Minutes
WPFW Local Station Board Meeting
2390 Champlain Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
17 January 2007
Public Meeting convened about 7:20 P.M by Vice-Chair Zaccai Free.
Members present: Acie Byrd, Adriane Jemmott, Alonzo Brown, Ambrose Lane, Ann
Hyslop, Arturo Griffiths, Ayo Handy Kendi, Carol Wolfe, Dan Logan, Gail Dixon,
Gloria Turner, Hakam Takash, Jane Gatewood, Jim Brown, Marcello Tolliver, Joni
Eisenberg, Luzette King, Michelle (Noodles) Smith, Norberto Martinez, Rob
Robinson, Thomas Ruffin, Zaccai Free, Zarinah Shakir.
Excused Absence: Billy Ray Edwards.
Unexcused Absences: Arturo Griffiths.
Also present: Ron Pinchback, WPFW General Manager, Carl Pfluger, LSB Secretary.
Approval of Agenda: Amended to shorten the GM's report to 10 minutes, the
agenda was adopted, by decision of the acting Chair, after the Board had voted
7 to 7, with 3 abstentions.
Approval of Minutes: Moved by Ambrose Lane, seconded by Carol Wolfe, the
Minutes of the January 3rd meeting were adopted, 13 to 0.
Reports:
Chair's Report on LSB Show: Zarinah reported that there will be an LSB show
broadcast the third Wednesday of every month, 11:00 A.M. to noon. The first
will be January 23rd, and will be devoted to introducing the LSB officers and,
hopefully, giving the listeners a general overview of the role of the LSB, its
functions, powers, duties and responsibilities.
PNB Reports: The next meeting of the Pacifica National Board (PNB) will be
January 26th - 28th, in Texas. Ambrose spoke briefly of the process of
evaluating Pacifica's Executive Director, Greg Guma, and Chief Financial
Officer, Lonnie Hicks. Gail Dixon expressed concern that the newly-elected LSB
members had had to vote for our representatives to the PNB so soon after they
had joined the Board, before most of them felt adequately informed about either
the issues or the personalities involved. Rob Robinson explained that this
awkward timing is written into the Bylaws; that it is one of many similarly
grave problems with the Bylaws. There is widespread agreement that the Bylaws
need some serious amendment, but so far there has been no general agreement on
the process to accomplish this.
General Manager's Report: Ron Pinchback distributed a 5-page printed report
summarizing the entire year 2006, and, orally, informed the LSB that he had
received last-minute instructions from Pacifica's National Office to pre-empt
regular programming in order to broadcast live coverage of the Senate Judiciary
Committee's questioning of Attorney General Gonzalez. Acie Byrd said that the
Executive Director has no authority to issue such a "must carry" order: such a
decision would require the approval of three of the five stations. Acie intends
to take up the matter with the PNB at their upcoming meeting. Thomas Ruffin
asked about our Arbitron ratings. Ron replied that he has not received these
from the National Office since September. He has requested them from Lonnie
Hicks, Pacifica's CFO, but so far they have not come.
Orientation Materials and Information: Largely for the benefit of the new
members, a package of documents was distributed, including copies of the
Pacifica Bylaws, the Mission Statements of both Pacifica and WPFW, the Pacifica
Budget, the WPFW Budget, list of WPFW management and staff, Committee
Structure, Program Schedule and Calendar. Jane Gatewood gave some oral
explanation of some of this material.
Community Comment: Contributions by Faye Williams, on education and website
development; Carletta Fellows, on membership and demographics; and Dorcas
Dessaso, on the "WPFW Ambassadors" proposal put forth some months ago by Ayo
Handy Kendi.
Plans for LSB "Retreat": The Board chose the weekend of March 31st/April 1st as
the date, and established a task force to make the arrangements. Members of
this task force: Zaccai Free, Jim Brown, Ann Hyslop, Acie Byrd, Rob Robinson,
Gail Dixon. Ayo will participate to the extent of helping to find a location.
WPFW 30TH Anniversary Events: LSB voted to establish a task force to organize
events for this. Members volunteering for it are: Acie Byrd (Chair), Jim Brown,
Dan Logan (with special interest in Jazz programming), Alonzo Brown (also
especially interested in Jazz), Adriane Jemmott, Carletta Fellows, Dorcas
Dessaso, Faye Williams, and Gail Dixon. Ayo Handi Kendi will offer advice, but
not sign on as a full member.
Rejection of Proposed Bylaws Amendment: An amendment had been proposed to
reduce the number of PNB meetings from 4 per year to 3. Of WPFW's present and
former PNB members, Acie Byrd was neutral, Thomas Ruffin and Ambrose Lane were
opposed from the beginning. Rob said he had gone along with it at first, but
was increasingly inclined to oppose it. Zarinah and Jim, expressing similar
feelings of ambivalence, inclined mostly in a negative direction. Most members
who expressed an opinion regarded the economic rationale advanced by the
proposal's sponsors as unconvincing, especially in light of the whole range of
Pacifica's problems. The amendment was rejected, 16-1. Luzette King then moved
that WPFW's PNB members be instructed to vote against it at the PNB meeting,
and to report their vote back to the LSB. The motion was seconded by Thomas
Ruffin, and adopted without objection.
Executive Session convened 10:15 P.M. to discuss personell isues.
Members Present (for "Roll Call as Delegates"): Alonzo Brown, Jim Brown, Acie
Byrd, Gail Dixon, Joni Eisenberg, Zaccai Free, Jane Gatewood, Ayo Handi-Kendi,
Ann Hyslop, Adriane Jemmott, Ambrose Lane, Luzette King, Dan Logan, Norberto
Martinez, Rob Robinson, Thomas Ruffin, Zarinah Shakir, Michelle ("Noodles")
Smith, Hakam Takash, Marcello Tolliver, Gloria Turner, Carol Wolfe.
Excused Absence: Billy Ray Edwards.
Unexcused Absence: Arturo Griffiths.
Also Present: Carl Pfluger, LSB Secretary.
Program Director Search:
The Management Assessment and Search Committee (MASC) presented the LSB with 3
names. A motion to remove one of the names was rejected 14-5, with 1
abstention, and the LSB finally voted (12 y, 4 n, 1 a) to accept the report as
is, and send all 3 candidates to the General Manager.
General Manager Vision and Evaluation Report:
After prolonged discussion, the LSB decided that this required a special
Executive Session of its own, and voted (15-3) to convene that on February 7th.
Adjournment: Moved by Hakam, seconded by Jim, agreed without objection (if not
without exhaustion) at 11:50 P.M.