Radio Free Urbana - WRFU-LP - FM 104.5 - Urbana, IL

About WRFU WRFU’s Mission Statement WRFU is a progressive radio station collective committed to social justice, focusing on public affairs issues and the arts. WRFU ... See more airs opinions and debates in an open and diverse forum that focuses on educating and empowering the public. WRFU provides an accessible venue for an eclectic mixture of arts programming. Who we are, what we do WRFU is an Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (U-C IMC) project and fiscally sponsored working group that operates a low-power FM community radio station. We meet at the U-C IMC (the old post office building in downtown Urbana) located at 202 South Broadway, Urbana, IL on the first Tuesdays of the month at 8 pm and third Saturdays of the month at 1 pm. Our meetings are open to the public and we welcome your participation. We have 168 hours a week to fill with programming that is chosen by our members. Based in the Urbana-Champaign community, the U-C IMC is a federal tax-exempt 501c3 that has been empowering the people to “Become the Media” for more than half a decade by providing public, democratic access to information, making available technologies and equipment, training, production services, and media distribution. Leveraging its present resources by increasing public access to them, the U-C IMC’s most recent project, WRFU, holds a license to broadcast issued by the Federal Communications Commission to operate a low-power FM station on 104.5 MHz. The audience of approximately 100,000 listeners in Champaign County is served by dozens of commercial radio stations, but (other than National Public Radio) they have only one community radio station, WEFT 90.1 FM, that makes airtime available to ordinary people and community organizations. WRFU will double the amount of airtime available to the public by providing 24 hours of daily (168 hours a week) community-oriented programming. WRFU is governed on a consensus-based, decentralized model that encourages a wide variety of local public affairs and arts programming. This open structure facilitates community engagement, providing an accessible venue to self-organized programming groups, including those serving populations in languages other than English, who have only limited local media serving their needs at present. WRFU will also provide an avenue for national and international programming not easily available in the community. The exact mix of programming to be aired is dependent on the interests and participation of community members and organizations in WRFU. A major goal in organizing WRFU has been to minimize its impact on existing community media resources, while expanding the local trained volunteer base. Thus, WRFU is limiting its public fundraising efforts to those needed to build and equip the station. We anticipate that ongoing operating expenses will be largely covered through membership fees and limited underwriting opportunities. We automate station operations when volunteers are not available, while also providing expanded opportunities for training new people to participate in our community’s vibrant participatory media scene. Our automation system plays only local and regional bands. Organizational Structure for WRFU Approved at May 5, 2004 WRFU meeting WRFU Membership Description Open to anyone, with annual membership fee and orientation/training course. Membership Fees Updated November 2009 U-C IMC Membership: $25-$50, sliding scale WRFU Membership: $25 minimum Privileges and Responsibilities All WRFU members, being U-C IMC members, have access to U-C IMC resources including audio and video production resources. All WRFU members must be active in at lease one WRFU working group. Must adhere to all other station policy and all relevant broadcast laws and policies. Steering Group Description Primary responsible body for the station, able to make policy and create new programming and working groups. Responsibilities Responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable communications laws and policies. Able to dissolve any programming group or working group. Empowered to cancel individual WRFU memberships, and thereby remove persons from air, and from programming or working groups. May delegate specific responsibilities and powers to: teams of at least 2 members of this group WRFU working groups Ad hoc groups with at least 2 members from Steering Group Membership Must be members of WRFU Core membership of 4 spokespersons, 2 each nominated by the Socialist Forum and U-C IMC. Full membership is core members plus one spokesperson from each programming and working group at the station. A member of this group may be the spoke for only one group or the SF or the U-C IMC. A member of this group may not be in management or on the board of directors of any other radio station or broadcast licensee. Working and programming group spokes may serve on the Steering Group for no more than two consecutive years. All groups must have a spoke in attendance at a simple majority of all meetings within a calendar year. Groups attending less than the minimum number of meetings will become ”inactive” and members of that group lose standing in the steering group. Meetings Must be held at least monthly at the U-C IMC at a regularly scheduled time. Are open to the public. Meeting Operation The full membership must be in attendance in order for decisions made to take immediate effect. Decisions may be made “pending objection” if at least a simple majority of the membership is in attendance. Such decisions must be posted to the WRFU membership e-mail list and in writing at the station. Decisions made “pending objection” take effect once half a meeting