The Proffitt visit:: Your thoughts

Linda Perry and others were present, microphones in hand, last Wednesday, when Berthold Reimers—his tongue undoubtedly dry from licking his problems—brought John Proffitt to 388 Atlantic Avenue for an introductory meeting with a select group of the station's ingrown. An edited recording of clips from meeting was quickly prepared to serve as propaganda puffery in the Reimers vein. 

You may have heard WBAI's extracts here and read some of the comments they generated, but I thought you should read an anonymous summary and assessment that was posted to the BlueBoard late last night. Responding to Indigopirate's likeminded comments, the writer captures the reality of WBAI's situation and the transparency of Proffitt's performance too well for me not to reproduce his words here. He has even added an extra presence to the official WBAI photo.

The brief interview with John Proffitt does not inspire hope or confidence.

In fact, it sounds like the same old tired and overplayed bullshit.

Proffitt’s observation that Pacifica is having “financial difficulties” that “need to be dealt with first and foremost” is like a doctor being summoned to attend a corpse that is several days deceased and who, upon his arrival, remarks that something must be done about the smell right away. And describing WBAI as an “incredible radio station” makes Mr. Proffitt sound like a dishonest, ignorant and naïve fool in denial with really bad judgment, unless he actually means that WBAI is incredibly bad, as well as boring, deceitful, irrelevant, outdated, bigoted, stupid and pointless.

Perhaps some attention should be given to the cause(s) rather than just the more superficial symptoms. In particular, why Pacifica is having “financial difficulties”… but I do realize that using reason and critical thinking is highly suspect and frowned upon within Pacifica’s ever-narrowing purview, so I am simply going to indulge for the sake of the rhetorical exercise, with the assumption that Effendi Proffitt is doubtlessly frequently surrounded and distracted by babbling imbeciles competing for his attention in order to complain about how much their asses hurt and how very important and indispensable those butthurt asses are, and that nothing I say here will really make any difference.

WBAI (as well as all the other Pacifica stations) is a listener sponsored radio station. That means (at least, in principle) that the station does not depend on commercial advertisers for its revenue (although the incessant, unending plethora of bogus infomercials that the station now relies on so heavily seems to contradict that utopian idea, as well as making the fervid and entrenched opposition to underwriting appear that much more contradictory, ironic and asinine). Still, the concept of listener sponsorship does imply that a non-commercial station directly relies on its listeners for income, and if there are fewer and fewer listeners, income will necessarily decline as a consequence (big surprise, there). So, the question then becomes: Why are there so few listeners willing to support the station? Well, perhaps people don’t like the call letters, or maybe they don’t like the frequency, or perhaps it is the fact that WBAI is found in the middle of the FM dial in one of the largest media venues in the world… And if those explanations seem implausible (if not outright ridiculous), then the possibility might be considered that the fundamental reason there are fewer and fewer listeners (and thus, less incoming revenue) to the station is maybe - just maybe - because… 

THE PROGRAMMING SUCKS.

Incidentally, that just might be a consequence (at least, in part) of many, many years of abysmally bad management (hint, hint). That Proffitt has not seen fit to remove the current “General Manager” (whose only activity and interest in the station seems to be managing to keep on receiving his 100k per annum salary, while demonstrating utter dishonesty and sheer ineptitude, not even being able to produce timely financial reports using amateur accounting software, seemingly preferring to remain in hiding and incommunicado) suggests that nothing has changed and that nothing will change until it all inevitably comes to an overdue and predictable end.

Personally, whether or not this particular ED is capable (or even willing) to recognize and acknowledge reality is of no importance to me, since I no longer listen to the station. Why bother? There are so many better, more interesting, progressive, forward-looking, helpful and relevant alternatives. My interest in the station, at this point, is simply to see how much longer it will take for it to go down the drain once and for all (as well as for laughs and a certain fascination with the floridly abnormal psychology the contestants display). It is a real shame… WBAI was once the most remarkable radio station I had ever heard, and I dearly loved and valued and supported it. But no more… time and tide are relentless, and rust never sleeps.

