WBAI's decline begins...

I haven't yet located the first sheet of this 1965 observation, nor do I recall what it contained, but those of you who have read my numerous references to WBAI's downward slide in the snake pit known as the "bleepin' blue board" will find the following to have a familiar ring to it. This is my impression of WBAI almost fifty years ago, when I tuned in after having been away for a while. I blew my whistle in the ears of Hallock Hoffman, then Pacifica's President, Robert Hurwich, and other Board members. I knew that Frank Millspaugh's lack of direction was going to open the door to the station's opportunists, but this was happening quicker than anyone could have predicted, and it really disturbed me. Hallock asked me to put it in writing, which resulted in what you see here. I think it will explain why I to this day attribute WBAI's moral and intellectual decline to a handful of opportunists. I'm sorry about the missing page, which I will post as soon as I find it.  Remember to click on the images for a more readable size.

I hope you will take the time to comment. Perhaps we could get a discussion going here, where the snake pit trolls don't roam free. That is not to say that they can't add their comments, but I will not publish the hare-brained nonsense that characterizes them on that blue board..

Regime Change at WBAI - 1964

I came across this sort of detailed account of the regime change that took place in November of 1964. Some might find it interesting I am posting it because it was written at a time when it was fresh in my memory. I also came across an evaluation of the station written by me—at the behest of Hallock and the Pcifica Board upon my return to the US from London. I will post it later (still looking for page 1), but here is the one containing the circumstances of my appointment.

Remember that you can make these pages more readable by clicking on them.

Free publicity

Yes, there was a time when WBAI attracted the press and received favorable write-ups without initiating the contact. I think our programming did it—it appealed to intelligent listeners. Charles Hobson's program featured music that we normally didn't play, but—as the Variety reporter noted—his presentation was "educational."

So, when I criticize Jeannie Hopper, Tony Ryan, et al for their hours of pop music, it is not the music, per se, that I find fault with, it is the pop station dj style they emulate. Here are a couple of Variety write-ups from December of 1964. One is devoted to Charles' program, the other to a regime change. Let's hope we soon see the latter at what's left of WBAI, and that programming, in general, grows a brain.

...and here's the regime change:

When spirit exceeded budget...

I post this blurb from the July 21, 1966 issue of the BBC's RADIO TIMES to underscore something I have been saying for the past couple of years: WBAI's "news" coverage has gone from world class to barely local. We not only matched but often left in the dust what the mainstream networks were putting out there, and we did it on a budget that barely would have paid for their lunch. Dale Minor was an extraordinary reporter—a real reporter—and his work was widely appreciated, because it was not just a rehash of something gathered from others, and because it was honest. 

This little blurb appeared when the BBC ran Dale's The Battle of Da Nang, but it was not the only time we (WBAI) sold a program to a major overseas network. Notice the reference to Freedom Now, for example.

Let's hope that WBAI soon gets rid of the pretenders who have grown stale on their little piece of turf and hires or accepts as volunteers, producers who can reach or rise above the level this once proud radio station used to occupy.

Click on the image to enlarge it...

Stifling excellence-promoting mediocrity

This morning I had the good fortune to wake up just as Dred Scott Keyes came on the air with his "Cutting Edge" program. I say, good fortune, because this turned out to be an hour of excellent radio of the kind rarely heard on WBAI these days.

The subject was depressing and infuriating: the killing of Trayvon Martin. As much as I have heard about this outrageous incident in recent days, none of the coverage comes close to giving as clear and concise a picture of the situation as the one produced by Mr. Keyes for WBAI, a station that has placed his program in exile. There was no copy room narrative, no interview with leading questions, no theatrical outburst, no input from the producer/host other than laying it all out and integrating it with occasional musical bridges. The music, too, was well chosen and understated—no obvious hit-them-in-the-head message songs with a life of their own. This is a first-class documentary presented tastefully, chronologically and entirely via expertly interwoven news footage—nothing else is needed. 

Mr. Keyes knows what he is doing and he allows his work to speak for itself. No ego interfered with the task at hand—this was a program about Trayvon Martin's murder and the society that set the stage for it. As the host/producer, he identifies himself only twice—at the beginning and at the end. We hear the voices this incident has raised and we are left to draw our own conclusions. We are also left wanting to hear more as the story continues to unfold, and I think most listeners will want to hear it through the work of Dred Scott Keyes: straight and unembellished.

Unfortunately, WBAI's current management does not realize wherein the station's assets lie. They give prime air time to people like Bonnie Faulkner, Robert Knight, Geoff Brady, Jeannie Hopper, and a parade of amateur spiritualists and quacks, while dedicated, intelligent producer-hosts like Mr. Keyes and Prairie Miller are relegated to the dead hours. Of course, this unintelligent approach eventually creates more dead time, as listeners in search of substantive programing drop out.

And let us not forget such other exiled talent as Sidney Smith, Simon Loekle, and (to a certain extent) Ibrahim Gonzales, who all have a good grasp on the concept behind Pacifica, but lack the incentive to demonstrate it fully. Finally—and this is, I believe, very important—there is that rich, untapped resource known as New York City. Voices with fresh ideas and vision—extraordinary people in WBAI's listening area who have the creativity and intellect to once again make it a significant voice in the wilderness. They are left standing in the wings, unnoticed and unwanted by those who regard quality broadcasting as rivalry.

WBAI is a high-powered radio station with a world-wide reach, located in the middle of a beehive of intellectual and artistic activity, yet present management operates it as if it were KWRR in Ethete, Wyoming.

A relevant video:
Stopped, Frisked and Speaking Out from NYT The Local - Ft. Greene on Vimeo.