Lee Iacocca, Calvin Klein, and former President Richard Nixon, a Forbes family bagpiper dressed
in blue and green kilt played in front of the Episcopal Church, and a leather-clad motorcycle
group roared down Park Avenue in tribute to Forbes, an avid Harley rider.
Blue police barricades held back curious onlookers.
When asked what Forbes symbolized to her, onlooker Kristen Lanik of New Jersey said,
Forbes leaves behind one of the three most popular business magazines in America, along
with Business Week and Fortune, but is Bill Tabb, professor of economics at Queens College
and board member of the independent socialist magazine Monthly Review, says the man was
mightier than the magazine.
Forbes magazine really was a capitalist tool in a very ideological kind of sense.
It was a puff piece, a place to puff up Malcolm's friends and also to create an ideological
sense of capitalism being a great system and that it was a lot of fun, everybody got rich,
and the buccaneering, risk-taking entrepreneurs were really what made capitalism run, and
we should all be proud of that and emulate it, and that they were the best.
You had a lot of that kind of feeling in the magazine.
It was written with the effort, it was written by a lot of just regular schlubs who thought
they were going to maybe get some inside information or some great brilliance that was going to
help them get rich too.
Tabb says Forbes, unlike many of his peers, dedicated his life to having fun, and made
gobs of money along the way, as much as $1 billion or more by some estimates.
So it was a much more positive sense than the usual, we make it by screwing other people,
or we make it by working harder than anybody else, the kind of images that mostly people
like to give of themselves.
But Doug Henwood, editor of Left Business Observer, says Forbes' life personified the
excesses of the 80s.
Malcolm himself is a visible symbol of over-consumptionism raised to a level of an ideology.
I imagine now that he's gone, whatever iconic classic spirit the magazine had will probably
drift away.
The Sons, who are about to take it over, are more conservative than Malcolm himself, more
socially conservative at least.
They lack the flamboyance that Malcolm had.
And I think that Cap Weinberg, of course, is the publisher of Forbes magazine now, so
he'll probably have a say in who the new editor and the new editorial direction will take.
So it probably means a worsening of the magazine, I would guess.
Forbes' five children describe their father as the happiest millionaire.
He died in his sleep on Saturday after returning from Britain aboard his private jet, the Capitalist
Tool.
Forbes' body will be cremated in his ashes interned on Lukala, the private Fijian island
he bought in 1970.
For WBAI, this is Lance Inyan.
And that's some of the news for Thursday, March 1st, 1990.
The news was engineered by Tom Tortorella.
It was produced with Jenny Bourne, Lance Inyan, Marika Martin, Dave Sears, and Nadine Michelle
Shaw.
I'm Amy Goodman in New York with Don Rush in Washington for WBAI Listener Supported
News.
And this is Emanuel Goldstein here, WBAI New York.
Well, thank you, Roscoe.
I don't know where you came from, but I do appreciate that.
Yes, it is WBAI in New York.
And this is Emanuel Goldstein.
And this is The Fifth Corner.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
Turn up your radio, and let me hear this song
Switch on your electric light
That we can get down
To what is really wrong
I long to hold you tight
So I can feel you
Sweet lady of the night
I shall reveal you
If you will
Turn it up, turn it up
A little bit higher
Radio
Turn it up, turn it up
So you know
Radio
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
Yeah, the car band
Is playin' red and white
That means everybody's
Stayin' overnight
Now the barefoot gypsy boy
Runnin' count five sayin' play
Yeah, the woman tells us
Up the way
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
Turn up
Radio
Gonna let her make you
A song
So watch on your electric light
Now we can get down
To what is really wrong
I long just to hold you tight
So baby I can feel you
Sweet lady of the night
I say I reveal you
Turn it up, turn it up
A little bit higher
Radio
Turn it up, that's enough
So you know
It's got soul
Radio, radio
Turn it up
La, la, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la
La, la, la, la
La, la, la
Well there it is
Van Morrison
From way, way, way, way back
Caravan
Song all about radio
And that's where we are
We're on the radio
You're listening to the radio
I'm speaking on the radio
I'm speaking about radio tonight
It's one of those self-referential kind of programs
But that's not all we're going to be doing
We'll be doing all kinds of neat, fun, exciting things
I'm back
I was away for a while
Ventured out across the land
Ventured into another land
And uh
Stepped into another world as the saying goes
Quite a few interesting experiences
And gosh darn it all
I learned something
And I want to share that with you
And I also want to hear
What's happening out there
So we'll be taking some calls
A little bit later on
Now I have a special guest on the phone
Already
Sometimes people call in early
And I believe this guest is here now
If you are here, guest, say something now
Hello there
Ah, okay, that's it
Perhaps there was a delay because you're on a satellite
Well you're not on a satellite
But your voice is going through a satellite
Is that not correct?
Yes it is
It's one of them satellites over the Atlantic Ocean
It's Amsterdam and it's approaching 6 in the morning
Hello there
Well hello
And I want to thank you very much for joining us
On this program
Now
This strange, interesting person from Amsterdam
Is with us tonight
Or this morning
If you care to believe
To help us out
To help us Americans out with a problem that we have
And what is that problem?
Well you may ask
Okay, it's a problem that I've been facing
Almost all my life
Well actually I have been facing it all my life
I just haven't been aware of it all my life
And that is the problem
Of what happens when you pick up a telephone
And try to call to a certain place
In the world
A particular place
And that place
Is none other than the
Most unique, interesting country
Of Albania
And just to demonstrate
The horrible, horrible
Difficulties we have to go through
We're going to demonstrate that right now
Of course
Sometimes the phone just hangs up and refuses to even
Connect you to the operator
Well that's one of the dangers
Of this occupation
Let's try it again
Okay
We have a very uncooperative
Phone system here
Refusing to even connect us to an operator
Well
That's how difficult it can be
Okay, here we go
Hello
Operator, can I have
AT&T please?
Thank you
One moment for an operator
Who can assist you
Something always goes wrong
Sometimes they don't answer
Remember when operators
Picked up on the first ring?
AT&T operator, may I help you?
Yes operator, I'm having difficulty
Calling Albania
Albania?
Albania?
Yes
One moment please
Thank you
Seems to be an echo on this line
Are you hearing it too?
I hear it
Just one moment please
I just hit the phone
But I don't think it helped
This always happens
Every time I try calling this country
Something weird happens
This is no exception
Excuse me
Hello
Hello
Yes
Well that's just it
I can never get that information
To get that information
I can't ever get it
One moment please
Thank you
I certainly do appreciate this
Is our friend from Amsterdam still on the line?
