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PLEASE NOTE! For Board Meeting Minutes AFTER the latest date here, and for meeting notes from other committee meetings, please refer to the RECENT MEETING NOTES page by clicking here. The page you will enter contains links to PDFs of meetings going back some time but also contains the most recent minutes and notes, some not yet approved. Thanks, the webmaster.

June 13, 2005
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
BOARD MEETING

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May 9, 2005
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
BOARD MEETING

April 11, 2005
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
BOARD MEETING

DOWNLOAD 4/11 MINUTES

March 21, 2005
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
BOARD MEETING

DOWNLOAD 3/21 MINUTES

Nov 15, 2004
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
BOARD MEETING

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Oct 18, 2004
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
BOARD MEETING

DOWNLOAD 10/18 MINUTES

Oct 2, 2004
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
Community Meeting

In attendance: Cousin Isaac, Tony Elliott, Wade Kemp, Chris Lumbergh, Jessica Reeves, Nancy Stefanik, Ira Wilner

Recorder: Jessica Reeves

Introductions
All in attendance were introduced.

Board Report
501(c)3 submitted to IRS; will probably be two to six months before status is official
Lease agreement has been approved; to be signed by the end of October
Insurance is in place
Next two board meetings to be held October 18 and November 15 at the Readmore

Taskforce Reports
Studio
Construction volunteers being organized
Materials list being formed

Tower
There is space on the tower; we will get on pending agreement from tower owner
Can’t buy the antenna until tower space is secured; decision on antenna purchase to be made at 10/18 board meeting

Equipment
The list of what has been acquired has been added to the budget
Wish list to be made and related questions to be posed to the listserv

Training
Moving forward; draft curriculum has been developed

Programming
Community/listener survey and newsletter to go out to all members and people on mailing list; will address what people want to hear on WOOL and will solicit new members; this may phase into a quarterly publication
There will be a mailing to contact everyone who indicated interest in having a show to get a feel for what our programming will look like

Fundraising
Waiting for responses on grants
Organizational member drive coming up; wish list of materials and equipment is essential for this

Orientation/Training; Policies
An orientation and training curriculum has been developed consisting of an initial orientation followed by three sessions of DJ training. The training manual will be completed by the end of October, and training sessions can begin as early as the first week of November (pending the arrival of equipment).

Completion of the training manual and implementation of the training program is also dependent on completion of the policies that it will contain; a list of potential policies was circulated, discussed and approved. Final wording of all policies will be approved by the board.

Future Meetings
Next meeting October 20, 7:00 p.m., location to be announced
Task forces will meet in the first half hour; general meeting at 7:00
Meetings will be held every other week, and agendas for meetings can be submitted via the listserv
Schedule for the rest of 2004: October 20, November 3, November 17, December 1, December 15, December 29.

September 20, 2004
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors

Posted 10/11/04 2:22PM

Readmore 1 Hapgood Street, Bellows Falls

Meeting called by: Dot Read
Type of meeting: Board Meeting
Facilitator: Dot Read
Note taker: Bob Ross

Attendees: Dot Read, Wade Kemp, Nancy Stefanik, Bob Ross, Ezra Veitch, Tony Elliot, Gary Smith

TOPICS
1. Discussion: Discussed minutes of July 27th.
Conclusions: Bob has sent to Gary to post.
Action items: Wade moved to accept as written, Bob Seconded
2. Organizational Concerns voiced by Dot:
Bob will send minutes to board list. Gary to post on the website once they are approved. Dot will handle agenda announcements at least 3 days prior to meetings. Meeting dates will be posted on website and at the studio. Dot has finalized 501 © 3 with help from Nancy & Ray. Dot will contact IRS prior to mailing out Dot will warn annual and regular meetings to listserve at least five (5) days prior. Tony will print and post at the studio.
Clarifications - Four members present at a warned meeting are a quorum. Board shall be empowered to conduct business by email as long as all members have responded by email prior to any voting.
Conclusions: Tony moved. Gary seconded. Approved unanimously.

3. Discussion:
Tower negotiation will be handled by Tony.

Technical issues will be handled by Ira.

Gary, Bob & Sean will meet at studio on Tuesday, September 21 to work out studio design and preliminary materials list.

Gary will ask Sean to lead construction committee and direct studio construction project.

Nancy will solicit material donations once list is completed.

Ezra will head equipment committee.

Dot will head programming committee.

Jessica will do presentation for possible orientation and training for WOOL at the October 2 meeting.

Wade will do hands-on training.

Nancy will coordinate PR committee with Anneke & Gary.

Person responsible:Nancy, Bob

Deadline:ASAP

4. Update on Tower: Tony
Tony is in communication with Adelphia but there is no approval yet. We need to file technical data Tony spoke with Randy Powell, of Tower management company who is following up with Pete J. They will discuss cost to WOOL and get back to us. There is space at the 83 foot location. He will email us as there is progress.

5. Other business
Tony moved to empower Gary & Wade to spend up to $100 for safety equipment before Saturday cleanup. Ezra seconded. Approved.

Bob will email to list for volunteers to finish clean up on Saturday.

Lease will be circulated by Gary & Tony with hopeful approval by email.

Nancy will circulate a draft of MOU to board soon.

Tony move to adjoin. Wade second.

Special notes: Next board meeting is October 18th. Meeting adjourned at 7:57 PM

July 27, 2004
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors

Readmore 1 Hapgood Street, Bellows Falls

Meeting called by: Dot Read
Type of meeting: Board Meeting
Facilitator: Dot Read
Note taker: Bob Ross

Attendees: Dot Read, Wade Kemp, Nancy Stefanik, Bob Ross

Agenda topics

1. Lease Revision (Bob)
Discussion: Lease revised with suggested changes noted on master copy.
Conclusions: Action items: Bob will incorporate all changes and send copy to Board & Tony
Person responsible:Bob
Deadline: August 10

2. Budget Priorities (Nancy)
Discussion: Budget priorities were discussed and order of expenditures (approximate cost in parentheses) were determined to be as follows:
1. Zoning permit ($32)
2. Signage ($27)
3. 501 (c)3 ($575)
4. Insurance ($700)
5. Fundraising expense account ($500)
6. Reimburse for Marantz ($478.80)
7. CF Card ($150)
8. Batteries ($100)
9. Microphones ($300)
10. Funding of Frank Brown legal letters (unknown)

Conclusions: Approved subject to additional vote to meet quorum
Action items: Get additional vote Person responsible:Nancy Deadline:

3. Tower Issues (Nancy)
Discussion: Discussion of status of tower with Adelphia.
Full discussion tabled until full board meeting.

