An unvarnished blog that dips into the past and comments on the present of WBAI-FM, a once significant, intelligent New York radio station that for years has suffered chronic abuse from within and now nears extinction. Your comments are welcomed and will not be censored.
Yup.
ReplyDelete~ 'indigo'
The humor in this is how colleges warn new students not to download on school computers or lines, yet adults at a radio station need to be warned about copying copywritten materials for, essentially, resale. No, fair use doesn't come into play because it's a premium "thank you" gift.
ReplyDeleteI pressume the old tiime radio premiums Schmid does are in the public domain or legit prerecorded items.
SDL
Vintage airchecks are commonly sold in record form, going back to early vinyl and I am not aware of any lawsuit having been filed over the years. One reason for this may be the fact that broadcasters who own these shows are not likely to rebroadcast them. Commercially issued recordings are a different matter and age comes into play, because there they eventually become public domain.
DeleteThere was a time when the laws were such that a composer or writer could live to see his or her work fall into public domain. Ad agencies had a list of such dates and they would be ready with a highly recognizable jingle. Laws have since been revised to prevent such legal theft.
I don't think Max has anything to worry about... others at WBAI probably should.
The "Mickey Mouse" laws. Disney's dog leash on Congess...
DeleteSDL
It depends. Howard Koch was filing lawsuits against commercial broadcasters for running War of The Worlds in the late 70s.
ReplyDeleteKPFA is using the duplicator for events they have put on and recorded which they have rights to. They are in a pissing match with PRA which wants to force them to let PRA make the copies for them at a much higher price.
"War of the Worlds" is probably the most famous radio drama ever aired. Koch wrote the script for very little money and was compensated by being given the rights (although I believe Wells and Houston did some writing, too). It's a long, complex story that probably would not have unfolded were it not for the notoriety and historic aspect. I think several record companies have issued an air check of the original CBS broadcast. I have one (CD) on the Danish Storyville label.
DeleteWhat kind of control does KPFA have regarding rights to material from outside sources?
How is PRA connected to Pacifica? Is it an independent entity or a division of Pacifica?
DeleteAn aside. Remember the Zeitgeist films? I recently saw WBAI is still hawking them on the web. Interesting, since the director intended the films to be available for free (via downloading), or very cheap to cover making a DVD hard copy. No, not a copyright violation, just making money on something that was meant to be freely distributed.
SDL
Such deceit is fully in keeping with the practice of offering "thank you gifts" at outrageously inflated prices and claiming exclusivity for products that can readily be had online at a third of that amount, or less. Adding insult to their fraud, WBAI often does not deliver the product, or does so years later. The rip-off is compounded by the fact that the station charges extra for shipping and handling that often does not take place.
DeleteI wonder how many listeners have died while waiting for the "cure" that never came. Since that "cure" was a scam to begin with, the WBAI supporter would probably have died anyway, but with more money in the wallet.
WBAI is a total disgrace.
http://www.give2wbai.org/articles.asp?ID=57
DeletePlease check the drop down menu next to the item for shipping options and costs.
Cd's, dvd's, and books qualify for a reduced "media" rates.
All shipping options are via U.S.Postal Service.
Allow up to 6 weeks for delivery during fund drives, but most items will arrive much sooner.
http://www.give2wbai.org/returns.asp
How do I return an item?
Please contact customer service for more information on returning an item. Thank you.
(They forgot to add "If you ever get it in the first place.")
SDL
Knowing that this is only a facade, I am always reminded of spam tactics when I see WBAI try to pull the wool over its supporters' eyes.
DeleteIf it was for the cure for AIDS, don't worry. Gary Null says that AIDS does not exist, even though he sells a cure for it.
ReplyDeleteKGT
One of Null's many inconsistencies.
DeleteNow, let's be fair. Null doesn't say AIDS doesn't exist. He says HIV has no connection to AIDS. AIDS is caused by poor health, bad eating habits, drug abuse, excessive partying, anal sex, etc. Makes you wonder why half the world hasn't died of it by now. I guess it's curable, with the right Stuff...
DeleteSDL
Ahhh, May the Force be with you when the Empire strikes! In this case, Summer Reese. It is sad to see this thing unfold. On one side, it is pathetic, how the Pacifica stations would duplicate any content that will bring in pledge revenue. Fortunately, or unfortunately, nobody seems to have sued over the years, because the distributed content was meant to be done so freely, and may have even served as a tax write off for the many healing authors and self-help gurus, who said that their CDs and DVDs may be freely copied for the educational purposes. Don't they all say -get the CD/DVD set and freely dupe it for educational purposes in the community?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, you have the Stalinist tactics of a would be general manager, who sought to take over every enforcement function over the organization, that would give her every drop of power, that she was too incompetent to wield with grace and who came across as a hatchet woman. But then again, what do you expect, this is a leftist activist attempting to take over a leftist organization!
