MSNBC on Steroids!

[PoliticalChic]

The east coast iteration of the Pacifica Foundation, is WBAI, 99.5 FM. It is very popular with many of our Leftwing brethren, as documented by the fact that it is listener sponsored, e.g., no commercials.



If one listens to it regularly, as I do, one comes away with the impression that it is a time-warp, with a mission to pretend that it is still the laboring in a period of run-away capitalism, with a blanket of racism throughout this, pictured as an evil and malevolent, nation.

Just bad, bad bad country!





Actual statements from recent broadcasts:

1. The Supreme Court decision spend money as free speech....well, then not giving folks minimum wage is stopping their free speech...

2. One host offered this: "I watch Fox for the same reason I read 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"

3. Discussing a recent crime, a youth who killed a passenger on a bus: "The terrible aspect of the 14 yr old who shot a man on the bus...the worst aspect is that he is being tried as an adult."

4. The suggestion for a name change for sports teams: " The Geogia Lynchers, The Bigots, The Atlanta Slavers.....not Atlanta braves, redskins, ...."

5. "Mississippi would vote Republican if Heinrich Himmler was the candidate...in fact he would be the candidate of choice!"

6. "The GOP is working to bring back Jim Crow!"

7. A morning host, Hoskins, introduced his interviewee: 'Good morning, comrade'

8. A great part of the programming is in support of every movement opposed to the only democracy in the Middle East.

9. Of course, they endorse the view that man is causing global warming, as well.

10. Promos for "Bring Mumia Home," a site championing cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal....and the end of all prisons.



These are the messages they send to other Americans.




Kind of gets me ready for some of the posts on the board.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

They're copying the NYTimes business model: totally alienate any potential customer to the right of Mao and watch your circulation chart resembles a Double Black Diamond Ski trail.

 

[PoliticalChic]

They're copying the NYTimes business model: totally alienate any potential customer to the right of Mao and watch your circulation chart resembles a Double Black Diamond Ski trail.

Seems so.


"On August 9, 2013, Pacifica interim executive director Summer Reese announced that due to financial problems, Pacifica-owned radio stattion WBAI-FM in New York was laying off about two-thirds of its staff, effective August 12, 2013. The entire news department was reportedly included in the layoff."
Ben Sisario, "WBAI-FM Lays Off Most of Staff," Aug. 11, 2013, The New York Times

 

[CrusaderFrank]

They're copying the NYTimes business model: totally alienate any potential customer to the right of Mao and watch your circulation chart resembles a Double Black Diamond Ski trail.

Seems so.


"On August 9, 2013, Pacifica interim executive director Summer Reese announced that due to financial problems, Pacifica-owned radio stattion WBAI-FM in New York was laying off about two-thirds of its staff, effective August 12, 2013. The entire news department was reportedly included in the layoff."
Ben Sisario, "WBAI-FM Lays Off Most of Staff," Aug. 11, 2013, The New York Times

Yeah, wow. Just shocking.

Progs have a dim bulb view of business. They think that a restaurant can maximize profits by overcharging for yesterdays leftovers. People like Buffett and Gates got wealthy the old-fashioned way, by ignoring moronic advise from Progressives.

 

[PoliticalChic]

They're copying the NYTimes business model: totally alienate any potential customer to the right of Mao and watch your circulation chart resembles a Double Black Diamond Ski trail.

Seems so.


"On August 9, 2013, Pacifica interim executive director Summer Reese announced that due to financial problems, Pacifica-owned radio stattion WBAI-FM in New York was laying off about two-thirds of its staff, effective August 12, 2013. The entire news department was reportedly included in the layoff."
Ben Sisario, "WBAI-FM Lays Off Most of Staff," Aug. 11, 2013, The New York Times

Yeah, wow. Just shocking.

Progs have a dim bulb view of business. They think that a restaurant can maximize profits by overcharging for yesterdays leftovers. People like Buffett and Gates got wealthy the old-fashioned way, by ignoring moronic advise from Progressives.

And, since one can only judge others by their own character....they believe lying and cheating is pervasive....

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Seems so.


"On August 9, 2013, Pacifica interim executive director Summer Reese announced that due to financial problems, Pacifica-owned radio stattion WBAI-FM in New York was laying off about two-thirds of its staff, effective August 12, 2013. The entire news department was reportedly included in the layoff."
Ben Sisario, "WBAI-FM Lays Off Most of Staff," Aug. 11, 2013, The New York Times

Yeah, wow. Just shocking.

