Valley Free Radio | WXOJ-LP | 103.3 FM | Northampton, Massachusetts

Program Production at Valley Free Radio

• I. Introduction
• II. Collectives
• III. How to Get Involved
• IV. Collective Liaisons

I. Introduction

Valley Free Radio’s Mission Statement reads as follows:

Valley Free Radio will be a non-commercial community-based and volunteer-run radio station for the Greater Northampton area. We seek to educate, inspire and entertain through programming that reflects the diversity of the local community. We seek to provide a space for media access and education, placing equipment, skills and critical tools in the hands of the community. We aim to serve with particular regard for those overlooked or under-represented by other media and to provide a forum for the exchange of cultural and intellectual ideas and music.

In order to maintain the vitality of a radio station that can accommodate all those who want to participate, programming at Valley Free Radio is created by programming collectives. Each collective has the responsibility for training new applicants and allocating air time for all the programs produced within that collective. The structure of each programming collective is determined by its members. Collectives do not control the content of individual programming.

The Programming Committee will regularly review the following guidelines—at a minimum, one year following the launch of the station in August 2005—in order to evaluate how well they encourage programming that expresses the station’s fundamental goals as articulated in the Mission Statement, Vision Statement, and the Resolution regarding the Antidiscrimination Committee. Similarly, collectives will regularly evaluate their programming, hear and discuss feedback from the general membership and listeners, and review how they allocate air time. Finally, VFR members in good standing may propose changes to these guidelines by submitting their requests in writing to the Programming Committee and the VFR Board.

II. Collectives

A. Purpose

In order to maintain the station as a vibrant, volunteer organization whose doors remain open to the communities it serves, the Programming Committee regularly establishes new collectives (e.g., Jazz or Spanish-Language News) whose members share responsibilities such as allocating air time, training new applicants and producing programs. Decisions about allocation of airtime are made following the procedure of Valley Free Radio: decision making by consensus, with recourse to two-thirds majority approval if necessary.

A critical role of the collectives is to bring in and support new applicants who wish to become involved in programming: to acquaint them with Valley Free Radio’s Mission Statement; oversee the development of their technical skills, including on-air training sessions; and assess when they are ready to go on the air. As soon as they have completed the requirements for membership as described herein, new members may participate in all aspects of the collectives, including leadership roles. All committees at Valley Free Radio, especially the Outreach and Programming Committees, will help the programming collectives in outreach and recruitment.

Collectives must allocate and exercise their responsibilities fairly and in keeping with commitment to a nurturing and inclusive process. Should a member of a collective or other Programming Committee member have concerns that the collective is not fulfilling its role as a support network, s/he may appeal to the Grievances and Reviews Subcommittee.

B. Forming and Scheduling Collectives

Decisions about the formation and scheduling of collectives will be made by subcommittees empowered by and accountable to the Programming Committee.

These subcommittees operate with consensus decision making, with reversion to a 2/3 majority vote if consensus cannot be reached after a good-faith effort.

1. The Blocks and Structure Subcommittee will create the structure (format) that will be filled by a Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee. It will consider community input, including program proposals and community surveys that VFR has received; research the schedules of other community radio stations and LPFMs; recommend to the Programming Committee types of blocks and the percentage of the programming week each block will receive; and suggest strategies for accommodating station growth. Once the mission of the Blocks and Structure Subcommittee has been accomplished the subcommittee will be dissolved.

The Blocks and Structure Subcommittee shall be composed of:

2 members of the Advisory Council
Community members with radio experience
2 members of the Programming Committee (familiar with proposals and surveys received)
2 members of the Antidiscrimination Committee
VFR members with radio experience
1 Board member

2. The Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee will recommend a list of initial collectives based on the programming proposals received, schedule the times that these collectives will occupy within a given block, and recommend strategies for accommodating station growth. The Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee will make decisions based on the following: the Mission Statement, the Block and Structure Subcommittee’s recommendations, program proposal themes, applicant time availability, audience listening patterns, listener feedback, and the priority of serving those underrepresented in other media.

