WYPR CAB Announces Future Meetings

When WYPR’s “new” Community Advisory Board (CAB) met on May 27, 2009, the CAB Chairperson Doreen Bolger said that the CAB would try to meet again in June.  It did not happen.  Considering the “new” CAB had only three members from its previous membership, maybe this signaled the new CAB would act like the old one: very few people in the future would show up.  Well, WYPR.org has announced further CAB meetings.  The schedule for 2009 and 2010 is below:

2009-2010 WYPR CAB Meetings:
Thursday, September 24, 2009, 6pm
Thursday, November 12, 2009, 6pm
Thursday, January 14, 2010, 6pm
Thursday, March 18, 2010, 6pm
Thursday, May 20, 2010, 6pm
Location: TBA

Looking at this schedule, one can see that the CAB is on course to meet quarterly, one time each season.  The CAB already met in Feb. and May 2009 (winter and spring), and the two other 2009 dates fulfill summer’s end and fall’s epiphany.  The 2010 schedule also follows a seasonal timeline.  This construction would meet the “regular” requirement of the Federal Communications Act in its three-prong CAB requirement.  The other two stipulations are regular attendance by CAB membership, and diversity of the listening community reflected in CAB membership.

WYPR is under a requirement to complete documentation of compliance with this and other relevant laws as a result of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Inspector Generals audit of WYPR.  WYPR needs to fulfill these legal requirements in order to continue to receive their annual, taxpayer-supported grant.  For more on that, read CPB IG Report 903, by clicking here.

The grant is over $300,000 per year.  Though WYPR station President Tony Brandon told the WYPR Board in May that the station is doing fine in these recessionary times–and in fact has amassed a $100,000+ war chest to make it through the summer–I heard  the station air a non-scheduled pitch for funds again in late June.  Is the station hurting, or not?  One cannot tell, really. However the station certainly seems intent to ensure this annual CPB grant.

This new CAB schedule reflects, in many ways, WYPR’s desire to meet regulatory compliance.  Does it reflect an independent CAB? Well, their next Sept. meeting will tell.

At the CPB Web site, it says that the CAB must “be distinct from and independent of the governing body” of the radio station in their online “Interpretations” of the Federal Communications Act Section 396 (k)(8).  Click here for the law.  Will the new CAB develop?

The CAB in 2009 has yet to really debate any substantial radio issue, station policy decision, or propose a single idea.  It remains in formation stage.  For more on the CAB’s last, May 27 meeting, click here.

Karen Holser Rocks the Midday Mic

I tuned into the Dan Rodricks show on June 10, 2009 and was surprised to hear Karen Holser host, and in fact host a good show: The first hour was on Sheila Dixon, her legal troubles, and governing Baltimore; the second was on the so-called “doctor shortage” in Maryland. I especially liked the callers and how they brought perspective to these topics. Rodricks rarely seems to take callers, or evince interesting opinions from them, which is my scant experience on the three or four shows that I have listened to with him.

I caught Holser again for her second hour on Thursday, June 11, from 1-2PM. She had a lively discussion of farmers’ markets and the importance of farming, fresh produce, and related public policies. She had multiple guests on, and interesting callers. One caller pointed out that suburban development, more parking lots, rain that cannot reach the soil because of pavement development, and the pollution related to our modern, car-dependent cities and suburbs all relates to the loss of local farming and healthy environments. I guess buying from farmers’ markets is one way to keep life grounded, local, and more healthy. However the caller’s implied point was that unchecked development will make such efforts moot over time.

Holser is very engaging, but more important, is very engaged. She did not run away from callers who introduced new nuances and themes to the way she framed the topics; rather she hosted multiple guests while handling multiple callers and produced a show with breath and unexpected insights. And she has an energetic, upbeat voice. That’s good radio.

WYPR should feature Holser more, especially with a call-in format, because there is not just enough Baltimore and Maryland news on the air (or in the air) these days. This especially is true with the collapse of The Baltimore Sun–a collapse that is not just about the loss of advertising revenue (typical media framing), but how billionaire speculator Sam Zell of Chicago purchased the Tribute Company with enormous debt financing, really trashed the spirit of journalism there, and recently drove the entire chain into bankruptcy, and The Sun with it.