Conclusions: Problems with Adelphia responding

Action items: Nancy will search out past letters, if any, to Adelphia.
Person responsible:Nancy Deadline:ASAP

Tom Salmon authorized to write updated letter to get written response on record Person Responsible: Bob Deadline: Early August

Special notes: Billy Bragg concert ticket sales discussed, other concert business and appreciation of Gary Smith noted. Meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM

June 26, 2004
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors

Board members present: Dot Read (President), Wade Kemp (VP), Tony Elliott (Treasurer), Gary Smith, Anna Bowler (ex officio) and Nancy Stefanik (ex officio).

Other community members present: Ira Wilner, Monty Barnett, Bill Mammone, Kevin Forrest, Elisa Forrest, Luise Light, Anneke Toomey (and two young children, and Matt Clary (Eagle Times reporter)

President Dot Read indicated that this was the official organizing meeting of Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company and that the only official business before the Board was the adoption of the organizational by-laws as approved at the June 5th community meeting.

Tony Elliott moved that the Board of Directors adopt the by-laws as approved by the community at the June 5th meeting.   Gary Smith seconded the motion. With no further discussion, the Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors unanimously adopted the by-laws as attached.

President Read asked if there were any other issues to be considered by the Board. When there were none, a motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded, and approved.

June 26th Community Meeting Notes

Meeting facilitator Dot Read asked for task force reports.

PR & Fundraising - The committee and subsets of the committee have met several times in person and online since the last community meeting and progress has been made on several fronts:
* an ambitious fundraising goal of $30,000 to be raised by the end of September 04 was established
* individual and organizational annual membership levels were established ($10 for under 18s and over 65s, $25 for adults, $250 and $500 for organizations with two founding membership levels of $100.10 and $1001.00 respectively) to be good through 8/31/05. Everyone invited to become a member and help with raising community awareness and recruiting members at upcoming events (Farmers' Market, Saxtons River on July 3rd, and Old Home Days) [ sign-up sheet was circulated ]
* organizational members are to be listed on website
* only contributions above $100.10 can be earmarked for a particular purpose
* individual membership strategy was tested out during Fred weekend with good success - about $1500 in cash, checks, and pledges were raised. Gary recognized for preparing everything needed for display and sale of memberships.
* Billy Bragg concert to benefit WOOL 100.1 FM! Everyone asked to help sell tickets - especially VIP seats at $50.
* Other fundraising efforts are being planned - money cans/bottles around town, auction, open mic at Moose club, gatherings at The Windham, Readmore and elsewhere, merchandise (bumper stickers, t-shirts, visors, mouse pads, flash memory, radios, etc)
* phase one of website to go live in time to promote Billy Bragg and support fundraising campaign
* press release sent out and articles appeared or to soon appear in Eagle Times, Brattleboro Reformer, Rutland Herald, Keene Sentinel/River Record, and Town Crier
* Nancy represented Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company at "Media and Democracy" conference that took place in Burlington on June 18th

Facilities & Equipment- Conversations with the landowner, Adelphia, and one of our lawyers have taken place regarding the placement of our antenna atop Mount Kilburn.   To change the siting of our antenna from the Adelphia tower would involve reapplication to the FCC.

The Marantz digital recorder has been purchased with the mini-grant received from TOWN and two founding memberships (Bob Ross and his wife). It was tested at a few recent events by Bob, Tony, and Ezra and seems to be a sweet machine although it needs microphones, cables, spare batteries, and a charger.  (see discussion about policies / protocols below) Ira reported that a contribution of a console, speakers, and other equipment (possibly as much as $8000-$12,000!) from the Monadnock Radio Group looks very likely. He needs to go through more equipment and then check it all out.

The Facilities & Equipment Task Force (as well as all task forces) were asked to firm up their budgets and determine relative priorities to be discussed at the next community meeting.

The next steps on the studio construction front are to get the space inspected and permitted. The first official workday likely will take place in late August.

Programming & Training - It is still a little too early to begin scheduling workshops although the task force is beginning to look at what other stations are requiring in the way of orientation and training. In addition to training, there are several programming issues to be discussed at one of the next meetings including scheduling, automation software, streaming, etc. Tony already has made arrangements with Pacifica for a year of free programming although we are not activating the start of the year until we're closer to broadcasting.   Nancy offered to contact Larry Bloch, program director of rfb, about meeting with the Programming & Training taskforce or attending an upcoming community meeting.   Licensing and underwriting issues will be discussed more at the August meeting.

A suggestion was made to send an e-mail to all members inviting them to join the listserv.

Gary reported that he has contacted several record companies and independents to begin having music sent to WOOL.

Other discussion

The group discussed how organizations might be asked to participate. Suggested names for organizational members: Shepherds Society, Dyed-in-the-Wool, Fleeced Society. Perhaps think in terms of soliciting orgs to sponsor events on a quarterly basis.   Everyone might think about what we can offer founding members - do we have the resources to pull off a member discount card, or is this even something area businesses would be interested in participating in?

The group brainstormed policies and protocols regarding use of the Marantz and came up with the following:
* GFCBC should insure it as soon as possible.
* A training session should be designed.
* Members and staff will be able to sign it out for WOOL use only and accept responsibiity for things that happen to it while they have it on a first-come, first-served basis.
* We have to fulfill the terms of the grant as soon as possible (funds received from public health/anti-tobacco group).

