Friday, August 15, 2014

Here we go again!


There are several Mario Murillos, I hope I have the right video. More on Murillo later, but please comment on this appointment, especially if you have information not likely to make its way into Wikipedia.

I wonder if he listened to Off the Hook this week?


or Haskins making apologies in a preamble to taking phone calls. Haskins is guilty of making and participating in unethical pitches, but this one is on Berthold Reimers, the station's top bozo.




We don't yet know who is included in Mr. Murillo's "WBAI Community," but let us hope that he paints that picture with a broader brush than do the single-minded Ebonistas who currently dominate the station's air. In fact, that term, when applied to WBAI's listeners and broadcasters ought to be a measure of intellect and a quest to feed it rather than of complexion and ancestry.

If Mr. Murillo does not grasp that, if he does not step in and thoroughly clean house to create a schedule of substantive quality radio, he might as well not bother.

Having read his introductory message, dated August 20, 2014, I get the uncomfortable feeling that nothing much will change, beyond the name on the door. However, in all fairness, he sounds like an intelligent man, so the question becomes, how strong is his spine? Will he stand up to Berthold Reimers, his uninformed nonsense and the cronies who must be gotten rid of if the station is to have any chance of survival.

Another very important factor is whether a source of real money can be found, because any restoration of WBAI is doomed to fail unless there is a substantial operating fund to sustain operation for the many months a meaningful transition will absorb. Mr. Murillo must have weighed all that before making his decision, or is he another dreamer?

We'll soon see. As we know, an iPD's tenure at WBAI can take less time than it does to count the number of listeners left.
  
Greetings to the WBAI Community
I send you warm regards and positive thoughts on these waning days of summer, pleased to once again be a part of the WBAI family after a five-year absence. It seems like only yesterday that I did my last broadcast over the airwaves of Pacifica Radio’s flagship station in July 2009, yet now I’m very much looking forward to the next few months of collaboration, camaraderie, and struggle.

iPD du jour, Mario A. Murillo
As some of you may have heard by now, I am taking on the role of interim Program Director after discussing the current situation at the station with many people associated with WBAI over the last few weeks. The question I continued to ponder was how and if I could factor into any of the potential, constructive solutions for making the station viable once again. I spoke with the station manager, several members of the local board, a number of veteran local and national on-air programmers, and many members of the communities that WBAI serves, including both current and former listeners who remain steadfast in their support of our unique institution, not to mention my own close circle of friends and family. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, knowing the many urgent challenges facing WBAI at the current juncture and how difficult it will be to have a long-term positive impact on the station. But in recognizing the extraordinary efforts made by dozens if not hundreds of people in recent years that have tried to sustain the station as it went through one of its most tumultuous periods in its legendary history, I finally decided to give it a try.

I come to this role with considerable humility, but also a strong conviction that WBAI still has an important role to play in the New York, national and global independent media landscape. I have some ideas and proposals as to what we can do to begin to turn things around, but I am a firm believer that it’s only through deliberation, participation, and collaboration that the station can move in the direction of a sustainable future that will serve as broad and diverse an audience as possible.

So I am eager to meet with many of you in the coming weeks and months to begin constructing a new WBAI, in person, on-line, individually and collectively. After reading the many proposals put forward by a wide variety of WBAI constituents related to rescuing and saving WBAI, I am convinced that we can do this, heartened by the interesting, indeed creative initiatives coming forward about programming, production, training, recruitment, social media engagement, new technology, and perhaps most importantly, fundraising and development. But I think it’s pretty clear that fundraising can only be successful if it is carried out in conjunction with a serious, comprehensive approach to all the other aforementioned items, all necessary prerequisites to rebuild the confidence of our listeners, and the entire community. This process includes finding a permanent home where the studios and offices are joined together once again, and addressing the issue of the exorbitant cost of our transmitter lease fees, which clearly has been a severe hindrance to any movement forward.

I have no false illusions that this is going to be easy, and already, I’ve heard from plenty of naysayers assuring me that this is an effort doomed to failure. I am not naïve, and certainly not new to this radio station. I am aware of the precarious nature of its possibilities for survival. For those of you who don’t know who I am (and I’m operating under the assumption that most of you don’t), I came to WBAI in 1989, as director of public affairs programming at a time of growth and expansion of the station’s membership base and fundraising capacity. I come from the world of radio journalism, with a track record of producing news and public affairs that attempts to shine the light on issues usually relegated to the margins when it comes to the major corporate media (sound familiar?). I’ve worked in commercial news radio, mainstream public radio, university-based radio, and grassroots community radio, always embracing the special responsibility of the broadcaster to serve as a vehicle of communication that can lead to constructive social change.

