106 FREE Pacifica Archive programs

There are now 106 Pacifica Archive programs available on the Internet Archive. Prime drama and music from the good old days. Minds Eye Theater, Free Music Store and the like....

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Homepage: https://archive.org/details/pacifica_radio_archives_grammy_2013

A little birdie told us

This just in but not verified yet -- from a listener who called  in to the Personal Computer Show this evening: Bernard White and MNN (Manhattan Neighborhood Network) Cable have submitted a PSOA bid for WBAI. A PSOA (Public Service Operating Agreement) is similar to an LMA(Leased Management Agreement).

Hmmm... does that mean... Dan Coughlin?

Also heard on the same show and also unverified: three LMA offers have been made.

More later...

Friday November 15 Meeting with Summer Reese

From Mitchell Cohen:

ANNOUNCING:

Public meeting concerning WBAI radio, hopefully with Pacifica's
Executive Director Summer Reese. (She has not confirmed, but is
expected to be in NYC at WBAI on that date, so I've reserved the
space and am calling this meeting.)

FRIDAY, November 15, 2013
6:30 pm
388 Atlantic Avenue, ground floor
(between Hoyt St. & Bond St.)
Brooklyn, NY

Nearest subways: A, C or G to Hoyt Schermerhorn, walk down Hoyt to
Atlantic Avenue, turn Left, 2/3rds of a bloc. Or,
2,3,4,5 to Nevins St., or
N,B,D,Q,R, 2,3,4,5 to Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Arena station. Walk
up Atlantic Avenue 3.3 long blocks. Also,
#63 bus, which goes all the way up 5th Ave. from Bay Ridge, turns
Left onto Atlantic Avenue. Get off at Bond St.

Creepy Chris Crawls Again

Chris Albertson has done it again. During the weekend of the Pacifica National Board Meeting in Houston, the creepster released the following item on his blog:

It has come to my attention that the Federal Communications Commission is in receipt of a formal complaint against WBAI's fundraising tactics, which the complainant (who has requested anonymity) sees as a serious infringement of the rules governing a non-profit broadcaster's solicitation of support. More specifically, as I understand it, the complaint centers around the infomercial-like segments that are out and out sales pitches for merchandise.  

Of course the author asks to remain anonymous (though Chris  knows who it is).

He goes on to say:

I find it difficult to imagine a valid excuse for not looking into such a serious infringement, especially one that is as clear and documented as this one.

Really?  Show us the paperwork, please!

A couple of posters on the Blue Board got it right:
It's so obvious that the "report"about the complaint to the FCC on Chris' website is in his own arrogant style, replete with the lip-smacking satisfaction he beings to his endless pontifications that "prove" the righteousness of his long standing grudges. You can just see him wringing his hands in glee, announcing to enemies long dead and gone: "I told you so!" and "Take that!!!" Pity so much Blue Board space has been highjacked by his (and other's) demoralization campaigns against WBAI. Better to follow the lead of those who, like Jim and Frank, are actually DOING something to save our precious station.

 > I guess you were the one filed the complaint- the one that smelt
> it dealt it! Fuck you, Chris!
> >

As is his wont, Chris paints all anonymous opponents as snakes slithering out from under rocks:
"I said there was more than one of those slithering about in
this forum. They should be very worried now—people like
that won't easily find another station that will accept them."
 
Buf isn't the anonymous FCC complainant by that definition also a snake? Apparently not when they agree with Chris.

Actually, when it comes to snakes and poisonous toads and cooking up lies, Chris Albertson is a master chef.


Stirring the Pot

bubble, bubble
 stirring up trouble

And with the help of his usual minions, this article on his blog has turned into a HATENULL FEST.  And that is not surprising, considering the fact that Gary Null just did a yeoman's job of pulling the station out of a failing fundraiser, possibly rescuing it from being forced into an LMA.

See how it all fits? Anyone who loves WBAI, anyone who does anything to try to keep it going, has been publicly villainized by Chris Albertson, while at the same time he has not once lifted a finger to help WBAI in any way, and instead continues to wage war against the station and those who care about it.

WBAI CAB Meeting on Sunday November 17

From Jim Dingeman:

The WBAI CAB will be having a meeting to continue to monitor events concerning the possible LMA, the firing of Berthold and an update of events in Houston.

