On Friday, April 4th, the anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, journalist Earl Caldwell,
historian William Lauren Katz, critic Paul Robeson Jr., and special guest, actor and social
activist Al Lewis, known affectionately to most of us as grandpa of the TV series The
Monsters, and moderator Utrecht Sleed, will meet at the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center,
310 West 43rd Street in Manhattan, near 8th Avenue, to debate whether America still has
a need or an appetite for multiracial cooperation to deal with the country's social evils.
Most of the poor people in our country are working every day.
They are making wages so inadequate that they cannot even begin to function in the mainstream.
Please call 212-330-8277.
This has been a public service announcement for the non-profit organization Worldview.
And you're listening to radio station WBAI in New York.
It's 8 o'clock, time for Off the Hook.
The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
I cut myself while shaving, now I can't make a cost.
It couldn't get much worse, but if it could, it would.
Bum-dilly-bum for the best expect from birth.
I hope that's understood, but didn't it know.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And we'll keep people updated as far as that goes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
That's pretty much all we have here, so let's go to the phones, 212-279-3400.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hi, Emmanuel.
It's you.
How nice.
Okay.
I haven't called in a couple of weeks, but I just wanted to mention, first of all, that
I've noticed that when I've called before, like when I, do you remember when I gave out
my email address?
I seem to recall you giving out your email address.
Well, in other words, when I gave out my email address and stuff on my webpage, I got a lot
of email from things like 9x.com and fbi.gov, and I just wanted to mention first that I
know that those are spoofed emails, so those who are trying to, like, you know, scare me
by doing that, they're not doing a good job because...
What kind of email did you get?
Oh, things like fbi.gov saying we know where you are, you know, little things like that,
and 9x.com and...
You're getting mail from the FBI and you're simply ignoring it?
Of course.
I think that could be a very big mistake, a very grave action on your part, Rebel.
If I respond to it, then where's it going to go?
But anyway...
Well, I don't know if you should be talking back to the FBI.
That might not be a good idea.
And 9x.com and things like that, but I know that that's spoofed email, you know.
See, Rebel, you represent that in youth, which is rather carefree, that likes to spit in
the face of authority, as it were, and I don't know if that's necessarily the wisest course
of action on your part.
I think, I think, maybe you should take this opportunity to repent on the air, in front
of everybody, and perhaps save yourself.
Okay, but before I do, I just wanted to mention...
Don't postpone this for too long.
Okay, but before I do, I just wanted to...
It's later than you think.
I just wanted to mention that when I called, like, I was in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I noticed
that they have Cincinnati Bell there, and they're also AT&T.
In other words, when I dial zero through the local Cincinnati Bell operator, I have to
make a long distance hold.
They're also AT&T.
Who's also AT&T?
The Cincinnati Bell.
The Cincinnati Bell is also AT&T.
Right.
What are you trying to say?
The local operator is also the long distance operator.
Are you saying that AT&T is run out of Cincinnati?
No, it's not run out of Cincinnati.
It's just...
They, um...
I think it's also in the Midwest, too, in, like, Illinois, where the local operator is
also the long distance operator.
The local operator is also...
Well, do they answer the phone, Cincinnati Bell, or AT&T?
No, they answer the phone, Cincinnati Bell.
But when I ask to make a long distance call, and I ask to have AT&T, they give me AT&T.
They say that they're also AT&T.
I'm not quite sure what it is you're saying.
They don't transfer you to AT&T.
They're also AT&T.
They also can make long distance calls.
I think you should repent now.
All right.
But I just want to also mention, I tried to call you before using my calling card with
AT&T from New Jersey.
Guess what?
When I dial the number, and it doesn't answer, and then AT&T comes on, like, after maybe
five rings and says, your party's not answering, would you like to leave a message?
I push the pound button to try again, and they'll say, please enter the number you want
to call.
And then I call the number, you know, to try and get on the air.
But they charge you for that, believe it or not, even if it doesn't answer.
Why is that?
Do they charge everyone?
I don't know.
Or just you.
It's time to repent, Rebel.
It's what we're here for.
In fact, I don't know if you know this, but I guess now is as good a time as any to tell
people that the focus of the entire station is moving a slight bit, and it shouldn't affect
us too much, but we are being told to be just a little bit, just a tad bit more religious
in all our programming.
And I'm afraid that means that we're going to have to sort of try and be spiritual in
these issues of ISDN, hackers, computers, telephones, things like that.
So, you know, I think this is a good opportunity for us to move in that direction by showing
you the light.
So do you see the light?
I'm shining right on you now.
Do you see it?
Okay.
All right.
Now, what do you have to say to the light?
Speak to the light.
I also saw a TDD phone in Cincinnati where you can make...
You're a tough one to crack, aren't you?
Yeah, tough one to hack, too.
Yeah, okay.
That kind of wittiness will get you many places you probably don't want to get to.
Well, now look, you have the FBI on your tail.
You've got the White House pestering you.
You've got all kinds of people trying to hunt you down like a wild dog.
And yet, all you have to do is give us sarcasm and backtalk.
I don't know.
You know, I mean, I'm a patient person.
I'm more patient than most.
But I'm here to tell you that this will not last forever, that you will regret.
You will have your day of reckoning.
What do you have to say about that?
Well, what I have to say about it is that instead of people, like, doing that,
why don't they do something more positive, like saying,
Oh, you know so much.
Maybe we want to hire you.
Or maybe I can, like, make money off of it by, you know,
doing some sort of consulting work or, you know.
The pursuit of the almighty buck.
Is that it?
Well, it's not that.
Well, you know.
You know what they say about money.
I don't have to tell you what they say about money.
It clouds your judgment.
It makes you not think rationally.
That's true.
Look to the light, not the green of the dollar bill.
Or whatever country you may happen to be in.
All right.
I can tell you're thinking hard about this,
and I do like the fact that we are reaching you and hopefully changing you.
All right.
That silence indicates that something's going on.
All right.
Now, can I...
Repent?
Yes, you can repent now.
Go ahead.
Well, I already did.
I told you that, you know.
Uh-huh.
What was it like?
If people connect to your webpage, what will they see?
They'll see...
I haven't been working on it because I've been sort of busy, but they'll see the same thing.
I mean, you know, you can...
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
They can't see the same thing.
They have to see the light.
They have to see something new from you.
A higher source.
Yes, a higher source.
Thank you.
Come on.
Well, I don't know how...
I mean, I've got to work on this and, you know.
Yes.
Yeah, and there will be many people out there that will be glad to help you.
And I call upon everyone out there.
I call upon the brethren that are listening to help Rebel find his direction.
Give him advice.
Right, and if anyone wants to...
Stand by his side.