During my years as public affairs director (1989-1998), we as a staff implemented a comprehensive training and recruitment program, where many of today’s unpaid producers began their creative broadcasting trajectories over our and other airwaves. We streamlined daily programming in the key slots of morning and afternoon drives, creating successful shows out of Wake Up Call and Talkback, while making sense of where many of the other community-oriented specialty programs found themselves on the radio clock. We organized the first successful million-dollar on-air pledge drives, which continued to be the norm for several years as we solidified the membership base and emerged as the financial backbone of the Pacifica Foundation.

During this period, we were out in the community regularly, holding teach-ins and forums, and broadcasting live from all sorts of venues and events. We confronted the racism of the NYPD during episodes like the Central Park Five prosecutions and Amadou Diallo assassination; we challenged the illegality of the build-up to the first Gulf War in 1991, only to see it repeated 12 years later after 9/11; we celebrated Mandela’s release and triumphant visit to Harlem, as well as the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, and of Woodstock. We chronicled the struggle to stop the U.S. Navy’s bombardment of the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, and provided a forum to the valiant activists fighting for just solutions to the unfolding AIDS crisis. The station and its producers won countless broadcasting prizes, from the prestigious Polk Award to NFCB and CPB recognitions in public affairs and arts and cultural programming.

In my brief recollection here, I am only skimming the surface. It was indeed a golden era for WBAI, despite media historians’ consistent tendency to focus on the 1960s as the only relevant time in WBAI’s long history.

By no means do I point to this time frame to tout my own horn, as if this was the result of one person’s work or vision. Quite the contrary. It was the fruit of the labor of a solid team of collaborators that made this period special: from the management and full-time staff to the many unpaid community programmers, from listener supporters and volunteers to members of the local advisory board, many creative, talented, committed people had a hand in the success of WBAI. This is how it needs to be if we are going to build a truly alternative community radio outlet today and into the future.

Now naturally, things are much different today than they were then, and even as recently as five years ago, when I last hosted the morning show on WBAI on Friday mornings. Today we have many other technological tools at our disposal to get our voices heard, but at the same time, listeners now have many more options to receive these same messages. This objective reality provides us both with challenges and opportunities that we must confront and embrace.

So in the spirit of the many talented broadcasters, artists, activists, journalists, documentarians, musicians and technicians that have roamed the halls of WBAI, those still with us and those who have left us, I welcome the opportunity to work with each and every one of you - staff, volunteers and listeners - in the interest of strengthening an institution that in many ways formed me as a journalist, media activist, broadcaster and educator.

Starting this week, I will be away for a few weeks for a long-planned trip out of the country, but upon returning to New York City in early September, I plan to hit the ground running.

In the meantime, feel free to contact me at marioradio@wbai.org with questions, comments, suggestions, or even a friendly greeting.

Looking forward, always,
Mario A. Murillo

54 comments:

  1. Murillo is just part of the past WBAI machine. How long will he last? Until he tries to fire someone who has friends that will bitch, whine and complain about it to some local board. I say be fair and give him a chance. However, I think it is beyond his control to make any real changes.

    I said in a previous post that Off The Hook sounds tired and that they don't want to do it anymore. Now, adding swiping the material that they put together and letting someone else hawk it is an absolute insult. Goldstein is right. Why should they bother pissing off their listeners offering premiums that won't even be mailed out. At least Goldstein is moral enough to protect his listeners.

    Hay-tie seems to have a new job on the weekday morning Haskins Premium Complaints show. In fairness, he may hawk crap, but he isn't responsible for screwing the listeners. When will he get fed up and start talking like Goldstein?

    Anyway, I was in the mail order business for several years at one time in my life. Let me tell you that it is a moron job to pack and address a parcel for mailing. That this can't be done by WBAI shows the total callousness, if not utter contempt, that WBAI has for the imbeciles dumb enough to send them money.

    It's really just a scam. People don't pledge as well without premiums (since the listeners don't believe in the programming, anyway), so offer them imaginary premiums they won't get and the suckers will pledge to get a carrot on a stick. Who's dumber? WBAI or the listeners? I say the listeners.

