Web links related to the Back of the Book program of September 3, 2011


This is our 25th anniversary program! We'll do all the usual stuff we do on an anniversary program, and we'll just see what develops. Be sure to check back for updates.

Did you know that I've got a brief synopsis of some of the WBAI LSB meetings? Well, I do.

The next regular WBAI LSB meeting will be held on a date to be announced, at a location to be announced.

The LSB met on Wednesday, July 13, 2011, at Alwan for the Arts, 16 Beaver St #501, in Manhattan. The main thing we did was go over the income projections for WBAI's FY12 budget.

At a previous meeting the WBAI LSB voted to hold its meetings on the second Wednesday of every month and/or the last Thursday of that month, subject to change by the LSB, which gives us the following schedule:

All of these meetings are set to begin at 7:00 PM.

WBAI has a program schedule up on its Web site. The site has gotten many of the individual program pages together to provide links and such, so check it out.

WBAI has an official Web stream of what's on the air at any time! You can go here and pick which type of stream you want! If this stream isn't working let me know. And you can see the status of the streams at any time by clicking here. The stream was working at 1:44 this morning. The station has a Flash stream here, make sure you enable Javascript so it can work for you.

WBAI is archiving the programs! Just go here and you'll be able to listen to this program any time for the next couple of months. You may need to scroll up one line to see the audio archive. Let me know if you find this feature useful.

If you want to listen to any part of the WBAI archive click here to go right to the archives. When you first go to the Web page you'll only see the WBAI programs for the past 7 days. If you want to see older programs you can click on one of the “See ALL Shows” buttons. Or to see only the two shows in this time slot click here.

Back of the Book is again one of the programs that you can download, as well as listen to on line.

In the table on the archive Web page Back of the Book and Saturday Morning With the Radio On are both in the “Show” column. The “Date and Category” column shows the date of the program. After the program I go in and write the details of the program and say which program it is. Of course I'd recommend that you just listen to both programs in this time slot!

In the Summer of 2009, there was a Pacifica National Board meeting held in New York. Here's the Web page I did about this PNB meeting and the amazing things that went on at it.

And the PNB has also met in Houston from Friday October 9th, through Sunday October 11th, 2009. The official audio archive of that meeting is here. It was not disrupted as the New York meeting was, although some of the same miscreants got out there to say stupid things.

The Pacifica National Board (PNB) met in Manhattan the weekend of October 1-3, 2010. The audio has been posted for the first day of the meeting, the second day of the meeting and the third day of the meeting.

WBAI Management has set up this page to let folks know what's happening if you can't hear the broadcast. If there's a problem with the broadcast tonight you should try the stream. We're hoping it all goes well this morning.

This is the 25th anniversary program for Back of the Book!

We plan to do the usual anniversary stuff, including the usual ritual of reading “Before the Law” by Franz Kafka.

We're going to reminisce and talk about the changes we're seen in the time we've done this radio program. And after we're done wallowing in nostalgia and congratulating ourselves on having merely survived we'll get on with some sort of radio-like program.

A bear on a barrel
This is Part of a Mysterious North Pole Ritual

Pickles of the North wasn't on the last program because she had to go organize the resistance at her native North Pole against the great oppressor Santa Claus.

She'll tell us all about her adventures on this program, and she'll tell us about this odd creature on a barrel too.

sandstorm at coney Island
Sandstorm on the Coney Island Boardwalk

Pickles of the North and I went to Coney Island on August 24th. It was a windy day, with the atmosphere very active due to the approaching Hurricane Irene.

There was a lot of surf crashing on the jetties that day, and the wind really picked up the sand and sent it flying off the beach, over the Boardwalk and out to Surf Ave. and beyond.

That's not a scene out of Lawrence of Arabia on the right. This wind blown sand condition was enough to drive a lot of people off the Boardwalk. Pickles of the North and I wandered around on it for a couple of hours.

We have yet to go back to see what things are like down there after the actual hurricane hit.

utility pole downed by Hurricane Irene in Brooklyn
Utility Pole Casualty of Hurricane Irene

We plan to talk about Hurricane Irene on this program. There was a hell of a lot of damage done in places. Some areas were seriously flooded, and trees, including the putative second oldest tree in Brooklyn, were damaged or completely knocked down by the storm.

Here we see a utility pole that's been snapped off at ground level.

A study by researchers at Northwestern University had discovered that bisexual men exist! Jeez, I've been saying that for quite a few years now. I conducted my own study, you see.

The Middle Third of 2011, is over. Sniff! The Autumnal Equinox will occur on Friday, September 23, 2011 at 5:04 AM (ET).

We plan to talk about the Wikileaks thing tonight. Jeez, this is an excellent example of how not to deal with people who aren't at all used to data security issues.

the 9/11 memorial has been attacked again
The 9/11 Memorial Eternal Flame Has Been Attacked Again

This was the condition of the 9/11 memorial “eternal flame” after the last radio program. I suspect that that same idiot whom Pickles of the north and I saw throwing stuff on it some time back did this too. It appears that he's taken something that someone left there and thrown it on the fire.

I'm sure they'll clean this mess up before the big 9/11 memorial stuff next weekend, but I really with this guy could be stopped from doing this sort of crazy stuff.

There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to talk about on the air at WBAI, even though the gag rule was lifted in 2002. However, there is the Internet! There are mailing lists which you can subscribe to and Web based message boards devoted to WBAI and Pacifica issues. Many controversial WBAI/Pacifica issues are discussed on these lists.

One popular list the “NewPacifica” mailing list. Founded October 31, 2000, this list is sometimes lively and as of mid-2011, has 687 subscribers coast to coast.

Being lively, of course, it sometimes also gets a bit nasty. All sorts of things are happening on this list and official announcements are frequently posted there.

You can look at the NewPacifica list here, and you can join the list from that Web page too. If you subscribe to the “NewPacifica” mailing list you will receive, via E-mail, all of the messages which are sent to that list.

There is the option to receive a “digest” version of the list, which means that a bunch of messages are bundled into one E-mail and sent to you at regular intervals, this cuts down on the number of E-mails you get from the list. You will also be able to send messages to the list.

This list also has a Web based interface where you can read messages and from which you can post your own messages.

There is also the more WBAI specific “Goodlight” Web based message board. It is sometimes referred to on Back of the Book as “the bleepin' blue board,” owing to the blue background used on its Web pages. This one has many people posting anonymously and there's also an ancillary “WBAI people” board that's just totally out of hand. UPDATE: The bleepin' blue board has had to add a step for folks to get onto it because it's under attack by spambots. When you click on the above link you may be asked for a username and password. Type in Username: poster Password: enternow

When the computer in Master Control is working we sometimes have live interaction with people posting on the “Goodlight Board” during the program.

Our very own Uncle Sidney Smith, whose program Carrier Wave alternates with us, has a blog these days. You can reach his blog here.

My voice mail number at WBAI is 212-209-2996. Leave a message.

You can also send me E-mail.



WBAI related links

WBAI Listeners' Web page

WBAI Management's official Web site


Back to the Back of the Book page

Back to my home page.

The contents of this Web page are copyright © 2011, R. Paul Martin.