We have commented on Geoff Brady's "In Other News" show before, so most of us know that it is a weekly hour in the supermarket tabloid vein. Mr. Brady has been allowed to do this outrageous show for many years, and each time he talks about reptilians walking among us, auras being stolen, etc., he drags WBAI farther into a hole of ridicule and disrespect.
WBAI repeatedly pats itself on the back for telling it like it is, sometimes claiming exclusivity in that area, but all of that is untrue. Listeners were expected to send in their money or purchase questionable products in gratitude for this self-claimed honesty, and so they did, because there were still programs that warranted support. The schedule, however, continued to reflect management's incompetence, the technical quality grew worse, infomercials dominated much of the station's air time, and listeners finally had enough of all this, so they left.
I am not telling you anything you haven't heard for yourself or read about, but if you wondered how bad it continues to be, here is a sample from yesterday's "In Other News." I shortened it a bit, but you will hear the guest, Patrick J. Kelly, say a few things that I bet you didn't know. Brady, as usual, challenges nothing.
I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree on this matter, Chris. Free energy is a factual matter proven weekly by Brady and all the hot air he and his guests exude. This hot air can do things like fog a mirror, create massive movements of radio listeners away from their radios, induce somnambulism, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am worried that people aren't preparing with plenty of Null Stuff for the inevitable attack by Godzilla on the NYC area when the Ummites awaken him with their telepathic augmentizer as developed for them by the US Navy in a secret labrotory in the Antarctic in the 1950s, with help from Nazi scientists brought there on secret U Boats in the closing days of WWII.
I won't even delve into the ongoing Freemasonic conspiracy that manipulates our perceptions when we look at US Dollars...
How do I know all this? Why, I have inside sources I never divulge...
SDl
You've been mingling with Mimi.
DeleteNo, Chris. In fact, another of my secret sources never to be divulged informed me that Mimi Rosenberg is actually a genetically modified organism created by the CIA during their Project Yenta failed program with the sole purpose of disrupting Pacifica board meetings by use of telepathically transmitting repetative childlike chants within about a 30 foot circular space, rendering self-imprtant left wing network operators impotent to accomplish any aims.
DeleteEvidence is here provided.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai2xcIUWRq8
SDL
My mother used to date the star tenor of the Royal Danish Opera, so I saw many performances of La Boheme. but this is the most radical Mimi. A bad hair day? The chorus i awful, too.
DeleteIs it any wonder that nothing positive gets done at WBAI these years?
OK, in all seriousness. I am actually fairly aquianted with the world Brady lives in. I have long been a fan of reading and listening to all sorts of "secret history" type stuff. However, I am an objective person and know most of it is manipulated facts, if not total fiction. I generally read any of it for entertainment.
DeleteUnfortunately, this milleu appeals to people who have a need to "know" what's really going on and, especially, "know" more than any one else. They need to one up everyone in the "knowledge" department. It's an intellectual elitism, in a way, the need to be initiated and right. There's more to everything than meets the eye. In effect, it is satisfies the same needs as religion and cults, as they will be delivered. Conspiracy theories macht frei.
Sadly, this audience isn't objective at all. It doesn't understand that a claim needs to be backed by evidence. They just believe it without critical thinking or evaluation.
Anyway, does Brady belong on WBAI with this sort of stuff? No. It's the sort of speculation stuff that is an antithesis to the investigative facts WBAI is supposed to have, going back to the Vietnam stuff. However, Brady has his fringe beliefs station mates in Null, Davis, etc. (I just call them the New Agers), even if different parts of the spectrum. Like religion, they give people answers and solace. That is more important than facts and open questions to many. It creates an order in their world, even if a fake order.
They will be on as long as they make money and curry favor. I think the audience for this stuff is larger than you realize, mainly because it tends to be a silent audience. However, it is the monied audience to WBAI and sends in more than half the Dollars, ultimately.
When it came to this sort of crap, I always liked Robert Anton Wilson, because he was a prankster and would tell you that he may be lying or telling the truth.
I was listening to Letters & Politics today and can say that Jeserich shows how to get behind things in a factual way. No conspiracies, just facts that put things into a historical perspective. Today's show on the Angolan Civil War was straight forward and no nonsense. I think it is the only networked show I like on WBAI.