Send me advice.
Day and night if necessary.
They can email me at rebel at escape.
Into the next millennium.
They can email me at rebel at escape.com.
That's E-S-C-A-T-E dot com.
Or they can look at my website page at www.
Oh, we have looked at your webpage.
We've seen it.
And we know where the battle must be fought.
So I hope you take these words as they are meant.
Yeah.
Well, there's also a TDD in Ohio and Kentucky.
And, you know, you can make free phone calls there.
Oh, no, no.
He doesn't get it, does he?
He just doesn't get it.
I'm going to pray for you tonight.
All right?
As I've been praying for you ever since we were told to do that.
All right?
And, well, we'll light things for you, too, I guess.
Oh, by the way, for the second caller, the one...
The bottle of rockets outside?
Yeah.
Okay, good.
What?
What were you saying?
Nothing, nothing.
I was going to side.
I had the microphone turned off.
The person who is usually first, who has the bipolar disorder, he wanted to know about the free phone number that makes you free phone calls.
It's not a phone number, it's the phones inside the...
Well, I'm not going to even get into it, because...
No, because there's no profit in it.
There's nothing for you going down that road.
You need to make a U-turn.
Yeah.
It's a one-way road into a dead end.
And while, yes, I'm telling you to make a U-turn on a one-way street, and I know that's technically not the right thing to do,
you'd have to do that or cut across, you know, the grass to get to the other road.
But whichever, just do it your way and get there somehow.
Right.
Because it's a one-way dead end thing.
There.
Got it?
Right.
Okay, good.
All right.
Well, we'll see Rebel at the 2600 meeting this Friday, and he will be a new man.
Right.
I thought I hung up on him.
How did he get back?
Well, I hit the button, and he's still there.
I'm still here.
I hope I'm still there.
I think I'm dealing with a force more powerful than what I'm used to.
All right.
So I guess we'll see you at the 2600 meeting on Friday.
Right.
And we'll help you more there.
Right.
Yes.
Thank you for calling.
Okay.
God bless.
Bye.
Now that you've utterly confused him.
I think I've touched him.
Yeah.
I think I've touched him in ways he may not have wanted to be touched, but he's touched.
There's an empty seat on that UFO.
Yes.
I missed a damn UFO.
What I want to know is these people, right?
They had to hitch a ride onto this UFO.
Now, does that mean that everybody who died at that particular moment in time also hitched
a ride on that UFO?
If you want to hitch the ride on the UFO, was that it?
There was only one departure time, even though it's way out by God knows where?
Well, they actually did it in two shifts.
It wasn't just one.
They did it in three shifts.
Three?
Actually, there were the two people left over at the end.
Two people left over.
They were like the supervisory death squad.
Yeah.
And they did the plastic bag method.
Yeah.
I don't understand that.
And they threw all the plastic bags in the trash can.
You know what I mean?
Why even take them off?
You know?
It doesn't really matter when you're gone if you have a plastic bag over your head.
You know?
It's not like they were trying to hide them or anything like that.
But anyway, no.
I was just kind of curious.
You know?
I just wish they were around because I would like to ask, you know, a few more questions
for, you know, other people that might want to catch a ride on the comet thing.
You know?
Do they just have to sort of, you know, fill out forms and say they want to be on this
spaceship by the comet and they can die wherever they want and whenever they want?
Do they have to be in a particular place and time?
And, you know, I mean, these people are definitely for real.
I'm not doubting what they're saying in any sense whatsoever.
It completely conforms to all modern Christianity and religious.
No.
No.
You laugh.
But it is true.
I mean, they could have left on the comet last year.
Remember, there was a comet last year.
It was pretty spectacular.
It was up there in the sky.
There's a meteor show.
They could have got a whole group of people.
There's plenty of opportunity.
But they waited for this one.
And the reason they waited for this one was because, yes, in fact, as the Internet has
proven, there is a spaceship next to this comet.
I mean, it's not like it's something that only a few crazy people believe.
Now, was this a scout ship or was this a mother ship?
I don't think it's a mother ship.
I don't think it's a scout ship either.
I think it's just, I guess, a medium type ship.
It's a standalone transport vessel.
I guess, yeah, you could call it that.
Although they don't transport in the traditional sense as we know it.
Right.
But, you know, we're not talking about four-legged or two-legged creatures or anything like that.
I mean, we could get into that, but that's really not the focus of the show.
So if you're interested, write to us, and we'll be happy to send you literature, among other things.
So, yeah, now, that was kind of an interesting thing that happened last week.
By the way, that's the voice of Fiber Optic that you hear over there, who has been reading over the Sprint PCS phone.
Yeah, Sprint Spectrum.
Yes, but last week, it was Wednesday, the day after last week's show, that we first found out about this.
And we spent the night tracking down some interesting things.
I was pinging their machine.
I was connected at one point.
That was before it got into the media, and everybody was trying to connect to the damn thing.
But I imagine people have seen their website.
If not, it's being mirrored on the Baltimore Sun.
You just have to find that website someplace.
It was interesting statements that they were making about time to leave and moving on to the higher source and things like that.
I'd like to know if other people out there had experiences with that.
And if they have any questions, they want to be guided in any particular way, we'll be happy to do that as well.
So tell us about this Sprint stuff.
Is that any good?
Sprint Spectrum.
Well, as people may or may not know, they still don't have coverage in the New York City area.
Are you sure about that?
Positive, yeah.
If you go to their website, they list all the places that they claim that they will have future coverage.
And New York City is one of those places where they'll have future coverage.
They didn't specifically announce when.
In fact, when I was perusing their website last night, I couldn't even find their rate structure.
The only thing that they seemed to be bragging about was that they had some flat off-peak fee of like 30 cents a minute or something.
But you see their rate structure there, do you?
Yeah, I see their rate structure in this pamphlet.
The only problem is that this is probably going to be subject to change depending on where it is.
Because this rate structure is pertaining to the local service area of metropolitan D.C., Baltimore, and parts of Delaware.
Do cellular companies charge different prices depending on where you are?
I thought it was more or less the same.
Well, they could really do whatever they want.
Sprint is a really big company.
I mean, certainly, I don't see why they would unilaterally say these are our rates.
I mean, if you go to another state within 9X, they charge a different per minute rate.
I don't see any reason why a mobile phone company couldn't do the same thing.
Oh, don't give them ideas, because those rates are pretty good.
These rates are decent, but if you look, the coverage area is so minutely small.
It's only covering downtown D.C. and Baltimore and Annapolis.
Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Downtown D.C. and Baltimore are two different cities.
That would be like us, New York, and Boston.
Yeah, but they're not really that far from each other.
No, it's true, they're not, but distance doesn't really matter.
