Wednesday, July 5, 2017

The Waiting Game



As those who care one way or another anxiously await a decision from the Empire State Realty Trust legal representatives, people at WBAI—the good, the bad, and the downright ugly—are becoming increasingly frantic. There's halfwit Haskins (how else to describe that one?)—who broadcasts excruciating crap three mornings a week—tells his handful of listeners that he "ain't goin' nowhere", and ludicrously attempts to convince himself that WBAI will solve the problems of the world; Mimi Rosenberg in blackface, throwing up pledge numbers as she figuratively picks her reparations cotton; Sally O'Brien still hunting around for a key to killer "Mumia's" cell; Jeannie Hopper telling us to buy a boat ride ticket and keep her bland in-one-ear-and-out-the-other DJ chat show on the air; Tony "sledgehammer" Ryan grinding out slow-dance music on the air as well as on the station's disc duplicating machine; opportunists like Ron Daniels and the so-called Haitian "all-starz" promoting various entrepreneurial projects. Geoff Brady—crushed because Bill Crosier had his "zapper" scam commercials taken off the air—continues unabated to round up and glorify certifiable nut cases, etc. etc. The weekly schedule is bulging with insignificant amateur fare of which the ones I have mentioned are but a small sample. The tip of the iceberg that is sinking WBAI. 

Apropos Brady and reasons why today's WBAI is not to be taken seriously, he did a special Fourth of July program yesterday morning, re-airing an interview with a nutty old Brit whose "research" proves that this American holiday is really an ancient Egyptian cult ritual in clever disguise—in fact, says he, the American flag is Egyptian—but wait! There's more... even the Statue of Liberty comes into play, as do ferris wheels. I don't know if anyone woke Bob Fass up and warned him, but we should be worrying about the proposed Staten Island tourist attraction. Brady, of course, is in total agreement and obviously cannot come up with a single argument against it. You really have to hear this nonsense, so I have posted a sample at the bottom of this page. Hear some of the crap an ask yourself (again, I hope) why anyone should waste a penny on WBAI support until there has been a thorough decontamination.

Then there's Alan Bates, his lips undoubtedly worn from so much derriere kissing and lying to the WBAI listeners, real and imagined). A new fund drive will start in less than two weeks, so we will again hear his scams, ad nauseam.

Getting back to the present, perhaps no one is more frantic than Jim Dingeman. He means well and generally wants the right things for WBAI, but the energy he spends on calling meetings and digging up pertinent history and fact comes far too late. In fact, all these efforts are last-minute attempts to heal self-inflicted wounds.

I am not a fan of Randy Credico, the comedian, but I now see him as the most positive of the frantics. Like Bill Crosier, he goes beyond the whine and produces positive results. His WBAI show is good, sometimes excellent, and he is contacting people re the ESB mess who at least have some pull around here. I won't delve into the irony of WBAI seeking help from politicians, but what Credico has accomplished, so far, gives me a ray of hope. WBAI's alleged "management" does not deserve to be rescued, but I think it is wise to prioritize saving the station—Reimers and the rest of the dross can and should be kicked out as soon as possible.

Credico's recent trip to Albany (with Reimers tagging along) produced an endorsement from twelve politicians (posted here) and this direct plea to the ESB landlord from Comptroller DiNapoli. It is said that ESRT's attorney called the State Comptroller the following day, suggesting that they sit down and attempt to reach an amicable agreement.

So the wait continues.

In the meantime, here's the Brady babble. It's long, but you can spot-check and get an idea of what they want to save WBAI for. It's an outrageous insult to intelligence.


32 comments:

  1. Thank you, Ed, of course it was Tony--Alan had genuine talent. I shouldn't be posting in the wee hours! :)

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  2. A negotiation requires both sides to compromise. Assuming that ESRT is willing to accept a sum that is less than the amount owed to it under the lease, what is WBAI/Pacifica willing to offer? Even if ESRT were willing to accept 50% of the amount owed, this comes to approximately 1 million dollars. How can WBAI/Pacifica come up with that kind of money?

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    1. That's a good point you raise. New York does not need a third-rate black station nor a propaganda outlet for hare-brained bigots. At this stage, I think it should be sanitized and refocused on truth... or padlocked.