The 2009 newspaper crisis has its roots in corporate conglomeration, debt financing, and product debasement; and in this way it resembles the 2008-2009 banking crisis–sans the taxpayer bailouts–at least so far.

In the same way, the collapse of the free Baltimore Examiner was not the collapse of a hometown paper trying to make it (typical media framing). Rather, it was the collapse of a link in the chain of a new right-wing publishing project, which is funded by Denver-based billionaire Philip Anschutz. Anyone who ever read the editorial page could have spotted it. Check out the editorial page and story choices of The Washington Examiner, which Anschutz also has bankrolled. Read a Media Matters article on Anschutz here, or a Business Week article on him here. This blog does not shed a tear for the loss of such “news.”

In the context of this news hole, the Baltimore City Council and Maryland Legislature could use some weekly radio coverage. Holser did seem to bring some of that typical media framing to her show-topic openings on June 10, but she also displayed flexibility in letting guests and callers widen the purview, and parsing that with wit. She might be a great radio personality to pick up this slack.

WYPR Board and CAB Meet in May

WYPR’s Board of Directors and newly reconfigured Community Advisory Board met on May 27, 2009, at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. respectively. Overall WYPR displayed a reinvigorated management process where multiple voices from the board of directors were heard during the meeting compared to one year ago. The new community advisory board (CAB)–which drew 19 CAB members–also displayed some vim and vigor as the CAB debated with itself and with WYPR Board member John Machen what it’s role could and would be.

The CAB appeared to decide their role would be two things: They would be a diverse representation of the community that could give WYPR advice–as CABs are intended to be in the federal regulations requiring CABs at public radio stations. They also will help introduce community leaders of various types to the WYPR news department, under an initiative proposed by WYPR President Tony Brandon that he calls “ascertainment.” Brandon’s ascertainment sounds like a positive idea, and it includes having the CAB steer in 100 + community leaders per year from around the WYPR coverage area to be interviewed by the news department, in order to expand WYPR’s contacts in the community, as well as voices and topics covered on air. Brandon says this ascertainment process is similar to federal requirements in place before 1996. President Bill Clinton and the U.S. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that deregulated media; alongside NAFTA, FDA reform, and the end of Glass-Steagall, media deregulation is another corporate-conglomerate-benefiting gift that gift-horse Bill Clinton has foisted upon the public.

The CAB plans to meet in June again, open to the public, and 10 minutes per meeting are reserved for anyone from the public to comment, said CAB Chair and BMA director Doreen Bolger, who is looking to relinquish her position and sail into a less controversial sunset. The 19 members of the CAB included mostly new members (three pre-2009 CAB members attended). We will see if these new members continue to show up to CAB meetings, whether they actually discuss programming and offer advice.

In terms of the board meeting, WYPR is weathering tough economic times pretty well, according to WYPR Board member and finance chair David Bowen and Tony Brandon. Underwriting / advertising revenue is down around 7 %, said Brandon, compared to 20 % to 50 % at various commercial radio stations. WYPR has frozen payroll, but not enforced mandatory staff cuts or work furloughs, said Brandon. The board passed a resolution to praise the WYPR staff for their robust work at WYPR in terms of programming and finances. Bowen and Brandon both say WYPR is building a cash reserve to weather the usual slower summer season and the bad economy.

Brandon told the board that WYPR currently has a $5.2 million debt load, and that 52% of the revenue comes from underwriting. He later told the WYPR CAB that the debt load was $5.3 million, and that 50 percent of revenue comes from underwriting. Brandon emphasized at both meetings that WYPR basically is a stand-alone public radio station, receiving only about 7 % of its revenue from the government, in the form of federal tax dollars funnelled through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Maybe this comment was meant to underscore the commercial bent of WYPR, which relies more on underwriting / advertising than actual membership. In fact, their recent online auction seems like a fundraising tool that does not promote membership, per se. Considering that the original loan to purchase WYPR was $4.2 million in 2002 (according to “Holding Company History and Description: Your Public Radio Corporation” A WYPR Document).  Six years later why has WYPR taken on additional debt? Furthermore, has WYPR only been paying the interest on its loan, not paying down principal?

