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Here is the official staff notification from under Reimers' desk. A "fully equipped studio within the next 3 months" does not sound realistic, but when was the last time Reimers actually told anything the way it is?
Mario Murillo will lunch the first broadcast from Atlantic Avenue — I hope y'all are hungry!
Well, It will save the nitwits money to be in one asylum. What I wonder about is any construction, since it can be noisy. I guess it will have to be done while running pre-recorded broadcasts? The beg-a-thon is good for that, since so much of it is recorded material.
ReplyDeleteSomeone always at the studio? Hasn't it been said that it's a dangerous area with burgleries and the like? Tony & Sledgey will handle it...
So, Mario wants the attention and credit on the inaugural voyage, I see. That's cute for the "i"PD. Yes, Mario, it's time to call yourself PD now. I still wonder when he is teaching at Hofstra. Oh, maybe he isn't? Maybe not enough students want to sit around and listen to his commiecations rants rather than actually learn broadcasting. Well, broadcasting is a lousy career move these days, anyway.
SDL
I wonder what he means by a "fully equipped" studio. They haven't had one of those in years.
DeleteAt NYCC, they had security guards, so I guess having someone at Atlantic every night ill be an added expense. Don't they still owe that nice lady rent for the Brooklyn location?
Freund says that the upcoming drive will be "largely" dedicated to the studio work. Don't they realize that it's not going to bring in enough money for existing bills? These people are such fools.
The same thoughts re Murillo occurred to me, but I think his agenda is clear... what about his salary, one wonders.
Maybe they can book Curtis Sliwa and Gerson Borrero. They need new digs.
DeleteKGT
Borer would fit into Murillo's penny slot, but I don't see Sliwa getting very far at WBAI.
DeleteA fully equiped studio means a Mr Microphone, cheap MP3 player, chair (or wooden crate) and bathroom.
DeleteSleazewa is a corrupt, lying piece of crap who would fit in perfectly as their token right wing voice. If he feigned being a ghetto politic adherent, he would be a perfect GM.
Of course they could do a Louis Farrakhan/Tom Metzger reunion show. If not, maybe Alton Maddox & David Duke?
Of course, a voodoo priestess show would rake in Dollars, and sell voodoo dolls. Hey, how about a live spiritual channeler? People could call in and talk to the dead. You know how much The Remnants LOVE hocus pocus.
Maybe a porn video and websites review show?
I guess bringing back a level headed guy like the financial planner "Cake" Davis had on a couple of months ago is too normal. The Bunker Bozos would never listen to his advice, anyway, since it might make sense...
Umm... Are you missing Geoff Brady, yet? I kind of am. He was so good for laughs, both on the radio and to write about.
SDL
I can see protesters honking from the street to demonstrate their displeasure during live shows. For soundproofing, they can wallpaper the studio with layers of unpaid bills.
DeleteHow long will the new landlady remain "cool"?
ReplyDeletePerhaps until she realizes that Reimers' WBAI is freeloading again.
DeleteLet's have a vote. Who thinks that now that WBAI HQ are closer to Staten Island, Bob Fass will get off of his fat tuchus and travel to 388 Atlantic Ave. for his weekly show? I vote NO.
ReplyDeleteKGT
Of course he won't, nor should he. He is old and ill, fueled by ego and overconsumption of hype. He has already missed golden opportunities to bow out—this one comes very late, but he should take it, retire, and write a book about his rise and fall.
DeleteI am very serious about that.
OK. Seriously now. Is an autobiographical book by Bob Fass potentially profittable? My son worked for Random House and he says Random House has not had a substantial profit since The Da Vinci Code. I think it is too late. No large publishing house will deal with it.
DeleteKGT
I... errr... ummm.... vote... ehh... no.. errr...
DeleteYes, Fass should write a book, if for no other reason than my wanting to see you compare it to Steve Post's book. However, if he hasn't wrtten a book by now, I doubt he really wants to.