AT&T supervisor, how may I help you?
Hello
Hello
I heard a supervisor
As you can see it gets very complicated
Very quickly
Now our friend
Overseas
Seems to think it's easier
Are you still there
Friend overseas?
Yes I am still there
Over my operator?
Yes
Over the operators in Holland
Perhaps it's easier
To get through
I mean you are closer
Are you not?
I am closer yes
Well I'm glad we established that
What have we there?
The operator
Hello
Hello sir
There's no service to Albania
There's no service to Albania?
Albania
Okay thank you
You're welcome
I found the number
Yes I found the number
I only have
903 445
Now perhaps you could explain
To us non-Dutch speaking people
What's going on here
The operator
The operator is now taking a call
To Tirana Albania
To subscriber number 5413
Okay that's a number I believe
We've picked completely at random
One moment
As we know that the phone numbers in Albania
Are only four digits long
Or at least in the capital city
They might even be smaller than that outside the capital
Now this is something that
That nobody in this country can do
As you heard the operator say
Many times over in Echo and Reverb
There's no service to Albania
Well what we're attempting to do here tonight folks
Is do it anyway
That's sort of what WBAI is here for
Is anything happening over there?
Well we're waiting for the operator
Oh okay well maybe we could have
Some sort of a conversation while she's doing that
Fine with me
We don't want to have dead air on the radio here
It would be a waste of airspace
It would be a waste of many things yes
About how long do you think she's going to take?
I have no idea
This is the first time I actually venture out to
Tirana Albania
So I have really no idea
I know they're in the same time zone
The operator there will be roughly
Woken up I think
Oh that's too bad
Operators in small country used to sleep
Over their telephones
Well that's true over here too
You just have to
This one must have heard that
What did she say?
She said just a moment
Aha
But it proves that she was either
A very well synthesized computer voice
Or she was actually awake
Well well synthesized
Computer voices
Are okay in my book as far as
This is concerned
I wonder if we're going to get through
You know this is so exciting
We've never done anything like this before
I don't think anyone ever has
You know it's the
Museum of communism they call it now
It's a country you can't get through to
What the media say is
The last bastion of Stalinism
And all that garbage
Well
I think it's just an interesting place
With a different way of doing things
And who knows
Who knows what we can learn
But we have to get through
We have to be able to get through
And right now we're trying
We're trying to get through
Hadn't counted on all this dead air though
I'll call you back
It's taking too long
Okay I'll wait for it
Bye
And what are we doing?
My operator just hung me up
Telling me that she will call back
Because it takes much too long
The operator in Tairana, Albania
Is not answering his or her phone
And
They will call me back when they can
Establish my connection
And did they give any idea as to how long that would be?
They gave no indication as to how long
That would be
I think the problem here is not in Amsterdam
But it's in Tairana, Albania
It's a country that you cannot dial
Direct into
Maybe I can tell some interesting background here
You can dial
A lot of countries direct from Holland
Practically every country in the world
That has an automatic phone system
Can be dialed directly
The only countries that cannot be dialed
Direct from Holland
Are countries that do not have
An automatically switched telephone network
That includes
A portion of the African countries
Some other countries
And
Well, Albania is the only country
This may be interesting
All the countries take 10 guilders
Which is about $5 a minute
And then Albania is the only country
Out of a list of
Well, still
In my estimate
60 countries
It's the only country that takes only $2.15 a minute
And I think that is because it's the only
Country in the European
That's what they call
A numbering zone, a world numbering zone
Which means its country code
Starts with 3 or 4
And
It's the only country
In this world numbering zone
That does not have a telephone system
That supports automatic dialing
To all places in the world
And
It's maybe also interesting to know that
Our phone system
The American phone system
For as far as I understand it
Did only get international direct dial
In the early 80s
We have had the same feature since
1971, 72
To almost all the countries
That we can dial now
Now do you know what the
Country code for Albania is?
Uh, I can look it up
I have a lot of books standing here
But no, not right out of my head, no
It starts with either 3 or 4
And it's probably 3 digits long
I think it does start with 3 and I think it's
I think it's 3 digits, I think it's
Possibly 353 or 355
One of those
Very well be
I think one of those is Ireland
And the one that isn't Ireland is the one that's Albania
So it's either 353 or 355
So that's an interesting
Ireland for you
353 is Ireland
So it must be 355
I think it is 355, so that might give us
A clue
Or something like that, but I think even if you had
The means to place
Calls using what's known as a blue box
I don't think you'd be able to
To get anywhere by using country code
355, but still
One never knows till one tries, right?
It's true
Well, now can you
Possibly call us back if
By some fluke of nature
You get a call from Albania in the next
Hour or so
I will, I will
Okay, call us back and we'll immediately break into
Whatever we're doing and
Go over to Albania and see
I'm sorry?
Leave me on with the audio
Oh, certainly, yes, this is your call
You can stay on as long as you like
Okay
Alright, so I'll just turn you down
A little bit and
Say to the people
Listening that we will be back in
A minute or two
And we'll be taking phone calls and yes
I haven't forgotten the
Other part of this program
Namely the subject of
Guess
Oh, come on, it's easy
It was the town salvation
Radio was waiting
At the nation
They say you better listen
To the vice of reason
But they
Don't give you any tries
Because they think that it's reason
So you had
Better do as you were told
You better listen to the
Radio
Yeah
Yeah
Yeah
I wanna fight the hand
That beats me
I wanna fight that hand
So badly
I wanna make them wish
They'd never seen me
Some of my friends sit around
Every evening and they worry
About the times ahead
But everybody else is overwhelmed
By the promise of an early death
You either shut up
Or get cut out
They don't wanna hear about it
It's only inches on the reel to reel
And the radio is in the hands
Of such a lot of fools
Trying to anesthetize
The way that you feel
Radio was the town salvation
Radio was waiting
At the nation
They say you better listen
To the vice of reason
But they
Don't give you any tries
Because they think that it's reason
So you had
Better do as you were told
You better listen to the radio
What about radio
How about
Radio
What about radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Radio
Boy, you know, I think that's one of the best songs ever written.
Elvis Costello and radio, radio.
And words that just ring so true, you know?
Radio's in the hands of such, well, I don't know about the phrasing there, such a lot
of fools or whatever that word is, but yeah, the fools have it.
Yes, Elvis, the fools definitely have it.
And boy, do I have proof of that.
Do I have proof of that.
Every day, every week, it becomes reinforced.
Now, as some of you know, I went away, I went on this road trip with a broken speedometer,
no less.
