[lbo-talk] please pledge to WBAI during my show on Thursday

shag shag at cleandraws.com
Thu Sep 18 17:26:33 PDT 2008


At 10:45 AM 9/18/2008, Ben Jackson wrote:
>On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 12:10 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> > Because I've been pretty critical of the management of WBAI, I think the
> > program director has it out for me. So if you ever listen to my show - on
> > the air, on the web, on podcast - please make a pledge during tomorrow's
> > fundraiser as a show of support. You can pledge online at WBAI.org and
> > mention my show, but I'm not sure they fully account for those when
> tallying
> > up a host's total. Best would be to call 212-209-2950 between 4 and 6
> PM NYC
> > time on Thursday. Please pledge big, and tell them how much you like the
> > show (assuming you do, of course).
> >
>
>Sure thing.
>
>By the way, what is it with community radio stations and their
>management? I was at a house party recently where three out of ten
>people in the room had worked in community radio, in three different
>cities. All three of us had clashed with incompetent, cliquish
>station management. All three of us had tried to bring about some
>simple reforms. And all three were eventually blacklisted and/or
>banned.

I love WMNF and, even though I can't get signal anymore, I'll listen to that any day over WBAI. After I moved away from the listening area, I decided to try WBAI. But every time I tuned in some quack was on the show talking about alternative healing. Or classical music. It was as if no other music on the planet existed!

WMNF, on the other hand, has maybe 2, 1 for sure, such shows and it's certainly not terribly wacky stuff like that Gary whateverhisnameis Doug complains about. Different demographic, I guess, but seriously? It can't be _that_ different and it especially can't be so different that a community supported radio station can have radio shows that offer a spectacularly wide variety of types of music: blues, jazz, spoken word , metal, classical, soul, latin/salsa, polka, hip hop, freakshow music, house, 60s, goth/industrial, bluegrass, Native American.

freakin even have Sunday Simcha in the afternoon. Mornings: Uhuru is in the house!

On house, hip hop, spoken word nights, people call in to dedicate songs to brothers in jail.

And the people who do the show? Well, maybe they aren't professional. I have no clue. But they are a lot more interesting to listen to than a commercial program.

they had a lot of fund raising but I gotta say, at least they are fuckin' funny when they have fund raising drives. One night, I can't remember which show it was -- usually hosted by two 20something men and a woman -- it was obvious that they were high. If I'd had money, I would have donated just for that entertainment of that night. The bluegrass show features this father/daughter duo who get to bickering. To me, this is interesting.

OK. So I'm weird. I'm not sure what professionalism and/or management would involve that would be needed at WMNF -- if they even need it. Don't know. To me, they are the best damn radio stations -- great call-ins, decent political programming, especially Sunday mornings when Uhuru is in the house.

I know there's been some scuffles over politics, with Uhuru pretty pissed off at times, but I haven't had time to find out what's the scoop. I know they've booted shows off the air that really upset folks as well.

I don't know -- and few people indicate they've ever heard of WMNF so I don't know where it stands in the pantheon of public/comm radio stations.

Still, everyone used to call in to support the show, even after they'd moved away, because it was the biggest thing they'd missed when they got to a new community. Me, too. Sure, I can listen via computer (sorry, no ipod yet. i only recently got hooked up with a cell phone!) but....

Maybe my tastes in radio aren't sophisticated enough but I like the way they do things at WMNF and wonder why they can't do something similar at Doug's station. Or is there a better way to do it other than to give up hour and 2 hour blocks to volunteer deejays?

Anyway... my 2.4

http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)

(will count number of posts it takes for b'more cracker to bitch)



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