Midnight In The Desert

[Dr. MD MD]

Just took a look at the announcement:


Have a feeling this is going to be a shit show; and I'm not sure how someone can apprentice under somebody deceased.

Not to mention that, even of he did "apprentice" with Castaneda, we now known what this apprenticeship would've been like as it was basically a mind-control cult that Castaneda used for sexual conquests. I hope Heather has the balls to ask about this.

[Jackstar]

it was basically a mind-control cult that Castaneda used for sexual conquests.

someone, so jelly

[Value Of Pi]

I respectfully disagree. I am enjoying the show. No matter who they put in the chair it is still "not Art". We are a small piece of the subscriber pool. Don't get caught up in the mindset that your opinion carries more weight than it does.

Only time will tell if MITD can carry its own weight with Heather as host. If she decides she doesn't want the hassle anymore, that is fine with me, then shut it down.

If it were just my opinion or the minority opinion on this site, I'd be happy to PM Heather and tell her to ignore us. But all the indications are that the total audience for MITD is shrinking fast. That's not about opinions or subjectivity. It's the numbers, the heart of the business.

It's also a true reflection of what people out in radioland think of the new MITD. You don't need to acknowledge any of this but that doesn't change the reality.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

If it were just my opinion or the minority opinion on this site, I'd be happy to PM Heather and tell her to ignore us. But all the indications are that the total audience for MITD is shrinking fast. That's not about opinions or subjectivity. It's the numbers, the heart of the business.

It's also a true reflection of what people out in radioland think of the new MITD. You don't need to acknowledge any of this but that doesn't change the reality.

If you were to guess and put a number on fast, what would it be? -10%, -50%, -70%?

[Richard Groyper]

If it were just my opinion or the minority opinion on this site, I'd be happy to PM Heather and tell her to ignore us. But all the indications are that the total audience for MITD is shrinking fast. That's not about opinions or subjectivity. It's the numbers, the heart of the business.

It's also a true reflection of what people out in radioland think of the new MITD. You don't need to acknowledge any of this but that doesn't change the reality.

Let's not forget "fishing for options" via bateman, confirmed by Heather on the last GabCast...

[Chronaut]

Endeavoring to dazzle guileless eyes with verbal footwork, Cro, is behavior unbecoming of a gentleman.

No intention to beguile, Bounder - there are a lot of sharp scientists and engineers around here and they'll likely appreciate the proper use of  terminology.  And for others who might be interested enough to delve into it, using the correct terms provides the most useful keyword searches.  But if you'd like me to scramble some pop science phrases together to sound more like Bob Lazar, I can do that =)

Backgrounds can’t be disfigured by the state?  Better check that with the Soviet Union.

The problem isn't that Bob Lazar's records have been "erased by the government."  The problem is that lots of Bob's records exist in the public record, and they do stuff like placing him at a Pierce College at the same time he said he went to MIT, and show that he worked -at- LANL, but not -for- LANL, because his pay stubs indicate that he was a Kirk Meyer support tech, not a credentialed scientist.  Public records also tell the ugly tale of shifty feckless pimp (he and wife Carol owned a Nevada brothel) living beyond his means in Las Vegas while borrowing money from his parents to subsidize his flashy lifestyle and an imploding marriage.  He also exhibits a constant stream of "tells" when he tries to talk about academic physics, which betray a Scientific American physics education, rather than a post-grad MIT physics education.  Bob Lazar is not a formally trained scientist.  He does, however, perfectly fit the bill as a cagey operative who took a gig from a US intelligence program to tell some crazy story about a fictional ufo back-engineering program, and is still attended by security "minders" whenever he gives interviews.

A chronology of public documents about Bob Lazar:
http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/bluefire-main/bluefire/the-bob-lazar-corner/the-lazar-timeline/

Then, in 2013, a series of documents were quietly declassified â€" Project 1794.

It's just a monowing plane.  Sure it's circular, but it uses jets for propulsion.  That's not going to provide any remarkable flight characteristics, even if the project wasn't canceled due to the prototype's terrible performance.  In fact the only real use that thing seems to have is to provide cover for the actual, genuinely radical ufo reports.

I pointed to the accidental, archaeological corroboration of "Site 4" as early as 1997 â€" cost the discoverer his life (culprit: radiation).

Also, elsewhere, mentioned a stayover of my own in that hamlet by the big base: Rachel, NV.  Neglected to add the stories I was told by the locals â€" one in particular, retired Air Cav, had wandered into the mountains as a boy.  He was practically on top of Area 51 before he realized he’d adventured past the badly marked boundary.  And he watched astonished as the ground opened, “like a Jesus Tomb,” and a trio of Huey helicopters descended into unknown regions.

S-4 was part of the Area 51 story long before Lazar came around, iirc.  Nobody's arguing that there isn't a sophisticated research base there, and probably more in the vicinity, operating mostly underground.  But "the existence of Area 51 and S-4" =/= "Bob Lazar's story about a hangar full of ufos must be true!"

Bob’s story gains credibility every year.

It's a good story, manufactured by the best, for a specific purpose imo.  But the chance of Bob Lazar being employed to back-engineer ufos is about as likely as my barista being hired to conduct neurosurgery on the president.

