica doesn't want a breach of contract suit if they fire him or having to buy him out. He may be a loser, but he's no fool.

    Anyway, I'm more amazed that a station doesn't have a program director. Hey, I offered my services for free (I don't need the money).

    What are the FSRN lawsuit and FCC copyright violations about?

    SDL

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    1. I believe FSRN (Free Speech Radio Network) is owed a good sum of money and are suing to get it. The copyright violations Kenya refers to are probably WBAI's failure to pay for broadcast rights to music and/or (and this is more serious) their re-selling copyrighted material. Tony Ryan, the Hopper woman and, I believe, Michael Savage have resold music as premiums and without proper authorization. Perhaps someone who knows the details can chime in here.

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  3. You decried Hennelly as a stooge for the unions, perhaps correctly. Reimers is likely another stooge, for the Haitian immigrant dominated limousine drivers (and one other, I think) NYC employee union. I draw this inference based on Gary Null's telling a story of all the Haitian taxi drivers running shotgun and delivering Gary's meals to the station after hurricane Sandy.

    It seems to me that both the BAI, and Pacifica board is similar to any other corporate structure, but it is made up of the activists representing marginal left wing organizations, most of those are paper tigers created by themselves with no real membership or function, where the corporate board is made up of captains of the industry or at least, hopefully, of industry insiders. And whereas the corporate board is primarily concerned with making money for its investors, the BAI/Pacifica board is concerned with using the station/network to serve the needs or ideology of whatever political structures the members came from, and with lining the members pockets.

    Of greater interest is Tony Ryan pledging to build his station using his own money. Is that his own personal wealth or the misappropriated listener member dues?

    Also noteworthy is the recent number of deaths of people affiliated with Pacifica, Steve Post, Geneva Reese, and maybe Margot Adler, but she is affiliated with NPR. I think that it may be related to stress from the economic depression in the US shrinking the budgets at these networks. I believe that sixty thousand dollars is a small change compared to inefficiency/corruption involving management of dues money/premium revenue at BAI. In true political careerist fashion going back to Ancient Roman times, Summer Reese attacked the old boy network at KPFA to strengthen the Pacifica and line her own pockets, while giving the abuses at BAI a pass. Based on the fact that her single public Court filing as a street lawyer was thrown out of Court, and her other big claimed coup was winning royalties for an artists, and her photo ops, I am venturing a guess that her involvement with activism and with Pacifica was of the personal career/salary seeking variety. Had she done this work pro bono or been more selfless and less egotistical, I may have been less harsh on her. Had BAI content been more interesting to me than KPFA's, had she acted less like a little Stalin and at least had some of his brains, I may have supported her.

    Again, the fact that she tried to fire Berthold Reimers and could not, seems to speak to the real political (and legal) clout of his supporters. There may also be another reason as to Reimers' lack of personality, and this is an absolute guess based on no evidence whatsoever. I read an article about journalists assassinated in the US. Very rare and always investigated when it concerns English language mainstream broadcasting. However it occurs within the immigrant communities in the US. In the early eighties there were two or three Iraqui expat dissidents murdered in supposed armed robberies in Detroit, that have been carried out by the Ekhtabarat, Iraqui military intelligence at the time, and that was long before Saddam became famous in the US. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, there were four Creole broadcasters working local stations in Miami area, who were vocally criticizing the Haitian government at the time and all of whom were murdered in unrelated incidents - a robbery, a nightclub shooting, etc that police never investigated as anything other than street crime. That might put a chilling effect on flamboyance.

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    1. Adding to the foreign language journalist murders in this country.
      There was an El Diario reporter who was doing big time exposes of the cocaine business when that war was at it's height. He was shot dead while getting into his car (a consumate professional hitman tactic) in Jackson Heights. Nothing was mentioned in the English press, but it was a big story in the Spanish press.

      SDL

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    2. I think there was a film documentary on that on Channel 13, a few years back.

      Moms Maybley said that she carried El Diario under her arm whenever she wanted to pass.

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  4. Blosdale's Boku infomercial is on now. I'll bet they don't update it to tell about the Salmonella poisoning threat. They really should and give out the lot numbers for recall. Wait, that's caring about listeners' health...

    SDL

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    1. Of course they won't Amy brings in too much money for them to get in her way. I understand her next set of $2,000 dinners will feature salmonella and cream cheese on a bagel. I think it's from one of Null's books.

      And we ain't talkin' 'bout no canned salmonella!

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    2. NO! It must be ORGANIC salmonella! gets to every cell faster...