I don't know if anybody's been following this, but I left with my speedometer broken by the
car repairman that was supposed to maintain it.
He somehow disconnected it, so I went on this huge trip, about 3,000 miles or so.
I don't know how many miles I went, because I didn't have an odometer or a speedometer
or anything like that, so it works now, and it's really weird to have a speedometer again.
But I had no idea how fast I was going, how far I had come, or anything like that.
And that's a good feeling in itself.
But I basically explored various places, went to upstate New York, crossed the border, went
up to Canada, to a couple of cities I'd never been to before, and I wholeheartedly recommend
people go there.
I went to the cities of Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, Sault Ste. Marie particularly,
because that's an impressive place, and also it was the center of a controversy while I
was up there.
It seems some of the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie voted to declare English as the only
language to be taught or learned there, and of course the French people of both Ontario
and Quebec did not take kindly to that, and the whole country is focusing upon that.
I also wandered over to Milwaukee and down into Chicago, and I did a really, really crazy
thing.
I drove all the way back from Chicago to New York in one fell swoop, which took about 26
hours actually, but my fell swoops aren't exactly fast.
I sort of pull over and explore a little bit.
But I didn't go to sleep or anything, and I didn't really do anything except drive for
those 26 hours.
It was quite an experience to just do that.
I wouldn't recommend it to everybody.
In fact, I don't think I'd recommend it to very many people at all, but I had fun.
But that's beside the point.
All this is beside the point.
What I really want to talk about is the radio stations.
I was wandering around Buffalo, and Buffalo is kind of like a college town.
There's Buffalo State University, there's the University of Buffalo, there's all kinds
of things in Buffalo, colleges.
And wherever there's a college, I think there's a radio station, and sometimes there is, and
sometimes it's a good one.
Well, I wandered around the campus of the State University of Buffalo until I found
the radio station.
And I don't know.
I don't know if most listeners have ever actually been to a radio station.
There's so many different kinds.
There's the commercial stations, there's the non-commercial stations, there's ... well,
I guess that's really the only two categories, but between those there's quite a lot of difference,
as I'll point out to you.
State University of Buffalo has a very powerful station, and nicely maintained.
It's called WBFO.
I didn't lose their program guide.
It's 88.7 on the FM dial.
And I walked into this building.
It's in the middle of the campus, and nobody knows it's there.
I asked all these students, and they said, oh, we have a radio station here.
How about that?
I didn't know that.
And I walked into this building, and there I was, wandering around.
There was nobody in the hallways.
I was just sort of looking at things, tape recorders, records, just sort of lying around.
And finally, I found the program director.
The first person I saw was the program director, and in fact, one of the only people I saw.
And I said, hey, I'm a radio person from New York.
I said, from WBAI, and of course, instantly a flicker of recognition crossed his face.
And he gave me a tour of the place.
It was a national public radio station.
And he spent an hour and a half showing me around.
And I suddenly realized, you know, these program directors at these national public
radio stations, they don't really have all that much to do, because most of the programming
is coming in over the satellite.
And they're pretty much just sitting there watching the satellite and making sure the
tape machines go on, and there's not a whole lot of programming decisions to make.
And this particular station was of the all-jazz format.
And I have nothing against jazz.
I have nothing against all-jazz formats either.
But I just thought it was kind of sad to be in such a place with such potential, you
know.
And there were no more than five people in the radio station, five people on this huge
radio station that was broadcasting all over the place.
And no students, no students from the campus, which they were in the middle of.
It was just so sad, you know, to see this potential and just have it turned into a music
box and, you know, a couple of news programs every day.
And then I drove up to Toronto, and first time I'd ever been to Toronto, and as I was
going on up there, I was listening to this radio station that was doing crazy things,
you know.
They were, well, they were calling people on the telephone.
They were playing music, sometimes at the wrong speed.
They were having fun, playing blues, playing folk, playing jazz, playing classical sometimes.
And once I got to Toronto, I decided to explore and just find this place.
It was coming from the University of Toronto, and I wandered in to C.I.U.T., 89.5 FM, 15,000
watts out of the University of Toronto.
And this is a little piece from their program guide, a special limited edition of the C.I.U.T.
FM program guide.
At 12 noon on January 15, 1987, a new presence emerged on the southern Ontario FM dial.
C.I.U.T., 89.5 FM, was on the air with 15,000 watts, the most powerful campus community
station in Canada, and began flooding the airwaves throughout the region with a unique
combination of music, news, educational and community access programming 24 hours a day.
As this new year begins, C.I.U.T. celebrates its third anniversary on air, and renews its
dedication to bringing you quality programming.
C.I.U.T. exists to give the ordinary person access to information the mainstream media
doesn't always take the care to provide.
It's empowering radio that helps listeners to inform themselves and make their own decisions
in the face of other cultural and economic pressures, which sometimes act to stifle
diversity and limit choice in individuals' self-expression.
The true measure of the strength of a radio station is its impact on the community it
serves, and for C.I.U.T., community involvement is where it's at.
In 1990, C.I.U.T. will reflect this commitment through coverage of special events like Martin's
Day, January 15th, Black History Month, all of February, International Women's Day, March
8th, Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, June 24th, and International Literacy Year, all of 1990,
among others.
C.I.U.T. also serves the University of Toronto community, of which we're a part, by covering
campus events, intramural and international amateur sports.
We hope to do more in all of these areas this year, and you'll be hearing about it in the
weeks and months ahead.
Whether it's spoken word or music programming, C.I.U.T. shows are as unique as the people
that do them.
Each one brings their own genuine enthusiasm and personality to the station's special combination
of programming that can't be heard elsewhere.
Speaking of music, C.I.U.T. programmers enjoy bringing you the best in live and recorded
music and interviews from artists based in all points on the globe.
Sometimes it doesn't seem like there's enough time in the day to cover the wide variety
of music C.I.U.T. is mandated to provide.
You can call in your requests or comments during our mosaic or specialty music shows.
I don't really think you need the phone number, but they say they'd love to hear from their
listeners.
This is an incredible schedule, the things that they do, the things they attempt to do.
All kinds of different music, Africa, international, radio, television, invisible, Monday midnight
folk show.
You know, these are people experimenting, having fun, being different, and this my friends,
this my friends is what it's all about.
I went to this place, it was kind of like a three or four story frat house, filled with
people arguing and carrying things, running back and forth, just doing radio, radio the
way it's supposed to be.
Now why is it that there's so little of that left?
Where is it going?
I mean, how many stations are there where this happens, where it's not just one particular
style and a staff of just maybe a dozen or so?
