Notes from WPFW Community Advisory Board (CAB) Meeting

D:\CAB Stuff\November 2012\Meeting notes 11.19.2012.doc 11/22/12 21:29 a11/p11

Notes from WPFW Community Advisory Board (CAB) Meeting

7:00 PM, 19 November 2012, at WPFW, 2390 Champlain St. NW 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20009

Participants:

CAB members:

Alvernon Garey, Hyattsville, MD

David Vega, Takoma Park, MD

Eric Ramey, Washington, DC

Perry Redd, Washington, DC

Ron Benjamin, Greenbelt, MD

WPFW staff members:

John Hughes, General Manager

Vinnie Jack, Volunteer Coordinator

Guests:

Janice Taylor, Washington, DC

Pete Tucker, Washington, DC

Tony Norman, Washington, DC

Notes:

At 7:14 PM Mr. Vega, acting as chair in the absence of Ms. Brown, confirmed that a quorum was present.
The CAB members discussed and approved the meeting agenda (Attachment 1).
The members discussed, modified, and approved the notes from the 17 September 2012 meeting (Attachment 2).
Mr. Hughes said that:

He missed the November Local Station Board (LSB) meeting. Tiffany Jordan represented him at the meeting.
The station began its fiscal year on October 1 with $133,689 in revenue, mostly from the Fall fund drive, which raised $321,473 in pledges. The fulfillment rate is 72%. The station had collected $234,658 as of three weeks ago; the number has probably gone up since then.
The station just completed a tandem-event fundraising weekend, with the third annual U Street Jam on Saturday under the direction of the LSB and Gloria Turner, and a Gary Null lecture on Sunday.
The U Street Jam sold 26 (10-person) tables at $300 each plus 100 individual tickets. More than 400 people attended; the station raised $13,302. A good time was had by all. The room was carefully laid out and decorated to create a comfortable environment, with enough space for all of the activities: talking, eating and drinking, dancing, and entrance and exit. Ms. Turner is considering holding additional events at the same facility this fiscal year.
The next day there was a lecture by Gary Null and the presentation of his latest film, addressing the dangers of the American diet. The event was at the Silver Spring Civic Center. Gary stayed on the health issue topic, resulting in an informative and engaging lecture. Approximately 400 people attended; the event was basically sold out. It raised $13,300 for the station.
Andy Shalal, who owns Busboys and Poets and chairs WPFW's major donors circle, allocated 500 tickets to Busboys and Poets' (presidential inaugural) Peace Ball to Pacifica, to sell as desired. The baseline price (from Busboys and Poets) is $135 per ticket. WPFW is in the process of determining its price point. The tickets will be offered during the year-end fund drive, scheduled for December 7 to 18.
To date, each Pacifica station has been allowed to schedule fund drives whenever it wants. Summer Reese, the interim Pacifica Executive Director, is concerned about the lack of coordination, and may mandate specific dates for drives across the network; the decision could come as early as tomorrow. The uniform schedule may be an issue for WPFW, which is more music-centric than the other stations and is unusual in that its largest audience is on the weekend, followed by Democracy Now!, and then followed by everything else. There may be some logic, therefore, in exempting WPFW from the uniform drive schedule.
As mentioned earlier, the station intends to offer Peace Ball tickets during the December fund drive. It is considering, however, reserving some of the tickets for major donors, who give $1,000 to the station.

Mr. Perry said that he thinks that reserving tickets for major donors is an exception to the station's mandate, under the WPFW Mission Statement, to serve poor people. Mr. Hughes said that the major donor reservation is being done to raise funds, so that the station can continue its service to poor people. Mr. Vega concurred that fundraising can create the appearance of elitism; he has personal experience, from his house party, with the issue. Mr. Ramey asked if it would be possible to reserve some of the Peace Ball tickets for people who cannot afford to pay full price. Mr. Hughes responded that the tickets were provided by Mr. Shalal for fundraising; offering them at a lower price reduces the amount of money raised. He explained that serving major donors is both a fundraising necessity and a best practice. Ms. Taylor asked if a separate lower-priced event could be held. Mr. Vega recommended that Ms. Taylor hold a fundraising house party, where she would be free to set the price. Mr. Benjamin asked if Peace Ball tickets will be available through venues other than WPFW. Mr. Hughes responded that people will be able to buy tickets directly from Busboys and Poets for $135. However, WPFW should be able to sell tickets at a higher price, since it has media power that the restaurant does not, and because people who are loyal to the station will be willing to pay a little more for the tickets if they know that the station benefits from it.

Mr. Hughes said that he is confident that WPFW will be able to sell its allotment of 100 tickets, and that he expects that the New York, Houston, and Los Angeles stations will be able to sell theirs. The Berkeley station, however, has a different constituency and may have some difficulty with its tickets.

The CAB members unanimously voted to accept Mr. Hughes' report.

