Total Prosperity, the weekly radio show of the Academy for Psychic Studies is now OFF THE AIR!
Whether it is because the hosts lost interest or because it cost one hell of a lot of money to maintain is anyone's guess at this point. My guess is that they just plain got tired of putting on a radio show once a week. Well, maybe because no one came in for a $2000 class because of hearing it on the radio.
That doesn't diminish the importance of this news.
Actually, as the show was said to be crappy and uninteresting I am not surprised it shut down.
The Academy for Psychic Studies is based on the philosophies of the Berkeley Psychic Institute, Scientology and other fringe religions. Not that they were expert in any of them but they used those techniques anyway. The radio show began as a way for the founder, William (Bill) Duby to espouse his particular spiritual outlook and world view.
After Mr. Duby's death, the show was less focused on spiritual philosophies and was more focused as an infomercial (a really bad infomercial) for classes and services peddled by the Academy for Psychic Studies.
I remember being on the show once or twice. It was an hour of listening to Bill spew his world view and a moment or two of giving brief psychic readings to callers who never failed to ask about their relationships, work life or family. There was only very rarely someone who called up and asked a question on-topic. I guess it was because none of the "hosts" were talented enough to engage listeners in a particular topic. In fact, their hour of rambling was pretty boring and not at all informative. Oprah it was not. Maybe more like a demented Billy Mays.
Anyway, Total Prosperity is now off the air. Off the air is as it should be. I will say that archived shows are available on Live365 if you search for Spirit Talk Radio. They did have Total Prosperity shows featuring Bill Duby on Live365 as well. I searched for it. I couldn't find it. Maybe you can. If so, let me know.
Lately, the Academy for Psychic Studies has withdrawn many of their public communications. The web site is stripped down, the newspaper is gone, the blogs are dead, the Facebook page is pathetic and of course, the YouTube vids have been taken down. Now the last vestige of their public presence is gone as well. At a time where the Academy should be increasing their public presence and promoting their message, they are hiding down a rabbit hole of their own making. They are sticking their head in the sand.
They are - crap, they are just too damn scared of the world to have any communication with it.
So tell me, how is it that a group that needs to gain members from the public won't communicate with it? And why is that such a smart strategy to revive their flagging fortunes?
I would imagine the Academy for Psychic Studies will blame me for the demise of their prized radio show. Obviously, I have no control over the success or failure of their public messages or their radio show. Anyone who reads this blog isn't listening - at least not for spiritual enlightenment. They are listening for a laugh or to find a reason to make fun or them.
And those who do want to listen for personal fulfillment - aw hell, no one is listening for that. They are all calling in to the toll-free line so they can get a toll-free psychic reading from the Academy psychotics.
While Bill Duby was alive, his mix of Scientology and all the other fringe religions he sort-of, almost understood was somewhat entertaining. Kind of like listening to your grandmother curse the world as she tries to figure out how to use a BlackBerry.
Bill had a way of talking about spirituality in such an esoteric way, you had to listen just to see what nutty thing he'll come up with next. I remember he once spoke of all the spiritual reasons Princess Diana had to die. One of them had to do with some kind of conspiracy within the Royal Family. Uh, yeah....
As for 9/11, he made the spiritual pronouncement: they're just jealous of what we have and that going after anyone in between us and the terrorists responsible was fine as long as we get Bin Laden. Ummmm, OK.
That is stuff I won't miss. I'll also not miss having my stomach lurch every time I heard that damn show. I guess I won't miss the Billy Mays shilling of all the money-making classes, services and products the Academy for Psychic Studies wants you to buy.
Even though the Academy shills so many of their classes, workshops, retreats, recordings, videos, books and their 900 Psychotic Reading line, very few (probably no one) dropped their hard-earned money for any of that.
During the last ten years, those of us who realized how we were being exploited, cheated and generally taken advantage of turned to the news media, print publications and the internet to tell our stories. Steve Sanchez wrote a chilling tell-all book on his experience at the Academy. There were several news articles that told the stories about all the things the Academy for Psychic Studies does not want you to hear.
And there is this blog. I have to say, there has been a lifetime pageview of over 35,000. That's pretty good for a blog.
There are so many of us telling our stories here and elsewhere those vibes are travelling all over the world. Our stories are becoming legend and our experiences are considered as fact. The number of hits to this blog rose whenever the Academy announces their classes. The number of students have dropped over the years from a few to nothing. More and more public rebuke has been thrown at the Academy for Psychic Studies. More and more, the Academy for Psychic Studies moves closer to irrelevance.
Still, I think my influence isn't enough to crush the late and not at all beloved Total Prosperity. Thanks to the rambling, confused conversation, the lack of focus, the horrible production values and the fact they have totally misread the desire of the public for their message (if there was one, that is), the hosts of the show seem to have done a fine job of ruining it without anyone's help.
We who have been there saw it every day: the Academy for Psychic Studies' worst enemy is themselves.
So join me in raising a glass to the end of this useless radio show. I'm having a nice pale ale.
