Wannabe radio pro Michael Haskins keeps trying to convince us and himself that WBAI is one happy "family". Sure, and bacon is a dietary food endorsed by Null and Void.
Apropos living the lie, I thought you might find the following brief exchange illuminating. We know that Credico went poof and Bates has the credibility of Goebbels, but the following gives us a closer look. Mind you, there are a book-full of such stories at WBAI—this is but one. And that clock keeps ticking...
A PINK SLIP
On Nov 8, 2017 7:38 PM, "Tony Bates" <tonybates@wbai.org> wrote:Dear Mr. Credico,
I am writing to inform you that WBAI management has made the decision end our relationship with you and the program "Live On The Fly" with Randy Credico. This decision has been made due to your internet bullying and harassment of WBAI management.Further, it appears from social media sources that you may have attempted to damage WBAI financially, by initiating a boycott of the station via Julian Assange and or John Pilger, as demonstrated by the link below.The actions mentioned above are unacceptable at WBAI.Thank you for the time you've donated to WBAI.Gook luck with your future endeavors.
... and A RESPONSE
On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 12:57 PM,Randy Credico <credico2014@gmail.com> wrote:So says the veteran sexual harasser ..and objectifier of all things breathing...your sordid sick verbal lust for Naomi Wolf as an example...all know about it Bates... I will deal with your libelous false charges with management...you are not nor ever will be program director so please do not send me any more of your twisted vindictive missives.
...sorry about your 5th consecutive abysmal fund drive effort...you are responsible nobody else..now stop the harassment ..Randy CredicoHost and producerLive on the Fly Tuesdays on WBAI
PS how you, who have no visible record of achievement in any field of endeavor, could insult a living legend who does have one with 100s of awards, John Pilger, not once but twice, is blasphemous and an insult to the spirit of WBAI and Pacifica... you should step down immediately so the station can recover from your short reign of error and terror
First, a couple of days ago, Reggie mentioned that Credico's show wouldn't be on, and that people should email Reimers. I wonder if Reggie will now get on Bates' bad side doing that on air. Here's a link to the audio:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5U6nd9jgjM&t=1m14s
Second, you can see what a vicious little person Credico is here. Whether he is right or wrong, it tells you how he likes to insult people, as he did on this very blog in the past. What's really funny is that it's been something like two months or so since he had his grand press conference where he loved WBAI so damn much.
Anyway, I went onto Credico's twitter and told him he should do another press conference over this, and maybe Linda Perry would show up. HAHAHA!
SDL
They are both seriously flawed. Can you picture Reimers as the referee?
DeleteI really just see Reimers letting Bates have his way.
DeleteSDL
Well, this only took a few minutes! Don't worry, I have other twitter accounts.
DeleteYou are blocked from following @Credico2016 and viewing @Credico2016's Tweets. Learn more
SDL
Exactly! Reimers is a dishrag who is there strictly for his $100,000.00 (some say more) salary. He has been there for several years and he has yet to do anything FOR the station.
DeleteNot surprised to hear that you have been blocked. So much for "free speech" — these are con artists.
DeleteWhat's the whole story Chris? At first glance, any producer calling for a boycott should be canned.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the details, but Bates apparently read something that got him riled up. I do, however, know that anything Bates says has to be taken with a very large grain of salt. That said, I fully agree that Bates plays a major role in the destruction of WBAI. He would, of course, not be there were it not for Berthold Reimers.
DeleteIn a nutshell, it started with bates wanting to move Reverend Billy from a weekday afternoon slot to a very early weekend slot because Billy wasn't earning any money. Billy wouldn't accept it, so he was fired. Credico jumped into this bit of "none of his business" and got on Bates wrong side.
DeleteThen came Credico's non-press conference at City Hall, which was an embarrassment, as well as Credico's claiming he had pull with politicians, which was another embarrassment.
Basically, Credico acted like he was WBAI's savior and looked more like the ass he really is.
I suspect Credico was also trying to become the most important person to Reimers, over Bates, which, needless to say didn't go over well with Bates.
Credico is a person who doesn't know what is none of his business as well as not being able to deliver on his claims. he also likes to take station bickering public, insulting anyone he doesn't like with impunity. He hasn't matured enough to know this isn't going to make him any friends. He's a joke, and Bates dumped him.
