Some 2018 Ratings.

(Note: Nielsen has 13 rating periods a year. Dec is actually part November and a chunk of Dec and they shoehorn in a “Holiday Ratings Period” for #13)

WBAI's Weekly CUME 

                         Aug            Sept               Oct                      Nov                      Dec   

                        72,200         126,800           122,300                 118,400                    72,900 

                                

WBAI  AQH Share

                        .1                  .2                     .1                       .1                         .1

For comparison:

                                

 KPFK Weekly CUME

                     102,500         109,400        144,000            137,100                142,000 

                                

KPFK AQH Share

                          .1                   .1                  .1                      .1                            .1

UPDATE (correction) from Nielsen!

CLICK ON ABOVE LIST TO ENLARGE

Contemptuous Yes or No?

This latest display of contempt for the members, the listeners, & apple pie, is revealed in all its audible glory here.

This latest display of contempt for the members, the listeners, & apple pie, is revealed in all its visible glory here.

'FJC' . . . 'Jehovah' . . . 'G-d' . . . is there a difference?

🔺🔻🔺🔻

Here—courtesy of "indigo pirate'—is another copy of the above audio clip. It is skillfully reduced to less than 8 minutes without loss of essence. 

Hush money?

Sometimes a comment is justified in real time. This concerns the PNB currently in progress. It's an emergency meeting called by most of the minority grouping/faction: Adriana Casanave, DeWayne Lark, Joseph Davis, & William Heerwagen.

https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/pnb181220/pnb181220_5805_agenda.pdf
https://kpftx.org/index.php (livestream)

Just now, at 9.17pm ET, the PNB Chair, Nancy Sorden, acted egregiously, exceeding her powers by taking the PNB into immediate private session. The item was the $3.265m loan from the Foundation for the Jewish Community (which uses the abbreviation FJC). She had reprimanded Adriana for mentioning the word 'FJC', saying this is confidential, & when Chair Nancy heard the obscenity again she cut the stream.

The thing is, the PDF of the agenda mentions the unmentionable twice (page 1). It also appears twice in a link from the grid calendar: "[p]urpose: Special meeting to discuss the FJC loan and WBAI motions from Heerwagen" (the 8.30pm public session); & "[p]urpose: Special meet to discuss FJC Loan and the financial information related to it" (the 11.30pm private session).

https://kpftx.org/pacalendar/cal_show1.php?eventdate=20181220

In a few of my comments here I've mentioned Pacifica's proud press release of F6Apr, announcing the Empire State Realty Trust settlement. It also says this:

"[funding for the settlement was provided through a loan from the non-profit lender FJC, which includes a reserve amount that frees Pacifica from making payments for the first eighteen months of the loan and interest payments only for the following 18 months before the loan matures after three years."

Moreover, the press release cites Chair Nancy even referring directly to FJC! This is what she said:

"'I’d like to first thank the Pacifica National Board, for deciding on this approach and the enormous amount of work they put into it to get us to this point. Second, to FJC for providing this loan at a very difficult time for Pacifica, and third to the team of professionals that helped [blah, blah] as well as Marc Hand of the Public Media Company, who helped negotiate the settlement with ESRT and provided brokerage services with FJC.'" 

The statement ended with descriptions of Pacifica, Public Media Co., and . . . FJC:

"About FJC[:]

FJC, A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, is a 501c(3) public charity whose mission is advancing donors’ charitable goals and financial planning through creative and pioneering solutions including its non-profit Agency Loan Fund (ALF). FJC offers the ALF as an investment option to donor advised funds and to qualified tax exempt not-for-profit organizations. ALF loans have helped finance projects for public radio and television stations, the establishment of group homes for the disabled, classes for special needs children, programs at community centers for the aged, adult literacy programs, cultural institutions, and arts programs."

This press release, as I write, is still being carried by at least two Pacifica stations, WBAI & KPFK:
https://www.wbai.org/articles.php?article=3570
https://www.kpfk.org/blogs/kpfk-and-pacifica-news/post/pacifica-announces-settlement-with-empire-state-building-and-empire-state-realty-trust/

Guess Chair Nancy needs to get out more, or, if she insists on staying stuck in her basement, to at least keep up with what's on the station websites – indeed, she can even ask the Chair of her LSB, Mr Simms, for a copy of the email he's withholding, the one I sent to her & all the other delegates of the WPFW LSB, which has a link to the Pacifica press statement at WBAI.

