Monday, July 20, 2015

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really bad judgment, unless he actually means that WBAI is incredibly bad, as well as boring, deceitful, irrelevant, outdated, bigoted, stupid and pointless.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

29 comments:

  1. Insanity... doing the same thing over and over , and expecting the different results .
    Like bai , playing racism crap over and over and expecting people to donate . lmao

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  2. Is this Proffitt Sharing?

    KGT

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  3. This past weekend a rally for Dem candidate Martin O’Malley was taken over by screaming black racialists -- one of them wearing a "Black Love" tee-shirt. (These are the same types who have been running (into the ground) BAI.) With bowed head (like an ISIS hostage awaiting beheading) O'Malley apologized for saying "black...white...all lives matter" instead of angrily demanding that the racialists exit stage left (proper direction for them of course). O"Malley and (non)-Proffitt suffer from white guilt fueled by fear of being labeled 'racist'. In fact, much of the country is suffering this spineless affliction as are those who could really change the situation at BAI.

    rj

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    1. Some of the screaming that I believe you are referring to (black lives matter) was aired on WBAI this morning. It was broadcast without any analysis, by people who gleefully share the hatred expressed.

      What has happened to WBAI at the hands of these racist, empty-headed vandals is outrageous and, as you indicate, paving the way for the station's demise. I am listening to Kathy Davis at this moment, totally convinced that she is deranged.

      Proffitt is proving to be dishrag.

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  4. letters and politics ... carrying on the black and brown default programming . Sad

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  5. What will really be funny is when this whole black lives matter things blows over, as does everything, eventually. The small number of supporters for ths stuff will move on and away from WBAI, leaving it without its target market, which will matter financially a little, but not much. However, it will matter for the void of programming. Do you realize that eight or nine people at WBAI make 90% or more of its money? You could fired 90% of the people on the air and still basically make the same money as now.

    Didn't I tell you Cake Davis is a lunatic? I'll stick with the returned, as of last night, Art Bell.

    Proffitt? Something up his sleeve, playing politics or just a wimp? Too soon to tell. However, I have no hope to place in relation to Pacifica or WBAI, so I think the worst.

    WBAI should get some sexologist and hawk how to fuck type DVDs, which would probably make money.

    SDL

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    1. When that slogan moves on, the WBAI bozos of bigotry will find another one to latch on to. Since the programming is of insufficient quality and interest to generate donations from the targeted dumbed-down listenership, WBAI needs irresponsible people like Haskins, Kathy, Daniels and the Murillo recruits to shamelessly grab a trend and capitalize on it.

      Apropos lying for dollars, the infomercial gang is back for more reruns: Natalie and Gwen, the Midnight Ravers with their ever-so-tired Marley schtick, Null, and the once respected Earl Caldwell with his hysterical hawking of a phony cancer "cure." Did you notice that the "mini" fund drive ran for about a week before it officially kicked in?

      Do these unconscionable jerks deserve the dead end ahead? Yes, but there are others on the air who don't... they are as much victims of this greed and fraud as were the listener-supporters who departed.

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  6. Is that Yoko Ono to the right of Proffitt?

    KGT

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    1. I think you know that's Fran Luck. Yoko, who used to volunteer in our music department, has donated money to WBAI, but I bet she wouldn't have done so if she knew what self-serving opportunists the people who spend the money are.

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  7. forget the slave revolt , they should be focusing on the bai listener revolt .

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    1. Both are history by now. They really should be making future plans for themselves in an activity far removed from broadcasting.

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  8. If profitt didn't figure out what's wrong with bai by now , there is zero hope.

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    1. I would be very surprised if he hasn't figured out what's wrong... if he didn't know the extent of it before he embarked for New York, he certainly does now. I am also sure that he read Reimers loud and clear. Perhaps, as SDL has speculated, he is being cagey.

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  9. Yeah , i guess it's kind of early to speculate. He's only been here for a few weeks .
    So i'll give him the benefit of the doubt. In my mind it is not that hard to fix .
    but then again i'm not in the radio business . So what do i know . Just a listener.

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    1. It is harder to fix now than ever before, probably irreparable. The listeners have left, the ongoing expenses are not in any way commensurate with what is left of the station, and there is a large number of incompetent people who will not quietly go away, as they must if there is to be any hope for a restoration.

      I am sure that Proffitt took more than a cursory look at today's Pacifica before he accepted the job. What did he see that the rest of us missed? Why did he take the job?

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  10. just tuned in again , and what is on, mimi reparationsberg . It's never ending . Unbelievable .
    Well i hope he see's something that we are all missing . And i think cutting out the cancer
    (so to speak) would be the first order ot the day.

