Monday, July 17, 2017

Circus Credico redux




If you watched the video of last Thursday's bizarre, mis-labeled WBAI "press conference" and have sufficient knowledge of the station's past, you may have spotted some old performers in Randy Credico's one-ring circus, doddering left-overs who probably showed up on City Hall's steps more out of habit than true concern. After all, this is not the radio station that used to energize and inspire them, but the decomposed remains of a dream they once thought deferred. Circus Credico did not introduce any new acts, nor was it able to drum up a new audience—it was the old choir shouting into an abyss and hearing the decayed echo with scripted delight. It was, in fact, group masturbation from which even the claim of momentary satisfaction would have been a stretch.

Some of you may recall the time when WBAI—then in its early stages of decay—was housed in a former church on Manhattan's East Side. It was still a radio station, it had real studios, and it attracted performers, producers and listeners of real talent and intellect. 

Unfortunately, it also attracted people with ulterior motives who saw an opportunity to further their own nefarious agendas. One such person was Percy Sutton, the slick—some would say, slimy—founder of Inner City Broadcasting whose career was a mixture of the commendable and contemptible. Sutton's association with WBAI was peripheral and is said to have involved the station's loss of the church location. In short, told that it was liable for property taxes, the management was forced to sell the church. It is the complicated story of an unwise and, I am told, avoidable decision.

The following enticing footnote comes from an anonymous viewer of this blog, who followed WBAI's sordid history for many years: 

"You may or may not have noticed the presence of Ralph Engelman at the rally at City Hall," he writes. "Engelman was the point man for Percy Sutton’s people on the local board in late 1976 – early 1977. It was Engelman who ordered the station off the air in order to shift the station radically (pun intended) away from the original vision toward one of explicit political advocacy.


"As such, it is of course amusing to see him in the present context, once again invoking the original principles which he played a leading role in abandoning and betraying.

Here is Mr. Engelman last Thursday with
ringmaster Credico behind him.
"In a sense, Engelman is/was emblematic of the abandonment and betrayal of Pacifica's foundational goals and principles—while invoking them every moment, every second. He particularly drove Margot Adler nuts. She was in many ways the lead person in trying to save the station as originally conceived.


Thus Engelman was effectively the man who pulled the plug on actual free speech at free speech radio."

Perhaps perfectly innocent, but nevertheless interesting.


61 comments:

  1. Makes sense- Engleman was a friend and supporter of the late Samori Marksman, who hated free speech and was known as the Black Stalin - makes perfect sense. The station is going to Hell.

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  2. Interesting piece of history.

    SDL

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  3. Chris,

    How many people were at the rall?

    Who was at the rally?

    Ed Manfredonia

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    Replies
    1. It was a relatively small group of people with vested interest in keeping their air time. Check out the full video—you probably recognize more of them than I do.

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    2. It looked like forty to forty-five people, mostly station staff. No press, few listeners (probably ten or less) and no "names," like Null, Goodman, etc.

      Anyway, sounds like the beg-a-thon is up and running.

      SDL

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    3. The beg-a-thin is indeed running and so, I suspect, is the audience.

      This morning they re-aired a terrible infomercial so old that they said they were located ar CCNY and would soon have their very own, fabulous facilities. If I guess that they sold one pill, I probably would be guilty of exaggeration.

      Has anybody heard Bates yet?

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    4. I don't know if "beg-a-thin" was a typo or intended, but it's perfect analogy, since they bring in a thin amount of money...

      SDL

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  4. Yes. Please donate to the station so they can browbeat the ESB into forgiving the debt AND let them out of their contract. Perhaps the plan is to become enough of a nuisance so that ESB will just walk away from millions of dollars and let them go. Besides they have another offer on the table right? Right?
    I could MAYBE see ESB settling for a chunk of existing debt plus some penalty fee for letting them out of the contract. They would then have to work out a payment plan which would mean continuing payments for the next 10-20 years. WBAI would still save money assuming they pay $12,000 for the new transmitter and a similar amount in payments to ESB. That's a long way for ESB to go but who knows? Maybe if they were feeling generous.

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    1. The ESB could actually emerge as the good guy by not giving in. Getting the mangled WBAI off the air would be very good for the New York City area, as would sending the bozos back into the hole they came from... or a cell.

