WBAI Local Station Board Programming Committee
WBAI Conference Room
388 Atlantic Avenue, 3rd fl.
Brooklyn, NY
11217

7pm, Wed., Oct. 19, 2016


I. DRAFT AGENDA

1. Call to Order (1 min.)
2. Sign-in Sheet (1
min.)
3. Selection of Pro Tem Chair and Secretary (3 min.)
4. Explanation of structure of committee as per motion
(2 min.)
5. Discussion of Bylaw text re. programming (10 min.)
6. Discussion of Current Structure (15 min.)
7.
Discussion of Current Problems (including presentation of motions re programming changes by PNB Prgmmg Committee and
WBAI LSB, and the PNB Programming Operations motion (20 min.)
8. Discussion of Possible Solutions (20 min.)
9.
Motions (15 min.)
10. Next meeting date (5 min.)




II. RELEVANT DOCUMENTS

1. LSB Motion on
Programming Committee & Program Changes
Adopted by the Local Station Board, 9/14/16

In light of the emergency
posed by WBAI's extreme financial crisis, I move that the Local Station Board take up the following motion under the
emergency provisions of Robert's Rules of Order for non-quorum meetings (10th edition, p. 337).

Whereas, the
station’s staff is essential to fulfilling the Pacifica mission and are a tremendous resource to the station, and
deserve respect for their time, expertise, and commitment; and

Whereas, the Pacifica bylaws in Article 7,
Section 3 (G), state that the Local Station Board must ensure “that station programming fulfills the purposes of the
Foundation and is responsive to the diverse needs of the listeners (demographic) and communities (geographic) served by
the station, and that station policies and procedures for making programming decisions and for program evaluation are
working in a fair, collaborative and respectful manner to provide quality programming”; and

Whereas, the
bylaws in Article 7, Section 3 (K) require that the Local Station Board (LSB) must “perform community needs
assessments, or see to it that separate ‘Community Advisory Committees’ are formed to do so”; and

Whereas,
the bylaws in Article 7, Section 3 (J) also mandate that the LSB “actively reach out to underrepresented communities
to help the station serve a diversity of all races, creeds, colors and nations, classes, genders and sexual
orientations, and ages”; and

Whereas, a number of programming changes have occurred over the past 2 weeks
absent any consultation with or in some cases notice to affected staff; and

Whereas, no community needs
assessments appear to have been involved in determining the changes;

With the passage of this motion, the LSB
will have created a Programming Committee that shall include at least three boardmember-volunteers to be identified
immediately after the passage of this motion, and where the purpose of the group will be to examine the station’s
processes for program decisions and program evaluations.

Membership shall also be open to any staff-person or
listener upon attendance at the beginning of the second meeting if they were present at the inaugural meeting, but if
attendance begins with the second meeting or thereafter, membership shall be granted at the beginning of the third
consecutive meeting attended; and said membership shall be lost upon the third consecutive unexcused absence and
re-established upon attendance at the third consecutive meeting; and

The Committee shall be convened within 3
weeks by a volunteer boardmember to be identified after the vote on this motion and shall report its progress to the LSB
at its next meeting and/or by email prior to that date, if warranted; and further

The General Manager is
directed to provide the LSB, by September 28, 2016, the list of all members of the Community Advisory Board and dates of
appointments from January 2011 to present, as well as an explanation of the appointment process, including any public
notices, in each phase.

========================================================

2. PNB Programming
Committee Motion on Recent Program Changes
Adopted by the PNB Programming Committee on 9/7/16

The PNB
Programming Committee is aware that programming draws listeners and listeners become supporters, and that there is an
urgent need to draw in new listeners and additional dollars for all our stations.

Nevertheless, management of
all Pacifica stations must comply with the Bylaw requirement for fair and respectful collaboration pursuant to Article 7
Section 3, G (below); and

The PNB Programming Committee believes that the program changes implemented at WBAI
since August 2016 – all of which lack any or adequate consultation should be undone and the manager should create a
process to be discussed with staff

and

That this motion shall be distributed to the PNB with the
recommendation that they reaffirm our position, and be copied to all General Managers upon its passage.


http://pacifica.org/indexed_ bylaws/art7sec3.html

Article Seven, Local Station Boards, Section 3: Specific
Powers and Duties


========================================================

3. PNB Motion on
Programming Operations
Adopted by the Pacifica National Board 6/2015


Whereas the Pacifica Bylaws require
that each Local Station Board (LSB) “work with station management to ensure that station programming fulfills the
purposes of the Foundation and is responsive to the diverse needs of the listeners (demographic) and communities
(geographic) served by the station, and that station policies and procedures for making programming decisions and for
program evaluation are working in a fair, collaborative and respectful manner to provide quality programming”, be it
hereby resolved that

The Executive Director (ED) shall be required to direct each station’s General Manager
(GM) to provide, by July 15, 2015, a written station programming report to their LSB and to the PNB that includes the
following:
· the process and problems if any by which programs are evaluated, moved, removed, and added,
including how audience support (financial and otherwise) is measured and incorporated
· the process and
problems if any of producer development and training
· the process and problems if any which interns are
integrated into station programming
· the process and problems if any which preemptions are decided upon and
applied
· the process and problems if any which programs are made national
· the process and problems
if any which themes and staffing of special national programs are identified
· the use of the internet in
promoting station programming, including station website innovations, I-tunes, Tuned-in, tumblr, twitter, facebook, and
blogs etc.
· the use of audio-video live streaming on station websites for real-time coverage of actions and
events that are news in the making.

The Pacifica National Board (PNB) also requires that the ED direct each GM to
obtain and provide a written report to their LSB and to the PNB, by August 1, 2015, from the station’s Community
Advisory Board that lists its membership, describes its functioning, and reprises all work done with regard to community
needs assessments since March 2013; and further, that

The PNB directs that each National Board Member who serves
on a station Committee of Inclusion shall provide a written report prepared by the committee to their LSB and to the
PNB, by July 15, 2015, that lists its membership, describes its functioning, and reprises work done this
year.

These reports and any structured responses thereto, including minority reports, from local station boards
shall be the basis for discussion on the PNB Programming Committee.