We will also be having people continue to work on the premiums packaging and prepping for shipment.

This meeting will start at 100 PM on November 17 at the new offices of WBAI which are located at 388 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Commons.

There may also be a report back from the LSB on Houston at 388 Atlantic Avenue on Friday, November 15, more information on that when it's available.

WBAI CAB Meeting on Tuesday November 12th

From Jim Dingeman:

There will be a meeting of the WBAI Community Advisory Board at the station on Tuesday, November 12th at 700 PM. We will continue to discuss current programming, the firing of the General Manager and the proposed LMA option. We will also continue to get premiums out as all the folks did on Sunday…great JOB to all who came and helped!!!!!!!

Resolution passed by WBAI CAB on November 10

Unanimous Resolution of the Listeners Attending the WBAI Community Advisory Board Meeting on Sunday, November 10th, 2013

Ms. Summer Reese
Executive Director
Pacifica Foundation
CC: PNB and WBAI LSB

Whereas, the WBAI Community Advisory Board has had several meetings for the past few months to discuss the financial crisis impacting WBAI and the Pacifica Foundation:  There has been unanimous opposition to any lease management agreements that would effectively end local control over WBAI Programming. This opposition is diverse and sweeps across the scope of opinion among listeners of WBAI in the Tri-State Area.  The fall fund drive has shown that the listener community in the Greater Metropolitan Area will respond generously to maintain WBAI as the independent broadcast station that they cherish. The entire signal area that we reach is upset and angered by the possible leasing of WBAI to an outside entity.

People in New Jersey, Westchester, Rockland, Ulster, Nassau and Suffolk Counties have expressed their support through their donations in this drive. They are equally chagrined by the possibility of the loss of WBAI to an LMA. As an example of this, Dr. Shya K. Bey has taken the initiative to call you directly to express her support for WBAI and Pacifica. She and her colleagues have been meeting and contacting others to keep WBAI fiscally sound and thriving. All are against a LMA and the sudden firing of Berthold Reimers. Her opinion and financial support is but the tip of an immense iceberg through our signal area that fervently desires WBAI to be maintained as the exciting alternative broadcast station that it has always been.

In furtherance of exploring these ideas with you after the outstanding fund raising drive we have just gone through and completed we expect a meeting with you, On Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 7:00 P.M., at 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11217.

We also want to reiterate the resolution that we all agreed on today, November 10th, 2013:

“Whereas, we the listener-sponsors of WBAI/Pacifica, are outraged at what is happening at our station;

and Whereas the local station board (LSB) has not represented our interests for a long period of time;

and Whereas the current crisis is the result of past dysfunction; and Whereas in our most resent fund drive, we listener-sponsors exceeded the targeted goals;

Resolved: That we go on record as opposing any LMA;

and Further Resolved: That we demand retention of the General Manager during this crises period;

and we expect a meeting with Summer Reese, Pacifica Executive Director on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 7:00 P.M., at 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11217;

Further Resolved: That we demand an open meeting with the LSB to address the future of our station.”

We want to thank you for your time and attention to this matter.


The following Listener-Sponsors were among those attending:

Marilyn Voyt-Downey Carl Makower Tarun Kranadas James Sagurton Nicolas Chango David Suker Jonathan Weil Elton Owusu Kenneth Porter Ronald Fecher Patrick Robinson Nenette Knpke Roberth Hennelly Susan Hues M. VanderHeyden Adam Korany Saint – Clair Jackson Anita Luftig Louise Lessard Kyle Scott Bob Levis John Foust Marianita Damari Len Kleinman Matt Mazza Lucio Cacharani Nia Knowell Deb Russell Brown Boukan Collins Dr. Shya K Bey 

Summer Reese accepts position as Permanent Executive Director of Pacifica

Wrap up of the Pacifica National Board (PNB) Meeting at KPFT in Houston

Nov 8 - Nov 11 2013 

The PNB meeting ended with report-outs of what's gone on in executive session for the past four days. Personnel Committee Chair John Cromshow announced that the PNB has extended the hire offer to Summer Reese to serve as permanent  Executive Director.