Was there any other solution or option on the table? I am not sure. Judging by the composition of factions and directions in which the individual stations were pulling, there wasn't anything better on the horizon. You had the all too familiar Afro-Cuban Marxists who took over the BAI and who were backing Reese in their bid to take over whole Pacifica. You had the mainstream liberal set with ties to local democratic party at the KPFA-Tiekert faction, and a different set of the same sorta folks enjoying the fiefdom over at the DC station, that kept primarily radio programming despite their position of proximity near the capital hill inside the beltway, and finally, you had the mainstream commercial type broadcasting folks down in Texas, just waiting to break free from the Pacifica yoke, so that they can help themselves to those radio market riches!
Ironically, all of these factions represented the left wing local demographics of the areas where these stations were located, and for some inexplicable reason, the Reese supporters were inevitably the local station board left wing opposition. The real problem, is that BAI local board is filled with the representatives (typically self-proclaimed leaders) of the left-wing so called community organizations, which don't have a pot to piss in, and who view the BAI and Pacifica a their bullhorn and free till into which they can put their hand in. Marxism is dead or soon to be so, and these folks need to either be purged off the Pacifica boards, or they need to be wiped out by the realities of the economy. The function of any non-profit board is to raise the funding for that non-profit to function, not the self-aggrandizement or the ideological purity. These folk had more than enough time to make BAI a success, but they were hampered by the self-delusions and self-aggrandizement, all were too self-important to worry about the revenue to the station or to actually do any real work. When was the last time anyone saw Bernard White or Manijeh Saba physically stuff the envelopes or mail out the premiums?
A real political organization has its own governance, its own funding, its own offices for that matter. When you have a candidate for a BAI local station board, how is it that nobody is disqualifying those, whose "grassroots community organization" exists solely in their mind and on the internet? A for-profit corporation has a board of directors from the leading contributors to the industry, to give that corporation vision and direction. In contrast, The BAI board and Summer Reese faction (JUC) are dominated by failed broadcasters, who can not find employment in the mainstream media and do-it-yourself journalists, who rely on BAI premiums to get their word out. Unfortunately they tend not to be in the mainstream not because they are censored, but because with a few notable exceptions, they lack the ability and ideas to make the cut into the mainstream. The only ones who can do BAI any good are the ones who will start the discussion of these issues.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why you are so determined to turn Summer Reese into a wrecking ball, but there is a sameness about your post that to me indicates your failure to give the situation much thought.
DeleteSummer Reese is a JUC? Now I'll have to dig up the interview you did with her when she came to NYC as Pacifica's iED—I don't recall sensing any animosity.
You mean this one? I still think they should have done the topless calender, though...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G3FKd6t-Z8
SDL
Yes, SDL. Thank you.
DeleteI should point out that "Booser Bear" never admitted to being Paul DiRienzo when another poster identified him as such. However, neither did he deny it.
But she IS a wrecking ball! Talk to anyone at the Washington DC station.
ReplyDeleteJUC and BAI were Reese supporters and were banking on her victory. Too bad.
Way back then, I researched everyone at the Pacifica National Board to see the individuals and how they voted, I also dug up all I can find on Summer Reese and Amy Goodman, and Democracy Now! No interconnectedness between the two.
I really wanted to see what the factions were. The only common denominator between those who supported her and kicked her out was that left wing activists backed her consistently among the LSB's, while middle class mainstream individuals with careers, degrees and mainstream credentials were the PNB members who were against her.
Typical examples of her supporters were a middle aged man from Texas, who did construction and was involved in the pro-choice movement and the protection of the abortion clinics. Another was an aged Marxist professor from Philly. People opposing her were lawyers involved in mainstream politics and journalists who won professional awards.
Take it from there.
Brooser. When you say things like this, you expose your ignorance The JUC are not Summer Reese supporters. They are allied with the KPFA/Tiekert faction in Berkeley and the Lydua Brazon Grassroots KPFK faction in LA in opposition to Reese and compose this year's board majority. Summer Reese's group in LA, which used to go by the name Committee to Save KPFk was largely started and headed by Grace Aaron, who was JUC public enemy #1. Cerene Roberts is the JUC representative on the national board and firmly allied with Wilkinson and the board majority. Reese is/was supported by the New York folks who don't like and don't work with the JUC. Please don't take up space with your confusion.
ReplyDeleteThe alleged JUC affiliation also struck me as odd. From everything I have heard and read, what the JUC wants WBAI to be is the antithesis of Ms. Reese's desires.
DeleteBrooser Bear isn't Paul Di Rienzo. Di Rienzo is not this stupid. Brooser is in DC, which is fairly infamous around the network for its total lack of understanding of the other stations and of national board matters as a whole. The DC local board has swung back and forth in the past few years between the Campbell Johnson/Tony Norman faction that supported John Hughes as the GM and the anti-Hughes faction that included Jane Zara and the recently departed Luzette King. The JUC hates Reese and always has and they collaborate with the Brazon/Siegel faction and always have.
ReplyDeleteThe plot thickens.
Delete