As they claw at each other in the California AG's waiting room, audit is on their minds, but underhanded business goes on as usual.
KPFT's current PD, Ernesto Aguilar has written a piece for the non-profit online publication, Truthout. It is interesting to see how this self-proclaimed experienced writer skirts important facts and freely quotes one of the most unreliable sources at WBAI. It indicates his faction's mindset in this hour of desperation. The quotes from Berthold Reimers confirm his duplicity and the vacuum he operates in.
There is more to come on that, especially as it pertains to his moving fantasy and the lies that continue to drip from a forked tongue.
In the meantime, let's hear what you think of Aguilera's piece, which you can read here.
Puff piece.
ReplyDeleteKPFT? So important and popular it can't even do a small pledge drive to get money for a new transmitter. HAHAHA!
Reimers finally(!) reached for comment by someone:
[Berthold Reimers, general manager of WBAI] "...has reduced its fund drive thank-you gift costs, which have helped it pay some debts." Yeah, not ordering nor sending the "gifts" DOES reduce costs. He's right on that point...
This article isn't journalism but propaganda.
Oh, and I think I figured out Forlano and why her show isn't in the WBAI archives. She posts it on her website, where she asks people to donate money or use an amazon.com link for a kickback to her show. It's obvious she's using WBAI to get people to send money directly to her pocket. A scammer scamming a scammer.
SDL
Aguilera is obviously out to obscure the truth. He knew full well that Reimers is known for lying when it comes to WBAI's finances, yet he takes his word at face value, not questioning anything. He also knew that Reimers claims to have spent many months negotiating with the Empire State Building, but has yet to present any proof of that.
DeleteI know you had a good laugh when he brought up Daulton's adoration of Christ show. We have never seen a tally for that allegedly successful gospel church concert in Brooklyn. If it really was as successful as they want us to believe, here would have been a perfect opportunity to brag about it.
The man is a pathological liar and Aguilera is a transparent, not so smart perpetuator of the Siegel board game.
Oh, please. Daulton... Yeah. That guy is such a small time con artist. What matters isn't whether the gospel shindig made money but how much, if anything, WBAI got out of it.
DeleteThe entire article was just a puff piece, as I said.
You want to talk truth about radio? Simple facts:
The audience numbers are decreasing.
Young people don't listen to radio.
We have our first generation now that never even owned a radio.
The future will be online. Not this decade but over the next few.
Remember this old tune? Well, I had a thought. Replace the Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah with clips of Fass going err.. umm... uhh... er-er...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suafkk2vWNI
SDL
I think Ernesto's piece has more than enough truth in it. These are no doubt troubled times in public/community radio, and the model Pacifica is following has to be changed. The tragedy is that Pacifica's management seems unable to do so. The situation isn't helped by the fact that many of the few people left at the stations, especially WBAI, are the problem rather than the solution. Is it a coincidence that R. Paul Martin, Max Schmid, et al have been constant presences through decades of decline? Seems like it's long past time for a thorough housecleaning...
ReplyDeleteAgreed, there are actual facts in this piece, but it is, as SDL points out, propaganda. The formula for propaganda calls for a smattering of actual fact, just enough to give the story a veneer of truth. In this case, the veneer is very thin.
DeleteMartin and Schmid are great contrasts.
DeleteMartin is a nothing with no listeners who brings in no money and is a bully.
Schmid is a decent engineer who does a show with a loyal listenership that always brings in decent money.
I can report on Schmid's engineering from personal experience when I was broadcasting at WBAI and there was a tech problem on one show.
Did I ever mention Valerie Van Issler yelled at me once? That was funny.
SDL
R. Paul Martin and Max Schmid=night and day when it comes to on-air performance. How any decent, professional can put up with Reimers and his bunker crew is simply amazing.
DeleteI posted a mention of this entry on Nalini's list, so I hope we get more comments on Ernesto Aguilera's latest move. They know him better than we do, so perhaps they'll enlighten us in that regard.
Some more posting in the Post, becoming Fass, thread on the NY Radio board. You may want to look.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.musicradio77.com/wwwboard/nyboard1.html
SDL
Thanks, SDL. As John Hammond's secretary muttered under her breath when exiting from a memorial service that featured much exaggerated praise:
Delete"The bought the story."
