WBCR-LP 97.7FM, Great Barrington Community Radio

Board Meeting, Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Minutes

WBCR-LP FM

Board of Directors Meeting February 20, 2008 @ Zenn New Media

Meeting convened at 6:05 pm

In attendance:  D. McGrory, P. Rapp, J. Seward, B. Shalles, P. Tierney, F. Tolopko

Absent: J Eddy, N.  Ring

Guests: Art Ames

Agenda adopted unanimously

Previous minutes (January 16, 2008) accepted with minor financial corrections.

Public comments:

Art Ames of the Berkshire Co-op Market in Great Barrington shared his experiences with capital fund raising used by the Co-op when they moved to new, expanded quarters. The capital fund raising was accomplished through a loan program that was offered to the public and required of Co-op officers. The loan notes were for varying lengths and interest rates. The loans were repaid out of Co-op store receipts.

There was Board discussion of the applicability of the Co-opגs methodology to WBCR. Discussion would continue at the next meeting. Action item: P. Rapp would look into the legal issues of WBCR adopting a loan program for capital fund raising.

Discussion continued in the context of more immediate capital fund raising needed to complete our move to the new studio. B. Shalles and L. Chernicoff were authorized to produce a post card for mailing to the membership appealing for donations. There would be a telephone call follow up. F. Tolopko would generate labels and a call back list.

Motion: Approve expenditure of up to 600.00 for the mail/phone appeal for new studio expenditures. Unanimously approved.

Treasurers Report (J. Eddy, via email)

Checking balance: $6,053.78

Berkshares balance: $1,679.00

Paypal: $178.00

Net income for February, 2008: $750.00 (2 foundation donations)

Net new studio expenditures February, 2008: $2,500 (plumber)

Report not accepted pending further information.

Committee reports

Facilities: B. Shalles: Rough plumbing completed. Rough electric to be completed last week of February.

Membership: D. McGrory reported that 25 people attended the last membership meeting held the first week of February. Extensive notes from the meeting will be posted on the Membership Committee section of the WBCR website.

Programming: No report.

Tech: Problems with streaming server were exacerbated by a GB area power outage. The DSL modem was discovered not to be on an uninterruptible power supply. Continuing problems with the Democracy Now! Broadcast due to an address change at the DN! website. Continuing investigation.

Public Relations: No report. J. Seward to contact L. Gabriel.

Tasks update and other agenda items

P. Tierney reported on his monitoring of voice mails at the studio. The majority of calls involved the continuing program problems with DN!. He was continuing to contact the callers with an explanation and status of the situation.

P. Tierney produced an Incident Report form. It will be placed into future training packets. Completed forms will be forwarded to the Board Secretary for forwarding and storage. Completed forms are to be placed in a physical box at the studio and will be checked regularly. Motion to accept the Incident Report form was unanimously passed.

Fund raising and capital issues. Preparation for next fund drive. P. Rapp to email possible fund drive coordinators. Report back at next Board meeting.

Vivian Orlowski of the Emergency Planning Committee requested a WBCR contact person be established. B. Shalles to contact N. Ring and P. Rapp.

Motion to adjourn at 8:15 pm was unanimously accepted.

→ Posted by wtolopf on 04/10/2008 at 07:52 PM. Filed under "minutes".