WBAI Struggles

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

There are multiple options available to WBAI and parent Pacifica Foundation that will solve the impending self-induced implosion of WBAI and the entire foundation; although the Pacifica national headquarters doesn’t appear to be very interested in any of those viable solutions.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

Knowing a little bit about the WBAI listener, I think that contributions would dry up if you eliminate local programming. There's only one outcome for WBAI, and that's death.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

reelyreal said:

Knowing a little bit about the WBAI listener, I think that contributions would dry up if you eliminate local programming. There's only one outcome for WBAI, and that's death.

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Considering that the last major Pacifica squabble a little over ten years ago was over the attempts to put together a national programming lineup that would be like NPR but with a pronounced progressive view, I would agree. When the dust cleared, "Democracy Now!" was the only national program that stuck. Of course, it's safe to say that the desire for turf protection by the existing hosts/producers/"programmers" or whatever you want to call them was a bigger concern in the squabble than anything else.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

If WBAI letting all of the airstaff go, is Max Schmid still letting go from WBAI with his "Golden Age of Radio" show on Sunday, because of the layoffs? I haven't listened to Max Schmid in a very long time when he played some old time radio. There were lots of old time radio shows from the 30's, 40's and 50's that are now online including Internet Archive and so on. I'll have to check that out. I didn't listened to WBAI since then, but I haven't to it now, except Max Schmid that I used to it back in the early 90's.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

One of the Pacifica National Board members would like us all to know things aren't so bad. So here's a little morning sugar coating from Tracy Rosenberg, courtesy of Radio Survivor:

http://radiosurvivor.com/2013/06/22/hope-for-wbai-an-assessment-of-the-stations-immediate-future

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

Max Schmid still airs Old-Time Radio, Sundays 7:00-9:00PM and an OTR program on YesterdayUSA.com, Saturdays 11:00AM-1:00PM.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

Yeah, no more Radio Free Eireann on Saturday afternoons, or their all day St. Patrick's Day shows! I remember hearing Paul Robeson singing "Kevin Barry" one year.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

only solution for WBAI it's forced to be sold to Cumulus and Cumulus puts on an Alternative Rock/Rock station on 99.5

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

Theater of My Mind said:

One of the Pacifica National Board members would like us all to know things aren't so bad. So here's a little morning sugar coating from Tracy Rosenberg, courtesy of Radio Survivor:

http://radiosurvivor.com/2013/06/22/hope-for-wbai-an-assessment-of-the-stations-immediate-future

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Interesting article. I always assumed WBAI operated sort of like a food-coop or collective. Apparently, it's management and unionized labor like the other stations in town. I wonder why employees of an organization like Pacifica (or NPR, for that matter) would feel the need to unionize. It's not like this kind of group would be out to exploit workers. Maybe they just have union on general principles.

As I read the article, I kept recalling the tribulations of Air America Radio. Both are stories of concerned people who can't seem to play well with others.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

FredLeonard said:

I wonder why employees of an organization like Pacifica (or NPR, for that matter) would feel the need to unionize. It's not like this kind of group would be out to exploit workers.

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For the same reason a Catholic would feel the need to get baptized. Joining the union is what you do. Management is management regardless of their personal politics.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

blackgold said:

I remember hearing Paul Robeson singing "Kevin Barry" one year.

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[size=11pt]26+6=1.

XCountry285 said:

only solution for WBAI it's forced to be sold to Cumulus and Cumulus puts on an Alternative Rock/Rock station on 99.5

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You say "Alternative Rock/Rock" music will help Pacifica?

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

TheBigA said:

FredLeonard said:

I wonder why employees of an organization like Pacifica (or NPR, for that matter) would feel the need to unionize. It's not like this kind of group would be out to exploit workers.

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For the same reason a Catholic would feel the need to get baptized. Joining the union is what you do. Management is management regardless of their personal politics.

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You can't be a Catholic without first being baptized. Except for converts, Catholics are baptized shortly after birth.

WBAI's core problem is too much collective decision making. If employees are involved in decision making, there is no point to having a union. A union is needed when management is strong enough to abuse and exploit workers. When management treats workers well, they generally don't feel the need to organize. So, WBAI and NPR apparently just organized on general principles, to show "solidarity" with people who really have to work for living. Which may also be part of WBAI's problem: Too much action based on general principles and too little on circumstances.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

FredLeonard said:

So, WBAI and NPR apparently just organized on general principles, to show "solidarity" with people who really have to work for living.

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You're saying people who work in broadcasting don't really have to work?

