May 2008 minutes and reports

Reports are here
Minutes are here

April 2008 Minutes and reports

can be found here

March 2008 minutes and reports

see the minutes here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczbxv2n_73f98n8cfx

reports:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczbxv2n_69d5nkbrcz

WORT February 2008 Board meeting

Meeting minutes are posted here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczbxv2n_66cp3xbpwn

WORT 2008 Annual Meeting minutes

WORT 2008 Annual Meeting minutes: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczbxv2n_65hjzggshc

January 2008 Board meeting minutes

Meeting minutes are posted here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczbxv2n_70cbt4dfxz

February 2008 WORT staff and committee reports

Follow the link to see the reports document: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczbxv2n_68gj7pm2fq

January 2008 WORT staff and committee reports

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczbxv2n_67g9csw3f8

January 2007 Committee reports to the board

PROGRAMMING

Brett Lemke

EVENTS

Justin Richardson

Committee met 1/8/07

31ST BIRTHDAY PARTY RECAP

Overall the event ran smoothly. Good music, good cake, lots left. 50% of cake donated: 4 1/2 sheets cost us $75.

Did not make financial goal this year. Low attendance, lots of other events in town.

One complaint from an attendee: Doorman couldn’t/wouldn’t take her check, so her friend paid for her. She felt insulted, thinking that the verbal exchange should have been more friendly.

BOWL-A-THON

Tentative date: Saturday, April 14 at Village Lanes in Monona.

We spent most of the meeting weighing a possible venue (from Village Lanes in Monona to Badger Bowl on Madison’s south side) for this event. Maggie also presented comments from the staff collective on the subject. We decided to stay at Village Lanes this year in order to avoid dealing with organizational complications such as: security guard fees, room fees, under 21 restrictions (w/multiple colors of wrist bands), non-smoking areas not well defined. Badger Bowl has a desirable location, and we will leave the lines of communication open (same owners as Village Lanes) for the future.

We brainstormed about the entertainment. Having one band play throughout the night (instead of 2 or 3), interspersed with WORT DJ’s, may be more successful by easing scheduling and helping the band/DJ’s feel more involved in the event.

Band/s and perhaps DJ’s are not yet booked.

PROM (Public Relations Outreach and Marketing; formerly MCOC)

Peter Lipton

The PROM did not meet since the last Board meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Thu, Jan. 25th at 5:30pm.

Personnel

Kathie Beckett

1). We met with Nathan for his exit interview. We are sorry that he is leaving WORT but happy that he may still be working with us in his new capacity with Pacifica.
2) We've been working with Lea Zeldin and her representative Andy Somers to resolve an issue stemming from her December 28th APA program. There has been some progress, but the issue has not yet been resolved.

FUNDRAISING:

Jane Richard

Meeting January 4, 2007 Jane, Raechel, Jim, Annie, Maggie

Grants update from Raechel

$5,000 from Radio Junction, which will be used to expand media toolkit and translate it into Spanish & Hmong

Application submitted to Meriter for grant to get recording equipment for health writers

Application being considered for Rotary Fund (~$500-1000 range); expected to have a South Madison focus, TBD. Perhaps flying in sister radio folks for mingling with the neighborhood or some other direct outreach to the neighborhood in some form, with possible guidance from Barbara Golden.

Major donor letter mailed in November 2006: about 80 letters have brought in over $9,000 so far!!!

Capital Campaign Workshop (Association of Fund Raising Professionals)

February 9, Friday, at CUNA Mutual building, 8/9:00-4:00

Team WORT, if accepted, will include Jim, Raechel, Annie and/or Jane

Major Donor House Party: Brainstorming dates, themes, budgets, etc.; general working details:

Mark and Julie Rosenthal’s home on Morrison

Actual theme will likely focus on WORT’s place in the media landscape, possibly playing off pledge drive motto: “Radio of the Free”

An after work event with snacks, wine and featuring WORT DJs, rather than a live band

Next meeting date: January 29, 2007; 4:00 p.m.

Citizen’s Advisory Board (CAB)

Glenn Mitroff

The CAB did not meet since the last Board meeting. The CAB meets tonight at 6:30pm. Board Action Item: Approval/Disapproval re: an additional one year appointment for each CAB members who indicates at tonight's meeting that they would like to serve for another year.

Ad HOC Long Range Space Planning Committee (aka Space “the final frontier” committee)

Justin Richardson

We are still trying to find a date for the committee to tour Harold Langhammer's building. The next meeting date will be scheduled via email.

ENGINEERING: No report; next meeting: Thursday 2/8

EXECUTIVE: No report

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE: No report

BYLAWS: No report

Finance: No report

Sister Station Radio Project Ad Hoc Committee: No report

January 2007 Staff reports

Music Director

Sybil Augustine

It's been a busy few weeks working around holidays, but soon I will have a new work-study student who may be able to stay through the summer. In the meantime I still have my assistant Robin and my former work-study person Nicole, but they have not been able to volunteer more than a few hours a week.
In other news:

Music/Programming:
- I am continuing to have verbal and email conversations urging programmers to help with the culling and 2nd review processes to stay current with incoming CDs.
- I'm also sending MP3s of promos for events at the Overture Center and in the process of archiving all the promos from the Combo A computer.
- We have tracked down a few lost and found CDs and cases, and we're beginning to receive burned copies to replace lost CDs.
- I did some coordination of publicity via the Daily Page and Dane 101 of our "best of 2006" retrospective music programs, mainly by rock music hosts.
- I continue to work on our WORT "Myspace" account which will help promote our web stream.

Volunteers:
- Met with Mustafa to discuss additions to the volunteer handbook (I wanted to tell him in person since he has low vision and may not notice the memos.)
- Updated volunteer voting list, phone list and emergency sub lists
- I trained more volunteers in burning CDs, recording promos, etc.

Staff:
- Am writing several articles for the Volunteer Newsletter: Obscenity and Profanity refresher,
Commercialism/Promotion on-air, Music Library updates, Receiving Promo CDs (for DJs), Programming
Committee Recruitment, Music Sorting and Culling, Volunteer Handbook Amendments. Many of these
will also be addressed in more detail in a Music Volunteer Newsletter later this spring.
- Attended Events Committee meeting, and researched a possible new (nonsmoking) venue for the Bowl-a-thon
- Ordered office supplies online
- Got approval to switch suppliers to receive 100% recycled plain copier paper, if it doesn't create storage issues for WORT

Misc:
-I'm serving on the permanent N&PA Facilitator hiring committee; I've been collecting notes from volunteers interested on serving, and made sure Jim has the Hiring Guidelines information.

I'm sorry, I know more stuff happened this month and I had some notes from my report to the Programming Committee last Wednesday that I was going to find for this report, but no luck. I will see you all tomorrow night.

Listener Sponsor Development Director

Jim Goronson

WINTER 2007 PLEDGE DRIVE
The dates for the Winter '07 drive are Thu Feb 15-Wed Feb. 28th. The theme is "Radio of the Free". Robin Good is the artist for this pledge drive. The new WORT-logoed thank you gift is a long-sleeved t-shirt Union Made in Chicago, IL!

FALL 2006 PLEDGE DRIVE
With all paid and unpaid pledges entered (except for a few new Autogive pledgers who haven't returned their paperwork yet) the total for "Crashing the Ether" is $104,047.

So far the LSDD office has processed $96,274.50 in credit card/check/cash donations--a fulfillment rate of 92.5% (OK, let's bump that up to 93%).

FALL 2006 NEWSLETTER
So far we've received and processed 92 donations totalling $7,350.

MAJOR DONOR CAMPAIGN
“Phase 1” of the plan was to send a targeted written appeal to supporters who’ve given at least $250 in one shot, asking them simply to consider raising their contribution for 2006. We believe that a personal touch will make our plea stand out from all the others people will be getting at the end of the year. We’d like each board member to personalize about 10 of the letters with a note and to sign with his/her name.
--I can report that this approach has been quite a success as we have received 16 donations totalling $9,800!

As Maggie noted, the Fundraising Committee is planning on having another major donor house party on Thursday March 22nd and will address its planning at our next meeting at the end of January.

Also, Raechel Pundsack, Jane Richard, Annie Courtney and I are attending a Capital Campaign workshop being put on by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Madison on Fri. Feb. 9th.

AUGUST 2006 DIRECT MAILING
So far we've received and processed 114 donations totalling $8,573.