I mean, you know, you still pay long distance to call New Jersey, and that's just a stone's throw away.
Yeah, well, this is true.
Well, I don't pay long distance to call Jersey.
No.
With Omnipoint.
If you use your PCS phone.
Yeah.
Now, the thing you'll notice on this map is that it seems that all the major coverage areas are along the highway.
Well, that's because that's where the transmitters are.
Right.
Right, so if you don't live near a highway, then you're kind of out of luck.
If you happen to catch the article in the New York Times last week, this was on March 26th, they have an article about, and this is what we were asking about a long time ago, where the antennas are.
They have pictures of where are they hiding the antennas.
Yeah.
And they're hiding them into buildings.
They actually, at some instances, they paint bricks over them to make it look like they're not there.
Right.
They're every place.
We're going to go out after the show and try to find some places.
Oh, and by the way, speaking of going outside, I should point out to people, tonight's a great night to see the comet.
It's okay if you step out of the house for a few minutes, because we promise we're not going to talk about anything interesting in, like, the next five minutes or so.
So, just run outside, look in the northwest sky, and you'll see it.
You know, you don't have to be like Superman or anything to see this thing.
You'll see it.
You won't see the accompanying spacecraft on it, and the reason for that, you know, you could laugh, you could giggle, you could say there's no spaceship.
Well, it's hiding behind you.
No, it's not really hiding.
It's a little bit, well, you have to look through a telescope, really, to see it.
I mean, it's, you know, you're seeing the light from the comet, which, you know, is obviously the light from the sun, and it's, the comet itself is only about 20 miles across.
You're not seeing something 20 miles, you're seeing the light that surrounds it because of, you know, all the, all the ingredients of the comet that are melting in the sunlight and things like that.
So, you can't see the ship, all right?
You just can't.
Not that way, anyway.
You can see it on the web.
You can see it in the web, but you can't see it in the sky.
But there's ways to see it, but we'll get into that later.
All right, let me see that pamphlet for a second.
Sure.
Because I want to see if there's a phone number on this thing that we can, oh, there is a phone number.
Let's, let's give them a call.
And we'll find out when they're going to come to New York.
And if I, if I sound sarcastic, I'm not being sarcastic.
Because I don't believe in that.
It's not part of the...
Thank you for calling Sprint Spectrum.
Yeah.
If you are a Sprint Spectrum customer, please press one.
Otherwise, press two, or wait for the next available customer care representative.
Well, in, um, in appreciation of those people with no touch-tone phones, I think we'll just wait.
Please hold while we connect your call.
I guess it takes several people to do that.
Here we go.
Thank you for calling Sprint Spectrum.
Your call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes.
I thought he was real for a second.
Thank you for calling Sprint Spectrum.
The all-in-one personal phone, answering machine, and pager.
This is Suresh, and I can help you.
Yes, hi.
I'd just like to know, when is Sprint Spectrum coming to New York City?
Sprint Spectrum won't be coming to New York City, sir.
For that, you've got Sprint PCS.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Sprint PCS, what's the difference between the two?
Well, they operate on a different system.
It is CDMA.
We operate on GSM.
Ah, I see.
Okay, and do you know when that will be?
Oh, they are already up and running there.
You might want to talk to them.
It's 1-800-480-4727.
Yeah, all that Sprint Spectrum offers you in New York City will be roaming.
Okay.
Because it is not our jurisdiction.
I understand.
Okay, and you say they're already here.
Sprint PCS is there, but to the best of my knowledge,
they are more in the northern part rather than New York City, that part.
Okay.
They are up north, right?
Okay.
Now, just for your additional information,
there is the equivalent of Sprint Spectrum up in New York City.
They're not Sprint Spectrum.
They're known as Omnipoint.
Ah.
Okay.
That is GSM.
Okay.
I must suppose early that I'm promoting our competitor.
All right.
Well, thanks for being honest.
Thanks a lot.
All right.
Bye-bye.
Take care.
I like that guy.
That guy knew what he was talking about.
I mean, he said CDMA and PCS and GSM and all that stuff.
That's really something.
I've got to put him on the day shift.
He doesn't get in trouble for being honest with us,
but that's the kind of person that I wish answered the phone more often
because he was very upfront.
But let's call that other number and see if we...
Is it 4727 or 2747?
4PCS.
Oh.
Thanks for translating that.
Did you know that already or did you just figure it out?
No.
In my head.
You spell out all your phone numbers in your head.
No.
Well, it's obvious.
PCS is 727.
Welcome to Sprint PCS.
My name is Kenyatta.
How may I help you?
Hello.
I'd just like to know, are you in New York City?
Is PCS in New York City yet?
No, sir.
Do you know when it will be?
It is due to be there very soon, but we don't have an exact date at this time.
Okay.
By very soon, do you mean sometime in the year or like in the next month or...?
Definitely within this year.
Uh-huh.
Possibly within the next couple months.
Okay.
Great.
And do you happen to know what the rates...
Will the rates be the same as they are in other parts of the country?
It's not known until we actually begin servicing the area what the rates will be.
I see.
So the rates can change from place to place.
Yes.
I see.
Okay.
Thanks for your help.
You're welcome, and thank you for calling Sprint PCS.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
All right.
So that's the story there.
There is no Sprint PCS.
Yeah.
In fact, on the website, it said that Sprint PCS is available in places like Albany, New
York.
Why?
Why?
I mean, it's useless up there.
Yeah.
Oh, boy.
They're going to hear the show later.
But, no, I mean, it's not that the people are useless.
It's just, you know, come on.
What do they have up there?
They don't have anything except, you know, a bunch of cows and fields and things like that.
We're people that have business needs.
We need to be able to use these phones as we're walking up and down the streets.
Well, I'm not sure what the problem is.
Sprint has been saying that they were supposed to start offering PCS in New York City since
January.
Yes.
Yes.
I've been hearing that for a long time.
I mean, all I have to do is take out my Omnipoint phone and hit Select Net under the network
menu, and if I see Sprint come up on the list one day, then I'll know they're here.
Right.
Who's on the list now?
They've been doing that periodically, just Omnipoint.
Uh-huh.
They're the only one that's found.
Are they required to have a list of networks on their phones?
No.
What they did was they took some of the most popular companies that they planned on having
roaming agreements with, and they programmed those into all their phones.
Uh-huh.
Otherwise, what you do is, I believe it's a five- or a six-digit number that identifies
each mobile carrier on GSM.
I see.
Like a carrier access code.
Okay.
Interesting.
Well, we are getting closer to the point where there's a second phone company in New York
that can provide this kind of access.
Well, speaking of CDMA.
Yes.
The document.
Oh, this document.
Yes, the document.