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    2. What you suggest does not make sense for the ESB. The only reason for the ESB to settle is a really big amount of cash (such as 1 million dollars) NOW, upfront.

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    3. There is an existing debt plus the remaining years of the contract. A one time payment would have to be at least 2 million. They're being asked to walk away from about 4-5 million. It would be better for ESB to have some money come in rather than insist on money upfront that Pacifica does not have.

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    4. Let us bear in mind that Reimers is the born deadbeat—I understand that the growing piles of unpaid bills are numerous.

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    5. Why should I "donate" (pay) money to help BAI get out of an ESB contract that they never should have signed in the first place? It also bothers me that people want me to give money to pay Amy Goodman's astronomical salary for a incredibly boring DN that hasn't been updated since it's beginning.

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    6. The ESB has all of the leverage in this situation. Pacifica has the world's worst reputation. Why would you trust anything they say?

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    7. I can think of no valid reason why anyone should support WBAI as long as it continues to broadcast mediocre material, give air time to mediocre produces and disburse race-based propaganda. The station needs competent management whose first order of business must be to clean house.

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  5. The UFOs are coming... for only $100!

    SDL

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  6. I pray for the demise of the station every day - they have treated people horribly - I hope the station dries up like a prune. Nothing but evil in that place.

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    Replies
    1. Don't blame the station, the unprincipled imbeciles, opportunistic narcissiststs and, to be frank, racists who have destroyed it are the ones you shoul wish banished and/or punished by moral and/or legal law.

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  7. We already have the late Gwen The Medicine Lady pitching from the grave. What they really need is a necromancer to contact dead people and get them to pitch.

    SDL

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    1. If dead people don't belong on a dead station, where can they be dragged? Besides, it would be a shame if WBAI's disc duplicating machine had to go legit?

      Whenever Natalie says "It doesn't get better than this. It's a shame that the late Gwen Scott's product has the rare distinction of not being a scam.

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    2. At leats 40% of all the stuff Pacifica hawks during pledges can be found on You Tube for free.

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    3. Or elsewhere at a drastically lower price, with fast, guaranteed delivery.

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  8. Mimi is really making new lows in her bullshit tonight. her view of the ESB situation is absolutely psychotic. I'm glad to know Paul Robeson died to be WBAI's standard bearer.

    SDL

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  9. I think I figured out the philosophy to WBAI. It's based on the limbo dance and how much you can lower the bar on everything from programming to donations to morality, etc.

    SDL

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    Replies
    1. I don't think there is a philosophy—these are people who don't have to stoop—they are innately below that bar.

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  10. I don't believe it, but Randy Credico actually said something funny! He said that WBAI's audience is increasing every day. Oh, that was a good one. One day he may even be as funny as Joseph Stalin...

    SDL

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  11. Question - who is the WORST broadcaster in the history of WBAI? My choice - Errol Maitland - he was the WORST!! Anyone else?

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    1. There were a few years when I didn't listen, but I cannot imagine anyone being worse than Michael Haskins—he is a terrible engineer, an announcer who can't read a simple line without stumbling over the words, totally bereft of creativity, and seemingly incapable of expressing independent thought.

      There have undoubtedly been others with similar, well-rounded deficiencies, but Haskins gets my dunce award.

      On the other side of that wall we have but a handful at the present time, including Malachy McCourt and James Irsay, both of whom are articulate and intelligent.

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    2. Paul DiRienzo

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  12. Errol was awful - Chris, had you heard him, you would be screaming all day.

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    1. You are not the first listener to tell me that Errol Maitland was outrageously bad. What was the nature of his show?

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  13. He was part of the morning show crew with Bernard White, Amy Goodman, Dred Scott Keyes and Dred's wife, Janice K. Bryant. Errol was the most ignorant one - he insulted an BBC broadcaster on the air - led the station on a false goose chase investigating the death of his son who was a determined thief. He was crude and raw on the air - totally gross.

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  14. (JustAlistener)
    I like Haskins as announcer. His mellow tones are a nice contrast to some of the stridency on the station.
    He doesn't have much to say so he's not appropriate for a morning show host (maybe co-host/sidekick) but he isn't in charge of those decisions.
    So bad host? - I suppose, but he's tolerable.

    One that comes to my mind is Mimi ("MeMe") Rosenberg. Might as well listen to fingernails on a blackboard.