DECEMBER 2006 DIRECT MAILING
So far we've received and processed 124 donations totalling $8,043.

BUSINESS and FOUNDATION DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR--Events

Maggie Weiser

EVENTS:
*First Tuesdays Reggae Night: *
The monthly reggae benefit was not held this month. The band and DJs took a well-deserved break. The next reggae night will occur on February 6th.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
*Annual Meeting:*
I am arranging food and beverages for the Annual Meeting, which will be held on February 11th.
*House Party:*
I am working with the Fundraising Committee on arranging another major donor house party event, scheduled for Thursday, March 22nd.
*Bowl-A-Thon:*
The Bowl-A-Thon is scheduled for Saturday, April 14th at Village Lanes in Monona. I am brainstorming entertainment options for this event, with help from the Events Committee and staff members. I am working on getting posters designed, obtaining business sponsorships, promotion, arrranging food for the event, booking entertianment, and general logistics.
At the request of some staff and volunteers, I met with the manager of Badger Bowl to explore the possibility of having our event there this year. I gathered all the information I felt necessary to make an informed decision. I discussed the options with staff to get their input. The Events Committee also had a more in-depth discussion about it, and made a final decision to keep the event at Village Lanes this year.

*Block Party:*
WORT's 10th Annual Block Party is scheduled for Sunday, May 20th I am working on the first stage of planning for the event. This includes some neighbor-relations work, and getting information I will need to apply for all necessary permits, liscences, and insurance. I am going over notes from last year, trying to find areas to improve upon.

EVENTS COMMITTEE:
The Events Committee met on Monday, January 8th. We had a re-cap discussion about the 31st Birthday Party, and discussed the spring fundraising events, including Bowl-A-Thon and the WORT Block Party. Events Committee will meet again on Monday, Feb. 5 at 5:30pm.

PLEDGE DRIVES:
I sent out a letter on Wednesday, requesting food donations for the winter pledge drive, and expect to see responses in my mailbox very soon.

BUSINESS and FOUNDATION DEVELOPMENT
Raechel Pundsack

Took vacation and comp time from 12/23 -1/2.
Fund Raising Committee: Met Jan 4th - see Jane's report. Next mtg: Monday, January 29th at 4pm.

Training: Planning to attend the AFP Capitol Campaign training on February 9th. Jim will be sharing information gleaned from next week's WBA conference on Website Fund Raising Potential with other fund raising staff, specifically moi.

Volunteers: Am reviewing ways to add volunteer help into this job position. Currently discussing with two potential volunteers ideas for grants research and revamping underwriting materials.

Grants:
- Awarded a $5,700 Media Justice Fund grant! We will be using the funds to expand our media toolkit and translate it into Spanish and Hmong.
- Submitted a Meriter Community Partnership grant application.
- Researching possible grant opportunities: South Metropolitan Planning Council, Rotary Fund, BMI Foundation

Underwriting:
- Working with Overture Center to meet new tracking requirements; providing airtimes and MP3s of all of their announcements. Phone conferenced and am set to meet with their new and existing Marketing/Outreach staff to discuss their promotions. Working with John Kraniak, a Friends of the Overture Board Member, to strengthen this relationship.
- Worked with Tom to get updated Underwriting information on new WORT website. Working on mailing to Underwriters soliciting links to add to a new WORT Underwriters section of the website.

Underwriting Traffic:
Overture (4)
Studio Jewelers
Capitol Kids
Orange Tree Imports
John W. Thompson
Outback Concerts ($1,000)

Outreach/Info sent:
WI Dept of Natural Resources
Connections Counseling
Avant Garden - trade out for shoveling services
Community Car - potential trade out for delivery service/vehicle use
Regent Market Coop - trade out for supplies - replacing Mifflin Coop special ordering relationship :(

Operations

Norm Stockwell

The Finance Committee did not meet this month. I am finishing final year-end reports to funders & regulatory agencies. The completed Audit will be presented to the new board in March.

The Engineering Committee did not meet this month, but the renovations of mastercontrol are well underway. Tom has begun his full-time infotech work. A new, donated, computer was added to the front reception desk. We are upgrading our fileserver and increasing the speed on our DSL line this month as well.

The new "Space-The FinalFrontier" Committee will meet soon. We hope to make a space visit shortly as well. Other work will continue.

Our Sister-Radio station group did not meet.

Elections Committee is gearing-up for the Annual Meeting (Feb. 11th at the Senior Center - 4-6 pm). See timetable at bottom of this report. The election is underway, and Board applications are available for review in the lobby and on the website. The certified voting list is posted in the back hallway.

Next Week is the Wisconsin Broadcasters Conference. WORT anticipates an award for one of its News Programs.

Laura and I will be attended the Media Reform Conference in early Jan. I will also be gone for about ten days in the last half of Jan to attend the World Social Forum in Nairobi. (Jan 18-28). Look for our reports on-air and on-line.

========
November 8: 1st available date to post notice of elections, can be done anytime in the next week or 2 (Norm/Jane)
November 15: Board meeting
December 1: Board application packets are available at station. Interested candidates call and request packet by mail or pick-up.
During the month of December - Staff establishes list of eligible voters that have worked at least 5 hrs per mo for 3 consecutive months between July - Dec 2006.
December 20: Board meeting
December 31: draft voter list must be posted in the station: STAFF
January 10: Post notice of Ann. Mtg including any proposed by-law amendments (Norm/Jane) AND Certification of voter list.
January 12: Ballots are available from Staff at Station to eligible voters who register (sign-in). Board candidate bios/applications are available in lobby at station and on website as pdf files.
January 17: Board meeting
February 9: any mailed ballots must be in the station by 5:00pm
February 11: ANNUAL MEETING: all "absentee" ballots due by 4:00 p.m. Candidates make short presentations. Those present at meeting complete their ballots. Votes counted by Elections Committee plus one. Winners announced. Short meeting of New Board follows.

IT COORDINATOR

Thomas Christie

Greetings,
It has been a couple of weeks now since I have become a full staff collective member. This is my first board report in that capacity. Things have been going well. I have had more time to work with staff members and I have started some much needed clean up and organization that has been put off far too long. Specific accomplishments in the past 2 weeks:

Identified a second server which is for our purposes identical to the current file server. This server has been purchased and delivered. I have loaded it with the most recent Fedora (Linux) OS. I am in the process of building it out to be the (upgraded) file server. The lists machine has been showing its age recently, so I will then take the machine that has been serving as the file server and build it to the same OS level and set it up as the lists server.

We took donation of a Mac G3 tower and a Mac G3 laptop. I have upgraded both of these to OS X. The tower has been installed at the reception desk with a flat panel monitor. The laptop will be used for an internet remote kit. As more information becomes available on-line, the reception computer becomes more of a necessity.

We have a new 5Mbit download DSL line which will likely serve as the primary WORT link to the internet. (This will make, for instance, downloading shows such as Democracy Now! much quicker) This was installed on Friday and I tested it by downloading the 5 CD's needed for the server upgrades. With the current link I could only download 2 CD's at a time and it would take all day and degrade the station's network access in the process. I easily downloaded all 5 CD's in one day with the new link.

I have made initial contacts with people interested in working together in a "web collective" and took the wortweb@lists.wort-fm.org address for that group. I still need to figure out how to give this collective access to make updates without compromising security. This item and the previous one have me thinking about how to restructure the network in order to have a high security segment.

I have been making quite a few changes to the new website as people get more familiar with it and discover bits that were left out or need to be changed.

I have been working with Glenn to produce the voting list for the Annual meeting from the volunteer database.

Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator

Glenn Mitroff

Since the last Board meeting I was able to take some comp and leave time between the holidays and for a skiing trip up North this past weekend.

Projects I worked on include:
Finalizing the Voter List for the 2007 Annual Meeting; worked with volunteer graphic artist Robin Good and Sybil on the January ad for Maximum Ink & Rick’s Café inviting local musicians to submit music to the station; wrote the Pulse of WORT article for the Radio Pilot; submitted volunteer hours to RSVP for the four station volunteers working with that program; updated the Volunteer Opportunities sheet; participated in the Staff Collective’s exit interview with Nathan; and had lunch with Irre, our Swedish volunteer from last summer who will be returning to Madison this summer and sticking around until the end of the year to student teach at West High School and volunteer at WORT!

