[grc] ATTN: Previous GRC Host Stations: Nominate your GRC Steering Committee Reps TODAY!

[Betty McArdle]

Hi All,

I just want to clarify a couple of things since my name has come up in the email below.

Firstly, I never called Sharon a dictator.

After the 2018 KBOO-hosted GRC a few of us said it would be great to have some kind of continuity between GRCs and some structure.  I offered to convene a phone meeting to talk about that idea.  I posted on the GRC listserve that such a meeting was being proposed and directing interested folks to a Doodle site where they could indicate which dates/times they were available for a meeting.  Those who responded met and talked about structure and continuity.  Some ideas were offered including incorporating.  There was a big brouhaha that that was not the GRC way.  Those of us who were starting to put together a GRC Steering Committee (that is what we called it) withdrew the idea and went on the way things had been done previously.  There was no attempt to exclude community radio station staff.  They would have been welcomed with open arms.  There may be some community radio station staff who do not read the GRC listserve postings.  They may not have seen the invitation to join an informal meeting to discuss structure and continuity.  But, where else would someone post information about GRC?

I am not a paid consultant for KBOO or any other station.  Any work I do for community stations is done free of charge to the station. The work I did as co-chair of KBOO's hosting of the GRC in 2018 was done as a KBOO volunteer.   I have been a member of KBOO for 40+ years and am also a volunteer.  I should think that might give me some cred to be on the current steering committee, if KBOO chose to nominate me to be their representative.

I highly appreciate the work Sharon and others have done to revitalize the GRC.  Sharon is a great motivator for getting things going.  

Thank you all for what you do for community radio.

Best,

Betty McArdle
Community Media Assistance Project (CMAP) .

-----Original Message-----
From: grc <grc-bounces at maillist.peak.org> On Behalf Of Sharon Scott via grc
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2024 6:00 PM
To: Michelle Bradley <mae at recnet.com>
Cc: grc at maillist.peak.org
Subject: Re: [grc] ATTN: Previous GRC Host Stations: Nominate your GRC Steering Committee Reps TODAY!

This discussion, along with the personal attacks on this listserve have 
got to stop now.   The GRC Steering Committee was established by vote by 
the Madison GRC participants and we are upholding that mandate.

As informal as we are, the GRC Steering Committee is an active and productive group that put a lot of work into revitalizing the conference this year.  We are also responsible for establishing and maintaining the monthly meet-ups which are now and will always be hosted by community radio stations, not their paid advisors or consultants.  We are currently calling for REPRESENTATIVES FROM PREVIOUS GRC HOST STATIONS to serve on the informal GRC Steering Committee.  That is it.  We are not calling for further discussion of our existence. The Madison vote is enough.  The stations who have put in the work to host conferences get little rewards and selecting a staff representative for the Steering Committee is one of them.

If anyone wants to talk "exclusionary" should be reminded of the GRC KBOO Conference when a group of consultants, including Betty and Michelle and others who have commented on this tread and called me a "dictator" attempted to take hold of the GRC Conference, placing themselves at the helm and effectively excluding the true stakeholders
-- the community stations themselves -- from leadership positions.

As far as the conference decisions go, everyone in the community radio world is welcome to participate.  Once we have a list of stations who have volunteered to host, everyone's voice will be heard in the selection of the upcoming location through a poll to this listserve and discussions at the monthly meet-ups.  However, I assure you, the GRC Steering Committee will continue to uphold the wishes of the Madison attendees and keep the GRC conference where it belongs -- in the hands of the stations themselves.

So again,

We are now SEEKING REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE GRC STEERING COMMITTEE.  This is an important, yet low commitment, group of individuals selected by previous host stations to  ensure the future, independence, and station-driven identity of the Grassroots Radio Conference.  These station reps determine future GRC locations and ensure that the quilt and the seed money gets transferred from one station to the next each year.  After that they provide assistance to host stations, as requested, but will mostly facilitate the host station's ability to run the conference independently, as best they see fit.

GRC Steering Committee Application:
https://forms.gle/USdg3aNufcGT9C1j8

Will you step up?  Play a role in keeping American community radio independant or are you content to sleep on this,  allow those who profit off our work control what we do?






