The ongoing WBAI deceit...

In October of 2010, one of WBAI's true assets, Louis Reyes Rivera, was arbitrarily discarded by an "interim" program director, Tony Bates, presumably with the approval of then "interim" manager, Berthold Reimers. It was just one more glaring move in what has become known as the "Halloween Coup." Reimers and Bates were allegedly sent to WBAI with a mandate to right the wrongs of their predecessors and get the station back on its feet. That has not what happened, instead, this inept, corrupt management team has dragged WBAI further down the economic ladder and all but destroyed whatever respect was left. They have turned the station into a prime outlet for conspiracy theorists and medical quacks, a station whose time spent on fund-raising is ever expanded and utilized for scams in which this management team and its cronies enthusiastically participate. The listener-sponsor, without whose generosity WBAI cannot exist, used to be respected by all who worked at the station—they were our lifeline, our raison d'etre—and that respect was mutual. Now most of the listeners have gone elsewhere for the intellectual stimulation WBAI no longer offers, and some have been replaced by a nomadic listenership in search of light entertainment or racially-tinted rhetoric.

Mr. Rivera passed away on March 2nd of this year, leaving us a rich legacy, but also much work undone. WBAI management had callously disrespected him, failing—in its deplorable ignorance—to recognize the importance of having contributors of his intellect and creativity on the air. Other valuable producer/hosts were also thrown off the air or relegated to reduced air time in after midnight limbo. They were replaced by pap, fraud and commercial promotion, ranging from the cut-and-paste work of Robert Knight, a delusional hack who had been tossed out by a previous management team, to the aforementioned quacks, tabloid-like exploiters of fear, and purveyors of bland poppycock that can be had all over the dial.

The reigning hypocrisy and deceit that has taken over WBAI in recent years is well demonstrated by pointing to the station's offer of condolences to Mr. Rivera's family. It appears on the official web site and includes part of an interview given to Neo-Griot, writer Kalamu ya Salaam's blog, last November.

The WBAI piece neither acknowledges the source of the interview, nor admits that their's is a convenient abstract. Here, then, is a link to that interview in its entirety, and a portion that WBAI did not want you to see. The orange text—reproduced here in its original place—is what was omitted by WBAI. 

    

Although Mr. Rivera pointed out that his abrupt dismissal "had nothing to do with quality or performance," I believe it had everything to do with that—Louis Reyes Rivera was not someone whom they could manipulate or defang, he posed a threat to their systematic dilution of WBAI's program content.

In an interview on November 1st, 2010, Louis Reyes Rivera spoke of himself: 

I just got a phone call yesterday (October 31) from the interim Program Director at WBAI (Tony Bates) informing me that, as of the week of November 15, 2010, I will no longer be hosting my weekly radio program. 

I was informed simply that changes in programming were being made and that with the new grid (i.e., the programming schedule) in place, I was not on it and my program would no longer be aired.

I'd be allowed two final segments and that after the 15th, that's it.

I asked if I could be given a different time slot (my show airs from 2 to 3 p.m., on Thursdays).

The answer was a resounding, No!

You won't be on the air at all. 

ab: Please tell us about the reasons for the firing and about your program on WBAI. 

Louis: It's got nothing to do with quality or performance.

Having totally omitted the above (yellow) text, WBAI's site picks up Mr. Rivera's answer where it is safe:

"I've been at WBAI hosting a weekly show, 'Perspective,' for nine years with a focus on a blending of the arts and the social politic that drives the artist. With this format and a concentration on both poetry and Jazz, I've been able to interview poets, journalists, novelists, social activists, librarians, arts administrators and educators, promoters, social activists, musicians, composers, et al. 'Perspective' is the only Arts program that does this.

 In addition, I've brought to the station live bands (as many as 22-person orchestras) to perform on the air at no cost to the station.

In addition, I'm among the very few producers with direct ties to performing artists, and I've produced a number of programs that featured contemporary poets, Spoken Word Artists, etc., as specials. I've had the youngest performers (as young as six years old) and among the elders in arts (as old as 86 and still working).

In effect, by the time WBAI would be finished with me, I'd have established a genuine oral history of this period in relation to both the performing arts and the social activism that drives them. In effect, throughout its nine-year stint, 'Perspective' has enjoyed a huge following (relative to the station's listener base) from the New York Greater Metropolitan Area.  