    SDL

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  2. @SDL: A short while ago, on another thread, you made the point that, although it's the air that matters, or should matter, these fools may very well continue indefinitely making just enough off their various scams to scrape by and sustain their illusions of having some consequence, the absence of any measurable audience notwithstanding.

    A living death with respect to meaning, merit, or relevance, as it’s been for so very long.

    I think you’re right.

    It’s always possible, I suppose, that something will take them over the edge, or that a black swan might appear to take them down, but at this point it doesn’t feel as if that’s on any near horizon – the decline, the downward slope, feels as if it’s asymptotic.

    ~ ‘indigo’

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  3. The following was posted on the P.O.W.W Facebook site, probably by one of the engineers. My guess is Reggie Johnson.

    Just heard - Mario Murillo as WBAI's PD. At last someone in management who has made "news" radio, does radio, did radio, and with some producing chops. Perhaps he can get that studio fixed uptown with its too hot console, with ear drum blowing feedback, erratic microphones, headphones, and call in lines. Where even the engineers look at it like Beelzebub or Screwtape just visited when things go haywire. Hey! Can we expect some actual news coverage in the media capital of the world. Come on now!

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  4. Any decent con artist knows how to delay paying bills, how far he/she can push anyone and to give in should the victim look like they may make trouble. There was a miscalculation with the ESB, but in the end it worked out, saving WBAI some money and encouraging their ways. However, how much do you want to bet that somehow that saved money disappears into thin air?

    I don't see Pacifica selling any stations or going out of business for the present. However, there is always the possibility of a sudden cataclysm. What if some major radio corporation suddenly decides they want Pacifica stations and sees what a corrupt mess they are. Maybe a call to a politician friend could get a government investigation going and get the licenses stripped? Then Pacifica will make NO hundreds of millions of Dollars off those licenses and will go bankrupt to avoid the debt.

    They are on a slippery slope, but they don't care. They know they have idiots who pay for multiple premiums without ever getting them and will still pay for more. Can't ask for a more loyal, dumb dog to follow you than that.

    The amazing thing is how they could replace Forlano with an infomercial every day and make $1,000 - $2,000 per airing. That would pay the monthly transmitter site rental right there. Oh, but that is intelligence...

    Remember that the ratings are showing political talk, both right and left, dying in the ratings, except for NPR, slowly increasing in the ratings. What is NPR doing right? Is it the programming? Or is it more indicative of Americans shifting from extremes to a more mainstream position? If it's the latter, then Pacifica may have a more serious problem.

    What's wrong with the studio? Don't Ryan and Sledgey do a bang up job?

    News? On WBAI? But, the nightly news was less important than Reimers salary...

    SDL

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  5. What happened to David Rothenberg's program this morning? Just before 9am, I tuned in and got the Artsy Fartsy show.

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    1. Reggie Harris was the engineer on duty. He simply announced that David wouldn't be there today, so you will hear two programs that aired earlier. Then he ran yesterday's Harry Allen "Non-Fiction" program, followed by "Artsy Fartsy." In-between, he said that this was to give listeners an opportunity to hear something from another time slot. Whether Reggie just made that up or David was bumped as part of a scheduling experiment, I don't know. Who knows what really happened? There was no explanation up front, as there should have been. WBAI was being WBAI.

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  6. If I were tuning into WBAI for the first time and chanced upon Emmanuel Goldstein's rant on Wednesday night, I probably wouldn't tune into the station again--except, perhaps, to hear Goldstein again.

    He is what Max Schmid would be if he didn't sublimate his anger into bemusement.

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    1. Your Max Schmid comment is spot on. "Emmanuel Goldstein" and his gang maintain rare civility on WBAI's air.

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  7. Saw this on R(etard) Paul Martin's page:
    "The next regular WBAI LSB meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 13, 2014, at 7:00 PM .... This meeting was cancelled because a meeting place couldn't be found for it."
    What happened? They couldn't rent a cage at the local zoo? Bellevue Hospital wasn't equipped to deal with the extremes of psychosis these people exhibit? They couldn't rent a small meeting room in a hotel. What a joke.

    As for Rothenberg. If something like that happens, just call up the studio after the prerecorded show has been playing a few minutes and kindly ask if they can tell you what happened to the regular show. Worth a shot.

    Schmid has to keep it inside because he has a paying job there. He can't blow that gig. Goldstein just does a show and won't lose anything if dumped. WBAI isn't a major advertiser for his works. From the sound of it, Goldstein is simply fed up. I'd don't think he'll stick it out.