There is explicitly no guarantee that the timeslot assigned to a collective will remain the same in the future. At the time that time is allotted, programmers and collectives will be reminded of this.

Periodically, and not less frequently than every 6 months, the Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee will meet with the Programming Committee to evaluate time allocation across the overall slate of programming collectives and to reallocate airtime and create new collectives as needed. At this time, collectives may request additional airtime and program producers may suggest the creation of new collectives.

Four members of each block, initially elected by the Programming Committee and thereafter elected by program producers within each block, will make recommendations to the Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee, which will make final decisions regarding collective formation and scheduling.

The Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee shall be composed of:

1 member of the Advisory Council
1 member of the Board
1 member of the Antidiscrimination Committee
2 members from each programming block (”block liaisons”)

These members will be elected by the Programming Committee.

Initially, members of the Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee will serve for one-year terms. After one year, the Programming Committee and General Membership will consider expanding the terms to two years, with a term limit of two consecutive terms, to allow for new program producers to assume leadership within the committee.

C. Collective Structure

Every programmer at VFR will be a member of a collective. After completing the steps outlined in the section of this document titled “How to Get Involved”, a new member will meet with the Programming Committee to discuss his or her placement into a collective. The Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee will work jointly with the Programming Committee, the collectives, and the new member to place a new member into an existing collective.

If the proposal fairly fits within more than one collective, the applicant will select which collective to join. The Collective Formation and Scheduling Subcommittee can also suggest the formation of a new collective involving the new applicant and other programmers.

Collectives will be defined based on shared programming areas of interest (themes), with an “Eclectic Collective” for each block, to allow for the possibility that a program proposal will fit within a block, but not with any of that block’s theme collectives at the time. Theme and eclectic collectives function in the same way, distributing time among their members.

There are many potential variants of collectives, though there is a minimum level of collective activity in common among them. The structure of each collective will be determined by the members of that collective. Without attempting to produce an exhaustive list, some examples include:

1. A collective that collaboratively conceives and plans programming, while each presentation of the program is individually produced. An example of this collective would be a nightly news program, where the collective conceives and plans the program structure but a particular individual is responsible for Mondays, another is responsible for Tuesdays, and so on. As with all collectives, this type of collective is a source of training, mentoring, and scheduling.

2. A collective that collaboratively conceives, plans, and produces programming. An example of this would be a youth radio program, in which five high school students work together to produce a single program each week. Collective members might trade off individual tasks within the program, but each program is the result of their collaborative work. Again, the collective provides training, mentoring, and scheduling as well.

3. A collective in which each program is individually conceived and produced. For example, a jazz collective might have a program of modern jazz produced by one person, a program of hip-hop/jazz produced by one person, and a swing program produced by a third person. The collective structure would be used for scheduling, training, and mentoring, but the program production would be fundamentally individual.

4. A collective that combines the above three variations. For example, a storytelling collective, in which there is a bedtime stories program produced by the same individual every week, a ghost story program produced by a different DJ every week, and a radio drama produced collaboratively.

D. Resource Commitment to People of Color

Valley Free Radio’s Mission Statement and Vision Statement outline the station’s commitment to offering programming diversity with particular regard to those underrepresented in other media; to providing media access; and to creating a welcoming space that encourages social relationships by fostering dialogue and building knowledge and understanding between and within different ethnic, racial, class, linguistic and other groups that have been silenced. In accordance with these commitments and in order to ensure the station reflects the diversity of the community, VFR establishes the goal that 30% minimum of its live broadcast time and 30% minimum of its non-live broadcast time be allocated to broadcast programmers who are people of color. The Programming Committee, its various subcommittees, collectives and collective liaisons will be jointly responsible for achieving this goal, and accountable to the General Membership and the Antidiscrimination Committee. If the Board, the Antidiscrimination Committee or the General Membership determines that we are at any time short of achieving the stated goal, the Board of Directors may take action to remedy the situation or may direct action on the part of the Programming Committee, its subcommittees, collectives, and collective liaisons to change the allocation of broadcast time or alter the overall schedule.

