Is this borderline? Questions have been raised as to whether Gary Null has crossed the border as to giving medical advice on WBAI's air. What do you think? (and how do I make the SoundCloud embed much much smaller?)
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.
Well, I listened to the clip. Let's see how she does. From a few steps to 6 miles a day sounds amazing. Hope we get some follow up on this ----steve cohen.
ReplyDeleteFACT: Utrice is alive, this blog is not.
DeleteLet's get it out on the table. Utrice' vitriol and megalomania boomeranged and hit her in the tuchus. Freud said that depression was anger to the outside introjected to oneself. Did she bring this on herself? Should we care? To beat this, does she have to reinvent herself as a loving, caring, humas being?
ReplyDeleteKGT
If Utrice Reid is, indeed, all the nasty things people tag her with, cancer is not going to erase that, and if she regards that affliction as her cue to becoming a better person, it says a lot about negatives in her own pecking order.
DeleteUtrice Leid was the Editor of the City Sun, a fine newspaper in Brooklyn. One of her colleagues was Hugh Hamilton who will be returning to WBAI very soon on the morning show. She took principled positions against the Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn who were abusing the Carribean community for years. Sidney Smith knows her well although he opposed her because Sidney was an apologist for the Orthodox. BTW, the Orthodox are causing similiar problems in Rockland County where there is nearly open warfare against them. Utrice was abused by Valerie Van Isler, a truly evil woman who also abused Sidney. Utrice also opposed Amy Goodman, who was abusing the station by commandeering all the finances @ the station. Utrice was the victim of abuse as were many people. WBAI was and IS an abusive place. Hope the station goes to hell!!
DeleteIt's already there in spirit and will undoubtedly be hugging that platform quite soon.
DeleteIt's already there in spirit and will undoubtedly be hugging that platform quite soon.
DeleteThe usual Null making claims but showing no evidence. Televangelists do a better job showing laying on of hands healing on TV than Null's nutritionism hidden behind a mic does. Of course, televangelists probably have a lot of fakers who pretend they are sick in order to get on TV, in the first place, which is why the wheelchair bound person can suddenly hop around like they're doing a St Vitus Dance.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the audio doesn't show Null dispensing direct medical advice. All he's doing is making claims about the potential healing properties of foods, which as a nutritionist he can, and Leid's health. Null's m.o. is insinuation, after all.
I wonder how much Stuff he is selling her.
SDL
You're right about the audio not showing Null playing doctor, but he is clearly weaving a sales pitch into his assessment of Ms. Leid's situation. I am sure that he sincerely believes in the approach he espouses and I won't/can't give him an argument when it comes to the benefits of natural medicine, but I am bothered by his seemingly total dismissal of work done by the corporate pharmaceutical industry and, to some extent, his own competition.
DeleteIn other words, I think it insults intelligence when Null wants his own undertaking to be regarded as something that rises above all other such business endeavors. He's a salesman who watches that profit line and—as I perceive it—works energetically to raise it, even if that means stooping to snake oil level. He stoops, but is damn good at doing so behind a veneer of force-fed benevolence.
The audio clip is not, per se, evidence of an ethical breach, but I hear it as one of many Null-is utterances that, when taken as a whole, spell entrepreneurial opportunism in all caps.
"I wonder how much Stuff he is selling her"? answer: NONE.
ReplyDeleteIt is all for free, provided she comes on his show and extols the virtue of his pickle juice for Y'ALL too buy., Drink up, you Nullites.
KGT
I believe you are right about that, KGT. He is using Ms. Leid to promote his products and maintain his self-made image. Notice that he does not directly credit himself with her ability to bounce around... he just implies it.
DeleteThe recovery rate from Stage 4 metastatic lung cancer is close to zero. If Leid was not misdiagnosed, research scientists (and/or the Vatican) should be all over her remarkable recovery.