As well, you should know that I have served as one of the five Shop Stewards of the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee, the contractual union for all unpaid staff, for the past seven years. Please take note that the staff at WBAI consists of less than 40 paid employees covered under AFTRA and well over 200 unpaid employees who have no other bargaining voice outside of USOC. The overwhelmingly majority of those 200 are the producers and staff of the programs aired."

The entire interview can be found here.

Quiet please, Scammers resting.....

They have put aside the Bates bamboozles until the next full scale assault on Pacifica's principles is launched. It won't be long, I can already see St. Kathy of Davis mounting her steed, Hufnagel banner in hand, and a thoroughly Thandiwed™ Scott tape is being digitalized and transferred to a no-wear medium. Knight is re-studying the Beck instructional DVD, Faulkner and Brady have reached across the land and consolidated their never-ending search for undesired truth. The WBAI Special Effects Dept. has temporarily reassigned its phone ringers to the monumental task of weeding through the mountain of fresh misinformation proposals that each fund-raiser brings in the mail—whose scam will make it the next time? Will a perennial fraud suffer its final frenetic pitch?

In the meantime, there has been a return to business as usual. This morning, Habte Selassie and Dred Scott were no-shows—oh, it wasn't their fault, it was yet another IPD malfunction. Perhaps Bates was distracted by the Guinness people, who are said to be scouting the globe in search of the longest "interim." Mr. Bates is considered a major contender for that title.

Could we have a drop of that magic water for the horse? Although the wait will not be long, the weight can be backbreaking.

Holy Thrivety: Bamboozling Bates, Cathy Coy, Reclusive Reimers

Early this morning, I heard another rebroadcast (complete with telephone sound effects) of the current fund-raising marathon's main scam du jour. It's a film called "Thrive"—and aptly so, because it forms the core of a thriving business. Bates and his sycophants are asking $80 for the DVD, a price that—he will tell you between stretched ripples of laughter—he had to "fight" for. He does not tell us whom he fought or whether it was to get it up or down, nor—of course—do he or his partners in scam reveal that the Amazon price for the same DVD is only $20 for an HD version and $5 more for the blu-ray. Five bucks is also what it costs to rent the movie, and you can stream it. 

Sounds like they have their shit together, but you ain't heard nothin' yet. There is even an online store for their Thrive merchandise, and you will love the Thrive theme song, which you can download in video or audio form. Hey, the lyrics are yours for a quick click, so gargle and go for it! To visit the Thrive Store, go here. 

Embroidered hats, coffee mugs, a variety of T-shirts, and DVDs in quantities—they've got it all. Or go here to pick up your very own promotional kit, to better help these people distance themselves from the 99%, pop in here.

If you think Tupperware™ parties were the cat's meow....  As you can see, this is a slick commercial business venture that plays on people's paranoia and easily won over a mercenary Bates and a gullible Davis. They went to one of the many Thrive screenings and apparently found what they were looking for: a new product with which to bamboozle what is left of WBAI's listeners. Tony and Cathy, that dynamic duo of deception, know that many of the station's listeners—having been dumbed down over the years—will fall for Thrive as readily as they themselves did (albeit for different reasons).

The Thrivers are more than mere merchants, they want you to think of them as a  "movement"—something like a well-endowed OWS on steroids—they want you to join in their efforts to make the world theirs. Well, something like that. To help you get that feeling of belonging and being a cog in their wheel, the Thrivers have devised numerous ways in which you can give them your money. Like Bates, they profess to hate banks (who doesn't, these days?), but are happy to take their credit cards. Hypocrisy? You bet, but hasn't that become a characteristic of the "peace and justice" "community" station? 

I urge you to go to the well-designed Thrive site and explore on your own, but—for goodness sake—don't buy the DVD there or at Amazon, it's much too cheap and they don't even have those phone-ringing effects to give you a sense of urgency. 

Seriously, the deceitful content of Thrive the film, and the disingenuous huckstering of it by Bates and Davis may bring in some money, but it underscores the moral bankruptcy of WBAI. That has not prevented Amy Goodman from making an appearance in a film—surely, she can see that Thrive is the embodiment of everything it purports to deplore and crusade against. 

These people are out-hustling Gary Null! No wonder Reimers is keeping a no profile—he knows what he is doing to WBAI, so he shuns any credit.

