It was 41 years ago today, 11 February 1977, that the staff of WBAI occupied the station, then located at ‘The Church’ on East 62nd Street, in a desperate attempt to resist the board-mandated change from a mix of the arts, music, literature, education, news, drama, public affairs, and free form radio to a redefined role centering on political advocacy.
The attempt to hold true to the original principles of WBAI and Pacifica had evolved in a series of fairly disparate/desperate meetings in Margot Adler’s living room overlooking Central Park, with as many as 200 staff in attendance.
The meetings were long and contentious as to details, but there was clear agreement that the abandonment of the original principles of WBAI and Pacifica’s founding in favor of simple, strident political advocacy was intolerable, and to be fought, and so the die, as it were, was cast.
The station was occupied. Ralph Engelman, as chair of the local station board, took the station off the air, insistent on the transformation.
At the end of something like six weeks, the police were brought in, and resistance to the mandated shift in programming and purpose collapsed, and the local and national boards had their way.
Power and all that, a coup of a minor sort, perhaps.
WBAI/Pacifica was now all about political advocacy of the left/progressive subtype.
Listenership, which had declined from the high point of the late 1960s-early 1970s now declined sharply further.
Yet the enormous inherited value of a prime frequency in the New York Market, a gift of the philanthropist Louis Schweitzer, proved sufficient to sustain the station, even with decreasing influence and listenership, for many many years.
At present, of course, as an irregular but essentially asymptotic decline appears to be nearing the horizontal axis, some question as to WBAI and/or Pacifica’s survival have been raised.
Any question as to the survival of WBAI/Pacifica’s foundational purpose was settled long ago when the power was cut, and the police brought in.
A certain squalor….
'indigopirate'
Was that the first listener diaspora? Migration to late night radio and music at the extreme reaches of the dial?
ReplyDeleteProbably a fair characterization. A lot of people left, talent, some immediately, many more in fairly short order. I was asked to bring a resume or two by WNYC by a department head or two. A lot of Jewish listener-supporters in particular felt actively abandoned, and then, ultimately, in many cases, attacked. On several occasions at gatherings in the years immediately following, when people recognized my voice they asked, basically, what the fuck had happened.
Delete~ 'indigo'
Thank you for that history. I didn't know and now it makes sense. A huge mistake was made and I don't know if it can be reversed. A mix is healthy. I try to infuse a mix on my show. We live in a different world now. Folks are seeking information, ideas, innovation to navigate life in positive ways. Listeners need to write emails saying they want diversity.
ReplyDeleteThere was a healthy mix of information. Looking at old BAI Folios, the monthly guide that was mailed to subscribers/listener sponsors, had a program grid with some "shows" as short as 15 minutes, or wildly creative segments like Poison Arts, or Techie Time, a sonic adventure. BAI listeners on the whole have a FOMO on latest ideas, trends, alternative life-styles, and of course the next big thing. Writing, either emails or letter, and phone calls don't get a response, or impact the programming. Might need a broom and shovel to clean things up.
DeleteThat's how it was. You will find several Folios in this blog—just go to search (bottom or top left ) and enter folio. Going from print to on-line should hsve opened the door to much more and up-to-date program information, but these bozos came up with something that is hopelessly dated and useless.
DeleteOn pushing the creative envelope, or disrupting the status quo, two examples. "The Ring" audacious as it was enlightening, not everyone's cup of "Rhine wasser," engaging, fun. "Christmas with the Radio On," a refuge from commercialism and a sharing of radio community, and only on WBAI, as a variation of Monroe's whiny mantra "I want my radio back."
DeleteOur annual broadcasts of Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelungs" always featured the previous year's Bayreuth Festival production in its entirety. We did, however, have 3 half-hour breaks—13 hours is a long time. During one of the "intermissions", when I was still an announcer-engineer, I played Stan Kenton's interpretations of Wagner. I recall only getting one or two complaints, but they were polite and
Deletefrom Jewish listeners who associated Wagner with Hitler.
As of the late 1970s the annual marathon Ring Cycle broadcast was within the demesne of Mickey Waldman (the mere thought of whom terrified Joe Frank for many years, in the aftermath of the open-reel tape incident).
DeleteNeedless to say in the aftermath of the events of 1977 the new regime had no use for such ‘bourgeois nonsense’ and so that tradition as well as the annual Bloomsday reading of Ulysses, cover to cover, were ended.
While the Ring was Mickey’s thing, Bloomsday was Larry Josephson’s.
Just a little ancient trivia to share…
~ ‘indigo’
I am not familiar with Mickey Waldman—are you sure he conceived the annual Ring broadcast?
DeleteShe, not he. I don't know if she conceived or claimed to have conceived the annual broadcast of the Ring Cycle, but by the late 1970s it was in any case her thing. It was run in full, the only break being for the regular newscast – other than that, and station breaks, it ran without interruption.
DeleteAt that time Margaret Mercer was Operations, as she was later to be, after ‘The Crisis’, Program Director at QXR.
