WBAI's Opportunity to Become More Relevant

[Miss Tuned]

It may, once all the federal funding for all that goes away. Personally I think the congress will realize how dependent their constituents are for the services the federal government funds. My expectation is they'll want to keep the money without the bureaucracy. The problem there is it leads to corruption and waste.

Bottom line is that if the new administration follows through with it's promise to eliminate the "administrative state," that will leave a huge void in the oversight of those services, especially if the congress is just a lapdog for the president.

The traditional role for the media is to speak truth to power. But it sounds like the new administration plans to clamp down on the media and threaten any negative reporting with license revocation, along the lines of Brendan Carr & NBC. So we'll see how many media companies are willing to take that risk.

I live in a place that has been through several rounds of austerity cuts, with some things cut to zero. You don't notice to start with - everything seems to be just the same as before. It's more of a slow degradation - that grass margin hasn't been cut for a while and is starting to look a bit unkempt, there's a broken swing at the park, the street light doesn't seem to have been fixed and it's been out for months, I'm sure that pothole is getting bigger.

Stuff starts to get worse - the library hours get salami-sliced over and over until it's open 12-2pm two days a week and hasn't got many books newer than 2014, the school isn't running many field trips, your nearest dump closes down and you have to drive 12 miles. The community radio station that used to get a grant now runs jockless '80s hits 24/7. You didn't notice the youth center getting its funding cut to zero and closing down a few years ago because you don't have kids, but you start to notice the gangs of kids hanging around in the streets, and petty vandalism and crime going up, and drug dealing.

And so it goes, on and on - it's not a big bang of suddenly everything's closed like a government shutdown, it's just salami-slicing of things you don't really notice one by one, until suddenly you turn around and realize you're in a shithole.

 

[TheBigA]

And so it goes, on and on - it's not a big bang of suddenly everything's closed like a government shutdown, it's just salami-slicing of things you don't really notice one by one, until suddenly you turn around and realize you're in a shithole.

This country really has never gone through that because there has always been someone in the loop to stop it from getting that bad. Even during the Reagan cuts, he left a lot of the structure in place. This new group seems to want to eliminate the structure as well as everything else. They say they got a mandate for change. People often say they want change until it affects them. This kind of change will affect most working people in this country, since most people go to public schools and use various public services. So yes, what you talk about is about to happen here.

So sure, that means there's an opportunity for ALL radio to become more relevant. The question is: Where does the money come from, because it obviously won't come from the government, or even educational institutions, because their funding will be cut too. My take is that media organizations need to work on strengthening their financial situation, because the safety net is going away.

If you go back to the legislation that created public broadcasting in 1967, it was all based on the idea that the richest country in the world should have the best radio & TV. The way to do that, they felt, was to take profit out of the equation, and instead focus on quality and public service. The new people running the country don't share that view.

 

[Mediafrog+]

The traditional role for the media is to speak truth to power. But it sounds like the new administration plans to clamp down on the media and threaten any negative reporting with license revocation, along the lines of Brendan Carr & NBC. So we'll see how many media companies are willing to take that risk.

This sounds exactly like what has been going on in Russia the past few years under Putin. Same thing in Hungary with the Orban regime. That is the blueprint.

Same thing will be happening in Canada in a year as the opposition Conservative Party, which currently has a huge lead in the polls for a presumed Fall 2025 election, has promised to defund the CBC and crack down on other media.

 

[TheBigA]

Same thing will be happening in Canada in a year as the opposition Conservative Party, which currently has a huge lead in the polls for a presumed Fall 2025 election, has promised to defund the CBC and crack down on other media.

It's not just funding. If the government that licenses the stations chooses to revoke those licenses, and instead gives them to groups that will be supportive rather than critical, we could really have problems. Imagine if the FCC denies Audacy's bankruptcy plan and threatens to revoke licenses because of Soros funding. That could happen.

 

[Barry]

It's not just funding. If the government that licenses the stations chooses to revoke those licenses, and instead gives them to groups that will be supportive rather than critical, we could really have problems. Imagine if the FCC denies Audacy's bankruptcy plan and threatens to revoke licenses because of Soros funding. That could happen.