    SDL

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  8. I have the hypothesis about the fiasco fulfilling the premiums that plagues the BAI. They have an attitude problem - too many of the grand personas at BAI think that mailing out premiums is beneath them, and leave it for somebody else to do. Poor communication, of course, and stuff gets dropped and slips through cracks.

    Regarding off the hook show, I get the feeling that this is not just incompetence, but passive aggression, also, they may have fallen victims to some dirty pool game - their premiums get last priority, they get booted off the air for lack of funds being raise, they free their air spot for some other show. The fact that other BAI shows pitches their content as premium points in that direction.

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    1. I think you may be partly right about the premiums. But the utter contempt by not even getting a couple of interns to spend a couple of hours doing them up and shipping them shows more than ego, but utter callousness towards the pledgers. Hell, I could go up there and show a few kids how it's done and probably bang out 40 packages with 2 or 3 kids in one afternoon. I've sent out thousands of packages in my life, so I am an expert.

      I have thought about Off The Hook being set-up in exactly that manner. Let's make Goldstein the bad guy so he quits or we fire him after we made him look bad. Machiavellianism WBAI style...

      SDL

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  9. SDL, there is an idea:

    If you got time and inclination - volunteer incognito at BAI for a day or two and help shipping premiums. You will get the first hand knowledge of the situation.

    I also think that one of the reasons may be that BAI is saving money on postage and shipping, which again, shows total disregard for the listener-supporter.

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    1. Especially since they add an extra (non advertised) fee for shipping and handling!

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  10. This changes the situation - if the shipping cost is factored into the cost of the premium, then they are outright ripping off the listener supporters, unethical behavior bordering on criminal.

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  11. Now wait a minute. Chris, are you SURE they charge an extra shipping & handling fee? Because if they are, that is criminal fraud and probably conspiracy, period! That's not simply misappropriating money from a donation that should have been used to send the item(s). That is active fraud. It's not a joke. Any D.A. would prosecute for this.

    SDL

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    1. I have brought this up on several occasions. A year or two ago, they started running an announcement wherein Cathy Davis announced that there would now be an added shipping and handling fee "to facilitate" delivery of the premium. No amount was mentioned, nor would it have been necessary to make such an announcement if the fee was already included in the outrageous price of the product or service sold.

      When I first heard that they were using volunteers to do this job at the Atlantic Ave. location, I pointed out that whatever additional money was being charged, some of it should go to the volunteers. Of course I never received an answer to any of my questions regarding this.

      Yes, it is definitely another case of fraud.

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  12. Mario Murillo is one of the more intelligent personae on WBAI. He is an expert on Colombia, as if anybody is extremely interested in a coca supplier where the FARC make it the most dangerous place on earth to be kidnapped for white people and Americans. He will get frustrated. No one can do anything with BAI.

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  13. I thought that Citizen K- Kirk Grantham was the most articulate, natural talk show host on WBAI in decades. What were other BAIers thoughts regarding him.

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  14. This be my subjective opinion, but I believe that in Murillo, the justice and unity types have found their man. He has both, reasonable professional credentials and he is committed to their ideology. The question is why they pulled him out of the hat now and not before Andrew Phillips or Michael Hennelly. This may be because the previous two were the KPFA faction appointees, and this is a local JUC nominee.

    The one possible issue I have with Murillo as a journalist is that he did not adequately cover Colombian civil war during his tenure, or how much he is responsible when compared with someone like Samory Marksman. I have to laugh at them, because they did not see (or chose not to report on) the differences between the FARC and the ELN. For that matter, as far as I know, BAI/Pacifica, and the mainstream media in the US had failed to adequately cover the civil war in Colombia, OR how that country recovered from it. It WAS the victory for the West, but the real story is that Colombian Civil War was the Iraq Occupation: The Prequel, and the even less reported was the way, in which that country has recovered and conducted its own Truth and Reconciliation process modeled on post-Aoartheid South Africa, to do the kind of recovery and nation building, that the US and the West have failed to do in occupied Iraq. This is a perfect illustration of George Santayana's maxim about those ignorant of history being doomed to repeat it. And in this case, all of the Left Wing investigative journalists trashing the US for its incompetence and corruption, have fell asleep at the switch, when it came to doing adequate coverage of the civil war in Colombia, being as ignorant as their colleagues in the mainstream media, which really means, that the BAI and Pacifica establishment REALLY IS a part of the mainstream American media establishment, regardless of how much they want to beat themselves on the chest and scream about being special.

