Saturday, December 20, 2014

Ad libs with a limited vocabulary...


If there were advance announcements of Friday morning's "Report To the Listener," they must have been made during one of WBAI's many presentations of dead air. I heard of it because I happened to tune in the morning tangle of audio gropes and heard the gee whiz kid, Haskins, mention it.

For once, Berthold Reimers was on time, but iPD Mario Murillo spent the hour on the phone from his car, unsuccessfully searching for a parking space. Also  in the cast were Andrea Katz, who has kept a very low profile for the past several months, and a guest of Reimers, the lady who runs CCNY's WHCR-FM. It was she who arranged for WBAI to rent a studio there.

As usual, hardly any concern was shown for the remaining diminish group of WBAI listeners, but compliments and platitudes were exchanged between the participants who, as it turned out, had been singularly dormant. Burning questions, such as where WBAI stands, financially, were not answered, but Haskins injected his false optimism whenever he could.

There were calls, but people obviously hadn't a clue as to what was going on, so they were off topic, asked irrelevant questions and were fluffed off. Murillo tried to bring up the programming work he has been doing and, in all fairness, let me note that he has indeed not sat idle by, but he has a South American agenda which gets  first priority. He apparently likes being heard on the air and it would seem that he doesn't really mind that totally inappropriate, mindless shows continue being aired.

I should add that Murillo has not responded to my question regarding the airing of false, sensationalized "news," such as Geoff Brady wallows in. I sent him an e-mail link, to make it easier, but that is also ignored. In fact, if you go to WBAI's poorly designed, error-ridden web site (mishandled by Andrea Katz's brother, Alan) you will find a curious listing of WBAI's "management" that leaves out the GM as well as the iPD.

Murillo mentioned that Doug Henwood is returning—which I see as a right step--but he gave no indication of who will get the boot—that is worrisome. There also were no updates on the various fundraising projects that have come and gone, such as the Africa Trip and Daultin Anderson's big church bang. Granted, they did say that the church  was "fun" and that some 300 people attended, but Anderson had announced grander expectations: he predicted that over 2000 churchgoers would show up. At one point, he even said that they would be fed. The absence of details and Anderson's own failure to give the event more than a passing mention on his program, the following day, leads to all sorts of speculation that, perhaps, this "lord" did not so readily find a way to heal this dying radio station.

Enough about Anderson's WBAI ministry's weekly two-hours of worship, here's another example of radio at its worst. It's a one hour panel discussion on an artificial subject, seemingly recorded on a not-so-smart phone in need of repairs. There is a hum throughout and the device is equipped with a volume compensator that thrusts the room noise at you whenever there is a moment of silence. One has to strain to hear what is being said, but these are black theater people (real and imagined) who are trying to justify the presentation of inferior productions. The excuse is that white critics don't have a sufficiently clear understanding of black people's problems and psyche to write valid reviews. Of course, they eliminate the fact that many theatrical works created and performed by black have had successful runs, been revived, made into movies, awarded trophies, etc.

These panelists are mostly fringe people whose work has not captured many imaginations, but my point is that the discussion is based upon defensive assumptions and the technical quality is embarrassing. This ought never to have been aired, yet it was heard twice. Listen to this fragment and see if you agree:



Apropos the kind of pap that scares off listeners, we have Kathy Davis, whose homespun sub-Reader's Digest "philosophy" is painful to hear. She has a sweet voice, but there is nothing behind it that warrants a hug. With Robert Knight out of the way, this "charming" lady saw her opportunity to take over the hour and a half he himself had wasted every Thursday at midnight. At first, she veiled it as a tribute, running some of his outdated, seriously biased blather, but that wasn't working, so she opened the mausoleum door ajar and let in one of Knight's companions. That, apparently was not working either, so somebody (Mario or Reimers, or both) told her that the program was too stale to do the station any good... fresh voices and subjects were needed. That also isn't working. This week Knight's friend was on again, interviewing Ray McGovern, a well-known former CIA analyst turned activist. This is a man whose accounts are often outrageous, but probably true—he spent many years on the inside with regular access to the clowns at the very top.

