For all those enlightening Morning Shows, here's a little priceless but expensive Thank You gift for Michael Golly-Gee Haskins.
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.
Now that's funny!
ReplyDeleteRoad to nowhere by talking heads .... Would be the perfect theme song for bai ... haha
ReplyDeleteYou would probably have to edit it a little , being that they already are nowhere .
Maybe the road from nowhere would work....
I think the theme to the beg-a-thons should be Hocus Pocus by Focus.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ouPGGLI6Q
SDL
That one might serve better to wake up Bob Fass. :)
DeleteBTW, in case his comment gets lost under an elderly post, let be extract this quote for your edification. (It can be found under "Mitchel Cohen keeps flame of optimism lit...")
"You must be truly ignorant to never have contacted me. But such lunacy, as you have displayed, is commonplace at WBAI. " —Ed Manfredonia
Jeez, Ed Manfredonia is the one guy that could make me take WBAI's side in things. He's so whacked that he should be Pacifica ED.
DeleteSDL
Not wrapped too tight. I have never figured out what it is about BAI that gives him these hissy fits—its been going on for a long time, as far as I can tell.
DeleteHow about "The music stopped, but we kept on dancing"?
ReplyDeleteOf course, the current one is "Buddy, can you spare a dime?"
(JustAListener)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of reapers and ghouls, I was listening to (a repeat of) the Garry Null fundraising segment and it occurred to me that now even Null won't offer a premium because he knows WBAI will never send it.
Sounds nice of him not to falsely promise something he knows won't be delivered but if you mull it over a bit
it's clear Null realized WBAI will never pay HIM for his premiums (the one he "donates at cost").
Null sounds so full of concern for the station but why won't he won't volunteer to provide premium product and fulfillment on his own?
Null makes/sells his own products and has a mail order operation that should easily be able to ship them out.
The PCRS and OTH guys have done more to provide/fulfill premiums.
Does make me wonder just how much Null profits from the premiums he sells to the station and how significant a source of revenue it is for his company. (Not just the free advertising but direct profit)
Of course even if Berthold "financial wiz" Reimers has an inkling, surely such info is only for "executive sessions".
Obviously, Null feels a need to be on radio. If the figures he gives as being his online streaming listenership are correct, the time he spends addressing WBAI's very small audience can only be described as extraordinary devotion to Lew Hill's concept. However, we know it can't be that, because were he the person he plays on radio, he would long since have gone beyond making legal threats. These are, of course, never carried out, nor does he ever offer anything to substantiate his claims. Whether it's a game he plays or a mental deficit, I can't figure out. I don't think he is to be trusted and I would bet the ant farm that he sees WBAI/Pacifica as a tool.
DeleteMaybe Null is just smart enough to know that the premiums problem is something that could turn into a legal problem for him, since he provides half the premiums sold, anyway. He would sure get caught up in any impending legal mess. Of course, it could also (or only) just be about WBAI not forking over the money he is owed. If so, Null is smart because he's not going to waste his time joining Goodman and the ESB for whatever they can get from bankruptcy. Null wants his cash NOW. Nothing better than cash in hand.
DeleteSDL
An interesting thought, SDL. He claims that he is owed money by WBAI, but he has also occasionally brags that what he does is at no cost to the station. Methinks Mr. Null lacks the good memory that is a liar's prerequisite.
DeleteBTW, according to today's news, they have arrested the arsonist who set fire to several black churches in Kansas City. Do you recall the outrage we heard from Haskins and the other racists at WBAI? Now it turns out that the arsonist is black! Will they even mention that on their racist shows?
I was hoping it was one of those Norwegian black metals satanic kids who did the same thing there in Norway some years back.
DeleteBut let's be serious. The person was probably suffering from post traumatic slavery disorder, further influenced into being a self hating black person due to the over saturation of white media. That sound like a good line? Repeats of I Love Lucy can do funny things to people, you know...
You can't win 'em all.
SDL
(slaps himself on forehead) Damn! Why didn't I think of that? Of course its Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome—it hits everybody who ever bought a book pitched by Haskins, Pammie Brown, Ronnie Daniels, and most likely St. Mumia. Have you ever wondered why it took so long? I mean, why did PTSS not hit black and brown people until around mid-20th Century? :)
DeleteCorrection. Anyone who ever pledged for a book pitched by Hay-tie, Brown, Daniels, Mumbles, Prescod, etc. AND actually received it.