I have been working closely with PROM Committee member Lynn Pophal, providing feedback on designs which intern Laura Ferguson is designing for bookmarks. The bookmarks for Rainbow began being distributed last Friday. The bookmark for A Room of One’s Own has been delayed until Laura Ferguson returns to town and can recreate new files to replace those with poor resolution.

I have been working on filling receptionist openings. One receptionist requested an earlier shift so that she wouldn’t have to wait in the dark for her ride home. Another receptionist decided after several weeks of training and numerous shifts paired with veteran receptionists, that the job was too stressful for her. With Nathan’s departure, Lisa Moore decided to step down from her Wednesday evening shift. So, we’ve been doing some reshuffling and should be able to cover the busiest times of the day as we continue to recruit for the Tuesday 4-8pm and Wednesday 5-8pm positions.

I gave a station tour and talked with Martine Davis about volunteering. Martine recently moved to Madison from Springfield, IL and has her own business assessing indoor air quality and making suggestions for remediation. Martine is considering various volunteer opportunities at the station, but is also committed to helping us determine how to improve our indoor air quality.

I worked out a Promotional Exchange Agreement with The Wisconsin Youth Company for Celebrating Youth—WORT will have a booth at the event and an ad in the program book. I also have begun working out details for a promotional exchange regarding the visit in March of Matthew Fox.

Last week I participated in a three hour Board Retreat for DCAVS (Dane County Administrators of Volunteer Services). This morning I attended the first of six monthly sessions in the Professional Development Training for Volunteer Managers series. Tomorrow I will attend the bi-monthly DCAVS program—Marketing your Volunteer Opportunity to your Target Audience.

WORT will participate in the Government & Non-profit Volunteer and Career Fair at the UW on January 31st.

News and Public Affairs Facilitator

Laura Miller (interim)

Greetings to Board Members. I am now beginning my second full week as Interim News & Public Affairs Facilitator. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to fill this position and to keep all things news and public affairs running smoothly until a new news fac is hired and trained.
Interim Training:
Nathan Moore and I had a whirlwind 6-days of training before the torch was officially passed over to me on Friday, January 12, during Mel & Floyd. There are many, many details of this job to learn and I’m still absorbing them. I will be organizing my notes from training and other materials so that I can pass on all the great training I got from Nathan to the new person. It’ll take a week or so, before I feel completely up to speed. I’m still learning my way around the computer network, Nathan’s filing system, Audioport, general protocol for email distribution, meeting volunteers, etc. I do feel my ten plus years of experience as a news volunteer at WORT have helped make the transition somewhat smoother. It might be worth noting here that the fallout from the disciplinary action concerning Lea Zeldin occupied several hours of Nathan’s time and interrupted our training on several occasions.

Staffing:

[omitted reference to on-going disciplinary action]
* There has been some turnover in staffing in IOBY. Also, many IOBYers have been on vacation. Lots of folks have been pitching in to cover gaps. In the next couple weeks, I’ll have a clearer idea of whether or not there are any serious gaps in staffing. I will be training a new engineer to do either APA or IOBY, depending on what his class schedule ends up being. I am looking forward to getting a few other new volunteers (who have already expressed interested) involved with IOBY. I’ll also be on the look out for new volunteers and recruitment opportunities.

* I found two substitute APA hosts for the two shows [ ]. On Jan. 11, Wajid Jenkins hosted, re-airing his very good ½-hour documentary on Mifflin Coop and then taking calls with Mifflin’s Jennifer Feyerherm as his guest. Jan Levine Thal will have the Jan. 25 program where she will discuss recent war films with a movie critic.
* Jonathan Walton will become the Friday APA/Mel & Floyd engineer, taking over my old slot. I have a lead on a permanent Tuesday APA engineer, which is the slot Jonathan left.

Projects:
* Getting ready for the Feb. pledge drive is on my radar. I’ll be working with Buzz and APA hosts to line up guests and pledge premiums. I'll also start signing up pledge rappers for APA/Democracy Now and news block.
* I’m looking down the road to spring elections. IOBY is already beginning to cover primary races.
* Volunteer trainings: There are none scheduled currently, but I will plan a couple for March. In particular, I’m interested in doing a Reading for Radio training, something Nathan never did, but one that could be very useful for news volunteers.

Programming Committee
I attended my first Programming Committee meeting last week. I will be working with Alex Gillis to draft a self-review process and tool for current programmers. Discussion of WORT2 continues.

Minutes of the December 2006 Board of Directors meeting

Meeting convened: 6:17 p.m.
Directors present: Herrick, Beckett, Lipton, Augustine (staff rep), Richardson, Courtney, Fung

Staff present: Stockwell, Mitroff, Moore

Guests: Peter Streicher

I. Minutes: November 2006 minutes approved

II. Announcements/Communications from the public: Peter Streicher

III. Reports

A. Officers: no reports

B. Staff: Reports submitted
Music

Listener Sponsor Development

Business Development

Events

Grants

Operations

Volunteer Coordinator

News and Public Affairs

C. Committees: reports submitted unless noted as “no meeting”

Executive: see interim hiring committee report

PROM (formerly MCOC)

Programming

Engineering

CAB: no meeting

Fund Raising: no meeting

Regulatory Compliance: no meeting

Bylaws: no meeting

Events: no meeting

Elections: see Operations report

Ad hoc Sister Radio: no meeting

Ad hoc facilities planning

Finance: 2 action items: 1. Action: Annual Conflict of Interest Policy suggested by Wegner for all Board members to sign; 2. Action: 6-month budget review

Personnel: Action: Addition to Policy manual

IV. Old Business
A. Proposed change to Volunteer Handbook regarding production for national programs.

Moore asked to postpone

B. Oaxaca letter proposed by Nancy Mae at Nov. meeting and referred to staff. Staff recommends signing the letter.

Lipton moved, Augustine 2nd; motion to sign letter passed

C. Volunteer Handbook update (a mistake on the agenda.): read Policy manual

December Board Action Item:

The ad hoc policy committee members suggest the following addition to the Policy Manual:

“The job of actually printing the policies enacted by the Board and updating the WORT Policy Manual after each meeting is assigned to the Board Secretary whose job it already is to report policy language additions and changes as part of the monthly Board minutes.”

All in favor; concept passed

D. Staffing proposal discussion (staff and personnel committee)

Four positions presented by staff/Stockwell:

1. Summer assistant for Glenn

Approved

2. Discontinue contract with Blue Bird Cleaners in order to hire a cleaner/janitor (10 hours/week)

Approved

3. Expand Chief Engineer hours from 10 hours/week to 15

Approved

4. Info Tech half-time position expanded to full-time staff collective member

Approved

E. Other old business: None

V. New Business
A. News and Public Affairs Facilitator vacancy

1. Interim hiring report: Moore and interim hiring committee (Personnel). Meeting Dec. 21

2. Permanent hiring staff report. Motion to form a hiring committee passed.

Board members: Lipton and Richardson, Fung to fill in when he returns to town, if necessary.

Staff members: Augustine and Goronson, Mitroff to serve as back-up

C. Annual Conflict of Interest Policy suggested by Wegner for all Board members to sign

“Each member of the WORT Board of Directors agrees to sign a conflict of interest statement provided by the WORT auditor.” Approved

D. Letter to Isthmus from Staff re: Air America. The letter will be sent in response to “save the mic” commentary which has ignored the role of community radio in its reporting on the issue. Approved

E. Scheduling: Not needed until February meeting

F. Staff evaluation: Stockwell: closed session

VI. Adjourn: 9:30 p.m.

December 2006 Committee reports to the Board

Finance Committee

Annie Courtney

The Finance Committee met on Dec 14.

Investments
Our socially responsible investments have performed well (as has the stock market overall.) We invested $200,000 in early autumn and we have seen an increase in value of over $5500 as of November 30.

We have finished paperwork to close down underperforming money market accounts at Asscociated Bank and will be moving the money to a higher earning money market at Anchor Bank.

We will consolidate our accounts at Heartland, closing down a small money market and moving those funds into another Heartland money market fund we maintain with higher interest rates. The committee also recommends transfering money from the Heartland savings account into the Money Market account on a monthly basis.

Audit
We reviewed the draft audit from Wegner. They found us to be financially sound. We will go over the audit in detail when the final version is submitted. The auditors recommend that we adopt a Conflict of Interest policy, a document destruction policy, and that we acquire a corporate credit card.