ReplyDeleteGary Null is using Leid to promote his unscientific thinking, and indirectly, his overpriced, entirely-questionable product line. The upcoming interview with Leid (if it ever actually happens) will be a must-listen. Can't wait to hear what she has to say - and can't wait to hear "Dr" Null talk over her, as he injects his own agenda into the interview.
Yeah, but lung cancer doesn't metastasize to the ovary like Gary said and I couldn't tell if he said that she had ovarian cancer with metastases. Like everything Gary says, take it with a grain, pound of salt. Gary's medical understanding is zero and his pure lying for personal gain is boundless. Like Bernard used to say, "Pay close attention".
DeleteKGT
p.s.- I would bet my culo that Utrice smoked, probably like a chimney. Her body is still saturated with carcinogens, nicotine being only one of them. She also weighed WELL over 300 pounds. Will "Dr. Null" I-told-you-so her on his radio interview? I would bet not.
DeleteKGT
Well, let me put it all this way. Before I believe anything about Leid, Null and this whole matter, I want to see hard proof/paperwork/medical reports of all claims involved. I'm just not buying it "as is."
ReplyDeleteYou know what would be truly Monty Pythonesque? As Leid and Null are walking together at a press conference to announce her being cured, falling from the sky, landing on Leid and Null and squashing them into pancakes is a smiling Bernard White.
Anyway, I am more interested in seeing Mimi outted as Rachel Dolezal was.
SDL
It won't work. Gary will use his own "M.D.s" whom he bought and paid for, like "Dr." Eric Braverman.
DeleteKGT
I would put nothing past him.
DeleteBy the way, they should turn the PNB crap into a pay per view event. They could get Mitch C. McMahon as announcer. Some of these clods don't even seem to know where they are or what's going on.
ReplyDeleteSDL
I've got it on now. It ought to be required listening to anyone who either has donated to a Pacifica station or is contemplating doing so. What sleaze balls Margy and her cronies are!
Delete"Hey should turn the PNB crap into a pay per view event". They can't. A pay per view event needs good guys and bad guys. The PNB has only Bad Guys.
ReplyDeleteKGT
I heard some good guys on that audio.
DeleteSnails move faster than a PNB meeting, and with fewer interruptions. Let's take a vote about voting on another roll call before voting about a roll call voting on voting.Maybe Ingmar Bergman's ghost is secretly directing this.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Are you seeing the PNB through a glass darkly?
DeleteI want to hear what Reimers had to say, but I can't find that part. Any hints?
I'm not seeing the PNB at all, but wish I could. They must look like deers in the headlights. I'd never invite any of these people to a party, maybe a funeral, but not a party.
DeleteNo idea on Reimers. I missed it, too. However, would he really have any new bullshit to spew? If he did, Mitch would be repeating it already.
Ready, set, let's vote- Point of interruption just because I wasn't paying any attention...
SDL
I was disappointed when nobody demanded at least one weekly program in Old Norse. A marathon reading of the Sagas in the original language would generate a lot of promotion. After all, we already have hours upon hours of drivel delivered in Ebonics. :)
DeleteReimers spoke briefly (sixty or ninety seconds, I forget which) as a member of the public during the time allowed for public Q&A Saturday. He identified himself as GM of WBAI, but was speaking simply as a member of the public. He had nothing startling or interesting to say and, frankly, I don't remember what he said – was otherwise occupied and didn't make notes. I think, if I remember right, it would be during a public Q&A that occurred sometime Saturday afternoon ET (adjust accordingly, of course).
DeleteIf he spoke at any other point I didn't happen to come across it. He may have had private conversations, of course, and that may well have been the real point of his Journey to the West.
Publicly, at least, I heard nothing Edda-fying.
~ 'indigopirate'
So R. Paul's assumption is probably correct. Remember, he pointed out that Reimers paid for the trip himself and suggested that he is likely to have gone there for the purpose of lobbying.
DeleteLobbying for what? one wonders. A pay raise? :)
It’s impossible to know, of course, and, personally, I find that it’s often difficult to predict the motives or moves of fools, knaves, and imbeciles.