Every Pacifica officeholder needs training in what counts as confidential in the meaning of FCC rules. It is pathetic that delegates & directors can just mention 'confidential' & get away with it every f'ing time. Tonight this corrosive & self-harming secrecy culture plummeted to a new nadir.

The ignorance, in both senses, of Pacifica's 'leaders' is truly breathtaking.

(Jara Handala's lengthy 3-part réponse to one of the comments can be downloaded here in PDF format). 

As the World Churns...

Grace Aaron Explains It All For You

A Bookkeeper Demurs – And Then Some

We have here a few snippets, snip snip snip snip, from the KPFK LSB of Sunday Last, only made available earlier today.

Grace Aaron helpfully explains that Pacifica isn't in default, for the simple reason that, while it may not be in compliance with its loan agreement's requirements, that... well... it's okay because you're not in default unless a judge formally rules that you're in default.

Also, that there's no possible problem renewing the massive outstanding loan because the buildings securing the loan haven't been sold out from under Pacifica.

And... what else was there...? oh, she offered the salient observation that there's no real problem because if Pacifica simply solves all its outstanding problems everything will be okay and there won't be any problems.

As to the character of the problems... she finds them horrifying and terrifying and appalling and unconscionable and also very bad.

Don't ask a mere pirate to explain this dazzling logic for you. It escapes a mere humble arrogant impertinent pirate's comprehension. I think my head is spinning. At least I hope it's spinning. If it's not spinning it may be permanently damaged... or the ship I'm not on is sinking.

It seems also, however, not to make infinite sense from a bookkeeper's perspective, as the latter part of this ~15:24 audio clip makes clear.

Clarity ≠ Pacifica

~ 'indigopirate'

Snippets

The enchilada 

Apparatchikanery?

Maxie Jackson is very much an apparatchik. As such he is devoted to process and procedures as he understands them.

Have a listen.

Is this the path for Pacifica's rebirth, its renewal, the way Forward...?

Or otherwise...?

~ 'indigopirate'

Jara Handala reports

Regardless of your station affiliation, I think you will find this Handala Report illuminating.

That time again...

It's that time of the year again, whether or not you believe in Santa. Even atheists like receiving a Christmas card, so I made this little video a few years back. It reflects my past in the world of jazz and blues. Almost all these wonderful people, whose card used to bring a smile to my face, are gone now, but I share the memories they gave me.  —Chris

Time well spent...

'Have we had problems getting information...? – Absolutely.' 

– Anita Sims, NETA

🔄🔄⇜⇝🔄🔄

Following is a list of items/discussions, with start times noted...

Executive Director Report with Q&A

~0:00

R. Paul Martin's motion requesting further information on loan terms

~12:43

Report from Anita Sims of NETA

~30:27

Individual Station Budget Reports

~47:02

Discussion re Enquiry re Election Costs

~1:08:08

~ 'indigopirate'

The meeting in full (almost)

Since the posted portion of the stream is about 73 minutes long, Indigo has selected five salient sections and marked the start time of each. —Chris

DeJUC-ed bylaws changes?

Non-Cerenic, de-Adriana'ed PNB members have not been as idle as their unfelt presence has indicated recently. Here, in a downloadable PDF file, are their proposed changes to the hopelessly tangled, cumbersome Pacifica bylaws: 

Proposed bylaws amendment,

Feeding the few...

Today, December 5, 2018, hypocrisy polluted the air at full strength as America finally bid former President H. W. Bush a relatively final farewell. Broadcasters throughout the land scooped up and flung into receptive ears a mixture of prescribed imagination and tears that would make a crocodile weep, as it were.

Apropos imagination, WBAI did not deviate from its toxic trajectory as it began the day with an intensified Mimian Rosenberg Rant. The victims of White America's venom  included tantalizing Hollywood Latinas, said the mouth that bores—white old Mimi performed her liar's Limbo routine for a remnant of WBAI's listenership as accomplice Michael Haskins had as hard a time maintaining his balance. 

Then Amy Goodman provided an hour of sanity and the morning continued riding a crest of hatred with Bonnie Faulkner blaming every ill on the late Bush. Was he an angel? Far from it, but he was an accomplished illusionist—Faulkner did not have to twist the truth too much, but going overboard is the foundation upon which her show, Guns and Butter, is based. If she did not work hard to foment bigotry and hatred, Reimers would not have dredged her up from the West Coast Pacifica pond.