On 2024-02-19 18:52, Michelle Bradley via grc wrote:
> I agree in part with Al on this, we do not need a "steering committee" 
> as suggested in the past.  This roller coaster over GRC governance 
> continues to teeter totter because of the massive clash between 
> "traditionalists" and "progressives" where it comes to the question of 
> the GRC. (footnote: "progressives" as in those who want to see 
> progress at the GRC, which allows for updating and creating new traditions)..
> 
> I do feel that the Sharon Scott vision for a "steering committee" is a 
> slightly misguided and is extremely exclusionary.  While those who 
> have hosted GRCs in the past are a great resource for information in 
> order to avoid some of the "lessons learned" that have happened at 
> past conferences, it does exclude out many other subject matter 
> experts in the fields of event planning and knowledge of the current 
> broadcasting landscape.  This turns the GRC into an exclusive club 
> with a secret handshake while excluding out other grassroots radio stakeholders.
> 
> I do agree that we need to move away from the term "steering committee" 
> as that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who are more 
> traditionalist and rightfully so. I have witnessed the power struggles 
> and politics where it comes to organizing this thing and what results 
> is a hastily planned event.  However, sometimes, even when hastily 
> planned, we do get a winner... Charleston.  I would suggest that we 
> have instead, a "site selection committee", which is limited solely to 
> the discussion of site selection based on the potential hosts who bid.
> Such a committee has no ability to "steer" the GRC in any way other 
> than to which city the event will be held at.  Such a "site selection 
> committee" should not be discriminatory nor exclusive to only the club 
> members who have been initiated with the secret handshake.
> 
> It's important to realize that for some in our community, some places 
> are off limits.  Places like Florida and Texas are good examples as a 
> result of the tyrant governments there that oppress women, minorities 
> and the LGBT.  There are places in the south that will detain and 
> arrest you for using the wrong bathroom. There are places where you 
> will be more likely to be detained or profile because of the color of 
> your skin or your accent.  Those economies do not deserve our support 
> until they get their acts together.  A more well rounded selection 
> committee with a public outreach can best work out those concerns.
> 
> Honestly, right now, we should be planning the site for the 2025 GRC, 
> not the 2024.  While I do not feel that Charleston is the best site 
> from some perspectives, such as travel access and accessibility for 
> participants with disabilities, the people there have fresh experience 
> and a willingness to do this again.  I will support a redux in 
> Charleston as an "extension" of the 2023 show, but overall, we need to 
> be looking for a 2025 site, right now.  We should be able to announce 
> the 2025 site on the last day of the 2024 conference.
> 
> One thing we need to do is review the data to determine the locations 
> of the 2023 Window LPFM stations that would be more likely to attend a 
> GRC (those in REC's segment 300 series [new secular organizations] and
> 400 series [existing secular cause-based organizations]).  I think 
> that somewhere like West Virginia, while it does have some issues, do 
> not have discriminatory laws like the southern states do, but I think 
> it is within roadtrip distance to many stations and with airline 
> access via ORD, CLT, DCA and ATL, most of the country is a single 
> connection airline flight away.
> 
> We need to attract new people to the GRC, but in order to do that, we 
> need to adapt to changing times.  We need to be progressive while 
> respecting traditions that have not been made obsolete by technology, 
> the marketplace or political climate.  These conferences need to be 
> welcoming, informative, affordable, accessible, inclusive and worth 
> someone's time to take out of their schedule to travel.  Nobody wants 
> GRC to turn into NFCB Jr., but at the same time, people's expectations 
> are changing as our society evolves (especially those who are coming 
> into community radio that have no experience with the 1990s community 
> radio model).  We need to be open to progress, but we need to progress 
> slowly where we are not selling out to corporate.
> 
> Sharon has stepped up at a time when no one else has. That must be 
> recognized and commended.  But at the same time, Sharon and WXOX do 
> not own the GRC.. neither does REC, Prometheus, Common Frequency, 
> Pacifica nor NFCB..  Instead, it is a cooperative movement that 
> everyone who is willing to step up needs to have that opportunity to 
> be heard and be involved, not just the secret handshake singing 
> koom-ba-yah by the campfire.
> 
> I respect Sharon's leadership in trying to salvage the GRC in 2023 and 
> I will support her playing a significant role in the 2024 and 2025 
> planning.. but it can't be Sharon calling all of the shots, like the 
> impression that some folks (including myself) have seen here.  I 
> respect Sharon for planting the seed to keep this topic fresh but it 
> is up to all of us to collectively make these decisions, not just the 
> private club.
> 
> We are all in this together.
> 
> --
> *Michelle Bradley, CBT, KU3N*
> /Founder: REC Networks/
> +1 202 621-2355
> https://recnet.com
> facebook.com/recnet - Twitter: @michichan
> 
> On 2/19/2024 5:40 PM, al davis via grc wrote:
>> On Mon, 19 Feb 2024 11:47:44 -0500
>> Sharon Scott via grc<grc at maillist.peak.org>  wrote:
>>> CALLING ALL GRC HOST STATIONS!!!! SEEKING GRC STEERING COMMITTEE 
>>> NOMINEES
>>> 
>>> At the GRC11 in Madison, Wisconsin, conference attendees decided to 
>>> "create a steering committee to help coordinate discussions, assist 
>>> in
>> 
>> Then at every GRC after that, it was "decided" again to NOT do any 
>> formal organization, essentially repealing the so-called "vote" to 
>> formalize at Madison, which nobody remembers anyway.
>> 
>> A formal steering committee is an incredibly bad idea.
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