"...The WBAI local Finance Committee met on March 3, 2016. About 21⁄2 hours before the meeting the committee was informed by a member that the General Manager was recovering from pneumonia and would not be able to attend. As a result the local Finance Committee was not able to get any new financial information..."
Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThe entire discussion about alternative sources of revenue is simply an admission that Pacifica programming appeals to too few people willing to and/or unable to spend to sustain even a cheap operation like theirs. It's an admission of defeat.
ReplyDeleteNo serious business or institution is going to give money to a network that is too lazy and stupid to grab free CPB money, let alone an accounting mess like Pacifica. They may get $40 for a mention of some revolutionary book store, but that is the limit of the sort of institution that would be dumb enough to give them money, for a short time.
For all the talk about money, we still have yet to see someone on these boards come out and say, "The reason we are in this mess is because are programming sucks and no one wants to hear it."
SDL
Jim Dingeman has said this many times, but you're right, truth does not sit well with this mob.
DeleteDid you see the they sneaked Cerene into a seat on the PNB?
Tomorrow, March 10, is Null's deadline date of Siegel and his gang to react to his settlement proposal.... do you think the California bozos will continue to ignore it.
Yes, I saw about Cerene. I don't know what power she has, unless they are afraid she will pull the chair from under them...
DeleteWell, they can't even get themselves to do paper work for free CPB money, so the question is will they ignore or just not even get to Null's ultimatum for his dominion of WBAI. They couldn't implement it even if they agreed. You think they will fire their friends? No way in hell.
SDL
I think you're right. These are useless people who have pointed themselves into a corner more threatening than their little minds can imagine.
DeleteDo you think RPM is giving in? The last report gives me a feeling that he is now also censoring himself.
Giving in, doesn't know the facts (since he has to rely on Reimers and others for figures), burned out, all of the above? No question Reimers wants him off the radio, and now with the LSB split, others will want him gone, too. I told you a long time ago that I don't trust RPM, no matter how "genuine" he may sound at times. He's, ultimately, still a WBAIte. It's the same thing as when I told you not to trust Null, even if he says some stuff you agree with. They are all out for themselves and have no moral compunctions about saving their skin, or radio slots. In the end, they are all amateur con artists.
DeleteSDL
Amateurs? Yes. Con artists? Yes.
DeleteAmateur con artists? Well.....
They are, indeed, all out for themselves... the degree to which they pursue that varies.
A waiting game, I'd say.
I was wondering why RPM started pitching on his program which is on Saturdays 5AM. Of course, he could be sincere but how much money could he raise in his time slot anyway? I would think Reimers has more important concerns than some guy rambling about astronomy and complaining about the studio equipment at 5AM on a Saturday. In case you're wondering, I listened to a few minutes on the archive thinking he might have an update on Pacifica stuff but instead he was doing 'free form' radio.
DeleteRPM's weekly hour very rarely contains anything of substance. Its raison d'être is one of WBAI's many regrettable mysteries.
DeleteI think it's RPM's board position that keeps him on air. If his show were cancelled, it would look like her was cancelled for his financial reports. However, I don't think Reimers will hold back indefinitely.
DeleteSDL
A tangled web of conflicts—it's what happens when the people no longer can distinguish between lie and the truth. I think Reimers' life is 98% fabrication. If the PNB wasn't infested with corrupt characters, this sort of abuse could not be maintained at the stations. The entire organization needs to be kicked out and I don't think anything will be left to salvage.
DeleteLet's see if anything happens tomorrow, Thursday, when Null's deadline is reached.
Nothing new here. Look at the recent reports. They're nearly identical. All he has to do is update the numbers. What is the point of having committee meetings when the LSB is not meeting? I heard a program on KPFA where they were calling for a return to the old system albeit with the ability to recall people because he wanted more 'professionals'
ReplyDeleteinvolved in governance. After reading some old election reports, I think he may have a point.
I came across the election reports from 2007 and 2010 on another blog. It sounded like they were talking about the latest election especially since a lot of the same people were involved. The same issues, the same antipathy, the same shenanigans and lawsuits aplenty. The only difference was the section in the 2007 report where Siegel fires the NES because he wouldn't comply with the fix and drives to his house to get his laptop and scaring his wife in the process.
I always appreciated Armand Dimele, and went for The Positive Mind's premium of 12 particular shows in the last drive - and received it, since those guys do it themselves. In one of the shows Armand speaks of how he doesn't care for the name "BAI Buddy", vs "Monthly Donor" - and makes a joke about how donors could put MD on their name. Mildly amusing - but the real fun starts when the GM calls in to discuss this with him. Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want those guys who are carrying on the show to get in trouble, so maybe this shouldn't be posted in the comments.
Mr. Dimele was not the only one who disliked the "Buddy" tag, but I understand that came from Reimers and one does not expect anything from him to reflect the prestige Pacifica once had, even among its detractors.
DeleteThe hosts Dimple trusted to keep his show going do a great job and Reimers should value their ability to maintain quality without putting a dent in his outrageous salary.