Chris: If you knew John Hammond, did you also know Benny Goodman?
ReplyDeleteKGT
Yes, I knew Benny very well. This will tell you more:
Deletehttp://stomp-off.blogspot.com/2009/10/if-you-think-you-have-benny-goodman.html
WBAI is having another beg-a-thon in May. Well, there's a good way to kick off the new closet... errr... studio. I guess OTH will have another extended vacation, which they will whine about.
ReplyDeleteSDL
I don't know what you are worrying about, SDL, when you have a top-notch engineer with a sledgehammer on your executive staff, that studio is as good as built. Tony Ryan will undoubtedly install noise-cancelling equipment in time for the month-long May Day marathon. Expect a lot of talk about WBAI coming to you from the "Peoples Republic of Brooklyn."
DeleteApropos marathons, I wonder how Reimers' open-ended "negotiations" with the high-priced ESB attorneys is going—will it make the Guinness Book of Records? Remember when word was that WBAI was purchasing the Atlantic Avenue building? I wonder if the people who keep buying WBAI's air (literally, it seems) have noticed the evaporation rate of Berthold Reimers' PP (pacifying phantasies).
Reimers takes his negotiating lessons from those negotiating a peace to The Korean War. Yes, they still are, all these decades later. Remember, there has only been a truce in place all these decades.
DeleteWell, Brady found himself maybe the best, craziest, most sexually frustrated buddy yet. This loon made Riley Martin (of Howard Stern fame) sound well grounded. I've come to the conclusion Brady and most of his guests really just need to get laid.
SDL
Your Reimers/Korea analogy is an interesting one, but let's hope he'll be at it for decades—we've had more than enough and I think time is fast running out.
DeleteI'm going to have to search the archive for Brady's new loon.
Apropos the brain deprived, I happened upon some BAI jerk on the Asian show this evening. He was on the phone with someone in Ferguson, asking him a leading question as to whether the occurrences there were directly relates (perhaps even caused by) the plight of the Palestinians. Is Ferguson a Muslim problem? "Yes," said the voice on the phone. That's when I turned my radio off and went to Cuba, via a now somewhat dated 2012 documentary on Channel 13.
Good luck with the archives. I hear you have better odds at the casino.
DeleteThere must be something at WBAI making people crazier by the day. Maybe there really is some sort of electro-whatever being beamed inro the studio. Could Null be feeding these morons colored Stuff?
Anyway. I never really listened much to the Asian show because it never seemed to be about anything Asian when I tuned in. It always seems to be standard WBAI topic of the times. The term "Asian" seems to be meant as a hook to get an imaginary Asian audience to tune in.
I don't blame you for going to Cuba via TV. Even a dump like that makes more sense than WBAI. Hell, I even listen to Radio Habana Cuba here and there, which make lots more sense than anything Pacifica.
SDL
The archives are a mess, one has to poke around and if something comes up, there's a good chance that it is distorted like hell. Is hell distorted?
DeleteThe air at WBAI is contaminated with a mixture of false hope, venom, Eau de Narcissismo, lies and bad vibes. I hear it sometimes gets so bad that Null's stuff loses its color.
You're right, the Asian show has been on a mission creep, as is Education at the Crossroads, as is...
The Cuba film was interesting and one sensed that a balance was attempted, but it was mostly about Cuban exiles who have done well here without having been de-Cubanized, as it were. Far better than the crap WBAI was running.
Just when you think Forlano can't show herself to be anymore idiotic than she already has, she shows how out of touch she really is.
ReplyDeleteI sit down to dinner and turn on the radio, where WBAI was the last station I must have had on. What do I hear? Forlano and some nobody babbling when he mentions Joe Franklin. Forlano tells him that she doesn't know who Joe Franklin is. The guest tells her who Franklin was and how he had been on local TV forever. Need I say more?
Well, the guest was no winner, considering later on he was ass kissing the corpse of Robert Knight.
I want my IQ points back. There must seriously be something burning out brain cells at the studio.
