Here is R. Paul Martin's WBAI Treasurer's Report filed August 10, 2016 and including CFO Arwal's July 7, 2016 Report to the Pacifica National Board (sans illustrative diagrams, which were not posted by RPM).
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.
Berthold Reimers needs to be banished to the "Great Plains" in lieu of learning it.
ReplyDeleteIt may seem strange but WBAI is actually making progress with the fundraiser measured by the actual average of $8,000 a day instead of the unrealistic goal of $12,000 a day. The problem is its still not enough to cover regular expenses and central services. We need to improve station operations, deliver promised premiums, resolve disputes being played out in public with Gary Null and most importantly, grow the audience. Growing the audience means finding ways to evaluate and change programming. More listeners means more money and eventually the return of CPB funding. At a recent PNB meeting, members were unable to identify the most popular programs on WBAI. That makes no sense in this environment and needs to change.
ReplyDeleteHow is $8,000/day average progress? Null is back pitching and WBAI is making the same as they did without him? That's not progress but pathetic.
DeleteEasy way to evaluate programming - look at what each show (not infomercials) makes in pledges per beg-a-thon. So simple a chimp could do it. Granted WBAItes aren't as smart as chimps.
No one can figure out what programs can't draw money? Wrong, they don't want to talk badly about their friends. Truth is people don't want to be battered with slavery crap, Black lives matters, New Age mysticism, hip hop, etc. WWRL failed as a Black station, and so will WBAI. That's a fact - period! If you need empirical evidence, look at WBAI's financials.
At least 90% of the people at WBAI could be fired without the money raising being affected. That's how little they draw. Some, like Bob Fass, refuse to even pitch.
Also, don't even think about growing an audience because it isn't going to happen until the 90% I mentioned are gone. There is a whole world of politics and arts out there to talk about. The Black crap is a failure.
And, as I have said in the past, WBAI's audience is primarily over 60 years old. They will die off eventually, without a new audience coming in. You're fucked in the end, no matter what. It's a matter of time, if nothing else.
SDL
The report says they're averaging $8,600 a day. Based on their history of $8,000 a day, that is progress albeit very modest. They're still jerking Null around who is their top fundraiser. They should either cut a deal with him or cut him loose. Continuing the dispute is only hurting everyone.
DeleteI agree with you about fundraising but I would also consider web site traffic, overall ratings (if possible), feedback from listeners, best time slot for a given program and show format. If it was so simple, why haven't they done it already? We need a system that people can look at and feel like they're getting a fair shot. That means getting input from different people.
No one can figure out what programs can't draw money? Apparently Yes. There are no figures available. Either they don't know or are not sharing the information. That info needs to be made available if we're going to honestly evaluate programming. The current grid doesn't work. It has to change. The sooner we realize this, the better off we will be.
@Michael Ochoa: I think the $8,600 figure is particularly bad, considering Null has done pitching again. If you haven't seen the old posts Chris had of the daily tallies, you should look for them on here. There were breakdowns by shows on there that were very interesting.
DeleteI think they should just get rid of Null on moral reasons.
From what I remember, the website count has a funny quirk where it reads anyone who comes on and listens as having listened to the entire show, whether they did or didn't. In other words, if someone listenes to the stream and leaves in a minute, they are still registered as listening until the end of the show. Not reliable.
WBAI has no Arbitron ratings because they don't subscribe to them.
Listener feedback would be a nice idea, especially if there were an independently run forum attached to wbai.org. One problem is that many of the elderly listeners don't have computers, so things could be a little skewed. Maybe also have an answering machine to call to leave comments?
We have to remember that the LSB (part 1 & part 2) were meant to represent the listeners, primarily. Well, that didn't work.
Ultimately, I don't see anything being done until Reimers is fired.
SDL
(JustAListener)
ReplyDeleteListen to tonight's OTH (especially from about 25 min in).
A successful fundraising show trying to raise funds for the station but they simply are too ethical to rip off their listeners.
Station management lies about the premiums, i wouldn't trust their fundraising tallies.
Of course it goes beyond WBAI. If Pacifica wanted WBAI to have a chance of survival they would have fired Reimers long ago (As Summer Reese and Profitt tried).
I listened to OTH, too. I've always liked the program. Now it's one of the few WBAI programs I listen to,in part because of Emmanuel Goldstein's integrity.
Deleterestoring our history? .... No , This is about as boring an uninteresting as watching somebody ,
ReplyDeletewatching paint dry. Morons!