Next meetings: Saturdays, July 24th and August 7th, 10:30-Noon at The Windham.   At the special meeting on the 24th, we'll particularly focus on budgets and fundraising efforts, especially the Billy Bragg benefit concert on July 28th.

Notetaker: Nancy Stefanik

June 5, 2004
Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company
Community Meeting

Present:- Anna Bowler, Reed Webster, Don LaClair, Bob Ross, Nancy Stefanik(notetaker), Gary Smith, David Stewart, Dot Read (facilitator), Ira Wilner

Organizational update - The officers of the founding Board are Dot Read -
President, Wade Kemp - VP, Tony Elliott - Treasurer, Bob Ross - Secretary.
Other board members are Anna Bowler (ex officio), Ezra Veitch, and Gary
Smith. Nancy was asked to make a decision soon. Board responsibilities
primarily are fiscal and legal. Thus, the bulk of the decision-making and
action will be done at the committee level, not by the Board. Ira raised the
issue of Board management of staff down the road and being explicit in the
bylaws about the difference in the responsibilities of staff and the Board.
Dot has experience with Boards who spell out such relationships in
contracts. Bob moved that the participants accept the bylaws in their
current state. All said yes except Nancy who abstained. Dot to send out
final bylaws to entire listserv. The Board should remain open to revisiting
bylaws as time nears when staff will be hired.

Communication / inclusiveness - Everyone is encouraged to send their
messages to the entire BFRADIO to keep everyone informed of developments, build momentum, and solicit fresh perspectives.

Definition of Member - Seniors and students - $10 or more, everyone else $25 or more annually. Entitles you to vote and have a show. As part of start-up fund drive, there also will be founding contributor - $100.10. The group
felt that volunteer time (not DJ time) could be substituted for the membership fee.

Lease - Bob and Tony are working on the lease and the other contracts that
might be involved with using the space at 5 Canal Street. Ira suggested that
any trade provisions be explicit, with particular concern about airtime.
Gary and others suggested that a multi-year lease arrangement would be
appropriate given the investment that is about to be made in building and
equipping the studio. As long as there's not a cost (beyond the $1)
associated with the contracts, the meeting participants were comfortable
with the Board proceeding with the contracts.

Studio - Ira has feedback on the design specs distributed by Bob (CSPAN
radio) and will be included on the studio design/construction team. Don
LaClair and Reed Webster also would like to be involved the studio building.

Tower - Nancy reported that she had a conversation with the owner of the
land atop Mount Kilburn and that he seems very willing to work with us. She
and Tony will be meeting with him in the next week, and Nancy will report.
Ira will research how far we can be from Adelphia's tower without having to
amend our FCC application. Bob will look at Walpole zoning restrictions.
Because of the possible length of time it takes for approval, Nancy and Ira
are going to identify possible locations for translators to expand our reach
once we're up and running.

Budget - Everyone is asked to continue to provide updates to the budget so
that we can make sure we raise enough money. Ira believes there may be
additional costs not yet included in the budget (HVAC?)

Portable digital recorder - Bob has purchased a Morantz 670 recorder with
the $460 mini-grant received from TOWN, paying the difference (total cost =
$625) as his and Karen's founding contribution.

Financial transactions - Gary agreed to e-mail Tony about setting up a PO
system. Some feel it is important to firm up the wishlist and determine
relative priorities to guide decision-making about how to spend early money.
Perhaps this could be on the agenda of the next meeting.

Design / website - The group looked at the three website designs that have
been developed thus far and had a discussion about how a community group
like ours can move projects along while remaining inclusive to as much
stakeholder input as possible. The group also discussed the desirability of
adopting a logo and using it on the website and all print materials as a
unifying concept versus adopting various designs for different purposes /
audiences and changing over time. Most in the group believed it was
important to work at least initially with a single logo and felt that Mary
Lynch's design worked well and had received only positive feedback from the
larger listserv group. Nancy made motion to accept Mary Lynch's logo design. Don seconded it. Everyone voted yes, except Bob who voted neigh. Gary, Bob,Anna, and David are going to get together to finalize a site featuring Mary's logo on Wednesday night. Everyone should look at all the buttons on the various sites and send your recommendations about website content to Gary by 9 a.m. so the group can consider and incorporate as appropriate. Anyone who would like to contribute to the website development effort should contact Gary.

PR/Communications - Nancy agrees to coordinate public relations and will put
up a summer timeline of events/press releases including those associated
with the fundraising campaign for folks to add to. It will be important to
keep the effort in front of people throughout the summer.

Fundraising Committee - A fundraising committee meeting was scheduled for
Wednesday evening. Anyone who is interested in serving on the fundraising
committee should contact Nancy or Gary.

Status of FACT8 - A new FACT8 board was elected, and it looks like the
relationship between the two organizations will be strengthened. Reed
expressed interest in helping ensure that all events are promoted on FACT8
and that the plans for cablecasting are still in the works. No progress has
been made on the MOU in the last month.

Music license issues - $1100 for streaming of music - group is not ready to
expend this unless someone comes forward to underwrite it. Some felt that
the initial website should feature clickable samples of locally produced
programs to provide a sense of what community radio is about rather than
streamed programming that people could readily get on other sites.

Next community radio meeting - June 26th 10:30 a.m. at The Windham - PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A WEEK EARLIER THAN USUAL DUE TO THE JULY 4TH HOLIDAY!

April 3, 2004
BF Radio Community Meeting Notes

Participants: Tony, Sara, Bob, Gary, David, Nancy (notetaker)

Legal name -After discussion about the pros and cons of various names, the
group agreed to use Great Falls Community Broadcasting as the legal name
and to include Black Sheep Radio as a "doing business as" to permit us to use bothnames in the future as the group deems fit. The group agreed to proceed with incorporation as a Vermont not-for-profit organization, application of an EIN,and application for 501( c)(3) status (federal not-for-profit). Nancy offered to contact Ray to discuss next steps and Bob agreed to participate in legal discussions.

