Saturday, September 24, 2016

PBS Special Meeting re WBAI - Sep. 22, 2016


This is a rewritten version of my Friday night post to which I have added commentary on Reimers' remarks by indigopirate. I recommend that you scroll down for that.  —Chris

Thursday night, a "Special" telephonic meeting of the PNB was held to address the precarious situation WBAI is in. It is no secret that an overwhelming majority of its listeners have left, discouraged by a laundry list of legitimate complaints that includes violations of virtually all principles upon which Pacifica Radio was founded almost seven decades ago. Program content has long since ceased to meet artistic and ethical standards established during the Foundation's early years—virtues that offered a distinct and welcomed departure from American broadcasting norms—and an open microphone approach that encouraged opinions and creative expression from sources not likely to meet with approval in a field of communication dominated by commercial and government interests.

While nobody can pinpoint with absolute certainty what steered Pacifica off its noble path, theories abound, but one fact is indisputable: the utopian vision conjured up by Mr. Hill and his fellow pacifists has gradually been extinguished, having now reached an inevitable flickering finale.

Arguably, there is reason to place much of the blame on the adoption of Robert's Rules, a system of governance that Pacifica saw as a democratic path to true community radio. Ironically, it has had the opposite effect, excluding all but a chosen few from microphone access while opening wide the door to an invasion of opportunists. For the sake of appearance, this group of self-serving misfits "tolerates" the continued on-air presence of host/producers who adhere to the original Pacifica "mission", but—to take WBAI as an example—as corruption spread to the Foundation level, local management has been emboldened to stray further afield.

As mentioned, WBAI's listener-supporters have gradually but steadily tuned out as failed management lowered the intellectual and quality levels of the station's offerings and—rather than evaluate and correct the problem—turned an escalating number of days over to on-air fundraising.

Such fundraising was not new to WBAI. As the station's Manager, I had initiated it in 1964, when my predecessor left us in urgent need of $25,000. We knew that our programs and unconventional concept provided the incentive for listeners to pay a $12.50 annual membership fee, so we simply laid it on the line: donate what you can and we will return to our regular program schedule the minute pledges reach the needed amount. The phones started ringing, the tally grew fast, and we were back to normal, painlessly and honestly.

As any regular WBAI listener knows, the fundraising marathon became regular practice and increasingly fraudulent. Adding insult to injury, pledged money was expeditiously deducted from credit cards, but—going back several years—thousands of listener-supporters never received their "thank you gifts." Today, the backlog is staggering and the station does not respond to inquiries as manager Berthold Reimers concentrates on launching yet another lengthy fund drive, starting in a week. What did last month's drive bring in? Nobody knows for sure, but it is a figure dwarfed by the goal. There is every reason to believe that this October drive will run into November and fail to an even greater extent. 

With that almost certain, bills continuing to pile up, further dwindling of the listenership, and an increasingly narrow focus on a small segment of the NYC area population, Berthold Reimers gave a report to the PNB last Thursday that makes one wonder if delusion has turned to dementia.

Here, extracted from the close to three-hour meeting is how Reimers sees the future for WBAI. He is not worried about the enormous, growing amount owed the Empire State Building, but he does not want the public (make that, paying public) to know why he does not see it as a problem.

A major area of contention is WBAI's future and the possibility of seeking an LMA (Local Marketing Agreement) partner. There have been a couple of interested parties in recent years, but this is not a popular option, because it essentially hands programming over to the other group and—although meant as a temporary solution to get the station back on it feet—it can also be a first step towards an outright sale. There are people within Pacifica who would like to sell WBAI and make one or both of the California stations solvent.

The reality is that an LMA deal is likely to create serious new problems. It seems clear to me that years of gross incompetence, greed and self-interest has damaged Lew Hill's organization beyond repair. The idealism and spirit that once fueled the organization is long gone, leaving pathetic remnants that bear only slight and occasional resemblance to the original concept of alternative radio.

To listen to Reimers' rambling, incoherent and decidedly disingenuous "prediction" in the above excerpt prepares us for that fast-approaching time when one of the frequent moments of dead air at 99.5 turns out to be permanent.  

Apropos dead air, this meeting, heard here in its entirety, ended abruptly. Few will sit through all two hours and forty-five minutes, but spot-checking will soon give you the gist of it, perhaps including designated disruptors, Adriana "Point of Disorder" Casenave and Cerene "You can't keep me out" Robertson doing their nonsense. You will also sense the frustration experienced by Bill Crosier—who has been pressing for a meeting focused on WBAI's internally generated problems.

Our good friend and contributor, 'indigopirate', patiently and, I surmise, painfully listened to it all. Here is his insightful comment:

A couple of thoughts and impressions re this most recent meeting:

The overall course, despite voiced and well-justified urgency bordering on desperation is one of drift, discussion, postponement, eg, Interim Executive Director Lydia Brazon’s observation that she hadn’t actually moved to seek or evaluate LMA/PSOA proposals as yet, and that there was no real reason to rush as it was clear that any such process would be ‘very complicated’ and ‘lengthy’.

General Manager Berthold Reimers continues to emphasize placing past blame on circumstances beyond his control and to project optimistic fund-raising expectations based on… nothing at all, really.

A curious point, to my mind, re Reimers, is that he stated as he has at a few points in the past that WBAI is uniquely situated with respect to access to the arts in all their forms and that he feels that there ought be far more such programming as there once had been. Yet nothing of this sort seems to actually happen.

