'A Complete Shock:' Long-Running Freeform Radio Station WBAI Abruptly Shut Down

[brooklynite]

Source: Gothamist

WBAI, a pioneering left-leaning radio station based in Brooklyn, has ceased operations, more than six decades after first hitting the airwaves. The news was announced on Monday by the Pacifica Foundation, a Berkley-based nonprofit that has owned the station since 1960.

"Due to ongoing and continue projections of further financial losses at WBAI, local station operations are being discontinued as of October 7, 2019," the company said in a statement. "We realize this news will come as a deep and painful shock, but we can no longer jeopardize the survival of the entire network."

The statement left open the possibility of WBAI returning to air "once we are able to create a sustainable financial structure for the station." Pacifica's network includes four other listener-supported stations across the country.

The station's small staff and larger pool of volunteers were notified of the abrupt closure on Monday morning. "It's a complete shock," said Jeff Simmons, who hosts the WBAI shows Driving Forces and City Watch. "I was at the studio last night live on my show and no one seemed to have an inkling. It was a complete surprise."

Read more: https://gothamist.com/news/complete-shock-long-running-freeform-radio-station-wbai-abruptly-shut-down

[Voltaire2]

1. wow, that is the end of an era indeed.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. I haven't been this upset since WEVD was bought by Disney/ABC Corp.

[choie]

29. I felt the same way about WEVD, no_hypocrisy..

did you listen to Bill Mazer when he was that station?

[no_hypocrisy]

45. Religiously. I got up at 5 a.m. to hear Bill sing The Star Spangled Banner.

He had great columnists that he interviewed: Michael Tomasky, Lars Erik Nelson, Gene Lyons, Marie Coco, Hank Schoenkopf, and more.

I never got around to reading "Constantine's Sword," a book he lauded forever.

I have the last week of his shows on WEVD taped.

Bill went on to a Westchester station where he did his show for a few years.

If you go to Findagrave.com, you'll find his headstone, fittingly announcing "It's been a pleasure."

I miss WEVD every day. I *knew* it was the beginning of the end of liberal radio on September 1, 2001. Air America was almost a tease. No staying power.

[choie]

47. oh no_hypocrisy...

you're a man/woman after my own heart! I did the same thing - so did my father, who reminded me of Mazer. I listened to him on WVOX as well! I read Constantine's Sword and it really was a interesting as he said it was. Remember that economist he had on - I think he was a professor at Columbia or Princeton, I can't remember his name. I also remember when his dear wife, Dutch, passed away. His son Arnie was a pretty good host as well. I've searched online for an archive of his shows, but have been unsuccessful - it's great that you have his last week at WEVD.

The economist was from Princeton and specialized in the health sector, Uwe Reinhardt!

[no_hypocrisy]

65. + 1 million

[marble falls]

16. Remember "Underground Uplift Unlimited" on St Mark's Square or David Peel and the Lower East ...

Side, before Lennon?

[DFW]

22. I sure do! UUU!

I used to buy stuff there every time I went to NYC in the sixties.

[marble falls]

67. They always had the best collection of buttons, posters, comix. Those were the days,

[DFW]

68. I used to go back to DC with a box full of pins and buttons.

Those were indeed the days.

[MineralMan]

2. Not enough public support to keep it on the air.

That seems to be the story. So be it, I guess. If it were filling a need that was large enough, it would have the support to continue operations. So, who's to blame for its failure?

Apparently, it wasn't delivering content that appealed to a large enough group to earn enough support to be viable.

That's sad, isn't it? Apparently, its target audience wasn't tuning in. Perhaps a redefinition of that target is in order.

[me_not_you]

48. Alex what is the 'free-rider problem?'

You can't be this daft right? This is the inherent issue with not making people pay (up front) for good and services. An increasing issue in our day and age. Especially with organizations that don't take massive sums of money from corporate sponsors (looking at you NPR & PBS). Anyone who thinks their donations keeps NPR or PBS afloat is a fool. Sorry to have been the one to tell ya.

