HOW GREEN IS HIS TALLEY?
Remember the PNB Finance Committee meeting of November 4th? They sought to decipher the WBAI books, so the author—station GM Berthold Reimers—was there to let it all hang out. Well, sort of... but, to no one's surprise, he came ill prepared to bare anything. He mumbled and stumbled, arousing nothing more than curiosity, so—it's wishes unfulfilled—the Committee requested an encore two weeks hence.
Yesterday, a month before Christmas Eve, Saint Reimers de Port Au Prince, stood before them again. The Fall fundraiser was now over and—it having been aptly named—WBAI Treasurer, R. Paul Martin, was armed with a new set of front office tallies and a few questions.
The next WBAI fundraiser is already around the corner and the visionary Mr. Reimers is importing two West Coast pitchers to do what his own crew apparently can't. He seems blissfully unaware of the fact that the West Coast is having its own pecuniary problems, as KPFK Treasurer José Luis Fuentes indicated to the Audit Committee earlier.
Once again, we thank 'indigopirate' for putting Morpheus on hold as he listened and listened and listened into the night before plucking these audio clips.
But wait.... there's more!
They re-convened Monday, Nov. 28th. Here's a brief follow-up sound clip from 'indigopirate'.
Yesterday, a month before Christmas Eve, Saint Reimers de Port Au Prince, stood before them again. The Fall fundraiser was now over and—it having been aptly named—WBAI Treasurer, R. Paul Martin, was armed with a new set of front office tallies and a few questions.
The next WBAI fundraiser is already around the corner and the visionary Mr. Reimers is importing two West Coast pitchers to do what his own crew apparently can't. He seems blissfully unaware of the fact that the West Coast is having its own pecuniary problems, as KPFK Treasurer José Luis Fuentes indicated to the Audit Committee earlier.
Once again, we thank 'indigopirate' for putting Morpheus on hold as he listened and listened and listened into the night before plucking these audio clips.
But wait.... there's more!
Some pf you may have seen this:
ReplyDeletehttps://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.internet.talk.radio/LocWw5khRyo
If even a fraction of it is true, WBAI should have had its license yanked years ago.
Thank you, Justine. It is a very long piece, but I did a quick scan and did not find anything that is inconsistent with what I have heard from various people. I have a strong sense that Steve Brown has not exaggerated. WBAI has been getting away with so much since the latter half of the Sixties when I discovered (and reported to both local and national boards) that the Manager, MIllspaugh was using drugs at the station and allowing it to be sold there. I was present when Pacifica President Goodman confronted him about this and he admitted it. Harold Taylor, who headed the local WBAI board was also there, but nothing was done. Goodman told me that he was going to pursue this, but he died from heart attack soon after.
DeleteChris--Thanks. I'm not as familiar with the politics of BAI and Pacifica as you and some other commenters are, but I had a sense that Steve Brown was credible.
DeleteIt also answered a question I've long asked: Why did Mike Feder and "Grandpa" Al Lewis disappear from BAI's airwaves? Of course, Lewis is no longer with us, but Feder never seems to talk about the incident. Maybe he's still afraid of those thugs.
From what I recall Fader claims harassment from Bernie "Klepto" White.
DeleteSDL
He could be, and he wouldn't be alone, but I suspect he might simply be tired of that racist nonsense.
DeleteSDL--Yes, it's in the link I posted.
DeleteGive Fader credit. He was intelligent enough to write some books and do live performances. He was the sort of multi-faceted personality WBAI used to attract.
DeleteSDL
I have not read any of his books, but he wrote a piece on WBAI and its problems a few years back and it was excellent.
DeleteWhat I find so extraordinary is that he has been BS-ing for five years without losing that $100,000.00 job!
ReplyDeleteI can only "shrug." Seems like no one even wants to ask if he even knows what he's doing. I guess the real question remains why he is so untouchable.
ReplyDeleteI just turned on the station and turned it off again. Guess why...
SDL
Your intelligence was insulted? WBAI will do that.
ReplyDeleteAnd I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him...
ReplyDeleteChris,
Like John, I have had an apocalyptic vision.
I looked and beheld a pale bus piloted by a swarthy bus driver, Michael G. Haskins, who is driving the bus over the edge of an abyss. Kaffy Davis followed with him, more obese than a GMO turnip. She looks like Java the Hutt and is chewing her cud, with a horrified expression on her face as the bus plummets.