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    2. Why would ESRT even want to negotiate? WBAI has been a longtime problem tenant. Surely ESRT understands that if they help force a sale of the station, the new owner would likely be a much more reliable tenant in the long run.

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  3. Brady must be suffering from orgonite exposure. Perhaps he should try zapping himself.
    Its sad to see sincere efforts to improve the station undermined by the likes of Brady broadcasting pure BS. What is the point of encouraging people to tune in and donate only to hear this? I wonder if the ESB folks have ever tuned in. I hope not. It doesn't help to do a program denigrating the flag on the Fourth of July. If you really believed your crap, Brady, why didn't you talk about it in February or November? If you can't stand to see people enjoying the fourth, why can't you just ignore the holiday and do a regular show? Imagine. A nutcase at a failing station trying to tell people to dismiss the holiday as some sort of scam. Go zap yourself Brady.

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  4. Brady is at the least an idiot, and, at most, mentally ill. I think Crosier showed him up so thoroughly that Brady will forever lick his wounds. Maybe he can investigate the disappearance and new picture regarding Amelia Earhart, and how it's related to the disappeared Malaysian flight MH370, the UFOs and time travel? Well, Earhart and MH370 are real mysteries, so he may not be interested...

    SDL

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  5. How come I don't like Credico? Because he's like Jimmy Dore. He thinks he's funny, but he's not.

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    1. They are both extremely snide in a way that I find to be very annoying.

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    2. Randy's show is good but its easy to interview people you like. How about interviewing people you don't agree with? His interview of Jill Stein was practically a campaign commercial.

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    3. Credico is far from principled—my impression of him began forming when he fawned over Robert Knight. whose "investigative journalism" had proven to be a be a sham.

      More recently, in the quest of a WBAI show of his own, Credico donned the same blinders to win the favor of Berthold Reimers. In other words, Credico does not appear to hesitate when placating frauds might further his goals.

      That said, he is capable of producing good, meaningful interview shows, because he has the right contacts for guests and—as SDL points out—generally knows when not to butt in.

      His trip to Albany was a good move, whether it pays off, or not.

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    4. Credico's interview with Frank Serpico was where i changed my mind about him. Now, if he could focus on doing shows like that...

      SDL

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    5. I also found that interview to be way above the current WBAI par—and it made me see Credico in a more favorable light. Serpico carried that interview and, while Credico is well informed when it comes to the inner workings and recent history of the city's political machine, his partiality can be a problem.

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    6. If Credico really wants to up his game and do actual thought provoking radio, try this. If it's with Serpico, instead of rehashing some parts of City Hall are corrupt, there are still corrupt cops that hate his guts, etc., try asking him about the lifetime effects of PTSD. Of course, that's a very personal thing for all trauma survivors to choose (or not) to talk about. But if Serpico did choose to talk about that, that would be impressive radio. I just don't think Credico could handle that.

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  6. As suspense builds as to the fates of WBAI/Pacifica – as suggested perhaps by the entre chiens et loups figure atop the building upper left – one or two of us are curious as to whether long-standing strategic miscalculation may reduce Korea to a sea of fire and death.

    All relative, I suppose,

    ~ ‘indigopirate’

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    1. If this evening's Off the Hook and PC Show offerings are any indication, the Canis Cerena you see won't be hungry for long.

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    2. Well good :)

      What was it about OTH and PC that suggest that?

      ~ 'indigo'

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    3. OTH spent the entire hour talking about that doctored video of Trump wrestling CNN. At the end of that hour, I realized that what they said could have been condensed to ten minutes of boring blather. The PC show began with a half hour of Hank Kee rambling on and on without adding anything to anybody's knowledge. His items (if you can call them that) were separated by that very annoying typewriter carriage return audio clip that just doesn't work. The remaining half hour was taken up by two prerecorded commentaries that came off as strained efforts to sound "professional"—in the 20th century sense.

      Embarrassing stuff.

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    4. I didn't listen to TPCS, as I prefer to download it so as to fast forward through all the boring parts.

      I DID listen to Goldstein's bitchfest, though. I tweeted two tweets about it, which I shall paste and copy below.