We don't know if Reimers made the decision to give Faulkner a WBAI soapbox, but that would be in keeping with his years of demonstrated irresponsibility. Linda Perry, however, needs to explain why she—in her role as PD—allowed this to happen. Yes, there have been favorable changes under Linda's command, but far too many unsavory lumps have been left in the soup. We know that fear of pink slips has gripped Mimi and her wrecking crew, so I may be doing Linda a disservice by being impatient, but pinning a rose on a turd makes it no less disgusting.

If Reimers still stands in the way of Linda's hopes for a renewed, acceptable WBAI, she ought to speak up—publicly. I wonder how much Pacifica's new ED, Maxie Jackson III, knows about the situation at WBAI—he has his hands full of inherited problems, but he has also participated in some of the hopelessly handicapped PNB meetings. Indigopirate's excerpts from Tuesday night's PNB meeting provide a sliver of clarity although it is chaired by WBAI's Double Helix Queen, Kathy Davis.

☁☁☁☁☔☁☁☁☁     

Pacifica National Board, Programming Committee

4 December 2018

For those foolish enough to engage in following the decades-long Pacifica Follies, these excerpts from the PNB Programming Committee Meeting of 4 December may prove of some interest in that they provide a measure of insight as to Executive Director Maxie's approach and philosophy perhaps not previously available.

They speak for themselves, I think... 

~ 'indigopirate'

PNB Meeting (abbreviated)

PNB December 4, 2018 Meeting - Part 1

PNB December 4, 2018 Meeting - Part 2

Breakdown of a breakdown

Surprise, surprise, Randy [Credico] is a prospective candidate for WBAI's LSB. His name was added to the list either today (Tu4Dec) or yesterday. He's a nominee because no-one on the 10 Pacifica lists (listener, staff; five stations) has been verified as an eligible candidate; candidates will be told if they're kosher a week Friday (perhaps after sunset), 14Dec, according to the timeline.

For each station, there are nine vacant listener seats, & three for staff. For the 45 listener seats there are 86 names down, &, for the 15 staff ones, 31 names; so, 60 seats, 117 happy but nervous bunnies. Not surprisingly some stations are more excited about the pseudo-election than others, although the only contest with more vacancies than candidates is 'WPFW listeners': five Duracells for the nine seats. The distribution of candidates is KPFA, 18 & 5; KPFK, 24 & 8; KPFT, 17 & 7; WPFW, 5 & 4; WBAI, 22 & 7.

At the Tu20Nov PNB, two election timeline motions were presented: one from the KPFT Local Elections Supervisor, Ms Alma Viscarra, who now also acts as the National Elections Supervisor (31:59); the other, an ambush from director Carole 'I-was-a-co-founder-of-the-Sojourner-Truth-Organization' Travis (25:12). The former never got voted on because the latter got passed, 11-7 (big kerfuffle about whether it needed 2/3rds: it didn't). Alamo-Alma's predecessor, Graeme Drew, was going to announce the election results on M31Dec. Alma's motion had M15Apr, but obviously that was absurd, pure time-wasting, moving far too slowly for the Grace/Carole juggernaut, in fact, *10 weeks too slow*, so they pushed for Tu5Feb. Maxie made a plea on behalf of the judgment of the newbie, but that was rubbished by the teamster duo. Avanti! Crush the Fabians! After all, Alma is simply the NES, what can she know; Grace/Carole, the Siamese twins, omnipotent, all-seeing, all-knowing, Pacifica's very own gorgon – hopefully Medusa . . .

Hear it here.

Of course, all this means that Maxie isn't Grace's latest best friend. She's burnt that bridge – & it only took her six weeks. Guess CA really is the home of fires. Also noticed that the election website's timeline is defying the Board, with a M25Feb date – albeit with the proviso, "pending approval from the PNB" (sure to come up at Thursday's PNB).

On W28Nov I asked PNB Chair Nancy for a copy of these two motions. Not surprisingly I haven't even received an acknowledgment – nor an early Christmas card, which is more upsetting.

Meanwhile back in PacificaWorld, what may cause the juggernaut to crash is driver error, surprise, surprise. Remember, no evidence has been presented that the pseudo-membership list has been miraculously transformed into a membership list during the last five weeks, since M29Oct, when Mr Drew declared it unusable for an election. The crux is that a corrupt membership list will include lots & lots & lots of Gogol's dead souls. This will artificially inflate the list, bloating the corpse. And that makes it even harder than usual to make quorum, the magical 10% of members (c. 5k). Indeed, someone on the PNB mentioned the big Q question – & how crucial it was to avoid a re-run election, with all that extra cost. Serious self-injury beckons. 