SDL
I think there clearly was rivalry between opportunist Bates and opportunist Credico. Reimers sorely needs friends on the inside, even if they are transitory and only out to use him (which Bates and Credico both were).
DeleteReimers is, basically, in hiding and—as we eventually shall see—he has financial problems of his own.
Can we take it from the top?—tap, tap. tap—"Where has all the money gone?"
One of the positives if they're forced to try for Ch11 (and possibly, failing that, even Ch7) is that their books, such as they are, will be opened to outside scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteIt’s by no means unheard of for organizations in that position to have responsible parties serving prison time for what’s uncovered.
Not guaranteed, but a possible, so there’s hope.
~ ‘indigopirate’
Chris, did you see that window on the WBAI website about "a cadre of volunteers to help build our off-air multi-million dollar fundraising campaign." Let me paraphrase that tune they play during that one promo, "We fucked up before, we'll fuck up again."
ReplyDeleteSDL
No, but I heard that embarrassing promo a few times—it's the kind of nonsense Haskins does with inadvertent transparency—those wholly ineffective.
Deleteeducation at the crossroads.... the only thing i learned is how this guy gets his homeboys on
ReplyDeletejust to promote what they are doing. Shameful.
As I listen to the PNB meeting, I keep thinking we need a soundtrack. Perhaps something out of the three stooges.
ReplyDeleteI just had a laugh. One of the guests on Where We Live is Charles Pitts Jr. I think it's very safe to assume that he isn't related to the infamous one, but I laughed because I wondered if any of the people on the show would know what was so funny about that.
ReplyDeleteSDL
This is 2017, maybe Charles married a black man.
DeletePlease stop the madness Chris. The PNB is stuck on approving the agenda.
ReplyDeleteThat's too far fetched!
DeleteThey should put this PNB bullshit live on a youtube, with a chatroom on the side of the screen. That would be a blast.
ReplyDeleteSDL
OMG Chris. The PNB is literally being mugged using Robert's Rules. Forget Gitmo. This is true torture.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you finding this? I looked at KPFT.org and everything seems to have been cancelled.
DeleteDoes S C Johnson have a spay for the Cerene bug?
The meeting is still on at kpftx.org. They're out of time for the open meeting but they're just spinning their wheels.
DeleteThanks, I got it—I hope Adriana's dulcet tones don't summon Morpheus.
DeleteWell, that was a fun and productive PNB kindergarten of a meeting.
ReplyDeleteSDl
It may be because it was in Iceland, but my kindergarten bore not the slightest resemblance to the ones we hear streamed. I learned to read rudimentary Old Norse and modern Icelandic—also to be civil.
DeleteI know, and scum rhymes with dumb.
DeleteI really wish WBAI could survive, but only if a no holds barred enema is conducted. Neither will happen, but we are allowed to dream.
Its finally over at least for us. Now they get to decide which buildings to sell, which loans to take at subprime rates and which station to throw overboard.
ReplyDeleteThere is the same dynamic at all these PNB meetings. Cerene and company come in prepared with their bag of tricks and when challenged shout down their opponents. The other side comes in clearly not prepared. They try to be civil and then react to the venom being hurled in their direction. They just know they want to do a particular task and figure out a way to do regardless of legality. That sets off Cerene's friends and the cycle continues.
You made me think of this. Maybe they should jazz up the name of these PNB meetings by calling them The Cerene & Friends Rays of Sunshine Power Hour?
DeleteSDL
I wonder if the "fight" between Bates and Credico isn't just a proxy fight for a bigger fight for control between Reimers and his supporters and the Steve Brown/Gary Null supporters?
ReplyDeleteI doubt it, but this is WBAI, so anything is possible.
DeleteI think it's just what it seems. Credico walked into WBAI like he was a big shot, made and ass of himself with all his promises and got on Tony Bates wrong side when Credico tried to tell Bates what to do. Obviously, Credico isn't very bright.
DeleteSDL
Both are fatheaded numbskulls hampered by an elusive lust for relative power. They have created a scenario wherein they have to meld their own respective fantasies with the wishy-washy wannabe world of that wimp from Haiti. It's a toxic mix of nothingness wherein the immediate victims are WBAI's supporters, concerned colleagues, and New York City, but the ultimate victims are these miscast morons and their tenuous claques.
