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#1
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
A couple of articles about the situation at Family Radio HQ in Oakland
as the organization's leaders prepare for the Rapture tomorrow: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/us/20bcjames.html http://www.salon.com/news/politics/w...end/index.html Here's a shorter version of the Salon link: http://salon.com/a/sazYfAA The Salon article has a link to an image of a memo that Harold Camping sent out saying that all employees would have a paid day off today, but the station (KEAR 610KHz here in the Bay Area) is still on the air, so clearly someone is there today. Unless they just set everything to run automatically until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday... BTW, I thought I saw another article that said the headquarters were in Alameda, but both of those articles say Oakland. Whatever. Tempting as it may be (and believe me, I'm biting my typing fingers myself to keep from saying more about this situation!), please restrict follow-ups to the subject of Family Radio network itself, as that's the only on-topic aspect for BABM and RRB. Patty |
#2
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
* Patty Winter wrote, On 5/20/2011 11:19 AM:
The Salon article has a link to an image of a memo that Harold Camping sent out saying that all employees would have a paid day off today, but the station (KEAR 610KHz here in the Bay Area) is still on the air, so clearly someone is there today. Unless they just set everything to run automatically until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday... _Firsthand Account From Family Radio_ My Facebook status last night began: "I forgot to wear my big floppy shoes and honking rubber nose for the circus at work today." The whole day was circus-like, and uncomfortable. It was nearly impossible to get any real work done, and most of the "faithful" present had no intention of working anyway. The number of people entering and leaving our building (not the main headquarters across the parking lot) was greater than at any time since we moved there. Headquarters itself was a virtual ghost town. The crowd mentality was like a class of kindergartners doing a pee-pee dance from excitement- a veritable going away party. Our own TV staff, none of whom are Campingites, refused to accept food or drink from any of the celebrants. We have not forgotten November 1978 and *that* group of committed faithful. (We did, however, bring our own pizza and cupcakes!) About a half hour before Open Forum, Camping came into the studio by a different route than usual, avoiding a gathering crowd. Non-staff were banned from the building with the exception of a couple of L.A. Times reporters who were told that they could take notes and record, but Camping would not answer any questions. He wouldn't have anything new to say anyway. Camping said that he had answered all the questions from reporters that he was going to, and that they were all out to get him anyway- he claimed to be "a man under siege." "This is absolutely going to happen!" he declared to the reporters, revealing the level of stress that he was visibly under. The crowd of listeners and fan(atic)s had gathered in expectation of being able to sit in the Open forum studio as they had been allowed to do for several nights previous. There was great disappointment and anger at being told to exit the building and having the doors locked against them. We stood guard throughout the broadcast to prevent a rush when employees entered and left the building. Eventually someone produced a boom-box on which they monitored the live broadcast going on inside. There was a lot of cooing and hugging among them as they comforted one another over this, the last ever (one can only hope) live Open Forum, and awaited Camping's exit from the building so they could . . . adore(?) him. He left by an alternate exit not staked out by the faithful, and again there was disappointment and anger as they were not allowed to make their final farewells to the Leader. As I left the building half an hour after Open Forum had ended, the crowd had not dissipated at all, and there were several reporters still interviewing people in the parking lot. I had to get into my vehicle, start the engine and release the brake (rolling a couple of inches) before people would move out of the way so I could leave, they were so caught up in their circus. I don't know what will be the state of affairs come Monday morning as far as our jobs with Family Stations, Inc. are concerned. As I've previously posted, my inner predictor swings wildly between total collapse and attempting business as usual. I'm going with the latter until I can't. I'm old enough that I really have no desire to be looking for a job that I'd be unlikely to find anyway, in the current economic climate. I can say that the great, anguished "Noooooo!" you hear on Sunday morning will be Camping's adoring followers waking up to an unchanged world. Hell on earth will have begun indeed for many of them. JT -- |
#3
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
On May 20, 5:30*pm, John T wrote:
* Patty Winter wrote, On 5/20/2011 11:19 AM: The crowd mentality was like a class of kindergartners doing a pee-pee dance from excitement- a veritable going away party. Our own TV staff, none of whom are Campingites, refused to accept food or drink from any of the celebrants. We have not forgotten November 1978 and *that* group of committed faithful. (We did, however, bring our own pizza and cupcakes!) Does John T mean 1994? Or was there an earlier end of the world? About a half hour before Open Forum, Camping came into the studio by a different route than usual, avoiding a gathering crowd. Man, I wanted to hear that. I tuned in KEAR during the day, but all I heard was a health program followed by rather apocalyptic tunes. I don't know what will be the state of affairs come Monday morning as far as our jobs with Family Stations, Inc. are concerned. As I've previously posted, my inner predictor swings wildly between total collapse and attempting business as usual. I'm going with the latter until I can't. I'm old enough that I really have no desire to be looking for a job that I'd be unlikely to find anyway, in the current economic climate. I can say that the great, anguished "Noooooo!" you hear on Sunday morning will be Camping's adoring followers waking up to an unchanged world. Hell on earth will have begun indeed for many of them. John T worked there in 1994, I believe. I would expect a repeat of whatever happened then. As far as jobs, there is no shortage of Jesuscasters -- maybe JT could get picked up by K-Love, or Air One. |
#4
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
In article , John T wrote: _Firsthand Account From Family Radio_ The whole day was circus-like, and uncomfortable. It was nearly impossible to get any real work done, and most of the "faithful" present had no intention of working anyway. The number of people entering and leaving our building (not the main headquarters across the parking lot) was greater than at any time since we moved there. Headquarters itself was a virtual ghost town. How many people work at FR? And about how many of those do you think do or don't expect to come back to work on Monday? Our own TV staff, none of whom are Campingites, TV staff? FR has TV shows, too? I don't see any TV stations listed on their "Stations" page. I don't know what will be the state of affairs come Monday morning as far as our jobs with Family Stations, Inc. are concerned. I think it's safe to say that the facilities will still be there. The question will be whether any of the leaders will want to show their faces again to keep their programming` on the air... So who's feeding the network now? The same staff that's always on duty on weekends? Thank you very much for the first-hand report, John. Patty |
#5
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Netter Desk haste bestimmt mit Samurize gemacht.Ich bin irgendwie zu blöd für das Programm brauche ewig um damit was hinzubekommen
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#6
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
On May 20, 10:28*pm, Patty Winter wrote:
In article , John T wrote: Our own TV staff, none of whom are Campingites, TV staff? FR has TV shows, too? I don't see any TV stations listed on their "Stations" page. KFTL Channel 28 Also has Home Shopping Network, and a KEAR simulcast. |
#7
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
"John T" wrote
_Firsthand Account From Family Radio_ Thank you so much for a compelling eye-witness account. I hope that you don't lose your job over this. While I think Family Radio's programming is quite bogus for the most part, I will say that they do try to do public affairs programming to relate to their audience -- and who does pubaffairs anymore? I've heard them do programs on diabetes, heart disease, keeping families together -- all laudable things that hopefully help people. |
#8
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
"Patty Winter" wrote
I think it's safe to say that the facilities will still be there. The question will be whether any of the leaders will want to show their faces again to keep their programming` on the air... I've never met Harold Camping, though in the past I knew a couple people who did radio production there. From what I remember them saying, I'd surmise that he'll just do business as usual and talk about a miscalculation or perhaps that God decided not to rush to judgment or something. There aren't many ways to save face on something like this, but most people have already dismissed him a a kook, so he doesn't have to appease them anyway. |
#9
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
On Sat, 21 May 2011 01:28:36 EDT, Patty Winter
wrote: TV staff? FR has TV shows, too? I don't see any TV stations listed on their "Stations" page. FR owns some stations, including the now-low power version of KFTL (once on 64/Stockton). |
#10
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Journalists visit Family Radio HQ (while they can)
"Patty Winter" wrote in message ... TV staff? FR has TV shows, too? I don't see any TV stations listed on their "Stations" page. Apparently they have some sort of cable TV operation, according to a news report I saw last night. Mark Howell |
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