It’s really impossible to meaningfully speculate as to the outfall of WBAI and Pacifica’s financial situation since in reality very nearly all of it is held close to the vest and is unavailable to the public in any form. It seems fairly clear that it’s become fairly desperate, having followed a path of longstanding decline inching inevitably toward what would appear to be some form of collapse, particularly given the fact that while some voices have made clear how dire the situation is and some have made that even clearer by moving on, presumably having concluded the little ship Pacifica cannot summon the will or the means to save itself.

Essentially, it seems to me, we have an institution that demonstrably cannot save itself and would reject any and all external attempts to save it from itself – though at this point it’s difficult to imagine anyone interested in the latter given their long decline to bitterness, eternal internal struggle, and abject hatefulness and irrelevance.
~ ‘indigopirate’

21 comments:

  1. So much for the PNB meeting. They invited WBAI LSB members minus four who were excluded.
    They wound up talking at each other instead of talking to each other while Reimers insists all is well. No need to look behind the curtain. Now they want to do this again but not next week but the week after that or the following week. Its hard to tell because the stream abruptly ended. Coming up next week is amendments to bylaws they don't follow anyway.

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  2. There's no need for Lydia or any of them to "evaluate" any of the four year old offers or even to update the pool because there's a crony in there they want. Not sure what they're waiting for except that Lydia still has more to destroy, especially at KPFK and the Archives.

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    1. That may be true but since they cancelled the closed session, they obviously aren't ready to move yet. The impression from the open meeting is that at most, they are in the initial stages of assessing bids. I'm not even sure of the point of the meeting since the current illegally constituted PNB can't make such a move anyway.

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  3. What is Berthold Reimers' immigration status in the U.S.?

    KGT

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  4. At 12 noon, Peter Yarrow, a convicted child molester of a 14 yer old girl in 1970 New York City, gave an ad for WBAI. I know that the then Pres. Carter gave him a pardon in 1981, but the President had no jurisdiction in a New York State criminal case and the pardon was only symbolic. It's OK to be a child molester and appear on WBAI if Bob Fass and the late Abbie Hoffman say you are "cool". "If I had a hammer, if I had a sickle".

    KGT

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  5. Just finished listening to this audio disaster. Not much to say that wouldn't be redundant. I just find it funny how they want to keep off WBAI people for a one time interruption while allowing Adrianna Casanave to interrupt every conference she is on with her yelling and drivel.

    It's still funny how they spend more time arguing for extensions then the time they want for an extension.

    Reimers bright attitude is pretty funny. He really knows how things will happen. He must have a crystal ball in need of a wash and shine.

    In the end, this is like every other Pacifica talkfest.

    SDL

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  6. Samori benjamin whining about how major league baseball is only 8 percent black , meanwhile over
    the weekend 3 baseball players died in a boat accident , Arnold Palmer , only one of the biggest
    sports personalities in the last 55 years dies , but no mention of anything that happened .
    Even the new york football and baseball results , not mentioned . Sports ? I don't think so .Morons!

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    1. Yes, and at least one of the baseball players was of Cuban origin, but I guess he looked white when seen through Samori and Hskins' bigoted, twisted minds.

      These fools are screwed up beyond imagination. Haskins' "interview" with the woman who is working on an Occupy gimmick book was another of his pathetic exercises in how not to do anything right.

      Samori is not a sports reporter, except in the minds of ignorant racists.

      The clock is ticking louder each day.

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    2. I can't believe it, but Samori Benjamin is more unintelligible than his father.
      Ibbity-Ibbity-Ibbity, Das All Bros

      KGT

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  7. WBAI is like a 1960s American car in Cuba. It will keep on going, even with rebuilt parts. The threats of a sale or LMA mean nothing. You have to understand you're dealing with experienced minor league scam artists who know how to always shift around bills and find new spaces.

    Anyway, I'm glad I don't listen to WBAI in the mornings, since that would be a waste of my IQ points. When I hear Haskins voice, it's like hearing Mimi - immediate grab of the tuning knob and twist.

    SDL

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    1. This car ain't keepin' on goin'. WBAI has been off the air and off the Internet for about 2 hours. So scammer Ron Daniels missed this opportunity to deliver a 2-hour commercial for his Newark nonsense, and now we have gone past noon, so Null is null, too.

      Myabe there IS some sort of a deity rummaging about in our midst. :)

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  8. 12:03 PM and I just tuned in to a dead carrier, again...

    SDL

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  9. 12:30 AM and Geoff Brady is on. Has he been rescheduled to this slot or is it filler?

    SDL

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    1. It isn't Brady, just an audio hologram. Max is now trying to squeeze out Mike Sargent, but all that's coming out is Scot Keyes wearing a 1940,s print dress with a rock band decal.

      This sort of thing can happen when a slick Reptilian snatches your aura.

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  10. Michael G. Haskins mentioned this morning that Felipe Luiciano will take over the 6-8 AM slot on Fridays beginning 9-27-2016. That Berthold Reimer's maneuver should bring in a bevy of non-black/latino listeners during next week's Fall fundraiser.

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    1. His career must be in the toilet...

      Maybe Pablo Guzman can come back as PD?

      SDL

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    2. They'll have to open the skylight in that closet "studio", just to make room for Felipe's ego. Still, he will play better music than the crap.Haskins serves up, and--although Felipe's subject matter tends to be limited and self-centered--he does hav command of the English language and he can read.

      So, in one sense, this is an improvement, but it's another ill-adviced Reimers recycling job.

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    3. Slithering from the toilet to the unattended outhouse, one might say.

      Guzman? Well, he's sufficiently singleminded to meet Reimers' criteria.

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    4. Luciano could bring in Jerry Rivers and Guzman and do a memories of the latin whatever they called themselves days.

      SDL

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    5. Jerry Rivers is all Foxed up, isn't he? Felipe will probably see this as a path to mo' better air time.

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