The committee recommends adoption of the following Conflict of Interest policy, which was the simpler of the two Wegner suggested.

Board of Directors Conflict of Interest Policy

I, ________________, a Director of Back Porch Radio, Inc./WORT-FM, affirm that, to the best of my knowledge, neither I, not any of my affiliates (hereinafter defined) have any financial or other personal interest, direct or indirect, that is incompatible with the proper discharge of my fiducuiary duties as a member of the Board of Directors of Back Porch Radio, Inc./WORT-FM or would tend to impair my independence, judgement or action in performance of my duites as Director, except as described below. I further affirm that, to the best of my knowledge, neither I nor any of my affiliates, is an officer or managing agent of any municipal, state, federal or private granting or contracting entity that provides or receives funds or other benefits to or from Back Porch Radio, Inc./WORT-FM , except as described below. As used herein, I understand the term "affiliate" to mean any relative, business or professional partner or associate, or other person or entity (including without limitation any corporation or partnership in which I have a personal or financial interest) with whom I have any significant relationship.


Financial Statements and Budget Adjustments
The committee reviewed several Financial Statements, with particular attention to the Budget vs Actual numbers. We are meeting or exceeding our income goals, and are within our expense projections. The Budget vs Actuals file is attached.

Discussion then followed on the budget adjustments that would be required if a proposal coming from the staff collective to increase staffing were accepted. As proposed, these staffing changes would raise the projected deficits to $25,000. Since more detailed conversation about the feasibility of increasing staffing will need to occur before a final decison is made, the draft revised budget reflecting those changes is attached. When the decision about staffing is fianlized, another draft will be submitted.

ENGINEERING:

Justin Richardson

Committee met 12/7/06

MCR UPGRADE (NEOTEK) STATUS
On hold for the moment, due to a series live shows scheduled in the Master Control Room.

PTFP GRANT DENIED
We received a letter from PTFP indicating that we will not get funded. So, we would need to find another source for funds for the two digital mixing boards, and the SAP (Second Audio Channel, aka ³WORT 2²) if we are to further explore those projects.

DIGITAL SIGNAL OUTAGE
Digital exciter crashed. Rebooted digital exciter with new software and it is working fine. The analog (regular) signal was not interrupted. Only a handful of people in Madison have digital radios, so probably no listeners noticed the digital outage.

WEBSTREAM REPORT
We have been reaching our 50-listener maximum on Fridays during Mel and Floyd. We don¹t come close to maxing out during the rest of the week, but the web listenership is growing in general. We may increase our number of streams by 10 or so at a time and keep an eye on it. If there becomes a need to double the number of streams we offer, we will consult with the budget committee.

BUILDING WIRING MAPPING
In progress . . .

POWER INCREASE APPLICATION STATUS
Still pending . . .

LAURA¹S JOB DESCRIPTION
We reviewed and edited a first draft of Laura¹s job description. Chief Engineer/Operator.

EQUIPMENT DATABASE PROJECT
Ongoing.

PROGRAMMING

Filed by Nathan Moore, facilitator for this month

The committee is hard at work on a number of projects, though there are no new program proposals on the table at the moment.

Arbitron report

Nathan delivered an oral report to accompany the lengthy text report of the composite Arbitron figures from the Spring Arbitron books, 2004-2006. Our top line data indicates that WORT has approximately 33,600 listeners per week, each one tuning in about 4.7 hours per week on average. There’s a trove of additional information in the report, and Nathan can give you a copy (and explain it) on request.

WORT2

The Programming Committee continues to discuss possible program grids for WORT2. Nathan drafted a long list of syndicated news and public affairs programs we could use for filler in the early days. Sybil drafted a list (based on an earlier committee discussion) of other ideas and programming strategies. Committee members have the homework project of thinking of specific draft versions of a program schedule.

Program Review Process

The committee has been seeking volunteer feedback on its Program Review process (based in self-review). We reviewed the comments and are trying to move forward, incorporating all the suggestions we can. This month, our homework is to work on process questions – how the reviews will be used, who will see them, what will be done with them, etc.

PC Members leaving

Ryan Parks announced that after approximately seven years on the committee, this was his last meeting. Nathan said that he’ll probably make the January meeting, but then will be leaving.

New PC Members arriving

The Programming Committee received the committee application of Tonya Brito, read it over, met with Tonya, and voted to approve her as the newest PC member. She’ll have to miss the January meeting, but will start on the PC in February.

The next meeting is set for Wednesday, January 10 at 6pm. Alex Gillis will be the facilitator.

Personnel

Kathie Beckett

The Personnel Committee met with Norm to go over his yearly personnel evaluation and review. We will present the results to the board Wednesday evening in closed session. Last year the Personnel Committee asked Norm to locate and update all part time staff job descriptions; there is only one more to finalize.

The next evaluation will be Glenn's.

The Personnel Committee also discussed updating the WORT Policy Manual.

WORT Policy Manual Updates - Background

The WORT Bylaws specify that the Policy Manual is to be updated "by the WORT Board". Unfortunately, this task often slips past the Board (and the staff). The current policy manual is woefully out of date and last year the Board set up an ad hoc policy committee to track down all the Policies enacted by the Board since the last update in 1997. The committee completed its mission & is in the process of printing the policies for inclusion in the Manual.

December Board Action Item:

The ad hoc policy committee members suggest the following addition to the Policy Manual: The job of actually printing the policies enacted by the Board and updating the WORT Policy Manual after each meeting is assigned to the Board Secretary whose job it already is to report policy language additions and changes as part of the monthly Board minutes.

PROM (Public Relations Outreach and Marketing; formerly MCOC)

Peter Lipton

The PROM committee met on Dec 12 at 5:30-7:30.

Present were Glenn Mitroff, Lynn Pophal, Ken Pritchard (a new member), Peter Lipton.

Despite the small attendance the meeting was a lively one.

1. Nathan presented a written and oral summary of the most recent Arbitron report. WORT has about 35,000 listeners (defined as turning in WORT at all) and at any one time there are on average 900 listeners. This led to discussion on how listenership might be increased.

A major issue was, that of the Arbitron-defined ‘loyal’ listeners the listening time was much smaller for WORT loyal listeners than for of WERN loyal listeners (about half). WE DISCUSSED INCREASING CROSS-PROGRAM PROMOTIONS. We felt that advertising coming programs, both within-genre and cross-genre could be increased a good deal and that this might help. This would require coordination between PROM and staff.

Another major issue was the slow decline in listenership from 1 p.m. onwards, as opposed to the usual profile which has an evening peak. We had no specific action proposal for this.

Another issue was the very low percentage of young listeners (below 25). THE PROM COMMITTEE IS NOW WORKING, ALONG WITH THE NEWS DEPARTMENT, TO REACH THE COLLEGE STUDENTS. There were no specific proposals for high school and younger.

2. Lynn presented a set of (beautiful!) posters/flyers that she and her co-worker Laura, who is a graphics designer, had designed to promote different music genres. These had been reviewed by Glenn and others who had provided input into the final product. Several of these were nearly complete and two-three more are planned for completion in the near future. These got us pretty excited and the plan is to launch these at or around the annual meeting. We discussed distribution issues and Ken, who has a great deal of editing experience, offered to help in the production process.

Laura and Lynn have also designed targeted bookmarks promoting WORT, which are also very zippy, and are slated to be distributed by Room of One’s Own and Rainbow book stores.

3. Glenn presented the idea of preparing and distributing pocket calendars of WORT programming and had several samples from other stations. This seemed very promising to all of us. The plan is also to make more bumper stickers as we are nearly out.

4. Alas, no progress had been made by Peter and Trini on organizing further presentations to community organizations.

Space: The final Frontier (Ad HOC Long Range Space Planning Committee)

Justin Richardson

Committee met 11/30/2007

We will eventually need to know the worth of our current buildings. WORT volunteer Stuart Utley offered to do a commercial assessment on our building. Until then, as a reference point, the lawyers’ office across the street has been assessed at $932,000. However, they have more land, one story, and parking.

To satisfy our curiosity, Terry O. will ask our neighbor is he has thought about selling his house.

We will make an appointment to look at Harold Langhammer’s building behind St. Raphael’s Church (roughly between Henry and Main and W. Washington). We’ll try to do this between December 18-22.

