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.