But this is going to be an increasing issue going forward. Independent thought cant be produced for free. And people who value it are gonna have to start putting down money. Or else go to Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany and Viacom.

[sharedvalues]

55. Rightwing radio is subsidized by rightwing billionaires

Eg Heritage funded Rush Limbaugh when he needed it

https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/rush-limbaughs-wingnut-welfare

[3Hotdogs]

3. Maybe Rupert Murdoch can buy it and keep it on the air.

Yes, its sarcasm.

[ritapria]

4. The Progressuve Left Can't get Big Bucks Advertisement

With the of exception of Democracy Now, they survive, if they survive, on a hand to mouth existence ……

[me_not_you]

49. but why????

Oh that's right, the corporate sponsor's are scared of the Bernie Sanders of the world because the true left will evoke a real tax on corporate profit.

Think Nike is ready for that? Stay woke fam....

[sharedvalues]

57. Largely because the left doesn't build institutions

There’s plenty of money on the left.
There’s just no AFP. No Heritage. No ALEC. Etc.

Dems need to start building institutions that last beyond elections.

[me_not_you]

60. i see & agree

Bill Maher has talked about this a bit. How the left fails to put money down like the right dose (as you noted). Most rich progressives stay away from the political issues and focus on helping poor folks aboard. Which is nice, however .... we are rotting from within.

I'm thinking 'far-left' too. Guess another factor is how much 'far-left' thought has been demonized in the USA. Swear it's easier being open non-binary queer then a socialist. Not just DSA either, but full Socialist International. So guess the past 50 years has keep much money in the closet.

[Skidmore]

5. Why doesn't

Stiers or some of the wealthy on the left invest in media?

[brooklynite]

12. Perhaps because liberals don't spend endless hours listening to the radio?

[Skidmore]

24. Perhaps liberals don't

ride in cars or have radios or tvs in their homes. Not all of the US is set up for broadband yet either.

[Codeine]

14. Because radio is dead.

It’s a moribund media that matters a little less each passing day.

[Cetacea]

15. Like vinyl?

An estimated 250 million people still listen to AM radio. (BAI is FM).

[certainot]

32. radio is why we have trump. WBAI should switch to liberal talk, a national lineup

will bring advertisers and then pressure syracuse university to switch sports from one of the 5 limbaugh stations that it currently supports to WBAI

the damage from rw talk radio will last until the planet burns unless the left pulls it's music buds out of it's ass and stops ignoring it.

[me_not_you]

50. BINGO!!!!!

You truly get. It amazes me how little the left understand what goes on, on rw radio. Especially the Neo-fascist Christian variety. Do these idiots who think 'radio is dead' believe Sean Hannity dose a daily radio show for charity?

The effect of rw radio has been well studied in academic circles too. Chiefly post repeal of the fairness doctrine.

[diva77]

62. There are vast swathes of land in the US where there is nothing but wingnut, or religious, or

country music radio. And nothing but Fux when you go to the one bar in town. Places like the central valley in CA; just check out where wingnuts hold office and there's a good chance that wingnuts rule the am & fm airwaves -- Nunes's district, for example. Not everyone can afford Sirius or a satellite dish.

Public radio is at the low end of the fm spectrum and most of those stations play music most of the day and have a weak signal.

We need more channels on am & fm. Celebrities are on social media -- such as twitter and instagram; let's have some wealthy progressives get together and buy up something on am & fm and offer an alternative to the sadistic, meantalk, swindle radio that has dominated for decades.

K&R for exposure

[me_not_you]

64. podcasting is elitism

Have lived in three markets in the south most of my life; Mobile, Al; New Orleans, La; & Macon, Ga. In all markets the only 'full-time' counter to rw or Neo-fascist Christine radio is 'NPR.' Which is a far cry from being true counter weigh or offering diverse ideas. Although, New Orleans has WTUL (college station) which is really good.

Macon is the only market that doesn't have the run-of-the-mill rw radio (Hannity, Limbaugh, Levin, etc) it however has the most extreme Neo-fascist Christine radio I've ever heard. The stuff they say is bonkers.