Malachy is a couple of years older than Fass and should demand to able to broadcast from his home. He'd sure do a better job of it.
SDL
You are probably right about the sales potential, KGT, but the reward I had in mind for Bob was not monetary as much as it was in the area of face saving. Fizzling out, as he has, must be very painful, especially to someone who takes himself too seriously. A book, well written and honest, could show someone who took his work seriously. It would probably not make much money, but you can't buy dignity. As I have said before, Bob was way overdue for retirement or, at least, renewal when that film was released—it would have been a good opportunity to mark the end of a show that probably played out in the Seventies. As your son indicates, the book publishing business is going the way of the record business, but both fields have electronic alternatives. They may stop setting type, but people will not stop writing or reading, or listening.
Delete#SDL - Any book Bob writes is bound to be somewhat embellished, but Steve Post's was so bad, so full of false, self-serving misinformation that I don't think he could have gotten away with it today. I think a Fass memoir needs collaboration with another writer, but—as you indicate, such a book will never be written.
I don't know if Malachy would want to broadcast from his home... an Irish bar, maybe? Isn't that what the Eirann Saturday afternoon show does?
A paper version of a Fass autobiography wouldn't make any money UNLESS there were some exclusive juicy disclosures about people in it to get controversy. Otherwise, no.
DeleteA digital version could be done cheap, but how much money is in it, I don't know. I do know Kindles are popular, so that may be the avenue to go.
The only people I see buying a Fass Autobio are a few Fass cultists, a handful of leftists, a handful of radio fanatics and the people who buy something simply because it is an autobio, regardless of topic.
Like the Radio Unameable doc, most people who saw it were documentary genre fans who will watch a documentary no matter what the subject. However, how many people have gone on to be his listeners? Can you hear the crickets?
Another thing is Fass' memory is obviously faltering. He may not mean to write something wrong, but may anyway.
The best way is for him to do one of those by X as told to X type deals.
SDL
Forgot to add: Yes, that's what the Eirann guys do. I just thought of a great idea. Malachy doing a live all day beg-a-thon from an Irish bar. Imagine how smashed he'd eventually be? People could pledge $100 per whisky for him.
DeleteSDL
Bob's faltering memory (which I have personal evidence of) is definitely a factor. As told to is the way to go.
DeleteWhat might sell a Fass book would be input from accomplished alumni. They haven't all died.
You know why I'm laughing, right?
DeleteSDL
Funny how Fass and his flunkies can't actually take on anything I said with any evidence but are only capable of casting insults. Fass has one of the top rated shows on WBAI? By what measure? Certainly not Arbitron, since nothing on WBAI gets rated by Arbitron due to too few listeners. Notice no one speaks about how much Fass makes for WBAI in donations? If they did, it would show how little support he really has. "Deflection" is the ideal word.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I went to bed after about 25 or 30 minutes, since Fass is like audio Xanax.
SDL
Does anyone have the link to one of Bob Fass' shows from the mid 60s.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, there is no such link, but I understand that Bob himself has several old shows (complete or partial) on tape.
DeleteIn the last part of the Radio Unnameable film (before the give Bob free money part) there's the whole thing about preserving all those tapes Fass hoarded all those years. I was given to believe many were of his shows.
DeleteHere, I'm going to be nice and make a suggestion, which you Fassnatics should pass onto Babbling Bob. Make an MP3 CD(s) compilation of old shows and use it as a beg-a-thon premium. There have been other MP3 compilations of speeches and Pathetica stuff that have sold well, so why not a compilation of Fass, when he had listeners and guests that meant something?
SDL (The Anonymous Three Letter Monster)
If he makes CDs of his past shows to sell, why shouldn't HE get paid for them?
ReplyDeleteWhy BAI?
KGT
I never said Fass shouldn't make money off the CDs. He would get paid by WBAI for the premium, as do all other premium suppliers.
