Web links related to the Back of the Book program of November 20, 2006

Hey, Kissinger doesn't even like the war now! We'll get to the below and we'll try to get through all of the mail too.

The next WBAI Local Station Board meeting is scheduled for November 29, 2006, at 6:30 PM, at the SEIU 1199 Bread and Roses Art Gallery, Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center, 310 West 43^rd Street, bet. 8^th & 9^th Avenues; ground floor. Trains: A, C, E to 42^nd Street / Port Authority; 2, 3 to 42^nd Street / Times Square and walk one block west to 8^th Avenue. Location is wheelchair-accessible. Public participation is welcome.

Did you know that I've got a brief synopsis of some of the WBAI LSB meetings? Well, I do. And I update them from time to time.

The WBAI LSB held an “emergency” meeting on September 7^th to pass the station's FY07 budget. At some point I'll do a Web age about that. The budget passed. It'll probably be rejected by the Pacifica CFO and the PNB.

The WBAI LSB was supposed to have held a regular meeting on September 13, but we were unable to get a quorum. Not enough LSB members showed up so all we could do was decide to meet in October. Folks are wasting our time again.

Meanwhile, Greg Guma, the Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation has issued a statement about all of this stuff regarding the WBAI interim General Manager. Click here to see the text of Mr. Guma's statement. I've added my own comments about his statement click here to see my comments.

I have written a statement about the constructive removal of a LSB member and sent it to the PNB, the WBAI LSB and various public mailing lists and bulletin boards. His 6 month “suspension” is now in its 18^th month.

The WBAI LSB met on October 11, and we didn't get much done at all.

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.

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There is a new, official stream for WBAI! You can go here and pick which type of stream you want! If this stream isn't working let me know.

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The Pacifica Foundation, which owns WBAI, has revamped its Web site and now has something called the Pacifica Lounge where you can post messages about Pacifica, WBAI and other Pacifica radio stations. This may be a good thing, and of course there are other, long term fora in which to participate.

WBAI also has a forum on its Web site now. You have to register to post messages, but anyone may read the messages.

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WBAI is now archiving the programs! Just go here and you'll be able to listen to the program any time for the next couple of weeks. This feed was working at 11:25 PM last night. Unfortunately, Back of the Book is not one of the programs that you can download, you can only listen to it on line. But maybe someone will change that at some point. NOTE: The archives have not always been behaving properly of late. They have been fixed, but we can't guarantee their condition. If Back of the Book isn't archived this time I'll post an archive myself. Also note that they have been calling the Back of the Book archive the Carrier Wave archive. You should go by the date of the program until this gets rectified.

NOTE:The archives screwed up on July 31, so I've posted an archive on another Web site. Just go to this link to download the audio archive of the July, 31 2006, radio program. I've stripped out the music in order to keep it legal.

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If you still have not voted in the WBAI elections, you seem to sort of have three hours left! The following notice is on WBAI's official Web site: “If You Have Not Received a WBAI Ballot for LSB Elections... Listeners and staff can come to WBAI at 120 Wall St, 10th floor on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and on Monday, Nov. 20 from 9:00 am to noon to pick up a ballot. Ballots must be placed inside the locked ballot box at the station by noon on Monday to meet the deadline. Listeners, if you need to confirm membership, please come to the station Saturday between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm to receive a ballot once your membership is confirmed. Saturday is the only time we will be able to confirm memberships. Please remember that photo ID is required to enter the building at 120 Wall St. We apologize to all WBAI members for this delay.”

This is really bizarre. They're giving people from 9 AM to noon to vote. And lots of people have not gotten their ballots. This is one screwed up election. And who can get there in that time period?

Oh yes, sister station KPFK has failed to get a quorum. Will WBAI succeed?

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We'll talk about various things, included will be this latest information on that mysterious dark energy stuff.

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There are a lot of issues that are considered hazardous to talk about on the air at WBAI, even now that the gag rule has been lifted. 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.

Probably the most popular 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 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.

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

And then there is the historic “Free Pacifica!” list, which has been used to help organize resistance to Pacifica Management hijackers since the mid-90s. It's become a low volume mailing list because it's been eclipsed by some of the newer, more technologically advanced, lists. Just click on this link and follow the instructions, and you'll be subscribed. This is a mailing list only, it doesn't have a digest option nor does it have a web interface.

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