The passengers can be seen through the windows: a corpulent old man is dozing; beside him sits his wife who is decked out like Sun Ra with a star spangled sorcerer’s hat and a cape adorned with planets, stars, and comets, and a cat on each shoulder; Reggie and Ife, wearing expressions of utter befuddlement, stare out at us; Berthold can be seen working frantically on an abacus; Gary Null is greedily gulping green stuff; Cerene Roberts, Bernard White, and Mario Murillo are holding up a banner that proclaims, “Black lies matter.”
On the side of the bus is the legend:
WBAI—The Bus to Nowhere
I’m planning on commissioning an artist to depict visually this oracle. I will call it “Revelations”—Has anyone patented this title?
The Pacifica Maven
Don't forget the ghosts of Samori Marksman, Robert Knight, Valerie Van Isler and Dred Scott Keyes!! They are still haunting the station!
DeleteCorrection: ..off the edge of a cliff into an abyss
ReplyDeleteWBAI got the phones working? Amazing. Now I wonder how they will pay for them. How long do you think before they get shut off?
ReplyDeleteSDL
Does anybody miss Fred Hershkowitz?
ReplyDeleteKGT
That was the guy who was a big baseball fan, correct? If so, yeah, somewhat.
DeleteSDL
I never met Fred, but we both taught in the same district in the southeast Bronx. We both spoke Spanish and shared a few friends and acquaintances.
DeleteHis show was fun. The music he played was diverse. He took phone calls and was pleasant to talk to. His sunny disposition and upbeat show was reminiscent of Ibrahim Gonzalez and IN THE MOMENT.
It’s too bad his show and Ibrahim’s are gone; however, at least we have Margaret Prescod and Michael G. Haskins.
TPM
I used to enjoy his show, too. It wasn't deep, but he was pleasant and intelligent, unike the rancid producer/hosts we hear today.
DeleteWhat happened to him? Was he bullied out of the station, as Mike Feder was? Or did he just get sick of everything that was going on?
could somebody tell brotha's byrd and boyd that the homeless vet that the 6 black teens killed
ReplyDeletewith hammers and a 2x4 in the gas station in chicago died of his wounds . just sayin .....
Gary Byrd, Herb Boyd, Rebel Diaz, Haskins, Sally O'Brien, Hewan-Lowe, Ron Daniels, and other WBAI misfits of their ilk are people whose narrow, racist micro-minds cannot see murderers of color. On the rare occasions when they acknowledge the existence of black killers (like "Mumia"),they swallow or create flimsy excuses and demand that they be freed. This is an escalating game that they cannot but lose—one that sets black people back in time, conjuring up earlier manifestations of "uncle toms".
ReplyDeleteA sad waste of effort, driven by moral deficit, avarice, and a Jesse Jackson/Trump-like need to be in the spotlight.
The fact is that blacks murdering blacks is an everyday occurrence, but these poor fools keep that as quiet as they do the reality of African slave traders.
The word to describe the bigots at WBAI is "hypocrisy." They don't give a damn about anyone's life. They care about their own politics and profits. They are scum with no morality to speak of. This isn't the civil rights movement of the 1960s. This is self-centered human waste of of the modern day entitled generations. They are simply bad people.
DeleteA few days ago, I held a door open at the bank for an elderly lady, who happened to be black. I didn't think for a moment about her color, as it meant nothing to me what it was. The WBAI scum are the type who would only think about color , who should hold the door for whom, is it politically correct, etc.
SDL
They are exceedingly dumb. Turning WBAI into a black station is to ignore its stated principles and it falls into the category of abuse.
DeleteWhat makes these people such idiots is that,having forced themselves into the station, they don't use the air time for the betterment of anyone but themselves. They claim to be representing black people, but that is far from the truth--hateful rhetoric, distortion of fact, and a general single mindedness robs them of any credibility they might once have had. These bigoted hypocrites have indeed turned WBAI into a black station, but one of a very low, insignificant order. The result is, as we all know, that they have lost the station its listenership--not just whites but also blacks and Hispanics, people of any intelligence.
They will soon lose the station itself, and nobody will miss them.
It is a historical fact that free blacks and native Americans in the antebellum South owned black slaves. Yeah but, yeah but, yeah but...............