Summer Reese's acceptance:
"I'd like to thank all of my colleagues for surviving another PNB meeting. And I'd like to thank all of you. I've been the Chair of the Board for the last three years, and obviously that is changing, so I'm happy to accept the Executive Director position. I've enjoyed being your Chair as well, so thank you, and I look forward to continuing to serve the organization in my new capacity. So thank you all for coming and thank you for bearing with us, because it takes so long for these deliberative decisions to be made here sometimes, but we thank you, and look forward to serving you." 

The rest of the report-outs were given by PNB Secretary Richard Uzzell as follows:
1. The PNB discussed the KPFK PD Search Committee process of 2012 in consultation with counsel.
2. The PNB met in closed session solely to discuss confidential personnel matters.
3. The PNB discussed nothing concerning WBAI (!!?)

PNB Vice Chair Heather Grey announced that photos taken of the Board's visit to KPFT are now on youtube, and can be viewed by searching for "Pacifca National Board visits KPFT in Houston".

Gary Null opposes LMA option for WBAI

In case you were wondering what Gary Null thinks about the LMA option* for WBAI, here's what he said  on the air yesterday:

"Yesterday our program began 27 minutes late from our sister station WBAI. I'm not sure exactly what happened except that we didn't have our engineering up there at BAI, so it got late. In the future, if you ever turn on the dial from any of  our sister stations and you don't hear this program  simply call a telephone number and you can listen. This way you're never out of the loop. I also realize that we've had so many new listeners lately that not everyone can get on board, so we've expanded that. The number to call where you'll always be able to hear this program from anywhere in Canada or North America is 619-550-0869.

And that's one of the reasons why I've been saying to  write down this number, because the day may come when I'm no longer there. I can assure you this, if BAI is leased, I will be the first show to go. I will not support on any level corporate liberal Democratic people. Won't do it. My ethics are simply too high to swim in that cesspool. That said, I won't repeat  this, you got my message. But this way you can always hear me on Progressive Radio Network. No one's going to throw me off that, so we're always here for you."

* Pacifica is considering the possibility of leasing WBAI via a Local Marketing Agreement (LMA) or a Public Service Operating Agreement (PSOA). 

Pacifica National Board meeting
This will be discussed when the Pacifica National Board meets  this weekend in Houston, Texas, from Friday, November 8, 2013 - Monday, November 11, 2013.

Check here for more information on the meeting and Pacifica's RFP: http://www.pacifica.org/


Some think the LMA option might work for WBAI. Others like Gary, are vehemently opposed to any type of lease agreement. Our hope is that the success of WBAI's recent fund drive has demonstrated that the station can remain viable without the need for this type of intervention. In any case, Pacifica would maintain some control over what a third party could put on the air, but some feel that it would be a dangerous step in the wrong direction, opening the door to a possible sale of WBAI's license.

Summer Reese on the future of WBAI

click to enlarge

Andrew Phillips on Current

The following appeared in Current:
http://www.current.org/2013/10/wbai-interim-p-d-quits-over-fundraising-programming/

According to WBAI volunteer Jim Dingeman, "these are Andrew's words on this story. More to the story than this but basically it's a summary."

But Summer Reese's remark that I didn't innovate programming at WBAI is a bit off. I "innovated program changes from 5-11am and 3-7pm (9 hours of programming) in the wake of laid off paid staff. In the short time they were in place they were beginning to show positive results and actually would have attracted members if permitted to run as planned. In addition we implemented a sustaining membership approach to fund raising, pitching authentic Pacifica content and this this too was taking hold. In both cases, change takes much more time however. Summer Reese usurped my programming authority importing more Gary Null infomercials and other re-runs of past fund drives, gleaning a few dollars continuing to frack the audience for every last drop. WBAI currently pitching into a void as it seems certain Pacifica will be forced to unload the debt-plagued station, to another entity possibly through a Leased Management Agreement.

Our response
We have a few issues with this view.  First, Andrew demonstrated a readiness to make changes, but as he himself admits, it was going to take time for the changes to have an effect. What WBAI did not have was time. Summer recognized this and took action. Andrew reacted wrongly in two ways,  in our opinion: he resisted Summer's attempts to improve the situation and he left WBAI in the lurch. Was this a battle of the egos or a fight to save WBAI? It seems to us that Summer was the one who was willing to take personal risks for the good of WBAI.

