Minutes
WPFW Regular LSB Meeting
January 11, 2017
1990 K Street N.W. Washington, D.C.
Robert Simms, Chair
Ellen Williams Carter Secretary
I. Call to order
At 6:45 pm a quorum was established. Robert Simms called the
meeting to order at 6:45 pm.
II. Roll call
19 members were present at roll call: Robert Simms, Sandra
Butler-Truesdale, Eric Ramey, Maskeelah-Myrtle Washington, Ellen Williams Carter (non- voting), Louis Wolf, Donald
Williams, Eileen Rosin, Nick Arena (non-voting), Martha Peterson, Meredith Cordisco, Sabooh Hakim, Jim Brown, Tony Leon,
Christine Cotter, Vickie Mc Gill, Campbell Johnson, Jim Brown, Gloria Turner, Benito Diaz, Julie Hewitt, Cliff Smith
2 members Late: Nancy Sorden, Ron Pinchback
1 Excused absence: JW Nightwolf
1 Unexcused absence: Lona
Alias
The GM Jerry Paris was present.
The IPD Katea Stitt was absent.
Parliamentarian: John
Tatum
Timekeeper: Meredith Cordisco
III. Approval of Agenda
The Agenda was amended by Benito Diaz.
Motion:
I move that the Retreat be moved to 8:20pm and the Standing Rules be placed after approval of the minutes.
Agenda
was amended: There was no objection.
Agenda Approved
IV. Approval of the minutes
Minutes Approved of December
14, 2016 meeting
V. Management Reports
General Manager Jerry Paris
The General Manager stated the following:
• On November 12th the transmitter antenna failed and produced reduced power. Then the backup transmitter on the
breaker failed. The breaker was never properly installed. The Back-up transmitter at American University‘s
automatic switch failed. We were able to get a replacement part for $250. as opposed to paying the market rate. We are
now at full power.
• American University has been paid in full for use of the transmitter tower.
• The pledge
drive begins on January 29 and ends on February 18. Volunteers are needed to be fund drive captains and answer
phones.
• The Interim Program Director and Development Director are looking for venues for the 40th anniversary
gala.
• The reduction of staff hours has been successful. We are belt tightening. There is no overtime
abuse.
• WPFW will cover the full Inauguration broadcast.
Questions:
Campbell Johnson:
What banks do you
use?
GM: All stations need a separate account that is not named. There has been trouble with named
accounts.
Meredith Cordisco: Does Pacifica have the app for listening to the programs?
GM: The Pacifica APP should
be coming back.
Eric Ramey: How does the request for volunteers affect the union issue?
Benito Diaz: Will we have
a WPFW sign visible during the Inauguration broadcast?
Tony Leon: Will the temperature changes effect the
transmitter?
GM: Temperature controls are all fixed.
Eileen Rosin:
Now we can prove that the transmitter work
was not done properly. Can we refuse to pay the person who was supposed to do the work?
GM: Yes, we are addressing
that.
Jim Brown: Can you think about doing the 40th anniversary in June?
GM: The Interim Program Director and
Development Director are looking for venues for the 40th anniversary gala.
Louis Wolf: We need to be prepared to
have standing security for all the mall sites.
GM: Answer Coalition is going to provide security.
Cliff Smith:
Answer Coalition pushes the button at times.
Interim Program Director Report She submitted a written
report.
The following information was in the report:
Special Programming 2016
• WPFW Covered the DC/MD/VA
primary election
• WPFW will broadcast the election results from Busboys and Poets Brookline.
• WPFW did a New
Year’s Day special programming, New Jazz. It was a 12 hour broadcast produced by Willard Jenkins.
Upcoming Special
programming
On January 16th MLK Day WPFW did cutaways during regular programming to cover the 2017 MLK Peace Walk
from Ward 8.
Inauguration Broadcast
• WPFW will cover the full Inauguration. The broadcast is entitled Voices of
the Nation: A Call to Action.
• It is produced by Katea Stitt, Sue Goodwin and Argin Hutchins for
WPFW/Pacifica.