Organizational structure - The group discussed consensus decision-making
and the roles of committees, the monthly community meeting, the BFRADIO
listserv, and the Board of Directors to be formed upon incorporation and acceptanceof by-laws. The group agreed that the BFRADIO listserv shouldn't be the solevehicle for communicating meeting agendas and reports and that printcopiesshould be posted on an accessible bulletin board (ultimately in thestation butin a public place to be determined until then).· Committees are where the bulk of the project work will be done. Assuch, committee agendas and meeting times/locations should be posted inthe two places and all meetings open to the whole community. Committee reports complete with decisions, proposals, recommendations, and items to be placed onthe agenda of the monthly community meeting should be posted (again, both places) one week prior to the community meeting to encourage Q&A and discussion prior to the meeting.

The heart of the monthly community meeting will be the committee reports and related discussion. Board members are encouraged to participate in this meeting in order to appreciate the spirit of the discussion and informtheir own decision-making. Initially, the monthly community meeting will take place at The Windham the first Saturday of each month from 10:30 a.m. -Noon.

The board of directors will meet monthly within 7-10 days of the monthly community meeting in order to take action on any issues needing resolution for committees to proceed. It is anticipated that the Board largely deal with issues with financial, legal, and political implications.

Relationship with FACT - We likely will operate as a sub-contractor to FACT. Ray has agreed to assist with this contract as well.

Domain name - The group agreed to register wool.fm for our domain, and this was
done during the meeting. Thanks to Tony for his out-of-pocket founding contribution to cover the one-year registration. Tony offered to handle the related server issues with SoVerNet and Dexter. An e-mail address (info@wool.fm) will be created for public use and initially will be channeled to Nancy's personal e-mail address.

Antenna/Tower issues - Nancy reported on her conversation with Terry Gould
of Adelphia. Terry explained that there are three parties to deal with on this
issue - the landowner who apparently receives half of any revenue generated by
the tower, a tower management company based in Texas, and Adelphia. Terry
promised to provide the contact information for the tower management
company so that we could get a market value of the tower space for our budget
planning purposes. Nancy plans to have a conversation with the landowner to better
understand the arrangement and what discounting opportunities might exist.
Apparently, Shapiro has recently sold his three radio stations (for $22
million) to a company in the south so our plan B to use his shed may be
more difficult. Nancy also reported that Ira has other ideas we might want to
consider if the Adelphia tower doesn't work out for any reason. Someone
indicated that tower space rental is in the ballpark of $300-500 per
month.

PR report - WNNE-Channel 31 had broadcast a short piece on the project.
It included a very nice shot of Ollie's face and great quotes by Cameron, a
Compass School student who worked on a Claymation piece about being a DJ
which will be on our website. Thanks to Ezra, Ollie, Anna, and Cameron for
participating. Bill Lockwood is interested in writing a piece for the Bellows
Falls Town Crier and Sally Anderson would like an update for the Eagle Times.
She also will draft a press release to update the public on happenings
(permit, name, fundraising goal) and circulate it on BFRADIO. Bob offered to help
with spokesperson responsibilities.

Fundraising committee report - Nancy (chair of the committee) reported
that Gary, Bob, Sara, and she had met and brainstormed fundraising ideas (no
written report yet). She presented copies of the latest version of the budget
which included input by Ezra, Justin, Ira (facilities/equipment), Dot (programming),
and Art. The group went over it line item by line item and arrived at a start-
up budget of $50,000. So, $50,000 is our initial fundraising goal. Nancy will
update the budget based on the discussion and take a first crack at
drafting materials for a fundraising packet. Gary offered to work with Charlie to
ensure that our materials look top-notch and suggested that Mary Lynch
might assist with the design. Nancy noted that Tim had offered his graphics
design services at one point and volunteered to contact him about his
availability to begin to generate design ideas. The group discussed a few grant
opportunities and agreed it is premature to pursue the TOP grant available through the
U.S. Department of Commerce. Sara offered to send along the RFP for a media
justice grant due April 20th.

Next meeting: Saturday, May 8th at 10:30 a.m. at The Windham. Please try
to send committee reports and agenda items to BFRADIO by May 1st.

6 March 2004
Community Meeting notes:

First of all, we all got to see the original copy of our construction permit!

Governance issues - Board of directors, legal paperwork:

The group decided to go ahead and apply for the federal 501 status so that we may establish financial independence if necessary. We may not need it, but if it is in place, we will have it. Also, if need by other entities could be used in the interim to secure grants.

The group also discussed the organizational possibilities, and we'll start thinking about such things as length of term and type of board/subcommittee. On the initial organizing board will be: Ezra Veitch, Tony Elliot, Dot Read, Bob Ross, Wade Kemp, and Anna Bowler. Ray Massucco will serve as legal representative.

Name - call sign:

After considerable discussion, the group reached consensus on using the call letters WOOL, but have left Black Sheep Radio or other station/organization name up for continued discussion. Bob will secure the WOOL-LP call sign, and do some more research to find a web address. Everyone agreed that the web site is coming along great!

Committees/Task Forces:

We reviewed the committees and appointed point persons to chair. We discussed that it is important to meet at least once a month at this point as our clock is ticking. We must be broadcasting by Aug. 27, 2005, or we lose our license.

Facilities/Equipment: Donald LaClair, Ira Wilner, and Tony Elliot.
Programming/Training: Wade, Dot; children's programming: Cathy Bergmann, Samantha Maskell, Kristin Coates.
Fundraising: Bob Ross, Ollie Veitch, Sarah Long, Gary Smith.
PR/Communications: Bob, Sarah, Dot

Anyone interested in serving on any of the committees should contact a committee member.

Budget: It was agreed that all committees should try to meet by the next general meeting and have a rough estimate of any budget items that should be included in the overall plan. At present, we estimate around $50,000 will be needed. Any budget needs should be emailed to Bob Ross with an indication of priority and time frame needed.

Publicity:

It was decided that once we have the agreement on antenna space worked out, and once we have the web site completed, we should launce a publicity campaign around our first fundraising, perhaps the 100.10 charter members fundraiser we've discussed the past.