Lindsay Ardwin and Mickey Waldman split control and direction of announcing and engineering at that time, Lindsay being in overall charge.
So it was a female troika, though I didn’t think of that at the time.
All were sharp, and knowledgeable, and capable, and therefore not to be casually crossed though I got along well with all three.
Joe Frank, though, once foolishly ran an open-faced 12-inch reel vertically in Master. That required skill of a sort of which, talented though he was in other ways, he was not possessed, particularly if you tried to rock the tape into position using the remote buttons on the console, and in the wee small hours of the night he ran to me from Master to A, desperately, with an absolutely enormous snarl of tape, probably about half the reel, asking if I could save him from the Wrath of Mickey.
It was pretty funny, in retrospect, really, but it wasn’t at all funny for him at the time.
~ ‘indigo'
By the late 1970s, the annual broadcasting of the Ring Cycle had been going on for nearly two decades at WBAI. She apparently cut out the intermissions.
DeleteNever knew Joe Frank but the open reel tape mess reminds me of Janet Coleman telling me that she heard and believed that I had gone ballistic because someone at the station recorded a satirical Catholic priest skit! The atheist in me would probably have loved it, but she also heard that I "erased" the tape by physically tearing the reel apart! When I mentioned that a simple spin on our degausser would have made the tape reusable, she didn't believe me.
I only recently heard of the late Joe Frank—all good things—but he must not have been so professional if he ran an open reel on a vertically installed machine. :)
At The Church the degausser was kept in Edit A. It was always my practice as a neurotic perfectionist to degauss any previously used tape before recording anything new on it.
DeleteNavies, including the USN, have degaussing docks large enough to degauss a submarine or an aircraft carrier. Pretty impressive, in a way, and they look very pretty at night. Anyway…
I don’t know what Frank was thinking. People who were skilled in Master did sometimes run a 12-inch tape vertically, and could indeed position the tape precisely at a given playback point by rocking the remote buttons on the console and listening to the monitors. It was recognized though, that this was risky, and took skill.
It was a particularly bad idea if it wasn’t your tape, but someone else’s you were running on an engineering shift, which was the case with Frank.
I suppose he either thought it would be a learning experience, since he was pretty new in Master, or he wasn’t thinking at all, really.
To explain, for those who aren’t familiar, which in a digital age probably means most: A 12-inch tape holds an hour’s worth of material when run at speed, 15ips. Most tape reels will have a fixed front and back, but some are open reel, that can have the front removed, which is no problem at all if run on a horizontal or near-horizontal tape deck. If, though, the tape is being run in a vertical position, without its front face, the only thing holding the tape on the reel – at all – is the friction the tape generates on itself from having been wound onto the reel. Not too risky if you just have the tape in first position, and then roll from start to finish, but very risky if you accelerate/decelerate the tape in order to position it at a particular play-back position, which, if it’s the case in Master, is often while you need to do other things as well.
In this case, something like half the tape simply sloughed off the reel and piled in a series of enormous snarls and tangles on the floor.
Artistically, it was kind of interesting.
As a puzzle… something else entirely, even armed with razor blade editing block, and splicing tape….
Awkward to explain to someone who’d created the material on that tape….
~ ‘indigo’
The 12 inch reel is 10.5 inches and looking around for hubs to lock things in place pushed several producers to put a "pan cake" on a deck adjust the tension and "concertize" the remote buttons in Studio B, Citizen Kafka was a virtuoso and wizard!
DeleteCool, without question. Wait, are you saying a 12 inch was actually 10.5? It never occurred to me to actually measure.
DeleteIt also never occurred to me to work out the length of tape in pure physical terms as opposed to time. Suppose we’re talking 60 minutes, at 15 ips. Then 15x60x60 gives us 54,000 in, divided by 12 gives us 4500’. So… if half a reel spilled off onto the floor, we’re talking 4500/2 equals 2250. 2250 divided by 5280 gives us .85 mi. So… it looks as if half a tape, spilled, would be about 8 NYC blocks, right? Do I have these numbers right?
That’s quite a tangle of snarled tape :)
Or even kite string. If only it were kite string. Most kite string I ever had out was about a full mile. Boy did that droop from its own weight. Still, the box kite could handle it… just.
~ ‘indigo’
Indigo, Degaussing the Dunkirk "navy" kept the magnet mines in the channel from being triggered by the steel hulls.
DeleteThe dizzying numbers of tape length is an estimate. Tape thickness varied, donated boxes of tape from the CBC were always a mixed bag. There are charts online to help you figure out the approximate amount of brown spaghetti spilled on the floor.
My favorite bit with a small boat in the Channel was a few years later. A Schellboot was on routine patrol, loitering along through thick fog. Then... looming out of the fog the captain saw the armada headed to land on D-Day. Filling the horizon and then some. Must have been an interesting moment. One Schnellboot, thousands of Allied ships, transporters, destroyers, the whole lot. So... what's a Captain to do? He slams the throttles full forward, calls the sighting in on the radio as the attacks.
DeleteNervy fellow.
