Andrew Phillips minces no words...

Solomon caught the following Facebook post by Andrew Phillips, one of the recent Pacifica/Reese victims. His observations regarding Gary Null's increasing dominance is shared by many. One wonders what he thinks of the most recent iPD, Robert Hennelly, who is already proving to be a disaster. What we have left in the way of support for the station is a group of cling-ons, whose growing desperation is painfully revealing. Even Bob Fass, who has every reason to resent management's attitude,  is evidencing moral bankruptcy at the thought of losing his time slot. That bothers me a great deal, but—somehow—comes as no surprise. His failing health aside, Bob should have quit with dignity while that was still possible. He is, of course, not alone, but most of his stagnant colleagues have no glorious past to recapture or reminisce over. I never regretted bringing Bob back to WBAI in the '60s, but I find it sad to hear him come apart on a show that once was remarkable, culturally significant, and way ahead of its time, but now is mired in nostalgia for the few who remember how it once was.

Here' (presumably, in part) is what Mr. Phillips posted today:

"Meanwhile WBAI plunges back into premium and Null driven 2-week fundraiser. Nelson Mandela makes money, Thom Hartman does not. Less than $15k for first day. And SR [Summer Reese] trying to sack KPFK iPD, Allen Minsky who is roadblock to Null/Blosdqle infomercials. Null throws hissy fit because he can't sell his wares and refuses to pitch. He's twisting SR's arm - extorting her to get him on and Minsky out. Meanwhile there's a new http://www.savepacifica.com/ reaching out to members and informing them. PNB plans membership voting quorum reduced to 5% so a handful of members get to control and ruin Pacifca - current quorum is 10% but most stations don't make it. Nobody but a few idiots and ideologues gives a fuck. There are exceptions but not many."

The URL link will take you to the Ian Master's piece to which I linked earlier.

Ghost of Phillips materializes on Labor Radio

This morning, during another mindless Ho Ho show (that can be two hoes or Haskins and
Hennelly, or both—your pick), the alleged iPD (has he done anything yet?) bared his pipe
dream as he declared: 

"WBAI-Labor Radio in New York"

His newfound partner, Haskins, did not repeat that new slogan, although it is something he normally does—he still labels WBAI as "Community Radio," meaning "Black and Brown".

Color it any way that suits your agenda, the sad truth is that WBAI is amateur radio in 

a city that attracts and fosters professionalism. WBAI is increasingly a blight on New York City's FM 

dial.

True to form, Hennelly morphed the death of Nelson Mandela into a self-serving spiel 

for labor unions, a drivel drive that made phone stops with various union officials, in

cluding one from Hennelly's DC37 (is he still working for them, officially?), and Haskins 

made the occasional grunt to indicate his approval or disapproval—hard to tell.

They got off labor for a few minutes to run a painfully pedestrian "poem" written and 

read by the highly over-rated Maya Angelou. It was apparently commissioned by the 

government, whose "creative" officials have a very short list of black names with 

which they are familiar (Angelou made an embarrassing appearance in "Roots,").

Apropos embarrassment, one of the phone people, a lady who has written a book 

about unions, touched upon the labor movement's long history of gender and race 

discrimination—this is the sort of thing Robert Hennelly doesn't want to hear, of course.

I was reminded of something Gloria Swanson told me when we were discussing her 

early career. She said that there were many women working behind the camera, but 

that ended when the unions came in.

This has been designated as the first day of yet another fundraising drive, but there 

wasn't much of that kind of activity on this extended drivel time show. 

"Law and Disorder" came on following DN!, and it 

was in a half-assed fundraising mode, but guess what? it was a rerun! At one point, we 

were surprised by the presence of Andrew Phillips...yes, the great Aussie hope 

Reese hired and then scared off! He wanted us to know that Hartman has joined 

WBAI and will be heard at 9 "this evening." 

Did the current bozos not learn anything about operating a radio station? 

WBAI's slow suicide will eventually work and New York will be the better for it.

How's that for a depressing observation? 

Ian Masters speaks out...

I highly recommend this article by Ian Masters regarding the Pacifica situation and its causes.

To Serve Man...

Remember that Twilight Zone episode where aliens come to earth carrying a large book in their own language? The seem quite friendly and experts begin the tough job of translating the book. The title, they figure out, is "TO SERVE MAN," The conclusion? These guys have an advanced civilization and they are here to help us. The aliens offer free trips to earthlings aboard their, so they can see for themselves what a great, advanced civilization they come from. It quickly becomes popular and droves of earthlings sign up for the trip, and wait their turn. The final scene has happy, well-dressed humans walking up the gangplank to the ship, including one of the young scientists. His assistant comes running to the ship, just as he is about to enter it....stop, she tells him, frantically....the book is...a cookbook!.

Well, Yesterday, that wonderful line came to mind as I was thinking about this unsavory group of characters who are currently completing the destruction of WBAI, while pretending to be saviors.

  

So I entered one of my shortest posts to the Blueboard:

"IT'S A COOKBOOK!"

You guessed it, Generalissimo R. Paul Martin removed it. I posted it again, and the same thing happened, but this time I also received an e-mail message:

I sent him a video clip of the scene!  With people like that involved, is it any wonder that the final curtain is about to drop?

Here we go again... HAPPY HELIX!

'Tis the holiday season, so a special treat is in store for Tom from the Bronx, and the few others who are left out there. As Haskins announced with glee this morning, and Reimers confirms, it's time once again for the WBAI insiders to raise the glass and wish each other a Happy Helix! Make that a double!

From what we gather, Berthold Reimers and the gang are going all out this month and doing a dip into the old scam-bam-thank-you-mam archive of golden oldies. Yes, they are bringing back those wonderful infomercials that you loved in the Wall Street days. Can you wait? I bet you can't...but you'll just have to put up with those wonderful regular programs until December 9. It's going to be well worth the wait....expect return performances by the great Scott, and Null will certainly be there with his heavenly shampoo and—now that he's been paid his money—more books and DVDs. I bet that we'll even hear Kathy Davis and her silent chorus of homeless angels—not to mention George Quant, if he can tear himself away from all those Hollywood celebrities. Hey, Christine Blosdale will most likely be flown in to sell gloom and doom antidotes, and I wouldn't put it past Papa Reimers to bring Tony Bates back for yet another encore.

All in all, a swell time, so set the table for Helix water (ever tried it with a dash of Brass Monkey?) and gobs of that green stuff. The W in WBAI doesn't officially stand for Walmart, but...