Carl Sagan once said something like, "Claims of the extraordinary require extraordinary proof."
SDL
I know that there are many Patrick J. Kellys out there, but I don't think they ought to be encouraged, which is what happens when they are given an open microphone and nothing they say is challenged.
DeleteI am inclined to agree with your theory that their followers form a silent audience that will spend money, but are they donating to support WBAI and what it claims to stand for? I don't think so--I see them buying the conspiracy books and DVDs. That makes Reimers and co. happy, but it digs deeper and deeper into that retail pit, making it increasingly impossible to get the station back on track, I don't think there is any turning back at this point, so WBAI will inevitably crumble. There was a time when an effort could still be made to find one or more wealthy or well-connected intelligent people to step in and help turn things around, but the current and past management has been so misguided and inept that years were wasted concentrating on warped priorities.
I agree, Letters and Politics was excellent. This is the level Pacifica should strive for, but it could never happen with the present crew.
The Sagan quote is a good one..
I think the New Age crowd mainly listens to Null and ilk. I don't think they listen to much else. When you hear phone calls on other shows, you don't hear the comments people like them would make. The only time they listen to more is during pledge drives to buy the premiums. They aren't supporting WBAI but buying products. I don't think they know what WBAI even was/is.
DeleteThe problem is that WBAI backed itself into a financial wall with the premiums, in that it has become reliant on the New Agers for more than half its money. Reimers is a loser, not a fool. He damn well knows where the money comes from. What were the new infomercials this time around? Hypnosis and smoothies.
How to get out of the mess? You can't, probably. Yes, firing the idiots on the air and getting good producers with diverse left wing views who do varied topics would be the first step. Dumping the informercials a second step. But, now you need time to rebuild the old audience and add new listeners, too. There is the problem - you'll make half the money for a while. WBAI doesn't have the time or cash reserves for a year or two of rebirth.
The only chance is new, quality producers (and maybe some older, respected ones returning) and SLOWLY filtering out the infomercials IF the reborn WBAI can start making up the money without them. it's a risk, but all I can see working.
Yes, Letters & Politics is usually good to excellent. Why? Because it has a host that is intelligent, lets guests speak, asks pertinent questions without always trying to push his own political views. Jeserich gets information to the listener, especially in shows about past events, like the Angola one or recent Vietnam one. If you knew nothing about the Angolan Civil War and listened to today's show, you walked away with a solid basic education on the topic. That is good radio! WBAI needs more people like Jeserich, not Daulton, Forlano, Dancy, Prescod, etc.
SDL
I'm glad you put Prescod in there, I find her to be very annoying, a single-minded loudmouth who comes across as having all the sincerity of a hawking used car dealer.
DeleteI really don't know why we are discussing WBAI in the future tense when it is firmly ensconced in the hands of its executioners.
WOW!
DeleteThat was some Mimi clip!
Thanks, SDL!
For a minute, I couldn't figure out if this was a psychiatric ward that's run out of medication or a socialist tent revival !
@ Chris: Prescod is a generic howling, predictable Pacifica bore. Nothing but complaining but no answers or education.
Delete@Brooser: Looking at LSB or PNB videos on youtube brings many rewards, and potential catatonia. I can just see a socialist tent revival with a commisar, in place of a preacher, waiving Das Kapital in the air...
SDL
Your description of Prescod is spot on---so much better than mine.
DeleteCan anyone identify that bouncer-type who walks up to Mimi and appears to be asking her t leave?
More Mimi mania!
DeleteAccording to this video's description, the guy is a hotel security guard. Maybe that makes him the one sane adult in this room of children?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUW11RkjEk
This one is a slow build, but about 3 minutes in you'll ask yourself where the riot squad is when you need them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKypmhlctvg
If only the people who donate to WBAI would see these videos on youtube. Then maybe they would understand the sort of insane people that are in power.
SDL
(JustAListener)
ReplyDeleteMaybe there is something to this "free energy".
I've heard about the station being behind on it's rent, on the antenna fees, on payments to premium vendors, and on the phone bill.
But I never heard it fell behind on the electric bill...
Interesting observation, but how do we know that there aren't 27 bikes in the back with Null-energized volunteers generating power?