    What is worrisome about Murillo, and again, my own subjective interpretation of his letter above, is that he will be running the programming at the BAI as a Justice and Unity Member and will be hiring, promoting and programming according to their definition of Community. Meaning, he will not be trying to expand the range of programming or the listening audience beyond its present boundaries. Hoping that I am wrong, but this is my impression.

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    1. One has to be impressed as to the number of times WBAI/Pacifica have jumped the shark.

      ~ 'indigopirate'

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    2. I'm with BB in that it looks more and more like more JUC yuck. He seems to be limited in his thinking to just pandering to whatever he sees as the "community." I guess he wants to drain more blood out of the shrinkling stone.

      Anyway, just a lot of nice propaganda with a few notable things.

      Notice all the talk about money and fundraising? That worries me. Will WBAI be running more marathons than before? He has high hopes for things, which will cost more money. Well, I guess the New Age bourgeoisie better get their wallets and/or credit cards ready...

      His time at WBAI as "Golden Age?" I think that just tells us more that he's in the JUC camp and/or he suffers from delusions.

      I am expectiing nothing out of his tenure beyond some more irrelevant politicos feuding.

      Let the games begin.!

      SDL

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    3. But Indigo, all that shark jumping becomes less impressive when one takes a look/listen to what's left of WBAI.

      In his message, dated August 20, Murillo states: "Starting this week, I will be away for a few weeks for a long-planned trip out of the country, but upon returning to New York City in early September, I plan to hit the ground running."

      He had better be running on his trip if he hopes to see "early September" in a few weeks!

      Anyone else believe, as Brooser does, that Mario is a JUC rep?

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  15. On his program yesterday, Gary Null made the statement that 58% of his listenership is black.

    rj

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    1. It must be a side effect of one of his "stuffs".

      Delete
    2. Yes, very few black people on that dance floor, and they don't seem to be dancing.

      I spent much time in discos back in those thumpy days--from The Loft to Studio 54, but this video reminds me more of American Bandstand in its embryonic white days. Perhaps Nu;; shoo;d spend some time in hi "lab" and work on new stuff--something that will give average white people flair and rhythm.

      Too much of a challenge? Guess so.

      This is an embarrassing video. Imagine it with the lights on!

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    3. Omg is that Gary Null himself "dancing" with the sunglasses on? My eyes! My eyes!!

      Delete
  16. Mario Murillo is an interesting man. First of all, he is a dyed in the wool Marxist, to the bone. His mentor was Samori Marksman - they worked hand in glove @ the station. Mario covered for Samori and vice versa. Dingeman knows him very well. Mario is a snake with no spine. He gets along very well with the Jews, he will sell u out in a New York minute to get ahead. However, he is right in one respect. There is a very racist tendency to discount the station in the recent past. The station did very well financially during the nineties and great programs were produced. There are a lot of naked racists, including some commentators on this board who refuse to recognize change in the city and that the city has changed. It is no longer a playground for people like Albertson, but a place where serious work is done. Many people detest Murillo, but he is a serious guy and will attempt to improve the station in his own way!

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    1. Well, that seems to confirm my apprehension re Murillo. So now the prospect of his being yet another flash in this pan becomes a consolation.

      BTW, WBAI was never a "playground" for me, not in the sense I think you mean it, anonymous. It was a damn good radio station that produced memorable programs of high quality, a station that did not have to resort to merchandizing, fraudulent or otherwise.

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    2. "There is a very racist tendency to discount the station in the recent past"

      No, not racist. It's because when your most popular programs are infomercials for quack health cure-alls, you have NO credibility. By the way, most of the people doing the quackery are white, like Null, Blosdale, etc. I must be a self-hating white person...

      "There are a lot of naked racists, including some commentators on this board..."

      Where? Who? Always resort to the emotional cry of "racism" when you have no facts for proving your point of view in a debate. Anyway, if any of these naked racists are good looking women, I want photographic proof...

      "...but a place where serious work is done."

      Oh, that's funny! I'm still picking myself up off the floor from that one. When Gary Null does the most serious work on the station, you know you have a circus.

      I wonder how old this poster is and whether they ever heard WBAI first hand during your tenure, Chris. Notice I never make any judgements about the time before I listened to WBAI? I don't because I don't feel it proper. I only comment on audio I have heard but not the station.

