[Approved]
KPFA Local Station Board
Regular in-person meeting, November 16, 2013, 11am-4pm
North Berkeley Senior Center
1901 Hearst Ave., Berkeley, CA
Note: An audio archive of this meeting is available at www.kpftx.org/archive.php
Present: Shahram Aghamir*, Craig Alderson, Mal Burnstein, José Luis Fuentes, Donald Goldmacher, Matthew Hallinan, Cynthia Johnson*, Janet Kobren, Joy Moore, Andrea Prichett, Tracy Rosenberg, Mel Sanders*, Lewis Sawyer*, Dan Siegel*, Franklin Sterling, Ramsés Teón-Nichols*, Barbara Whipperman, Burton White, Margy Wilkinson.
*Arrived after roll call.
Absent: Brian Edwards-Tiekert, David Gans, Mark Hernandez, Jack Kurzweil, Samsarah Morgan, Carole Travis.
1. Call to order
Meeting called to order by chair B. White at 11:14 am.
2. Roll call and excusing of members
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to excuse all absent members. Approved without objection.
3. Approve agenda
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to approve agenda.
Moved (J. Kobren) to move #12 (Reports) to #6.5, following announcement. Approved: 5Y, 2N, 3A.
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to approve agenda as amended. Approved by voice vote, no no votes.
4. Minutes
Moved (M. Burnstein) to approve October 19, 2013, minutes. Approved by voice vote, 1 no vote.
5. Public comments
Vivian Warkentin, Virginia Browning, Wanda Warkentin, Daniel Borgstrom, David O’Connell.
6. Announcements
A. B. White: Thanked F. Sterling for sound setup and thanked board members who set up meeting room.
B. J. Moore: Thanked members for turnout to Taste of North Berkeley, which raised $12,000 in one night. Thanked T. Rosenberg for her service on the board.
C. A. Prichett: City council meeting this Thursday. NAACP recently produced report on racial disparities in Berkeley, offering 60 recommendations in various areas. Report to be presented to city council at meeting.
D. J. Kobren: Strike Debt grew out of Occupy Wall Street. Rolling Jubilee s a project of Strike Debt, has purchased debt for pennies on the dollar and instead of trying to profit from it has cancelled $13.5MM in medical debts. A Debtors Assembly will be held Nov. 23, 2pm at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, where debtors will learn, share and organize around debt resistance.
E. T. Rosenberg: Summer Reese has been hired as permanent executive director of Pacifica.
6.5 Reports
A. PNB report (M. Wilkinson)
PNB met four days in Houston, spending most time in executive session. Executive director position offered to interim executive director Summer Reese. Pacifica is looking at a leased management agreement for WBAI because the station still cannot cover expenses, even though expenses have so far been reduced $1 million per year. T. Rosenberg added that KPFT has added an online audio port which runs Execution Watch around pending executions in Texas; this has gotten a good response. 2012 Pacifica audit will be available on Pacifica website. Drafts of letters from auditors to Pacifica management will be finalized soon. IRS Form 990 is posted on Pacifica webpage.
B. General manager hiring committee (J. Moore)
The hiring committee circulated a report prior to the meeting on its work. It has selected four candidates unanimously to forward to the executive director, with the caveat that the candidates should meet with staff and board members. Hiring committee members were B. Edwards-Tiekert, J. Moore, R. Teón-Nichols, B. Whipperman, M. Wilkinson.
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to adopt the following recommendations from the committee, which the committee proposed unanimously:
1. The LSB forwards the four finalists to Pacifica Executive Director Summer Reese for selection.
2. The LSB requests that when the Summer Reese brings GM candidates in for interviews, she bring each candidate to KPFA for an informal meeting with any staff and LSB members who choose to attend, and gives attendees the chance to submit feedback before she makes her selection.
Approved: 15Y, 0N, 1A.
Hiring committee also recommended the following:
1. The hiring committee shall be expanded to include one non-voting member selected by UPSO, and one non-voting member selected by CWA.
Following discussion about confidentiality and the interview process, chair restated motion as follows, incorporating sense of the board:
The hiring committee shall be expanded by 2 observers, one nominated by UPSO and one by CWA, and that these observers will be strongly committed to the same confidentiality as board members.
Approved: 11Y, 3N, 1A.
C. Development (PNB and KPFA) (A. Prichett)
November’s PNB development meeting cancelled. J. Moore reported that the committee wants to make a big push for 65th anniversary. The committee asks about using Pacifica on KPFA letterhead, e.g., “KPFA of the Pacifica network”; also about KPFA providing t-shirts, water bottles, tote bags, etc. to employees so they can use them to promote station. A. Prichett reported on Nov. 5 KPFA development/outreach meeting. Proposal is to double membership in South Bay through visibility campaign, including billboards, bus signs, events, etc. over 3-6 months. Committee proposes raising $5,000 for 100 bus signs for 3 months. See proposal attached.