The next meeting will be Saturday, April 3, at the meeting room of the Rockingham Free Public Library, from 9 a.m. To 10:30 p.m. The group discussed alternating and having some evening meetings so that all could attend at least some of the meetings.

	HOME
PLEASE NOTE!	For Board Meeting Minutes AFTER the latest date here, and for meeting notes from other committee meetings, please refer to the RECENT MEETING NOTES page by clicking here. The page you will enter contains links to PDFs of meetings going back some time but also contains the most recent minutes and notes, some not yet approved. Thanks, the webmaster.

June 13, 2005 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company BOARD MEETING DOWNLOAD 6/13 MINUTES

May 9, 2005 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company BOARD MEETING

April 11, 2005 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company BOARD MEETING DOWNLOAD 4/11 MINUTES
March 21, 2005 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company BOARD MEETING DOWNLOAD 3/21 MINUTES
Nov 15, 2004 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company BOARD MEETING DOWNLOAD 11/15 MINUTES
Oct 18, 2004 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company BOARD MEETING DOWNLOAD 10/18 MINUTES


Oct 2, 2004 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Community Meeting	In attendance: Cousin Isaac, Tony Elliott, Wade Kemp, Chris Lumbergh, Jessica Reeves, Nancy Stefanik, Ira Wilner Recorder: Jessica Reeves Introductions All in attendance were introduced. Board Report 501(c)3 submitted to IRS; will probably be two to six months before status is official Lease agreement has been approved; to be signed by the end of October Insurance is in place Next two board meetings to be held October 18 and November 15 at the Readmore Taskforce Reports Studio Construction volunteers being organized Materials list being formed Tower There is space on the tower; we will get on pending agreement from tower owner Can’t buy the antenna until tower space is secured; decision on antenna purchase to be made at 10/18 board meeting Equipment The list of what has been acquired has been added to the budget Wish list to be made and related questions to be posed to the listserv Training Moving forward; draft curriculum has been developed Programming Community/listener survey and newsletter to go out to all members and people on mailing list; will address what people want to hear on WOOL and will solicit new members; this may phase into a quarterly publication There will be a mailing to contact everyone who indicated interest in having a show to get a feel for what our programming will look like Fundraising Waiting for responses on grants Organizational member drive coming up; wish list of materials and equipment is essential for this Orientation/Training; Policies An orientation and training curriculum has been developed consisting of an initial orientation followed by three sessions of DJ training. The training manual will be completed by the end of October, and training sessions can begin as early as the first week of November (pending the arrival of equipment). Completion of the training manual and implementation of the training program is also dependent on completion of the policies that it will contain; a list of potential policies was circulated, discussed and approved. Final wording of all policies will be approved by the board. Future Meetings Next meeting October 20, 7:00 p.m., location to be announced Task forces will meet in the first half hour; general meeting at 7:00 Meetings will be held every other week, and agendas for meetings can be submitted via the listserv Schedule for the rest of 2004: October 20, November 3, November 17, December 1, December 15, December 29.

September 20, 2004 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors Posted 10/11/04 2:22PM	Readmore 1 Hapgood Street, Bellows Falls Meeting called by: Dot Read Type of meeting: Board Meeting Facilitator: Dot Read Note taker: Bob Ross Attendees: Dot Read, Wade Kemp, Nancy Stefanik, Bob Ross, Ezra Veitch, Tony Elliot, Gary Smith TOPICS 1. Discussion: Discussed minutes of July 27th. Conclusions: Bob has sent to Gary to post. Action items: Wade moved to accept as written, Bob Seconded 2. Organizational Concerns voiced by Dot: Bob will send minutes to board list. Gary to post on the website once they are approved. Dot will handle agenda announcements at least 3 days prior to meetings. Meeting dates will be posted on website and at the studio. Dot has finalized 501 © 3 with help from Nancy & Ray. Dot will contact IRS prior to mailing out Dot will warn annual and regular meetings to listserve at least five (5) days prior. Tony will print and post at the studio. Clarifications - Four members present at a warned meeting are a quorum. Board shall be empowered to conduct business by email as long as all members have responded by email prior to any voting. Conclusions: Tony moved. Gary seconded. Approved unanimously. 3. Discussion: Tower negotiation will be handled by Tony. Technical issues will be handled by Ira. Gary, Bob & Sean will meet at studio on Tuesday, September 21 to work out studio design and preliminary materials list. Gary will ask Sean to lead construction committee and direct studio construction project. Nancy will solicit material donations once list is completed. Ezra will head equipment committee. Dot will head programming committee. Jessica will do presentation for possible orientation and training for WOOL at the October 2 meeting. Wade will do hands-on training. Nancy will coordinate PR committee with Anneke & Gary. Person responsible:Nancy, Bob Deadline:ASAP 4. Update on Tower: Tony Tony is in communication with Adelphia but there is no approval yet. We need to file technical data Tony spoke with Randy Powell, of Tower management company who is following up with Pete J. They will discuss cost to WOOL and get back to us. There is space at the 83 foot location. He will email us as there is progress. 5. Other business Tony moved to empower Gary & Wade to spend up to $100 for safety equipment before Saturday cleanup. Ezra seconded. Approved. Bob will email to list for volunteers to finish clean up on Saturday. Lease will be circulated by Gary & Tony with hopeful approval by email. Nancy will circulate a draft of MOU to board soon. Tony move to adjoin. Wade second. Special notes: Next board meeting is October 18th. Meeting adjourned at 7:57 PM