DeletePerhaps Sister Sledge did a little covert hookup :)
Wasn't it the Richard Lester film The Bed Sitting Room that had the guy on a bicycle providing electric for the town?
DeleteSDL
I believe it was. That is an extraordinary film with a wild cast. One of my favorites. I worked with the nurse, Marty Feldman, for a year back in the day when he was a script writer..
DeleteI always liked Mart Feldman. A couple of years ago I get a DVD set of At Last the 1948 Show, also featuring future Monty Python members Cleese and Chapman.
DeleteSDL
Marty and I worked together in London, in 1967, when I left WBAI for the BBC. It was a weekly radio show called "Round the Horne" that starred Kenneth Horne and featured Kenneth Williams in the cast. Remember the "Carry on..." movies? Williams was in all of them.
DeleteI never saw At Last the 1948 Show, but I bet it was good. WBAI needs to get rid of that tired CCCP show and find some funny people. I very foolishly turned Richard Pryor down when he wanted to do some things on my Saturday midnight show, "The Inside." Still kicking myself for that one!
Perhaps Geoff Brady and Kathy Davis could work on WBAI's finances. Between the free energy and homeless angel benefactors, the sky' would be the limit for BAI!
ReplyDeleteAs for Margaret Precod, check this out: http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2011/09/margaret-prescod-is-idiot.html
Why does she always drag out the "ar" when she pronounces Trayvon Martin's name?
I turn on Fass and feel like I am listening to Brady 30 years in the future...
ReplyDeleteSDL
What I heard was downright embarrassing. Bob has no business being on anybody's air anymore---he has nothing to offer today other than his pathetic failure to recognize that times have changed, listeners have disappeared, and Mr. Microphone is cutting edge when compared to whatever he is using/misusing. It's really sad and we can add keeping that show on the air to Berthold Reimers' ever-growing list of dumb decisions.
DeleteI don't want to pick on Fass. However, he is really out of it and living in 1968. He just rambles on and on and often makes no sense and is just not lucid much of the time. In fact, it seemed that at points music was played just to cover up Fass' babbling.
DeleteI hate to burst peoples' bubbles, but Fass has a TINY legacy listenership, at best. When it comes to pledge drive time, he is in the $0 catagory almost all the time. He may have been a big deal a long time ago. However, he never evolved and thinks he's going to bring the world back in time. Sorry, but Fass isn't up against Long John Nebel or Alex Bennett anymore.
SDL
Sad, but true. Yes, there is a lot of superimposition on that show, music drowning out Bob and music on music. Not even WBAI people seem to be listening, only the odd faith healer. :)
DeleteA whole lot of umbilical cords need to be snipped.
I'm totally serious when I say they should bring Charles Pitts back. He totally blew away Fass when they were on the phone a couple of months ago.
DeleteSDL
It's been a long time since I listened to Charles, but Friday mornings would certainly come alive again were he to return and replace Bob. Frankly, that is not all that complimentary, because Bob hams basically, been reduced to a mumbling, incoherent relic of a very different era.
DeleteI did have some issues with Charles Pitts, who sometimes crossed the line. As I said, times have changed, but I still could not accept anything but the strongest condemnation when it comes to pedophelia.
Make no mistake, I totally condemn Pitts (Wynyard, too) for the pedophilia crap. On the other hand, oddly, he was maybe the most brutally honest person about sexuality ever on American radio. Wasn't his being booted because of his beliefs?
DeletePlease don't think for a second that I support his antics. I just think he would be one hell of a kick in the WBAI balls and interesting to have on the radio again. He certainly is as conroversial as they come. Maybe the most controversial person ever on WBAI.
I bet within a month he'd have more listeners than all the WBAI morons put together.
Anyway, let's remember that WBAI is a station with staff that don't think little kids being gunned down in school means anything because they are white.
Unfortunately, anyone else I would like to see return is dead or has another paying radio career going, like Lenny Lopate.
SDL
As far as I know, Charles was dismissed for his free speech, off as well as on the air. He came to WBAI after I left as manager, but I was still involved as a volunteer producer/host, so we had talks and got along fine, although I understand that he was not the easiest person to get along with.
Delete