VI. PNB Reports
Jim Brown
Pacifica has had several meetings about personnel matters.
Pacifica needs a new IED and CFO.
Nancy Sorden
The 2014 audit is complete.
Question: Who will do the election
recount and how much will it cost?
Response: The Election committee has determined that True Ballot has certified the
election. A motion to have a recount to find out who were the runners up is planned. It would cost $15, 000.
A
motion was made about the Spanish language Programming.
It was decided that this motion would be presented at the
Programming Committee meetings to the IPD. The motion was to review the Spanish language Programming to schedule 5
hours. There was no objection.
VII. Community Comment
Pete Tucker:
Is the rent reduction an agreement to pay
$10,000 a month and then you have to pay all the back rent in October?
Tony Norman
Who sent the email about PNB
members voting against the interest of WPFW?
Chair: I did.
Joe Brown:
1. WPFW needs new and inventive ideas for
fundraising. We need to charge for advertising.
2. WPFW needs to talk with RFK development to see if we could be
involved in their development.
William Taft
He wants his song regarding the election played on the
air.
Chair: Share your song.
Jane Gatewood
She has watched for 10 years and there has not been enough dramatic
changes. She can’t see how the station can survive. One thing that stands out is that the GM does not have the staff
to get things done. Tracey Rosenberg’s emails are the information that she sees. The PNB is failing. For the last 12
years people have poured their energy into developing the station.
VIII. Finance Report by Treasurer He submitted a
written report.
The Treasurer stated the following:
American University has been paid in full for use of the
transmitter tower.
A lease agreement has been completed for the November 2016 through September 2017 rent.
The
budget for 2016 – 2017 has been approved.
Nick Arena:
A Motion was introduced to be considered by the Finance
committee.
Motion
I move that we need to put together an escrow amount that allows us to start saving money to
put aside in an account that can’t be touched. This will be submitted to the Finance Committee. There was no
objection to the motion being considered by the Finance committee.
IX. Outreach and Development Committee
WPFW
LSB Retreat:
A motion was introduced to create an Ad Hoc committee to plan the retreat. There was no objection to
the motion.
A motion was introduced to move the 40th Anniversary Gala to a date later than February. There was no
objection to the motion.
Sabooh Hakim introduced the following Motion:
I move that we have the Town Hall meeting
on February 25th at the VIP room.
The results of the motion:
In Favor 2
Against 20
Abstention 1
The
motion was not approved.
X. MASC Committee
The committee did not meet. There was no report.
XI. Programming
Committee
Programming committee did not meet. There was no report submitted.
XII .Delegate Assembly to Elect PNB
Members
Recess 8:55pm Regular meeting
Reconvened 9:03pm - For election of PNB
Election results
WPFW LSB PNB
Delegates
Convened the regular meeting for the PNB Vote:
21 LSB members voted.
The floor was opened for
election of the staff PNB member Jim Brown who was the only staff member nominated before December 31. He accepted the
nomination.
Jim Brown was elected by acclimation. Jim Brown 21 votes
Jim Brown –WPFW Staff PNB
representative.
PNB WPFW listener members:
The floor was opened for the nominations for the listener PNB LSB
members. Nancy Sorden, Maskeelah-Myrtle Washington, Benito Diaz and Campbell Johnson were nominated. All of them
accepted the nomination. Nancy Sorden, Benito Diaz, and Maskeelah-Myrtle Washington were elected.
Total Votes
Nancy Sorden 8
Benito Diaz 6
Maskeelah-Myrtle Washington 6
Campbell
Johnson 1
Total Votes 21
Staff PNB member
Jim Brown
PNB WPFW
listener members:
Nancy Sorden
Benito Diaz
Maskeelah-Myrtle
Washington
XIII. Adjournment
Motion to adjourn: There was no objection.
Robb Simms adjourned the regular
meeting at 10:57pm
Meeting adjourned at 10:57pm
Minutes submitted by: Ellen Williams Carter Secretary of the
LSB