In short I agree with you. We need more diversity of ideas on the air waves. I'm currently looking to get my FCC licensing for at least HAM to start. In most rural place around the world, short wave radio is king given the distances it covers. So I would think shortwave with a VHF or AM complement is the way to move on this idea.

The issue will be 1) cost to maintain and 2) cost of equipment for listeners.

Another issue is the young folks simply don't understand how valuable this infrastructure is. This thread expose this issue. People seem to think the internetz is some how the golden cow to warship.But we should all careful study how foreign authoritarians use the internetz against their citizens. To think this wont or isn't already happening here is beyond foolish. So is thinking we wont need such infrastructure one day.

[Celerity]

70. 'podcasting is elitism'

You are having a laugh, right?

[Codeine]

66. We had that and it failed.

Air America had plenty of progressive talkers, but no audience. At a certain point you have to stop throwing good money after bad.

[me_not_you]

69. The Mythical We

First) I never had it. As others and I have said, just because you had (or do) something doesn't mean everyone else has(or dose) the same.

Second) As I have already written, knowing a little about economics is kinda useful here. It's called the free-rider problem. People on the left don't like to put down money for content. Also, far-left programming is going suffer as the far-left has been demonized for the past 50 years in America. Which means the market share of far-left listens is small.

Given a small pool of listeners, and them not wanting to pay for content is a sure fire way to lose money. As someone else said already rw radio (Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Alex Jones, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Prager, Michael "Savage" Wiener, Dwight Schultz, etc) are backed by rw millionaires and billionaires who give massive sums of money to keep these fools on the radio. Why? Because it's an investment that provides a outstanding ROI. How much did these people make via the GOP tax cuts???

Third
If you build it they will come. Bernie Sanders gets 13 million votes in 2016 and you tell me their ain't no audience? Mr. Trump wins 2016 and you think their aren't large amounts of disenfranchised citizens hungry to hear the message of the left. During times of failures in capitalism people go one of two ways, socialism or fascism. Guess which side is wining the radio game?


Last
It's not even a debate anymore how much rw radio has influenced politics for the past 30 years. Scores of books and academic articles have been written on this. Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has even listed rw radio as a cause to our current situation.

As I said already, do you think Sean Hannity dose his DAILY radio show for charity?

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/talk-radio-made-todays-republican-party/596380/

[diva77]

72. Here's Why the Right Wing Dominates Talk Radio Today

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heres-why-the-right-wing_b_206444

06/21/2009 05:12 am ET Updated May 25, 2011

Ever wonder why the right wing continues to dominate talk radio, even as it loses elections?

“Your Huffington Post piece showed only the tip of the iceberg,” a major talk-show figure e-mailed last month following my blog here on Rush Limbaugh’s empire being built initially by giving his show away for free to hundreds of smaller-market talk stations. My veteran radio source, assured anonymity, added, “The main story here is vertical integration in the radio business” and the way the big urban talk stations get their programs.

Vertical integration: Precisely what the federal government has moved to ban in the television and movie industries with anti-trust actions. But the radio business has gotten a free pass.

Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates righties Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Dr. Laura, among others, is owned by the nation’s largest radio-station conglomerate, Clear Channel. Clear Channel, thanks to FCC deregulation, was allowed to gobble up over 1000 radio stations — including 16 of the most powerful, (lower-case) clear-channel AM stations in major markets.

Today, Clear Channel either owns or programs most of the nation’s 58 strongest, 50,000-watt AM radio stations, liberally stocking them with right-wing talk shows. Among them: Los Angeles’ KFI, New York’s WABC, Detroit’s WJR, Denver’s KOA, Portland’s KEX, and Chicago’s WLS.

Yes, Clear Channel does own liberal Air America stations. But none of them is a 50,000-watt “blowtorch.” Instead, Clear Channel puts shows like Thom Hartmann’s on its smaller, 5,000-and 10,000-watt “sticks” (antennas).