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, I guess I just didn't look at it before the show.
Okay.
Well, basically, what it is, is not specifically to do with CDMA, but with TDMA, the system that's
used by the digital advanced mobile phone system, D-amps, which is basically all those
people running around with cellular phones claiming to be digital are using this particular
technology.
And this is what John Markoff wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
Actually, last week he wrote about this.
Right.
Yeah.
Unfortunately, I had a fever last week, so I wasn't here to actually discuss it with you.
Well, I think he might have had a fever, too, when he wrote this, because he basically said
that PCS, did he actually say PCS somewhere?
I'm pretty sure he did.
Yeah, I remember him saying that.
Uh-huh.
And it wasn't PCS that was cracked.
No.
No, not at all.
It had nothing to do with GSM whatsoever.
In fact, what happened was a well-known cryptographer by the name of Bruce Schneier, who wrote the very
popular book, Applied Cryptography, in cooperation with a colleague of his and another gentleman
from UC Berkeley, using information that they had read in an unpublished paper concerning
the encryption algorithm used in digital cellular, the digital cellular system, they were able
to come up with a scheme that shows that the encryption is extremely poor.
Now, this isn't the encryption that's used to guard the privacy of your communication,
the privacy of what you're saying.
This is the encryption that's used to guard the control information, which is sent on
a separate channel to negotiate things like your phone's electronic serial number and mobile
identification number.
And obviously, with those two pieces of information, you can clone a phone.
Apparently, the encryption being used to protect that information during call setup was, this
encryption was extremely weak, and they showed that it could be broken in as little as
10 minutes on a decent workstation, which shows that it's completely ineffective.
What people don't know is that the so-called encryption that's used to scramble your voice
on digital cellular is a simple exclusive or, which is a logical function for people unfamiliar.
And exclusive or is simply a flipping of bits.
Once your voice gets digitized, they just flip the bits according to a constant key.
And this is extremely, extremely bogus as far as encryption goes, especially compared
with the encryption that's used in GSM, which is much stronger, not completely...
I'm going to read you two paragraphs here.
Okay.
And you tell me if they're full of something that we can't say.
Okay.
Or if they're maybe misinterpreted somehow.
But this comes from the John Markoff article of last Thursday, two Thursdays ago, actually,
March 20th.
Actually, I guess that would be...
Yeah, it would be two Thursdays.
This is April now.
So Thursday, March 20th.
Currently, about 45 million Americans have cellular phones, though most of them so far are
based on an older analog standard that offers no communications privacy.
But cellular companies are gradually converting their networks to the new digital standard
and the new personal communication services networks going into operation around the country
also imply, employ rather, the digital encryption system.
Nearly a million PCS phones have been sold in the United States, according to cellular industry
figures.
Besides Mr. Wagner, the other researchers who cracked the code were Bruce Schneier and John
Kelsey of Counterpane Systems, a Minneapolis consulting firm.
Mr. Schneier is the author of a standard textbook on cryptography.
The new digital wireless security system, which was designed by cellular telephone industry
engineers, was never intended to stop the most determined wiretappers.
Well?
Well, a lot of the details in there are correct for the most part.
The misleading part is where he goes on to mention PCS, which I don't know if we can
necessarily hold him responsible for that, since the notion of what PCS really is, is being
clouded by people like AT&T.
Right.
Who are claiming that their digital cellular system is PCS, when they're simply offering
PCS-like features, but their system is not GSM at all, which is what we really associate
PCS with.
I'm handing you an advertisement right now that appeared in newspapers last week.
Right.
That's another kind of phone service that's being offered by Bell Atlantic 9X.
What's this all about?
Now, CDMA.
Okay.
Yeah, that's what that guy mentioned on the phone.
Right.
CDMA.
Bell Atlantic 9X Mobile is offering the same type of network service as Sprint Spectrum is
in the South.
Mm-hmm.
And what CDMA is, is it's basically a newer protocol than TDMA.
Right.
TDMA essentially is sampling your speech and encoding the analog to digital and storing
them as a sequence of samples.
Okay.
And it's actually sharing the bandwidth by what's known as multiplexing.
Now, with CDMA, what they're doing is they're actually making better use of that same bandwidth
because they're actually, each channel is assigned a code.
Mm-hmm.
So there's actually an encoding scheme for channels, whereas in TDMA, you just have a series of
time slots.
And where a particular sample of your voice goes after it's digitized has a fixed place
in a particular time slot in a packet of data.
With CDMA, you can have many packets of data that are encoded, say, for example, in the header
of that packet of data with a number that identifies the data.
So you can actually stuff different types of conversations on the same...
Okay.
That's fascinating.
But what does it mean to the end user?
Okay, to the average person, what it means basically is two things, and only two things,
only one of which is going to be noticeable to the end user.
The only noticeable thing is that it's going to sound a lot clearer than TDMA.
Mm-hmm.
That's first of all.
Because the sample rate of CDMA, that is how many times it samples your voice per second
and how many bits it uses for each of those samples, the resolution is much higher.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it's about five bits higher on average.
Okay.
So it sounds better.
Yeah, it'll sound better.
Well, of course, this is still subject to your coverage, but where you do have coverage,
it can sound clearer.
Okay.
The other thing that the end user will not notice is if you compare CDMA to straight TDMA
that's used on the old-fashioned digital cellular, the D-Amp system, is that CDMA uses an encryption
scheme that's a little more involved than simply toggling some bits, as is done on the D-Amp system.
When you say old-fashioned digital cellular, are you...
It's old-fashioned by today's standards.
Does that include AT&T's...
Yeah, it does.
AT&T's quote-unquote PCS.
Yeah, even though AT&T is only just starting to offer that now, lots of other companies
like Cellular One, which was bought over by AT&T, they've been offering digital cellular
for some time now.
The only thing that AT&T is offering that's new are PCS-like features over their currently
existing digital cellular system.
There is no new system.
Ultimately, AT&T will be also offering CDMA.
So now, this CDMA, now, how does that compare to the services you have on your Army?
This doesn't compare to...
Now, this is funny, because Bell Atlantic 9X Mobile announced CDMA the day that Markoff
came out with that article, and we should add that another gentleman by the name of John
Schwartz in the Washington Post, March 24th.
March 24th.
And yours, I think, was the 20th.
That was the 20th, yeah.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Okay.
John Schwartz in the Washington Post also reported this story, the same day Markoff did,
and incidentally, John Schwartz got it right.
Uh-huh.
And because of the Times article, however, the president of Omnipoint was flooded with
phone calls from the media.
Yes.
Wondering why he's been claiming that his encryption was so strong and now it's been broken.