You know, if you're going to visit a radio station, if you're going to see what it's
all about, I suggest going to a real place, a real place like CIUT and a place where hundreds
of people come in and out of the doors and try different things.
Now, there's an article in yesterday's newspaper, and I think this kind of brings home a few
things.
Yesterday's Newsday says, Connecticut Station has designs on Long Island, and this is something
that I have kind of a personal involvement in because one of the stations affected is
a station that I work for on Long Island, and it's scary folks, it's really scary because
we're talking about non-commercial radio here.
You notice I didn't even bring up commercial radio.
I mean, I could talk all about the evils of commercial radio and how they only play
13 songs and they keep repeating the same things over and over again, they don't care
about the songs, they just care about the commercials, and the DJs aren't allowed to
say anything except the temperature.
I could go on about that, but I'm not going to because I've done it before and I'll probably
do it again sometime.
This is something more immediate because it's within our own community, the non-commercial
radio community.
What's happening to it?
What's going on here?
On Long Island, two years ago, a non-commercial radio spot was taken by a religious station.
A religious station.
I mean, am I the only one that finds that not right?
That's not an educational station, they're in effect selling a product, let's face it,
that's what it is, and it's constantly the same thing over and over again.
I mean, you can say what you like about stations like WBAI or college radio or public radio
or anything like that, but you hear different views, you hear arguments, you hear discussions,
but you don't always hear the same thing over and over again.
I can guarantee you that very few people around here agree on very many things, that's just
the way it is, and that's why it's so interesting.
Anyway, let's get to this article and then we'll get to your phone calls, because I'd
like to know how other people feel about this.
Because it's important.
You know, things are changing, and things may change in ways we don't want them to change.
Here's the article.
George Lombardi and the folks at WSHU, 91.1 FM, based at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield,
Connecticut, are thinking big.
Very big.
The Connecticut College is asking the Federal Communications Commission to approve construction
on Long Island of three different facilities designed to bring national public radio programming
to all of Suffolk, plus a chunk of Nassau.
As explained by Lombardi, WSHU's general manager, the school's plans call for the following.
A 1,000-watt booster, well, I happen to know that's wrong, it's actually a 10-watt booster,
so I'll just correct that here, a 10-watt booster known in radio as a translator would
be erected in Selden, New York, to aim WSHU's programming at Nassau County on 91.1 FM.
A new 3,900-watt transmitter and studio in Shirley, in effect an entirely new station
at 88.3 FM, would air local and NPR programming to a potential audience of more than 400,000
listeners.
A new 3,000-watt transmitter and studio in Noyack, near Sag Harbor, that is a second
new station, this one at 89.9 FM, would present local and NPR programming to a potential audience
of 80,000 people on the East End.
According to Lombardi, the booster and the two separately programmed stations would all
be licensed to Sacred Heart University, Incorporated, and cost about $600,000 over the next three
years to put in operation.
Half that amount is being sought from the National Telecommunication and Information
Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce that funds broadcast expansion.
To bolster the grant application, WSHU has written its Long Island listeners asking them
to state that you want the enlarged coverage area, what it would mean to you, why it's
important in your life.
Lombardi refutes a suggestion that the three-tiered plan represents an incursion across Long Island
Sound by a Connecticut upstart.
That argument is sure to be raised by two island-based college stations that view WSHU's
expansion as encroachment on their hard-won turf.
About 2,000 of WSHU's 8,000 paying subscribers live on Long Island, and many of them have
long expressed interest in improving reception in Nassau-Suffolk, Lombardi said.
He also argues that the new Long Island transmitters will bring NPR's leading news magazines, Morning
Edition and All Things Considered, to a region that lacks a locally-based NPR affiliate.
However, the plans are expected to face challenges from the State University of New York at Stony
Brooks WUSB at 90.1 FM, which is right next to 89.9 FM, which is why they're upset, and
from WPBX at 91.3 FM, and they're an American public radio affiliate based at Southampton
College.
Terry Jones, who is Long Island University's Director of Broadcasting, who runs WPBX and
CW Post WCWP at 88.1 FM, says he's real unhappy about this.
WSHU is right in our backyard already, and now they want to expand. Why do we create
a market and have them take it away?
Well, of course, we're talking non-commercial radio here, and it drives me crazy when non-commercial
radio stations care so much about markets. You know? It's not what it's all about.
And these national public radio stations, American public radio stations, what have
you, popping up left and right, and there's nothing wrong with the programming. The programming
is fine, but what's happening to the stations? WSHU used to be a station run by college students,
and now it's a public radio station. They play classical music 24 hours a day, and the
students don't have anything to do with it, just like the station up in Buffalo. And I
wonder, what is happening to non-commercial radio? What's happening to the learning experience?
I understand WSHU, and if somebody could call in and give me information about this, WSHU
is also involved in a bit of a conflict with a station in New Jersey, Upsala, New Jersey,
WFMU, which is a station that has many, many students involved and does creative programming.
It seems that they both share the same frequency, and somehow there's some sort of a conflict
about one station interfering with another station or something like that, and WSHU is
trying to get WFMU to cut back, cut its power in half or something like that. I'd like more
information on that if someone has it, and they can call us. Our number is 279-3400,
area code 212. I'd like to know what people think of the state of non-commercial radio.
I'm not really talking about WBAI, because WBAI is unique. I don't think anything really
approaches what we do here. There are a lot of stations that... it's kind of like a...
kind of imperialistic in a way. I guess I hate to use that word, but that's the way
it is. You know, stations are being taken over, taken over and converted, and something
that was once run in kind of a haphazard way is now run more efficiently, with a lot less
people and a lot less diversity. And I want to know, what do the people want? You know?
I mean, do we want to just have religious stations and their satellites? Do we just
want to have national public radio stations and their satellites? Or do we want to have
a kind of disjointed harmony, if such a thing is possible? Well, I'll say I'm involved with
the station in Stony Brook, WUSB, and that's a terrific place. A place where literally
hundreds of people gather and create all kinds of incredible things, and a place where hopefully
such things will always go on. I really hope that this station in Sag Harbor that is being
proposed isn't put on the air, because it will greatly interfere with the signal. I
mean, you don't see somebody saying, let's put a station at 92.5, because the folks at
KROC and the folks at DRE would be all upset by that, because it's too close. But the same
thing doesn't apply to non-commercial radio, that is all the stations below 92. It's kind
of a haphazard way of doing things there. It's pretty much fill in the gaps, you know?
