If there was anything Berthold Reimers wanted as much as money, it was publicity. No, not for himself, just for the radio station that pays his undeserved salary. What started almost a decade ago with an embellished resumé and an amateur selection committee, eventually became a destructive game of hide and have others go seek.
With Reimers behind the green curtain, no lie is too big to attract donations, no disrespect for the listener-sponsor too callous. Blinded by ineptitude, this pedestrian accountant was, ironically, hired to stem the tide of growing aftereffects generated by his predecessors and thus to save WBAI. However, there is a downside to even the most successful dishonesty: the greed and desperation that constantly drove this "manager" to cross the border into moral neglect was also big enough to attract the truth he dreaded so much.
So details are beginning to surface. SPARK is an excellent, highly informative online publication devoted to Community Radio—no, not the narrow, race-based "community" that is proving to be WBAI's undoing—the broad intellectual community that Pacifica was meant to serve.
You are probably already familiar with the content of this issue of SPARK, but here it is as less informed readers will see it.
So details are beginning to surface. SPARK is an excellent, highly informative online publication devoted to Community Radio—no, not the narrow, race-based "community" that is proving to be WBAI's undoing—the broad intellectual community that Pacifica was meant to serve.
You are probably already familiar with the content of this issue of SPARK, but here it is as less informed readers will see it.
What matters here is that, as noted at the close, this means probable bankruptcy, and that ESRT can force the sale of assets, including licenses.
ReplyDelete~ 'indigopirate'
I guess Reimers free air bit is supposed to be his smart idea to get the radio industry behind WBAI. He must think that all the corporations will be more than happy to support free rent for themselves, etc. Good luck in the land of lollipops.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the New York Radio Message Board, has people threading on the ESRT victory topic.
http://www.musicradio77.com/wwwboard/
SDL
Should I have expected anything different from the PNB meeting tonight? Point of point of point of...
ReplyDeleteSDL
WBAI has the solution to its financial problems in its hands. Right now they are selling a premium called "Unleash Your Inner Millionaire". Bates or Reminders should get this premium and they will be able to pay the ESRT judgment in no time.
ReplyDeleteThe very same thought occurred to me :)
DeleteHave you noticed any changes on the air Chris? It sounds like business as usual except for some new premiums.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been listening much, but I have noticed that the shamefully dishonest infomercials are being re-run while there is less off-the-cuff pitching by individual clingons. I am not aware of there having been an order to ease up, so I suspect we are witnessing a general laissez faire—reality finally beginning to sink in.
DeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteLatest bill from ESRT is $2.4 million- including expenses.
From Current.
Thank you.
Ed Manfredonia
Maybe they can put a hot dog stand in front of the building that houses their sound closet and make a few bucks..?
DeleteSDL
A bargain noodle table would be more their speed.
Delete"Reimers Ramen" - An Afrikan treat!
If the final judgment is for that amount, the annual interest at the statutorily-mandated rate of 9% will be $216,000. It will compound annually. If they don't pay this off quickly, they will basically need a whole fund drive just to cover the interest.
DeleteA hot dog stand? According to Null, feeding a person hit dogs is like feeding him arsenic. Maybe they can sell vegan hot dogs. Think of how much revenue that would generate.
DeleteNull blithely and with spurts of enthusiasm puts up with station “management’s” trampling on stated principles, so objecting to hot dog sales would only underscore his hypocrisy.
DeleteReimer's Wieners? Made without white bread, and condiments are FREE like the rent!
DeleteReimer's Wieners actually has a good ring to it. Reimer's Ramen does, too. We may be onto something here.
DeleteSDL
I speak as is so often the case in every sense in ignorance, but, for whatever very little they may be worth, a thought or two…
ReplyDeleteWe don’t know yet, at least publicly, what they may owe ESRT for their legal expenses.
The most current estimate we have, publicly, for what they owe to ESRT to date is ~$2.4m.
At present understanding, publicly, they will continue to accumulate additional monies owed ESRT at ~$50,000+/mo through 2020.