      I was actually wondering about something. Recently Null did that bit about needing closer scrutiny on the health premiums being offered up. Do you think he means Blosdale? Think he's jealous that her offerings give hm a run for his money? Null wants to sell his powder Stuff, while Boku is, essentially, a competing powder stuff. Just a thought.

      I also wonder who pays for dinner when the check comes when you "break bread" with Goodman. I also wonder where you eat. Do you get a choice? Or does "break bread" mean you go to a bakery, buy a loaf of Italian bread and hang out front breaking it in half and sharing it? Wouldn't it be fun to do the premium and bring a filthy homless guy with you as your guest? I've had funny thoughts. Well, Goodman must think she's quite the star to be worth $2,000 for her one night of company. If I have to waste $2,000 on a woman's company, it will be a on high priced looker of a hooker...

      SDL

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    3. "Break bread" sounds folksy... aren't we constantly told by Haskins, Reimers, and others, that we are "family"? Perhaps she takes them to Café Soylent Green.

      Soy vey!

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    4. Now you've got me singing "We are family... Michael G, Ryan, Reimers and me..." If I'm part of that family, I want to be disowned...

      SDL

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    5. (JustAListener)
      Salmonella for that ultimate "cleanse".

      I also wondered if Null threw a hissy fit over the station selling Boku.

      $2000.00 for a night with Amy. You have a point SDL.
      Maybe Blosdale could get together with Elliot Spitzer and put together a premium package.
      Of course you can't call them "hookers". How about "Holistic interpersonal engagement enablers".

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    6. @JustAListener: Funny stuff!

      You just know, whether he has said anything or not, Null doesn't like a competing superfood powder being on WBAI. Add to that, Boku has a toothpaste, also. Another competing product.

      I think sometime down the road we'll see a Null vs. Blosdale clash, whether public or behind the scenes.

      SDL

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  5. What salmonella? Today, Null was trashing the other Pacifica stations for lack of listeners, and Haskins was blustering that THEY aren't going *** ANYWHERE*** Why the bluster? Are they feeling threatened? By what? I someone trying to remove them? Could it be that they lost their representation on Pacifica National Board and now it refuses to subsidize them?

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    1. I think that Null spiel was an "encore presentation," that may, in fact be found on this blog. Haskins repeatedly insists "we aren't going anywhere!!!," I think he knows that reality dictates otherwise. It's like Tony Ryan saying that all the bills are almost paid, when he must know that it's far from the truth.

      There ARE people on the Pacifica Board who ant to get rid of WBAI and the D.C. station, but I think it's all going down the drain. For all intents and purposes, it's already down there.

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    2. Haskins is absolutely right! They AREN'T going anywhere and are staying in that dump. That's why Ryan is building a studio out of a used Mr. Microphone, Campell's soup cans, insulated copper wire, an outstreched wire hanger and some bubble gum he's collected from under diner tables. Lucky Mommy Dearest ain't around, although Mimi Rosenberg could scream, "No wire hangers!"

      SDL

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    3. I understand that they are about three months behind in the CCNY rent, so they may all end up back in Haskins' kitchen. Unless, of course, Bernard White opens up his garage to them.

      How long does it take to cook books? The Monday and Tuesday tallies have yet to be released.

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  6. OK, I've had it. I can't take even a moment of Blosdale's, Goodman's or Null's voices anymore. I only tune in for a minute before tuning away or turning off the radio, but even that is too long. There comes a point where it goes through your head like a screaming child that won't shut up. They even drove me to listening to Radio Habana Cuba for a while tonight.

    The sad part is this crap is better than most of the regular programming!

    Btw, where does Blosdale come up with this crap? I read she runs a public relations company. Is that true? Are these her clients? Null I understand, but Blosdale...

    Radio is just such garbage these days.

    Maybe I'm really dead and this is Hell...

    SDL

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  7. Who thinks John McDonagh would make a good PD?

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    1. He does well with his show, so he might be a good candidate. I don't know how broad his scope is, nor would it be a good idea to hire/appoint a PD from the inside.

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    2. I vote for Putney Swope as new PD. He'd fit right in...

      SDL

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  8. Argentina and Greece have nothing on WBAI and Pacifica.

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    1. What with the tango and the Acropolis, they will survive.

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  9. I know it's redundant, but it's time for the authorities to investigate. If this were some corporation screwing consumers over, we'd all be calling for the authorities to do something. We need to put politics aside and treat this matter the same way. We can't allow corruption just because it's Pacifica and WBAI. If they are corrupt, we need to be morally upright and ask they be held under the same law as Jim Bakker or Kevin Trudeau.

    Scam artists are scam artists, and the consumer has a right to be protected. It's just wrong when an old lady, who probably scraped together what money she could, has to call a radio show to ask for her premium.

    SDL

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