Whipped Cream Difficulties

I’ve written before about Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, and the efforts by the State University of New York (SUNY) to close it, since it is bleeding money like a severed aorta.

…a judge on Tuesday ordered the hospital to be returned to its previous owners, nullifying a 2011 transfer to the State University of New York.

The hospital was previously owned by Continuum Health Partners. Why did they transfer it to SUNY? They say it was either that, or shut the place down. You see the punchline coming, don’t you?

“Upon due consideration, Continuum respectfully concludes that we cannot reassume management of LICH and is unable to take responsibility for the hospital’s operations,” Stanley Brezenoff, the president and chief executive, said in a statement.

New York’s WBAI is in trouble. Normally, I don’t care that much about NYC radio stations. But:

…huge debt and a dwindling membership have left both WBAI and Pacifica starved for cash. The station, one of five owned by the foundation, has operated in the red each year since 2004, accumulating more than $3 million in net losses, according to Pacifica financial statements. In addition to WBAI, Pacifica has stations in Los Angeles, Washington, Houston and Berkeley, Calif., and feeds content to more than 150 affiliates.
Among Pacifica’s debts are more than $2 million in broadcast fees owed to Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!,” the network’s most popular show. To cover Pacifica’s operating costs, the network has drained most of its accounts, hobbling the organization and raising the doomsday scenario in which it would have to sell WBAI’s broadcast license.

Lord, you know I don’t ask for much. But if WBAI’s broadcast license does go up for sale, please let the Koch brothers purchase it. Thank you.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 21st, 2013 at 8:29 am and is filed under Clippings, Radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.