We do not know or have any indication, publicly, if ESRT is interested in facilitating or negotiating a sale, lease, or swap of some sort, or simply prefers to go after their properties, perhaps WBAI’s (commercial) license in particular.
We do not have any firm sense, publicly, how swiftly ESRT is likely to act.
Also, of course, as is infinitely long-standing custom, we have no idea, publicly, what ‘ideas’ Crosier and the Pacifica National Board may have, the positions of the various feuding factions, and cannot therefore guess, as outside observers – spectators, really – what seems likely to unfold.
From a simple spectator’s perspective, this seems a less-than-entertaining bit of entertainment.
~ ‘indigopirate’
ps: Any more knowledgeable or expert opinions/thoughts more than welcome :)
The entertainment is in the suspense. We know that Little Nell will be in jeopardy at the end of each episode of an old time serial, but we don't know what form it will take.
DeleteIf the last PNB meeting is any indication, the plans are to argue over who has a right to be chairperson...
DeleteSDL
First, I am not an attorney in any what shape of form, just a former board member of a non-profit.
ReplyDeleteThis came across my desk at one point, and is relevant to WBAI: UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, Case No. 10-15446 (SHL), TERRESTAR NETWORKS, INC v. U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION:
"For the reasons set forth below, the Court concludes that Defendants U.S. Bank and the Note holders have a valid lien on the economic value of the S-Band (broadcast) License, and nothing in Article 9 of the NYUCC or Section 552 invalidates this lien." Note this states the economic value of the license, not the license itself, which would be prohibited by the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. T
Now cones the interesting parts: If the original WBAI transfer / donation agreement from Louis Schweitzer only allows transfer to another non-profit, IE a restricted donation / endowment, what then?
There was a time when Lou. became so disgusted with the then much milder change at WBAI that he suggested Pacifica consider selling it, so I assume that he did not include such a restriction in his gift agreement.
DeleteLou became extremely disappointed when Post and Josephson were allowed to start wrecking the foundation that inspired him to make his generous gift.
A donor can remove a restriction up to the time of their death (or trigger removal of the restriction by their passing)
ReplyDeleteI have a hypothesis that black people are really the first aliens from space, and that's why Area 51 and Roswell and all that are kept so secret.
ReplyDeleteSDL
That is irrational. Clearly, they are the descendants of the Mole People who lived in the center of the Earth.
DeleteNow, SDL, you know full well that nobody can keep a secret as well as white. Africans came here in droves as long as 61,000 years ago. They built extraordinary cities and infrastructures, procreated the so-called American Indian into existence, wrote the great "Greek" literature, etc.
DeleteWhen whitie popped up as a byproduct of all this, he kept his mouth shut, burned the African books and managed to keep it all a secret until busybodies like "Dr. Ben", Henrik Clarke, Imhotep Davis and other con artists had to blab it out!
Maybe I should ask Geoff Brady...
DeleteSDL
No, no, NO!!! He became one of them when he refurbished a stolen Aura and dickered with its code!
DeleteJeez, it's so big it's beyond a conspiracy! Maybe I should just believe everything I hear on AM Coast to Coast with George Noory? I know The Remnants who call in do, even Tom from the Bronx.
DeleteSDL
Tracey rumor is back taxes not paid on land/buildings in Berkeley? 350K?
ReplyDeleteHasn't filed exemption with county auditor in years?
Monday, October 9, 2017
ReplyDelete9:30 PM ET
Executive Session
Reason for Executive Session
To consider matters relating to individual employees, proprietary information, litigation and other matters requiring the confidential advice of counsel, commercial or financial information obtained from a person on a privileged or confidential basis, or the purchase of property or services whenever the premature exposure of such purchase would compromise the interests of the Foundation.
This special meeting is called by Directors Nancy Sorden, Maskeelah Washington, and Jim Brown.
Pacifica National Board
Emergency Meeting
Monday, October 9, 2017
9:30 PM ET
Reason for Emergency
to discuss a financial issues that require immediate attention and possible action by the board, and which of necessity make it impracticable to provide notice
This special meeting is called by Directors Nancy Sorden, Maskeelah Washington, and Jim Brown.