~ 'indigo'
On air responses to callers, as self hating Jews helped in driving listeners and their support, philosophic and financial, away. Now on the rare encounter with a former listener get either, "they're still around?" or, "isn't it a black station?" The response, not for long.
ReplyDeleteMany criticize the governance today but it doesnt matter what system you have when the group is comprised of people considering themselves activists who are absolutely convinced they are right and those who disagree with them are not only wrong but somehow evil. They took advantage of a system designed to be consensual and just ruined it. Don't like what the PNB is doing? Defy it/ignore it/undermine it. It doesnt matter. You are right and they are evil. The ends justify the means. The fascinating part of all this is that everyone involved is from the same part of the political spectrum. No right wing conspiracy to scapegoat here.
ReplyDeleteTechie Time had a huge impact on my life and helped lead to a degree in media and career in radio, starting at KPFT. Well, the career was interrupted for awhile by explosives. Anyway if BAI survives this crisis they need to get TT back on the air pronto.
ReplyDeleteThey have the Personal Computer Show, which is hopelessly behind the times. They don't even like to mention Apple and they remind me of the computer groups I attended in the early '80s.
DeleteI agree, a real techie program would be good, but the present crew barely knows how to press the "speak" button on Mister Microphone.
Ah, yes! A RapZang! Production.
DeleteAn Edit B master class was to have started at precisely the point of 'The Crisis' of 11 Feb 1977, and so it simply never happened.
Both were at the marathon meetings at Margot's, and both were very much part of the resistance to the changes forced upon the staff and station from Above.
~ 'indigo'
A minor personal anecdote: I was working on an interview with Seidensticker of the then-new translation of The Tale of Genji, and Rapkin, in passing through Edit A, asked what I was up to, and I told him it was Genji, and he instantly asked Waley or the new Seidensticker?
DeleteThis wouldn’t likely have happened everywhere.
At the time WBAI’s staff was a mixed lot in the best sense: Some with formal degrees, often from prestigous places, others effectively dropouts, autodidacts, but pretty much everyone pretty darn sharp. Each with their lacunae and their areas of knowledge….
But pretty much everyone pretty sharp… and all interested in producing good, sharp radio, in a variety of areas, the competition for Good Radio informal and mostly amiable, but also quite real, and quite intense.
Rather a long time ago… ;)
~ ‘indigo’
That's the WBAI I left WNEW for. Most people may know that the station has been dumbed down, but they don't know to what extent.
DeleteIsn't it ironic that the severe lowering of intellectual content also chased the audience away? It should tell the head bozos something, but they don't even listen to the station.
Actually, and with respect: Most people don't know the place has been dumbed down, because most people literally don't know it exists.
DeleteI thought at one time that this might be true for younger age cohorts, but at this point, at least anecdotally, it’s simply universally true.
They literally might as well not exist.
~ ‘indigo’
Yes, the near absence of an audience is a saving grace.
DeleteMimi is looking to change her name to Mimi Africa , True story ... haha
ReplyDeleteThat should be Me Me Africa.
DeleteThanks for the history again. Perhaps some of you may want to come into my show to talk about past programs like the Ring. Maybe a show with excerpts could be put together for State of the Arts.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting idea, but I very much doubt that it will sit well with Reimers and Bates. I would tune in, perhaps even participate in some small way.
DeleteContact Manya via the WBAI website, the program's name is Through the Opera Glass. She produced and hosted many Ring Cycles. Bon Chance!
DeleteReach out to Manya through the WBAI website. Manya produced and hosted the Ring Cycle for years.
DeleteA
I sent an email. I hope she says yes. Maybe we can do it in April or May.
DeleteSince I didn't start listening until 1978, I can't add anything to the pre '77 comments. All I can say is that from the time I started listening to Samori coming in, it was a much better station than after Samori decided to lead the radio revolution.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Times up. Was the FY paperwork completed?
ReplyDeleteFY 2016 Audit...?
DeleteGood question... Ha Ha Ha... NO!
They're hoping for an Extension, though!
~ 'indigopirate'
You know what? In the past almost three weeks I have only listened to OTH on WBAI. I really don't miss the station at all. I popped it on momentarily a few times in the past few days and heard them begging for money yet again, which sent me right over to WFMU or WFDU (depending on what was on them). WBAI has just become that totally irrelevant to my life.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Many of us feel as you do. After what these lowlifes have done to the station, it will cease to exist and only a handful of gullible people will mourn. That frequency could be used for meaningful radio again and, the bozos having lowered the bar below ground level, even the blandest blather can effect that.
DeleteI'm more interested in playing Call of Duty: WWII. I'll get more out of life playing that than wasting time on WBAI and Pacific antics. My hospital stay made me realize my mortality, and that I should have fun with what remains of my life, rather than wasting time on self-absorbed morons.
DeleteActually, I did learn some things from my health issue - how to professionally dress a wound, give myself (and others) IV antibiotics, etc. That's more than I'd ever learn on WBAI these days.
By the way, I have about four more weeks of the IV antibiotics, and the toe is healing up well.
SDL