I think a more appropriate question would be, is Pacifica salvageable? Here's an informative article by Matthew Lasar. It was published in The Nation, deals with Pacifica's decay, and is, as far as I can tell, mostly accurate, although marred by Lasar's characteristically sloppy "research" and selective omissions.
Pacifica exists only as a distant and fading memory of the past and a bitter, shambolic and disintegrating present. There is nothing to be saved, really, nor is there need in a world of far wider possibilities. Let the archived source materials be preserved by a university or other library, and let the world move on – as it will, as it ought.
ReplyDelete~ ‘indigopirate’
C'est fini!
DeleteWBAI will be around until Pacifica goes out of business, Pacifica sells WBAI or enough of their supporters die off that they can't even make the barest minimum to survive.
DeleteSDL
In all honesty, and with the love I had for the place once, and still have for some of the folks there...I am amazed it's still there. Truly. How can a place that refuses to program rationally...not even artistically or really progressively, but just day to day rationally. How can such a place still be there.
ReplyDeleteMind you I do hope WBAI lives on. If only to one day be in the care of people that actually love it, and want it to succeed in the 'real' world.
Sidney, I think you know that I only recently shared the sentiment expressed in your last paragraph. I also think you understand why I no longer see any hope for that elusive success.
DeleteHey, Chris. Have you paid any attention to the Hufnagel thread on the Pacifica Radio Kiddie Swimming Pool list? I don't know what to say, really. She makes some accusations that sound legit, but others that sound nuts. She claims to be a doctor but writes like a ten year old.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found interesting was her line that "Berthold cannot read or write which in the real world would not be a talent for managing radio." Well, if true, we can see it's not just crazy people that prevent him from replying to people, by email, at least. However, let's keep double helix water in mind before believing it to be true.
SDL
Yes, I have been following the Hufnagel exchange. I began having serious doubts about her when she embraced Trudeau, but the Double Helix Water splash cinched it for me. I assume the Katherine she refers to is Kathy D, which is another strike against her.
DeleteNow I am convinced that she is a nutcase.
Reimers can, of course, read and write, he just doesn't have much going for him up there in that skull cavity. Hufnagel may have attended a village school in Transylvania and found seven copies oh Jet under the bench.
Btw, my computer suffered serious software problems yesterday morning, so I am using my iPad. I think the culprit is Maackeeper, which I had just installed. I am now attempting to reinstall OX 10 (Yosemite).
Anybody hear Gary's air purifier pendant and respirator-gas mask you're supposed to wear in the subway, buses and airplanes?
ReplyDeleteDoes Gary wear them when he gets shtupped?
KGT
He kept emphasizing that the magic, germ-sucking pendant is black, and thus invisible!
DeleteShades of Ralph Ellison.
Well, if the Gary Null & Norma Ramos thing is true, does she also wear one? Sounds kind of kinky...
DeleteBlack = invisible(?) = invisible lives matter?
SDL
Saw Norma & Gary holding hands near his supermarket on the UWS - looks like it is serious - marriage maybe?? He does have a daughter from a long ago relationship.
DeleteNorma Ramos was an anti-porn crusader who used to debate Al Goldstein and a La Raza President who complained about Hal Turner.
ReplyDeleteJTF
Assuming that Null's porn is organic, was she also against that? :)
Delete(JustAListener)
ReplyDeleteVicky Hufnagel, the one who lost her medical license?
http://www.casewatch.org/board/med/hufnagel/order_2004.shtml
Read this, sounds like she fits right in with "BAI's health "experts":
http://www.uterinefibroids.com/c_frs.htm
(Gary Null getting shtupped? Good thing he's anti-porn, that's one video I'd rather not see!)
Thanks for the links. She seems to fit right in, doesn't she?
DeleteI read the latest Hufnagal posts and can only say, "HOLY CRACKPOT!" Jeez, I'd rather read ten Mitch Cohen propaganda releases than one more of her psycho paranoid rants. The whole damn world is allied against her. Yes, none of us have stood up and said anything about Pacifica or WBAI. She is really way out there. Well, see what too much double helix water does to you?
ReplyDeleteI like how she denied calling Italy, but didn't deny talking to Kevin Trudeau, nor her not questioning his antics.
We don't need an ally like her. Hell, I can't even understand some of her childlike ramblings, and she was a doctor?
SDL
Her spelling/grammar is an amazing mix of literacy and illiteracy.
DeleteSorry this post appears so late, I finally managed to get into my blogs.
Does anyone here juice?
ReplyDeleteKGT
Not in the religious sense, but I drink fruit juice every day, and often. I also have something called Swirlio... no, it's not a health condition, just a machine that turns frozen fruit into a banana-based ice cream-like goo.
DeleteI don't drink banana juice! :)
Yes, I juice and smoothie every day. Am I being set up for a joke or a serious question/comment?
DeleteSDL
My passion for fruit dates back to my childhood in Iceland. We used to get an apple, orange, and possibly a pear and/or banana around christmas. I remember eating the white lining of the orange peel, and even biting into apple seed. Did not consume banana peel.
DeleteTomatoes (grown in thermal greenhouses) were deep red, juicy, and delicious.
I juice only if the girl is cute enough.
DeleteKGT
Let's not tale our comments to new debts. :)
DeleteChris, you still lost in Mac no man's land?
ReplyDeleteSDL
I decided to reinstall my OS (Yosemite), but can't do that unless I first install Snow Leopard. Lent my Snow Leopard to someone who never returned it, so I had to order a new one... it should be here on Monday.