Clear Channel is more than a corporate name. It’s also a radio descriptor: A clear-channel radio station is a powerful, 50,000-watt signal with interference-free nightly coverage 750 miles from its city.

Clear Channel owns 17 of those coveted licenses, and its Premiere supplies much of the programming to many of the rest. There are only one or two 50,000-watt stations carrying Air America’s — or any — liberal shows.

Wherever Clear Channel owns a big AM radio station and other smaller ones, it always puts Premiere’s Hannity, Rush, et al on its biggest signal. This puts liberal stations at a big disadvantage in virtually all large markets — where the real radio money is.

“The prevailing assumption right now in talk radio,” one talk programmer told me. “Is that you won’t lose money on conservative talk. That could change, but it’ll take time.” SNIP

I realize this article is from 2009/2011, however, things seem to have gotten worse since then.

[me_not_you]

74. Also add, repeal of the fairness doctrine

[genxlib]

6. It seems to me that the fate of the radio is linked to the car

Does anyone other than drivers listen to radio anymore? I don't remember the last time I saw a stand alone radio.

Most non-car based listeners have transitioned to Ipods, streaming services or podcasts.

The only listeners left are people in cars. Even then, mostly private cars and not ride sharing vehicles.

In a place like New York City, how many people use private cars. I could easily see this leading to a serious decline in listeners across all radio.

[Codeine]

13. Radio is for cranky old people

and long-haul truckers. I listen to the radio one day a week when my local college station does jazz programming and occasionally I’ll put on NPR when I’m sick of listening to podcasts or my audiobooks. Other than that I cannot imagine being bothered.

[japple]

18. I am not cranky nor a long-haul trucker. I listen to NPR when I am working around the house,

when I'm driving (which is frequent as I transport for cat rescue) and while eating lunch. We still have a radio/CD/tape player which we use daily. I don't watch TV and haven't since I cut the cord around 5 years ago. Georgia Public Broadcasting has good programming as does TN. Between radio and online streaming, this OLD (70 years) person manages to stay fairly well informed. LONG LIVE RADIO!!!! And get off my lawn you damned little rugrat.

[Cetacea]

19. Right

The left has a major blind spot when it comes to media in general. Right wing radio certainly has enough listeners to effect elections. And the left will never recover from what Fox has done and continues to do, imo

[Skidmore]

23. This.

I listen to NPR too. Some times to CSPAN when not around my computer or TV. We have XM Sirius in the car. We need radio and television with a view from the left.

[appalachiablue]

34. Sad about WBAI. Plenty of folks in many US areas listen to NPR

at home mainly, not necessarily in a car. NPR offers some quality programming, features, classical music and more.

Last year I was glad that actor SETH MACFARLANE donated $2 Mill to NPR and 500K to the LA affiliate in one effort against Fox and RW radio domination. There needs to be much more obviously, but when? RW radio began in mid 80s, Fox in 1995 and the influence is widespread.



The Hollywood Reporter, 6/19/18. Seth MacFarlane Donates $2.5M to NPR After Criticizing Fox News.

After saying he's "embarrassed" to work for Fox because of Fox News' "fringe" reporting, MacFarlane lends major financial support to NPR and its L.A. affiliate. Seth MacFarlane slammed Fox this weekend after Fox News host Tucker Carlson told viewers not to trust other news networks' coverage during Friday night's broadcast of his eponymous show. Now, the writer and producer is lending major financial support to NPR and its Los Angeles affiliate.

MacFarlane is donating $2 million to NPR and $500,000 to L.A.'s NPR membership station, KPCC, Southern California's top news distributor for NPR content, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. MacFarlane's donation will directly benefit NPR’s Collaborative Journalism Network, which connects NPR’s nearly 1,800 journalists so they are able to share resources and eliminate "news deserts" in the U.S.