SDL
That was Randy Credico.
DeleteKGT
I guested on Joe's TV program several times, but only once on his radio show. He had two of us on, the other guest claimed to be an Egyptologist, so I asked Joe if he save a correlation between Bessie Smith and Cleopatra. He said he did.
DeleteThe Egyptologist wasn't very impressive—I think he had seen Ancient Egypt through DeMille's eyes. He came to the studio carrying a very heavy book that must have had at least 1000 pages, and he was very excited over having been included in it. That turned out to be his name mentioned in a footnote! Joe gave him the Franklin star treatment, he was a great ego booster, a lovable guy and true NY character.
What with out-of-station tributes to Post and Knight, I wonder if Reimers is planning to pass the hat?
Thank you KGT. That figures, Credico was also among the handful who showed up for Knight's memorial service. The man has no sense of humor, unless that it.
DeleteRandy Credico, who I still call a nobody, sucks. However, at least he could speak without continuously giggling like a moron as Forlano does.
DeleteI wouldn't be surprised to see a collection at the Post or Knight gatherings. Gives me an idea. Fass would make a good pseudo homeless person. Put him out on the street with a tin can. Bet he'd make more money that way than pitching on the air.
WBAI is so down in the gutter that they only have the sewer remaining.
SDL
Notice how Randy Credice is too chickenshit to do an Obama impression. He doesn't want to get kicked off of WBAI, his only steady gig.
DeleteKGT
Add his not doing a Gary Null impression. Actually, a Robert Knight impression would be cool, since it would be silence...
DeleteThe first time I was ever up at WBAI I asked Fred Geobold/Kuhn if it's true that there is an unwritten rule about not being allowed to say anything bad about Gary Null. He gave me a little nod and and said, "Yes, that is a rule..." Then he told me in a subtle sarcastic tone how Null brings in lots of money, etc.
BTW, I do a great Bob Fass impression...
SDL
Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh, Uhhh, eh, ahhhhh, uh...... a Bob Fass impression?
DeleteUhhh... Close but errr... You forgot about... about... ummm... errrr... Jim Jones taking those people to... errr... Grenada and... Ummm... Uhhhh... What? So... Now we know... Errrr... How would you like it if American marines kicked down your door and shot Mickey Mouse to death in front of your kids?!?!... Uh... Now back in the day... errr... When we made the Pentegon fly to California... Ummm... Mae brussel called in to report on... on... Something about CIA mind control... Uh... It was all about Wavy Gravy on my turkey dinner... Ummm... Laced with acid... Am I on..? Am I on..? Am I off..? Uhhh... I'd like to welcome our network of little stations... Errr... W... W... I forget, since... Errrr... No one calls us from that station anyway... (country music starts playing)
DeleteSDL
That's not an impression... that's a transcript!
DeleteI heard that show.
Dammit! Caught plagiarizing...
DeleteSDL
Well, yes, but I ain't gonna say a mumblin' word to no one.
DeleteWhere is David Wynyard when we REALLY need him?
ReplyDeleteKGT
Didn't he go bi bi?
DeleteWorshipping at his alter to Charles Pitts? Wynyard really had the hero worship thing going with Pitts.
DeleteNo matter what, he'd be better than the "gay" program they have now. I really have to find and digitize the crank call tape I have of his show. I don't think any radio show in history received more cranks than Wynyard's.
Here are some names circa 1980 I'll throw out for memories: Ed Haber, Bud Struggle,
Anyone remember the dull Oakdale Indiana lesbian drama that was produced by Judy Pasternack?
And, regarding an old post. Yes, Amiri Baraka did a Midnight to 3AM Thursday night/Friday morning slot circa 1980.
SDL
NO! Say it ain't so! Wynyard going bi would be the last straw, with Tom Robinson and Holly Near having gone bi.
DeleteWhat is this world coming to?
SDL
Am I to understand that Wynyard was the Pitts?
DeleteWell, that may be a way of putting it. Kind of like a gentler Pitts, minus that direct manner of speech. And don't forget to spell his name right: "w-y-n-Y-a-r-d"
DeleteSDL
b-a-r-n-Y-a-r-d
DeleteThe Phantom Homophobe
Did Emanuelle Goldstein say what I thought he said? A not so veiled threat of a hack attack against WBAI unless OTH gets the premium info they want? Wow!