In all fairness, however, it should be said that Jack’s acknowledgment of money problems is notable for its candor, since there have been so many denying reality for so long within Pacifica. So, while the good sense of anyone willing to become involved with all this nonsense at this point is highly questionable and suspect in the first place, such an admission does constitute a step forward (albeit on increasingly thin ice). It remains to be seen just how much the new Executive Director can actually accomplish (or even simply attempt) before any number of comrades thrust sharp, pointy objects into the region of his solar plexus while solemnly and unctuously declaiming, “For the Watch!”

Good luck, white boy. 
MORE THOUGHTS ON THIS...

This is probably an exercise in futility at this point, but let us assume that Mr. Proffitt's unfortunate remarks are lines from a tactical script. What do you think he needs to do as he sets out to clean up and restore a station and, indeed, Foundation victimized by a history of vandalism at the hands of incompetent, self-serving amateurs and armchair political activists? Add your voice to the exchange:

I really think the problem in a conversation like this is how people lose sight of the real problem and start breaking it down to a black radical programming issue alone. No, the main problem is monotonous, myopic programming that beats endlessly about the same few topics, without any range of opinions.

I am all in favor of a couple of hours a week of black radical reparations, etc. programming in the mix, as an example of a ideology that exists out there. I am NOT in favor of taking up at least half the air time with it, however. 

Another main problem is that WBAI is riddled with disreputable and corrupt people from top to bottom, who are only out to sell products/services and/or gain political credence and/or masturbate their egos, like the self-esteemed Ron Daniels. 

The truth is very few people want to hear what WBAI has to offer, which is born out by how the beg-a-thons are bringing in less and less money. Considering how products are needed to raise money rather than just the programming, the story is clearly written for all to read. WBAI exists because it sells items some people want, not because of its programming.

WBAI is a hobby station, at best, allowing nobodies to air their nonsense in front of a tiny audience that can’t sustain the station financially. WBAI is the bottom level of radio broadcasting, even below college radio or lease time stations. It is simply irrelevant in any way, whether politically, culturally or in the media.

I’ve said it before and it bears repeating. WBAI’s main audience of supporters is made up of people in their 60s, often ill and incapable of leaving home. It is their accompaniment in a lonely life, devoid of even internet access. WBAI’s end will come as these people die off and are not replaced.

No matter what else happens, time is against them.   —SDL

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This is a very good comment. I would add a few things:

- The problem isn't just the subject matter that is covered on WBAI. It is how these subjects are covered and what the programming offers the audience. Virtually every program on WBAI is the same thing: a host spewing opinion on subjects about which he or she knows very little. You get little in the way of new information on any topic. You rarely get exposed to the latest thoughts or analysis from the leaders in whatever subject is being covered. Researching, organizing and presenting new information and conducting substantive interviews - all entail work. Time and effort. It is much easier to simply let the same people who have been around for 30 years squat in front of a mic and spew. The hosts have no special expertise in the subjects on which they opine, and they do no preparation for their programs. So it has about the same value to the listener as comments on Youtube. A few programs like DN do break from this pattern, but they are few in number. And even DN's value is diminished because it's reporting is so one-sided that you can't totally trust what you are being told.

- Since the fund drives are now about 50% of the airtime and since they all involve what is effectively the sale of products, how is this any different than commercial advertising? Presumably, the concern with advertising is that if WBAI accepts ad revenue from Corporation X, the station's crack investigative reporters won't be able to do any hard-hitting investigative stories on Corporation X. Of course, WBAI has no such team and does no such reporting. But even if it did, why is the concern any different with respect to the companies that produce the premiums? In fact, WBAI could have easily allowed advertising in a way that minimized the risk to journalistic integrity. Accept ads from local small businesses, cap the number of ads from any single business, cap overall station revenue from advertising, put in place an independent review board to be activated in case of any potential journalistic conflict, etc. There were lots of options which could have reduced the risk to near-zero. But all of that requires thought and planning and work. The trifecta of evil at WBAI. Well, it's too late now. Even if they reversed course and solicited advertising, what business would take them up on it?  —Anonymous