On Saturday, MacFarlane — who is responsible for hit Fox series like Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland and his latest offering, the space dramedy Orville — tweeted that he is "embarrassed" to work for the company.
> "In other words, don’t think critically, don’t consult multiple news sources, and in general, don’t use your brain. Just blindly obey Fox News," he wrote in response to Carlson's comments about Fox News' rivals."This is fringe shit, and it’s business like this that makes me embarrassed to work for this company."

MacFarlane's tweet inspired Judd Apatow to speak out against Fox, too. In a string of tweets posted Monday afternoon, the director urged Fox showrunners and talent to publicly condemn the network for Fox News and its reporting. Apatow particularly took issue with Fox News' coverage of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy that has separated children from their parents at the southern U.S. border.
"I haven’t worked with Fox since 2002. That family promotes evil ideas and greed and corruption. We all choose who to work with. I understand why that is easier for some than others but many powerful people are powerful enough to speak up to their bosses at a moment like this," Apatow wrote of Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News' parent company, 21st Century Fox...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/seth-macfarlane-donates-25m-npr-fox-news-tweet-1121333

[orangecrush]

26. I'm happy old people

And even happier when I listen to the radio!

[IcyPeas]

35. guess I'm cranky and old....

I listen to the radio in the morning and at night and in my car.

KCSN - California State University - Northridge - Public Radio all day fantastic hand picked music.

KCRW - Santa Monica College - music and news (NPR)

KPCC (NPR) - California Public Radio

I love my radio. These stations play the very best of new music.

🎸📻

[DBoon]

46. I listen to KXLU

I'm an old cranky punk rocker

[elleng]

39. You surely don't speak for all of us.

My public radio station is on for me most of every day, largely for classical music, and including NPR news hourly, AND PBSNewsHour.

Centered in DC and suburbs. ClassicalWETA.

[littlemissmartypants]

40. Ageism is unattractive and won't win any friends, especially here. We also have several current and

Former truckers here. You did nail it when you mentioned the cranky. Plenty of that to go around.

Talk radio is an acquired taste. If you are financially challenged, it's possible radio may be your only option. We certainly have more choices now than ever before. The question is are we learning anything, being entertained or just using our media choices to kill time while we get older by the minute. For example, VOA is a lifeline to countries around the world. Full disclosure I have my FCC 3rd class Commercial Radio Operator License, so I'm biased.

Link to VOA, fyi: https://www.voanews.com/

[certainot]

33. a 2016 study found 25% of americans get most of their news from radio

and how many elections are decided by small margins?

most of the red states, with a lot of senators /population, there are still no free easy alts for politics other than radio when driving working and doing chores - and it's 20-1 RW

there are a lot of people who don't want to pay or hassle with sat radio - especially for politics, current events, weather ---- and that's why republicans don't want to fund free wifi.

[me_not_you]

51. wrong

You'd be surprised how many people still tune in. Just because you don't. Doesn't mean others aren't.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. It's streaming now.

www.wbai.org

[cloudythescribbler]

20. a WBAI producer posted on FaceBook that BAI is streaming online from CA

James Irsay
6 hrs ·
As of this morning, there is no more WBAI. The national office has fired ALL staff (including our manager Berthold Reimers and program director Linda Perry-Barr). There is no more technical staff, and 99.5FM is broadcasting programs remotely from a California Pacifica station (not sure if KPFA or KPFK). This is the work of new Pacifica interim Executive DirectorJohn Vermile.

Sorry to bring you such horrific news. We are hoping to get back in action after consulting with the appropriate professionals.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE THAT THIS WAS A DECISION, APPARENTLY WITHOUT ADVANCE NOTICE, THAT CAME FROM NATIONAL PACIFICA BOARD, APPARENTLY OUT OF THE BLUE

[George II]

8. WBAI was an icon of "alternative" radio broadcasting. This is a shock! Hopefully they can resolve...

...these financial issues and return to the airwaves.

[Codeine]

11. They've hemorrhaged money forever.

Any return would be in a much-depleted form.

[Codeine]

10. Pacifica went to shit 20 years ago.

It’s all quack medicine, conspiracy theories, and occasional outbursts of blatant anti-Semitism. I spent my teenage years to my mid-20s listening to KPFK (the LA Pacifica station) religiously and the change was abrupt and tragic.