ReplyDeleteSDL
I missed that, but isn't there already an attack on WBAI? I'm talking about the one from within.
DeleteI'll check the archive.
He opened OTH talking about the premium problem - you know, the one Mitch Cohen keeps saying has been solved - and mentioned how OTH would get the info they needed to send out the premiums througgh any means necessary. He included a mention of a hacker community in the threat to make it sound like they would hack WBAI's computers or some such thing.
DeleteSDL
I heard it and am now listening to the remainder of the show. He sure did say that they are prepared to hack Berthold's secret data storage. I bet they would find a whole lot of interesting devious maneuvers.
DeleteI hope OTH really follows through on this—Berthold and his crooked cronies need to be exposed.
Well, it would also be blatantly illegal to do it. Sadly, Reimers now has the perfect excuse on recording to fire them, if he chooses.
DeleteHowever, it was the best OTH episode since the Steve Rambam one some months back, with good topics and good discussions.
SDL
I agree, it was a good show.
DeleteI decided to download and keep the show for a while, in case it proved to be the final OTH episode. With a threat like that, I wouldn't be surprised if they get fired. However, we are talking WBAI, where threats and illegal actions will get you everywhere. At any other station, they would probably have been knocked off the air mid show.
DeleteIf OTH does get canceled, I have a feeling the 1977 takeover of the ESB room will look like nothing compared to what will result.
What is really interesting is that Goldstein essentially made a threat not only about the premium problem but about messing with the show in general. He basically told WBAI that there is a hacker community out there willing to hack WBAI. Think about it.
SDL
Are you trying to foment trouble, SDL? :) It's an unpredictable situation that could have Reimers hiring OTH to hack the ESB files, only to have Agent Levine step back in and do his thing while the horse and the nicotine pusher do a dance around a tied-up yet liberated Kathy and Brady's guest lays some rather odd-looking eggs that Mitchel believes to be pure gold. Mimi makes an entrance, sprays her throat, runs someone's fingers through her pale afro, and sings "Hallelujah". That, of course, brings Daulton out of the woodwork, barely missing a blow from Ryan's sledgehammer, which,hits the stations piggybank, and scatters the nickels and dimes. They are sucked up by Reimers, who heads straight for JFK.... and Haiti... there to run for President.
DeleteObviously, it is a good idea to have an OTH on the digital shelf.
That's some outline. All it needs is Jaques Tati walking about causing some inadvertent havoc.
DeleteCaught a piece of Kane today and the thought "Is it Kane or is it Memorex" went through my head. His repetative ramblings aren't about American Indian affairs, they are about the two or three same old topics, month after month. OK, already. You don't like the word redskins. I get it! How about some talk on the horrid economic situation on tribal lands? Ever hear of Leonard Peltier? Tell us about the first time you jerked off to Buffy Sainte-Marie. How about a debate on casinos on tribal lands? Kane is just self-serving.
WBAI - Self service radio!
SDL
I wonder if Kane can't organize a WBAI fundraiser aimed at his four listeners. He could stage a shellac/Vinyl burning of Charlie Barnet's "Redskin Rhumba" and have his scalpers sell tickets to people who can't afford them. There would also be loose joints, but they'll be reservation rolled by very poor people of American Indian ancestry.
DeleteNice to hear that he has spent so many months now on a sports team name change. What would we do without such dedicated activists? Besides giving them two hours that could have been used to help or genuinely inform people.
These jerks are such phonies.
Me no trust Chris Albertson; he speak with Forked Tongue. Ugg.
DeleteKGT
Yes, it was designed for Old Norse and used by my ancestors in North America, long before the ColumBUS pulled in and parked. We left abodes and adornments, he left disease and a bad taste. :)
DeleteWBAI - Serving ourselves to serve you better.
ReplyDeleteHelp us serve ourselves.