July 27, 2004 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors	Readmore 1 Hapgood Street, Bellows Falls Meeting called by: Dot Read Type of meeting: Board Meeting Facilitator: Dot Read Note taker: Bob Ross Attendees: Dot Read, Wade Kemp, Nancy Stefanik, Bob Ross Agenda topics 1. Lease Revision (Bob) Discussion: Lease revised with suggested changes noted on master copy. Conclusions: Action items: Bob will incorporate all changes and send copy to Board & Tony Person responsible:Bob Deadline: August 10 2. Budget Priorities (Nancy) Discussion: Budget priorities were discussed and order of expenditures (approximate cost in parentheses) were determined to be as follows: 1. Zoning permit ($32) 2. Signage ($27) 3. 501 (c)3 ($575) 4. Insurance ($700) 5. Fundraising expense account ($500) 6. Reimburse for Marantz ($478.80) 7. CF Card ($150) 8. Batteries ($100) 9. Microphones ($300) 10. Funding of Frank Brown legal letters (unknown) Conclusions: Approved subject to additional vote to meet quorum Action items: Get additional vote Person responsible:Nancy Deadline: 3. Tower Issues (Nancy) Discussion: Discussion of status of tower with Adelphia. Full discussion tabled until full board meeting. Conclusions: Problems with Adelphia responding Action items: Nancy will search out past letters, if any, to Adelphia. Person responsible:Nancy Deadline:ASAP Tom Salmon authorized to write updated letter to get written response on record Person Responsible: Bob Deadline: Early August Special notes: Billy Bragg concert ticket sales discussed, other concert business and appreciation of Gary Smith noted. Meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM

June 26, 2004 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors	Board members present: Dot Read (President), Wade Kemp (VP), Tony Elliott (Treasurer), Gary Smith, Anna Bowler (ex officio) and Nancy Stefanik (ex officio). Other community members present: Ira Wilner, Monty Barnett, Bill Mammone, Kevin Forrest, Elisa Forrest, Luise Light, Anneke Toomey (and two young children, and Matt Clary (Eagle Times reporter) President Dot Read indicated that this was the official organizing meeting of Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company and that the only official business before the Board was the adoption of the organizational by-laws as approved at the June 5th community meeting. Tony Elliott moved that the Board of Directors adopt the by-laws as approved by the community at the June 5th meeting. Gary Smith seconded the motion. With no further discussion, the Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Board of Directors unanimously adopted the by-laws as attached. President Read asked if there were any other issues to be considered by the Board. When there were none, a motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded, and approved. June 26th Community Meeting Notes Meeting facilitator Dot Read asked for task force reports. PR & Fundraising - The committee and subsets of the committee have met several times in person and online since the last community meeting and progress has been made on several fronts: * an ambitious fundraising goal of $30,000 to be raised by the end of September 04 was established * individual and organizational annual membership levels were established ($10 for under 18s and over 65s, $25 for adults, $250 and $500 for organizations with two founding membership levels of $100.10 and $1001.00 respectively) to be good through 8/31/05. Everyone invited to become a member and help with raising community awareness and recruiting members at upcoming events (Farmers' Market, Saxtons River on July 3rd, and Old Home Days) [ sign-up sheet was circulated ] * organizational members are to be listed on website * only contributions above $100.10 can be earmarked for a particular purpose * individual membership strategy was tested out during Fred weekend with good success - about $1500 in cash, checks, and pledges were raised. Gary recognized for preparing everything needed for display and sale of memberships. * Billy Bragg concert to benefit WOOL 100.1 FM! Everyone asked to help sell tickets - especially VIP seats at $50. * Other fundraising efforts are being planned - money cans/bottles around town, auction, open mic at Moose club, gatherings at The Windham, Readmore and elsewhere, merchandise (bumper stickers, t-shirts, visors, mouse pads, flash memory, radios, etc) * phase one of website to go live in time to promote Billy Bragg and support fundraising campaign * press release sent out and articles appeared or to soon appear in Eagle Times, Brattleboro Reformer, Rutland Herald, Keene Sentinel/River Record, and Town Crier * Nancy represented Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company at "Media and Democracy" conference that took place in Burlington on June 18th Facilities & Equipment- Conversations with the landowner, Adelphia, and one of our lawyers have taken place regarding the placement of our antenna atop Mount Kilburn. To change the siting of our antenna from the Adelphia tower would involve reapplication to the FCC. The Marantz digital recorder has been purchased with the mini-grant received from TOWN and two founding memberships (Bob Ross and his wife). It was tested at a few recent events by Bob, Tony, and Ezra and seems to be a sweet machine although it needs microphones, cables, spare batteries, and a charger. (see discussion about policies / protocols below) Ira reported that a contribution of a console, speakers, and other equipment (possibly as much as $8000-$12,000!) from the Monadnock Radio Group looks very likely. He needs to go through more equipment and then check it all out. The Facilities & Equipment Task Force (as well as all task forces) were asked to firm up their budgets and determine relative priorities to be discussed at the next community meeting. The next steps on the studio construction front are to get the space inspected and permitted. The first official workday likely will take place in late August. Programming & Training - It is still a little too early to begin scheduling workshops although the task force is beginning to look at what other stations are requiring in the way of orientation and training. In addition to training, there are several programming issues to be discussed at one of the next meetings including scheduling, automation software, streaming, etc. Tony already has made arrangements with Pacifica for a year of free programming although we are not activating the start of the year until we're closer to broadcasting. Nancy offered to contact Larry Bloch, program director of rfb, about meeting with the Programming & Training taskforce or attending an upcoming community meeting. Licensing and underwriting issues will be discussed more at the August meeting. A suggestion was made to send an e-mail to all members inviting them to join the listserv. Gary reported that he has contacted several record companies and independents to begin having music sent to WOOL. Other discussion The group discussed how organizations might be asked to participate. Suggested names for organizational members: Shepherds Society, Dyed-in-the-Wool, Fleeced Society. Perhaps think in terms of soliciting orgs to sponsor events on a quarterly basis. Everyone might think about what we can offer founding members - do we have the resources to pull off a member discount card, or is this even something area businesses would be interested in participating in? The group brainstormed policies and protocols regarding use of the Marantz and came up with the following: * GFCBC should insure it as soon as possible. * A training session should be designed. * Members and staff will be able to sign it out for WOOL use only and accept responsibiity for things that happen to it while they have it on a first-come, first-served basis. * We have to fulfill the terms of the grant as soon as possible (funds received from public health/anti-tobacco group). Next meetings: Saturdays, July 24th and August 7th, 10:30-Noon at The Windham. At the special meeting on the 24th, we'll particularly focus on budgets and fundraising efforts, especially the Billy Bragg benefit concert on July 28th. Notetaker: Nancy Stefanik