And a lot of stations aren't being heard. A lot of stations are being blocked out by
those with more power and with more money. It's just sad to see this happen to non-commercial
radio. Well, our number again is 279-3400, area code 212. I think I've blabbered on enough
about all this. Now it's time to see what you folks think. Good morning.
I have a question for you. What happens, what can I do if I get a lot of crosstalk on my
telephone? I don't know, well, we're not talking about telephones tonight, sir. I'll answer
your question, but let's stick to the subject. If you get lots of crosstalk, it could be
a number of things. It could be bad wiring on your part, it could be bad wiring on your
central office's part. It's best to eliminate the possibilities by plugging in a different
phone, plugging your phone into a different jack. If it keeps happening, no matter what
you plug in, the problem is probably, probably with the phone company, and that's when you
should call in and ask for a repair. 212-279-3400. No more phone questions, please. Good morning.
Yeah, I got the delay here. I took a similar road trip that you took this summer. I drove
across country and came back, and I was fascinated by the radio. I was listening to all the way
across and back. You go out there to the Midwest, and the people are listening to the songs
like back in the 50s and in the 60s. They haven't left that era. They're listening to
I found they were sort of stuck in the 70s, actually.
Well, it could be 70s, but it seems like they're still listening to Simon and Garfunkel and
the Tom Jones and the Humperdinks. It was very disappointing.
What do you think of the state of non-commercial radio around here? I'm not referring to the
I live in Connecticut. I live in Norwalk here, and I get SHU, and I get PKN, and I get the
Long Island stations and the New York stations. The non-commercial radio is all I listen to.
I think it's lost its spontaneity, for sure. There's nothing happening that's exciting
anymore.
You mean that's true of all non-commercial radio?
I think so. It's so programmed. I mean, there's nothing that's exciting anymore.
You mean that's true of all non-commercial radio?
I think so. It's so programmed. I mean, there's no room for any creative people to get involved.
Well, okay. Now, I can tell you that is not true. I mean, it is true at a lot of places.
You're right about that. It's true, I think, at stations that say, yes, we only play classical
music, we only play jazz, we only broadcast these programs. But you mentioned stations,
WPKN and Bridgeport, I happen to know they're very creative. They mix things up a lot.
They do.
They've got a bit of an older staff, perhaps, but it's not a young crowd. But then again,
that's not essential. Stations in Long Island, the USB is one I was giving an example of
before.
I can barely get them.
Yeah, well, that's part of the problem. What part of Connecticut do you live in?
Norwalk. I'm in Norwalk.
But I'll bet you get National Public Radio perfectly, right?
Yeah, well...
Probably several times over, right?
Yeah, like four or five of them. I can get National Public Radio NPR on three different
stations if I'm moving around.
And that's my point. It's such a waste. It's overkill.
Yeah. It's total saturation on that point, yeah.
Now, if you go down, and I invite people to do this, but just please come right back.
Go down the dial below 92 and see how many different stations are playing the same thing
right now.
Oh, it's really pathetic. It's like oatmeal all over. It's the same thing.
Like oatmeal all over?
It's like eating oatmeal. It's just so bland.
I suppose that's a good analogy, yeah.
When I went cross-country, I was hoping to find some off-the-wall college stations and
really good listening music late at night, and it was really hard to find because they're
all, like you say, they're all programmed. They all play the same 15 songs in each city
and each town, and it's really sad.
Well, you know, it's especially sad when it happens to the stations that are supposed
to be the alternatives.
Yeah.
And that's what I'm outraged about. I've been to commercial stations. God, I've been to
so many commercial stations, and I always, you know, I think it's amazing that I don't
just throw up right there. Usually, I wait till I get home, but there is one here in
this city. It's one of the light music stations, so you have a choice of however many of those
there are. Their whole music library is just a wall of little cartridges, and that's it.
Each one represents one song, whereas many of these college stations, the ones that still
exist, the ones that still are being creative, have tens of thousands of records, albums,
that have at least ten songs each, and they can program them in whatever way they want.
You know, the big commercial radios, they want a phased-out album. They don't want those
scratches and hisses and the bumps. They want a perfect sound, like, you know, like Americans
want everything perfect. They want to give it to them on a silver platter. I mean, there's
no room for any, you know, skips and dust particles.
No imperfections whatsoever. You know, I played that Van Morrison song before, and
I noticed there were plenty of scratches there. It didn't skip or anything like that, but
the scratches mean that that's a beloved record, you know, and that's something that's been
played a hundred thousand times.
Because that's what, you know, that's the fun part. Those are fun people to listen to.
But even when I was in L.A., when I was in L.A., I was really at a loss for any good
stations. There's only one good college station in the whole city of L.A.
Well, tell us what it is.
Way down the bottom. I forget what it is.
That's what everybody says. Way down at the bottom. Nobody knows what's down there.
But I think people should go down there more often.
They have the Pacific equivalent out in L.A., but I don't think that was so good.
What is that, KPFK, is it?
Nothing like BAI. BAI is in a world of its own, thank God.
Well, you know, I wish there were more BAIs, obviously.
I can't understand why there isn't, because, I mean, unless people are just so happy with
the status quo, they're just so happy being fed the same news on every station five times
in a row, you know, they're just automatrons.
Yeah, how many times can you hear All Things Considered?
I have nothing against the program, but damn it, come on, let's hear some other things, too.
Let's not get caught up in the non-commercial radio business.
It's national public radio is God, you know?
There should be three or four, you know, listener-sponsored radios in New York.
I mean, there's enough people here to support it.
Sure.
I guess just, you know, everybody's so busy with their lives, you know, and they don't
have time to give an extra $5 or $15 or $25 to, you know, listen to a radio, pay for a
radio when I can get it for free, you know, but everybody's probably so busy with their
life that they can't, they don't have time to sit down and say, hey, radio is important
because it's a...
Well, let me tell you something, as someone who has experienced the magic of it, once
you are a part of it, once you see what can be done, and once you're given the freedom
to do what you want to do and you actually are able to learn something, you see the value
of it, but if you're never given that chance, you could just shrug it off and say, oh, it's
only radio, it's, you know, it's no big deal, it's just music.
Get visual and, you know, and audio entertainment, where radio, you have to kind of use your
mind to, you know, make your own visuals.
I think that, I like that part better.
I'd much rather listen to radio any day than watch TV.
That's why we air the, you know, the old radio serials here on BAI.
I like those, the Vic and Sade, you know, I listen to those and I crack up and I laugh
and, you know, it's important to hear how family life used to be.
And it's an art to be able to convey something like that, like you said, you know, it's very
important.