DeleteHe may have bad news with respect to transmitter condition, studio condition, lease negotiations, or any number of wild card problems he thinks it’s best to raise in personal conversation rather than formally or quasi-formally.
He may want to beg for some form of special consideration associated with any ot these or other issues.
I noted, incidentally, in John Proffitt’s presentations, that he is clearly opposed to the present fund-raising model. He referred to it as posing possible regulatory issues, and made clear that he felt that programming was what mattered and that any premiums should be no more than a token of thanks for contributing to support programming, that they must not be quasi-commercial as they are at present.
Proffitt seems to me intelligent and knowledgeable, with a clear sense of priorities. He also seems to me to have a very clear grasp of the character of Pacifica’s governance and that that, and the accompanying limitations of the individual stations’ limitations as to governance structure are the challenges he faces. He’s approaching it, to the extent one can infer from his public conduct and statements, in collegial fashion, diplomatically.
My guess, and this is the purest speculation on my part, is that he’s well aware of the odds he’s looking at but that at this point in his life and his career he’s willing to give it a shot, quite possibly feeling that giving it his best is justifiable for its own sake, even if the attempt may be doomed.
As to what those odds are… I don’t think he thinks they’re very good, but I think he wants to give it a try.
As I said, purest speculation on my part.
~ ‘indigopirate’
Proffitt comes from the radio world, while Pacifica is a political world that owns some radio stations. We'll see if he adapts.
DeleteIf he thinks he's getting rid of extendomercials and other nonsense premiums, he's in for surprise. When it comes to WBAI, listeners don't give money because they believe in the station or the programs, but because they want to buy a product being offered or the promise of reparations. Go ahead and ditch the extendomercials. Should be fun to hear Null pitch without being able to offer Stuff to the listeners (i.e. potential monthly buyers of his products). We know most producers on the station can't get enough donations to pay for the electric their shows use.
Reimers babbled for a minute or two last night during the open mic bit. I really don't know what he was trying to say, though.
SDL
I had a pretty clear sense from Proffitt’s presentations and answers to questions of a few things. I emphasize that these perceptions on my part may prove wrong. That said…
DeleteHe made several good-natured passing references to Pacifica’s intractability – so he’s presumably well aware of that challenge.
He’s operating in a diplomatic, collegial entrainment mode with respect to his approch to leadership, but he also indicated at a number of points that the executive director and the new chief financial officer require clear authority and accountability. Edwards-Tiekert and a number of board members also clearly agreed with this, stating that the lack of clear authority and the board’s past tendency in the absence of such clear authority to second-guess and attempt to micromanage were part of the problem and must be ended.
As for programming, he stated very clearly that programming must be the reason people support the individual stations and Pacifica, and that programs must bring in financial support based on their actual content with no more than inexpensive token thank-you premiums. He stated clearly that if they can’t do that then they need to go, because they clearly have no real audience.
As for how to get from the present ‘model’ to this approach, one may note that he’s pushing hard for the ‘experiment’ to have affiliates employ underwriting support from acceptable organizations. This seems to have considerable groundwork already in place and he’s pushing for formal approval for the ‘experiment’. This, if successful, might, one suspects, provide transitional bridge financing to move away from the infomercial approach presently in place – which he’s indicated he feels is both inappropriate and counterproductive as well as posing possible legal issues.
~ ‘indigopirate’
@‘indigopirate’: I just don't see how anyone can change Pacifica unless they have the unquestioned ability to fire or, at least, punish people, and have plenty of money for the lawsuits that will follow. I don't have a problem with extendomercials for legitimate items, but snake oil, occult tripe, etc. is nonsense.
DeleteUnderwriting will be a whole new Pandora's Box. Plenty of people will be against some underwriters or others and cry corporate funding, political partiality, yadda yadda. "The NPRization of Pacifica!"
It's OK, though. Yet more committees will be formed to investigate things. Soon everyone at Pacifica will be part of some committee, even the janitors.