The recently revealed data on U.S. torture activity has brought Mr. McGovern into the spotlight again, so he is much in demand for interviews. Thus, his on-the-phone WBAI appearance was not in any way a scoop. He had interesting things to say, but Pauline, the lady who performed the interview, left important stones unturned. On the fragment that follows, you will hear some follow-up listener calls that drain the sugar out of sweet Ms. Davis. The first one is from a listener who dares to question the one-sidedness of the interview—Kathy rudely gets rid of him and goes on to a call from a lady who lavishes compliments on her, but makes the mistake of mentioning her nemesis, Alton Maddox! That, as we heard the week before, turns Ms. Sweetness sour.... well, listen:



Getting back to stagnation, poor radio, technical embarrassments and mishandling of phone calls, we have Bob Fass, who each week underscored the reason why he ought to have retired from WBAI years ago. The dead air that eventually shocks Bob into consciousness is not fabricated.

Here, too, we listen as callers either drone on with redundancy or arouse Bob's ire. He hates to be told that he is anything but the wonderful legend, as advertised, so when he has made uninformed assertions regarding a fatal Rikers Island incident, he is not at all pleased to hear from a gentleman who wants to set the facts straight. Bear in mind that this caller is courteous and respectful, and that he does not disagree with the outrage generated by this death. He just wants Bob to have the facts and be able to discuss this intelligently.

A one point, Bob tries to tell the man that he is not at all ignorant of the procedures, because—don't you know—he "I played the warden in The Three-Penny Opera."!!! That was over half a century ago, but had it been last week, Bob's use of it would have been just as laughable. Now the question becomes, how much did the late Kurt Weil know about prison regulations, and how do rules differ between London and New York? That fat lady who has started her song... could it be Lotte Lenya? Listen...

21 comments:

  1. Chris, you are wasting your time - you will never get a response from Mario(Mr. Vanguard). BTW, where is the Report to the Listener? Not on the WBAI web site - where is it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bring back Utrice Lied. At least she knew what she was doing, even if nobody else did.

    KGT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was under the impression that Utrice lied. :)

      Delete
  3. Chris. Are my posts not getting through? The past few haven't shown up. Seems that there is a new verify system and it may not be letting me through.

    SDL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SDL, I'm very sorry to hear that. I have given all your posts prompt approval, so perhaps I am the one who missed them?

      I wish I could eliminate the verify system, but it is keeping out spam, so I think I need it. If you know a way to get around this, please tell me.

      Delete
  4. That management graphic made me think of this old Peter Seller's movie, where he portrays a crooked hospital administrator who has a candy machine connected to the front of his office door, so no one can find him.

    I couldn't understand any of that first audio clip.

    Davis seems to have learned how to be a generic asshole of a talk show host. Good for her. Now she'll fit right in. Also, funny how the female caller has to imply white callers are intimidated to call into WBAI. So much for people not being racist...

    Sorry, but I'm not wasting fifty-four minutes of my life listening to the Bob Fass Alzheimer's Hootenanny Horror Hour. As The Who sang, "Won't get fooled again!" Speaking of that song. Another line fits WBAI perfectly for the past couple of decades: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"

    "He wants to make listen to Bob Fass, but I say no no no..."

    SDL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I listened to it so you don't have to...

      During the section of the show devoted to fracking, Fred read a list of anti-fracking activists mentioning Robert Knight twice for good measure.

      Eventually his phone line broke up and Bob switched to another caller who knew every detail about Riker's Island. Bob had earlier mentioned a negligent death there and this caller corrected some details. Bob didn't like being set straight but it was obvious that Bob was uninformed. The caller and Bob agreed on several points and the call could have been shorter if Bob didn't keep saying wrong things, which made the caller correct him again and again. It was like arguing with an older relative over the holidays.

      The well known Radio Unnameable long delay line echo, which is the pride of WBAI technology made its appearance during this...

      J.

      Delete
    2. Sad to say, your description is right on the money. Bob Fass should've retired a long time ago.

      Delete
    3. One would think that a small room like that with a small panel could be recorded with the microphone somewhere upfront but this is WBAI. What kind of device do you think they were using, SDL?

      Delete
    4. Answer your question?

      https://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/35755505/disp/52b2997d202367a3ae70fcf0d4a13514.png

      SDL

      Delete
    5. Yes, I knew you would have the answer, the Campbell 13A. Not at all a Progresso sound.

