She was WBAI's PR woman, she feigned shallowness, she spoke of gay-friendly homeless angels, she sold cure-all drops of Double Helix Water at a premium price to ailing listeners, she was fired, but—with a quarter century of service behind her, so to speak—she stubbornly clung to Mr. Microphone, oozing her heart of mind into every orifice of the station's capsule community.
When a delusional Knight crawled off to oblivion, this remarkable voice for the voiceless was quick to fill his weekly air time, undergoing a spiritual reboot that perfectly complemented that magical, much maligned water and earned the coveted Null imprimatur.
In the following audio slice of this delicious pie, you might wish to pay attention to Catarinia Profundus' generosity. This selfless spiritual soul invites you to share her timeless gift of wisdom, person to person, at another time, another place. In the meantime, here is a sample link...
July 9 2015 Kathy profundo
5 D reality?" Why does she speak with the same spooky voice that palm readers and for-profit "spiritual" con men affect? Chris, my good friend, the woman has no content whatsoever.
ReplyDelete"If it sounds so pretty in my spooky voice it certainly must be true." Does she actually make money?
Kevin White
Since who makes what and how is always a secret at WBAI, I cannot give you a figure, Kevin. Does she have content? Absolutely not and that's why she fits the current WBAI like a custom-sewn glove. Is she enterprising? I would say that she is... it takes an enterprising person to push aside the pink slips and take up 2 1/2 hours of air time without uttering a single meaningful word. Even her music is blander than bland, and look how she rose from the double helix water, shook herself dry, and slid right into the arms of Mister Microphone!
DeleteA perfect soundtrack under that lunatic ramble would have been this goofball version of The Linconshire Poacher looped for the entire time.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXPqUU6fI0
Any wonder I am listening to European pirates on the Twente sdr?
SDL
I think she sounds kind of erotic.
ReplyDeleteKGT
oh i get it, she is trying to pick up where Allison Steele left off . Albeit much blacker and fatter .
ReplyDeleteShe could name her show Kathy Davis The night turd. Or staying with the bird theme
(or probadly more apropriate ) Kathy Davis The night LOON ! lmao
didn't intend to throw Kathy Davis in the same boat as Allison Steele , I liked Allison Steele .
ReplyDeleteShe played some good music and actually was entertaining and made sense .
Didn't ramble on like a lunatic.. Just wanted to clear that up .
Sometimes I wonder if a personality like Alison Steele, Rosko or even an early 1970s style Wolfman Jack could work anymore. Do people who listen to music on the radio really even sit down and actually focus on the music and DJ anymore? Or do people just use music radio as background noise these days? Think any kids listen to the little radio under the pillow when they are supposed to be sleeping anymore? Actually, is there any music radio anymore? Every time I go by a music station I mostly hear commercials.
ReplyDeleteSDL
The jazz stations and such shows as Jonathan Schwartz's still have attentive listeners, but there are many that don't... they don't even play a finished performance. WBAI bozos also have a habit of cutting records off (deliberately and otherwise) and they simply don't know enough about the music to say anything about it... beyond the song title and main performer or group.
DeleteI worked with Allison at WNEW, briefly. Once she was ad libbing a hair preparation, working from a fact sheet. She began with: "Girls, we all know that hair on the whole is curly... " Then she realized how that sounded.
You are right about the commercials. I don't listen to the radio much anymore, and I don't know anyone who does. I'm too old for most of this modern pop music. In the car I listen to either CDs or WQXR or 1010 WINS. At home I put on one of the music stations on DirecTV. No commercials and no stupid, inane banter between unfunny DJs. I think radio in general has declined since even I was younger. I'm not just talking about the quality of the music as each generation tends to not like the following generation's music. But the personalities on most of these stations are bland, boring, and phony. Sorry, maybe I'm just getting old.