III. How to Get Involved

A. Statement of Interest

Whether in person, by phone, email or in writing, the new applicant submits to the Programming Committee a statement of interest that describes how s/he would like to be involved in Valley Free Radio. The statement of interest may include a program proposal; indicates a preference, if any, to join one or more collectives (such as cooking or history); or proposes that another collective be established. The statement of interest will be reviewed by the Programming Committee and will be kept in committee files.

Programming collectives are required to redirect to the Programming Committee new applicants who submit a statement of interest directly to a collective.

B. Referral to a Collective

When a statement of interest is submitted to the Programming Committee, the Committee identifies a collective to respond to the submission. A member of the collective volunteers to contact the applicant and arrange training. New applicants are not required to remain with the
collective they are initially referred to.

C. Training

The training program may be a series of scheduled group sessions open to all applicants or it may be a trainer/member of the collective working one-on-one or with a small group of new applicants. The training process covers the technical skills to produce programs, FCC broadcasting regulations, the history of community radio, and the policies and Mission Statement of VFR. At the discretion of the Programming Committee, an abbreviated training program may be implemented for new applicants with previous on-air experience.

D. Membership and Off-Air Labor Requirements

The work of keeping the station on the air includes mentoring, outreach, fundraising and publicity. Members are encouraged to suggest activities that will further the organization’s mission, even those that have not previously been performed.

New applicants and experienced program producers are expected to maintain a status of “member in good standing” (voting member) of Valley Free Radio, by attending two meetings—whether General Membership, Committee, or Board—every two months.

Members of collectives must fulfill work requirements of VFR as a whole as well as those of the collective. Two hours per month of off-air labor is required of all members and does not include attending meetings. Because preparation for on-air production is an important investment of time, sit-ins and other mentoring sessions will count as volunteer hours for both new applicants and collective members.

Applicants who cannot meet the work expectations may appeal to their collective’s liaison (see below) or to a member of the Grievances and Reviews Subcommittee, who may choose to make reasonable accommodations.

E. On-Air Practice

New members of a collective are expected to sit in on the production of at least four shows within Valley Free Radio. It is recommended that the sit-ins be with at least two different program producers.

During the sit-in, the program producer will explain what s/he is doing and allow the new member to produce a segment of the show. In general, it is a time for observation, practice, hands-on experience, feedback, questions and answers.

F. Meeting the Programming Committee and Finding a Place at VFR

After fulfilling Programming Committee and General Membership requirements, new members will be considered ready to share airtime and production work with other members of the collective—or another one. A representative of one or more collectives in which new members have been involved will introduce them at a regular meeting of the Programming Committee. This is a time to introduce new members and assist them in finding a place to contribute.

All new members who have satisfactorily fulfilled the steps of “How to Get Involved in Program Production” will be considered ready to participate in collectives and program production.

G. Internal Grievance and Review Process

Please see the Grievance and Mediation Committee Process policy.

IV. Collective Liaisons

A. Role and Responsibilities

Each collective elects a minimum of one member who acts as Liaison between the collective and the Programming Committee, other collectives, and the VFR general membership. The liaison coordinates communication among the various members of the collective and keeps track of off-air labor, informing collective members about the work available and ensuring that they meet labor requirements. S/he arranges training, on-air practice and sit-ins for new members, and introduces them to the Programming Committee.

An important role of the liaison is to ensure that the collective meets expectations regarding support and inclusiveness of new members. The liaison also functions as an advocate for programs produced by members of underrepresented groups and/or the Outreach Committee’s specifically recruited applicants. This advocacy work primarily consists of ensuring that all applicants receive the support they need and are allotted airtime they can accept.

At the formation of the initial programming collectives, the liaison will be determined by the Programming Committee. After six months of studio broadcasting, each collective may choose to elect additional liaisons (or replace the initial liaison if s/he no longer wishes to act in that capacity).

B. Requirements

Liaisons are expected to demonstrate their commitment to Valley Free Radio and its general membership by having:

1. A minimum of six months’ experience in VFR program production.
2. A minimum of four consecutive months working in the Programming Committee.
3. Status as a VFR member in good standing.