—Jara Handala

Mimi's Metathesiophobia

With all the bogus remedies and "cures" WBAI tries to sell its handful of listeners during Reimers' endless beg-a-thons, one wonders why they haven't come up with a cure for  Metathesiophobia, a mental malady from which opportunistic WBAI inmates commonly suffer: Fear of change.  

In this case, it is not so much change per se that has the JUCs and JUCettes scrambling—it is the fear of their own downgrading coming undone. A fear of change to their own change, as it were. I think most of you know what I am talking about. 

In recent months, Linda Perry has worked hard to pull the station out of a morass of lies, misinformation and, by default, criminality. It is probably an impossible mission, but there is nothing more to lose, so any positive attempt to restore significance to WBAI should be encouraged and supported—even against the odds. The overwhelming majority of dedicated, thinking listener-supporters have already shown their dissatisfaction with what WBAI offers on the air these years. Unlike station management and the individuals behind this insurrection invitation, listeners once admired the principles upon which Lewis Hill and  a few friends created Pacifica almost 70 years ago.

Remarkably, many of WBAI's current voices fail to distinguish between fact and fiction. In its early years, the station functioned in great part as an antidote to bland, misinformed blather and corporate/government spin. It  offered honest assessments of current events and re-examined a past that continued to be distorted.

There continues to linger a splash of virtue at WBAI, but it is too sporadic to draw or maintain a dedicated audience, which is why upgrading the program content is an absolute necessity. Most of us recognize this fact, as does Linda, which is why she has begun the laborious process of wiping the slate where needed and bringing in listenable, intelligent programs. This, of course, means that the dross has to be flushed out and changes made. 

Berthold Reimers, the figurative "General Manager" should never have been hired—it took him less than a month to demonstrate his uselessness, but that decision is solely up to the equally inept and miscast PNB. They must like the way he juggles the books.

So here we are, the bizarre effort to downgrade and sink WBAI while professing dedication continues. Instead of trying to give their shameful shows substance and ceasing to deceive whoever might tune in, the group that posted the letter below has opted for self-righteous, doomed rebellion. However, having told the erstwhile listener-supporters to go to hell, they obviously never stopped to consider why there is no longer sufficient interest in WBAI to keep it afloat—what matters mostly to these audio albatrosses is feeding their inflated egos and making a little money on the side.

They never ask themselves why the station's programming is being "dismantled" or they themselves "discarded." The answer is simple: they can or will not grasp the original concept of Pacifica. They have narrowed the station's "community" down to one that comprises a small fraction of a fraction—alienating thinking people of all races. Now they realize that the fire curtain, too, is finally coming down.

Let us hope that Linda Perry can cure their metathesiophobia.

The following note was submitted as a comment Sunday, December 2, 2018. Neither unexpected nor well written, but rather desperate and pathetic.

Click on Mimi's note to enlarge.

By the way, the last beg-a-thon ended in November and despite the current on-air promo where a poor misled lady falsely claims it was a success, the next one starts tomorrow (December 4)!

Nielsen Ratings

Click on above image to enlarge it.

Tangled Timelines

The election of new Pacifica officers is, as so often, behind schedule. In recent years, it has been a haphazard affair that brought to the various Boards a devastating number of unqualified wannabes and escaped the attention of most eligible candidates.

Now, in its infinite lack of wisdom and with the Election Supervisor having resigned in utter frustration, the PNB has decided to proceed, unescorted, with an election, loosely scheduled to take place in February. That date, however, is likely to be an optimistic rest stop on a tangled timeline.

This extends rather than establishes a concern among people who have come to think of the Pacifica Board as the epitome of sandbox governance. So it came as no surprise that representatives at last night's "Special" meeting of the Board chose to ignore all timelines—and, indeed, Robert's Rules—in order to forge ahead with the election, come hell or high water. 

One devoted insider suggests that a close look at the list of candidates, for that's where the money is coming from. As our informed source points out, the lists are not being updated, and that is the crux of the matter. Careless unprofessional handling of these elections form roadblocks that retard station operation.

It feeds the stagnancy that has gripped Pacifica stations in recent years and keeps the door open for JUCs and others of their ilk. It is a major factor in undermining Lew Hill's vision and to some it provides the delusion of a coup opportunity.

If you missed last Tuesday's streamed meeting on this subject, you may wish to spot-check the audio clips. It will confirm the futility and further explain why your favorite radio station has been brain dead for so long. 

Special PNB Meeting - part 1
Special PNB Meeting - part 2
Special PNB Meeting - part 3

Something in/on the air...