Second, we take exception to Andrew's dismissive attitude towards Gary Null, who pulled the station back from the brink. WBAI got through this fund drive, was able to reach its goals and pay its bills largely because Summer recruited Gary to help. A lot of people didn't like that. The naysayer community led by Chris Albertson was against it. Andrew himself was against it. And yet that was what saved WBAI, as far as we know.  Some people including Andrew are dissing Gary's premiums by referring to them as unwanted infomercials, but that's ridiculous because that's what pitching premiums during fundraising marathons is all about. Sorry, but that's what raises the funds that pay for regular programming.

They also ignore the fact that Gary was was running segments from his acclaimed Monday night Progressive Commentary Hour in the 7am slot. Listening to Andrew, you'd think it was all about "green stuff", and listening to Chris Albertson you'd think it was all about "brown stuff". Aside from the fact that this is disrespectful to Gary, the truth is that the drive was flagging even with Andrew's changes, and immediately after Summer put Gary on at 7am the situation began to change for the better.

Here's Gary in his own words after he received a call from Summer Reese telling him the drive was tanking (all of which was corroborated by Summer in her subsequent report to the listeners):

She asked if I would come on to help. I looked at the numbers and I couldn't believe it --
from 5:00 am  - 11:00 am we were bringing in tiny amounts - sometimes as little as 50 dollars!

Well here's the good news - in the last 3 days we've raised over 70,000 dollars, whereas before that we hadn't even raised 7,000 dollars.

So now we're able to pay the transmitter bill and the salaries.

Thank you, Gary

It's obvious that swift corrective action was needed. It's not surprising that the drive was tanking, as most of the staff who were the biggest fundraisers for the station had been laid off. The kinds of changes that Andrew was making needed time and time was a luxury that was simply not available. Summer Reese did the right thing.

Thank you, Summer

The Official Story: Summer Reese's letter to WBAI

click to enlarge

WBAI General Manager Berthold Reimers fired

This just in: supposedly this has been confirmed, and will be in effect as of November 15, 2013.  More as soon as we hear anything.

New York Halloween 2013 After WBAI Program Director Andrew Phillips (who vowed to turn WBAI a Mini-Me version of Mainstream Media) left in a huff over WBAI turning into Gary Null/Steve Brown Radio 24/7 -- AND after the firing of the popular producers who were the reason why listeners tuned in and whose absence left a huge gaping hole that the opportunistic Null/Brown virus was quick to fill --- AND after the firing of local radical people of color producers who made WBAI unique --- AND after the station was driven into the lower depths financially by piss poor management --- BUT before WBAI could be sued for selling snake oil.... interim Pacifica Executive Director Summer Reese has firmly closed the barn door and fired WBAI General Manager Berthold Reimers. Ironically, although Reimers owed his position to the influence of millionaire Brown, and stayed at the helm with the aid of the Brown-dominated 'BAI board as Brown coyly flushed 'BAI down the political toilet, Reimers is left bearing the blame for the demise of New York City's radical radio station.

Anon E. Mouse

The Nation Comes to WBAI

Wow, now we're hearing The Nation on WBAI. Thom Hartmann is interviewing someone fromn The Nation right now, and this after making a pitch for his own pet foundation. Isn't WBAI still in its fund drive? We thought Thom was supposed to be pitching for WBAI during his show.

All this during Five O'Clock Shadow time. Who'd a thunk? This is all Andrew Phillips' doing. He also offered Karen Hunter WBAI's Morning Show. She was once the host of WWRL's  Morning Show but was replaced by the far better Mark Riley (whom she would have been going up against if that deal had gone through).  So we're not too impressed with what Andrew Phillips was doing with the program lineup. He has left his official capacity as Program Director, but has said that he'll continue to work for WBAI behind the scenes.

Many people respect and admire Andrew, and people seem to be desperate for change and reassurance that WBAI is moving forward, but we're offering a caution here: let's make sure we're heading in the right direction before we jump.

Gerry Conlon Live at O'Lunney's