Listen, I want to get some more calls.
Where are you calling from again?
Connecticut, Norwalk.
Norwalk, okay, well, thanks very much for calling and keep looking for alternatives
and let people know when you find them.
All right, thank you.
All right, 279-3400.
Good morning.
Hi, good morning.
How are you doing?
Okay, how are you?
Where are you calling from?
Corner from Brooklyn.
Okay.
Okay, what's your name, by the way?
Emmanuel.
Hi, Emmanuel, how are you doing?
Okay.
Okay, you're talking about radio.
I worked at a college radio station.
Which one?
The one you just mentioned, WFMU.
WFMU in Upsala.
That's right.
I was at that station.
That's a neat place, I think.
Well, that's a great station.
As a matter of fact, I was lucky enough that I had started my education at Fordham University,
so I was able to be on staff at, originally, WFUV, which is one of the real powerful stations.
There are 50,000 watts, I believe.
I mean, we're able to be picked up.
I mean, it's amazing, our range.
And it's a good station.
I mean, I didn't get much involved with music.
I did play-by-play and stuff.
But WFMU is great.
I mean, that's a great station.
A lot of big people came out of that station, originally, like Vin Scalso.
Vin Scalso?
That's right.
And, you know, so the thing about WFMU is great.
They let you basically do what you want.
There are certain, by the way, even at WFMU,
there is a certain amount of, what I call, automated programming.
For example, in the mornings, in order basically to try to keep the station going,
they do have, they do, let's say, write down an hour or two to this group to play, believe it or not, Hebrew music.
Really?
Well, that's different, I'll say, then.
Yeah, Hebrew music in the morning is kind of funny.
Oh, it's better than shop at home, don't you think?
It's kind of weird because, you know, sometimes I'll be listening to rock at night
and suddenly I've got to turn off the rail station in the morning.
I'd be hearing this different language.
It'd be kind of weird.
Well, that's what life is.
It's kind of weird.
And I think we need more weird experiences like that.
Ted, do you know anything about what's going on now with FMU and SHU and that coal conflict?
Well, I was there a few years back.
But I had heard that, even back then, that what the basis is, is that FMU's range is also pretty, is a lot.
It's a powerful range.
But what's been happening is that SHU has been basically blasting towards a different direction.
And there's a feeling at FMU that they're violating their so-called range, their limitations.
Well, let me tell you my impression.
You say SHU is blasting in a particular direction.
It seems to me, by looking at all the things that they're doing,
that SHU is blasting in every possible direction imaginable, except perhaps up.
They're going for eastern Long Island.
They're going for central Long Island.
They're going for NASA.
They seem to have designs on Queens and Brooklyn, parts of Connecticut,
that they never had before.
And there's already an entity in Connecticut called Connecticut Public Radio,
and I understand the two of them are at each other's throats.
Well, you've got to realize one thing.
About ten years ago, for example, two of the big universities here in the city cooperated, WFDU and WNYU.
They're both on 89.1.
Right.
And what they decided was that they wouldn't be on at the same time ever.
It's a good thing, being in the same frequency.
They're keeping the same frequency, but in other words, one would go off, the other wouldn't go on.
Right.
They do now. In other words, they're never on at the same time.
So this way they don't violate each other's space.
I think that's about the best they could do,
because you've got to realize that, as you mentioned before,
if you go lower than 92 and you say to people, how many stations could you pick up,
I mean, if something is like almost possibly even a one-watt station,
I mean, how long could you pick it up before it gets overpowered by another station?
I mean, it's ridiculous.
Did you ever, for example, have you ever picked up WFIA?
WFIA? WSIA?
Yeah.
Staten Island. Yes, I have.
In fact, they're at the same frequency as the religious zealots in Suffolk County
that are now blasting away Hofstra University and New Haven University,
which is something that I think is horrible,
because now you can't hear alternative music and alternative ways of programming,
because you have to hear a repetition of the same station that's at 94.7,
with family radio or whatever that is.
You hear the same thing, and there's no place that you can't get that station anyway.
So I don't understand what the purpose of starting a satellite was.
Well, you know what one of my all-time favorite college radio stories was?
I don't know if you've ever heard this story,
but there's a community college in Brooklyn called Kingsborough Community.
Yeah.
And they're close to WKRB.
I think I've even heard them.
And they're on 90.9.
Right, yeah, okay.
Okay, and what's funny about them was, about ten years ago,
they had written a letter to the FCC asking permission
if they could, believe it or not, broadcast on 103.1.
And believe it or not, I don't know if it was a mistake made in the office down there in Washington,
but they gave them permission, and for almost a year,
KRB was broadcasting on 103.1.
Now, who's it supposed to be at 103.1?
Well, it's an open frequency.
But I mean, but college radio stations, as you know...
103.1 is an open frequency?
Well, at that point, ten years ago, it was.
Well, what's on it now?
I don't know what's on it now.
I don't even, I mean, there might be some small station that...
I think it's some New Jersey station.
Really?
Yeah.
You know, it's interesting, because I know Yale University is going through something similar.
They want to increase the power of their station, which happens to be at 94.3,
and that's the frequency of a very powerful MUSAC station on Long Island,
who doesn't like this idea at all of having a college station...
94.3?
Yeah.
So it does happen sometimes.
You do see college stations at weird frequencies.
You know, by the way, you mentioned about Canada.
One thing, by the way, in terms of commercial stations in Canada,
did you know that there are laws requiring that, in terms of music,
that 60% of the artists have to be Canadian?
I've heard that.
I have heard that, and that's partly because of the over-Americanization of certain things.
Also, no matter how much the United States radio stations are, you know,
certain words you can't say and certain things you can't say,
in Canada, it's even more looked upon.
I mean, it's even worse.
Their version, I don't even know what it's called.
I don't either, and you're right about that, because I was talking to somebody there,
and they were complaining in just the same way we complain here about the FCC.
Yes, they have the same weird rules.
I don't know what their FCC is called, but they have most of a national kind of situation.
And the funny thing is, again, the thing about the FCC, which people should remember,
is originally all they were worried about, believe it or not, was digiting,
digital things with the stations.
They never were concerned about really what people were saying.
They weren't really involved in terms of the actual running of stations, as they are now.
And it's unfortunate because, as you mentioned,
the only thing that you look upon all stations in commercial are basic music
and your basic wacky stations.
I mean, it seems like every city in the United States has a zoo. You know that?
Well, yeah, I think that is true.
Every city has a zoo. Every city has a version of a Howard Stern.
Every city needs a zoo.
Every city has a Howard Stern.