DeleteSo, I am currently using Mountain Lion, which needs too many downgrades for me to bother... Monday should get me back on track.
All of this, messed up my Google password and it has taken me about 3 days (and 20 new passwords) to get a new one that works. So I'm kinda back in business, but won't be fully so until Monday.
I apologize to all who posted comments... I think I have processed them all now.
Should WBAI pay its interns and volunteers?
ReplyDeleteNo, that would simply not work, financially or otherwise.
DeleteThey should be paying the listeners to listen to the crap.
DeleteSDL
Only a thorough decontamination of WBAI might bring listeners back.
DeleteSome months ago I listened to Haskins' show, and he had one caller who proposed paying callers to call in...
ReplyDeleteJ.
Perhaps they're doing that now, with three on a retainer. Tom from the Bronx has all but dropped out, the "premium" handlers must also be in charge of sending out caller fees. :)
DeleteI think Tom from the Bronx may have moved to the greener pastures of WABC AM. A couple of weeks ago one evening, while doing an AM bandscan, he called one of the shows. After he was hung up on, a few zionists called to complain about his "hate speech" and his being a "nazi." Was kind of funny, and he must have loved the attention. WABC may be down to #20 or #21 in the ratings, but that is a hell of a lot higher rated than #no rating and 10 listeners.
DeleteAlso, back in the late 1990s there was a bit of an exposure as to how radio talk shows do, in fact, pay their regular callers. Turned out that some shows would either pay cash or gifts to the regular callers who were felt needed to keep the show flowing. If I remember correctly, some cancelled checks were discovered as proof. I know it wasn't limited to political shows, even Howard Stern was implicated.
WBAI could easily send gifts to callers. There must be some expired health supplements laying around.
Know what I thought of? Of course you don't. Anyway. Amy Goodman hawks a dinner date with herself for $2,000, right? Now, seriously. Wouldn't a drinking date with Malachy McCourt be far more fun? $50 (for WBAI) and buying him six rounds could be the price. Sounds good to me. The six rounds is just to get him started, of course...
SDL
WBAI had Monroe on a retainer.
DeleteKGT
You have to wonder how ballistic Monroe would be these days if he listened to WBAI.
DeleteSDL
I think he may still be listening... from way down there, as he prepares to welcome some of the principal players.
DeleteMonroe would be perfect eternal torment for so many of the clowns.
DeleteSDL
Indeed. By the way, we were talking about Tom the other day... he was commenting on films during a call to Nightshift.
DeleteSDL--I agree that a drinking date with Malachy McCourt would be way more fun than dinner with Amy. But that's the reason why it will never be offered as a premium: Malachy doesn't take himself seriously enough to offer such a thing, while Amy is all about taking herself seriously.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense, Justine. The real premium killer is something called good radio.... that is not likely to happen again, and certainly not as long as these same bozos are calling the shots.
DeleteMalachy says that he is a "Friend of Bill". It's got to be a "Shirley Temple".
DeleteKGT
If he's Bill's true friend, a Shirley Temple would be right. Perhaps attending a meeting with Malachi will be a strong enough incentive, but not so much fun :)
DeleteEven a "virgin" drinking night with Malachy would be fun, I imagine. Way more fun than dinner with Amy or hearing 95 percent of what's on WBAI these days.
DeleteYes, good, intelligent company does quite well without libation. Malachi is an interesting, smart fellow filled with wonderful tales, even when I met him a half century ago.
DeleteIs it me, or is everything Pacifica getting crazier by the day? Hufnagel rants, WBAI's Joe Isuzu, Mitch Cohen, writing song lyrics, the same few infomercials airing repeatedly on WBAI, Gary Null trying to scare people into hiding in closets with air masks swallowing colored Stuff and Stuff pills, So many Congo and Lumuba DVDs (you know, the ones Prescod says she won't be able to offer for long, month after month after month), etc. Just seems crazier and crazier. maybe this rat needs to jump off the ship once and for all from everything Pacifica.
ReplyDeleteSDL
It's not you, SDL, it's desperation coming to a boil. Hufnagel may well be that singing lady, the odd thing is that what she says sometimes makes sense, and the more sense she makes, the less of that we hear fom Mitchel Cohen. His last comment over at Radiowaves is in response to Hufnagel and contains more blatant lies per pixel than anything he has posted before!
DeleteIt's all like watching a move that is so bad that you can't take your eyes off it.
Hufnagel is totally nuts, in my opinion. She says something that makes sense, and two things that are from outer space. Well, Hufnagel is fat and a lady, so you put it together. Actually, when I googled her, I saw some older pics of her that were pretty. Makes you wonder what happened. This link is Hufnagel on youtube. I dare you...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf3fdtzOhnM
I saw Mitch's post and your response. It's almost like he really is trying to see how much bullshit he can spew. He's gone from funny to monotonous.
Anyway. I got something nice the other day. It's a great quality digital recorder that has all the inputs and outputs needed for recording from mics, radio, soundboards, etc. Kind of like those old professional cassette portables the press would use. Now, maybe WBAI thinks they can hide Forlano, but I don't. I may just make a compilation of her idiocy and youtube it. Let people hear what a moron she really is.
Actually, I want to make airchecks of all these local pirate radio stations to post on youtube. Seems people outside the area are interested in getting samples of what they sound like. I have to check what I may have for old WBAI programs on some old cassettes. If I still have any, I wouldn't mind digitizing and posting.
SDL
Good. I will be posting something along those lines before I retire for the night. Unfortunately (though no surprise), WBAI's archive is messed up again, starting around Sunday.
Delete