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    1. I am listening to Mimi myself, she is unbearable! They should give her a bag of sod and a stuffed mule, put her on a raft, and let it drift away. Perhaps they should add a copy of one of John Henrik Clark's books of fiction.

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  11. i just sitting here laughing , picturing mimi drifting off , but sad it's not the whole crew with her .
    I'm wondering if anybody on this station actually listens when they are not on the air .
    Could it be they don't know that they are just one of many shows talking about this same stuff?
    I just can't believe that grow adults cannot or refuse to grasp that you cannot do this kind of radio
    and expect to attract listeners . I don't care what subject it is , you cannot talk about the same subject
    over and over and over again and have any other outcome than lose listeners . Isn't it painfully obvious
    to these morons , that this isn't working ? Just common sense .

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    1. Their minds have a limited capacity, but it would not surprise me to find that orders to keep it black are coming from Reimers and Murillo. Amazingly, they still seem to believe that making WBAI into an artificially angry third-rate black station is going to bring back the old Black Panther days (I think "third-rate" reflects their limited intellect rather than a choice).

      Common sense? No such thing in evidence here.

      Times have changed... these idiots need to.

      Perhaps they ought to seek reparations for the Egyptian slaves—they did, after all build the Pyramids.

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  12. I really believe that also . i think it is a prerequisite on this station , It seems like alot of the hosts , white or black or whatever
    jump right on that black bandwagon ,especially when something black is in the "real" news .
    Today the blackness was off the charts. I think it is having the opposite effect than these bozos ever could have guessed .

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  13. Test. Are my messages getting through?

    SDL

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    1. They should be, SDL. If not, blame it on me and the scam overdose Haskins dishes up every day. Why are contributions to chronic, self-serving lies and distortion so far history tax exempt? I am aware of the age-long application to religion, but that only compounds my puzzlement.

      Scam artists like John Henrik Clark and "sir" Hillary should be exposed, not deified. Michael Haskins is a fraud, but I think his monumental dumbness may be at the core of his inane insults to even the slightest traces of intelligence.

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  14. was i kidding about amy? imo , she is becoming part of the problem ,not part of the solution .
    Not that this story shouldn't be talked about , it should . That cop should be hung up by his toenails.
    But being all you hear on this station is black this and black that . Amy should dial down the blackness .
    We get black overload on a daily basis . She should know better . I'm not comparing her to all the other
    crazies on bai , but when half of your show's are about blackness , you know what they say . If it walks
    like a duck and talks like a duck ......

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    1. Of course I understand full well and agree with what you are saying about the dominance of black matters (as it were) at WBAI. What really bothers me is that the black talk mainly comes from black/brown people of narrow minds and wrongful motivation. These are not representatives of our black population—they are disgraceful, irresponsible users and abusers.

      Now they bring Ta-Nehisi Coates into this gang of opportunists. He does not belong with that crowd. One regular time slot given over to Mr. Coates would be well worth the dumping of all that racist dross that has driven away the majority of intelligent listeners.

      Is Amy catering to these dummies? Perhaps she is, but she cannot ignore what today is our most serious domestic problem. As Mr. Coates points out, "the racism is not new, the cameras are."

      We need to address it, but not with more racism, as is done on WBAI.

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  15. What's the consensus on Gerald Horne?

    KGT

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    1. I have not read but excerpts from his books. I am always leery of writers who spit out books as if by assembly line. What little I know of his writing gives me the impression that he stumbles over his Marxism. Marxists tend to live in the past, Ta-Nehisi Coates is very much in touch with the past, but he employs it to better see the present.

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  16. agreed , i will respond more later or over the weekend . gotta run .
    obviously you don't have to post this . Have a great day Chris.

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  17. Chris perhaps you should research Coates a bit before you sing his praises. He is very much a racialist and will fit in very well at BAI. In his recently published memoir he has this quote regarding the hero police and firefighters who ran up the stairs attempting to save all races on 911 -- “They were not human to me. Black, white, or whatever, they were menaces of nature; they were the fire, the comet, the storm, which could — with no justification — shatter my body.” (Note the dehumanizing language. Now, if an elderly white person said the same thing about young blacks she encounters in the streets...)

    In his book he recounts a big personal instance of being victimized by "white privilege" and "racism" when an in-a-hurry white woman was mildly rude to his son in a movie theatre. Big deal. A white woman was rude to me yesterday in a doctor's office. White on white privilege?

    Coates makes a good living -- unlike the fools at BAI -- pandering to white guilt. He tells those on the left what they want to hear and they love him for it. He's perfect for BAI.

    rj

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    1. I'll have to read his book before I can respond with any authority. Thanks for the different perspective. Please give me some time to delve further.

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