Every city has got their version of a Don Iamus, and it's pretty weird.
Sure, yeah, you go anywhere and you get these imitations.
By the way, the rail station that you're referring to in Los Angeles is UC Davis.
I think it's KUCD, I think, which is a pretty decent station.
But I agree with the quote you mentioned, that the LA stations were pretty awful.
But as far as FMU, that was the opinion I got in terms of the other station.
But again, as you said, if anybody, obviously listening to WBAI,
if they want to catch a really good station,
FMU has all kinds of different things to listen to,
and they'll talk, and they'll do all kinds of wacky stuff.
By the way, your own station, BAI, there's a lot of things,
of course, that people have problems with it itself.
I remember when I was younger,
BAI used to have this great programming called Electric Family Theater,
which was kind of a takeoff on Fireside Theater,
and it was fantastic.
They couldn't do it anymore because, unfortunately, the people went to other stuff.
But even BAI has their problems.
Oh, everybody's got problems.
But the thing is, these plastic stations try to pretend as if there are no problems,
and everything's just fine.
And they gloss over the real important issues,
and they just play music, or they just do something that's very easy to do.
They just take programming off the satellite.
They don't allow for imperfection.
Yes, we make mistakes here, folks.
Sometimes there's dead air for a few minutes.
Sometimes the tape falls off the reel.
By the way, I agree with you when you said that the college radio stations should be run by the students.
Yeah.
Totally.
I think a combination student-community station is ideal
because students have a lot of pressures, obviously,
and there's a lot they can learn from people who have been at it for longer.
But, yeah, the ultimate decision should be in the hands of students.
It's a college station.
Yes.
And that's what bothers me so much about stations like Buffalo,
stations like Sacred Heart University,
because they have a school attached to them, but they don't have anything to do with the students,
and the students aren't learning a thing from this.
And, again, as you mentioned, unfortunately, I hate to say it,
but do you know that a lot of college radio stations are now actually accepting some form of advertising?
I wouldn't be surprised at all to see that happen.
Which is really ridiculous.
I mean, then you get to the point where you might as well make it a commercial radio station.
Let's say in 10 years that'll probably happen.
Oh, wait, just one quick question in terms of...
Very quick. I want to get some more calls.
Do you think that there'll ever be the co-editors again, WNBC?
WNBC?
Radio. NBC.
I don't know how the FCC handles things like that.
I know that when... Do you remember WKHK?
That used to be a country station here in the city?
When they stopped being a country station, their call letters were grabbed up, I think,
the next week by another station, so I don't know.
I guess the FCC sometimes approves it and sometimes doesn't.
Maybe NBC still has the rights to those call letters.
I'm not sure how it works.
By the way, you know what KHK was before it was KHK?
It was RVR, and that's another sad story.
A jazz station that...
That was the greatest jazz station there was.
Yeah.
And, you know, the same thing could happen to any radio station that you think is unique and different.
Do you remember WPIX?
Sure.
When they played New Wave music and they were different?
I remember... Are you kidding? I go back to the days.
I remember when there used to be a WNBC-FM.
Oh, yeah. A WABC-FM.
You remember when there actually was a, believe it or not,
when NBC-FM went off the air for a little while, NBC tried to FM all new stations, WNWS.
Yeah, WNWS.
Do you remember the first day that they went on the air?
They had an announcement.
They had an advertisement by, you know, this person walking around interviewing people,
and one person said, yes, I listen to it every day.
It wasn't even on before that, so how could they have said, yes, I listen to it every day?
You know?
That thing was bogus from the start, I thought.
I tell you, this is great talking about nostalgia about old stations, old callers, ABC-FM.
Yeah, but, you know, I hate thinking that it's all over and that we're stuck with these bland stations
that just play the same things over and over again, whether it's classical music or light rock or news or whatever.
We need diversity, and, you know, it's there for the taking, but we have to want it.
You know?
And there should be lots of stations like this one in different cities all over the country,
but it's never going to happen unless the desire for it is expressed, and people do listen, you know?
You write to the FCC.
You write to the powers that be, and, you know, they don't always listen, but they do sometimes,
and, you know, what's the harm in getting your thoughts out?
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for calling.
279-3400.
Good morning.
Hi.
Go ahead.
Yeah, I wanted to just give you a little bit of information on WFMU and the situation there.
Okay.
I'm calling you from Connecticut, and the way I heard it was that WFMU apparently was assigned more power
than it should have been through sort of a mistake early on in its beginnings as a station,
and what happened since then recently is that WSHU and a couple of other stations that, I guess,
are having interference from WFMU are trying to go back maybe 15 years or 20 years
and try and get WFMU cut back to its power that it should have originally received rather than this kind of loophole.
Well, I had heard that, that it was a mistake that was made back in 1962 or something,
and nobody caught it, the FCC, no engineers caught it, but my question is why now?
Why all of a sudden the interest in cutting their power in half?
Well, as you said before, WSHU is trying to put repeater stations out on Long Island,
and I think one thing that this discussion that you're having centers on is the fact that noncommercial radio
has become a big business, and I can tell you I work at WPKN in Bridgeport,
and we've had several threats to our own station because Connecticut Public Radio tried to take us over at one time.
Unfortunately, we had an outpouring of thousands of letters to the University of Bridgeport, which holds the license.
Well, let me tell you something. I've heard lots of rumors about that, and I'm familiar with your station,
I listen to your station, and by the way, say hi to Harry for me,
and it's scary how public radio somehow has become this evil beast that can go and take over other stations.
Omega USB, the station in Stony Brook, New York, just went through this week, over the last five days,
realizing that their frequency was in danger because a station coming on at 89.9 and a fairly close proximity
could wipe out a good part of their signal or at least distort it.
They received thousands of, well, at least over a thousand, between 1,000 and 2,000 calls of support
within a four or five-day period, which I thought was amazing.
So people are concerned. People do care. People do want alternatives,
and I think they're fed up with this sameness that's spread into non-commercial radio as well.
Yes, it is a business. That's really sick.
It is a business, but as you said, there's some bright spots, and I know with our own station, WPCAN,
we fought off one takeover attempt, and as you and some of the listeners probably know, WPCAN is on its own now.
The university isn't funding it anymore because of budgetary problems there,
and we just made over $100,000 in a marathon this past October,
and it just shows you that there are people out there that value an alternative like WPCAN and like WPAI,
but there aren't many left, and I think if the business instincts of the folks who are involved in non-commercial radio
go unchecked, we're going to even have less alternatives on the air,
and I don't know if there's any organized way to try and stop this kind of juggernaut
to what you've been calling this kind of bland mediocrity that slips in
where you get five stations in a row on the dial playing the same thing.
