Wednesday, December 26, 2018

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

Friday, December 21, 2018

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. 

Thursday, December 20, 2018

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

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Apparatchikanery?


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


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

Or otherwise...?

~ 'indigopirate'

Friday, December 14, 2018

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

Thursday, December 13, 2018

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

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

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,

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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'

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

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 . . .


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

Monday, December 3, 2018

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)!