And he had to set the record straight, basically, and tell them that, you know, it was reported
incorrectly, and these developments have nothing to do with GSM at all.
Uh-huh.
Now, Bell Atlantic 9X Mobile, what was funny about it is that the day that this made the
media, they announced that they were coming out with their new CDMA system.
What they said wasn't that we challenge you to try to break the encryption on our CDMA system.
They said, we challenge you to find a clearer mobile phone.
Uh-huh.
So they're going on the sound of the actual phone call.
Yeah, that's it.
They're going by the sound.
They're inviting people to take the sound quality challenge.
Well, in that case, this radio station wins because our voices probably sound better over
the radio right now.
That's probably true.
Than their phones.
Yeah.
So I guess that makes us a better phone company by their logic.
Okay, so basically, that's what they're telling people, is that the sound is the first
thing.
Right.
But in actuality?
In actuality, I really don't think most people are going to notice that much of a difference.
I mean, in actuality, as far as the safety of using a phone like this.
As far as the safety of using it, it's really only marginally more secure than TDMA.
TDMA is, you know, they just added this extra layer of bit toggling to the actual data stream
that carries your voice.
And, you know, other than that, it's like having nothing.
Okay.
CDMA, at least, is a little bit more of an effort, but it still doesn't compare to the
algorithms used by GSM.
And, you know, I don't want, I'm not pushing GSM to say that it's like the be-all, end-all
strongest encryption there ever was.
I'm saying that out of all the mobile systems, it's the strongest.
So, okay, CDMA, it's better than the digital cellular that AT&T is using, but it's not as
good as GSM.
Right.
Which they've been using for years in Europe.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah.
I don't understand.
Why does it take so long for technology to take root here?
They've had GSM for years over there.
I don't know.
And we're just, we're debating it now, whether it's better, when obviously they've already
done this.
They know it's better.
The good thing with Omnipoint that people should bear in mind is that Omnipoint will
support CDMA.
So they will be intercompatible.
Because I forget what the name of the standard is, but the standard that they're conforming
to is to support GSM as well as CDMA, to stay in touch with the competition.
Now, just so people aren't confused, GSM uses TDMA within its own protocol.
I'm confused.
Okay.
I'm sure everybody else is too.
All right.
No, but just to clarify, basically what we're getting are the benefits and the clarity
of GSM, which you've used GSM initially to encode some of the radio shows.
But nobody else could find the program to decode it, so we stopped doing that.
It's not particularly popular in the States, but GSM, the voice protocol, can actually encode
voice using a minimum of bandwidth while preserving the resolution of the voice.
So we get the benefits of the clarity of the GSM protocol for the actual voice compression
and so on.
And what it's using for the sampling is TDMA.
When we say TDMA, the TDMA that's being used by the D-AMPS system, it would be like saying
that TDMA used by D-AMPS is using a different encryption system than the encryption system
being used in GSM that's using TDMA.
They're both using TDMA, but TDMA is sort of like the lower level.
It's what they're doing with that information that makes the difference.
Okay.
And for those of you who don't want to get a portable phone, well, I guess this last 20
minutes has been a big waste of time for you, but more people are getting them, I think,
now than ever before.
So it's going to continue to get very interesting.
DVDs, they've released some titles.
They have titles now in stores, and it's moving forward.
Actually, Panasonic had a big commercial during the Oscars.
Oh, they've had commercials now for a while.
That's the first time I saw one.
Yeah, they just kind of like throw it in your face.
Yeah.
They're, uh, actually, wait, was that, no, I saw a Toshiba.
I didn't see a Panasonic.
Yeah, I saw a Panasonic one.
And, uh, did it convince you to go out and get one?
Um, no.
Oh, but.
Well, they'll just keep trying.
Yeah.
They'll just keep trying.
212-279-3400 is our phone number.
We're going to take, uh, some more calls.
Um, let's do that now, in fact.
212-279-3400.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hello.
How you doing?
Hi.
How are you guys doing?
We're okay.
Oh, very, very good.
Yes.
You know, I hate to be one of those people that calls into your show in the midst of your
great technological anti-authority, you know, rhetoric.
No, no, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We're not anti-authority.
The new way of this station is not to be at all anti-authority.
We are completely, we're on the side of the religious right, and we are, we're going
into the new, uh, what is it, millennium, uh, you know, on, with God on our side.
Right.
Which, and we, we've learned the difference.
The new millennium, despite what scientists say, does not start 2001.
We agree all that, that it starts, uh, the year 2000.
No, it starts in 2004.
2004?
Really?
We had that discussion before, yeah.
Oh.
No.
Okay, you need to be a little bit refreshed there as far as the logic behind all this.
I need to get updated.
Yeah, it's not 2000 or 2001, it's 2004, but we'll get into the reasons for that later.
I'm sorry, uh, yes, caller.
Well, I'm, I'm very curious about the reasons, because, you know, I mean, the year 2000 turning,
what's the big deal there?
It's been around forever.
I mean, we just invented these years, so.
I don't see why everyone's so damn excited about the year 2000 coming.
Yeah, well, I mean, it's just, it's just a number after all.
Yeah, but, you know, back to my petty little problem that I have.
I have to, you know, come to the experts that got through.
Oh, sorry to waste more time.
I just bought a little computer, finally, after years.
I bought a Macintosh, I bought a, uh, Performa, 630.
Came with six, with eight megabytes of RAM, and I don't even remember the processor speed.
But basically, I'm trying to get this thing online, and I have a 1200 baud modem that this
thing came with.
Am I just going way too slow to even consider anything?
Should I just dump my modem and just jump ahead, or can I, like, make a attempt to go online
and be part of the real world now?
Did you, did you buy this at a garage sale?
I bought it out of a magazine.
It was only 550 bucks, though, so.
Wait, you got seriously ripped off.
Wait, wait, no, no, no, you did, you did, you did.
We've got to sell the other stuff, remember?
Oh, right, yeah.
The stuff that we have in the back.
Yeah, the other stuff.
So, now, do you have any money left over?
Yeah.
Let me give you the number for our prayer line.
Am I duped?
I mean, is there anything I can do here?
Should I go out and invest in, like, a 32 or 16 megs of RAM and a new modem?
Well, I thought you was going to go out and invest in a gun and find the guy.
The first thing you might want to do is call the Better Business Bureau.
Wow.
Well, you know, put it this way.
You've spread joy to somebody.
You've got to look at it that way, you know?
I mean, I haven't really had very much success, as you might imagine.
I mean, am I just on a total dinosaur?
Should I just abandon ship?
Does CompuServe still charge extra if you connect to 1200 bar?
They might do that.
They used to when I was a kid.
Yeah, so they may very well still consider that a premium service.
Yeah.
