Back of the Book — August 31, 2013


It's Friday night, September 13, 2013, 21:46, and I've updated this Web page with the part about the welcoming message we saw as we got to the studios. The original top of this page follows the arrow. ⇒ Well, this is a radio program where we'll sort of celebrate the ending of the Middle Third of 2013. It will not be a gleeful celebration because I really like the Middle Third and would much prefer that it last a whole lot longer. Everything ends though. We plan to cover the below stuff and more on this program. One of these days I should get around to updating this Web page and I've got some other Web pages ready to be updated too. Check back, maybe things will get updated for your next visit.

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

I have also posted a whole lot of the minutes of the Pacifica National Finance Committee. I'm a member of that committee because I'm the WBAI LSB Treasurer.

The next regular WBAI LSB meeting is scheduled to happen on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, at 7:00 PM at Alwan-for-the-arts, 16 Beaver Street, 4th floor, in downtown Manhattan.

The WBAI LSB met on Wednesday, August 14, 2013, at Alwan-for-the-arts, 16 Beaver Street, 4th floor, in downtown Manhattan.

We didn't get to a Treasurer's Report at this meeting but I had posted a written Treasurer's Report the night before.

The LSB mostly heard reports from the General Manager and interim Program Director on the state of some things, and then LSB went into executive session for a while. The faction tried to shove one of their long motions that the rest of us didn't get to look at before it was put on the floor. This time they were stopped. It's a trick they use all the time, giving people mere minutes to try and digest some multi-page motion that they've worked on for weeks. The official report out of that executive session is that, “The WBAI LSB met in executive session to discuss personnel issues.”

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 newly revamped Web site. The site has gotten many of the individual program pages together to provide links and such, so check it out.

Because WBAI was forced out of its studios by the flood waters' destruction of the building's electrical system we still have this alternate, temporary stream for the radio station! I do not know how long this emergency stream will be up for. If this stream isn't working let me know.

New WBAI stream! WBAI has put up an experimental stream for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. This is a brand new, experimental stream. So if you have one of those devices you might try the link out. And let us know how it works for you one way or the other. That way the folks implementing it can iron out any kinks in the system.

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. There is also another version of the archive here. UPDATE for this program only: The audio stream crashed 48 minutes into this program. The archive got fragmented by this. Also, the official archive of the second hour is in a more limited format on the WBAI Web site. I'll be looking to post a full archive here as a substitute.

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 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.

With this program we bid adieu to the Middle Third of 2013. Yeah, it's my favorite time of the year because it's, mostly, sunny and warm. But every season must end.

We still have some of the actual Summer season left, but the Summer in terms of weather is really between Memorial Day and Labor Day here in Greater New York. And this is the start of Labor Day weekend. You can see more about the seasons and sub-seasons on my Web page about all of that.

a birthday cake
Oh, I shouldn't Eat Any of This

The observant will be able to conclude that an event has happened recently which traditionally brings out a cake with one's name and a candle on it. And, yes, this has happened for me quite recently.

We have had to forego the tradition of one candle for every year of life, owing to fire regulations in the City of New York.

I am once again amazed that I am an old man now.

In another “Communism Sucks!” segment we plan to talk about Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend being executed this past fortnight. Wow, that's probably triggering a whole lot of fantasies among lots of folks.

CCNY welcoming the new students
CCNY's welcome to the New Students — and Us!

So here's what we saw when we got to WBAI's current, temporary studios at CCNY for this program. Oh, the poor kids.

I remember my first day at college. They did not have any signs like this one up then.

On this program I took the opportunity to talk about how much I didn't like school. I told the sad story of my first day of kindergarten, where I did not fit in, in more ways than one. Little did I know then that on my first day of kindergarten I was experiencing a theme that would prevail through my entire life.

I hope that all of the kids starting out at, or returning to, CCNY do not have any problems in class with their crayons and construction paper projects.

Yeah, I know the photograph is a little blurry. It's a combination of a cheap camera that has troubles focusing, low light conditions and us being in a rush to get into the studios in the wee hours.

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 Saturday Morning With the Radio On alternates with us, has a blog these days. You can reach his blog here.

We like to stay interactive with our listeners. Here are the various options for you to get in touch with us.

You can also send me E-mail.

And now you can even reach me on Twitter Twitter logo


WBAI related links

WBAI Listeners' Web page

WBAI Management's official Web site

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The contents of this Web page are copyright © 2013, R. Paul Martin.