      SDL

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    3. Mr./Ms. Anonymous is the Naked Troll, SDL. Ever seen a troll in the buff? As a boy, I was picking wild blueberries on an Icelandic mountainside when I came across one of these creatures under a lava rock—it was not a pretty sight!

      Delete
  17. No troll here - just an independent observer. We all hope Mario much success. We have been observing some of the anti-black sentiments expressed on this board for some time. Obviously heartfelt, but ultimately evil. As Oprah said recently, some of these old, naked racists need to die real soon!! BTW, "naked" does not refer to their lack of clothing, but their barely disguised written expressions of bigotry -. Don't be stupid or silly.

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    1. Intelligence and talent, like mediocrity and opportunism, comes in all hues and from all ancestral backgrounds. You seem to have a problem recognizing that fact, so you play the race card....

      ....and, inevitably, lose.

      Delete
    2. This 'independent observer' is condemning commenters for *noticing*.

      rj

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    3. He/she is trying to start a silly schoolyard game, but there is no point in that.

      Have you formed an anticipation regarding Murillo? Do you recall him from his earlier association? Maybe he can join Jim Dingeman and do "Hamlet." He will face many "to be or not to be" conundrums when he hits the ground running. :)

      Delete
    4. Well, Chris. You just saw an example of what WBAI and their listeners are. "Independent observer" is all about accusations and epithets but no evidence or proof to back it up. They love to hurl "racist" around, every chance they get, as a means to shut down any rational discourse or dialogue when they know they can't debate with any facts. They've been trained like Pavlovian dogs to react that way whenever they don't get what they want in their entitled lives. Typical children throwing a fit.

      Anyway. The only question about Murillo hitting the ground running is which direction he will choose. As far away as possible may save his sanity.

      Maybe Post was right in his book? He has that short story about someone telling him to get away from WBAI and save himself before it's too late. Maybe hanging around there for more than a short time DOES make people nuts?

      SDL

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    5. Post should have stayed at Korvette's and I should have kept him away from WBAI... but who knew? :)

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    6. @ Independent Observer: NPR and WNYC is much more diverse and better integrated than BAI and Pacifica in terms of its staff and their programming is the serious work against which most of the current BAI is strictly the Amateur Hour.

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  18. How can you have a soon-to-be Interim Program Director? Isn't that self-defeating like a lame duck from the start?

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    1. Isn't "interim" Pacifica speak for not having given the person a long term contract so they won't sue us when we fire them?

      Chris (or anyone), can you answer a few questions? Do you know roughly what years these people went on the air? Irsay and Bochan. Besides Fass, who is the longest lasting (overall) WBAI person on the air?

      SDL

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    2. David Rothenberg came when we were still on 39th Street, long before Bochan and Irsay. I think Fischer was there fairly early, although not during my time.

      We didn't have tagged "interims" back then. If you weren't on the payroll, it was a given that you weren't going to settle in. :) Haven't there been multi-year "interims" at the ersatz Pacifica?

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    3. Yes, there have been many interim this, that and the other thing. Interim seems to be a word Pacifica loves to apply to someone getting a test run. I wonder if there have been any interim janitors...

      Anyway, the quack infomercials aren't just on WBAI. I tuned around the AM band this weekend a few times and heard how quack cure infomercials are taking over the AM talk stations. I guess this is a safer move than paying a host and trying to sell normal commercials to pay costs. Suckerbait sells.

      SDL

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    4. It doesn't surprise me that AM talk shows are running similar infomercials, but I take it that these are not stations that declare themselves sanctified. That eliminates hypocrisy from the equation. I bet they also don't hustle products that they don't have and end up never delivering. That at least brings the fraud factor down, somewhat.

      Did anyone listen to Haskins this morning? If you had any doubt that he, in his small mind sees WBAI as a black station, this morning's episode will wipe it away.

      The two regulars who see Alton Maddox as having sprouted wings called with their usual blather (one of these women referred to Maddox as "the most brilliant legal mind 'we' have," and Haskins drooled over Abu Mumia's "commentaries." Apropos that, Mimi made an even bigger fool of herself than usual when she spoke of Mumia and how profound his words are. The man is a Cronkite wannabe, full of self-importance and hot air—I have yet to hear him say anything that isn't regurgitated pap.

      The level of intellect at today's WBAI has hit an all-time low--just like the listenership.