DeleteSDL
I stand corrected.
DeleteHaskins really hasn't grasped anything, has he? This morning, he went on his new "reclaiming history" rant and gave, as an incentive for people to send in money, a sober thought. If the station does not get the support it needs, there will be no health programs!!!! Are we really to believe that the quack infestation represents the essence of what WBAI should air? He also wanted us to think about the morning show and imagine WBAI without it!
A total idiot who has learned nothing in all his years at the station.
Give me a minute here to stop laughing and pick myself up off the floor and get back in my chair.
DeleteOK... I heard Hay-tie for a few minutes rambling some more slavery stuff, so I rolled over to WNYC FM to get current news, as I live in 2015.
Sadly, I think the majority of people donate for the "quack infestation" these days. Hence, so much of the crap permeating WBAI. I guess that is where the money is since they drove off anyone who wants any semblance of serious political discussion.
WBAI without the morning show? Oh, I think what Hay-tie means is if people don't donate, he won't have a job.
Obviously, Hay-tie is running out of lines to spew or losing his pea brain of a mind, maybe both.
Listen, Hay-tie can spew all the crap he wants, but WBAI is screwed, and people like him have no one to blame but themselves.
By the way, maybe WBAI shouldn't get themselves phone lines. Imagine all the angry listeners who will call to complain about their not getting their premiums? It was happening back when they had their previous phone lines. It should be even worse now. We won't get a Report To The Listener, but I bet we will Have many Reports From The Listeners...
SDL
It has also occurred to me that the absence of phone lines is a blessing for them. I wonder if the 3 promised Kindles have been purchased. There must not have been any pitching instructions issued, because I have hear several interpretation of what one gets for what. The other night, one guy's bad wording had everybody who became a "buddy" getting a Kindle!
DeleteFunny to hear Kathy Davis pitching some local guru whose one-hour in-person session will (for $100) make you financially independent. Free with that is a CD which, Kathy says, will make you feel like you have "a roomful of financial advisors." Why don't those bozos all buy this CD, make that pile of money, and save Quackery Central? The CD alone costs $50, but is worth $2,500!!!
Notice how Mitchel s keeping a low profile these days? Did he wake up?
I don't know who, if anybody, will get a Kindle, but I DO know that everyone who becomes a "BAI Buddy" will get a free Shaft, and I ain't talking about a DVD of the old movie.
DeleteAs for financial advisers, they can get free crap advice from Jim Cramer. No need to give WBAI money for a 2nd rate adviser. I did hear a small piece of that, actually. and said to myself, "Now they are selling 'financial freedom,' like the old 'no money down' real estate courses that used to be hawked on late night TV." SSeriously, like Davis knows anything about finances. I gave better advice the past couple of weeks when I told people to load up on AMZN, GOOG, GOOGL, PCLN and LNKD and sell off yesterday. Anyone who listened did well, as I did.
Mitch and his bunch have made fools of themselves and know it. They are all acting like the rats they are and abandoning the ship as best they can.
SDL
Well, I got a bit of a surprise this morning. However, first I have to explain the background. On Saturday mornings at 5:00 AM (0900 UTC) on 9.510 khz I normally tune into the Italian Radio Relay Service (IRRS, a lease time indie station in Italy that serves the English speaking community, mainly) to listen to the Radio City show, which I like. Normally the station signs on a minute or two early with their station intro music. Today I tuned in about ten minutes early and heard the first nine minutes of an Off The Hook episode from the time of the move and summer beg-a-thon! I listen to IRRS at other times, also, and I never heard OTH on there before. That was weird, but weirder was only playing the opening nine minutes.
ReplyDeleteJust to explain. Radio City is one of many independently produced music shows that buy time cheap on indie European shortwave stations, like IRRS, Channel 292, Radio 700, Radio Europa 24, MV Baltic Radio, etc. Shows like this are just some person at home on a computer throwing together whatever the hell they want to do, without any corporate sponsorship. It's as grass roots as radio gets. Other good shows are Radio Northern Ireland, Hobart Radio International, Goldrausch 6070, European Music Radio, The Mighty KBC, Radio Mi Amigo, Radio Gloria International, Atlantic 2000, etc.
SDL