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.