Progs have a dim bulb view of business. They think that a restaurant can maximize profits by overcharging for yesterdays leftovers. People like Buffett and Gates got wealthy the old-fashioned way, by ignoring moronic advise from Progressives.

And, since one can only judge others by their own character....they believe lying and cheating is pervasive....

Look at their mentors and heroes. Look at how they hate Reagan for liberating Eastern Europe from their heroes and mentors. Dem inner city elections resemble Venezuela under Chavez or Castro's Cuba and for the same reason

 

[JimH52]

There is MSNBC on the left, raging with the very partisan policies and then there is FOX on the right, who seem to get something partisan in even the most innocuous news stories. Both are painful to watch if you really want to hear unbiased news. But of course you don't see any bias with FOX News, the official GOP station.

 

[PoliticalChic]

There is MSNBC on the left, raging with the very partisan policies and then there is FOX on the right, who seem to get something partisan in even the most innocuous news stories. Both are painful to watch if you really want to hear unbiased news. But of course you don't see any bias with FOX News, the official GOP station.

Would you give your examples please, as I did.

 

[PoliticalChic]

There is MSNBC on the left, raging with the very partisan policies and then there is FOX on the right, who seem to get something partisan in even the most innocuous news stories. Both are painful to watch if you really want to hear unbiased news. But of course you don't see any bias with FOX News, the official GOP station.

And while I've entitled the OP "MSNBC on Steroids," I should add that the cable station's racist baiter, Sharpton, is not outdone by the folks WBAI puts up as icons.

Just today......

An extensive interview with Dr. Carl Hart, " associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Columbia University. Hart is known for his research in drug abuse and drug addiction."
Carl Hart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
stated his view that African-Americans "are educated by their oppressors," and that what they learn about drugs is incorrect" (he almost said 'heck, they're not that bad.)




From reviews of his book, "High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society:"


1. "Author Carl Hart went from a 'learning disabled' elementary-school student to Ivey (sic) League professor. En route he sold drugs, carried guns, and fathered an illegitimate son... the book provides very, very little information on illegal drug use, and what is provided lacks solid credibility and depth.

2. It was all about how many girls he got as a kid, how he sold drugs,....

3. If you are looking for a book about drug research and how it effects drug policy in the US, you will be disappointed in this book.

4. I have a difficult time a) believing his credentials, and b) that he is a scientist of ANY kind.... he failed to respond effectively to ANY question put to him by the audience, including the mere definition of what he did as a "nueroscientist"(sic).
Sure makes me wonder about Columbia's criteria for teaching and research staff.

5. ... he marginalizes addiction (something that only effects 8% of drug users and is caused by poverty) and encourages methamphetamine users to "get a good night sleep." That completely ignores the impact of drug use on mental health, the family and society.... his main messages is that the negative effects of drugs, specifically cocaine and methamphetamine, on the brain have been over-hyped by the government and the media.

6. ... More and more young people believe that using drugs is no big deal and I'm concerned this book will be more ammunition because it was written by a "neuroscientist."

7. He may be a "neuroscientist," but this is not a scientific book.... the premise that MOST people can drink or use drugs without becoming addicted, so alcohol/drugs are not the problem...

8. ... Hart's idea that addiction is NOT a primary problem with huge social, economic, and medical costs beyond criminal justice costs.

9. .... Hart is going on all kinds of TV and radio shows unopposed to promote this book as a "scientist" to say that THE TRUTH is that drug and alcohol addiction is no big deal,....

10. The author of this book is overly self absorbed and sees everything in overly racial terms.... He fails to admit that the higher strength of crack makes it much more addictive. He would rather we believe the 100-1 ratio is evidence of pure racism. The self absorption and agenda exhibited here makes it hard for me to give any credibility to this writer.




The point is that the learning that listeners get is not one that mitigates their problems, but tells them that the problems are not their responsibility.

It is important to see what is out there, infecting the nation.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Pravada is less state biased than the Liberal media. Fox does not report the Obama Media Feed, so they're "right wing"

 

[Pogo]

Yeah, wow. Just shocking.

Progs have a dim bulb view of business. They think that a restaurant can maximize profits by overcharging for yesterdays leftovers. People like Buffett and Gates got wealthy the old-fashioned way, by ignoring moronic advise from Progressives.

And, since one can only judge others by their own character....they believe lying and cheating is pervasive....