We are planning a whiteboard session on January 20, at which an outside facilitator will help us formulate what our ideal space needs might be, if we could have anything we wanted. Board, staff, and any other stakeholders are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Terry O. suggested we do a feasibility study on a capital campaign to see what we could reasonably expect if we were to launch a capital campaign.

CURRENT SPACE UTILIZATION

Justin will share the process that UW uses to analyze current space, to see if we can borrow some of this to analyze our current building.

Citizen’s Advisory Board (CAB)

Glenn Mitroff

The CAB did not meet since the last Board meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 16th at 6:30pm. This is the CAB Annual Meeting at which members indicate whether or not they would like to be appointed by the Board for an additional one year term.

Affiliate Report : Dane County Administrators of Volunteer Services

11/27/06

DCAVS bid farewell to President Rachel O’Leary who moved to New York in August. Vice President Glenn Mitroff stepped in as Interim President for the remainder of 2006. At the DCAVS November meeting, the membership elected the following officers for 2007: President, Glenn Mitroff (WORT 89.9 FM Community Radio); Vice President, Elaine Creager (Dane County CASA); Treasurer, Kadie Labadie (Meriter Retirement Services); Sylvia Engel (RSVP of Dane Co.)

DCAVS had robust attendance at our 2006 lunch/program series hosted on alternate months. Topics included: Community Reflections: Creating Diversity in Volunteer Programs; Developing a Career Ladder for Volunteers; Do’s and Don’ts of Grant Writing; Learn to Relax. A March snowstorm prompted us to cancel the program: Marketing Your Volunteer Opportunity to a Target Audience.

In September, DCAVS and the United Way Volunteer Center co-hosted a half day conference with the theme: "Beyond the Basics: Integrating Your Volunteer Program into Your Agency’s Mission." Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz provided the keynote address, highlighting the importance of volunteerism in Madison and Dane County and the vital role of volunteer managers in contributing to the quality of life in our communities.

On November 1st, DCAVS and the United Way Volunteer Center co-hosted our first annual celebration of International Volunteer Managers’ Appreciation Day. A proclamation by Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle was presented by Johnnie Smith of the Wisconsin Emergency Management Office. (Proclamation is attached)

From January to June 2007, DCAVS and the United Way Volunteer Center will be hosting a volunteer management training series consisting of six half day sessions including: Understanding Volunteering; Plan for Success; Recruiting & Placing Volunteers; Orienting & Training Volunteers; Supervising Volunteers; Continuous Program Improvement. Participants may register for individual sessions or the entire series. For information contact Kathy Martinson (608) 246-4356 or kathym@uwdc.org

DCAVS projects for 2007 include a new web site and brochure.

Submitted by Glenn Mitroff, Interim President

Proclamation

WHEREAS, Our nation was founded upon a spirit of volunteerism and the talents and energies of volunteers continues to be one of our countries greatest resources; and

WHEREAS, Wisconsin is greatly enriched by the generous contributions of volunteers as evidenced by our high national ranking for our rate of volunteering being the highest in the Midwest; and

WHEREAS. Over 3,000 non-profit agencies in Dane County alone rely on volunteers to provide many needed services to keep our communities thriving; and

WHEREAS, Dane County Administrators of Volunteer Services, DCAVS, provides opportunities for professional development, education, and support for volunteer managers; and

WHEREAS, Volunteer Managers are the dedicated people behind the volunteers; and

WHERAS, They work extremely hard to market programs, causes and the needs of our community to people who want to make a difference by volunteering. Volunteer Managers dedicate large amounts of time to recruit, screen, educate, support, recognize and retain the volunteers who give of their time.

WHEREAS, It is fitting for all citizens to join in this celebration of our rich volunteer heritage and to give special recognition to Volunteer Managers because of their immeasurable contributions to the profession, to improving peoples’ lives, and to strengthening our communities in Wisconsin.

NOW, therefore, I, Jim Doyle, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, do hereby proclaim November 1, 2006 to be Professional Volunteer Managers Appreciation Day.

ELECTIONS: see Norm’s report

FUNDRAISING: no report: next meeting January 4

EVENTS: No report: next meeting January 8

EXECUTIVE: No report

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE: No report

BYLAWS: No report

Sister Station Radio Project Ad Hoc Committee: No report

December 2006 Staff Reports to the Board

Music Director

Sybil Augustine

It's been a busy month, but I'll have a little time off while the record labels sleep. My assistant Robin and my work-study person Nicole have been just wonderful at helping with projects from gigantic to infinitesimal. Nicole's work study award is at an end but she is interested in continuing to volunteer until her work exchange program takes her far away to Japan. :'(

On to this month's activities....
Music/Programming:
- We held a small but effective music sorting party on Dec. 5th and got rid of a lot of older things that needed reviewing
- I converted and compiled MP3s of promos for events at the Overture Center and emailed them to staff (Anna Hahm) per their request. I'm also having all the promos they did this year converted and archived on discs to free up space on our hard drives
- I'm participating in a digital music delivery service that has stand-alone players, where music is automatically downloaded to our account. But, I'm not ready to tell people they can submit music this way yet, as there are still glitches in the system
- I compiled a list of programming considerations, possible rotating or shared time slots, and a 'wish list' of hosts and genres for WORT II programming grid and shared it at our last Programming Committee meeting
- My program "Psychoacoustics" had our 15th Anniversary live remote broadcast, which went very well once the stream was established. A brief de-briefing followed, and Laura will draw up a worksheet for preparing and troubleshooting live remotes
- We compiled and distributed lists of Lost & Found CDs in WORT's library or possession Lost CDs will get back to their DJ owners; lost WORT CDs may be returned to the station; and CDs that we only have cases for & no discs may be replaced with burned copies by DJs who have those same CDs
- I'm looking over playlists with an eye towards the programmers doing self-reviews, and helping to revise the evaluation tool
- I'm coordinating "best of 2006" programming and promotion among music hosts
- Created a WORT "MySpace" account to raise our profile among music lovers, who may then start listening to our webstream

Volunteers:
- Met with Lucille and Linda regarding their taking over & continuing the Best of Gospel time slot after Jonnie O
- Met with DJ Trini and Glenn regarding promotion of community organizations and businesses on Panafrica
- Coordinating lots of promos, subs and specials for the holidays
- Nice piece in The Onion lauding WORT, especially Back to the Country, Friday on My Mind, and Strictly Jazz Sounds
- Created bright green warning labels for FCC-prohibited content & posted them prominently around the station
- Meeting with Cipher Zone folks regarding recruitment and training for the collective
- Updated volunteer voting list, phone list and emergency sub lists
- Trained volunteers in burning CDs, recording promos, etc

Staff:
- Updated staff's quarterly planning document
- Established online ordering account for office supplies with our regular supplier
- Assisted in updates for our technical and other emergencies studio handbook

Misc:
-Have cleaned up and organized a lot of stuff in the music department area downstairs, some of which isn't really music or WORT-related but sort of fell in my lap (e.g. photos from concerts, misc. cassette tapes, promotional and archive items )
-Following up on suggestions from WORT programmers & members of the public (Darlene from Mad Folk Music Society, Lucy & Steve at the Barrymore) I requested & received a screening copy of "Before the Music Dies," a film about current issues in the music industry such as commercialism & the plight of independent artists. It looked good on their web site, but however, after seeing the film I don't recommend that WORT become involved in a screening; mainly because they say a lot about how badly commercial radio treats artists & caters to big corporations, but at no point in the film do they even mention noncommercial or community radio as an alternative. The script kind of falls apart towards the end & it doesn't really seem to come to any conclusions about what folks can do to change things "before the music dies."
-Assisted with trivia, logistics & cleanup for the WORT Birthday Parties at High Noon & the Cardinal Bar
-I'm willing & available to serve on the permanent N&PA Facilitator hiring committee if need be

Listener Sponsor Development Director

Jim Goronson

FALL 2006 PLEDGE DRIVE
With all paid and unpaid pledges entered (except for a few new Autogive pledgers who haven't returned their paperwork yet) the total for "Crashing the Ether" is $104,047.

So far the LSDD office has processed $92,972.50 in credit card/check/cash donations--a fulfillment rate of 89%. Once again I suggest that everyone take pause upon reading this to acknowledge the tremendously loyal and enthusiastic listeners we have. I'm sending out a reminder letter to the 250 or so folks who have not fulfilled their pledges yet this week (just in time for the holidayz). Grainne Svendsen and Lisa Nunez did a FABULOUS job of processing the donations and will be hired again for the winter pledge drive.

