Pacifica and its stations were never flush with money, but they managed rather well. That is, until someone had the bright idea to introduce elections, committees, and rules.. no, not principles, for they were an important part of the Foundation, so to speak... until the rules all but wiped them out.
No, the rules didn't call for the elimination of principles, but they opened the door for a veritable invasion of incompetent opportunists, drama queens, predators and parasites who saw in Pacifica a path to self-satisfaction and eminence. In most cases, they came in with nothing but were allowed to stagnate, because the infestation soon also reached the front office.
The result began to show in the Eighties and Nineties, but the deterioration was subtle, for Pacifica still rode slowly on the coattails of its illustrious past. Thus there continued to be traces of the intellectual content and cultural awareness that once had raised Pacifica stations above what FCC Chairman Newton Minow described as a "vast wasteland."
Today, with station managements and the Pacifica National Board itself mired in a tangle of clashing egos and personal agendas, the decay has accelerated to a point where the overwhelming majority of listeners have jumped ship and there is little hope for the Foundation's survival. Should it make it through this crisis, it will do so as something very different from what it is today, and that—in turn—is a dishonest, unprincipled shadow of what founder Lew Hill and his associates managed to get off the ground in 1949.
To get an idea of how rudderless Pacifica has become, our trusty observer, 'indigopirate', has submitted an audio clip of the PNB's December 3 meeting, a veritable orgy of amendments, points of order and extraneous sounds that are open for interpretation. No one has ruled out toilet flushes, but theories range from the hunger pangs of a pacing pet gorilla to disruptive grumblings from attorney Siegel's office.
The long version of this torturous telephone jam is yours for clicking on the link at the bottom, but 'indigopirate' is all merciful, so he has also supplied this brief excerpt.
And, of course, an enticing summary:
As Pacifica sinks slowly in the West… also in the East, South… – well, everywhere, more or less at once, actually….
Let’s Just Vote On It…
‘We have two amendments on the floor… we should be talking about the first one first… the second one is not an amendment to the first one… it was a substitute… a separate motion… call it whatever you want to call it… I was on the stack… I’d like to be on the stack… are we also moving all the relevant motions… yes… I can’t hear you… I have a point of order… I don’t have to wait for the stack… per our standing rules… what are we debating, exactly… fifty minutes is not going to be enough… no, I did not… the deadline is tomorrow… there are all kinds of issues… we could extend the meeting… can I move… we have a number of bylaws deadlines… we have some pressing issues… the bylaws don’t stipulate… have you spoken to… gosh… where are we… point of order… have you ruled… no it wasn’t… there are now like three motions… nobody made a motion… we have to decide what to do… so we’re back to… can you hear me… there’s a stack… I have a point of information… i’m so confused… the point I want to make… that’s unrelated to this motion… let me say this… if I may motivate… the point is… we all have priorities here… I totally support… how many motions do we have on the floor… I’ve lost track… can I amend… if the motion… I object to that… point of information… the closed session… hello, can anyone hear me… point of order… it totally negates my motion… there are three motions under that item… point of information… point of order… point of order… point of order…. oh my god… ‘ ~'indigopirate'
And here, for the super curious, is the full meeting.
And here, for the super curious, is the full meeting.
FLUSHHHHHH... I just started listening to the full meeting and must say that the flushing toilet sound effect may be the most honest observation I will hear. BEEP! BEEP BOOP! FLUSHHHHHHHH... BEEP! BEEP!
ReplyDeleteWBAI beg-a-thon again, I see. Bye bye listeners, bye bye...
Oh, what a great segue just now! FLUSHHHH.... "That's accurate..."
SDL
I turned on WBAI about 20 minutes ago and herd this guy say that he feels th......the ensuing dead air was wonderful.... and still is. Mr. Coates' reading from his book was interesting the first two or three times WBAI aired it, but they need to move on. Another marathon with the same pitches that didn't work on the previous one can only make your prediction come true: "Bye bye listeners, bye bye..."
DeleteIf that really was a toilet, it clearly doesn't work... the crap is still there.
I finished listening to the whole lotta nothing PNB broadcast. What can one say? There really was no reason to even hold the shindig. They need a plumber to fix the overflowing toilet.
DeleteSDL
I was poking around the net and noticed a certain Crazy Eddie is less than enthralled with you. Did he get tired of Mitch Cohen and Steve Brown? He sure has a hard-on for RPM. Laughable...
ReplyDeleteSDL
Alas, you're right. I had planned a get-away trip to Manfredonia for next year, but my visa was revoked. :)
DeleteWhen I sat down to eat dinner I turned on WBAI to see Tony Bates and “Cake” Davis pulled the Zeitgeist series out of the past. Yes, the mired in decades old right wing conspiracy theories documentaries dressed in a progressive suits are back for $55, even though they are available free from the filmmakers at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gentlemachineproductions.com/free.html
I wonder if the WBAI versions are burns or pressed.