7. Interim GM report (R. Pirodsky)
Responding to questions about promoting KFPA in San Jose, iGM said KPFA has programming that can appeal to region, and suggested using reputable bloggers and micro-bloggers to extend KPFA’s coverage of the area. There are approximately 1038 members in San Jose, based on a search of the membership database by zip code. Email addresses are problematic to obtain. Current KPFA membership is close to 18,000. If we solicit email addresses, we need to be able to offer something in exchange, such as the old Folio or something similar.
Pledge drive Dec. 9-16, 8 days. We are trying new things to generate more money in less time. Deferred maintenance of facilities raises health and safety liabilities, and funds may be needed to remedy problems. Investigation possible mold problems.
Pacifica is a legacy medium and we will need to work to stay relevant. That takes money, and potential of leased management agreements (LMA) may be millions if commercial operations are involved. Pacifica Radio Archives is wonderful, but it costs KPFA $61k to $66k per year. It is perhaps not best use of our money, and Pacifica could consider donating them to an institution whose main purpose is preservation, saving the network money and allowing us to concentrate on broadcasting.
GoalBusters will be here 5 or 6 days. GB has been submitting grants, but it’s a difficult market. Success takes repetition and time. There have been some problems with KPFA grant proposals being undercut by grant proposals from other parts of Pacifica. GoalBusters has had higher fundraising rates at their Yuma, Arizona station because of best practices that we don’t follow. GB is working on a comprehensive campaign, and fund drive challenges will be set up in advance of December fund drive. All shows will have a clock and audiences will be measured by quarter hour; pitches will be made every quarter hour. Pitch teams will help pitch-averse programmers.
Drupal 6, currently used for website, will be unsupported next year. We will need to upgrade. A national IT director would facilitate better management of web needs and content.
8. Treasurer’s report (B. Whipperman)
In past, much discussion about how much we were short in preceding fund drive. TR1 addresses assumptions and goals of fall pledge drive. Goals are determined by assumptions and adjusted as appropriate. Chart shows how pledges for Fresno and KPFK are handled. KPFA was short by $19,409 of pledges expected, less than 3% of drive’s total goal. KFCF exceeded pledge goal by 6%, KPFK exceeded pledge goal by 22%. Pledge goals have nothing to do with actual income.
TR2 analyzes pledges and payments. Total pledged in column 1 is same as from middle column of TR1. $446k has been received as of Nov. 13, or fulfillment rate so far of 66.3%. We usually get 89-90%. KFCF payments are determined by zip codes of pledges and are reconciled at end of month.
Cash in bank is $140k, after payroll and after $50k paid to national office. $24,335 in accounts payable. We still don’t have financial reports and are hampered by lack of records from national office.
9. KFCF report (M. Sanders)
Four vacancies on local board have been filled over past month: 2 members re-elected, 2 new. Tomorrow night is annual fundraiser, featuring Brian Edwards-Tiekert.
10. Old business
A. Election of members to committee of inclusion
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to postpone to meeting at which members will be elected to other station and PNB committees. Approved without objection.
B. IT efficiency audit
Moved (J. Moore) to invite IT volunteer to next meeting for 10-minute presentation on IT. Approved without objection.
C. Resolution on members in good standing
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to adopt resolution (see resolution).
Moved (L. Sawyer) to close debate. Failed: 8Y, 6N (2/3 needed).
Moved (A. Prichett) to close debate. Approved: 11Y, 2N, 0A (2/3 needed).
Motion approved: 7Y, 6N.
D. Pacifica Archives
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to table until next meeting. Approved without objection.
Moved (D. Siegel) to adjourn. Failed: 4Y, 7N.
E. Development
Moved (A. Prichett): “That each LSB member contribute to a special outreach project called ‘Get The Signal’ to double the San Jose listenership in one year. Our goal is $5000 within this board. The money is for signs and/or billboards in conjunction with in person events and special programming highlighting San Jose. Each member of the board would commit to either raising or contributing $200 each for this project.”
Moved (R. Teón-Nichols) to close debate. Approved: 10Y, 0N, 2A (2/3 needed).
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to divide question.
Part 1: “That each LSB member contribute to a special outreach project called ‘Get The Signal’ to double the San Jose listenership in one year. Our goal is $5000 within this board.” Approved: 8Y, 1N, 4A.
Part 2: “Each member of the board would commit to either raising or contributing $200 each for this project.” Approved: 8Y (S. Aghamir, C. Johnson, J. Kobren, J. Moore, A. Prichett, T. Rosenberg, F. Sterling, R. Teón-Nichols); 3N (C. Alderson, B. Whipperman, M. Wilkinson); 2A (J.L. Fuentes, D. Siegel).
Adjourned 4:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Craig Alderson
LSB Secretary