Mr. Benjamin requested an update on station relocation. Mr. Hughes responded that a particulart location has arisen as a frontrunner, but that the station is continuing to look at other possibilities. The frontrunner location requires less buildout than others that have been considered. Mr. Vega asked if the December 31 moving deadline has been extended. Mr. Hughes said that it has not been yet, but that there is a good possibility that it will be. Mr. Hughes explained that he could not provide more detail on relocation because he is under the relocation committee's confidentiality agreement. Mr. Ramey noted that the confidentiality agreement conflicts with Mr. Hughes' ability to provide informative status reports.
Mr. Hughes said that the CAB members, as community representatives, provide ideas to him. Mr. Ramey said that ideas offered on the Community Comment show are worthy of serious consideration. Mr. Redd concurred, and noted that the CAB's meetings include provisions for community input.
Ms. Taylor asked if the station had considered relocating to leasable space in the Martin Luther King Library.
Mr. Hughes said that Bobby Hill, the interim Program Director, was unable to attend the meeting but had furnished a written report (Attachment 3). The CAB members voted to include the report in the meeting notes but to not formally accept it.
Mr. Redd said that he has a continuing question: how are new shows brought to the attention of the Program Director?
Mr. Redd said that the CAB members provided only a tepid response to his email about revising the WPFW Mission Statement, and that the majority of the replies recommended staying with the existing Statement. He recommended that the CAB either:

Delay the Mission Statement revision discussion until more members can be involved, or
Resolve to keep the Mission Statement as is.

Mr. Hughes recommended the first alternative, saying that the decision should be made in a suitably facilitated, team-building meeting. Mr. Benjamin suggested addressing the question by having the CAB vote on a resolution to keep the existing Mission Statement. The CAB members discussed the issue, and unanimously voted to recommend that the existing Mission Statement be retained, with the understanding that the issue may be revisited in the future.

Mr. Benjamin described his draft program assessment tool (Attachment 4) to the CAB. He explained that:

Part I, Mission Compliance, evaluates the extent to which the program being assessed complies with the WPFW Mission Statement.
Part II, Audience Development, evaluates the size and average age of the program's audience.
Part III, Fundraising, evaluates the amount of money raised by the program during the last fund drive.
The overall assessment is computed by averaging the Part I, Part II, and Part III scores.

Mr. Hughes said that he believes that the tool is outside of the CAB's scope. At Mr. Vega's invitation, Mr. Benjamin summarized the background of the tool:

In a previous meeting, the CAB had determined that a program assessment tool would be desirable.
In the same meeting, Mr. Benjamin said that the tool should be developed by a programming professional. Wylie Rollins, the former interim Program Director, responded that he had no problem with the CAB developing a tool.
The CAB then decided to devote its November meeting to discussion of a program assessment tool.

The CAB members discussed the draft tool, but did not come to any conclusions. The discussion was tabled for lack of time.

Mr. Vega said that his plans for a second house party had to be postponed due to personal events. He presented an album of pictures from the first party to Mr. Hughes.
Mr. Norman thanked the CAB for its service this year.
Mr. Ramey said that he believes that LSB meetings are out of control, and that the CAB should issue a resolution addressing the issue.
The CAB members voted to hold the next meeting on January 28, 2013, one week later than normal, to avoid a conflict with Martin Luther King Day.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:19 PM.

D:\CAB Stuff\November 2012\Meeting notes 11.19.2012.doc 11/22/12 21:29 a11/p11

Attachment 1

D:\CAB Stuff\November 2012\Meeting notes 11.19.2012.doc 11/22/2012 21:29:00 A11/P11

Notes from WPFW Community Advisory Board (CAB) Meeting

7:00 PM, 17 September 2012, at WPFW, 2390 Champlain St. NW 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20009

Participants:

CAB members:

Alvernon Garey, Hyattsville, MD

David Vega, Takoma Park, MD

Eric Ramey, Washington, DC

Perry Redd, Washington, DC

Ron Benjamin, Greenbelt, MD

WPFW staff members:

John Hughes, General Manager

Vinnie Jack, Volunteer Coordinator

Bobby Hill, interim Program Director

Guests:

Pete Tucker, Washington, DC

Janice Taylor, Washington, DC

Notes:

While waiting for a quorum:

Mr. Hill and the CAB members introduced themselves to each other.
Mr. Hill discussed his written report (Attachment 1).