He and his cronies should have been given the boot while there was still a chance of restoring WBAI.
Mark: How could you give WBAI any money at all in these times? I wouldn't give them anything that would keep them afloat with this drivel.
DeleteKGT
I wondered the same, KGT. Even if you hear something you feel is worth supporting, the reality is that you are supporting people who pour sand into Pacifica's tank. Do you really want to help pay a $110,000.00 annual salary to a person like Reimers? A man who has received a paycheck at WBAI for over five years without making a single positive contribution to the station's welfare. He has, in fact, dragged it further down in the mud. Think also of the many hours of hateful racist propaganda, idle chatter and crappy "music" that has brought the station's listenership down to a few busloads.
DeleteI just heard a promo for The Blacks where they said, "God help the WBAI audience. You have no idea what you're in for." So true...
ReplyDeleteSDL
The not-so-dynamic duo was being ever so presumptive.
DeleteFrom JUC website:
ReplyDeleteLetter to Pacifica National Board re Untenable Situation with WBAI Local Station Board
Published: 03 March 2016
(corrected version sent 2/29/16 of original email sent by Lynne Stewart on 2/23/16):
To the Pacifica National Board:
As part of our responsibility, we the undersigned WBAI Delegates and Local Station Board Members give notice of an untenable situation and consequently ask for any assistance you can render.
The 2015 board elections that closed on January 4, 2016, resulted in a 12-12 split between the Justice and Unity Campaign and the Indy Caucus-ACE aligned group.
At the last three planned LSB meetings -- on January 13,* January 27, and February 10, 2016 -- and the Delegates' Meeting you directed for February 10 at 9 pm, we were unable to address any of the important matters entrusted to us by the members of WBAI because the Indy Caucus-ACE aligned group failed to attend. This means that we cannot mount a quorum to advance numerous projects and reforms.
As you are well aware, WBAI is in crisis. It has a dwindling member base resulting in steadily declining revenues.
We are at an impasse without a ready remedy.
We cannot have a formal meeting unless at least one member of the Indy Caucus-ACE aligned group shows up to make the necessary quorum of 13 -- and it is at present unclear whether, without quorum, their automatic removal after 3 unexcused absences can occur.
We are not unmindful that we may have to resort to a RECALL vote, but that takes time and consumes energy that could better be directed toward building the station.
Apparently, anxiety over possibly spending moments in the minority has generated threats of legal action from those refusing to attend the meetings. We know that they are a moneyed group, easily able to utilize private lawyers, and they know, as do we, that defending such a suit will cost listener donations needed elsewhere in the organization.
One of the opposition was actually overheard saying that there may be no LSB meetings for the next year. Such a we-rule-or-we-ruin ideology has no place in a democratic process.
We also understand that some of the same actors have been persistently abusing the teleconference system to block your work on the PNB.
We note that you have made it clear that Vajra Kilgour was properly seated on the WBAI LSB in December, 2015, when Janet Coleman met her 6-year anniversary on the LSB. The improperly noticed meeting called by the Indy-ACE group on January 26, 2016, without notice to several newly elected delegates and conflicting with the known Pacifica-related obligations of three other delegates, did not make quorum and hence no valid election for representatives to the PNB could be held -- a breach for which you provided a remedy in the form of a direction to elect national board representatives on February 10, 2016, the date of the regularly scheduled LSB meeting.
The WBAI LSB is a committee of the PNB. We are asking for your guidance and urge action in the face of this continuing emergency. Together we must defeat this attack on the democratically constituted and elected WBAI Local Station Board.
Reply to Lynne Stewart letter to PNB from Indy facebook page:
ReplyDeleteFrom: Frank LeFever
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2016 12:46 PM
Subject: Responding to Lynn Stewart's request
Lynn, I talked with Ralph a few years ago at Left Forum's annual meeting when he had a card table near the table I had rented to promote WBAI. He was collecting signatures on your behalf, as I recall (yes, I think I signed), and although I've never met you I'm certainly aware of the respect so many in WBAI have for you. So much aware that it troubles me that you might squander your good name in a dispute about which some people may have misinformed you.
Those 11 people on the Pacifica National Board who are preparing to dispose of WBAI have violated too many bylaws to be taken seriously when they cite bylaws which they interpret as condoning their excluding all 4 Directors from WBAI from their deliberations.
I should point out that those 11 people do not represent a legitimate majority, as they are 9 elected by their local Delegate Assemblies plus 2 Affiliate members whose move onto the board was so outrageously illegal as to invite correction by California corporate law. The full PNB consists of 22 members, of which 4 should be from WBAI. Currently, nobody represents WBAI on this irregular and undemocratic "board".
-- Frank LeFever
WBAI Listener Director, Pacifica National Board
I know nothing about her programming, but Vajra Kilgour has the sexiest voice on WBAI since Delphine Blue.
DeleteKGT
Null rambling about WBAI again. Is that the answer to the ultimatum?
ReplyDeleteSDL