There is an election for the WBAI Local Station Board (LSB) going on right now. This election is vitally important to the future of WBAI. Half of the seats on the LSB are being contested in this election, and that means that three of the Staff seats are as well.

I'm one of the people running for re-election to the LSB. I hope you will mark me, R. Paul Martin, as your first choice on your ballot. I am also endorsing Ibrahim Gonzalez and Roger Manning for election to the LSB and I hope you will vote for them as well.

The ballots must arrive in the official elections P.O. Box by Monday, November 29. If you do not receive your ballot by November 12^th, call the Pacifica National Office at 877-217-6928 x205 and tell them that you are WBAI Staff and that you haven't gotten your ballot yet. They'll send you a replacement ballot by first class mail.

Whomever you're voting for, by all means be sure to vote in this election.

The Pacifica National Board (PNB) took up the issue of WBAI's Fiscal Year 2005 budget. Predictably they voted for “budget #3” which projects $2,765,000 in listener donations and an overall budget of $3,864,840. The PNB Finance Committee is to “revisit” the WBAI budget on November 15, with an eye towards how our Fall ‘thon did ($950,000 in 22 days).

The PNB also endorsed the motion I quoted in newsletter #7 about the LSB and Management working together to improve WBAI's fund raising.

The PNB directed the Executive Director (ED) of Pacifica to notify the PNB “of any contemplated unbudgeted inter-unit transfers, and [he] shall inform the PNB of the reason for the transfer and the status of the transfer, e.g. whether it will be loan or not, prior to its execution.” Some folks

The faction currently in charge at WBAI has been trying to block the LSB's survey of Paid and Unpaid Staff which is a part of the LSB's mandated evaluation of the Program Director. The PNB passed the following resolution, “the PNB mandates the ED and the GM of WBAI immediately mail to the paid and unpaid staff the surveys of the management evaluation approved by the WBAI LSB, the mailing to be witnessed by several members of the WBAI LSB and the LSB chair.” We should all be getting our surveys shortly.

The General Manager reported that he was going to enlist the help of Pacifica development specialist Phil Osegueda to help get WBAI's fulfillment rate up. Reportedly KPFA's rate is up to 85% to 90%.

The Program Director reported on the Fall ‘thon, his memo, which reflected his remarks, said “The revenue generated should far exceed our goal. I project that we will be able to generate, on the average, approximately $55,000 per day. Our goal for the entire drive is $900,000.”

The LSB formed an ad hoc committee to meet with the General Manager and Program Director to comply with the PNB mandate to improve WBAI's fund raising.

The LSB created an ad hoc committee to set up the Community Advisory Board, which is required by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Pacifica and its stations get about 15% of our income from the CPB.

The General Manager Search Subcommittee (GMSS) came up again. There were presentations from some Staff, mostly faction members, insisting that the LSB was bound to follow the 3-3-3 formula (see the previous newsletter for more