      Delete
    6. HAHA Good one!

      No, WBAI non capiscono l'italiano bene. Ma parlano ebonics perfettamente...
      (Spanish available upon request. Requests for Icelandic redirected.)

      But in all seriousnes. I really find it amazing that WBAI is such a technical disaster, considering even the smallest college stations and, especially, FM pirate radio stations sound steadier and better. It has to speak for the lack of ability of the relative staff and not lack of/age of equipment, which can be had cheap, and even cheaper second hand. WBAI just isn't run as a radio station. It's run as a political hangout. As we have seen, it just doesn't work that way.

      They really can't get some kid fresh out of college with a degree in radio electronics to be chief engineer? Probably not. WBAI is now a kiss of death rather than a stepping stone to advancement in the radio field. Jeez, even get one of the aging pirate guys from the golden age of local FM radio piracy (late1970s to mid 1980s). They are still around and could probably do wonders. Remember, they had the cheapest junk and made it work and sound good.

      SDL

      Delete
    7. That reminds me of James Maher, who used to tell anybody who asked him the hated question, "So what are you writing these days?" that he is translating his past work into Ebonics.

      Nobody wrote them a list of radio station priorities and they never listen to 99.5. Ergo, being mentally ill equipped, they haven't the ability to draw basic conclusions on their own. When a radio station sounds like a badly turned Edison cylinder, it probably has something to do with an old storm, a despised former employee, or a new Administration. Radio is to be listened to, not operated!

      I loved it when the bozos took credit for the release of the Jackson Five and, in general, the change in our relationship with Cuba. This, Haskins maintained, is why it so very very important that WBAI be supported and kept on the air. He did not say that we should thank WBAI for the Berlin Wall coming down or the end of Apartheid in South Africa.... but it was implied.

      Almost everything that needs to be done could have been accomplished if intelligent, caring people were at the helm. Too late for that now.

      Delete
    8. It comes down to this: the clowns at WBAI are neither radio people nor journalists; they are political activists who don't understand that radio has to be interesting and/or entertaining to attract listeners. They are just idiots spewing personal bigotry and hyperbole, if they aren't trying to simply sell some snake oil.

      See, this is why left wing attempts at talk radio, like Air America, have been failures. Th right wing bozos understand that they need to entertain the listeners. Rush Windbag, Michael Savage, Michael Medved, etc. understand this. The left doesn't. Tom Hartman is simply dry and dull. Hence, the masses aren't going to listen.

      Anyway, WBAI has one claim it can share with WOR and WABC - causing listeners to get fed up with extremist radio talk shows (left and right) and sending them over to WNYC FM & AM, whose ratings are on an upswing while the rest of them are on the downswing. Simple fact.

      SDL

      Delete
  5. Well, since holidays are solitary confinement for me (family all dead and no place open to go), I decided to clean, cook and listen to some webcasts I had to catch up on. Once done, I decided to torment myself with the Fass audio here. Well, actually, glad I did. Man o man did that last caller ever own Fass' ass. I couldn't believe how he even made him seemingly speechless at points. Well worth it to hear a know it all made a fool...

    SDL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your holiday activity and family status are about the same as mine. I'm glad you listened to the f ass call--he really doesn't get it, and in this instance he was as transparent as lucite. He is fortunate to only have a walk-in closet-full of listeners left. Bob has always been 80% facade.

      Delete
    2. Facade or Fassade? ;)

      SDL

      Delete
  6. SDL...based on your comments I listened to the Fass idiocy. That Rikers discussion is a great example of the mindset of progs like Fass. He refused to listen to what actually happens in reality because he lives in a dreamworld. A dream of utopia. All the cops are criminals and all the sinners saints kinda thing. The dream *feels* better than reality.

    You can actually hear Fass struggling -- massive cognitive dissonance -- a little reality was seeping into his head and you could tell it was painful for him. At least Fass engaged the guy -- most with his mentality would have hung up on the reality-bummer guy.

    rj.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Normally Fass would have cut off a contrarian caller like that. However, this man seemed to intimidate him into some sort of weakness.

      SDL

      Delete
    2. Fass' knee-jerk contrarian mode is running out of fuel. Kathy would have acted more like Fass used to—one of his m. o.s was to drown them out with music.

      Delete