As I said, the relationship between workers and management doesn't change because they all agree politically. A bean counter is still a bean counter even if he's counting non-profit beans. And in New York, just about all radio stations are union shops. Same with DC.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

XCountry285 said:

only solution for WBAI it's forced to be sold to Cumulus and Cumulus puts on an Alternative Rock/Rock station on 99.5

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FANTASY: WBAI goes Dance/EDM and they keep Jeannie Hopper "Liquid Sound Lounge" on.
REALITY: IF Cumulus buys, expect News Talk Radio 77 to go there as a simulcast.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

Cumulus puts 770 Simulcast on 103.9

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

XCountry285 said:

Cumulus puts 770 Simulcast on 103.9

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They would have done that already if they felt 103.9 was viable.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

I like how they wish their programming would reach a wider audience. They have a full signal from the ESB, the only stations with a bigger signal are clear channel AMs. Those will reach half the country at night and from Boston to Baltimore in the day. Then they can also get enough cash from the trade so that no one has to lose their job at WBAI. But those clowns in management would rather throw everyone overboard to keep the ship from sinking even further.

WBAI appeals to the extreme left, like the people who actually camped out at the Occupy camps. Sure, a large percentage of the population might support the principles of Occupy Wall Street, and thousands of people visited Zuccotti Park or joined one of their marches, but very few of those actually camped out. WBAI can get a larger audience by not being so extremely liberal, or by getting a clear channel AM to reach more cities.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

Nick said:

WBAI appeals to the extreme left, like the people who actually camped out at the Occupy camps...

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I don’t even think WBAI appeals to the extreme left though. That was its original mission but the founders are long gone and the station seems to have lost its way. The programming now seems to be a mish mosh of random fringe-topic shows, some of which don’t even serve political interests, often poorly produced and not at all compelling or entertaining to listen to.

That’s really what it boils down to, it’s not just the political angle but the fact it’s just terrible radio.

If they want to be a left wing outlet, where are the liberal stars? Why aren’t there regulars on the air from Daily Kos, the Anonymous Group, Mother Jones and Slate? As one of the most powerful FM stations in New York it's perfectly positioned from a technical standpoint to be one of the most influential voices in the country. With the right programming, money should be pouring on from MoveOn and likeminded liberal grassroots organizations to support it.

Instead it sounds worse than bad college radio. Many of the shows cover such niche topics they really belong on Internet blogs. There’s no focus and no direction, just utter dysfunction. No wonder donations have dried up.

I hate to see a good independent liberal voice disappear from the air but the truth is that’s not what WBAI is. They could (and probably will) go away and I doubt many liberals would even care.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

Absolutely, Theater! A lot of posters here seem to misunderstand what's going on. This is not a case of a format that's struggling, or a point of view that's being squelched, or a business that's having a spot of financial trouble. This is a case of a listener-supported community station that, over many years, has completely lost its way, has no coherent mission and serves not a community but a fractured set of micro-communities. From what insiders have been saying in web posts, its management is totally dysfunctional. It's amazing that it has managed to scrape by for this long. Its original function - providing a platform for political and community organizations outside the mainstream - is now performed by the internet, so the concept of WBAI is basically obsolete (never mind that some might say the same for OTA radio itself). I don't know why Pacifica didn't sell it long ago; at this point my (uninformed) guess is that the license will end up in a bankruptcy auction.

Re: WBAI massive layoffs

DanM said:

Absolutely, Theater! A lot of posters here seem to misunderstand what's going on. This is not a case of a format that's struggling, or a point of view that's being squelched, or a business that's having a spot of financial trouble. This is a case of a listener-supported community station that, over many years, has completely lost its way, has no coherent mission and serves not a community but a fractured set of micro-communities. From what insiders have been saying in web posts, its management is totally dysfunctional. It's amazing that it has managed to scrape by for this long. Its original function - providing a platform for political and community organizations outside the mainstream - is now performed by the internet, so the concept of WBAI is basically obsolete (never mind that some might say the same for OTA radio itself). I don't know why Pacifica didn't sell it long ago; at this point my (uninformed) guess is that the license will end up in a bankruptcy auction.

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Pacifica's other reason for being was for playing classical music that WQXR wouldn't play, jazz that WRVR wouldn't play, pop and rock you wouldn't even hear on WNEW-FM or WOR-FM before them, plays and poetry readings too highbrow for mainstream radio or TV, children's programming without hardsell commercials, superheroes or patronizing hosts. As time went on, that programming began disappearing as the cultural people got pushed out by the political activists. One could say that QXR's Q2 stream is taking care of the avant-garde and contemporary classical music and that WFMU is taking care of the "I dare you to listen to this" music of all kinds, but public radio's pretty much given up on any kind of radio drama except for Garrison Kellior's sketches and the LA TheatreWorks (whose home station is now amazingly Pacifica's KPFK in LA after being on KPCC and KCRW before that) and what's left for kids? Radio Disney. That's the kind of programming that BAI and Pacifica used to do which got pushed to the wayside by the hardcore activists.