The institution crawled up its own ass and suffocated.

[Cetacea]

17. Agreed

I knew we could agree on something.

[The Mouth]

21. Correct.

KPFA went from meaningful and interesting to whack overnight about 20 years ago.

[Kali]

25. well, there was some other shit that went down 20 years ago

it was called the "healthy stations project" and it led to the corporatization and ruination of many local community stations. Pacifica has suffered from a number of political upheavals. I am no expert but stay connected on a listserve for the grassroots radio coalition.

[orangecrush]

27. Hi Kali!

Glad someone understands the need for an alternative to right wing radio!

[Kali]

36. ...

of course you have a slight bias about radios

actually I do too, I have my community station or NPR on all day and stream it in my car via my phone if I am out of range.

[orangecrush]

44. I go back

To free form f.m. in Pittsburgh in the early 70's. Heard news from the war in real time.

Corporate radio still sucks!

[PlanetBev]

31. I agree, Codeine

I used to work at Hanna-Barbera from 1978 to 1985, right across the street from the KPFK station. Since I was a cartoon painter, I would have my headphones on, listening to it all day. Great music, dialogue and activism. Then the programming just cratered. I gave up on them about 15 years ago.

[Jedi Guy]

42. This is totally off topic, but since you mentioned it...

Thank you for the part you played in creating Hanna-Barbera cartoons! Those were a huge part of my childhood, and I still remember them fondly all these years later.

I feel kinda sad for today's kids not knowing the joy of waking up early on Saturday morning in order to plunk down with a bowl of cereal and watch cartoons before going out to play...

[PlanetBev]

73. Yeah, those were the days, Jedi

Will never forget those Saturday mornings. Heckle and Jeckle, Lassie, Fury, Sky King, etc., etc.

😔 Sigh....

[PoliticAverse]

28. This is one of those things that's both surprising and not.

It isn't because they've frequently been teetering on the edge of a financial abyss.
It is because after all those close calls it's easy to think they were immortal.

[choie]

30. Unbelievable...in as liberal a city as NYC is...

we don't have one progressive radio station - couldn't even keep Air America when it was here briefly.

[marybourg]

37. NYT has a slightly less cataclysmic take on it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/business/media/wbai-pacifica-layoffs.html?searchResultPosition=1

They report that 10 of the 12 employees have been let go and Pacifica network shows, instead of local WBAI shows, are airing.

Don’t kill the messenger, please; just reporting what I’ve read.

[DinahMoeHum]

38. Apparently, the corpse lingered on for a very long time. . .

Back in 2013, journalist and radio host Doug Henwood wrote about the problems of WBAI, and said that it was becoming a shell of what it used to be. . .

https://observer.com/2013/08/the-excruciating-demise-of-wbai/

I can well attest to this particular passage, since I experienced the same thing one too many times in recent years. . . (boldface emphasis is mine)

(snip)

. . . most of its problems were home grown.
The programming was mostly unlistenable. Hosts who couldn’t talk very well yammered on about material they didn’t understand. Interviewers knew nothing about their interviewees.
Health nuts flogged miracle cures and conspiracists spun elaborate theories.
I recall turning on the morning drive time show and listening for 20 minutes to someone the host never identified — and, in all that time, I never got an idea of what the interview was supposed to be about.

(snip)

Things were particularly painful in the 2000s, due to turnover and turmoil.

(snip)

There began a decade of civil war within WBAI, with faction fighting faction. Charges of “racism” were lobbed constantly. A succession of managerial mediocrities drove the station into the ground. Excruciating stupidity was embraced in the name of populist programming. For several years in the mid-2000s, the station was run by a cabal of black nationalists of an antique and alienating sort. They were forced out by Pacifica central, only to be replaced by an even less distinguished (though not black nationalist) set of sub-mediocrities.