      Perhaps Murillo can deliver the final blow... it's overdue.

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    5. Actually, the AM talk stations are nothing more than sanctimonious right wing corporate mind rotting propaganda. You should listen sometime just to hear the bold lying crap these clods spew. One jerk was trying to create a left wing connection between Hillary Clinton, Benghazi and The Weathermen. It was so absurd that only the ignorant people that reinforce their idiotic Republican brains could believe it. But then, those people think Sarah Palin is smart and sexy...

      Anyway, the infomercials on AM talk radio are a scam, too. They just scam in a different way. They send you a "free" sample of their product where you only pay for shipping with your credit card. However, they enroll you in a regular delivery program (often not informing you of this) of said product for a monthly fee, paid with the credit card number you initially gave them. Want to cancel that regular delivery? Good luck!

      WBAI, on the other hand, takes your money once and doesn't send you your item. Both are scams, albeit different ones. Wait until someone at WBAI figures out that they can sign up people as WBAI Buddies and not tell them. That WILL happen...

      I only listen to Hay-tie if I am awake and looking at the pre-market with my java juice (aka coffee). Otherwise, I make no effort to listen to the idiot.

      If someone called maddox "the most brilliant legal mind 'we' have," then they are in serious trouble. Who is "we" anyway? Residents of Bellvue psychiatric ward? Must be.

      Mimi? I really can't take her voice, no matter what she says, and what she says isn't worth anything, anyway. She reminds me of school teachers I had as a kid. Just screeching, overbearing fat ass tubs of crap.

      Oh, well. Whether WBAI, WOR, WABC, WNYM, etc. All crap all the time. The difference is all the stations other than WBAI are run as radio stations and not political playgrounds for ignorant wannabe leftists with no sense of reality...

      Murillo? We'll see what happens. I don't think he will be allowed to do much of anything, so I don't see any real changes from an "Interim" PD.

      Finally, while typing this, some imbecile on WBAI said there were no homeless people before Reagan. See how ignorant people can be?

      SDL

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  19. Catch the Hay-tie Hootenanny this morning? Isn't it great to know that the new IPD is mainly interested in happenings in Colombia and only intends on being PD for a short time with no real expectations of being able to do anything on his own? Yes, he needs the help of so many other people. I guess if things flop, he has his excuse already in place, ready to pin the blame on the other donkeys.

    Yeah... And all the myopic idiots, lacking any touch with reality, will cry "racism," since it is always the fault of others and never themselves.

    SDL

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    1. I caught his call from Murillo, whom he at one point referred to as his "trainer." That's rather discomfiting,but so, as you point out, is his low expectation. Notice that he looks forward to being on the air again—were he serious about repairing WBAI, he would not find time for hosting or co-hosting a show.

      I do not see this guy as a potential savior.

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    2. Yeah. I get the impression Murillo would really rather just do a show. Any serious PD wouldn't have time for anything in life beyond work (and therapy) if they were serious. If anything, they'd need the radio equivalent of a second unit director on a movie set to take care of some odds & ends.

      I guess IPD was his way back into producing/hosting, AND it comes with a paycheck. Good deal!

      SDL

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    3. As a another anonymous poster mentioned earlier, please be wary of Mr. Murillo. It must be noted that Murillo's father spent a long stretch in Federal Prison for money laundering and fraud. Haskins, on the other hand, will eat feces everyday in order to keep his job. Buckle your seat belt - this will be a bumpy ride!

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    4. That's a serious charge you make against Mr. Murillo. Can you provide any proof of its veracity? A link?

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    5. I don't think what Murillo's father may have or may not have done is relevant at all. That's the old time make the kid pay crap.

      SDL

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    6. I agree with you, SDL. I somehow missed the fact that Murillo's FATHER was the one who served time! That being the case, it should, indeed, not be held against Mario M. Sorry 'bout that— should be making fewer mistakes after September 17. :)

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    7. Actually, Mario Murillo's dad would indeed probably be Mr. (Sr.) Murillo... >:P

      SDL

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  20. It is not a charge - it is truth. Ask the folks @ Pacifica, they know. Dingeman & Phillips have the records

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  21. Who gives a rat's ass about his father's misdeeds? That sounds like yet another deranged Tracy smear job!

    Completely agreed, however, that he seems more focused on getting back on the air with a paycheck, and that a real PD would not have time to be on the air. Every time you think WBAI couldn't sink any lower, there they go digging a hole to China.

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