DeleteHowever, Fass would make no money selling them to his Fasscists, as they a dead broke losers who chose to play politics and smoke pot all their lives rather than be responsible adults.
SDL
Gary Byrd spewing out his hate for whitey now, along with racist Herb Boyd, Charles Barron. Diefying Doctor King , etc etc...
ReplyDeleteYou know when they say on BAI that this is the only station that you could hear this kind of stuff on, well as much as
commercial radio sucks, they know one thing . And this is it. You can't put people like this on the air every other show and expect to grow your listeners, or even keep your existing listeners. This cannot be sustained! If they keep this up, they will
go away. Not a question of if, just a question of when. Sad.
I spot checked Byrd's show today and it was indeed racist blather—he even threw "Mumia" into the mix, and all that "brothers and sisters" crap is speeding up the station's demise. It will truly be sad to see WBAI go, but there is some comfort in knowing that all these racist idiot will have to find another outlet for their hate.
DeleteLook, as long as his food is ground up (e.g. in a baby food grinder) or consists of Ensure or yogurt, the sound of his eating lunch should not materially affect the broadcast quality. If it does--just put a bunch of yellow pages around his head. Assuming you have yellow pages that are not already deployed.
ReplyDeleteHave some respect. He is Bruva Imhotep.
ReplyDeleteKGT
wbai broadcasting from brooklyn? I live in brooklyn and cant get wbai because a pirate dominates 99.5, i have to stream wbai to get it nowadays.
ReplyDeleteThe studio is now in Brooklyn, but the signal still comes from the Empire State Building, so WBAI's move should not make a difference to your reception. I don't know the current FCC laws, but SDL can probably tell us if a pirate using one's frequency can be stopped by law.
DeleteSimply put, broadcasting without a license is illegal, with one exception, microcasting, which is a fraction of a watt. Microcasting isn't applicable here as almost any station in NYC would bury it, since it can be heard for maybe one block, at best.
DeleteSo, why is the pirate on? Well, since the 1980s and the Reaganistas, the FCC has seen its budget cut again and again. The first victim has been the FCC field offices. Pirate radio busts are a rarity these days because of that. In fact, where I am, WBAI is sandwiched between to pirates nightly on 99.3 and 99.7. However, neither of these affect WBAI's signal. Hence, your pirate must be pretty close to you to block a 50,000 watt transmitter on the ESB. Considering most use under 100 watts, it’s probably in your neighborhood or an adjoining one. Look at the language and where one finds the closest community speaking it and you’ve spotted it.
What can you do? Not a heck of a lot. Write the FCC AND write the station affected (there seems to be an effect when stations complain to the FCC and show listeners' letters they’ve received to the FCC). Will anything be done? A slight maybe. Now and then the FCC gets into a mood to bust a few pirates, but not often. Considering there are estimated to be hundreds of them in NYC, it isn’t easy with a two or three man field office.
The new FCC chairman has made some comments worth reading. Action or lip service?
http://www.radioworld.com/article/leblanc%E2%80%99s-goal-is-no-pirates/275622
Quick history. In the old days, the “American” pirates made sure to avoid interfering with licensed stations, whether FM, AM or SW, because they didn’t want the FCC heat it would bring down. However, the more recent ethnic groups who have moved into the city don’t play by those rules and broadcast as they please. How brazen are they? Some run their stations from known studios (no joking when I say that they are better equipped than WBAI) and give out their addresses, sell advertising time, host concerts in small clubs, have internet streams, etc. In other words, they run as if they were licensed. Amazing, but true.
On any given night I can receive a load of them here in Western Queens. I just did a bandscan and counted – are you sitting? – twenty-two FM pirates. On one frequency there were two interfering with each other, besides the legit station! All were in non-American accented English, including Spanish, Caribbean English, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, etc.
Hey, look at it this way, NYC is the acknowledged king of pirate radio in the U.S.A.
SDL (aka The U.S.A.’s #1 FM pirate DXer)
(Yeah, this rogue has many cloaks…)