DeleteChris in NJ
I think the "playlist" did much to take life out of DJ shows. Back in the days when I had jobs spinning records, the selection was up to us, not one planned at corporate headquarters. Thus, the music reflected not only the DJ's taste but also his/her mood... Big difference.
DeleteIt looks like a piece of stolen Nazi artwork.
ReplyDeleteKGT
I would cut every single "spiritual" and "personality"- driven show, then rotate the best current actual public affairs shows into more remote time slots (since they don't have audiences but do sort of serve a function). I'd also rotate new public affairs and arts shows with brand new producers into better time slots, to see what hits with listeners. Via underwriting i would reduce the on air fundraising by at least half. Of course, i would start by replacing current management, engineers, and other paid staff, since they've had ample time to prove their worth (failing to do so). I would move toward reviving the news department and finding top paid talent for the morning and evening drive time slots. Again, the plan would be to jump start this with underwriting and other professionalized fundraising, with the hope of reviving *genuine* listener support (not snake oil) in the medium term via the success of the new programs.
ReplyDeleteThe city is full of talent, from college students to under employed journalists. The old guard would be furious, but literally nobody cares about them.
There is nothing in your comment, mouse, with which I don't concur—wholeheartedly on most points. I would add that listeners are better served if WBAI reverted to the practice of repeating deserving programs once, at a different time of day. I know there is now the archive, but not everybody has a device that will fetch it, nor, perhaps, the knowledge of how that can be done.
DeleteAnother very important feature that ought to be revived is the regular Report to the Listener—not the coverup sessions done by the management's minions (we have had a couple of those in the past 5 years), but a real report on the status quo, immediate plans. A real dialogue with the people who pay the bills. As station manager in the early years, I found such an exchange of ideas invaluable—everybody benefits. Of course, when you are hiding as many secrets as Reimers and his immediate predecessors do, such an open exchange will not work.
Your last paragraph echoes sentiments often expressed by me. Operating a third-rate amateur station in the country's largest broadcast market is insanity, and that is compounded by the strength of WBAI's signal. Purchasing a new transmitter, renting antenna facilities atop the ESB, and obtaining FCC approval to boost our power was the last significant move I made before leaving Pacifica. It broadened WBAI's reach considerably, improved reception, and generated new listener-supporters. That would not have been the case if the station's programming had been at its present low, narrow level.
Thanks. Those were my first thoughts this morning as I checked into WBAI for the first time in a while. Agreed about the report to the listeners being worth reviving. I guess I think there are a lot of ways to succeed at WBAI (because of its basic resources/capital, as you wrote), so it's almost incredible that they've settled into one of the few non-sustainable, non-functional approaches. You have to work hard to fail this spectacularly.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, the other day I idly listened to the Morning Show for the first time in more than a year, and I have to say that it was not worthless or boring (it was the editor of City Paper, and a journalist at DNA Info). Inarticulate Haskins doesn't belong on the air, but in spite of his sputtering hosting, the guests took control and discussed some interesting stuff at length. There's intrinsic value in community radio in a city like New York chock full of interesting people who want to discuss the interesting things they're doing/thinking about.
I certainly agree that the community aspect has intrinsic value, even in an area as multi-ethnic and culturally diverse as ours. In fact, I believe it to be essential, but that is not what is happening now. Haskins and others whose voices and viewpoints dominate the station's schedule circumscribe "community" by race ("black and brown"), essentially ignoring a huge percentage of the area's population, except when it comes to placing blame (real and imagined).
DeleteIn my opinion, the station's agenda ought to be political solely in its unearthing and broadcasting of facts, regardless of which side they fall on. Intelligent thought and integrity is missing from the dumbed-down version of WBAI that we are left with, and that goes for its cultural content, as well. As you have pointed out, there is in New York no dearth of intelligent, visionary people who deserve unrestrained access to a Pacifica microphone. Such people pose a threat to dabblers and opportunists, so giving them a free speech outlet is out of the question.
Angering the old guard by way of elimination is an unavoidable prerequisite for saving the station.