This morning, Sunday, November 18, 2018, WBAI's Program Director, Linda Perry, gave the station's Morning Show hosts notice, and posted the following.

I am trying to have a new schedule in place to begin in January, but it's all exhausting. On a positive note we have our old 212 phone numbers back, most of the phones have been installed and just need to be tweaked this coming week. We have also begun to build Master in the front space. So far windows have been sound proofed. Equipment has been ordered and the room has been painted. Rugs come this week. Begathon begins in December for two weeks again however and I don't think I can change how this is done  much between now and then. Regards,Linda

You may have noticed positive changes already, but you more than likely remain skeptical. Having been there and done that, I know what an enormous, time-consuming task it is to revamp the program schedule, even without being in any way hampered by Pacifica or coworkers at the station. We had a good-sized salaried and volunteer staff back in the Sixties and there existed a spirit of unity—a dedication to serve our listener-sponsors with quality programming.  Only later would I discover how tenuous that common goal was—that we had among our 25 salaried staff two or three harmful opportunists. Today, it is not a matter of making a good station better, it is more of a rescue effort aimed at making WBAI a good station again and restoring a disenchanted departed listenership. To achieve that, it is imperative that WBAI regard the community as a whole and aim at intellect rather than race-based in-groups.

If the powers that be give Linda the financial and moral assistance she needs, and leave her free to make final program decisions, she stands a chance to take the essential turnaround to a point where people once again begin to look to WBAI for intellectual stimulation. If she is allowed to do this without interference, talent will seek out the station—New York, of course, is a wellspring of creativity and original thought.

I strongly urge that we help, even those of us who are disgusted with the way WBAI has been vandalized and rendered inconsequential. If it takes the firing of Berthold Reimers and/or others to fuel listener assistance, I suggest that people make that known to Pacifica. Yes, I know that ineptitude and corruption also has infested the Foundation, but there are a few good people left.  —Chris Albertson

Pacifica under cork...

Just as counting Donald Trump's lies inevitably becomes an exercise in futility, so it goes if one sets out to chronicle the instances of mis-judgement and ineptitude that forge a path to Pacifica's obscurity. I use the term "obscurity" rather than death, for even the most generous of principled listener-supporters knows that the Pacifica Foundation has been on life support for many years and that the prognosis shows no sign of improvement.

We who admired Lew Hill's concept and took delight in seeing it blossom, always knew that it was—by its very nature—an ongoing work in process. My own involvement began as a volunteer at WBAI, but I later had the good fortune to play an active role at the Foundation level. We owned three radio stations and shared with a growing listenership the compelling spirit that fueled them. It didn't matter that we (listener-sponsors, volunteers and paid staff) had our artistic and intellectual differences—in fact, that was as it should have been—but we had as a common goal the perpetuation of founder Lew Hill's determination to create a significant voice in the wasteland that commercially-driven broadcasting was becoming in the late Forties.

With defiant integrity, whether expressing political or artistic observations, we kept our eyes and ears on the road ahead, while never losing sight of the past. We made no special effort to maintain a high intellectual level, but raising it was instinctive; as was gaining and developing our listener-sponsors' trust.

In the past few years, not only has that trust been shattered—the listenership has reached the nadir principled quality broadcasting could have avoided. I can speak most authoritatively about WBAI, but it is obvious that the disease of greed, inflated ego and ignorance is Foundation wide.

What used to matter, no longer does, what used to shine brightly, has become dull and utterly insignificant, what once enriched our intellect, misinforms. 

This blog was born out of love. When I resumed listening to WBAI after a long tuned out period, I was appalled by what I heard, but did not see it as a hopeless situation. I soon realized that the people at the helm knew or cared little for the station's remarkable birthright—it brought me back to the late Sixties when Larry Josephson and Steve Post seized an opportunity to fill a managerial vacuum created by Frank Millspaugh's considerable shortcomings. This is when they trampled all over Pacifica's principles and created for themselves personality-based shows that launched the dumbing down of WBAI's programming that now—decades later—has brought WBAI to a sub level of listenability.

When my offer of advisory assistance was ignored by management, I knew that I was fighting an uphill battle; it became clear that the station was undergoing a drastic downgrade under a managerial staff that had its own agenda, if any. I eventually decided to make this blog a forum for discussion and a platform for venting and whistleblowing. As we approach an access count of one million, I have given up any hope I had for restoration.