DeleteWhen I was a little kid, Burger King had a motto and tune that went, "Have it your way..." Well, being kids, we came up with a parody, whose words I can't fully remember, but it went, "Eat the pickles and the lettuce, just be smart and don't upset us, Have it our way..."
DeleteSDL
Aguilar's article is a puff piece. They are doing a spit and polish work for those who would benefit the Pacifica with grants of money without actually listening to it. The politics of the local stations are swept under the rug. Reimers gets a good presentation without the mention of the premium fiasco, the fellow at the Texas Pacifica station neglects to mention that his listeners want a more mainstream station more in synch with their political tastes while he is spouting the JUC crap about broadcasting the points of view which do not represent the sentiments of the listeners, same rhetoric used to justify the extremist producers at Pacifica, who despise those whose money they take. The community, implied by the BAI broadcasters, only exists in the minds of the broadcasters, hence the abysmal Arbitron ratings. There is no hope for Pacifica broadcasting for any other audience in New York, since the current Pacifica top brass embraces the gang currently ensconced at BAI. On the other hand, Aguilar fails to emphasize just how tough the economic times really are for public and non-commercial broadcasting. NPR is begging for handouts. They need it less than Pacifica, but pitch they do, and they are more pathetic at it than the BAI bunch, since they have the skill, talent, and equipment to pull off great radio broadcasting, and they still have a shred of dignity left. The ruling faction currently in control are in better position to preserve the Pacifica, corruption and all, since they have the better rapport with the liberal political establishment that can help save Pacifica, than the bunch of delusionals, who fancy themselves activists.
ReplyDeleteJUC yuck appeals to such a miniscule number of people that no station would be able to survive on that ghetto politic alone. WBAI is lucky for Gary Null, classical music, old time radio and a few other things, or it would make 50% less money, at the least, and be gone already.
DeleteActually, from what I understand, WBAI has so few listeners that it doesn't even get a rating anymore. Of course, Reimers says that Arbitron is all wrong in how they rate WBAI and that they have far more listeners. Usual BS fog.
I know WNYC FM and AM have been slowly but steadily rising in the NYC market ratings. However, more people listening doesn't necessarily equate with more money, two seperate things.
Well, at least the right wing talk trash has been dying.
I don't really think radio people fully understand how much alternative audio is now out there to compete for radio listeners. Sirius/XM has finally grown, internet radio etc. The dwindling radio listenership is getting older and spreading out more and more. No matter what your programming is, it will be harder to maintain the same listenership. Add this to Pacificans thinking they are on a mission from Malcom X, which most people, frankly, don't give a shit about.
As my father would say, "Fuck 'em!"
SDL
This is a not-so-well-cloaked attempt to gild a wizened lily. With a name like Truthout—free speech policy notwithstanding—one would expect editorial scrutiny.
DeleteI remember two versions of Malcolm. The WBAI idiots are still using the old version, because their equipment can't run the post-Mecca update.
DeleteGuess they're having it their way.
Hey, Chris. I saw this article about the BBC desk and wondered if you ever used anything like this when you were with the BBC.
ReplyDeletehttp://swling.com/blog/2015/03/bbc-bush-house-desk-on-ebay/
SDL
I'm afraid not. My office at Kensington House was very plain, but efficient. However, in my New York office (in the Warwick Hotel on Sixth Ave.), they gave me the very latest and best playback equipment, all British, except the reel-to-reel video, which was a Sony.
DeleteWhen I needed edits, we did them in London. One show that I worked on was a half-hour weekly comedy (a la Fred Allen) called "Round the Horne", whose host was Kenneth Horne. The cast included Kenneth Williams (who was in all the "Carry on..." movies) and one of the two writers was Marty Feldman, who did rather well as a film comedian.
There is no hope in Pacifica for any type of audience other than the JUC's target community. They won't change. The only question is of they are going to survive.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if this is coincidental. 500.com is an internet company in China selling online sports lotto tickets. They just went public on NASDAQ, they stock symbol is WBAI. Isn't there proprietary control over station names and such?
That means there's no hope—the JUC target community seems to comprise old two-packs-a-day female smokers, Alton Maddox worshippers, and stagnant school dropouts who climax to the sledgehammer's slow dance mix.