So, you might have a shot there, but as far as connecting to anything else, I mean, it'll still work.
You can connect to Telenet at 1200, right?
I mean, but can I run a copy of Netscape and, you know, get a server?
Well, if you do, you'll be definitely attracting some interest from people.
If you do, you won't get outside much.
No, this is what, I mean, by running something at 1200 or even 300, you show the world just how far the rest of us have gotten.
And we need to know that.
We need to have that reinforced.
We need to be able to see how far we've advanced.
And for that, we need people like you.
I looked into the lid of the thing, and it's only a couple years old, so I figured, what the hell?
I mean, how much could happen in two years?
Things have changed.
Things have changed a lot.
So, I'm done for.
Well, just think.
When I was in junior high school, 1200 bits per second, that was exotic.
It was.
It definitely was.
That was just unbelievable.
300 used to be the high speed.
I mean, 110 was the normal speed, and 300 was the high speed connection.
Yeah.
I mean, my last computer was a Commodore 64, so I figured, what the hell?
I'm definitely in there now.
Do you have an Atari?
I do have an Atari.
Texas Instruments.
You got one of those?
No, my Sinclair just broke down the other week.
Oh, I was going to say that, but.
Hey, we got somebody here who has the goods on Timex Sinclair.
Oh, really?
What is that good for?
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Countless things.
See, a fool speaks up quickly, you know.
You can carry a Timex Sinclair around in your hands.
Hey, let me let the other important people get on the line.
I'll sit back and listen.
You know, keep up the good work, and I'm really enjoying the show.
Okay.
Take care, guys.
You could donate to the Smithsonian, maybe.
That's right.
You could donate to all kinds of things.
Yada, yada, yada.
Good night.
All right.
Take care.
That's interesting.
I think he just made a whole lot of people feel better about what they've bought over the
last year.
You know, he could have been a time traveler.
That's possible.
That is entirely possible.
Yeah.
Maybe we should have asked him what year we thought it was.
We should have asked him what year it was, yeah.
Whew, that's something.
Yeah.
1,200 baud.
Wow.
No, I remember.
It wasn't so long ago that those were the speeds.
Yeah.
You know?
It was not that long ago at all.
Whew.
What are the speeds today?
Depending on whether or not you think 10 years was not long ago.
10 years is not long ago for this kind of advance.
Yeah, I guess.
When you bought computers that long ago, the people selling them to you did not say,
you know, you're going to be back in two years because it's going to be completely obsolete.
They didn't say that to you.
No, they had no idea.
They made it seem like the computer was going to last for the rest of your life anyway.
Yeah, but then again, back then, we bought our computers from people that sold us our
television sets.
That's true.
They didn't know nothing about them anyway.
That's certainly true.
You know about this latest internet scandal about the teacher in, I think, Brooklyn?
31-year-old kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn arrested on child pornography and sexual assault
charges after going to a New Jersey motel on Friday morning for what he thought
would be a sexual rendezvous with an 11-year-old.
Oh, yeah.
Instead, the teacher, and, you know, we don't read names on this program.
We don't read people's names and give their addresses like they do on TV because it's
just, that's just the way we are.
It's different, you know.
And they're accused.
They're not, well, it's interesting.
I mean, I'll get more into detail on this one.
The teacher encountered an undercover detective instead from the New Jersey State Police and
was arrested after a five-week investigation into use of the internet to peddle child pornography
and arrange sexual liaisons with youths.
Now, this is the interesting part of this story, and we've talked about this before.
There was no 11-year-old.
There were just some state troopers.
In fact, there were state troopers the whole time.
I was about to ask, where did they find an 11-year-old detective?
Yeah, well, you know, I'm sure they probably wouldn't have to look too hard to get one
of those, but the thing is, they arranged this whole thing.
They set this whole thing up, and they got the guy to come to New Jersey to meet what
he thought was an 11-year-old, and, you know, while they seem to have some evidence here
to prove that he was interested in that kind of thing, I mean, he had some things in a
duffel bag, like a dog leash.
Really?
Some bondage things, I think.
That's how they describe it anyway.
Okay, but there was no 11-year-old there.
I mean, can you prosecute other crimes in the same way, where you basically say, okay,
you know, here's a crime that we're going to commit together, except there is no crime,
there is no...
What are you pointing at here?
It's the same story.
It's the same story.
What am I reading?
The Star Ledger.
Okay.
Okay, but I'm not going to read the guy's name.
Okay, he said a hacker, an informant...
That's his lawyer.
A hacker, a lawyer is saying a hacker informant must have interfaced with Cohen...
You tricked me into saying the name!
I can't believe you did that.
...with the guy's computer, downloaded the material, and transmitted it to Arizona.
Okay.
So, he basically had...
They're blaming hackers.
They're blaming hackers.
Everybody has to blame a hacker for something.
Oh, yeah.
And multiple personalities.
Okay, so...
Wait, I saw that movie.
This is a 14-year-old named Jason, is the...
These are probably all fake names.
A 14-year-old named Jason was the hacker informant.
No, Jason is the multiple personality.
One of the teacher's multiple personalities.
Oh, is that what it is?
Yeah.
Oh, so...
All right, so this fictitious 11-year-old thought that this was a 14-year-old that he was meeting.
Right.
Okay.
So, they were both playing the same game, because there was no 11-year-old, and there was no 14-year-old.
So, okay.
So, the state troopers were shocked to find the grown man.
What were they going to do?
The grown man was shocked to find state troopers.
They should have all gone out for a drink and laughed about it, but I guess that's not how it works.
So, okay.
So, they thought they were about to arrest a 14-year-old for coming to a New Jersey motel.
I mean, was that what they were going to do?
That was what they were planning?
They thought it was a 14-year-old?
They knew that the guy was...
How did they know the guy wasn't 14?
Yeah.
No, the guy...
Speak into the microphone, because no one else can hear you.
Yeah, we can't.
The guy threw his lawyer...
Uh-huh.
Um, the, the excuses that they've come up with so far is that this, this, uh, schoolteacher
from, what, Brooklyn?
Uh-huh.
Uh, first of all, had multiple personalities.
One of those personalities is that of a 14-year-old boy.
Okay.
So, how do they know that wasn't the personality that showed up in New Jersey?
Well, we don't know that the guy really has multiple personality disorder.
Second of all, they're, they're claiming that the guy was on the internet trying to track
down somebody who abused him at summer camp while he was a kid.
And, uh, third of all, he's claiming that one of us hacked into his computer and transmitted
this child pornography, which he admits in this room?
No, a hacker.
Well, okay, okay.
Now, the second one...
That they found the pornography in his house anyway.
The second one.