Just to be clear, I'm not knocking Proffitt, and I wish him the best of luck. Ultimately, Pacifica can't change without many heads rolling, lawsuits, etc. Will he be the person to do what has to be done? Time will tell.
@Chris: Second week no Forlano. Still think she'll be back? She gets no mention. Sadly, I see Daulton was back...
SDL
I still think Forlano will be back. Daulton and his music were worse than ever and he spent twenty minutes on the phone with a "reverend," selling her various CDs, conventions, etc. The audio quality was so bad (she was on the phone) that much of what she said came off as gibberish.... which it probably was, anyway.
DeleteAs you have said, it speaks volumes that his hours of idolatry have been pre-empted by Reimers' garage sale for five weeks in a row. This is not a moneymaker, not a broadcaster, not someone capable of sparking thought, not what one should expect to hear on a Pacifica station. So, the question is: what is he dangling?
In regards to the WBAI garage sale, I think it escalated beyond anything they imagined. That, in turn, hastened the listener exodus, creating a greater need for slight of hand.... and so it goes. You are absolutely right about the solution, but there cannot be one unless there is a hefty cash cushion during the imperative personnel/program change. WBAI is dead as is hope for its resurrection. They can only continue painting by the numbers for so long, the result will always be artificial.
@SDL I think that what seems to be Proffitt’s approach (I’m only guessing, from a few words, a few statements) is as good an approach as any, and better than most.
DeleteI also think it will fail.
I also think it doesn’t matter. Pacifica of long ago is of some interest, historically, but it hasn’t mattered in a very, very long time.
There are an infinite number of other ‘channels’ of communication now, and likely to be even more in the future.
Only the message matters, more than ever, going forward.
Pacifica has, with only a tiny number of exceptions here and there, no message of importance, or consequence, or of interest to anyone beyond their own tiny numbers.
In that sense, in my opinion, that likely failure simply won’t matter.
In the very unlikely event he’s able to accomplish a resurrection, more power to him.
In that sense, to my mind, the situation is loss-is-no-loss/possible-modest-win-would-be-no-more-than-that.
If I were to wager, it would be on the loss-is-no-loss side of the ledger.
~ ‘indigopirate’
I actually read several of them in English during the Viking period I went through as an early teen. However, at this point, Swahili lessons would be more fitting, and actually slightly more useful. Xhosa could be fun, too. Imagine the WBAI moron listeners trying to do the clicking sounds? I can actually sorta do them, as a native speaker showed me once.
ReplyDeleteProbably better with Spanish Lessons. "Repeat after me: Soy comunista y quiero matar todos los blancos despues de darme reparaciones!."
SDL
Read some in the original language (in Iceland) and much later in English. The preponderance of puns is lost in translation.
ReplyDeleteWell, the first I've heard of the SCA FM sub carriers since I made mention of it like a year ago here. These people are going to speak about this topic and have no idea what it even is. Jeez!
ReplyDelete99% is too much to credit to the station, in my opinion. I think a station should get a good amount, but not that much. However, the sub carriers do belong to Pacifica for all purposes, as do the stations' signals. Maybe I didn't catch it, but who signs the contracts for renting out the sub carriers, the station itself or Pacifica?
Anyway, if they can rent the sub carriers for SCA broadcasts, go for it. It's free money to fight over, after all. I didn't hear how much WBAI's sub carriers make per year. It's still funny that they are rented to a Catholic service.
How many people even listen to SCA is a good question. I know a good number of modded SCA capable radios are for sale on ebay, so I guess they must sell. However, I can tell you that locally, except for one reading for the blind station in English , all the stations are ethnic, mostly Mandarin, Korean, Haitian Creole, Spanish, etc. Must be an underground radio scene that doesn't get any attention outside of the users.
SDL
I believe one of the West Coast stations carries Korean programming.
DeleteHow do we know that she isn't a self-declared black person? Apropos selected ethnicity, I knew someone who turned hersel black so that she could head an organization in Harlem. Her name was Maylie Dufty and she was a Polish Jew married to Bill Dufty, who wrote "Lady Sings the Blues" with Billie and later married Gloria Swanson.