cycle has elapsed, only if no objections are raised by any spokes absent from the meeting within this time period.. All meetings are conducted by consensus, inclusive of all WRFU members in attendance, who have equal standing with group members, except in thecase of irresolvable blocks. In the event of an irresolvable block, after all consensus procedures have been exhausted, decisions will be made by consensus of the group membership (U-C IMC, Socialist Forum and working group spokes), further failure of consensus will default decisions to a consensus of the core membership (Socialist Forum & U-C IMC). Designated Problem Solvers Description These two designees are the first point of contact for dealing with emergency situations, conflicts and other problems. Responsibilities Respond to emergencies and other situations that pose an immediate threat to the station and its license. Be a point of contact to receive reports of non-emergency conflicts and problems with programming, especially those that cannot be resolved with a Programming Group. May form ad hoc groups for conflict resolution with Steering/Board/Council consent. Membership Two designated members of the Steering Group core membership: one spoke from Socialist Forum, one spoke from U-C IMC. Designated by consensus of Steering Group. Programming Groups Description Responsiblefor creating, engineering and airing the programming occurring during a particular daypart or other portion of the broadcast day/week. There is no minimum or maximum number of Programming Groups. Membership Must have a minimum of two members. Any member of WRFU, wishing to join and accepted by consensus of the existing group membership. No WRFU member may belong to more than two Programming Groups. Responsibilities Programming and airshifting a portion of the broadcast day or week as defined bythe group and consented upon by the Steering Group. Members must attend meetings and do programming work. Must nominate one spoke to Steering Group who attends at least a majority of Steering meetings within a calendar year. Must nominate one spoke to Steering Group who attends at least a majority of Steering meetings within a calendar year. At least one member of each Programming Group must attend a majority of the meetings of one of the Working Groups listed below, or perform an equivalent amount of work for the working group. All program time must be staffed and airshifted by at least one member. Meetings Must be held at least monthly at the U-C IMC at a regularly scheduled time. Are open to the public. Meeting Operation Conducted by consensus, inclusive of all WRFU members in attendance. Inthe event of an irresolvable block, after all consensus procedures havebeen exhausted, decisions will be made by consensus of the groupmemberhip. Further failure of consensus will be brought to theBroadcast Board/Steering Group/Spokescouncil. Working Groups Description Responsible for doing all non-programming work of the station (such as publicity, engineering, fund raising, etc.) There is no minimum or maximum number of Working Groups. Membership: Any member of WRFU who attends a Working Group’s meetings and does work. Responsibilities As defined by the group and consented upon by the Steering/Board/Council. May not be responsible for programming any given timeslot or daypart. Must nominate one spoke to Steering/Board/Council who attends at least a majority of Steering meetings withina calendar year. Meetings Must be held at least monthly at the U-C IMC at a regularly scheduled time, and be open to the public. Conducted by consensus, inclusive of all WRFU members in attendance. In the event of an irresolvable block, after all consensus procedures have beenexhausted, decisions will be brought to the Broadcast Board/SteeringGroup/Spokescouncil. Working Groups Automation: Responsible for programming those parts of WRFU’s schedule that are NOT live. Selects and schedules programming for non-live segments. Maintains station automation playlist (local music library, public affairs news feeds and podcasts, and remote/on-location broadcasts). Finance: Raises money for the station, through public events, grants, donation drives, and mer-chandise sales. Membership & Training: Manages schedule of shows and programming, collects station dues, trains volunteers, and updates training materials and handbooks. Outreach: Spreads the word about the station in the Champaign-Urbana area; works on building membership, managing the WRFU website, and advertising shows. Policy: Coordinator - Aaron Pollack. No further information is available at this time. Programming: Coordinator - Andrew O'Baoill (andrew@funferal.org). No further information is available at this time. Technical: Responsible for the engineering opera-tions of WRFU; maintains transmitter, antenna, studio and production equipment, and plans all equipment replacement, upgrades, installations, and purchases. Emergency Clause In the event of an emergency that threatens the legal status of the station, its license or its resources, action may be taken by the Designated Problem Solvers or a consensus of the core steering membership. In the event of an urgent emergency on the station premises or transmitter site that poses an imminent threat to the health and safety of station property or volunteers, the airshifter on duty may take reasonable action to ensure the safety of the station and volunteers. Notice of emergency actions must be made to the WRFU e-mail list as soon as reasonably possible. All emergency actions are subject to review and consent by the Steering Group. ------ Shows: Radio Australia News, Radio Prague, Radio Sweden, KBS World Radio, Korea, Radio Australia, Radio Romania International