DeleteI think I have post-PNB meeting trauma Chris. Points of order, points of information and points of something bouncing thru my head. I can only imagine what the closed meetings are like.
ReplyDeleteCerene and Adriana have undefined points up their kazoos and I suspect they're still there when that door to the public is slammed shut.
ReplyDeleteI'm awaiting the day one of them yells "Point of repetition!"
ReplyDeleteSDL
I read over this exchange again and noticed something. Credico had no problem working under a "veteran sexual harasser" until he had his blow out with Bates. Credico really is a sleaze.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Yes, and the same can be said for Kathy Davis, Reggie Johnson, Michael Haskins, Gary Null, et al.
DeleteWhere morals are corrupted out of existence and telling bold-faced lies is encouraged, we can not expect to find as much as a pang of conscience.
Hopefully, some women will feel emboldened to come out and tell their stories now that it has become the "in thing" to make sexual allegations all over the place. When Kermit the Frog gets hit with allegations, you'll know we're done for.
DeleteSDL
Next they're going to say that Charles Atlas wasn't gay, and how long before they allege that the last supper was not a candlelight crepes suzette hang?
DeleteMany women testified years ago about their sexual experiences @ WBAI - Delphine Blue, Marina Ortiz, Andrea Clarke - all of these women were sexually assaulted @ WBAI.
DeleteNo group or business—especially one that brings together people of such diverse cultural and social backgrounds—is exempt from such behavior, but there was a time when one, perhaps naïvely, held Pacifica to a higher standard.
DeleteThe obvious questions need to be asked here. Yes, it's ridiculous that somebody of Pilger's stature has to scrimp and beg to get coverage here in the US (but also really in Australia and the UK as well). Is he aware of this ongoing Pacifica bullshit? If yes, why would he stoop that low and damage his career by having any ties to them at all? Apparently he just doesn't care.
ReplyDeleteYou hear Jane Fonda and Gil Scott Heron promote WBAI on the air. She probably hasn't heard the station in years and he has been dead for years. Most people haven't a clue when it comes to the adulteration of WBAI, it is barely known to exist.
DeletePilger was one of a group of people who put his bail. Then he skipped out on it (roughly $40,000 US) and has been hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy. He's part of the "Great BAI Boycott"? Nobody cares. Everyone knows that if Theresa May let him leave the UK, her govt. would collapse. She's lost two ministers recently. The latest rumor is that FM Boris Johnson is daring her to fire him so he then can take over as PM.
ReplyDeleteAssange's biggest problem is staying trending. Because everybody knows that if you're not trending, you're not happening.
Did I miss something? A national fundraiser for the ESRT fiasco?
ReplyDeleteFrom the OTH twitter: "Was hoping to talk more about Paradise Papers this week on Off The Hook but we're preempted again on @WBAI for a national fundraiser. Hopefully this is the first step in dealing with the Empire State Building situation."
https://twitter.com/emmangoldstein/status/930148507687837696
SDL
I think the fund drive tomorrow is for the WBAI Archives, not the ESRT judgment.
DeleteYes, I looked it up. Emmanuel Lewis made that post without even looking it up before hand, obviously. And we're supposed to take anything he says seriously when he shows such a lack of journalism? Even the high school newspaper kid would have looked it up.
DeleteSDL
Tuesday 11/14 is Pacifica Radio Archives fundraiser. WEDNESDAY 11/15 is a National Pacifica Fundraiser to either raise $150,000 to pay a retainer for the bankruptcy, or to pay down interest on a mortgage or something. They don't really seem to know yet, so they are billing it as building a bigger and better network. Or maybe a severance for Berthold? Who knows?
DeleteThese people, it seems, are iimmune to grim reality, but the schemes go on. I doubt that Pacifica has ever come closer to extinction than it is today. It did not take extraordinary perception to conclude that the path taken by the organization’s national and local governing bodies was a road to oblivion—a road charted by criminal minds with agendas focused on their own twisted needs. Cerene and her devious JUC gang brought WBAI to this pointt, reaching out to likeminded opportunists at Pacifica and its other stations. Their disruptive tactic is paying off for them and outsiders who stand to gain from the collapse of Lew Hill’s dream.
DeleteThe reality is that there can be no winners.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteWhen must Pacifica submit a plan to the Court for payment to ESRT?
From what I have read, it appears that nothing has been decided.