FALL 2006 NEWSLETTER
So far we've received and processed 82 donations totaling $6,576.

MAJOR DONOR CAMPAIGN
“Phase 1” of the plan was to send a targeted written appeal to supporters who’ve given at least $250 in one shot, asking them simply to consider raising their contribution for 2006. We believe that a personal touch will make our plea stand out from all the others people will be getting at the end of the year. We’d like each board member to personalize about 10 of the letters with a note and to sign with his/her name.
--I can report that this approach has been quite successful as so far we have received 8 donations totaling $5,050 from the letters that all of you signed that were mailed on Dec. 1st.

The Fundraising Committee is planning on having another Major Donor house party in March or April and will address its planning at our next meeting in early January.

AUGUST 2006 DIRECT MAILING
So far we've received and processed 94 donations totaling $6,756.

DECEMBER 2006 DIRECT MAILING
With small stacks of donations now arriving on a daily basis and so far we’ve processed 26 donations=$2,170.

WINTER 2007 PLEDGE DRIVE
The dates for the Winter '07 drive are Thursday February 15 through Wednesday Feb. 28th. The theme has not been established yet but will have something do to with WORT being an "Oasis of Truth". Robin Good is the artist for this pledge drive.

BUSINESS and FOUNDATION DEVELOPMENT
Raechel Pundsack

Helped Glenn with Outreach Assistant funding proposal. Working ahead on underwriting, logs and general housekeeping in order to take vacation time from 12/26 -1/2.

Fundraising: Met November 9th - see Jane's report. Next mtg: Thursday, January 4th at 3pm.

Grants:
- Awaiting word on our application for a $6,000 Media Justice Fund grant--hoping to hear by the end of the month
- Working with Lea Zeldin of Healthwriters on a Meriter Community Partnership grant application.

Underwriting:
- Working with Overture Center to meet new tracking requirements; providing airtimes and MP3s of all of their announcements. Submitted next three months of contracts and potential scripts for their review
- Working with Nathan to get updated Underwriting information/links on new WORT website.

Underwriting Traffic:	Outreach/Info sent:
Overture (4) Studio Jewelers Capitol Kids Orange Tree Imports	Eco Painting WI DOT CTC and Associates	The Shop Consulting Studio Paran Lakeside Fibers Mermaid Cafe

Business Development Report
Maggie Weiser

EVENTS:
WORT Birthday Party:
Our 31st Birthday Party was held on Saturday, December 2nd at the High Noon Saloon. It was a lot of fun, featuring delicious cake from Carl's Cakes, and great music from The Sean Michael Dargan Threesome, Tongue n' Groove, and The Rousers. Norm put together a digital slideshow that was shown between musical acts, and featured pictures of volunteers from throughout WORT history. We involved the audience with some WORT trivia questions and fun prizes. With help from a few business sponsors, and the many people who attended the party, we raised $1,164.60 at this event. I have completed all follow-up on this event, including thank-you notes, thank-you promos, and ticket sale collection.

First Tuesdays Reggae Night:
The Cardinal Bar benefit continues to be successful. We are very grateful to the club, as well as Supa Ranks and FRP for continuing to facilitate this monthly fund-raising event . This month, on December 5th, they added another band, and billed it as sort of a second birthday party, and $370.00 was raised for WORT at this event. The next reggae night will occur on February 6th, after a one-month break from this monthly event.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
I have now been working at WORT for almost a year & have had the opportunity to coordinate all of WORT's annual fundraising events. I am now reviewing the success of these events, and brainstorming ways to improve upon them.
Our next fundraising event, the WORT Bowl-A-Thon will take place in April. The date and venue will be determined soon. WORT Annual Meeting: I will be helping to coordinate food and beverages for the annual meeting on February 11th.

EVENTS COMMITTEE:
The Events Committee will meet on Monday, January 8th. We plan to discuss spring events, including Bowl-A-Thon and the WORT Block Party.

PLEDGE DRIVES:
I am working on ways to make the food donation aspect of pledge drives smoother next time around. I am also brainstorming new businesses to ask for food donations.

I hope you all have a good holiday, or non-holiday, or just a nice couple of weeks!

Operations

Norm Stockwell

The Finance Committee met earlier this month and conducted a 6-month review of the budget. A presentation will be made tonight. Audit work is complete, and final year-end reports to funders & regulatory agencies are underway. The completed Audit will be presented to the new board in March.

Staff met to further review positions & budget needs, & is making recos regarding several part-time positions. An interim News Facil is also being sought, with a full-time permanent hiring process beginning as well.

I had my personnel review earlier this month.

The Engineering Committee met earlier this month and discussed the status of several projects and the job duties for the "Chief Engineer/Chief Operator" position. The "Content Depot" is beginning to be implemented. It still has some glitches (not at our end).

The new "Space-The Final Frontier" Committee met in November and further reviewed various space assessment tasks. We hope to make a space visit shortly. Other work will continue.

Our Sister-Radio station group did not meet.

Elections Committee has begun gearing-up for the Annual Meeting (Feb. 11th at the Senior Center - 4-6pm). See timetable at bottom of this report.

A live remote from the Glass Nickel went well, after a few initial false starts. The Internet streaming connection performed flawlessly. We also participated in an International Migrants' Day broadcast on Dec 18th, organized by UNESCO and others. Details at www.radio18-12.net

Laura and I will be attending the Media Reform Conference in early January. I may also be gone for a little over a week in the middle of January to attend the World Social Forum in Nairobi. But it is not confirmed.

======== Election timetable===========
November 8: 1st available date to post notice of elections: can be done anytime in the next week or 2 (Norm/Jane)
November 15: Board meeting
December 1: Board application packets are available at station. Interested candidates call & request packet by mail/pick-up
During the month of December - Staff establishes list of eligible voters that have worked at least 5 hrs per mo for 3 consecutive months between July - Dec 2006.
December 20: Board meeting
December 31: draft voter list must be posted in the station: STAFF
January 10: Post notice of Annual Meeting including any proposed by-law amendments (Norm/Jane) & Certification of voter list by Vice-President (Richardson)
January 12: Ballots are available from Staff at Station to eligible voters who register (sign-in). Board candidate bios/applications are available in lobby at station & on website as pdf files.
January 17: Board meeting
February 9: any mailed ballots must be in the station by 5:00pm
Feb 11: ANNUAL MEETING: all "absentee" ballots due by 4:00 p.m. Candidates make short presentations. Those present at meeting complete their ballots. Votes counted by Elections Committee plus one. Winners announced. Short meeting of New Board follows.

Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator

Glenn Mitroff

Since the last Board meeting, I have been busy meeting with and giving tours to a number of prospective volunteers. In the past few weeks, 3 new volunteers have gotten trained as receptionists. These new volunteers have filled the Friday 4-6pm opening, a three month opening from January thru March, and some short term receptionist openings for December & January. In addition to the great loss we are experiencing with Nathan’s departure, we will also be saying goodbye to Lisa Moore in early January as our Wednesday evening receptionist.

In November and December I wrote and submitted, by mail and on-line, graduate school references to three schools for a long time volunteers.

I have been working on the process of establishing the Voter List for the 2007 Annual Meeting. Tom Christie helped with annual maintenance of the database and various steps needed to accomplish this task. I have also been making necessary updates in the database. The list has been circulated amongst the staff for verification of whether or not volunteers qualify to vote under the WORT bylaws. Next comes the process of making sure that we don’t unintentionally leave anyone off of the list. (We’ve made the list, now we need to check it thrice!). I plan to post a preliminary list by the end of this week, so that volunteers can review the list before the final posting in the station on January 10th.

In November I was elected as the President of Dane County Administrators of Volunteer Services (DCAVS) for 2007. I am attaching DCAVS’ affiliate report to the Wisconsin Volunteer Coordinators Association (WVCA) to give you an overview of the ongoing training that I have participated in over the course of the past year. I am registered for the Professional Development Training Series co hosted by DCAVS and the United Way Volunteer Center. This series consists of six monthly sessions (3 ½ hours each) from January through June—excellent training for just $75!