ReplyDeleteBill didn't know that until he was having lunch with an editor and the guy asked him what it was like to be married to a black woman. Maylie was a dreadful woman—when Bill left her, he hid out in Geoffrey Holder's apartment for over a year. Strange world. I wonder if that will be Mimi's next step.
Wow , that is a wild story ! Did you happen to see the story over the weekend about the woman in Washington
ReplyDeletewho was the head of the local naacp , and claimed to be black , but was white . I instantly thought of Mimi ,
and if this woman's last name was rosenberg, I was thinking , maybe Mimi's sista?
It was the NAACP story that triggered my memory regarding Maylie. I guess you heard that the Seattle woman resigned from her job today. I wonder if she learned to clap on the right beat? I recall how Clive Davis always looked at the black people before clapping when we were entertained at annual CBS Records conventions.
DeleteIt always reminded me of someone standing by to jump into a double dutch in progress.
yeah , you just can't make this stuff up , as they say. I guess that woman in Seattle has to go back
ReplyDeleteto being white again . Maybe she could get a show on bai , the show could be called , What it was like
when i used to be black. hmmm .
I recall, many years ago, watching a news show on TV. The anchor lady made a funny mistake when she announced, "We'll be black in a minute."
DeleteI am wondering what the real and wannabe blacks will say about this. I have spoken to several black musicians who played in Europe during the early post-WWII years. They recalled people (mostly kids) rubbing their skin to see if the color came off. They thought it was funny. Sam Wooding, a band leader who first took his orchestra to Europe (Berlin) in 1925, but stayed a few years, told me that he used to put on a show whenever he saw wide-eyed whites staring. He would mumble gibberish, to his own amusement.
I was 27 when I first saw a black person in person, but I actually wanted to look like the kids I saw in magazines. Many years ago, I came across a letter written by my grandmother to my mother when she babysat for a month. "Gunnar is fine," she wrote, he spends much much of the day on the floor with his gramophone, wishing he was a Negro."
No, I didn't make this up, nor do I recall having that wish. I was six years old and probably listening to Victor Sylvester or Greta Keller. "Gunnar" is my middle name and that's what they used to call me.
Speaking of identity confusion, I read an article in which it was claimed that Ester Armah and Denis Rodman were the same person. After a bit of research, I have concluded that this is correct.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=esther+armah&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&imgil=utE8cSC_Cuqt9M%253A%253B__vG3dVSBlPrJM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tnj.com%25252Fdepartments%25252Ffinal-word%25252Femotional-justice&source=iu&pf=m&fir=utE8cSC_Cuqt9M%253A%252C__vG3dVSBlPrJM%252C_&usg=__F_2NHs0Sjl4OQaehPa9U6W6hvgA%3D#imgrc=utE8cSC_Cuqt9M%253A%3B__vG3dVSBlPrJM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tnj.com%252Fimages%252Fpage_image%252FEster_ArmahPic1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tnj.com%252Fdepartments%252Ffinal-word%252Femotional-justice%3B290%3B370
https://www.google.com/search?q=Dennis+Rodman&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&imgil=yBaTlm8kCaE8BM%253A%253BcoYtllWQbVpm2M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fgenius.com%25252F4655477%25252FRich-homie-quan-flex-ooh-ooh-ooh%25252FHer-hair-short-like-dennis-rodman&source=iu&pf=m&fir=yBaTlm8kCaE8BM%253A%252CcoYtllWQbVpm2M%252C_&usg=__yD3Yg7r1dbQUBb3gDZCB2FMzNbk%3D#imgrc=agr7hAeuuwcsJM%253A%3B2jnHAOKY4AYepM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fstatic.vibe.com%252Ffiles%252Farchives%252Fgalleries%252Fimages%252F2005%252F12%252F21%252Fdennisrodman_002.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.vibe.com%252F2005%252F12%252Fdennis-rodman-i-should-be-dead-now-book-signing-border-book-store-chicago-il%252F%3B250%3B350
TPM
Some sad new tonight , Tuned in yesterday morning early , only to hear Dalton Anderson is still on bai .