DeleteI don't think Wall Street is that particular when it comes to stock symbols.
It is amazing, but unsurprising, that Left is incapable of investigating its own corruption or of reporting on itself (re. Truthout puff piece). I think that's because the journalists of the Left themselves are as shallow and opportunistic self-promoters as are the talking heads on Fox News and CNN. I think that Act Up used to out prominent gay celebrities, there should be a similar movement to out hypocrites and self-promoters among the up and coming young (and therefore vulnerable) talent among both sides of the political spectrum.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right about the Wall Street stock symbols.
500.com has been public for a couple of years as WBAI. Well, the funny thing is their chart is just like WBAI radio - a rise and then down and sideways and then freefall. In fact, it is exactly like WBAI radio. It goes public, rises (mid to late1960s), starts to slide (1970s to 1977), sideways (1977 to 1990s), and down we go. Interesting similarities.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.com/finance?q=wbai&ei=bHILVaDmEoO38QafpIDABA
SDL
It is official - WBAI was ASKED TO LEAVE because of the Sidney Smith situation. Reimers reportedly pleaded for more time, but the CUNY president said no
ReplyDeleteHow did you come by this information? Just curious.
DeleteSDL
Sources @ CUNY - they can't wait for BAI to leave - they are so angry!!
DeleteI don't believe it. The Voodoo Priest is throwing that around like a pin in a voodoo doll's chest to take the blame off of himself.
ReplyDelete"The fault, Dear Berthold, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings".
KGT
(JustAListener)
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's "official" as anything regarding Pacifia.
Would figure Reimers' petty hatred would "f" things up for him and the station.
I doubt Reimers has much to fear from the OTH crew.
He probably didn't want them to look at the computer because they'd discover Reimers didn't know how to use it, and is keeping what meager records and notes he has on little slips of paper in his desk drawer.
Pretty hack-proof though.
("If we don't have any plans the enemy can't steal them")
I'm going to Robert Knight's seance just to see Dennis Bernstein's cute ponytail.
ReplyDeleteKGT
Be prepared to hear a lot of BS from the likes of Kathy and Credico. We look forward to reading a report from you. Bernstein, of course, is a major wimp.
DeleteIf it weren't snowing, I'd go to the Steve Post thing just out of curiosity.
DeleteGoing to the Knight thing sounds like torture.
SDL
I'm sure someone will record the hypocrisy and blather. Fass will probably air it.
DeleteWell, you know the Knight thing will be recorded and played by "Cake" Davis and "Pauly Shore" Spencer. Forget that Knight was part of the sinking ship. What's ironic is, whatever your opinion of him, that Post probably had far more listeners and more of an effect on people than Knight ever did.
DeleteSadly, Fred Geobold/Khun is forgotten, even though he handled the front office as secretary for years. I saw him work. He kept the day to day stuff rolling along, like people actually getting their mail and the station phone line being answered.
At least when Jim Freund did his memorial to Adler, it wasn't pretentious. In fact, it was kind of touching how much he really seemed to love her. I'd say he was totally sincere.
SDL
Talk about an excuse for political masturbation that WBAI is pushing.
ReplyDeletehttp://ibw21.org/national-international-reparations-summit-registration-form-2015/
WBAI should hold an annual birthday bash for the station. Then they could have fun games, like pin the tail on the jackass.
They need to start a childrens' show. They could have a WBAI produced version of Leftilocks and the Three Bigots, featuring Mimi as leftilocks, Bernard White as Papa Kleptomaniac, "Cake" Davis as Mama Space Cadet and Hay-tie Haskins as Baby Nitwit. Guest starring Mitch Cohen as Leftilocks dad, Delirious Daddy, and John Kane as Huckster. Free soundtrack provided by Tony Ryan and Sledgey...
SDL
Perhaps they are trying to qualify for reparation.
DeleteWell, Pacifica and WBAI deserve reperations - from Bernard White!
DeleteSDL
You can add several names to that, including Berthold Reimers. In fact, if everyone who made money abusing WBAI paid just a small amount of money, the station would be in far better shape.
DeleteApropos those abusers, has anyone heard any report on last night's Post mortem?