      @HackerRadioShow hit a new low with Goldstein trying to rationalize why CNN should be the arbiter of free speech and its penalties. Pathetic

      SirDarklust‏ @SirDarklust 2h2 hours ago
      Tonight may have been the most useless Off The Hook in ages, and it was all because of Emmanuel Goldstein. He really needs to leave the show

      SDL

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    5. WBAI's sound had always been professional in the sense of intelligent and articulate, but that amateurs-trying-to-sound-like-they-think-real-professionals-sound thing appeared shortly after the crisis of the late 1970s.

      It was just plain fucking embarrassing. It's infinitely better to simply say what you need to say, even if you haven't a classic radio voice, than to try and sound 'professional' – what could be more amateur in the pejorative sense than that?

      ~ 'indigo'

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    6. These are clueless amateurs playing a very bad game of charade.

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    7. Agreed.

      I think my very favorite radio voice at WBAI was Lynn Samuels. Not the classic radio voice, hell no, but a truly interesting voice – and she certainly never attempted that amateur 'professional' sound they came to strive for as, ironically, they became in the deepest sense the worst sort of hate-filled amateurs.

      ~ 'indigo'

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    8. Yes, Lynn was unique in local radio in that she was just herself - a Queens girl with a scratchy NYC accent.

      I think Fred Geobold was a pretty real person, too. He never made pretenses to being anything more than he was.

      Although she had few listeners, ex-prostitute and member (or was it leader?) of PONY, Iris de la Cruz was another. Sadly, she did a failed attempt to give sex workers a radio voice and help when needed, especially with the emergence of AIDS into the world.

      SDL

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  7. A PNB Special Meeting is scheduled to be streamed at 9:30p et tomorrow, Thursday, 6 July.

    Anyone want to give odds?

    ~ 'indigopirate'

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  8. John Kane, in a fit of excessive hyperbole, just compared the United States to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Stalin. No surprise there. But, his next line was unintentionally hilarious: "Not that I'm trying to be anti-American." WBAI only has value as a parody of the lunatic left. It's no wonder that, ouside their world of self-delusion, they have no influence and no importance.

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  9. 3:44 PM and the bozos are off the air - again! This time the transmitter is off, as there is no silent carrier.

    I wonder what excuse Reimers will have this time.

    SDL

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  10. Re: Goldstein and OTH. I know he also does another show on WSUB-FM in Stony Brook. I thought it was an all student volunteer station. If that's true (and Goldstein graduated roughly 30 years ago?), why is he paid on-air staff? I heard his SUB show once, and even with one of his OTH sidekicks co-hosting, I thought why they are paying these guys for garbage radio?

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    1. Goldstein gets paid by WSUB? I never heard that before. One thing I can say is that the few times I checked his show there, it was always lightweight chitter chatter, far different than OTH.

      Anyway, OTH, like many long lasting radio shows, has gotten old and burned out. All Goldstein does is whine, bitch and say stupid things like cyber criminals aren't hackers, even if they hack into computers. His buddy Kyle is so boring I barely notice him. The rest of the crew can do some decent stuff, when not having Goldstein bitching and interrupting them.

      Did anyone besides me notice how Goldstein got annoyed when several people asked about Bernie S and his not being on recently? As I have said in the past, Bernie is/was the best thing on the show.

      OTH hasn't been a hacker show in a long time, not even a hacker news and views show. Now it's just a pulpit for Goldstein to spout his ignarance. He needs to leave the show.

      SDL

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    2. Last night's OTH was really boring, by any standard.

      Yes, he did not seem pleased when callers brought up Bernie. As I said, the PC Windows fest was equally bad. Both shows need to shape up or shut down.



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    3. I always laugh how TPCS always signs off saying they communicate on Twitter. They haven't done a single tweet since last year! But then, they only have forty-seven followers...

      SDL

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    4. Have they done ANYTHING since the year before last?

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    5. Not really. Last year was the Windows 10 show repeating the same info every week.

      Regarding OTH. Since their best shows have been the ones with Steven Rambam, I should mention he does a weekly radio show on KERV in Texas. Here's the link;

      http://kerv1230.com/justice-radio/

      SDL

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    6. One reason I stopped listening to OTH? Goldsetein and his sidekicks keep saying we're dedicated volunteers. We do this show out of the goodness of our hearts, etc. Actually no, that's not true. The reason you're doing it is because it's an outlet to advertise your magazine and site where you sell CD's of all of your shows. They do it. Sonali Kohactar (apologies if I spelled the last name wrong) does it, and many others.

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