DeleteKGT
@sdl Kinda funny , i also was at the bank the other day , and when i was leaving saw i white guy approaching and stood there for a few seconds holding the door , being that he was about 10 feet away ,
ReplyDeleteWhen he walked by me he didn't say a word , no little nod , nothing . So then i said Your welcome (sarcastically) and only then he said thanks.
A few months back same thing happened only this time it was a young black lady and her kid ,exact opposite response ,
got a thank you with a smile .
I'm guessing she wasn't a bai listener .
Here's one for you: I boarded a bus in Long Island City, near the Ravenswood Houses. There were no seats available, and the aisles were nearly full.
DeleteA black woman, at least a decade older than I, offered me her seat. I smiled and politiely declined. She insisted.
Do you think she, for a moment, ever listened to BAI--at least, in its current state?
No, that gesture is inconsistent with racial bigotry/civility.
Deletehaskins and pam... so good at turning ANY subject into a conversation about racism .
ReplyDeleteIt has become second nature to that bigoted bunch.
DeleteI haven't heard a word from/about Mario Murillo. Did he leave WBAI and return to Hofstra full time?
ReplyDeleteKGT
I don't know, but hollow head Haskins no longer talks about Murillo's return. I wonder which will bite the dust first, Haskin's AM disaster or the station that carries it?
DeleteBerthold told a staffer that Mario has moved back to Columbia where he is from.
DeleteBerthold is a chronic liar.
DeleteAs long as Murillo is gone, I don't care where he went—he was bad for the station... just look at the crap he brought in...
Is that Columbia or Colombia?
DeleteKGT
Interesting. I remember the line when he came in as iPD was that he was taking the position during some time he had off from Hofstra. Well, I looked him up and found he had a mediocre rating from his students, whose main complaint was he didn't teach much and just pontificated his political beliefs most of the time.. Now we discover he isn't at Hofstra, probably paying near or over six figures in salary? Interesting.
DeleteMurillo was a disaster for WBAI. He didn't let the station slowly sink deeper, his program decisions where a huge drop in quality. The listeners responded with a huge drop in donations. When the history is written, he will feature prominently as a short term but disastrous character.
SDL
The moment he began pushing his own agenda into the WBAI schedule, I knew that Murillo was a disaster. Then he gave Haskins undeserved praise and air time, dropping into his own bigoted brown brew such toxic and bland ingredients as Pamela Brown and Ron Daniels. We were told that his stay would be an abbreviate one, but it lasted far too long. If I thought WBAI could survive the mess these people have created, I worry about the mire it is in.
DeleteDon't forget his idea of bringing in "younger" people like Julianna Forlano, Reverend Billy (or whatever his name is), etc. to help destroy the afternoons.
DeleteSDL
Yes, that, too. BTW, have you noticed that the "reverend" is currently promoting an ongoing event to which people are invited... well, I use that term as loosely as he does—ticket can be bought down there (Joe's Pub) and the price not being mentioned tells us this is not for the benefit of WBAI.
DeleteApropos funds, you do realize that yet another drive begins on Monday! Damn, Reimers has hardly had a chance to cook the books from last month's marathon!
To be honest, no. The "Reverend" is one of those people whom I tune away from immediately. The guy is absolutely the worst. If they can't mention price, that means it's a commercial for profit venture? Is his sounding like a nut just shtick or genuine?
DeleteOh, joy. Another beg-a-thon. Bye bye more listeners. Let's see how prevalent Null is on this one.
SDL
Null may well be back in the good graces of Reimers. They probably shared a beer or two. :)
Deletei hope all is well . no activity here all week .
ReplyDeleteMy apologies. I was battling Time-Warner, who had way overcharged me. They really shouldn't be allowed to have a monopoly, but my building has no other Internet option.
DeleteWho needs LSD when you have Babbling Bob Fass? I'm already lost...
ReplyDeleteSDL
I agree, SDL, that opening grunt session sounded like a stream of consciousness that repeatedlycrashed. I'm afraid Bob Fass has become an nameable embarrassment.
DeleteGary Null has changed his intro music to "Ride of the Valkyries". Does this have any significance to his multicolored glop?
ReplyDeleteKGT
It may be more related to delusions of grandeur.
Delete