June 5, 2004 Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company Community Meeting	Present:- Anna Bowler, Reed Webster, Don LaClair, Bob Ross, Nancy Stefanik(notetaker), Gary Smith, David Stewart, Dot Read (facilitator), Ira Wilner Organizational update - The officers of the founding Board are Dot Read - President, Wade Kemp - VP, Tony Elliott - Treasurer, Bob Ross - Secretary. Other board members are Anna Bowler (ex officio), Ezra Veitch, and Gary Smith. Nancy was asked to make a decision soon. Board responsibilities primarily are fiscal and legal. Thus, the bulk of the decision-making and action will be done at the committee level, not by the Board. Ira raised the issue of Board management of staff down the road and being explicit in the bylaws about the difference in the responsibilities of staff and the Board. Dot has experience with Boards who spell out such relationships in contracts. Bob moved that the participants accept the bylaws in their current state. All said yes except Nancy who abstained. Dot to send out final bylaws to entire listserv. The Board should remain open to revisiting bylaws as time nears when staff will be hired. Communication / inclusiveness - Everyone is encouraged to send their messages to the entire BFRADIO to keep everyone informed of developments, build momentum, and solicit fresh perspectives. Definition of Member - Seniors and students - $10 or more, everyone else $25 or more annually. Entitles you to vote and have a show. As part of start-up fund drive, there also will be founding contributor - $100.10. The group felt that volunteer time (not DJ time) could be substituted for the membership fee. Lease - Bob and Tony are working on the lease and the other contracts that might be involved with using the space at 5 Canal Street. Ira suggested that any trade provisions be explicit, with particular concern about airtime. Gary and others suggested that a multi-year lease arrangement would be appropriate given the investment that is about to be made in building and equipping the studio. As long as there's not a cost (beyond the $1) associated with the contracts, the meeting participants were comfortable with the Board proceeding with the contracts. Studio - Ira has feedback on the design specs distributed by Bob (CSPAN radio) and will be included on the studio design/construction team. Don LaClair and Reed Webster also would like to be involved the studio building. Tower - Nancy reported that she had a conversation with the owner of the land atop Mount Kilburn and that he seems very willing to work with us. She and Tony will be meeting with him in the next week, and Nancy will report. Ira will research how far we can be from Adelphia's tower without having to amend our FCC application. Bob will look at Walpole zoning restrictions. Because of the possible length of time it takes for approval, Nancy and Ira are going to identify possible locations for translators to expand our reach once we're up and running. Budget - Everyone is asked to continue to provide updates to the budget so that we can make sure we raise enough money. Ira believes there may be additional costs not yet included in the budget (HVAC?) Portable digital recorder - Bob has purchased a Morantz 670 recorder with the $460 mini-grant received from TOWN, paying the difference (total cost = $625) as his and Karen's founding contribution. Financial transactions - Gary agreed to e-mail Tony about setting up a PO system. Some feel it is important to firm up the wishlist and determine relative priorities to guide decision-making about how to spend early money. Perhaps this could be on the agenda of the next meeting. Design / website - The group looked at the three website designs that have been developed thus far and had a discussion about how a community group like ours can move projects along while remaining inclusive to as much stakeholder input as possible. The group also discussed the desirability of adopting a logo and using it on the website and all print materials as a unifying concept versus adopting various designs for different purposes / audiences and changing over time. Most in the group believed it was important to work at least initially with a single logo and felt that Mary Lynch's design worked well and had received only positive feedback from the larger listserv group. Nancy made motion to accept Mary Lynch's logo design. Don seconded it. Everyone voted yes, except Bob who voted neigh. Gary, Bob,Anna, and David are going to get together to finalize a site featuring Mary's logo on Wednesday night. Everyone should look at all the buttons on the various sites and send your recommendations about website content to Gary by 9 a.m. so the group can consider and incorporate as appropriate. Anyone who would like to contribute to the website development effort should contact Gary. PR/Communications - Nancy agrees to coordinate public relations and will put up a summer timeline of events/press releases including those associated with the fundraising campaign for folks to add to. It will be important to keep the effort in front of people throughout the summer. Fundraising Committee - A fundraising committee meeting was scheduled for Wednesday evening. Anyone who is interested in serving on the fundraising committee should contact Nancy or Gary. Status of FACT8 - A new FACT8 board was elected, and it looks like the relationship between the two organizations will be strengthened. Reed expressed interest in helping ensure that all events are promoted on FACT8 and that the plans for cablecasting are still in the works. No progress has been made on the MOU in the last month. Music license issues - $1100 for streaming of music - group is not ready to expend this unless someone comes forward to underwrite it. Some felt that the initial website should feature clickable samples of locally produced programs to provide a sense of what community radio is about rather than streamed programming that people could readily get on other sites. Next community radio meeting - June 26th 10:30 a.m. at The Windham - PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A WEEK EARLIER THAN USUAL DUE TO THE JULY 4TH HOLIDAY!