Currently, manager Reimers has all but disappeared and Linda Perry has been given the task of repairing the pathetic program schedule, but while some dross has been heaved, the racially biased leitmotif seems to have intensified. The message, of course, is that WBAI's "community" is ancestry-based and there is no sign of the kind of substantial improvement WBAI would need for  it to be taken seriously again. Giving credit where it is due, Linda Perry has cleaned up the act of some destructive predecessors, but Reimers is still there, simmering the books and pulling the wrong strings as he collects his $110,000.00 salary; ineptitude reigns and the Pacifica National Board fights and fizzles behind its closed door.

Below, are some links that sample the output of what has become New York's least meaningful radio station. I will be adding to this from time to time, posting notification at the top of the blog, but here is a look at a recent SPARK NEWS issue wherein Ken Mills is his usual informative self, and a painful moment from the dreadful Morning Show that has Michael Haskins singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". That he rebroadcast this "performance" on last Tuesday's show lends a hollow ring to his self-criticism. That Linda Perry hasn't taken Haskins off the air bodes ill for her restoration attempt. 

Then there's the contentious upcoming Pacifica election. One wonders why the PNB hired Mr. Drew to benefit from his advice, then ignored it when he gave it. One wonders less why Mr. Drew resigned.

Read/listen on...

Pacifica's involuntary transparency as observed by Ken Mills' SPARK NEWS.

Haskins sings shamelessly

Graeme Drew letter of resignation.

November 13 Marathon report reflects another Reimers failure to grasp reality.
Here, too, is the full meeting.

⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩

As always, WBAI's path of self-destruction is perfectly timed. The just finished, painfully low-yielding Fall fundraising marathon ended about ten days ago. Reimers' assurance that the vital multiple phone line system was being reinstalled turned out to be just so much hot air (what else is new?), but now Max Schmid declares mission accomplished (see his notice, below). Waiting until the six-week WBAI garage sale has tanked is in keeping with the ass backwards approach we have come to identify with Pacifica. Oh well, the rummage rip-off reopens December 4th... will the phones ring? Will David Rothenberg, Max, and others operating a personal WBAI franchise sell more of their junk? Will these people ever learn? 

From: Max Schmid <mschmid@wbai.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2018 2:18 AM
Subject: Re: [wbai-indy-caucus] Master control

...we have most of our old phone numbers back! We again have ten lines in MAster, plus two VIP lines, restoring full functionality. We also have the old marathon number back, so now Rothenberg can give out one number that rings on several extensions. 

PNB: Vote a mess...

In a longer piece I'll discuss two topics arising from the statement made by five KPFK LSB delegates, the one kindly posted by Chris: money, & the abandoned election. It means we have to consider the PNB's traumatised offspring, the pseudo-election process they gave birth to on Thursday, an act reminiscent of a certain visceral cinematic scene. This has been a long time in the making. It took many months, nay, years, to prepare Rosemary for Thursday evening. Now it has happened. So, expressed in the culturally-specific arithmetic found in PacificaWorld: let PNB = I & IL = RP, ⇒ I + RP = RIP.

Jara Handala's commentary.

The above link is to a downloadable PDF file

WBAI marketplace

WBAI's hide-and-go-seek manager, Berthold Reimers, maintains a low profile, but not a peep has been heard from him during the ultra long fund drive that supposedly ends today.

Of course, we don't miss his presence, but it would be nice if authentic tally amounts were made available. This time. as usual, the bottom line figures given by the treasurer  are lower than the totals imagined and privately mumbled by Reimers, but even if Gary Null didn't sell any of his $400 water purifiers, something changed hands over or under the counter. Frankly, the secrecy these people operate under clearly indicates that money is being manipulated in a way that does not benefit WBAI. How many times have we been told that a proper telephone call-in system is being installed? How many out-and-out, potentially deadly scams must listeners be victimized with before the WBAI asylum's inmates speak up? How low into the morass of deception and degradation will they sink this radio station before the decent among them come to their senses?

According to R. Paul Martin, the overpaid station chief is in Ireland, an untimely trip that raises its own questions, but WBAI faithful and former LSB member Mitchel Cohen has another question for this station stowaway: Is the WBAI marketplace selling anything? 

Mitchel Cohen is among the few station associates who has expressed his dissatisfaction with the way things are being mismanaged, but he is also a major apologist for Reimers and his view of WBAI's programing is a stubborn Fall leaf in the wind. Having said that, I still wish his line in the sand were thinner, but at least he isn't a total sellout. 

Today, Mitchel raised a flag via an email letter to Berthold Reimers. If he ever reads this letter, it will probably be deleted sans response, but here it is. What do you think is going on?