I have respect for Linda Perry's work in many ways, but I think Berthold Reimers—the squatting do-nothing GM— compounds his years of mis-direction by adding her to his long list of absurd, destructive ideas. Appointing Linda to hold the PD position will, I strongly suspect, prove to be a short-lived disaster.
Mistake number one is, in my opinion, to hire anyone from the womb. I know this is something Linda has wanted, but I will be very surprised if it works—Reimers has already shuffled the programs around in a meaningless way and hired some of the worst host/producers in town to lower the station's level of intelligence and all but wipe out any significance that remained.
I predict that Leonard Lopate will have a short run at WBAI this time around, and it will have little or nothing to do with the allegations made against him at WNYC.
What do you think?
Perry has never shown any qualifications for any managerial job. She an opinionated mental midget who never did any worthwhile programing. I wonder why Reimers would even waste the time, unless it's to somehow stop a problem over her spat with Bates from a few months back.
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She adheres to the current party line. It was not too long ago that she recorded a propaganda promo echoing Reimers' fantasy about WBAI being a "victim" of the ESRT. She has also been lobbing for that job.
DeleteI remember that. I was laughing at it. She really is one of the dumber people there. I guess she has an otherwise drab life, so WBAI makes her feel like she has some worth.
DeleteMaybe she can institute the Ohm Hour. Once, circa 1980, she tried to get 10 people on the phone to do a Buddhist type 'Ooohhhmmmmm" with her. It was one of the funniest radio disasters I ever heard. It was when prank callers were at their peak, so most of the people calling in started screaming, "Fuck you!" and other choice words. However, it took her thick skull a while to realize what a disaster it was and end it.
Perry was always a big joke at WBAI.
Anyway, I caught Lopate's debut (via archives) while eating a late dinner. Honestly, Not good, not bad. He was very WNYC in style. His guest was OK. The one hysterical things was after Lopate introduced his guest, the guest made comments about Lopate being fired from WNYC, which Lopate ignored. One nice thing was not being hit over the head every 20 seconds with the racism cast iron skillet, like on every other show. I'm sure that will change very soon, though.
SDL
The latest from Andrea Katz, nothing like long term planning!
ReplyDeleteHi Folks-
Please register your premiums ASAP. If you are not available for your regular program because of a vacation, or wish to donate your time slot please let me know ASAP.
Berthold will be sending the schedule shortly.
Premium Registration Info:
1- Premiums are registered through the staff page (www.wbai.org/staff). Where schedules and dates of the drive are posted.
2- Register premiums as soon as possible. Same day or at show time registrations cannot be accommodated.
3- Premiums are not registered until you receive an email saying it has been put on the donation site and a link for you to check the accuracy on give2wbai.org.
4- Previously offered premiums must be registered. Just fill in the form with your show name, the name of the premium, the code in the description box, check off previously offered, and enter the air date. Put XXX in all other fields.
5- Weekend through Monday show registrations need to be completed by end of business on the Thursday before.
6- Premium pricing is sent to Berthold for approval prior to your registering an item.
7- Tallies for each day are posted on the staff site.
Please note that Berthold Reimers will approve. or not, the PRICING of each submitted premium.
DeleteObviously, there is no level-headed responsible person around who is charged with consumer protection. Under real, concerned management, every premium submitted would be checked for suitability, fraud, etc.
I thought the Lopate debut yesterday was good. I really enjoyed his guest Clyde, particularly his positive, optimistic view of his journalist colleagues. I too noted his reference to the WNYC firing - couldn't believe it !
ReplyDeleteToday's - day 2 - was another matter. Power to the earnest lady organic farmer, but unfortunately, she - and the subject - were not compelling. We'll see if Lopate is short-lived, as Chris predicts.
The quality of Lopate's old WBAI show always depended on his guests. I think we're going to see the same thing happening now.
DeleteOne thing I am genuinely curious about is how many people will carry over from WNYC and how much he earns during the upcoming beg-a-thon. After that, I think we can gather a better picture of his value to the station.
SDL
Perhaps Lopate will be offered as a premium.
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