Apropos credit, I wonder if we will be given any kind of accounting? Will we be told how much this one brings in? How much the Thrive people get out of the deal? How WBAI's cut will be spent? And how about publishing some details regarding these secret meetings that are supposed to determine the status of Tony Bates? He and Reimers remain a major liability. I won't go into Knight and the rest of the deadweight, because showing the current managing team the door should take care of that dross and—if we are lucky—other frivolous "shows".


Update: Knight and Haskins add to the disgrace:


Bates lackey Knight is now pushing the Swedish-produced "Black Power Mixtape 1967-75," a well-produced mix of Swedish Television footage from the '60s and '70s. This is an excellent compilation, tied together with narratives by actors and activists whose names will be familiar to you.

Knight is asking $100 for the DVD, but if that is more than you can afford, pick it up at Amazon for $12.49 (even cheaper elsewhere) or rent it for $3.99. He will not tell you about that—in fact, he will compound the deception by injecting such lies as: "The producers of this film have made it available to us so that WBAI can go on."That is pure deception, suggesting that this is an exclusive WBAI offer. Shame on him and his hypocritical claim to be spearheading a "new, improved" WBAI.

Add to that the fact that getting a paid-for premium sent to you from WBAI is a very iffy proposition as opposed to acquiring it from Amazon or almost anywhere else.

Like the perennial beat, the scam goes on at WBAI, a station that should be producing new documentaries rather than offering commercially available DVDs at
shamefully inflated prices. They know what they are doing, which is why they so glibly deceive rather than level with the listeners.

I believe what I am hearing now is live, but it will undoubtedly become an "encore performance," complete with theatrics by the oily Robert Knight and Michael G. Haskins, who appears to be a protegé of sorts.

It is a shame that such a worthy documentary is being exploited for monetary gain rather than presented to the listeners as part of Pacifica's original mission to edify.

Unlike the Thrive scam, this is a DVD that I highly recommend, and if you don't mind paying 8 times more for it (and having to pray that you will actually receive it), by all means call WBAI.

Personally, I think the Knight offer—on principle alone—should be rejected and a demand made that these charlatans, who systematically lower WBAI's standards to a previously unthinkable level, be made to start being truthful when addressing WBAI's listener supporters. 

Submitted as a comment by an anonymous reader with a sense of humor, this was labeled "Here is Tony's latest pitch for WBAI's latest premium:

Everything old is....

I guess it's an endless loop. Here's what was happening 43 years ago! (click on the image to make it readable).

I have the entire Hotel Diplomat meeting on a tape that I am trying to transfer for posting.

I wrote the following in response to remarks posted by WBAI producer/host Sidney Smith on the infamous "BlueBoard". I post it here rather than there because that board is infested with disruptive elements who—for selfish reasons—blindly support the current WBAI management. These are people who have nothing to say, but say it anyway, especially when they feel discomfited by a post such as the one below. They know that I do not accept frivolous comments on this blog, so they wisely limit their access to reading. If you wish to read Sidney's post on the Blue Board, here's a direct link.

As I understood it, GM Berthold Reimers (the elusive one) and Bates (the amateur PD) were installed at WBAI by Pacifica with a mandate to clean up a mess created by their predecessors. Have they done that? Sidney Smith and others have on more than one occasion mentioned that thuggery has gone down and WBAI workers are no longer in physical danger (at least that is what they infer), but has this bumbling, clueless duo not placed the station itself closer to extinction? I think so. The foundation upon which WBAI, the Pacifica station) was built is a set of principles and guidelines that were realized with the creation of KPFA. At WBAI, those principles began to erode in the late Sixties when a mescaline-using GM (Millspaugh) let a couple of opportunists, Steve Post and Larry Josephson, loose. They fed their egos by instituting "celebrity" shows and thus radically changed the station's character.

As far as listener-supporters are concerned, what goes on inside the station—staff combats, backstabbing, etc.—only matters in so far as it affects what they hear on the air. If you replace Busoni and Brecht with bubblegum and blather, profundity with propaganda, you do not create dead air—at least not literally—but you do trigger a radical shift in audience. That has happened over the years, as standards were lowered to satisfy the less demanding.