Look at their mentors and heroes. Look at how they hate Reagan for liberating Eastern Europe from their heroes and mentors. Dem inner city elections resemble Venezuela under Chavez or Castro's Cuba and for the same reason

Eastern Europe liberated itself, and not in any way from "heroes and mentors". Ask the Hungarians of 1956 or the Czechs of 1968. They were liberating when Reagan was still a Democrat.

And cities don't run on political spectra. Mayors and city councils are managers of where the snowplows are stored; nothing to do with political philosophies.

I'd add "nice try" but that would be lying.

 

[konradv]

The east coast iteration of the Pacifica Foundation, is WBAI, 99.5 FM. It is very popular with many of our Leftwing brethren, as documented by the fact that it is listener sponsored, e.g., no commercials.

E.g. of someone who thinks they know more that they really do. I.e., that should be i.e.

 

[Pogo]

The east coast iteration of the Pacifica Foundation, is WBAI, 99.5 FM. It is very popular with many of our Leftwing brethren, as documented by the fact that it is listener sponsored, e.g., no commercials.

Every public station is commercial free, as any decent broadcast outlet should be. Has nothing to do with how popular it is or whether it has a political position. It does have to do with not being beholden to corporate puppet strings.

You know, like the lame stream media?

 

[Rozman]

The east coast iteration of the Pacifica Foundation, is WBAI, 99.5 FM. It is very popular with many of our Leftwing brethren, as documented by the fact that it is listener sponsored, e.g., no commercials.



If one listens to it regularly, as I do, one comes away with the impression that it is a time-warp, with a mission to pretend that it is still the laboring in a period of run-away capitalism, with a blanket of racism throughout this, pictured as an evil and malevolent, nation.

Just bad, bad bad country!




Actual statements from recent broadcasts:

1. The Supreme Court decision spend money as free speech....well, then not giving folks minimum wage is stopping their free speech...

2. One host offered this: "I watch Fox for the same reason I read 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"

3. Discussing a recent crime, a youth who killed a passenger on a bus: "The terrible aspect of the 14 yr old who shot a man on the bus...the worst aspect is that he is being tried as an adult."

4. The suggestion for a name change for sports teams: " The Geogia Lynchers, The Bigots, The Atlanta Slavers.....not Atlanta braves, redskins, ...."

5. "Mississippi would vote Republican if Heinrich Himmler was the candidate...in fact he would be the candidate of choice!"

6. "The GOP is working to bring back Jim Crow!"

7. A morning host, Hoskins, introduced his interviewee: 'Good morning, comrade'

8. A great part of the programming is in support of every movement opposed to the only democracy in the Middle East.

9. Of course, they endorse the view that man is causing global warming, as well.

10. Promos for "Bring Mumia Home," a site championing cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal....and the end of all prisons.



These are the messages they send to other Americans.




Kind of gets me ready for some of the posts on the board.

Is Stephanie Miller a host on that show...
That sounds a bit like her!

 

[HenryBHough]

Every public station is commercial free, as any decent broadcast outlet should be. Has nothing to do with how popular it is or whether it has a political position. It does have to do with not being beholden to corporate puppet strings.

You know, like the lame stream media?

When you turn on your PBS station tonight note how each program begins with several minutes of commercials cleverly disguised as simple acknowledgement of their sponsorship. Not just a "this program paid for by...." - rather a self-congratulatory spiel telling you how green the sponsor is or how public spirited. What's missing - because it has to be missing - is a "call to action".

Reality: Non-commercial radio/TV devotes a huge portion of each program to those "underwriting" messages. In many cases more than the total honestly commercial content of the major networks.

Face it. Without corporate contributions non-commercial TV would feature color bars, 400-Hz tone or maybe an Indian-head (whoops...."native American") test pattern from 1948.

Now I must ask if anyone is still allowing children to watch PBS at all when a responsible adult paying attention to the underwriting could not help to notice how much of it is paid for by those Koch Brothers you so despise. But allowing children (those defined by Obamacare as under 26 years of age) to watch? Is that not abusive?

 

[Pogo]

Every public station is commercial free, as any decent broadcast outlet should be. Has nothing to do with how popular it is or whether it has a political position. It does have to do with not being beholden to corporate puppet strings.

You know, like the lame stream media?

When you turn on your PBS station tonight note how each program begins with several minutes of commercials cleverly disguised as simple acknowledgement of their sponsorship. Not just a "this program paid for by...." - rather a self-congratulatory spiel telling you how green the sponsor is or how public spirited. What's missing - because it has to be missing - is a "call to action".