April 3, 2004 BF Radio Community Meeting Notes	Participants: Tony, Sara, Bob, Gary, David, Nancy (notetaker) Legal name -After discussion about the pros and cons of various names, the group agreed to use Great Falls Community Broadcasting as the legal name and to include Black Sheep Radio as a "doing business as" to permit us to use bothnames in the future as the group deems fit. The group agreed to proceed with incorporation as a Vermont not-for-profit organization, application of an EIN,and application for 501( c)(3) status (federal not-for-profit). Nancy offered to contact Ray to discuss next steps and Bob agreed to participate in legal discussions. Organizational structure - The group discussed consensus decision-making and the roles of committees, the monthly community meeting, the BFRADIO listserv, and the Board of Directors to be formed upon incorporation and acceptanceof by-laws. The group agreed that the BFRADIO listserv shouldn't be the solevehicle for communicating meeting agendas and reports and that printcopiesshould be posted on an accessible bulletin board (ultimately in thestation butin a public place to be determined until then).· Committees are where the bulk of the project work will be done. Assuch, committee agendas and meeting times/locations should be posted inthe two places and all meetings open to the whole community. Committee reports complete with decisions, proposals, recommendations, and items to be placed onthe agenda of the monthly community meeting should be posted (again, both places) one week prior to the community meeting to encourage Q&A and discussion prior to the meeting. The heart of the monthly community meeting will be the committee reports and related discussion. Board members are encouraged to participate in this meeting in order to appreciate the spirit of the discussion and informtheir own decision-making. Initially, the monthly community meeting will take place at The Windham the first Saturday of each month from 10:30 a.m. -Noon. The board of directors will meet monthly within 7-10 days of the monthly community meeting in order to take action on any issues needing resolution for committees to proceed. It is anticipated that the Board largely deal with issues with financial, legal, and political implications. Relationship with FACT - We likely will operate as a sub-contractor to FACT. Ray has agreed to assist with this contract as well. Domain name - The group agreed to register wool.fm for our domain, and this was done during the meeting. Thanks to Tony for his out-of-pocket founding contribution to cover the one-year registration. Tony offered to handle the related server issues with SoVerNet and Dexter. An e-mail address (info@wool.fm) will be created for public use and initially will be channeled to Nancy's personal e-mail address. Antenna/Tower issues - Nancy reported on her conversation with Terry Gould of Adelphia. Terry explained that there are three parties to deal with on this issue - the landowner who apparently receives half of any revenue generated by the tower, a tower management company based in Texas, and Adelphia. Terry promised to provide the contact information for the tower management company so that we could get a market value of the tower space for our budget planning purposes. Nancy plans to have a conversation with the landowner to better understand the arrangement and what discounting opportunities might exist. Apparently, Shapiro has recently sold his three radio stations (for $22 million) to a company in the south so our plan B to use his shed may be more difficult. Nancy also reported that Ira has other ideas we might want to consider if the Adelphia tower doesn't work out for any reason. Someone indicated that tower space rental is in the ballpark of $300-500 per month. PR report - WNNE-Channel 31 had broadcast a short piece on the project. It included a very nice shot of Ollie's face and great quotes by Cameron, a Compass School student who worked on a Claymation piece about being a DJ which will be on our website. Thanks to Ezra, Ollie, Anna, and Cameron for participating. Bill Lockwood is interested in writing a piece for the Bellows Falls Town Crier and Sally Anderson would like an update for the Eagle Times. She also will draft a press release to update the public on happenings (permit, name, fundraising goal) and circulate it on BFRADIO. Bob offered to help with spokesperson responsibilities. Fundraising committee report - Nancy (chair of the committee) reported that Gary, Bob, Sara, and she had met and brainstormed fundraising ideas (no written report yet). She presented copies of the latest version of the budget which included input by Ezra, Justin, Ira (facilities/equipment), Dot (programming), and Art. The group went over it line item by line item and arrived at a start- up budget of $50,000. So, $50,000 is our initial fundraising goal. Nancy will update the budget based on the discussion and take a first crack at drafting materials for a fundraising packet. Gary offered to work with Charlie to ensure that our materials look top-notch and suggested that Mary Lynch might assist with the design. Nancy noted that Tim had offered his graphics design services at one point and volunteered to contact him about his availability to begin to generate design ideas. The group discussed a few grant opportunities and agreed it is premature to pursue the TOP grant available through the U.S. Department of Commerce. Sara offered to send along the RFP for a media justice grant due April 20th. Next meeting: Saturday, May 8th at 10:30 a.m. at The Windham. Please try to send committee reports and agenda items to BFRADIO by May 1st.

6 March 2004 Community Meeting notes:	First of all, we all got to see the original copy of our construction permit! Governance issues - Board of directors, legal paperwork: The group decided to go ahead and apply for the federal 501 status so that we may establish financial independence if necessary. We may not need it, but if it is in place, we will have it. Also, if need by other entities could be used in the interim to secure grants. The group also discussed the organizational possibilities, and we'll start thinking about such things as length of term and type of board/subcommittee. On the initial organizing board will be: Ezra Veitch, Tony Elliot, Dot Read, Bob Ross, Wade Kemp, and Anna Bowler. Ray Massucco will serve as legal representative. Name - call sign: After considerable discussion, the group reached consensus on using the call letters WOOL, but have left Black Sheep Radio or other station/organization name up for continued discussion. Bob will secure the WOOL-LP call sign, and do some more research to find a web address. Everyone agreed that the web site is coming along great! Committees/Task Forces: We reviewed the committees and appointed point persons to chair. We discussed that it is important to meet at least once a month at this point as our clock is ticking. We must be broadcasting by Aug. 27, 2005, or we lose our license. Facilities/Equipment: Donald LaClair, Ira Wilner, and Tony Elliot. Programming/Training: Wade, Dot; children's programming: Cathy Bergmann, Samantha Maskell, Kristin Coates. Fundraising: Bob Ross, Ollie Veitch, Sarah Long, Gary Smith. PR/Communications: Bob, Sarah, Dot Anyone interested in serving on any of the committees should contact a committee member. Budget: It was agreed that all committees should try to meet by the next general meeting and have a rough estimate of any budget items that should be included in the overall plan. At present, we estimate around $50,000 will be needed. Any budget needs should be emailed to Bob Ross with an indication of priority and time frame needed. Publicity: It was decided that once we have the agreement on antenna space worked out, and once we have the web site completed, we should launce a publicity campaign around our first fundraising, perhaps the 100.10 charter members fundraiser we've discussed the past. The next meeting will be Saturday, April 3, at the meeting room of the Rockingham Free Public Library, from 9 a.m. To 10:30 p.m. The group discussed alternating and having some evening meetings so that all could attend at least some of the meetings.