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.
Wow , another show talking exclusively to blackness , their goes 99.5 percent of the potential listeners and even what's left of the existing listenership.
ReplyDeleteHey maybe prescod will bring us more slavery coverage today . can't wait for that. NOT!
How do you get from programs not raising funding to hate Chris? You can't achieve the mission with programming that doesn't have an audience. Aren't you the one complaining about programmers insisting they're not the problem?
ReplyDeleteThere is a great deal of hate on WBAI, and it is for sale—ergo, hate for sale.
DeleteOne would hope that WBAI's programs generate donations, but not because they are a perfect fit for listeners' venom. They should induce people to contribute for positive reasons, such as quality and substance.
WBAI's current and recent gaggle of nitwits has so drastically reduced the number and intellectual needs of the station's listenership that it no longer responds to (or comprehends) quality. This translates into a downgraded program schedule on a radio station whose income is commensurate with its listener appeal.
Instead of drawing the obvious conclusion, replacing incompetent narcissistic producer/hosts with real talent and hiring a PD who can see the whole picture, this alleged "management" continues to compound its own mistakes with more of the same, and insisting that they are not the problem.
The rationale reflected in Steve Brown's quote and the mutterances of Reimers make things glaringly clear. The loudest voice we don't hear belongs to a unified chorus that tuned out.
Nothing for nothing = NOTHING.
I have long said the same basic thing. A show that doesn't, at least, pay for the electric it uses, rent for the length of the show, etc, has no place on the air. Shows should need to meet a certain minimum donation level to remain on the air. It's wrong to have a few shows that do most of the donation collecting while others get a free or near free ride on their backs.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Obviously, I disagree with your green yardstick approach, SDL.
DeleteI think Producer/hosts should compete for quality and ensure their own show's longevity through ongoing improvement and currency. One source of disharmony and backstabbing within the station is, ironically, the so-called democratization of Pacifica's structure. It has created factions and a vacuum of authority that Hoovers opportunists and scammers.
I believe WBAI should be seen as an extraordinary radio station whose wide variety of subjects reflects the New York area's multi-cultural mix. Programs that attract donations should make possible the airing of those that don't. The worth should lie weighed in intellectual and educational value of the whole—rather than in parts.
In short, people should be encouraged to support the concept, not any particular component.
Let me put it this way. I don't disagree about programming quality, of course. I do believe that a certain minimal donation level should be required just so management knows someone is listening to the show. if there is no support for a show, then the show's message obviously isn't reaching anyone and the message is, essentially, irrelevant.
DeleteI really don't think $200/hour (morning - evening slots) or $75/hour (night slots) is much to ask a show to obtain.
SDL
If the program is intelligently produced and presented, what matters is its value as a source of enlightenment. When donations are not attached to one program or another, who is to say that they are not based upon the collective value of the station's offerings?
DeleteA program does not lose its inherent value just because it is absorbed by listeners who don't earmark their contribution or otherwise identify themselves. One of WBAI's outstanding features was its willingness—and, indeed, mandate—to broadcast programs without regard to the popularity of their subjects.
Imagine the many excellent programs that would not exist in the Pacifica archive were current popularity a deciding factor.
Imagine the better more useful programs that could have existed if programs with two listeners weren't produced. I still say that if a program has no listeners, it's a waste of air time.
DeleteSDL
We never know how many listeners any particular program has, because most people listen without stepping forward. A person who responded financially to program "X" may–for all we know—also listen to program "Z" in silence. Airing a worthwhile program is never a waste of time. Airing worthless dribble like "The Blacks" or Kathy Davis is a waste of time, even if it brings in money.
DeleteIf such insignificant shows bring in donations, it is the listenership that needs to be assessed and traded in.
We'll have to "agree to disagree." I still say a show without listeners is a waste, since no one is hearing it, except maybe Babbling Bob's outer space audience.
DeleteSDL
Another way to look at it...if the proverbial tree falls in the forest and no one hears it...
DeleteI cut my teeth at community radio in Atlanta. I was there for over ten years and lived through many of these same issues.
Fundraising, for many different reasons, can't be the yardstick. One example would be that some dayparts are much more listened to than others. Weekend listening to public radio peaks, especially mornings. It also implies that there is a correlation between quality and quantity which I don't believe to be true.
WBAI needs to program progressive programming professionally. That means understanding the nature of how human beings use radio. Far too often, the psychology of radio listening is completely ignored simply due to ignorance of how people use radio.
Unfortunately, "community organizers" have no interest in working with others having different political experiences and views.
WBAI, I'm sorry to say, is doomed!
It’s fairly elementary that it’s the overall level of programming that matters, not necessarily individual programs per se. Elementary, however, seems far beyond the grasp of the fine ‘leftist’, ‘community’ minds of WBAI/Pacifica.
ReplyDelete~ ‘indigopirate’
WBAI better hope that when I say they are so under the radar no one knows or cares what they do is correct. After tonight's OTH, with Goldstein telling people how to hack Trump associated Twitter accounts, I think WBAI could be at their end. This was bad and probably illegal.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI believe that Jim Dingeman has a copy of the Arbitron ratings. These ratings include the audience for WBAI.
I also believe that the lowest rating is- R Paul Martin.
But WBAI's audience rating is similar to that of a small college radio station.
Thank you. Ed Manfredonia
I just opened the PNB meeting stream. Is that Adriana the Screamer Casenave chairing the meeting? OMG. Do you hear that sound? Its the sound of a meeting being derailed. Thank you Bill Campisi for shouting her down.
ReplyDeleteAdriana chairing a meeting? Doesn't that constitute torture or just an enhanced interrogation technique? Please Chris make her stop.
ReplyDelete