Web links related to the Back of the Book program of October 14, 2002
It's Sunday night 10/27/2002 21:02:54 and this Web page is done at last! This program got dominated by the pitching, which was necessary. Well, the interim Pacifica National Board says it's not going to finalize the Pacifica Foundation's new bylaws until their December meeting. However, they debated, or at least talked about, the bylaws this weekend. They be continued this activity through Monday, and they are still finalizing plans on their next meeting about all of this. I covered the below topics, but the big deal on this program was pitching! Thanks to all who contributed to keeping Back of the Book on WBAI and keeping WBAI on the air. Please don't mind the changes in tense below, some of this was written before the program and some was written after it.
Here is the latest on the saga of Pacifica. There was a big meeting of the interim Pacifica National Board September 20-22, in Houston, TX. It did NOT reach a decision on the bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation. They are having another meeting for the purpose of dealing with bylaws this long weekend.
As we move into the next phase of the Pacifica Crisis there are various elements that would like to simply replace the previous group of hijackers with themselves and/or their pals. But some of us are more convinced than ever that only open elections will provide a long range cure for the Pacifica Crisis. Here's a link to the various election proposals. Here's the latest bylaws proposal, subject to change at a moment's notice, of course.
Here's the WBAI schedule. Don't blame me if it's not accurate, I didn't make it up I'm only relaying it. Here's a schedule made by a listener who has Web links for various programs and producers.
Our colleagues from Off the Hook now have both a RealAudio streaming web cast operating, and a new MP3 stream both of which were working at about 10:15 PM last night. The MP3 feed is now the preferred feed.
Everybody lies. If we didn't we probably couldn't have a society, we'd all kill each other. Of course some people build an entire philosophy of life around lying. Others build a business around claims that they can detect lies. Everyone has heard of lie detectors, what not everyone knows is that there's no such thing as a lie detector. There are polygraphs, but the National Academy of Sciences has finally said that they're not lie detectors at all.
Lots of people have known that polygraphs are just primitive instruments run by fallible and sometimes deluded individuals. Add in the not infrequent biases of the polygraph operators and you've got a formula for railroading people, which is exactly what's happened with polygraphs over the decades.
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We're pitching tonight! Help keep WBAI on the air and keep Back of the Book on WBAI! If at all possible call 212-209-2900 and pledge to the program. Remember this only counts while the program is on the air, so please don't delay it until another time. And if we can make it so that the bylaws come out right your subscription will make you a voter for the WBAI Local Advisory Board, or Station Board or whatever the hell they end up calling it.
UPDATE Thanks to the generosity of many listeners Back of the Book made $1,285 this marathon! Two thirds of that came in during the last one sixth of the program. There's gotta be a better way of doing this!
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We did get to some mail on the program. Most of it was snail mail, but we did do one E-mail that was from another WBAI producer who listens to Back of the Book. This E-mail contained, among other things, a correction of what I'd said about a program not making money during marathons and getting axed.
Something you said on your last show motivated me to e-mail you. 'Nuff Said! is not the financial failure people are saying it was. In February, we raised nearly $10,000.00 (some of that as a combined show), and in May, the money we raised got credited to another show. We combined shows with “Off the Hook,” which had an earlier time slot. Most of the money came in the beginning of the show, as is usual at night (in my experience, and I understand others' experience, too). However, it wasn't recorded as a combined show, it was recorded as two separate shows. So all the money we helped raise in the beginning of the show got credited to "Off the Hook." So it looks like we raised under $1,000, but that is not true at all, except on paper, where it's counted.
(There is also the matter of being pre-empted the first week and being notified of the pre-emption on the day of the show, costing us our guest for that special, all of which cost us listeners since we were on on the day we were supposed to be pre-empted.)
I just want to belay the rumors of 'Nuff Said! not paying for itself. Only the way the records are kept. ....
Be seeing you,•
There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to talk about on the air at WBAI. But there is an Internet list called “Free Pacifica!” which you can subscribe to, and these issues are discussed there. If you subscribe to it you will receive, via E-mail, all of the messages which are sent to that list. You will also be able to send messages to the list.
If you want to subscribe to the “Free Pacifica!” list just click on this link and follow the instructions, and you'll be subscribed. Could open your eyes a little bit.
The above list has occasionally produced a high volume of E-mail because of the attention that these issues have drawn. If you would prefer to subscribe to a low volume list that only provides announcements of events related to these issues then subscribe to the FreePac mailing list.
Another list that's sprung up is the “NewPacifica” mailing list. This one is very lively and currently includes over 400 subscribers coast to coast. Being lively, of course, it sometimes also gets a bit nasty. All sorts of things are happening on this list. With that warning in mind, you can look at the NewPacifica list here, and you can join the list from that Web page too, although you'll have to deal with Yahoo! to do so.
There is also the more WBAI specific “Goodlight” Web based message board. This one has a great many people posting anonymously and there's also an ancillary board that's just totally out of hand.
The “Goodlight” Web based message board has expanded to cover all Pacifica stations.
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