It's a waste of that end of the dial, which is supposed to be reserved for something different.
Well, you know, I think one good way is to spread the word as to what it is you're doing.
You know, I don't want to create some kind of an organization because organizations then take control and use power,
but I do think it's important that, you know, even though you're in Bridgeport, Connecticut,
people in other parts of the country know the things that you're doing and know about it.
There should be some kind of maybe a newsletter about real non-commercial radio stations
and the kind of things that happen to them, maybe funny things that happen to them, educational things,
financial problems that they overcome or don't overcome, something like that.
There needs to be a way of communicating.
In fact, it's kind of coincidental.
The Intercollegiate Broadcasting Service is having its convention in New York this weekend,
and I guess that's probably one of the best ways of communicating back and forth,
but not all stations participate in that.
It's something that I think we have to deal with.
We have to communicate amongst ourselves, anyone who's involved in non-commercial radio.
I think you have a good point.
There should be more networking as the saying goes.
Well, I'll tell you what.
I'll say this right here.
If anybody wants to send me information about stuff they're doing on non-commercial radio stations,
we'll talk about it here on the air.
It's no problem.
And just send it over to WBAI, and we'll take a look at it.
It's not much, but it's something.
Okay, well, thanks for bringing the subject up.
Okay, thanks for calling, and good luck to you guys.
Good night.
All right.
Good morning.
Hey, how are you doing?
Okay, where are you calling from?
Middletown, New York.
Okay.
I was, what I wanted to say, I'm in the middle of a term paper, so I don't get a lot of time.
Okay, go ahead.
But at New Paltz, which was always considered a fairly radical school,
CUNY New Paltz, the college station there,
the DJs all take time trying to sound like the New York commercial DJs.
And I find that scary.
That is scary.
You know, part of the purpose of college radio is to train people to work in radio,
but it's more than that.
It's also to open you up to alternatives and to let you hear some of the other artists
that aren't being played on all the other radio stations.
They have interesting playlists for how you classify your show.
I stopped going because of that.
They're practicing to be the commercial station in New York.
See, the only thing you're going to get out of that is mediocrity,
because who's going to want to listen to students doing the same thing that professionals are doing?
Obviously, the professionals are going to do it better.
You're not going to be playing anything that people don't hear already.
Funny, but I think the FCC agreed.
We were competing with another school for like 100.3, a real prime channel in the local area,
something like that, where we had a certain distance,
and I don't believe they got it.
I don't even find it a shame, because I bet the other school is doing something good.
But I've got to go. I've got to write this paper on silicon.
Okay, well you do that.
Bye-bye.
There's a great demand for that kind of thing, too.
Good morning.
Hi, how are you doing?
Okay, where are you calling from?
Connecticut.
Okay, a lot of Connecticut calls today, eh?
Yeah, lots of them.
What part of Connecticut?
Greenwich.
All right, what's on your mind?
Well, let me just turn on the radio here, because you are on delay,
and I can't listen out of the radio, I'm just talking to the phone.
But anyway, all right, you're talking about...
I'm just trying to go over all the things that I've been thinking about since it's been ringing.
All right, one thing, things on the same frequency where I'm at,
we get WQXR at 103.1.
Boom!
At 103.1?
Yeah, there's a translator.
QXR has a translator in Connecticut?
That's right.
I didn't know that.
You do now.
Why wasn't I told? Why wasn't I told?
All right, I'm going to have to speak to somebody about this, but that's strange.
Well, you know, it's not uncommon, I guess, but I just didn't know that.
Yeah, but up here, I mean, it comes in perfectly.
But that's all right.
But all right, let me see, what else?
The business is dead.
Uh-huh.
Radio, I'm sorry, I work in it, but it's dead.
What business do you mean?
Broadcasting.
The whole broadcasting? That's kind of a general statement, though.
It is, though. It's horrible.
I mean, think about it.
In the 60s, everybody was swinging, right?
In the 70s, everybody was screaming.
What were they doing in the 80s? They were all sleeping.
Yeah, but these are the 90s.
Yeah, and what are they going to do in the 90s?
I mean, radio stations...
Look forward to the next century. I don't know.
They've been going dark in the 80s.
50-kilowatt stations have been going dark in the 80s.
Well, I think you've got to be optimistic.
I mean, that might sound kind of foolish, but I think it's the only way.
I'm sorry, I have to cut you off.
We're going to take one more call, and then we're out of here.
Bob Fast is here, and I'm sure he's got something amazing to talk about.
Good morning.
Hello, Emanuel. You have a great show.
That's the second time that thing has called.
But that doesn't count. I said a person.
Good morning.
Hello.
Yes, go ahead, Fast.
Okay, yeah, I just wanted to say a little bit about WFMU.
Okay, go ahead, quickly.
Okay, the three stations that are...
It's an aggressive thing against FMU.
It's not FMU, you know, starting this.
It's WFUV, WKTW, and SHU.
And they're trying to get FMU's power cut in half because of the 62 error.
But if anyone wants to write, I have the address.
Okay, go ahead.
Letters of support go to FMU.
Uppsala College, East Orange, New Jersey, 07019.
And that's 91.1.
So they're giving out information on the radio if you want to support them.
Okay, and if anybody wants to send letters of any kind supporting noncommercial radio in general,
you can send them right here.
Emanuel Goldstein, WBAI, 505 8th Avenue, New York, New York, 10018.
Okay, thanks a lot.
Thanks for calling.
Bye-bye.
That's pretty much going to do it for us here today.
And we are just about out of time.
I believe our caller from Amsterdam is still on the line.
Are you there?
Yeah, I'm still there.
I can't believe you sat through the entire program.
That's something to say.
It was a very good show.
Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I just hope you enjoy it when the phone bill comes.
Oh, I will.
Okay, listen.
I've got to go.
I'll see you soon.
And folks, I'll see you in two weeks.
Good night.
I don't know who listens to the radio
Guy's got his train just to wrap around his ear
His oblivious to the traffic, it's not really clear
It crackles, it clicks, it pops, it starts
It's blasting out the top 40 charts
AM or FM, I listen to both of them
Listening to the radio since I don't know when
It was so busy, everyone's got somewhere to go
In the background, there's always the radio
Who listens to the radio?
Who listens to the radio?
Who listens to the radio?
That's what I'd like to know
Who listens to the radio?
Who listens to the radio?
Who listens to the radio?
No, no, no, who is on first?
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