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  15. Kathy Davis was offering a new premium this morning - an instructional video on soap-making. OK, it's new; but soap- making? How is that going to bring in the big bucks that WBAI needs to stay afloat?

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    1. Perhaps someone told them to keep it clean... for a change.

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    2. I heard that and it created a quandary in my mind. I am very in favor of crafts like candle making (which i do), soap making (which I want to take up), etc, especially as constructive hobbies for kids. The question is whether such a thing should be on WBAI. On the one hand, that D.I.Y. ideal probably does belong on WBAI, but, since people probably won't get the premium, I kind of feel like it's just a another scam.

      I also noticed that there was that profit motive in the premium relating to selling the soap. It still all comes down to money, I guess.

      SDL

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    3. When you eliminate intellectual curiosity from an audience and station that once thrived on it, you are left with the likes of Davis, Reimers, Haskins, scammers and snake oil vendors. In short, you render the station a blight rather than a voice of significance.

      Note that on the rare occasion when he opens his mouth to speak, Berthold Reimers brings up a need for money.

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  16. Shouldn't WBAI be doing a special live report on the biased parole hearing of the modern day Paul Robeson, O.J. Simpson?

    SDL

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    1. Don't compare this murderer to Robeson.

      WBAI will find some way to cash in on this hearing. He might be turned loose, but I hope not—if they keep him in, the race-possessed at WBAI might attempt to start a "FREE OJ" movement.

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    2. Only on bai will you get people that worship MLK and Robeson ,
      and at the same time worship mumia and chesimard.

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    3. My line about Robeson and Simpson was meant from the WBAI way of thinking, not as a logical fact, in general.

      SDL

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    4. Were "Son of Sam", David Chapman, et al of African ancestry, WBAI's numbskull lowlife would be using the listener-sponsored air to deify them. Unfortunately, I really mean that.

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    5. Well, tell them about the Zebra murders...

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_murders

      SDL

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  17. Hope OJ is released - he has done his time - he represents no threat to anyone

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    1. Murdering two people is not something done by a person who poses no threat.

      I know the murders are not officially a part of this case, but they are not something one can dismiss in good conscience. The murder trial jury was, i.m.o. as dishonest as Cochran.

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  18. WBAI has been off the air for a while now. I'm just getting a silent carrier with no audio feed. That, or it's a silent meditation premium...

    SDL

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  19. It is 4:50PM on Thursday, and WBAI is silent (again). I don't know when the silence began.

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  20. Went out during the Prairie Miller Show and no one on the WBAI stream has made any mention of it, including engineer extraordinaire Reggie Johnson. Just business as usual.

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    1. No surprise. Listening to Haskins and Reggie gives me the distinct impression that neither of them listen to WBAI—they certainly cannot be monitoring air. The amazing conclusion I draw is that nobody at the station— from "management" on up—actually cares what is dumped on the listeners, just that they pay for it.

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    2. It is 10:30PM and they are still off of the air. Do they really need a radio transmitter?

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  21. If they care, there is an easy fix: Deploy something along the lines of a DEVA DB44 into an office in the broadcast footprint of WBAI, and program it to send an alert via email or SMS when there is no audio, or the carrier drops.

    If they care....

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  22. (JustAListener)
    A "DEVA DB44"?
    I looked it up - costs about $1500.00.
    That's about $1500.00 more than Reimers seems willing to spend on equipment.
    I really can't complain about the engineers when they have a manager that can't keep up with the phone bill and lies about it (not to mention premiums, ESB, etc etc).
    And if the engineer(s) is incompetent it's up to the manager to discipline or fire him.

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  23. There is a free off air software for dead air: https://mediarealm.com.au/articles/program-fail-monitoring-sms-alert-auto-phone-calls/
    Great program.

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  24. http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2017/07/22/future-of-wbai-in-doubt-over-rent-dispute-for-broadcast-tower.html

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    1. Thanks for that, Anonymous—I have posted it on the front page.

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  25. One would think that the would have done a bit of "dressing" of the studio before NY1 stopped by. I realize it's radio, however the studio looks like it belongs in a war zone, never mind the way the equipment is deployed.

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    Replies
    1. WBAI's spending priority list is topped by Reimers' undeserved salary.

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