This is another advantage WBAI would have over the large broadcasters, such as IHeart and Audacy, if they chose to offer afocused alternative to conservative talk stations. They aren't part of a corporation owning hundreds of stations that could all be impacted if the incoming administration decided to give them grief over the content of a progressive outlet.
It's frequently been said on this board that the F.C.C. does not generally get involved in policing radio station content. I'm wondering whether that is about to change. The situation with the possible spinoff of MSNBC bears close watching.

 

[TheBigA]

This is another advantage WBAI would have over the large broadcasters, such as IHeart and Audacy, if they chose to offer afocused alternative to conservative talk stations.

If you listen, it's definitely an alternative to conservative talk. Being focused requires management, and as I've said, they don't follow authority.

It's frequently been said on this board that the F.C.C. does not generally get involved in policing radio station content. I'm wondering whether that is about to change. The situation with the possible spinoff of MSNBC bears close watching.

The FCC has no authority over cable channels, so they can't do much there. But they could use the power of the government to revoke local station licenses if they don't like the programming. Brendan Carr says he wants to hold licensees to broadcast in the "public interest." So the FCC involvement in content could change depending on how he interprets those two words. They could also use the courts to interpret the 1st amendment in ways that benefit them ideologically. They've obviously spent a lot of time thinking and planning, so the changes could happen quickly.

 

[CTListener]

Thanks. As the creator of that kind of talk at Z-101 and then at NotiUno in PR, I appreciate the comment. However, I think that the format requires the existence of terribly inadequate local services, ranging from schools to roads to sanitation. Does that exist anywhere on the Mainland U.S.?

Parts of the Mississippi Delta?

 

[Barry]

The FCC has no authority over cable channels, so they can't do much there.

While the F.C.C. wouldn't have jurisdiction, the incoming administration could use other means to block the possible spinoff of MSNBC.

MSNBC Spinoff Potential Issues

 

[TheBigA]

While the F.C.C. wouldn't have jurisdiction, the incoming administration could use other means to block the possible spinoff of MSNBC.

MSNBC Spinoff Potential Issues

There are lots of other even crazier things a government could do.

 

[TomásEstefan]

If there's an alternative to conservative news-talk, it's not in liberal talk, but probably... "government watchdog talk". Think the format on Z101 in the DR or even WKAQ or WUNO in Puerto Rico. They do have their partisan personalities (very pro-statehood Luis Dávila Colón comes to mind), but most of it is equal-opportunity "power to the people" stuff.

Indeed, this is what I have told many of my friends, the 1st amendment was created to be a watchdog on the government - not a cheerleader!

 

[radiofan2023]

Something that hasn't been brought up yet is the privatization of public services, like trash collection. A lot of cities around the country have shirked the responsibility of trash collection by partnering with private companies, which then miss houses/parts of their routes, leaving households with trash either piling up or having to take it to the dump themselves. This has been going on for a few years now:

Local man files lawsuit as trash pickup continues to be an issue for some locals

Local man files lawsuit as trash pickup continues to be an issue for some locals

www.westernmassnews.com

UPW suing city over change in garbage collection

Starting on February 1, 181 churches, condominiums and non-profit groups will no longer have free trash collection from the city. They will have to pay private trash collectors.

www.hawaiinewsnow.com

 

[TheBigA]

Something that hasn't been brought up yet is the privatization of public services, like trash collection. A lot of cities around the country have shirked the responsibility of trash collection by partnering with private companies, which then miss houses/parts of their routes, leaving households with trash either piling up or having to take it to the dump themselves. This has been going on for a few years now:

That's more like what the new government wants to promote. Obviously companies like Waste Management are a beneficiaries. In my conversations with our mayor, they prefer performing those services because they see government as being in the public service business. The new administration has no experience in public service or government. So it's all bad to them. They're bringing in heads of government agencies who all share that view.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

WBAI will never be more relevant, they are their own worst enemy.... their mission or be damned

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Thanks. As the creator of that kind of talk at Z-101 and then at NotiUno in PR, I appreciate the comment. However, I think that the format requires the existence of terribly inadequate local services, ranging from schools to roads to sanitation. Does that exist anywhere on the Mainland U.S.?

