2009-03-20 iED Report

Legal and Finance
 
Legal and Finance matters are continuing to be reviewed and resolved, as
mentioned in my last report.
 
Elections
 
The possibility of conducting a portion of our election by email is
being explored.  I am also working on planning for ensuring the
integrity of our membership lists and the enhancement of our websites so
that our elections can be as fair and accurate as possible.
 
Our Stations & Units
(Taken from rough notes from a regular conference between the iED, iCFO,
the Tech Director, Affiliates Director, Archives Director and GMs of the
5 stations.  Not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.)
 
*KPFA* - A Telemarketing campaign started on Sunday, March 15th and is
bringing a 23-24% return, so it is very successful so far.  Two groups
are being called:  recently lapsed members and those lapsed for 6 months
or more.
 
*KPFT* - There was a 39th Birthday Party event on Sunday.  The Goal was
$20,000.  Also, that day the raffle of an automobile donated to the
station was kicked off.  A sudden weather change brought freezing cold,
rain and the morning of the show there was a hail storm.  At one point
early in the afternoon there was 4-5 inches of water under the tent.
Duane Bradley, the KPFT GM, had been hoping for 300 people in the tent.
It didn't get to that number until 4 pm.  The first performer had an
audience of only 45 people.  So, all in all, there was diminished
turnout due to the weather.  The event did net about $12,000 including
proceeds from a silent auction table, food table and donations from the
artists.  KPFT management staff put together a Budget revision and sent
it to the iCFO.  KPFT is putting in more conservative numbers for some
of its budget items and expects to end the fiscal year with
about $200,000 in the bank which is about 2 months operating expenses.
Brian DeShazor, the Archives Director, thanks KPFT for sending 2 1/2 %
of its proceeds from the Birthday event to the Archives.
 
*WBAI* -  There was a major staff meeting on Tuesday night.  WBAI is
codifying the new programming procedures that will be put in place.
This will include evaluation of existing programming and the idea that
there are specific times of the year when programming changes will be
decided around.  The group talked about short and long term program
changes.  Some of the issues discussed included long term needs as
represented by the Arbitrons, such as improving female listenership and
also Asian-Pacific listenership and Indigenous listenership.  Getting
out of the house more was discussed.  For instance, remote broadcasts
within the community taking advantage of existing community structures.
Short and long term off and on-air fundraising ideas were discussed.
WBAI hosts have relationships with entertainment businesses around
town.  Negotiations are ongoing with one large name artist for a concert
in the late spring.   The process of compiling the staff lists has begun.
 
*WPFW* - There was a programmers meeting without staff that was very
well attended.  It was convened by our Staff LSB reps on our Local
Board.  Ron Pinchback, WPFW GM, is waiting for a report from this
meeting.  Ron is sending a letter to the programmers detailing what's
happening at the station including the fact that some programming will
be pre-empted during the spring fundrive and the station will be having
some broader discussions about some future options regarding the program
grid.  A Town Hall meeting happened on Thursday, March 19th about voting
rights in D.C.  There will be a Dick Gregory event Sunday, the 29th of
March and 150 people are expected.  WPFW is entering into a new
agreement with an engineering firm to do tri-annual maintenance on its
transmitter.
 
*KPFK* - Sean Heitkemper was not available to give an update about KPFK.
 
*Affiliates Network* -* *Ursula Rudenberg, Affiliates Director, has been
working to add more stations to the Affiliates network.  There is a new
affiliate in Wyoming.  Their new station has just been built.  It looks
like we will also be adding an affiliate in Montana.  Ursula is making
inroads into adding an Affiliate station in Australia that's picking up
programming from WBAI.  Affiliate station managers have been talking
about how we can leverage the network, so there has been a lot of
discussion about how we can do that.  Ursula would like to engage the
GMs in a broader discussion of how the Affiliate Network can be
integrated better into the rest of Pacifica to everyone's benefit.
 
*Pacifica Archives* - Archives Staff has been working hard on the Grammy
Foundation Grant and it is using that funding to process 1200 items
including master tapes and CDs.  Fantastic news -- secured an interne --
a professional cateloguer from Austin, TX.  She'll be here for 6 weeks
to work on LGBT preservation project.  There will be a fundraising event
at the Village Gay and Lesbian center in West Hollywood.  Lilly Tomlin
is on the host committee.  The Archives is working with KPFK on a Gay
Pride broadcast.  It will be included in the West Hollywood Community
Calendar.  The Archives has recorded a lecture by the screenwriter of
Milk.  Bob Dylan was introduced to radio in the early '60s at WBAI.  On
Tuesday, March 17th,  the Archives received a copy from a collector of
WBAI material of an early interview from 1962 of Bob Dylan -- the
earliest known recording of Bob Dylan and is working with Bob Dylan's
archivist and publicist.  Archives funding is currently abyssmal.  Sales
are a little bit better.  Printing material in academic publications
brings in small amounts of $ and the Archives received a big order from
Renaissance books.  It has also been working for 2 years with City
Lights publishers.  Brian thanks Ursula for sending data for last
summer's carriage report -- what Archives programming Affiliate stations
are carrying.  About 17 stations are using the Archive show "From the
Vault."
 
*Technical Director* - Jon has been working on internet options and the
Pacifica.org and Foundation websites.  There are 3 servers right now:
the Audioport server, the Foundation site that has a number of websites
on it, etc.  Jon Almeleh, the Tech Director, and staff have plans to
combine everything except audioport on one server which will save
us money and give us higher speed and more bandwidth.
 
That's all for now!
 
In peace,
Grace Aaron, interim Executive Director