OUTREACH

I have been working closely with PROM Committee member Lynn Pophal, providing feedback on designs which intern Laura Ferguson is designing for genre fliers (rock, folk, world, hip hop, classical) and bookmarks. I have talked with staff at Rainbow Books and A Room of One’s Own about distributing these bookmarks in January. Thanks to Sybil, Norm and other staff and volunteers for also providing feedback on these materials. We are planning to do some sort of display at the WORT Annual Meeting to show off these new materials.

On December 2nd, WORT had a table at the Fair Trade Holiday Festival as part of our promotional exchange. This was the first time that we had sold items at this festival, and I was happy with the response to our fair trade tee-shirts from El Salvador (Marlys design) and our union made in the U.S. hemp hats and tee-shirts. I also handed out free Marlys stickers and made many good connections. Sales amounted to $315. I would like to do this again next year, and will work harder to get volunteers to help out since it got to be a long work day for me since our birthday party was that evening.

I have registered for WORT to participate in the Government and Non-profit Volunteer and Career Fair at the UW on January 31st.

I participated in Community Shares of Wisconsin’s on-line survey about co-marketing by member agencies.

With input from staff, I developed a proposal for an LTE Outreach Assistant to help with events involving sales during our busy May to September season.

I sent a packet of newsletters including our schedule grid and program notes to a teacher in Oregon, WI who wants her students to explore diversity in music by listening to WORT, then writing a letter to a dj whose program they have listened to.

Group Tours

On Dec. 8th, I gave a tour to three high school students (Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) attending high schools in Madison and Monona for an academic year.

On Dec. 14th I gave a tour to a Cub Scout troupe (6 & 7 year olds), attended by nearly the entire troupe & many parents. These first graders have been studying communications and were very excited about coming to WORT.

News and Public Affairs Facilitator

Nathan Moore

As you know, I’ll be leaving quite soon. My last day on payroll is Jan. 12, but I’m trying to use a few of my vast bank of comp hours late that week. Methinks my last full day in the office will be Tuesday, Jan. 9. So this may be my final Board report.

Staffing

• The News & Public Affairs Facilitator is leaving in January (sad face.)

• Steve Zelaznik (Tues IOBY producer) will be taking a job as the News Director at KDNK in Carbondale, CO. As such, I’ve slated two replacements to co-produce on Tuesdays: Emily Ehlers (currently the Tuesday news block engineer) & Claudette Torbey (news workstudy and IOBY reporter this semester). They’re in training now.

• KP Whaley will be out of town through most of January, but will return to Madison until at least summer 2007.

• Due to schedule conflicts, we’re losing Jonathan Walton as our Tuesday APA engineer. I’m trying to figure out a way to plug him into our grid.

• Martin Alvarado will be returning to engineer the Friday 8:00 Buzz in January.

Arbitrons

I spent a lot of time digesting the Arbitrons and preparing a report that regular people can read and understand. I’ll make copies for Board members who want copies.

Website

Lincoln Theiler did great work getting the structure of the site up and running, and in editing pages throughout the site construction process. I’ve spent a number of hours over the past month gathering and uploading content for the site. It’s in beta-test phase right now, and I expect it to go live on Thursday. I’d also like to applaud Tom for getting a working version of our news & public affairs audio archive ready to go in time for the launch.

Interim News Facilitator Hiring Committee

The Committee consists of one staff member (me) and the members of the Personnel Committee. I’ve been working with the group to convene a time to conduct interviews and make our selection. The holidays definitely make this more complicated. By Dec 21 (the application close date), we will have posted the position opening for 11 days. The deadline to ensure consideration of applications is Thu, Dec 21 at 2pm – moved up from the original posting of 5pm. (That said, I’m sure we’ll try to be flexible if an application comes in between 2:00pm and 5:00pm.) We should give a couple weeks notice prior to expected start date, and if I’m going to help train the interim, the start date must be on or near Jan. 4. So the hiring committee is going to *attempt* to analyze & pare down applications 2-4pm, conduct interviews 4-6pm, discuss and make a decision that night or by teleconference the next day, if need be. Obviously, this is a very tight timeline, but if we can pull it off, it’ll be for the best.

Programming Committee

• See my report (soon to be submitted).

News Block Marketing

The marketing interns will complete their project in January with the first week of the semester. They will be providing a finished marketing plan, based on their work and building on Alex Heusener’s plan, as well as a “brand ambassador kit”, and bike shop and coffee shop marketing kits. They’ll tie up the last bit of the project during the first week of UW classes in January with postering and flyering on campus

Letters of Recommendation
Lots of people are applying to grad schools, jobs, etc., and I’ve been particularly busy with letters of recommendation these last few weeks.

November 15 2006 minutes: monthly board meeting

Meeting convened: 6:10 p.m.
Directors present: Herrick, Lemke, Richard, Courtney, Augustine, Fung, Richardson, Lipton
Staff present: Mitroff

I. Minutes: September 20 and October 25, 2006: both approved
II. Announcements/Communications from the public:
Oaxaca military action protest letter sent via email by Nancy Mae: support letter already sent, so our action would be symbolic; no one ready to make a motion on it: deferred to staff

III. Reports
A. Officers: no meeting
B. Staff: Reports submitted

• Music
• Listener Sponsor Development
• Operations
• Volunteer Coordinator
• Business Development
• Events
• Underwriting
• News and Public Affairs

C. Committees: Reports submitted unless noted otherwise

• Executive: No meeting
• Finance: No meeting
• PROM
• Engineering:
• CAB
• Fund Raising
• Regulatory Compliance
• Bylaws: No meeting
• Events
• Elections
• Ad hoc facilities planning
• Ad hoc Sister Radio: no meeting

Programming report: wording regarding probationary program evaluation: should say committee found evaluation satisfactory for use in Volunteer Handbook

Personnel Committee: Policy and Volunteer Handbook revisions

1. HANDOUT from Augustine: New language for Volunteer handbook

All WORT volunteers are expected to maintain high quality programs in the spirit of the station by adhering to WORT’s Mission Statement and the job description under which they were hired. Job descriptions may only be modified by mutual agreement between a volunteer programmer and their staff supervisor. Staff members who oversee volunteers have the authority to request changes in performance to ensure compliance, and failure to cooperate may result in disciplinary action as specified in the Volunteer Handbook

No motion needed: all in favor;

Mitroff recommended that staff collective assemble changes to Volunteer Handbook made since 1998 and make a 2007 update.

2. HANDOUT from Lipton: institute review of goals for past year during evaluation
Proposal will go back to staff collective to chew on and get back to Personnel Committee

IV. Old Business
A. Proposed change to Volunteer Handbook regarding production for national programs (Moore) àDeferred to December
B. Staff report on procedures for adding hours and/or positions (Augustine)
HANDOUT: Report from the Staff Collective about staffing needs assessment
Staff will discuss further and report back

V. New Business
A. "Major donor" campaign preview and preparations (Fund Raising Committee)
Directors signed the letters and offered suggestions for next time

B. Annual report discussion: generally quite well-received. Richard will compile and create content in a flexible basis for further re-packaging.

VI. Scheduling: No changes:
December 20, 2006: regular monthly meeting
January 17, 2007: regular monthly meeting
February 11, 2007: WORT Annual Meeting

V. Closed session: Augustine evaluation
Adjourn: 7:50 p.m.

November 2006 Committee reports to the Board

PROGRAMMING, Brett Lemke: November 2006 report to the board
November 9, 2006; call to order (5:15 PM)

Review/Approve: Agenda. - Approved.
Review/Approve: Minutes from last meeting - Approved.
Review: Communications from the Public

Folks generally happy with our election coverage. I was not present for the bulk of this, as I was in the Engineering Cmte. Meeting which went until 6:15. I will amend these minutes after the meeting.

Discussion: Probationary Program Review
Sybil finished the re-wording of the proposed amendment to the volunteer handbook that is both egalitarian and sensible. She will be proposing the amendment t the board meeting.

Discussion/Action: Chair election for next month (5 minutes)
MJ Leplae said that she would be willing to chair the meeting next month. Nathan would fill in should there be any conflict.

Discussion/Action: PC recruitment
A few folks were removed from the proposed list due to schedule/ride conflicts. Nathan/Sybil both have ideas for folks with the potential for recruitment. Waiting to hear from the individuals, please ask them for names.

