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.
I have to wonder:
ReplyDelete1) Are they attempting to make repayment of the ~$1.8m ESRT initial summary judgement conditional in any way(s), as they attempted with their first ‘bridge loan’ of ~$600k as ‘part-payment’. They seem to have thought this ever-so-clever and grownup of themselves, and of course ESRT turned them down.
2) Have they as yet in hand the loan from KPFK’s friends for the larger amount, if so how much, for how long, at what interest, and under what other conditions, and how will that affect the balance of power within the eternally internecine warring Pacifica since one might reasonably assume there are formal or informal strings attached re the divide of opinion between KPFK and KPFA, and the question as to what is to become of good ol’ WBAI.
3) What progress have they made toward meeting the audit deadline of mid-February, which they’d earlier indicated they probably couldn’t meet.
4) Any signs at all they’ve given thought to how to radically (pun, as always, intended) improve their programming (just kidding, of course of course of course).
~ ‘indigopirate’
ps: Carthago delenda est.
Hot gossip is that ESRT turned down the $2 million payment. That doesn't make any sense unless Pacifica tried to make payment of their judgement conditional on something.
DeleteIndigopriate, eternally curious - here's a formula for your second query. Swap in the in the numbers you know or use a calculator, no need to worry Berthold has every thing under control. The interest rate is pretty close to what a loan broker can arrange for Pacifica.
ReplyDeleteYou need $50,000 to buy a used Jaguar, but you only have $5,000 for a down payment. If the bank will loan you the rest at 11% for a five year loan, then your monthly payment will be
45000(.11/12) (1-(1+.11/12)-60) = $978.41
Note that we had to convert the interest rate to a monthly rate. Also, five years has 60 months, so you will make 60 payments of $978.41. If you are able to pay $1,050 each month, you will pay off the loan in
ln æ
ç
è 1050 1050-45000(.11/12) ö
÷
ø
ln(1+.11/12) = 54.7,
or in just under 55 monthly payments. At $978.41 for 60 months you pay a total of $978.41·60 = $58,704.60, while at $1,050 for 55 months you pay a total of $1,050·55 = $57,750.00. So, you save about $1,000 over the life of the loan.
Apparently something didn't translate...
DeleteI thought the judgement was for $1.8 million PLUS legal fees and interest. I had seen that total number estimated at $2.4 million. So, is this bridge loan for only $2 million?
ReplyDelete11:24 AM and they're off the air again.
ReplyDeleteSDL
It's been off the air since Sunday night. It's interesting that nobody here on this website, which is dedicated to the goings-on at WBAI, noticed until late this morning. Or maybe they did notice but it's now become so common that it wasn't worth mentioning.
DeleteA silent tribute to Dr. King—how thoughtful the bozos are.
DeleteMax Schmid did mention at the end of his show, "The Golden Age of Radio", on Sunday that the station was going off air at midnight for some kind of "maintenance".
DeleteWhen I had the radio on, I was listening to WFMU and WFDU. It's not like there's anything worth listening to on WBAI.
DeleteBy the way, WFDU is going to have some benefit concerts going on. How much do you want to bet they will both be better run and more profitable than anything WBAI does?
SDL
3:05 PM Getting a blend offrequencies on either side of 99.5 FM. Could it be the blower that was being maintained blew out?
DeleteOf course WFDU will do a better job—the bozos earn that tag with every move they make.... or don't make.
DeleteWere we ever told how much was taken in at the recent listener-housed party? No, we didn't even hear more about it. That's how it usually goes eat WBAI.... fundraising "events" get a half-assed on-air promotion, and that's it. If any money is taken in, it doesn't even appear in Reimers' overcooked books.
(JustAListener)
DeleteMax Schmid on Sun night mentioned the station would be going off the air late Sun to install new parts in the transmitter.
Guess the install hasn't gone well!
There has not been a good install at this location, ever. They would have been better off had they paid for a real engineer—instead, they waste the ill-gotten listener contributions on those Yellow Magnet do-nothings and on salaries for amateurs like Reimers, Bates, Katz, Kathy, and god knows who/what else.
DeleteDo you mean kathy Davis? She gets a salary? A dozen doughnuts once a week I'd understand...
DeleteSDL
She probably does better as a huckster, advertising herself and her private business. WBAI is known for the free advertising it gives.
DeleteThere is no point in having a far-reaching signal if you can't broadcast. WBAI should welcome a signal swap if it will yield enough cash for new broadcasting equipment, so they don't go off the air every other day.
ReplyDeleteWhat occupies the ruins of WBAI are ignorant, single-minded opportunists looking out for their own personal interests. They seem to share Berthold Reimers warped sense of priorities, so the station will continue its plunge into the darkness.
DeleteCerene and her backers at MNN will continue the game if they get their way this time, but it won't be long before they have their own battle and Mimi Rosenberg find out that she is but a pawn, painted black for conveniences sake.
A costly farce, in so many ways.
Off the air? Maybe they are using a TV term for MLK day:
DeleteFade to Black....
They have been dating to black for a long time—sad to say, the black they faded to is of the less informed, incurious kind. Free thinkers need not tune in.
DeleteAs much as King had a overall good message , by playing his speeches all day does absolutely
ReplyDeletenothing to change anybody's mind .
Most people are bored to death by it and see King as just another day off. Sad to say .
They always do this: drive something into the ground by airing it excessively. This is one reason why listeners have become numb to those infomercials—so they tune out and Berthold Reimers has to not deliver/buy the so-called "thank you gifts" and make up some figures for his imaginary accounting books.
