THE OCTOBER 13th FUTILE PNB MEETING RE WBAI
The PNB held a meeting last night to discuss WBAI. Berthold Reimers was there, fantasizing, as usual. According to him, the station is on the upswing and new programs are being "cited" all over New York. Hmmm.
Well, this is a long one, so tomorrow (Friday) I will attempt to come up with extracts of more reasonable duration. In the meantime...
Here is the full, unedited meeting: Part 1, Part 2
A few things I noticed besides the obvious tension, Reimers seems upbeat about the fund drive. He is reporting a daily tally of about $9200 a day so far. He says he is catching up on bills apart from central services and PRA and premiums and noted the premium backlog issue is in his view exaggerated.
ReplyDeleteIn response to a question about promoting the new schedule, he said he is doing PSAs and asking programmers to cross-promote each other. He said he is trying to rebuild the evening audience.
That's typical of Reimers. He also said, "I think that WBAI is dying and I was trying to revive it." This from a guy who routinely falsifies accounting records and often goes beyond reasonable optimism to make himself look better. WBAI is indeed dying, but I don't see his actions reflect that belief. Many suggestions have been submitted to him, some by people who offered to share their own professional fundraising experience, others who seem to have important contacts, etc. Not only were they turned down, the ones I know of (including myself, a few years back) didn't receive any response.
DeleteHe is not catching up on bills, just look at the ESB, where the debt continues to pile up every month, and how can he say, "I don't think we have a premium problem....that's a gross exaggeration." He knows full well that there is a serious backlog of premium shipment and, in fact, not only does WBAI not have the postage, I am told that they often haven't the product either. Then there is the matter of copyright infringement, which is out and out theft.
If the PNB majority—having the authority to fire Reimers—hasn't yet figured out what he is doing, they are more ignorant than their meetings indicate. If they do know (which I think they must), they must be made to step down.
Tracy posted a recording of the 10/6 PNB meeting which was not streamed. What was the answer to the great mystery as to why they didn't stream it? The main person was not available and they refused to let Bill Crosier do it because they're still mad at him for calling his own PNB meeting a while back.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with bills overhead bills are your 1st priority. There should have been discussions about costs a long time before everything got out of hand...Now the sale of the station because the board cannot agree on anything collectively seems to be the final resolution. A station thst has existed since the 1960s is now a dinosaur to those supporters and current generation of listeners that appreciate alternative governmental ways of thinking. Perhaps becoming a full fledged internet station is the only recourse. Shows can be brought to the listeners without the high rent overhead.
ReplyDeleteOne thing to take into account if WBAI becomes an webcast only station is that most of its listeners are elderly and don't have computers or other modern tech toys, so they'll lose a lot of listeners. The question becomes what WBAI has to gain by what they have to lose - will the loss in donations be made up by the savings of being a webcaster.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what, if you look objectively from Pacifica's point of view, they are better off selling a financial leech like WBAI to save the rest of the stations.
SDL
That's a pretty wide net you're casting. I'm one of those "elderly" you're categorizing/stereotyping and I have a few computers which I repair and maintain along with many of my "aged" colleagues who simply don't listen to WBAI because the content is miserable and they're simply tired of listening to Gary Null talking about the great health he possesses.
DeleteI'm a few hours from 85 and have had/used computers since 1979 or '80, when I started with a Tandy TRS-80 (soon replaced with an Apple ][).
DeleteI think the programming has discouraged most people in the upper age group from listening with any kind of regularity, and people are aging without being aware of WBAI and the intellectual level that once characterized it. As for computers, bear in mind that people who are in their 70s or 80s were not "old" when home computers began to catch on.
I have heard many callers to WBAI over the years mention their being elderly (and often handicapped) and not having a computer or smart toys. This is why they probably still have a small core listenership. Like it or not, WBAI is all these people have. The Remnants were too busy in life making excuses for being losers to go and actually learn or work.
DeleteThe rest of the crowd has long gone away. Mario Murillo got rid of like half the audience in eight months. I think that's a record for WBAI.
SDL
It really is amazing how someone can be around WBAI for so long and be such a disaster when they get into a management position, like Murillo or Josephson.
DeleteSDL
Yes, Murillo's activities as iPD yielded nothing positive, as I can see/hear. Remember when he hired an expert to teach the hosts how to pitch on the air? There was no evidence of that during the fund drive. He has been appearing sporadically on the Friday morning show with his narrowly focused Colombian news. I wonder if Feliciano will put an end to that?
DeleteI think people like Josephson, Murillo, et al simply reflect that they have been attracted to WBAI for the wrong reason.
DeleteYes, the expert pitching teacher was hysterical. From what I understand, the person was a friend of Andrea Katz. I Guess he came in and made some quick money and went on his way.
DeleteThey are probably better off with Tony Bates pitching, WBAI's version of that Casanova and ladies man Donald trump...
SDL
Happy birthday, Chris!
DeleteYou have a nearly 30-year head start, but some days I feel like I'm catching up... :)
J.
Thank you. I appreciate that very much, J.
DeleteHappy Birthday, Chris!
DeleteSDL
Thank you, SDL!
DeleteThey say it's 85, but I say they rigged it! :)
Yeah, they turned the 58 upside down...
DeleteSDL