Correct, and value terms. That's underwriting, or the creepy "enhanced underwriting" and it's a scourge on the art. I still cringe whenever I hear an ATC story tagged with the fact that the story was developed in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente. That's exactly the problem -- conflict of interest. I don't believe WBAI uses that practice IIRC. Matter of fact the Pacifica Foundation, which always prided itself on freedom from corporate underwriting, had a civil war on that issue not long ago.

PBS is public broadcasting but there's a hell of a lot of public broadcasting that is not PBS. Broad brush noted.

Reality: Non-commercial radio/TV devotes a huge portion of each program to those "underwriting" messages. In many cases more than the total honestly commercial content of the major networks.

More fantasy than reality -- I've never been part of (or heard or seen) any such broadcasting that could compare to ad time. Ever, anywhere. But I have seen several that use no underwriting at all.

Face it. Without corporate contributions non-commercial TV would feature color bars, 400-Hz tone or maybe an Indian-head (whoops...."native American") test pattern from 1948.

Wrong. It would be less bloated perhaps (thinking of NPR here) but it would get by as it did before going down that road.

By the way WBAI is a radio station. This thread isn't about TV. It matters. Entirely different scale of production and attendant expenses. Transmitter power too.

Now I must ask if anyone is still allowing children to watch PBS at all when a responsible adult paying attention to the underwriting could not help to notice how much of it is paid for by those Koch Brothers you so despise.

Good point.

About time too.

But allowing children (those defined by Obamacare as under 26 years of age) to watch? Is that not abusive?

Well that didn't last long...

 

[HenryBHough]

In fact, the rules for underwriting are the same for radio and TV. Nobody questions that WBAI is exclusively radio and many feel most fortunate that precious bandwidth is not being wasted on such a thing as "WBAI-TV".

There are small miracles....

Fortunately, according to FCC records, the station makes merry with a whopping 4.3 kW and covers mostly metropolitan New York, already a bastion of liberalism. It's not specific as to whether it uses a power-hungry high power transmitter/low gain antenna or a power-sipping low power transmitter/high gain antenna.

Of course to be "green" it should be the latter.....

A web search on the parent company, Pacifica Foundation, brings up some interesting stuff..........

This is from 1978 but do leopards really change their spots?


FCC v. Pacifica Foundation - 438 U.S. 726 (1978) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center

 

[Pogo]

In fact, the rules for underwriting are the same for radio and TV. Nobody questions that WBAI is exclusively radio and many feel most fortunate that precious bandwidth is not being wasted on such a thing as "WBAI-TV".

Then why did you come into a thread about a radio station talking about TV?

You know the difference, right? TV is the one with the pictures.

There are small miracles....

Fortunately, according to FCC records, the station makes merry with a whopping 4.3 kW and covers mostly metropolitan New York, already a bastion of liberalism. It's not specific as to whether it uses a power-hungry high power transmitter/low gain antenna or a power-sipping low power transmitter/high gain antenna.

Of course to be "green" it should be the latter.....

-- and New Jersey and Connecticut.

Of course if you know what you're talking about you know it's going through a diplexer on the Empire State Building....

>> Through [the use of a scale model, various combinations of 8, 12, and 16 dipoles were tried, until tests proved 16 to be the optimum number for each bay. This configuration provided the required circularity in the horizontal plane together with a VSWR of less than 1.10 to 1 from 90 to 108 MHz and less than 1.20 to 1 from 88 to 90 MHz. One of the dipoles is seen in Fig, 5.

Dual polarization was incorporated into the antenna by orienting each dipole 45° away from the horizontal. Each dipole is fed 22.5° out of phase with respect to its neighbors; this arrangement was found to give satisfactory patterns and a low standing-wave ratio. The dipoles are arranged into groups of four, each group being fed by one element of a four-way fork. Each bay contains 16 dipoles, and there are 2 bays, A transfer panel allows feeding both bays, or either bay in case of an emergency

Each station is connected to the antenna through a multiplexer which offers a high degree of attenuation to all frequencies except that of the input station. All multiplexers arc connected in a line and beyond the last station is an extra, unmultiplexed input. If any station's multiplexer should be put out of service, that transmitter may he coupled to the last input for emergency operation. Normal isolation from transmitter to transmitter varies from 26 to 55 dB. The antenna will accommodate 17 stations of up to 10 KW. << (here)

5.4 KW horizontal, 3.8 KW vertical. And I'd say an SWR of <1.1 to 1 is pretty damn efficient. And you know as well as I do that radiator (antenna) placement, far more than Effective Radiated Power (ERP) determines a signal contour, so your ERP readings absent a HAAT measure, are meaningless.

