[lbo-talk] the state of WBAI: a comment

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Aug 11 15:47:22 PDT 2010


A comment on my "blog" reacting to my WBAI post (I've reformatted somewhat):

New comment on your post "The state of WBAI (dire)"

Author : Stephen (IP: 68.174.70.174 , cpe-68-174-70-174.nyc.res.rr.com)

Thanks for the letter. I briefly chaired the Community Advisory Board for WBAI. I asked the current iPD for the current broadcast guidelines and received no response, and LaVarn responded by canceling our meeting at a Bronx food coop (against CPB guidelines) and flapping her arms about being called the "interim" GM (as opposed to the GM). Before that, I asked why WBAI was running carts featuring Barack Obama backed by exultant pop music and a cheer track. No response.

Bottom line: there are no standards because, you see, that would violate "free speech". Bourgeois/ACLU/Hollywood free speech means "whatever you can get away with, and preferably crap that makes money". The free speech I've always admired is accountable to a community of listeners who valued intelligence, integrity, facts, and common human decency. Still room for lots of debate there, but yes Virginia, there are limits.

I've been blackballed by folks from JUC and the not-so-Independents, and I've worked well with a few folks from both camps... but Mitch's responses on other boards have been telling. They both mention Gary Null. In fact, when I chaired the CAB, the fact that we held a meeting at the LGBT community center (during Pride Month) apparently signified to some that the CAB was now a conspiracy to keep HIV-denialist Gary Null from returning to WBAI. The fact that WBAI would choose Null over queers, even demanding that we move the meeting from an innocuous location like the community center, shows to whom and to what the station's current batch of loons-in-charge are devoted. (Hey, there's a conspiracy theory! It's all about Null!)

And you're also correct about the quality of "contributor/caller" that these programs attract. During my last volunteer experience, taking pledge calls during one of Tony Bates's pre-recorded morning rush hour hypejobs about oregano oil cures, folks were calling in begging for discounts to get the miracle cure: three people broke down in tears and hung up the phone as they discovered they wouldn't get the miracle on installment until they had finished paying off the pledge. The others taking calls that day were complaining that Null wasn't on the air and that all this talk about single-payer was unnecessary because modern medicine was poison. Quack marketeers on the radio, desperate low-income and perhaps unhinged people on the phone, and stone-faced nuts taking calls.

When I complained about the claims being made on rush hour radio about oregano oil, two LSB members angrily defended the quack and the breathlessly fawning and credulous morning host, with Mitch pulling out his radical bona fides, explaining that he had seen oregano oil used in Cuban prisons. This is the chair of the LSB, the one who brags about getting the most votes ever for a WBAI LSB election.

As a former listener, volunteer, and financial contributor to WBAI, all I can say is wow - maybe Doug should inquire about getting another radio stati on to acquire his program. I'd be happy to sign a petition along those lines. He and his listeners deserve better.



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