Reimers' bottled whine.

Berthold Reimers, the grossly overpaid, totally unqualified manager of WBAI has somehow succeeded in keeping his job for the past eight years. Why that is so remains a mystery, but it is not a stretch to see it as an indication of the corrupt practices of the current Pacifica National Board's majority.

If you have tuned in to or spot-checked WBAI recently, you have undoubtedly noticed that the listener-killing program downgrade has been escalated to a point where it is dominated by simple-minded, black-oriented chatter; bland, black oriented music; amateur, often black-oriented health advice; and embarrassing rewrites of history, based on the scams of Henrik Clark, "Dr. Ben" and other shameful con artists—all aimed at gullible, under-educated black listeners by morally bankrupt opportunists like Tony Bates, Ron Daniels, and now Reimers and Byrd.

This is painful for any intelligent person to listen to, but even more so for black listeners, who rightly see it as a return to the stereotyped characters of Mantan Moreland, Amos and Andy, et al—Uncle Tom reborn.

Outrageous infomercials in which bogus products are pitched at outrageous prices, and often not even delivered, have been aired with such frequency that they do more harm than good. Revisionist history, wherein everything but the moon originated in Africa spews out from WBAI wrapped in a sheer veil of racism, ignorance and indoctrination. The station once admired for its integrity, independence and broad scope has become a bad joke. The perpetrators seem oblivious to that fact, but the listener-sponsors have spoken and the present drive will in all likelihood be the most unsuccessful one to date.

Berthold Reimers rarely emerges from his hole in the ground, but when he does—at PNB meetings, for example—he inevitably compounds that image of a nonentity.

That is how it has been until recently, when this amateur decided to play Program Director. He shuffled, replaced and discontinued shows with amazing wantonness, now not only offending the remnants of an audience but angering hosts whose ineptitude, ego and selfish agendas had contributed to the listener exodus.

He did this from behind his imaginary green curtain, too cowardly to face the volunteers he was discarding. Allegedly an accounting professional, Reimers has yet to prove that he knows diddly about fund-raising, but he surfaced on Gary Byrd's show after the smooth-talking disc jockey told him that he wanted 50% of the money he raises for WBAI to go to Haitian relief. 

Reimers, himself a Haitian, approved and came on the air to make his own pitch. Haiti was hard hit by Hurricane Matthew and it desperately needs all the help it can get, but Reimers' eight years of mismanagement has WBAI pivoting on the edge of obscurity. It would have made far more sense if the station ran PSAs for the Haitian Emergency Relief Fund—splitting listeners' donations is an invitation to confusion.

All this verbiage to prepare you for Berthold Reimers' long, hysterical solicitation. You will hear him speak of his childhood on "the most African country in the world" and how he literally fell off a truck while still in the womb. You will note that his passion cannot part that green curtain—this is a rancorous man who lives in a world of his own faking. His priorities are decidedly skewed.

Some comments have already been posted—let's hear what you think of the pitch, which may be unauthorized and definitely does not warrant the many repeats Reimers is giving it. Byrd is slick and professional, but don't expect to hear profundity. Neither character fits into the concept that became Pacifica.   

Comment posted this morning by KGT

"Ambassador Chris Stevens got what he deserved".

Berthold Reimers 10-22-16 10:15 a.m. —KGT

Anonymous poster's response

Yes, I heard that as I am listening to the Gary Byrd re-broadcast for a 3rd time. Reimers also kept saying to Byrd (who considers himself "African-American") "you Americans" this, "you Americans" that as he was making his pitch for listeners to donate money to Haiti. Reimers seems to have an inward animosity toward America, but he's here monetarily milking the system as much as he can y while he watches WBAI burn to the ground. Why would someone take a job as a radio station manager and hate to come on the air as Reimers clearly states he does? Reimers is "cutting his own throat" re-broadcasting this nonsense and his weak historical overview of Haitian history. Wes Craven's horror movie "The Serpent and the Rainbow" gives me greater visual insight into the social culture of Haiti than Reimers or John Henrik Clarke. 

The Reimers/Byrd pitch for Haiti.