Minutes:
WPFW Local Station Board Meeting
2390 Champlain Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
11 October 2006

Quorum declared at 7:20 P.M., Carol Wolfe serving as chair.
Board Members present for the roll call: Jim Brown, Acie Byrd, Billy Ray
Edwards, Joni Eisenberg, Jane Gatewood, Ayo Handy-Kendi, Luzette King, Ambrose
Lane, Dan Logan, Mark Roberts, Rob Robinson, Zarinah Shakir, Amanda Sweet,
Carol Wolfe.
Absent: Joe Chiara, Norberto Martinez, Kalonji Olusegun, Thomas Ruffin, Hakam
Takash.
Excused Absences: Mark Berman, Gloria Turner.
Also Present: Ron Pinchback, WPFW General Manager, and Carl Pfluger, LSB
Secretary.
Attendance: Zarinah Shakir moved to vote on excusing absences, seconded by Joni
Eisenberg. Mark Berman's request to be excused was accepted, 10-1, Gloria
Turner's accepted 12-0, but Joe Chiara's request was rejected 8-3, several
members expressing concern that, excused or not, his absences have been
continuous since February 8th, and that he has consistently refused to
communicate with the LSB Secretary.
Amendments to the Agenda: Review and approval of the Minutes of the past 3
meetings was deferred. An item was inserted to elect a temporary Vice Chair for
this meeting. Additions were made to the Reports, specifically to include
Management Assessment & Search Committee (MASC), and Pacifica National Board
(PNB) Committee Reports. Two items were added to New Business: on LSB
responsibilities for the Pledge Drive, and on establishing policies on excused
absences and excessive absences. Thus amended, the Agenda was adopted, as moved
by Ambrose Lane & seconded by Mark Roberts.
Election of Temporary Vice Chair: Jane nominated Ayo, who declined; Ambrose,
seconded by Ayo, nominated Zarinah, who at first declined, but accepted after
being reassured that this would not be a permanent position, but only for this
session. Zarinah was then elected without objection.
Reports
Election Coordinator's Report, by Ikeso Alston: Thanks to the extension of the
nomination process, we seem to have enough candidates to fill all seats on the
LSB, pending the expected completion of their paperwork. There is ambiguity
about the status of Norberto Martinez: he has been serving as a listener
member, and is running as such in this election, but he has recently joined the
Staff. It was decided to refer this to Les Radke, the National Elections
Supervisor, and to ask him for a written decision on it. Ron Pinchback observed
that Hakam Takash is in a similarly ambiguous position, since he has been
serving as a staff member, but has recently left the Staff. The Secretary noted
that he has recorded more than 3 consecutive absences for Hakam Takash.
General Manager's Report, by Ron Pinchback: We are heading into an especially
busy time, with the Pledge Drive coming up simultaneously with the LSB
elections, and the US national elections, for which we are adding a weekly
broadcast (Wednesdays at 11:00 A.M.) of the Pacifica program "Informed
Dissent," which will be airing until mid-November. Also on Wednesdays, 5:00 A.M
to 8:00 A.M., WPFW will be airing a new program, "The Morning Messenger,"
hosted by Jared Ball of the "Blackademics" program. LSB members are strongly
urged to help out in any ways they can with the Drive; they should contact
Tiffany Jordan, WPFW's Director of Development, about it.
PNB Reports & Ensuing Discussions: Rob Robinson distributed to the LSB a
printed report, for which he was thanked by Billy Ray Edwards. Oral
presentations concerning the recent meeting of the Pacifica National Board were
also made by Rob, Acie Byrd, Ambrose Lane, and Zarinah Shakir. Main points
included planned coverage of the US Government's recent suspension of habeas
corpus, maintenance of Pacifica's radio archives, arrangements with Free Speech
Radio News (FSRN), licensing and distribution policies, problems with our
current election.
Carol Wolfe, seconded by Ayo Handy-Kendi, moved that the LSB should appoint a
committee to look into the possibility of obtaining professional help to
achieve a process of collective healing, mediation, conflict resolution, etc.,
and report its recommendations back to the LSB at the next meeting. This
resolution passed, 11-0. A second resolution, authorizing Carol to appoint the
members of this committee, and instructing her to inform the LSB of her
selections, passed 9-0.
Management Assessment & Search Committee (MASC) Report: Jim Brown reported
orally, and answered questions from Jane, Joni, Billy Ray, and Luzette.
Miscellaneous Brief Reports & Comments, mostly related to outreach & promotion
of WPFW's mission & events: Joni reported a successful fund-raiser in
connection with a health workshop on the weekend of October 1st. Dan reported
that the Programming Committee is working on a historical brochure relating to
our jazz programming, which could serve to promote interest in the community.
Luzette observed that a better evaluation process and more training could raise
the quality of our some of our programming. Ayo outlined her self-evaluation
and "WPFW Ambassadors" initiatives (which the Chair had forwarded to all
members in an email of August 2nd) and on Gloria's behalf, she reminded all of
the Volunteer Appreciation Awards Ceremony coming up on Saturday, November 4th,
6:30-11:00 P.M., at the Prince Hall Freemason and Eastern Star Charitable
Foundation Center, 1000 U Street NW. Again, all LSB members are urged to
participate in all such events as fully as possible: Tiffany Jordan, our
Director of Development, has more than enough work for everyone.
Community Comment: The Chair noted for the record that no members of the
community were present.

LSB Elections: Jane noted that ballot counting is set for December 15th, and
our next regular meeting for the 13th; that meeting should perhaps be
rescheduled to a later date, so that the LSB will know its new membership, and
be able to elect its new officers, as the Bylaws (Article 7, Section 5) mandate
to be done in December.
Adjournment: At about 10:30 P.M, 7 members voting for adjournment, 2
abstaining.
Agenda Items Never Discussed: Preparing an Elections Committee; Establishing a
clear policy on absences, excused & unexcused; Review & approval of Minutes of
the previous 3 meetings.