The second one is something that I've always, and I've always, you know, sort of wondered
someone's going to pull someday, they're going to say that they were doing the same thing
that they got arrested for, that the person arresting them was saying they were doing.
They were going to meet this person to sting them, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
They thought that this person wanted to molest a child, so they were going to prove that
this person was a criminal and arrest them or kill them or something like that.
So, if that's the defense, it's going to make it kind of difficult to, uh, to charge
the person with that, since there is no real person and there is no real abuse.
I know, they arrest a lot of clergy for touching young boys, stuff like that.
Yeah, but those are real people.
They don't, they don't, they don't arrest them for, for, you know, touching people who
aren't there.
But they're, they're, you know, allegedly in, in the position of, uh, of policing that
sort of stuff.
Uh-huh.
Well, I'm just saying, if, if I, if I say to you after the show, you know, hey, mystery
guest, you want to come into the other room and smoke some pot, right?
And you come into the other room, and I have a cop there arrest you for smoking pot, you
know?
It's the same basic thing.
There is no pot.
You didn't smoke anything.
So, is there a crime?
You know?
I just, you know, I'm not saying that this isn't a, you know, if this kind of thing
happens, it's not a crime.
But I'm saying to create people and say that they were, phantom people were about to be
abused.
I don't know.
It just, it's very shaky legal ground, and I'm curious as to where it's going to lead,
what other kinds of things they'll be doing.
I mean, put it in, put it in the world of computer hackers, you know?
Let's say a phantom, uh, AT&T computer, right?
That we think is an AT&T computer, and somebody hacks into it.
But it's actually just a bulletin board on some sergeant's desk.
Do you get charged with hacking into AT&T and disrupting long-distance communications
everywhere?
Or do you get charged with, uh, you know, computer trespassing to a BBS?
You know, they're two different things.
Well, I think if, I think if the kid realizes what he's done, he could argue that he didn't
do that.
There's no kids here.
No, the kid that broke into the computer.
Okay.
Yeah.
If he never realized where he really broke into, then the government could, could pull
the whole scam off.
That's true.
That's true.
They don't have to ever tell the truth.
Right.
I wonder if this guy's been told there was no kid.
Maybe the kid was in the back, except he doesn't know that the kid wasn't in the back.
I don't know.
Maybe they had somebody dressed up like a kid.
That's true.
They could do that.
Maybe this guy knew what they were up to the whole time, and he just is into meeting
cops in motel rooms, you know?
Yeah, well, he had handcuffs, and a dog collar, and a stuffed dog.
It's just, it's very hard to have a serious case when, you know, the evidence doesn't
exist.
I'm just saying that's awfully difficult.
Yeah, but he had the tools to commit the crime.
Yeah, I guess.
And do numerous other things, too.
All right.
Well, that's just one interesting story that happened concerning the net last few days.
And, of course, everybody who's not on the net is talking about the net now in hushed
tones, as always.
All right, 212-279-3400.
By the way, this is our April Fool's show, which means that some of the things that we
say tonight aren't to be taken seriously, but others are.
And some of the things that you think might not be true really are.
Oh, we should add that at the beginning of the show, the part of the rebel was played
by Phil Hartman.
That's right.
We're supposed to say that at the end of the show, but yeah, we could say that.
That's not a problem.
And he did get the check, by the way, so he's not upset at us anymore.
Okay, let's take another call.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hi, Emanuel.
How are you doing?
All right.
I'm from Long Island.
I'm just calling you about something a friend of mine I go to school with told me about.
Okay.
I used to have a little hacking web page up, and I guess there was someone out there
who said it was from Long Island on it.
And I had a picture of myself, and he saved the picture to his hard drive, and he was chatting
with my friend on IRC on a hacking channel.
And he said, do you know this kid from Long Island?
And he sent him my picture and everything.
He's like, oh, he's really elite.
So it was a bit freaking me out.
He wanted my phone number.
Well, now, so your picture gets transmitted all over the place when you have it up on the
net.
Yeah.
I mean, people can download it from the web, and they can put it up on their page and say
it's them.
This kid wants me to help him hack the Pentagon's website.
Oh.
Interesting stuff.
He has an email address.
Well, tell him to stand in line.
Yeah.
Only kidding.
Only kidding.
That kind of thing is not right.
But anything else?
Oh, no.
Just, oh, actually, one more thing.
Friend of mine who used to go to 2600 meetings.
Yes.
A friend who I was telling you about, recently was a Westinghouse finalist.
Went to Washington.
Really?
Yes.
Wow.
So one of you guys, one of us is a pretty smart, pretty bright kid.
And he got accepted to MIT.
How about that?
I'm sure we'll be hearing more from him in the future.
Feel proud.
All right.
All right.
Good night.
Thanks for calling.
Isn't it scary that a refrigerator company is deciding who goes to college?
I was wondering about that.
But you get a lot of smart refrigerator repairmen that way.
That's true.
Yeah.
They don't tell you about that.
All you people on the Westinghouse finalists.
Yeah.
You can go to whatever school you want.
But when you come out, you have to work for Westinghouse as a refrigerator repairman.
Wouldn't it be really funny if somebody won a Westinghouse award for building a better
refrigerator?
Hmm.
That kind of thing doesn't happen.
No.
It just does not happen at all.
Oh, no.
Like I mentioned IRC, that was one of the other things I wanted to mention.
I didn't get a chance to even, like, look at this.
But apparently there's an IRC channel.
I don't know what the percentage signs mean.
But they say this guy, this guy went by the name of Arizona Boy Lover, and he was on an
internet chat room.
They call it internet chat room when they mean IRC.
Yeah.
Called pound, percent, percent, voice, sex, and sign pics.
Okay.
I'm not sure what the two percent, I was more curious about that, actually.
And I wanted to, you know, to see if that actually was true.
Did you try joining that channel?
No, I wasn't going to join that channel.
What I wanted to do was create a fake account somewhere, join the channel there, see if
it was real, and then be able to say to the people on the radio tonight, by the way, there
were 450 people in this channel, and wow, this is actually true.
Well, what's the verdict?
Well, I wasn't able to do that.
Wow.
Yes.
You could have just created your own channel that had nothing to do with it and tried
putting two percents at the beginning.
Well, no, I mean, it's not the two percents I'm curious about.
I'm curious with the channeling.
Oh, wow.
I'm sure you can make two percents, but I'm not wondering if the percent, I heard someone
tell me once that percent signs mean that it's local to the server, and I'm not sure if
that's and signs or percent signs.
I thought maybe it was and signs.
I don't know.
Oh, I remember when IRC first started, we used to use plus for all the channels.
Yeah, but that's in lieu of the pound sign, which is at the beginning of that channel.
Right.