[Value Of Pi]

If you were to guess and put a number on fast, what would it be? -10%, -50%, -70%?

Based on the loss of most of the affiliates alone, I'd guess the loss of total audience at greater than 50% from peak. But based on the business arrangements, this says more about the view of the station managers regarding Art's leaving than the actual revenue now coming in, which is mostly about subscribers and not advertising as I understand it.

Those subscriber numbers appear to have taken a big hit too, based on the number of Tune-In listeners that's been leaked. Guesstimated subscriber numbers would be based on some percentage of total streaming listeners, not broadcast listeners.

[GravitySucks]

If it were just my opinion or the minority opinion on this site, I'd be happy to PM Heather and tell her to ignore us. But all the indications are that the total audience for MITD is shrinking fast. That's not about opinions or subjectivity. It's the numbers, the heart of the business.

It's also a true reflection of what people out in radioland think of the new MITD. You don't need to acknowledge any of this but that doesn't change the reality.

The numbers are certainly lower, it really doesn't matter to me. I enjoy the show because IMO it is better than C2C. The only way I will stop listening is if it turns into a platform for man made global warming or a soapbox for Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. I won't continue to pay for those two subjects. Other than that, I am fine with listening to Heather. If Art comes back, so much the better.

[GravitySucks]

Based on the loss of most of the affiliates alone, I'd guess the loss of total audience at greater than 50% from peak. But based on the business arrangements, this says more about the view of the station managers regarding Art's leaving than the actual revenue now coming in, which is mostly about subscribers and not advertising as I understand it.

Those subscriber numbers appear to have taken a big hit too, based on the number of Tune-In listeners that's been leaked. Guesstimated subscriber numbers would be based on some percentage of total streaming listeners, not broadcast listeners.

Tunein is not a good reflection of subscribers. There may be a bunch of subscribers that don't stay up to listen to the show live.

[Value Of Pi]

Tunein is not a good reflection of subscribers. There may be a bunch of subscribers that don't stay up to listen to the show live.

There may be as many or more subscribers who don't listen live as compared with those that do. I would expect that. But I would bet your bottom dollar that the total number of subscribers is a fraction of the number who listen live. And the live numbers are not impressive at all, from what I've seen. My guess is that all the numbers are falling, which is the reason for cutting salaries and expenses.

[GravitySucks]

There may be as many or more subscribers who don't listen live as compared with those that do. I would expect that. But I would bet your bottom dollar that the total number of subscribers is a fraction of the number who listen live. And the live numbers are not impressive at all, from what I've seen. My guess is that all the numbers are falling, which is the reason for cutting salaries and expenses.

No argument there. I think one other reason they started cutting costs drastically was they expected a big jump in music royalties. When that all got settled, those 50% increases they expected didn't materialize.

Art says he is not funding the show. I actually thought he might have been. That means the show must be paying for itself. Keith doesn't have deep pockets, and he would pull the plug if he was not at least breaking even.

[Element 115]

No argument there. I think one other reason they started cutting costs drastically was they expected a big jump in music royalties. When that all got settled, those 50% increases they expected didn't materialize.

Art says he is not funding the show. I actually thought he might have been. That means the show must be paying for itself. Keith doesn't have deep pockets, and he would pull the plug if he was not at least breaking even.

Yeah I was surprised too when he said he was not funding the show.

[Taco Bell]

Aliens will only take our tacos.

[GravitySucks]

Aliens will only take our tacos.

I wish we could find some that ate plastic.

[Juan Cena]

Yeah I was surprised too when he said he was not funding the show.

If MITD is getting ad buys from companies like Motorola or Audible, business can't be that bad.

[Dr. MD MD]

Ask some tough questions of this guy, Heather!

[GravitySucks]

Ask some tough questions of this guy, Heather!

Use the wormhole

[Dr. MD MD]

If MITD is getting ad buys from companies like Motorola or Audible, business can't be that bad.

Gonna ask if his philosophy is hiding some latent racism? 

[Coffeeman]

If MITD is getting ad buys from companies like Motorola or Audible, business can't be that bad.

Those are the only two, though. Companies those big probably aren't even completely aware all who they advertise through.

[trostol]

thats naive of this Jill lady

[Juan Cena]

I wish we could find some that ate plastic.

I wonder if we'll find that at least some aliens are made of plastic, whether synthetic or a natural forming one.

[GravitySucks]

Those are the only two, though. Companies those big probably aren't even completely aware all who they advertise through.

CCrane knows. They changed their ad

[Taco Bell]

I wonder if we'll find that at least some aliens are made of plastic, whether synthetic or a natural forming one.

That type is already among us, in Hollywood.

[Dr. MD MD]

That type is already among us, in Hollywood.

+1 

[Coffeeman]

CCrane knows. They changed their ad

Oh, sorry, that's the third one....yeah, I blanked on entities not tied to AB in some way.

[Juan Cena]

Gonna ask if his philosophy is hiding some latent racism? 

The "shaman?" Probably not. Don't want to go to that well too many times in a week.

[Juan Cena]

That type is already among us, in Hollywood.

The Hollywood aliens are all synthetic.

[Dr. MD MD]

animism then

[Taco Bell]

Was always a fan of the band 60 Watt Shaman.

[Taco Bell]

Listen...to what the flower people say...