Is Pacifica attempting to avoid paying the ESRT?
Thank you.
Ed Manfredonia
Well, it's November 13th, so the ESRT can begin to make the dreaded move, whatever that will be.
DeleteAs you say, Pacifica has not indicated what it will do or whether any concrete plan has been made in the secret sessions. Whatever they might come up with is guaranteed to widen the rift within the Foundation.
Judging by what I have heard or, perhaps more accurately, what I have not heard, I venture to guess that nothing tangible has come out of the Pacifica meeting.
Is Pacifica trying to get out of paying this legitimate debt? I'm sure they have the required naïveté, but reality is finally catching up with them. You reap what you sow.
Anybody around here have a real, well-grounded answer?
Chris,
Delete"When must Pacifica submit a plan to the Court for payment to ESRT?"
It does not work that way. At this point, ESRT decides how long it wants to wait for payment. It has 20 years to enforce the judgment. At any point during that period, when ESRT decides to stop waiting, it can enforce the judgment by going after Pacifica's bank accounts and property.
Why would anyone think the PNB dummies could decide on any course of action regarding the ESRT debacle? These fools couldn't even decide on a course in knitting, if their lives depended on it.
ReplyDeleteThe only institution that will take any course of action will be the ESRT.
SDL
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI have reproduced below a segment of an e-mail, which Jim Dingeman sent via the WBAI LSB list-serv.
"The fact that we are still here at all I definitely attribute to Berthold and Tony.
What I take exception with is the fact that the only way we can survive and grow is for EVERYBODY to be cooperating in order to TRY..and I mean TRY...to change and reverse the negative downward trends."
This is the official position of Steve Brown. Jim Dingeman is merely a stooge of Steve Brown.
Anyone, who praises Berthold Reimers and Tony Bates, knows nothing about the basic precepts of managing a business. Reimers and Bates are supported by Steve Brown.
Several years ago Jim Dingeman told me that Andrea Katz was hired because she was a friend of Steve Brown.
Jim Dingeman writes formulaic solutions for changing the programming; but Dingeman has supported the gift of programming to Steve Brown supporters- such as Janet Coleman and R Paul Martin.
Dingeman attempts to use his great girth to intimidate people. He failed with me; and, I might add, he failed miserably.
Dingeman has been a supporter of R Paul Martin and Martin’s predilections.
Thank you.
Ed Manfredonia
The most impressive archives in the world says prescod, aka ,let's take this opportunity to do some
ReplyDeletewhite bashing . Sounds like just another excuse to do extend black "history" month indefinitely . Let face facts folks, racists ,black nationalist have taken over wbai .
That’s fast becoming old news. Wish it were fake news.
Deletevoices that changed the world , yeah mlk , paul robeson, malcolm x. james baldwin cornell west
ReplyDeleteetc. either mark torres is a complete racist or the most uncreative man on the planet.
Again 1300 hours , but the exactly the same content over and over and over .
Yes, it is amazing that they rotate the same voices, considering that the archive covers 68 years. It clearly reflects the indoctrination that continues throughout Pacifica.
DeleteAnd now democracy now for the 3rd time today.
ReplyDeleteIt's official , these people are brain dead.
And don't deserve to be on the air.
There are, sporadically, faint signs of intelligence, so one really has to wonder why they can't get a simple fund drive together—look at all the material they have, look how unimaginative the "producers" are.
DeleteYes, black matters, but this is a serious crisis so donations (of any color) matter more. This comes on the heels of one of the worst morning shows Haskins has muddled through.
Pacifica needs a major overhaul, with people exiting in a blizzard of pink slips.
I really think that anybody with a show here really doesn't listen when they are not
ReplyDeleteon the air . If they did would they want to add to the black repetition , unless
they are on board with it? Go figure.
(JustAListener)
ReplyDeleteWBAI is hopeless (PBS knows when it's fundraising time shelve the Black/Indigenous Peoples programs and break out Yiddish theater shows!) and the PNB is incapable of doing anything about it.
It occurs to me why Crosier and the CFO are leaning toward bankruptcy with all it's risks and expenses rather than doing a signal swap etc.
In bankruptcy the judge is in charge and the PNB can't stop him.
I wonder if bankruptcy would break the union contracts and allow a change in governance structure.