Through all this internal turmoil and on-air rot, the audience predictably dwindled to the point of becoming nearly immeasurable by the Arbitron surveys. Once a major presence in New York City politics and culture, it became utterly irrelevant. It didn’t even earn a mention in the NYPD’s intelligence files around the 2004 Republican convention, and it was irrelevant to Occupy Wall Street, which occurred blocks from its headquarters.

(snip)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I could go on, but I think y'all now get the idea.

What a fucking shame.

[FailureToCommunicate]

41. So sad. WBAI was one of my lifelines to progressive world views as a kid.

I still always listen to public radio when commuting, and support them with yearly $$

[YOHABLO]

43. Any dialogue that's contrary to consumerism and profit will not be supported by corporate America.

Welcome to Capitalism on steroids. The truth left the station a long time ago. I still listen to Randi Rhodes and Thom Hartmann on FreespeechTV, and on SiriusXM Michelangelo Signorile.

[me_not_you]

53. Jackpot

And good luck running any content service with no corporate sponsors (or any sponsor for that matter). WARNING 'Cancel culture' is only gonna make this worse too.

The alternative would be that we understand how important theses stations are and support them with real mone.... OMG look at this twitter post.................

[brooklynite]

52. Honestly, I haven't listened to the radio in years...

I have a full music selection on my phone and a large selection of podcasts which I can play on the car stereo or my phone.

[me_not_you]

54. I wouldn't brang about that...

This is kinda the issue. You know, the whole being disconnected from your community, ... being in isolation.... If I was trying to squash an informed population, You are precisely what I want. A person not plugged in to their soundings. Keep your head on a swivel.

[brooklynite]

56. Who says I'm disconnected from my community?

I listen to podcasts that come out weekly about politics, religion, sex, current events, popular culture...the only thing I regularly listened to the radio for was traffic reports. Next you'll be saying I should be listening to a record player.....

[me_not_you]

58. think: LIVE ...

You fail to see the bigger picture here friend. Below is a documentary I encourage you check out. A podcast isn't in real-time. A podcast must be downloaded from the internet which has weakness. Radio is anonymous. Do you need me to spell this out any more for you?


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2150203/

[brooklynite]

59. When I was young and hip I didn't listen to endless hours of "live" radio either...

Air America didn't go out of business because of an evil conspiracy; it ended because people didn't listen to it in sufficient numbers.

[me_not_you]

61. your experience is not universal (egocentrism)

My understanding is 'Air America' when out of business because it was found out to be a front fro the CIA. Oh wait, different Air America......

Notice keyword: ANONYMOUS

[tirebiter]

63. I've been a community radio dj for 45 years

NPR is the homogenization of mediocre. When it first started I had hope but they were into privatization of public radio. The whole idea of public radio was not to have just one voice or opinion nationwide but a number of voices, like at least one per town as an alternative to whatever was coming from the privately owned am or fm. NPR is like the MacDonalds of radio
Pacifica is, or at least was, way too ideological. They had moments like the birth of the Firesign Theater but that was intelligent people breaking the rules, usually discreetly since they were the ones taking LSD. I was one of those.
The last station I did a show on became, contractually the voice of NPR for the immediate area. That was until a college station undercut us and basically gave themselves to NPR. Funny how that worked. My station his since gone bankrupt. It’s been bought up by Christian radio. That and Mexican radio is what you’ll get anymore.

[brooklynite]

71. UPDATE: Beloved radio station WBAI gets a reprieve from shutdown -- for now

Legal action may temporarily save local broadcasting at 99.5 WBAI FM, staffers said Tuesday.

Just one day after the station’s owner, the Pacifica Foundation, announced that original programming would end at WBAI — and shuttered its Atlantic Avenue worksite — a volunteer host at the decades-old, listener-supported radio station alerted the Brooklyn Eagle to a court order that could keep the storied broadcaster creating, at least in the short term.

“My hope is that there can be a resolution and that WBAI can be resurrected,” journalist Jeff Simmons, who hosts two shows on WBAI, told the Eagle Monday.

https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/10/08/wbai-gets-reprieve-from-shutdown/