Besides, a multi-bay array simply saves costs and produces the doughnut wave any station wants. Who do you know in VHF using a single element dipole sending energy straight up and down?

 

[HenryBHough]

The overall theme was braodcast. If you want to pick nits then get out a fine comb and search your own hair.

Meanwhile: "Donut" is a nice explanation of a toroid pattern for non-technical users. My own experience has shown four bays with any of several designs is a nice compromise between power utilization and coverage. I only know of one station using a single bay rototiller and it was a Class A that inherited an oversize transmitter which could only be cut back so far. The result was inefficient but initial cost was the driving factor. Incidental to that combination was a solid signal in the primary coverage area when other stations, even Class B using low power transmitter/8-bay CP antenna designs and 20X the ERP had terrible picket-fencing. To the best of my knowledge the original transmitter was replaced with something more efficient and more appropriate to the single bay antenna which would have been expensive to replace. At Class A power consumption is not a big deal.

Classic case in Boston concerned a station that was granted an incredibly high ERP (decades ago) and got there with a 1,000' tower and eight bays driven by a low power transmitter. Beautiful toroid! No power wasted upward or downward. The fringe had great reception - the closer in heavily populated area got bupkus. The new owners after the bankruptcy fixed that.

The height above average terrain had me thinking Empire State Building but there are two FCC HAAT listings and it's not clear whether there are alternate transmitter sites or one was replacing the other. It was worth a casual look at the FM Query site but not worth any detailed study. I am amazed that such a socialist-friendly facility deigns to pay rent to the capitalist owners of ESB!

I note no comment on the content of the link I provided. Would you like some assistance in opening a link?

In case pride gets in the way of seeking help, here's a short excerpt:

A radio station of respondent Pacifica Foundation (hereinafter respondent) made an afternoon broadcast of a satiric monologue, entitled "Filthy Words," which listed and repeated a variety of colloquial uses of "words you couldn't say on the public airwaves." A father who heard the broadcast while driving with his young son complained to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which, after forwarding the complaint for comment to and receiving a response from respondent, issued a declaratory order granting the complaint. While not imposing formal sanctions, the FCC stated that the order would be "associated with the station's license file, and, in the event subsequent complaints are received, the Commission will then decide whether it should utilize any of the available sanctions it has been granted by Congress."

 

[Pogo]

The overall theme was braodcast. If you want to pick nits then get out a fine comb and search your own hair.

Meanwhile: "Donut" is a nice explanation of a toroid pattern for non-technical users. My own experience has shown four bays with any of several designs is a nice compromise between power utilization and coverage. I only know of one station using a single bay rototiller and it was a Class A that inherited an oversize transmitter which could only be cut back so far. The result was inefficient but initial cost was the driving factor. Incidental to that combination was a solid signal in the primary coverage area when other stations, even Class B using low power transmitter/8-bay CP antenna designs and 20X the ERP had terrible picket-fencing. To the best of my knowledge the original transmitter was replaced with something more efficient and more appropriate to the single bay antenna which would have been expensive to replace. At Class A power consumption is not a big deal.

Classic case in Boston concerned a station that was granted an incredibly high ERP (decades ago) and got there with a 1,000' tower and eight bays driven by a low power transmitter. Beautiful toroid! No power wasted upward or downward. The fringe had great reception - the closer in heavily populated area got bupkus. The new owners after the bankruptcy fixed that.

The height above average terrain had me thinking Empire State Building but there are two FCC HAAT listings and it's not clear whether there are alternate transmitter sites or one was replacing the other. It was worth a casual look at the FM Query site but not worth any detailed study. I am amazed that such a socialist-friendly facility deigns to pay rent to the capitalist owners of ESB!

I note no comment on the content of the link I provided. Would you like some assistance in opening a link?

Doesn't need comment; it's old news. I've known that case for 30 years. It's not exactly a secret; more like required reading.

Now I know my link is even older but WBAI is still on that multiplexer, and you seemed incapable of doing your own research. Is that why you flung a neg turd? Got schooled?

Get this through your thick skull, Millie -- I write my own stuff in my own style. If I want to say "doughnut" then by god I'll say doughnut. Now assume the position, for you know what's coming. Fifteen plus kilowatts of reflected power baby.