But in any event, what this proves is that there's all kinds of weird channels out there.
Yeah.
And I'm sure this one is not listed anywhere.
Sure.
So, um...
Well, the good thing about IRC is anybody can start a channel.
All BI listeners, you can join those channels now and say that you heard it from some other
radio station.
You heard it here first.
No, not here.
Not here.
But it's interesting that they printed the name of the channel in the New York Times,
don't you think?
I mean...
It's like an advertisement.
It certainly is.
Yeah.
And that means that more people will be lured into contact with other...
State troopers.
Fictitious people.
Real state troopers and fictitious kids.
I don't know.
Pretty funny if you ask me.
212-279-3400.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hello?
Yes.
Oh, I can't believe I got on the air.
It's pretty unbelievable, isn't it?
Yeah, hold on.
Let me turn the radio down.
Yes, turn the radio down or you'll get annoying feedback.
Oh, um...
Yeah, this is Scarecrow.
I've been to the 2600 meetings in New York.
Uh-huh.
Uh, so some people probably know me.
I was just calling about one of the phone calls you got last week.
A lady called in and said someone was making phone calls from her phone number.
Yes.
Is it you?
No.
Oh.
That would solve everything, wouldn't it?
Yeah.
Well, the same thing happened to me a few months ago.
Really?
Um, someone called, like, $130 worth of calls to Maryland and $70 worth of calls to 900 numbers.
Uh-huh.
So they knew what they were doing.
People don't call 900 numbers unless they're using somebody else's line.
That's just the way it works.
Well, I called the phone company the day after I got my bill, and their reason for it was they said someone that morning had called and said a group of computer hackers were tapping into some...
Like, calling into people's lines somehow and then getting access to dial out again.
We get blamed for everything.
Everything that possibly is, we get blamed for.
Well, now, what makes it a computer hacker that's hooking into phone?
I mean, why does it have to be a computer hacker?
Why can't it just be some lecherous person that wants to call 900 numbers?
Well, the operator I talked to said that she received another call this morning from some guy who played a message on his answer machine that they accidentally left.
Oh, really?
They accidentally left a message?
Okay.
Like a teleconference type of a thing?
Were they talking back and forth?
Yeah.
Somehow, like, well, they were on three-way or something.
They called into the guy's line.
Maybe they got the whole thing on his answer machine.
I don't know what happened.
That's just what they said.
So, who knows?
So, I guess they're hot on the trail, these people.
Oh, yeah, I'm sure.
So, did you get full credit for all the phone calls?
Yeah, and they also said that they were going to arrest all of the people who received the phone calls.
Nynix said this.
No, this was Bell Atlantic, New Jersey.
Okay, I'm a hard teacher.
Well, a hard time doing that.
Yeah.
First of all, phone companies don't really have a say as to who gets arrested and who doesn't.
And you can't get arrested for getting a phone call no matter what.
Yeah, that's funny.
You just can't.
Not yet, anyway.
Not unless you're conspiring to commit a crime with the person who called you.
That's true.
Then you can.
Then the rules change.
Crime doesn't have to actually exist.
The people don't have to actually exist.
You just have to conspire.
Yeah.
Yeah, they said they were going to be tapping my lines for the next few weeks.
Oh, that's just great.
Oh, is that what you want?
Well, it's not like I'm going to make any illegal phone calls anyway.
No, but you're talking to us right now.
They know exactly what you're up to.
Well, I know your plan.
I'm just telling my story, that's all.
That's true.
Actually, he is being broadcast anyway, so I guess they could be listening that way as well.
Yeah.
The funny thing is, Bell Atlantic called me at work the next day saying that they didn't find anything wrong with my lines,
but they were still going to credit me.
Uh-huh.
That's nice.
That's our new phone company coming in.
Yeah, we're going to credit you, but just for safe measure, we're going to monitor all your calls to see if you're lying.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right, so we won't talk about all those other things then in front of Bell Atlantic, will we?
All right.
Well, we look forward to them coming into town.
Oh, yeah.
All kinds of plans for them.
We'll have to show them the ropes.
Yes.
All right, thanks for calling, and we'll see if we can squeeze in another phone call.
You know, I was thinking about the merger, though, and how this merger is such a bad idea,
and it hasn't quite been approved yet.
Now, this is a long shot, but I discussed it with some of the new people that are taking over the station here,
that are from the religious right, you know, that kind of thing,
that we're going into the religious format and all that stuff.
We had a little board meeting before, and I was saying, look, guys, since we're going to keep the technological show on,
we're just going to have to talk about God more,
is it possible that we could work on this Bell Atlantic-9X merger thing and dispel it for religious reasons?
And here's why.
Bell Atlantic and 9X, what do we refer to them as?
We refer to them as baby bells, right?
Right.
Baby bells, meaning they are the children of AT&T.
AT&T has broken up into many different little things, right?
Now, what 9X is proposing to do is merge with Bell Atlantic.
Marriage, incest, wrong.
You can't do that kind of thing.
It's unchristian.
Now, for that reason, this merger cannot be allowed to proceed because it is immoral.
Thank you.
Yeah.
They agree, and we're going to pursue it.
Really?
Yeah.
That's going to be the focus of the next few weeks.
Let's get one more phone call in.
It's going to have to be real quick, though.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hi, Emanuel.
Yes.
I haven't listened to you for a long time.
Okay.
I was very anxious to know what happened with Bernie.
Okay.
Well, very quickly, we'll have to say this on the radio because we're out of time, but
very quickly, Bernie was freed last October, and he is now currently living comfortably
in Philadelphia and trying to put his life back together.
Still got a lot of probation officers to visit and things like that, but we're keeping an eye
on him, making sure everything's okay, and he's very much in appreciation of those
BAI listeners like yourself who expressed concern and helped get him out.
Okay.
That's it for our show tonight.
Remember, this was the April Fool's edition, so don't believe anything we said, and I guess
that goes for the rest of the night, too.
We'll see about that.
And don't believe anything you hear on the real media, either.
You know, the big guys, you know, ABC, NBC, those people, because they're in April Fool's
mode every night.
All right.
Until next week, Emmanuel Goldstein for Off the Hook and Fiber Optic.
Have yourselves a good night.
Take care.
The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
I cut myself while shaving, now I can't make a call.
It could be yet much worse, but if they could, they would.
I'll be the bomb, but I'll best expect the worst.
I hope that's understood.
But make me move!
I'll be the bomb.
In memory of Dr. Martin Luther King and Representative Adam Clayton,
the Patrice Lumumba Coalition in conjunction with Africa Latin Scope will present an emergency
African...
Thank you, Mr. Martin Luther King and Representative of the Hook and Fiber Optic.
Thank you.