ReplyDeleteAnd in a related topic , tuned in last Thursday afternoon , to hear letters and politics , which i thought
replaced Howard Jordan , turns out Howard " I'm only capable of whining about race " Jordan is also still
on . Forgot he was on Fridays , not Thursdays . Talk about bummer in the summer .
"Bummer In The Summer" should be the official name of the upcoming August beg-a-thon.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, sat down for lunch and listened to some of Kane & the Belefontes. Now I know there is no such thing as a mercyful God character...
SDL
Wondering how long it takes before Prescod turns this into a black lives matter conversation . haha
ReplyDeleteand ditto on John Kane .
She may not have to go there, considering the subject. It was nice to hear Jesse Jackson's son speak prior to his incarceration. I mean, unlike Mummie.
DeleteActually, there are moments when Prescod does well—far more professional than the clods in the closet on Atlantic Avenue.
Yes , as much as i hate to admit it , she does have her moments . I will get this documentary when it is released .
ReplyDeleteAs an aside . I would highly recommend Cocaine Cowboy's and Cocaine Cowboy's 2 . I believe Ricky Ross
was in the second one .I could be wrong , but either way , Excellent Documentary's imo. netflix has both.
Isn't Gary Webb the investigative journalist whose coattails Robert Knight and Bernstein rode to their modicum of recognition?
DeleteI have Netflix, so I'll check out Cocaine Cowboys tonight.
I am curious as to why the WBAI archives have skipped this a.m. including Gary Null's program. Hmmmmmm. Did anybody hear it and was Utrice Leid on it?
ReplyDeleteKGT
That's an interesting suggestion. I don't know when the program change was announced—it struck me as an odd decision; surely, Null hadn't been told when he—a few days earlier (Friday?)—mentioned that Leid would be on his next show, or was he less specific as to the day?
DeleteStill, it is strange to see Null pre-empted for someone like Kane.
yeah ,Knight and Bernstein , I remember them from watergate. haha
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if the cocaine cowboys doc's are on the streaming side
being i only have the mail service . Which if you don't already know
is far superior to the streaming . Way more titles . Cocaine Cowboys
2006 by Billy Corben is the one you want .
Thank you. I just checked and they are streaming. Knight and Bernstein weren't investigative reporters, they just played them on radio.
DeleteYour Welcome , anytime .
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of brain puts on Jimmy Diore in place of Democracy Now at 6PM? Jeez...
ReplyDeleteAnd a second vote for the Cocaine Cowboys docs. Good stuff.
SDL
The same shriveled brain(s) that gave even more air time to John Kane, leaves Haskins and his dodo's in the morning slot, didn't dump Murillo when he started to turn a half-assed black station brown, etc. etc.
DeleteThis is actually the second airing of that very same Dore show today... it was on from 5 to 6 this morning. Not good, but significantly less painful than Haskins and Pammy.
I prophesize that Gary will never have on Utrice Leid. This is a typical Gary Null bait-and-switch job.
ReplyDeleteKGT
I forgot to tune in at noon. The man is such a fraud.
DeleteI hope he o.d.'s on his green dreck again and this time has to go in dialysis.
DeleteKGT
I wasn't sure where to post this, but as this has to do with health, here it is. I was listening this morning. ( I was wrong, you can here WBAI in Hackettstown, NJ, but not in the area close by where I live. But that is true of all NY stations.) Anyway, have you heard of their prescription cards? I think it's some kind of discount card.I heard a commercial for them for the first time. They get a $1 or so for every prescription you get. I am unclear about how it works. Just wondering if anyone else heard of it. They do make it sound attractive. Chris in NJ
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/25/business/la-fi-lazarus-20130726 seems to indicate the prescription cards may be a scam.
ReplyDelete