@(JustAListener): Interesting view. What you're basically saying is that Crosier and Argawal would rather have an outside authority take over because they are, basically, admitting they can do nothing to change things among themselves, which seems to be the case.
DeleteI turned on WBAI several times today for short spurts and heard nothing but MLK, Malcom X, James Baldwin, etc. all the while being told of all the diverse voices on the thumb drives. It seems to me that their way of selling the archive thumb drives is focused on black nationalism instead of the diversirty they claim to offer on them. That tells me the black nationalist targeting goes right to the top of Pacifica, which means there is no hope they can possibly change anything.
SDL
SDL
They didn't get rid of Reimers, a move that should have been been at the top of Bill Crosier's to-do list. That failure to act on a no-brainer raised a huge red flag. Cerene was allowed to continue her wrecking agenda, Bates was given the nod to continue lying to the listeners and twisting history beyond recognition—race-based scams not only went on as usual, they were encouraged.
DeleteWBAI's greatest "thank you gift" would be to shut down, and I have a strong feeling that this might also apply to the rest of Pacifica. I also believe Bill Crosier and Sam Argawal realize how hopeless the situation has become—Pacific can't even keep going as a third-rate black network.
My only hope now is that Cerene, Reimers, Bates, Davis and the rest of these con-artists get nothing out of their dirty work.
Radford was ousted from KPFK when Crosier came in, if I remember correctly. But that is where any real action ceased. Otherwise, business as usual, as you pretty much put it.
DeleteThe worst part about this business as usual is that even if Crosier doesn't have the power and forcefulness to do anything, he also hasn't really come out and said Reimers should be fired, The Roberts' Rat Pack is there just to disrupt or WBAI has an accused sexual harasser being employed.
SDL
So, today, they are selling the same thing, with the same narrow focus (all black, all the time) as yesterday. Just plain stupid.
ReplyDeleteConspicuous by its absence on today's pitching is any reference to the ESRT judgment, or the rest of Pacifica's past-debts (pension contributions, etc.).
ReplyDeleteThat also struck me as odd.
DeleteMaybe they are afraid that, if people actually knew the size of the hole that the money is being thrown into, Pacifica's take would be even lower.
DeleteI just heard a reading clip where the reader asked, "What did I do to be so black?" Says it all...
ReplyDeleteSDL
I heard Brian Edwards-Tiekert spend about 10 minutes at the end of the Democracy Now hour at 9 AM Pacific talk about all the ESRT, Bankruptcy, loans, swaps, quoting letters from Crosier.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear that. Have any part of this jive fund drive gone into local archives?
DeleteI wonder if the highly welcomed absence of Bates means that this drive is being run from the West Coast?
Smart move Brian. I think there are two guys in the Yukon who don't know about Pacifica's negotiating plans. What do you care? Not that you're off the PNB, you can just sit back and wait for the KPFA license to fall into that big tent out there.
DeleteAnd now a word from our glorious GM on Why good leaders make you feel safe..Wait a minute. Did
ReplyDeleteBerthold really send out a link to a youtube video about good leaders? Really? Really? No Really?
Help me Chris. I am so in awe of the hypocrisy that I'm about to be crushed by the irony.
WBAI and Pacifica have indeed taken hypocrisy to new heights. There is no way to explain it, no way to hide it,
DeleteJesserich just mentioned the ESRT situation, sort of in passing. It seems they are just trying to have a Pacifica beg-a-thon without any real reason behind it.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Can you just imagine all the young people calling and texting their friends
ReplyDeleteright now telling them to tune into wbai ? Yeah, me neither. (Or anybody for that matter)
They must have run out of "civil rights" audio now that they are playing some audio about drug running and the contras.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about something. How much money they are making froom each region, considering the people begging are all California people. You'd think they'd switch around a bit to different stations to make it sound like a Pacifica wide beg-a-thon.
SDL
Partial answer to your question will be posted this evening.
DeleteDid I just here the guy say "the mismanagement of WBAI"?
ReplyDeleteSDL
These two guys are just ripping WBAI and want a signal swap. is that a hint of something going on behind the scenes?
DeleteSDL
KPFK calling for signal swap of WBAI on WBAI. Oops.
ReplyDeleteHow long is this Pacifica hootenanny supposed to go on, anyway?
ReplyDeleteSDL
midnight eastern
ReplyDelete