Mr. Vega said that Ms. Brown had informed him in the late afternoon that she would at least be late for the meeting and may not make it at all, and had asked him to chair the meeting. Mr. Vega asked Mr. Benjamin to assist him.
At 7:20 PM Mr. Vega confirmed that a quorum was present.
The CAB members discussed and approved the meeting agenda (Attachment 2).
The members discussed, modified, and approved the notes from the 21 May 2012 meeting (Attachment 3).
Mr. Hughes said that his report to the CAB, like his earlier report to the Local Station Board (LSB), would focus on the station's FY13 budget. He said that:

The goals of the budget are to:
Maintain and fortify the broadcasting license;
Maximize and reinvigorate fundraising;
Relocate the station;
Revise and refine the program grid and schedule; and
Realign staff in accordance with projected revenue and expenses, including payments to the national office. Personnel reductions will be necessary.
The budget has been reviewed and approved by:
The LSB's Finance Committee,
The LSB, and
The Pacifica National Board (PNB) Finance Committee.

Approval by the PNB is still required.

Relocation:
The station is considering several potential locations.
The deadline for moving is still 31December.
There are two possible scenarios: leasing a facility for 5-10 years, and (given the late date) moving into a temporary, contingency facility.

In response to a question from Mr. Vega, Mr. Hughes said that the proposal that the station received from the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) was too expensive; the station might be able to afford it in the future, but can't right now.

In response to a question from Mr. Garey, Mr. Hughes said that the locations under consideration are all in the DC / Maryland / Virginia area, but are not all in DC. Mr. Garey responded that he would like the station to stay in DC. Mr. Hughes said that he has looked at numerous facilities, some of which would require an extensive buildout, and some which do not. The latter are preferred, since the station has some needs, e.g. continuous heating, ventilation, and air condition service, that are not met in typical office spaces. In response to a question from Mr. Vega, Mr. Hughes said that UDC does not have a suitable existing facility; the spaces that were formerly used by WDCU are long gone.

Mr. Perry said that he has a facility in East Baltimore which may be suitable. Mr. Hughes said that the location may be eliminated by FCC regulations, which require studios to be located within 25miles of the transmitter or within the station's GradeA signal area. He recommended that Mr. Perry contact Campbell Johnson, the chair of the LSB's Relocation Committee. Mr. Perry, in response to a question from Mr. Ramey, said that his facility would be larger and less expensive than the station's current home. Mr. Hughes noted that the current facility has its challenges, but is costing the station only $23/ft2.

Mr. Hughes said that there is a need to improve the program grid. The changes recently introduced by Mr. Hill address some of the need; more changes are to come. There is a need for more audience appeal. Mr. Garey commented that “audience appeal” is a good reason for the return of Gary Null to the station. Mr. Hughes mentioned that today, in one of his first days back on the air, Mr. Null had raised $2,000, far more than the $500 goal. Mr. Benjamin said that he likes the changes that Mr. Hill has introduced, except that he disagrees with the return of Mr.Null. Mr. Hughes said that Mr. Null was brought back for the content of his show as well as his fundraising abilities. The station has a sophisticated audience, and sophisticated competition. Mr. Vega said that he likes Mr. Null's show, but has problems with Mr. Null's ego and promotion of his products.

Mr. Hughes said that the station is trying to increase the number of sustaining members (those who give monthly contributions). Sustaining members tend to give more, both per year and lifetime totals. The station will modify some of its back office operations to promote sustainers. The goal is to have one third of the members be sustaining members in 2 years, and half in 4years. The “Sustaining jazz and justice” theme of the current fund drive is in line with that concept, which is also in line with non-commercial station best practices (including WAMU).

In response to a question from Mr. Vega, Mr. Hughes said that he has a weekly teleconference with the other Pacifica station general managers. They discuss multiple issues, including sharing content besides Democracy Now. They would like to have a show similar to Democracy Now for evening drive.

The CAB members unanimously adopted Mr. Hughes' report.

The members began discussion of a revised mission statement for the station. Mr. Benjamin recommended that the current WPFW mission statement be used as a starting point. He pointed out that the statement was adopted by the station a long time ago, and was approved by the Pacifica National Board.

Mr. Hughes drew the members' attention to the draft revised mission statement prepared by the staff and discussed in his report at the May CAB meeting. He noted that the statement is succinct, and addresses items that the staff deemed to be particularly significant: jazz, news, public affairs, African-American, progressive, social justice, and democracy. He said that a good mission statement describes:

The aims of the organization,
The primary stakeholders of the organization,
The value that the organization provides to the stakeholders, and
The reason that the organization exists.

Some CAB members advocated using the existing mission statement as a basis for discussion; others preferred the staff version. There was also a discussion of the desirability of stating that the station seeks to serve specific groups (e.g. women, African-Americans) of people. Mr. Hughes said that the LSB would be discussing the mission statement revision sometime soon in a facilitated session, and recommended that the entire CAB participate. Mr. Perry moved that he form and facilitate a CAB committee to draft a revised mission statement for consideration by the CAB. Mr. Benjamin cautioned that, due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) open meetings requirements, meetings of the committee may have to be publicly announced. Mr. Hughes pointed out that the open meetings requirement is from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, not the FCC, and may not apply to committee meetings. Mr. Perry's motion passed, four in favor, one abstention.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:01 PM.

Attachment 2