Discussion: Preliminary Programming for WORT2
We threw around ideas regarding the basis of programming for WORT2, keeping in mind the “Farm Team” ideology. We started with a blank schedule, filling in the gaps that we thought were needed; i.e. Native American News/Programming, a Jamband show, a Latin Music show, bringing back syndicated programs such as counterspin, news, more classical programming, & re-runs of our favorite shows. (i.e. an hour dedicated to Mel & Floyd highlights). We filled up about 20% of the proposed schedule, & Nathan asked about the readiness of the Win2000 box that Lucas Osmond put together. It is ready for broadcast with an approved site license from SAM2.

Staff reports
Set next meeting date
Adjourn 7:36PM

EVENTS, Justin Richardson: November 2006 report to the board
Committee met 11/6/06

CLARIFICATION OF COMMITTEE POSTS
Katy is the Chair of the Committee; Justin is the secretary and will submit reports to the board.

31ST BIRTHDAY PARTY
Bands are booked:
 Sean Michael Dargan & Friends
 Tongue & Groove
 The Rousers
- POSTERS are not yet ready. Maggie will get posters out to members of the committee who will distribute them in their usual ways.
- COVER CHARGE: Ticket prices: $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Tickets will be available in advance at WORT, High Noon, and at one other venue TBD.
- TABLE TRIVIA. Trivia tents at each table will have different questions. We will pass out answer cards at the door, including a space for the person¹s name and phone number. They may fill out the card and submit it for a chance to win a prize, chosen by a random drawing from the pool of correct cards.

VOLUNTEER NEEDS

Stage Managers (2) Set-up help (4)

Cake help (4) Clean-up help (4) - Justin MC¹s (3)

- SPONSORSHIPS Maggie will be mailing letters this week asking businesses for support for this event.
- OTHER PROMOTION: On-air promos, press releases, calendars, WORT website.
- DECORATING RELATED: Maggie will ask Alex Gillis if he is interested in putting together a digital slideshow of old WORT photos that we could show between bands.

PROM (Public Relations Outreach and Marketing; formerly MCOC), Peter Lipton: November 2006 report to the board

WORT's Public Relations Outreach and Marketing Committee is scheduled to meet Nov. 14th at 6pm.

Notes from 11/14/06
Present: Laura Ferguson, Lynn Pophal, Christie Itzin, Ali, Peter Lipton, DJ Trini, Jordan Ellefsen, Glenn Mitroff

Report from Christie & Ali who with their roommate, ____have been interns with Nathan this semester working on marketing the evening news block. Christie and Ali reported: Setting up Face Book & My Space accounts; establishing a database of social justice organizations and environmental groups at MATC, Edgewood and the UW; designed a series of posters to promote the evening news block; drafted press releases for WORT’s 31st birthday and the February pledge drive.

They first focused on the 18-23 year old group and have just started working on the 24-30 year old group which they hope to target thru coffee shops, local businesses, bike shops using fliers, bumper stickers and magnets. The PROM Committee reviewed the evening news block fliers.

Report from Lynn Pophal and Laura Ferguson. Immediately after the last PROM Committee meeting, Lynn posted a job description via the UW Journalism School for a graphic art intern. She interviewed candidates and chose Laura. Lynn is working directly with Laura, meeting on a weekly basis for the remainder of this semester and the spring semester. Lynn sends drafts to Glenn for comments and suggestions on revisions. Lynn & Laura are working on genre fliers (rock & folk) and bookmarks for distribution in January through A Room of One’s Own and Rainbow Books. Next semester they will work on revamping the Volunteer Packet materials.

(Discussion—Talk with show hosts then creates fliers to promote their shows. How about caricatures of show hosts for our web site? Other ideas for fliers—perhaps on one side, list the venues for seeing live music in that genre. Possible future bookmark collaborations: WORT/WYOU or WORT/WSUM.)

The downtown workers outreach flier developed by Nathan with staff input was distributed. Comments: too much text. No one on the committee wanted to hand them out during lunch time to workers around the GEF buildings where radio reception might be poor but listening on-line would be a good way to listen to WORT. Maybe we could distribute the flier in coffee shops, etc. Some committee members were willing to help with this, but we may need to find additional volunteer help. We could rework the flier incorporating more white space.)

Community Outreach Presentations discussed. Trini questioned whether we need to use the slide show. Trini and Peter agreed to work on developing their own signature presentation. Glenn suggested that we could establish a speaker’s bureau. Peter would like us to set a goal, like one presentation every one or two months.

Personnel,Kathie Beckett: November 2006 report to the board

The Personnel Committee met November 3rd to review its charge to rewrite its proposed change to the Volunteer Handbook. No action yet.

Norm's evaluation is underway and we are scheduled to meet with him December 8th.

Action Item: Peter & Jane will present Sybil's evaluation to the board at the November 15th meeting in closed session

FUNDRAISING, Jane Richard: November 2006 report to the board
Meeting of November 9, 2006 // Jane, Jim, Annie, Raechel

Major donor plans dominated the conversation:
Jane drafted the draft donor letter;
Annie will edit for 2nd draft
Jim and Raechel will review and make final edits and mail merge before BoD meeting 9/15/Wednesday
Will be mailed last weekend of November

Other Business:
$104K pledged in Crashing the Ether pledge drive
processed $75K+ already!!

Raechel launching mini campaign for special holiday underwriting rates aimed at under-underwritten businesses

Next meeting agenda item: House party in February or date TBD: Mardi Gras theme is very attractive

Citizen’s Advisory Board (CAB), Glenn Mitroff: November 2006 report to the board

The CAB was scheduled to meet on Nov. 7th, but realizing it was Election Day, rescheduled to Nov. 14th, 6:30pm.

ENGINEERING, Justin Richardson: November 2006 report to the board

Committee met 11/9/2006

MCR UPGRADE (NEOTEK) STATUS: Master Control Room. Cabinets and countertop are in. We need to paint, clean the carpet, install cabinets and countertop, and hook up the electronics. Work to begin after Thanksgiving, or perhaps sooner.

DAS SCHUH STATUS: the room is in use. Still needs a door and soundproofing.

CROSSTALK PROBLEM BETWEEN COMBO A & B: The crosstalk problem from last month has mysteriously vanished.

WEB SWITCH: Laura will update the schematic drawing for the web switch so Ted may look at it to see if the wiring of the switch meets standard conventions.

BUILDING WIRING: Laura will map the location of all switches and outlets back to their respective breakers. The plan is to label each breaker AND place a label on each outlet indicating the breaker that feeds it.

POWER INCREASE APPLICATION STATUS: Still pending . . .

EQUIPMENT DATABASE PROJECT: Ongoing.

LAURA'S JOB DESCRIPTION
The job description for Laura¹s position seems to have been missing for some time, so the committee will draft a new job description. Laura will write a first draft based on similar positions at other stations, and also based on her current duties. The committee will provide feedback, and may have a document to present to the board for final approval in a few months.

Ad HOC Long Range Space Planning Committee (aka Space “the final frontier” committee), Justin Richardson: November 2006 report to the board

Committee met 11/1/2006.

This was a short meeting with just a few members present. Related to the joint venture with WYOU, the committee compiled a list of Pros, Concerns, and Stuff We Need to Know. We will seek a similar list from WYOU, and meanwhile try to get answers to the ³Stuff We Need to Know.²

WORT/WYOU partnership Pros, Concerns, and Stuff we need to know.

Pros Share volunteers For profit holding company Easier Collaborations Alternative Media Center---sexy name, good for capitol or larger fundraising Chance to rebuild WORT as a digital facility Income from possible tenants, if we rent our extra space

Concerns Longevity of WYOU Parking Having to service possible tenants ³Tarred with the same brush²‹Would WORT¹s association with WYOU change our image? Added level of complexity. How would the joint venture affect WORT¹S relative stability? How will joint decisions be made? Cost (overall more expensive than if we move alone) FCC licensing to move out STL, etc. Timing too quick?

Stuff we need to know Is the Children¹s Museum building for sale? If so, how much? How much space do we/they need? How much space is available? What do WORT¹s and WYOU¹s volunteers think of this idea? What is WYOU¹s budget and financial status? How much time and resources are needed to make the transition? What will we do with our current facility if we leave it? What is real time line of Children¹s Museum Building?

Finance: no report
EXECUTIVE: No report
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE: No report
BYLAWS: No report
Sister Station Radio Project Ad Hoc Committee: No report