DeleteAs for moral bankruptcy, I think it's shameful that they "honor" MLK by trying to sell his speeches.
WBAI pushes MLK, Malcom X, etc. because they know their demographics are primarily elderly black people for whom it's a nostalgia sale. What I wonder is how many of these people have the abilities to even play MP3s, since most n=don't have computers nor, probably, even modern radios.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Don't worry, this product isn't exactly flying off the shelf.
DeleteI just watched a bunch of JUCs (Basir, Sally O'Brien, Bob Lederer, Mimi Rosenberg, et al) from Thursday night. It's on FaceBook and shows them seated at the WBAI closet table with copies of the MNN proposal all over the place. Very gun ho on MNN until Max Schmed arrives with a reality check. I wonder where Cerene was.
I heard it via the archives. it was obviously a push for the PSOA with MNN. What's the link to the facebook video, as I would like to see them.
DeleteI wish Cerene were there, too. With her girth added to the sound closet, they would all have been crushed, and we'd be rid of them.
SDL
I think this might get you there:
Deletehttps://www.facebook.com/msaidia.mclaughlin/videos/2005614106130460/
(JustAListener)
ReplyDeleteDidn't get through the whole thing but I got some chuckles from:
"If we do a signal swap we'll lose half our listeners"
(So there will be just one left? - managed to lose way more than half without a swap)
"What has Pacifica done for WBAI"
(Uh, when did WBAI last pay central services? How many times has Pacifica sent money to WBAI to make payroll etc?).
First of all according to what they said, the $2mil is a prepayment for the ongoing expenses. But what about the money Pacifica already owes to the ESRT and the other debts?
But what really gets me curious, like Warren Buffet felt about Enron "I don't invest in a company if I can't understand how they make money", how do the numbers work out?
So according to a caller, MNN gets it's money from the cable companies - I suppose as a result of an agreement with regulators to facilitate community programming. And I guess those payments are generous if MNN has $2 million to put on the table. But how does WBAI fit in?
WBAI is (supposed to be) funded by listener donations. How is MNN going to get money to pay for it? What is the real plan?
If Meme Rosenberg etc think MNN will keep WBAI noncommercial with a schedule consisting of The Meme Show, The Bob Lederer Show, The Bernard White Show, The Cerene Show etc they really are dreaming.
"What has Pacifica done for WBAI" Own you! What's next? A secessionist movement at WBAI to break away from Pacifica?
DeleteSDL
Katie Rosenberg show talking about Africa .
ReplyDeletePretty much every show is about race .
They just don't stop . It's like wall to wall race based crap.
Gonna have Gerald Horne on , Should i say more?
They are either too dense to realize that that this nonsense is putting the finishing touch on WBAI's destruction or they are too naïve to realize that Cerene and the JUCies are very unlikely to succeed in placing the station in Dan Coughlin's MNN lap and give them permanence in a third-rate, race-based black WBAI.
DeleteThis is a ragtag gang of very dumb people.
And some of them have done illegal actions. Time for a forensic audit!
DeleteThat's one reason why some of them are squirming like worms in a fisherman's bucket.
DeleteThe California AG could take those worms and go on a fishing expedition and see what he gets on the end of his/her line.
DeleteThis just in, Winter fund drive starts on Feb. 5th. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteBerthold needs to open the books how do producers know what/who they are supporting?
ReplyDeleteThe latest from Tony Bates.
Dear WBAI Staff
It seems that some WBAI producers have found time to mobilize around their personal internal political preferences, some of the same whom decry a lack of time and resources for WBAI's fund raising needs. I am left to wonder how such a producer organized effort might actually have served WBAI had it been focused upon a unified Fund Drive effort.
As has been the case for years, WBAI has a zero tolerance policy for airing our dirty laundry, WBAI's airwaves belong to the People of New York. Our personal opinions and preferences about WBAI's internal politics don't serve WBAI or its listeners broadly. Rather its self serving and divisive, it continues to reinforce the image of WBAI as a place of bickering and division. That image destroys financial confidence, save that of the monied vultures attempting to steal our radio station and remake it into something 'other'. Our obligation as stewards of this great station is to put WBAI's best interest and image forward, not our worst. As a general rule, investors don't invest in divisiveness and failure. Our listeners are our investors and we ought to respect them as such.
Certain WBAI producers have abused their on-air privilege to promote interncine LSB and petty personal internal political ideologies. Any further such violations will be met with disciplinary action. Management is currently reviewing the previous violations and will follow up with transgressing producers 1 on 1. During my tenure, WBAI is moving away from the WBAI status quo, whereby we are are own worst enemy, working toward our own destruction, on our own airwaves.
Regardless of the position of the internal political faction which may own your allegiance or the faction with whom you're warring, both of which behave very much like the Democrats and Republicans, we at WBAI will be guided by the Pacifica Mission. Therefore commercials for MNN or any other entities involved in this NATIONAL BOARD / LOCAL STATION BOARD created problem, won't be airing on WBAI,
To put an exclamation mark on the point, WBAI IS A RADIO STATION, NOT A 'LOCAL STATION BOARD' STATION. Our duty as WBAI producers is to serve listeners in the tri-state area, rather than ourselves. Matters germane to the board belong in the board room, not on the air. This applies to both LSB factions.
Our actions are speaking louder than our words.
Let's focus our efforts on radio excellence, WBAI listeners love it.
Sincerely,
Tony Bates
Programming Manager
WBAI 99.5 FM