Sure enough, although these documentaries are geared at the bourgeois upper middle class progressive white wannabe politicos, Bates somehow found a way of saying all religions come from Africa. What’s interesting is how they focused primarily on the first part of the film and the pagan origins of Christianity, which is about the only part of the series worth watching. Yes, I have seen all three and can say they are mostly hysterical. I particularly laughed at the ultimate fascist state they promote, where no one has to work. No, they don’t explain very well how that will be accomplished with any sort of lucidity.
What a scam. This is what they’re down to. The double helix water should show up soon.
I also noticed Davis doing another premium earlier. Is this another beg-a-thon with her as a lead beggar?
You think they could delve into the Pacifica archives and make mp3 stick drive compilations about Vietnam, civil rights, gay lib, feminism, union organizing, great musical visits by people to WBAI, etc.? No, their audience wouldn’t want that. The audience that is long gone would have loved these things, though.
SDL
You shouldn't be surprised, for--as they repeatedly demonstrate--these are unprincipled con artists. They will stoop to anything to grab a buck. As Alberta Hunter and others used to sing, they've got a "handful of gimme and a mouthful of much obliged."
Delete"ARE THESE PEOPLE BRAIN DEAD ?"
ReplyDeleteYes!
SDL
They weren't around when the gray stuff was handed out (undelivered premium?).
ReplyDeletegood one! unbelievably , Haskins seemed lost without linda perry's "news" , so just defaulted to
ReplyDeleteslavery and reparations , then reparations ron was at it again serving up some more racist stupidity.
I didn't tune back in to sista mimi , then quickly tuned away. What can you say at this point.
Yes, I don't know how he managed to do it, but Haskins this morning took his stupidity to an even lower level. I'm sure he actually believes that the AM "news" is original and significant. His regurgitated reparations rag was painfully stilted and someone should do a heimlich to rid him of that lumpy haititis infection. I wonder if he listened in as Ron Daniels welcomed the not-so-reverend Jackson to WBAI's air. Jackson, of course, is a vintage scam artist—and here I speak, in part, from first-hand experience.
DeleteNow megaphone Mimi is going on and on and on and on about the same old thing, praising an old phony called "Dr. Ben", who was in the same sub=minor league as John Henrik Clarke. These are people who picked up the game self-commissioned admiral Garvey fumbled decades earlier.
Interesting to hear screamin' mimi spew with reverence about Fred Ho, who happens to be someone I knew personally and whose company I enjoyed in social settings that inspired intelligent conversation, but would not have tolerated the twisted hate of this make-believe "sista."
Mimi Rosenberg can babble away for hours without breathing, but she is a certifiable fraud.
Does anybody have an archive audio clip of Jitu Weusi(Leslie Campbell) reading his poem
ReplyDelete"Hey Little JB"?
KGT
Thirty minutes to decide on an agenda? The meeting chair was completely unprepared and
ReplyDeletecould not get past the fact that she had the Election Supervisor on hold. It was getting
a little tense just listening. It must have been painful to actually be part of that meeting. If you had a competent person in the chair who actually bothered to take a few
minutes to plan the meeting, they would not have to wait an hour to find out elections at
three stations including WBAI were being extended.
OK you have over one hundred affiliates paying to use your content and yet you don't
ReplyDeletebother to take their concerns seriously? No wonder the affiliate rep left the call.
The affiliates are already grumbling about leaving Pacifica over costs and this certainly doesn't help.
so how is gary gonna fight off the roving gangs with weapons . They will beat him to a pulp .
ReplyDeletetake his bike and all his stuff and there he will be in the middle of nowhere wondering what
happened .
He is pipe dreaming and trying to fear you into buying his products.
When the shit hits the fan , Indian Point meltdown, solar flares. whatever , were all fucked.
I guess you didn't hear today's regular noon show. It will be available here in an hour or so and I highly recommend that it be absorbed for what it's worth.
Deleteno i didn't hear it today, looking forward to hearing it later on.
ReplyDeleteOn RPM's blueboard, Uncle Sydney asked me about my shortwave broadcast, so I just left a reply over there, if anyone cares.
ReplyDeleteSDL
At last night's LSB meeting, one group arrived 50 minutes late. Apparently, they had trouble
ReplyDeletefinding the meeting room just around the corner from the main door. They submitted their
agenda and the other faction submitted a separate distinct agenda and hijinks ensued.
In all the confusion and delay, they didn't get to have their delegates assembly. Oh well..
I'm sure it was just an oversight. On a brighter spot, they seem to be making progress on making quorum for the election and are planning to let last minute voters hand in ballots at the station or use a kiosk to vote online.