To the WFCR Advisory Committee and the WFCR Foundation
From the WFCR Democracy Task Force
We are a group of citizens, listeners to Public Radio with a
keen interest in the welfare of WFCR, with a mission we state this way:
The WFCR Democracy Task Force is a group of WFCR listeners whose purpose
is to contribute to making WFCR a lively and interesting radio station,
dedicated to carrying out its stated mission by involving and encouraging the
active participation of the WFCR listening community.
This and other
materials which we have assembled in the course of our investigations can be
found on our web page, http://justiceandpeace.net/WFCRdemocracy/, which we invite you to visit. Our sincere goal is to improve the bond
between our Public Radio station and its listening Public.
Our research into
public radio stations has convinced us that they benefit from a strong
relationship between the station and its listeners. When the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
organized public radio, it recommended Community Advisory Boards (CABs) as a
means of connection between stations and listeners, "intended to provide the public an opportunity to be
heard on station programming, community service and impact on the community of
major policy decisions - that is, to provide a vehicle for effective community
input."
When we saw that
WFCR does not have a CAB, nor its equivalent in either
the WFCR Advisory Committee or the WFCR Foundation board, we went to three town
meetings – Pelham, Shutesbury, and Amherst – with Citizens' Petitions, to gauge
popular support for creation of a CAB.
All three towns resolved to encourage WFCR to establish a CAB. With these towns' resolutions (available on
our website) and with hundreds of individual petition-signers (online and on
paper) in support, we are confident that we speak for thousands of WFCR
listeners in urging the action common to the three towns' resolutions: the
creation of a CAB with well publicized periodic open meetings, and minutes open
to public view.
The CPB website describes at http://www.cpb.org/stations/certification/cert3.html the requirements of a CAB and at http://www.cpb.org/stations/certification/cert1.html its requirement for open meetings. Quoting crucial sections,
The Community Advisory Board meets regularly, has meetings
open to the public, and makes its minutes public, for example on the station's
website. Notice for its meetings is well publicized in advance and is
sent to anyone known to have an interest in attending. Notice is to be
given on air, on the website, in the newspapers, by email to those interested.
The membership of the CAB represents the diverse needs and
interests of the listening community. It reviews the station's
programming, community service, and impact on the community, and whether the
station is meeting the educational and cultural need of the community.
It is intended to provide the public the opportunity to be
heard on station programming, community service and impact on the community of
major policy decisions - that is, to provide a vehicle for effective community
input.
Each station is encouraged to fashion its own maximum
involvement of the community beyond the minimum requirements. It is CPB's position that only through enthusiastic and vigorous
efforts can the intent of the Congress, as reflected in the law, be fully
realized.
WFCR, being exempted from this requirement, does not have a CAB. Martin
Miller has claimed that the WFCR Foundation board is the equivalent of a CAB,
but we dispute this, since that board does not have open meetings or open
minutes and its primary function is fundraising, not soliciting community
input. Neither is the WFCR Advisory
Committee set up to be a CAB. With very
substantial modifications it might be, but it seems cleaner to establish a new
Committee specifically designed to be responsive to community input. This is our proposal.
It is our hope that the staff and advisory committees of WFCR would consider this proposal favorably, and that the staff would welcome input from its listening community via a CAB. In the discussions at town meetings, we were quite startled by the expressions of outright hostility to the station we heard there, indicating a very serious disconnect between the station and its listeners. Our purpose is not at all to cause trouble for the station, but on the contrary to mend what is perceived by many as a breach between this Public Radio station and its Public. That could only enhance the station and its fundraising outreach to its listeners.