Posted Friday, October 6, 2017
Archive Soon
Haven't figured out cyber-gation here, but the NYTimes printed "one more loss in a city that can’t seem to hold on to its most captivating idiosyncrasies.". Another might come to mind.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I tuned in today I had to tune right out. A UFO conspiracy DVD would even be a welcome interruption to the monotonous race stuff. WBAI bitches about the ESRT making profits from 9/11? WBAI tries to make profits from racism.
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting for Mimi to hawk a make-up kit called Black Like Me.
They'll never learn.
SDL
Scream Mimi's Oct 4 condemnation of the ESB keeps running, with no mention of the fact that Pacifica/WBAI lost. I am told that Bates schedules these reruns—what an idiot this creep is!
DeleteAlso, of course, not very wise of the station witch to play the "victim/race" card on judgement day!
That burnt cork seems to be further impairing this poor creature's ability to think. I have downloaded and will be posting the outburst in question.
Hey, the strategy of insulting the ESRT worked really well... in pissing off the ESRT, I bet. Good going Linda Perry.
DeleteSDL
There was a time when I thought Linda Perry had brains.
DeleteIf you had heard her circa 1979/1980, you wouldn't have. Jeez, was she a dummy. with her political ignorance, wicca crap, etc. I was happy when she quit her show to moved out of town, for a job, I think.
DeleteSDL
She was very close to Steve Post—that ought to have raised a Guinness-sized flag.
DeleteEvery time I hear Mimi talk about black people and use the words "we" and "us", I am reminded of the old joke about The Lone Ranger and Tonto being surrounded by 1,000 hostile Indians.
DeleteI often wonder if she realizes how ridiculous she is in her oral blackface.
DeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteDid Mimi have botox injections? I have no opinion on Mimi. But I noticed few wrinkles on her face.
Ed Manfredonia
when the phone line was cut due to non payment, wasn't it just Verizon's fault for "overcharging" them? Looks like a pattern here...stating the obvious...
ReplyDeleteYes, what you point to is a cowardly inept "management's" modus operandi.
DeleteCloser parallel to the lease than you think. Whoever ordered the lines didn't check the price and do the math for the plan they took, which turned out to be the most expensive one.
DeleteSDL
Stupidity is more blinding than I had thought.
DeleteThey are now hawking a premium with are person whose accent is so thick, that he (or she ?) is incomprehensible. Given the idiocy that WBAI broadcasts (especially during fund drives), that may be for the best.
ReplyDeleteThis afternoon, I heard Kathy trying to sell a book that can only be purchased through WBAI (sounds like a self-published piece of crap still looking to cover manufacturing cost). As far as I could gather, it's about Socrates either having been black or having ripped off African literature/thought.
DeleteAnyway, it knocked Kathy for a loop and revised her thinking. Her co-huckster is, I believe, an African who hosts a WBAI show, has a heavy accent, and compounds his unintelligibility by mumbling and dipping down to a new whisper.
That ludicrous one-hour pitch was followed by a Null rerun—one where he "had a meeting with Berthold Reimers this morning" and will be announcing a major fundraising approach. I wonder what that referred to.
WBAI should do a March on Washington to protest the lease decision. Then all the WBAItes who partake in the march should stay there.
ReplyDeleteSDL
Don't worry, SDL, the day of reckoning is nigh.
Delete$2.4 million and growing. I really wonder if Null is going to come in and lease out lots of time to run his PRN shows.
DeleteSDL
I would not put anything past Gary Null. He's the snake in the leaky condom.
DeleteBoth OTH and TPCS are doing the poor little victim WBAI bit.
ReplyDeleteAll together now "They just don't get it!"
SDL
Yup, they just don't get it. Still, I bet they know what BS this in, so it comes down to values: keep the show or let go of integrity.
DeleteYes, it's about keeping your show regardless of what dishonesty you need to shovel down the listeners' throats.
DeleteSDL