It's easy to make a case for an aggressive watchdog in the media. The current mayor of New York is under indictment. The Senator from New Jersey resigned 3 months ago after being convicted of accepting bribes from the government of Egypt. The most recent former governors of New York and New Jersey left office in a swirl of unethical (if not illegal) behavior.

But there is a big difference between an abstract problem like an official taking bribes, and things people feel on a regular basis like the power grid failing repeatedly or shortages of skilled doctors. It seems like it would be a lot harder to make the format work in New York.

 

[davideduardo]

It's easy to make a case for an aggressive watchdog in the media. The current mayor of New York is under indictment. The Senator from New Jersey resigned 3 months ago after being convicted of accepting bribes from the government of Egypt. The most recent former governors of New York and New Jersey left office in a swirl of unethical (if not illegal) behavior.

But there is a big difference between an abstract problem like an official taking bribes, and things people feel on a regular basis like the power grid failing repeatedly or shortages of skilled doctors. It seems like it would be a lot harder to make the format work in New York.

One advantage I found in the Dominican Republic is a combination of perpetually failing basic services and more than just two political parties. With a variety of voices on the political side and inadequate government services no matter who was in power, the dynamic of day to day life always involved complaining about something.

So there was a daily diet of specific things needing work. Admission to a hospital, repeated power outages in a neighborhood, lack of bus services in a new area. Everyone agreed on the issues, but different groups suggested different solutions and that was the "radio drama" about it.

Getting a pothole fixed is easy and immediate; changing the hiring of specialists ant a hospital is more theoretical and less tangible. Tangible gets listening.

About a year into the format we learned that the President of the Republic had an employee whose job was to listen every morning and present a synopsis of the content to the president quickly after. Issues that could be solved, like a broken water main, were fixed immediately and someone would call the next day to take credit. However, for those of us at the station, knowing that the president was our greatest listener could be rather frightening.

 

[Identnut]

About a year into the format we learned that the President of the Republic had an employee whose job was to listen every morning and present a synopsis of the content to the president quickly after. Issues that could be solved, like a broken water main, were fixed immediately and someone would call the next day to take credit. However, for those of us at the station, knowing that the president was our greatest listener could be rather frightening.

Especially considering that the Trujillo dictatorship wasn't that long before El Gobierno began.

 

[davideduardo]

Especially considering that the Trujillo dictatorship wasn't that long before El Gobierno began.

On our first Good Friday, the government declared that the only music that stations could play was "instrumental music".

At that time, on El Gobierno de la Mañana, we still played 3 or 4 merengues an hour. So we went on at 6 AM and said, "in honor and respect for the government's decree that we should only play instrumental music, we have determined that we will comply. The instruments we have selected are the güira, the tambora and the saxophone."

And we played merengue all day. Our concert at Boca Chica the next day (Sábado de Gloria) had over 200,000 people, some standing in the water for hours.

(Those three instruments are key to the Dominican Merengue rhythm, which is the "national music" of "la república")

We were not closed or sanctioned. The next year, there was no Good Friday programming edict from the government.

 

[BruceB]

FYI, the spinoff of MSNBC has nothing to do with the election and was in the works for a long time.

You are exactly right. Comcast executives said nearly a year ago in an earnings report that the company wanted to focus longterm on their core business. Until this week no one knew precisely what that meant.
Nothing whatsoever to do with the election.

 

[Barry]

NPR affiliate WNYC is another station in New York which offers political discussion shows that do not lean conservative. There is a strong possibility of the new administration cutting funds to public broadcasting. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is expected to be head of a government commission looking into spending it considers wasteful, said they will be "Looking into government funded media programs like NPR that spread nothing but Democrat propaganda."
Could their decisions have a significant impact on WNYC?

Greene Considers NPR an Outlet for "Democrat Propaganda"

 

[TheBigA]

Could their decisions have a significant impact on WNYC?

Not if the station listeners simply donate more money to replace whatever government funding exists. WNYC has multiple revenue streams. So if one source goes away, they appeal to listeners to replace it. Or they cut expenses by dropping staff and programs. It's up to the listeners.

WBAI, for example, has a policy that they don't accept any government funding.