Has the de-intellectualizing of WBAI worked? It would appear not, and one reason is that its listeners no longer see the station as a beacon of truth shining through the hype. Given the mindset of the time we live in, the shortened attention span, the Foxification of mainstream media, etc., and with materialism approaching the max, one might naïvely (and not unreasonably) assume that taking WBAI to the Murdoch Mall would expand its listenership and heighten the ring of cash registers. That has not happened, except during the ever more frequent fund raising "modes." Raising the standard of broadcasting does not seem to be an option anymore, so the bills continue to mount and listeners are subjected to more shameless infomercial-like marathons delivered with increased fervency and rebroadcast endlessly. 

The bulk of WBAI's present income is derived from these marathons, which amount to sales of DVDs and booklets—the so-called "gifts"—thousands of which were paid for but never delivered. The way they are treated on the air, one would never know that WBAI's listener-supporters are its lifeline—the stockholders. Compounding the callous treatment of its supporters is the disfigurement of WBAI's image and, indeed, the jeopardy into which its broadcast license is placed by the nature of these "premiums," some of which qualify as outright fraud and teeter precariously on the edge of legality. DVDs claiming to hold "cures" for cancer, AIDS, leukemia, and other as yet incurable diseases are offered to unsuspecting listeners who obviously feel a need for them. The pitches—some made by members of WBAI's management—cross the boundaries of any enlightened society's moral and ethical standards. These "medical miracles" are the most offensive offerings, but there is also an emphasis on "documentaries" that purport to prove a variety of conspiracies—mostly in connection with 9-11—and are rife with misinformation. This is the stuff that inevitably find its way into tabloid gossip sheet adverts. 

Note that WBAI's most aggressive hucksters rarely, if ever, suggest that listeners should send in money to support the station itself, the freedom of speech and unfettered enlightenment that once was a Pacifica station's hallmark has taken a back seat to worldly craving. When the phones don't ring, anything goes—the unscrupulous don a fake halo and work the crowd with false claims of adherence to the principles they routinely mock. The astute listener sees through such dishonesty and moves on without buying a ticket. 

Racism at WBAI may be more subtle than it once was, but it has not been eliminated. In fact, it seems to have found a more accepting audience. The slogans we hear these days are as empty as the product they are applied to. Years ago, when WBAI was referred to as a "community" station, the term was used broadly. This is the New York City area, a real "melting pot" of cultures and ethnic origins (to bring up a trite tag), but the common denominator is the city itself, an extraordinary spot that attracts some of the most remarkable thinkers and creative forces. It is simply too diverse to be regarded as a community in the most common sense of the term, but it is an area in which many communities thrive. The be a "community" station, WBAI would have to narrow its focus, which some current insiders claim is what happened under previous management, mainly that of Bernard White. The station not only catered excessively to the black community—they say—it did so with a unbecoming militancy. Has that changed? Yes, to a degree. The station is still predominantly black-oriented, but whatever militancy one once was subjected to has been reduced. New York does not need another black radio station, much less one that emulates what already is on the dial. One way to cater to all ethnic groups is to reach out to the intellectual community, which was the original plan. A radio station satisfying intellectual hunger was a daring new concept sixty years ago and it is only in recent times that Pacifica has been joined in that effort. That, however, is not a valid excuse for dumbing down—it should be  an incentive to take the next pioneering step.  

To varying degrees, intellect is something we all are born with, but not all of us find a need nor do we have the capacity to develop that gift. Lewis Hill believed that only through mutual understanding of our cultural differences and broad knowledge of the world we share could we prevent another war. It was when he surfed the radio dial and heard what broadcasters were offering their post-war listeners, that he realized the need for alternate radio, a spot on the dial where one could hear the truth, a place open to people who had something vital to say but no platform from which to express themselves. He saw this dream station as an outlet for free exchanges of ideas by seasoned thinkers as well as fresh voices—a place where the arts could find an outlet, a testing ground, and an audience.

It was to be a platform for contrasting ideas and bold creativity, a station that sought to satisfy the curiosity that fuels imaginations and leads us in new directions. Utopian? Certainly, but it was not the impossible dream. For awhile, it really worked, but it eventually—and, I suppose, inevitably—attracted less idealistic people, those who saw not so noble opportunities in Pacifica's open microphone concept, and seized them to further themselves or their agenda. I need not say more about that, it is all too evident to anyone who gives today's WBAI a more than casual listen.

Putting aside the baseball bats means nothing when the station and all it once stood for continues to crumble in the hands of leeches and sanctimonious opportunists.