WYPR’s board voted on two new members–one a local African-American doctor and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins whose name I did not catch–and another, a long-time volunteer and “friend” of WYPR Gary Levine who attended the meeting. Levine has been volunteering with WYPR since it was WJHU in 1991. He joined the WJHU board in 1998, but did not stay on the board when it became WYPR in 2002. Levine says that many people–especially young people–are obtaining their public radio through podcasts, obtaining their news through who knows where. Levine wants to see WYPR become a more robust multi-platform environment, especially using the Internet.

The WYPR board-meeting agenda had time to discuss the recent CPB audit of the station, but they never did. The presenter of that segment–WYPR board member and local attorney John Machen–said in remarks after the meeting was over that he forgot. Considering that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) inspector generals’ office found WYPR in multiple violation of various laws–including open meeting requirements, financial reporting requirements, and not having an existing CAB–well, you would think the WYPR Board might discuss it after the report was released. The report (#903)–published on March 20, 2009 and linked here--naturally would come up at the May 27, 2009 board meeting? Wrong.

Machen did deliver a report on the CPB audit at the later CAB meeting–describing problems found as just a bunch of paperwork in the wrong place. Well . . . that is why CAB and WYPR board members should read things for themselves. Many new CAB members seemed to have done just that. Debate ensued. It was vigorous, multifaceted, difficult to include here without musical accompaniment and the high drama of fictional techniques. That being said, here is Maryland law professor Sherrilyn Ifill’s take on the report (linked here). SaveWYPR.com pontificates also (linked here).

Machen also noted that CPB COO Vincent Curren told him that the CAB regulations that come with the $300,000-plus WYPR receives from taxpayers each year are a “mistake.” This blog thinks that CPB grants (which are backed by taxpayer money) should not come without strings attached that ensure community members and taxpayers have a say. Curren probably wants to be the next U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner–and public radio, the next AIG. If one looks at the financial crisis in the U.S. today, the real “mistake” is believing people like former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan who say financial companies would self-regulate. These financial companies like Citibank and Bank of America recently self-regulated themselves billions in taxpayer subsidies while foreclosing on people’s homes across America. Curren may be a mistake.

Looking ahead, WYPR’s board plans to continue searching for new board members to meet its new diversity goal. WYPR’s new CAB plans to meet in June. WYPR President Tony Brandon’s new ascertainment process is meant to be carried out by the CAB, and sounds promising. Community leaders who want to be involved should contact the CAB (how?) or maybe WYPR itself (www.wypr.org). The next WYPR board meetings will be Sept. 23, 2009 and Nov. 11, 2009.

Take Back WYPR Action and WYPR Fundraising

The Take Back YPR group plans to protest WYPR secrecy in governance and malfeasance in adhering to federal law from noon to 1 p.m. outside the station this Thursday, on May 21, 2009.  WYPR has been found to be in violation of open meetings laws, financial reporting regulations, and for not having a community advisory board (CAB) as required by the Federal Communications Act.  Public radio CABs are designed to funnel community input concerning station practices and programming to the station. These findings, first raised by citizens and this blog, where reported on March 20, 2009 by the Inspector General for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Read their report–Report 903 of Fiscal Year 2009–by clicking here.

WYPR’s lack of a community advisory board reflects their management practices, which is closed to the public mostly, and currently means station manager Tony Brandon runs the station, sits on the WYPR Board, sits on the WYPR Board governance committe that oversees the station manager (him), and also is the designated conduit for feedback from the community advisory board being created to communicate with the station and the WYPR board (through Brandon).  If nothing else–bad management practices.  WYPR: the AIG of public radio, subsidies and all.

Furthermore Brandon and his team have lied to the WYPR board at these WYPR board meetings; for instance he told them in January 2009 that the report cited above was just a “routine” audit from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Well, the report says otherwise.

Yet since the report has been published and read by many–it looks like nothing has happened at WYPR.  The WYPR board–made up of doctors, lawyers, and various millionaires–are kind of like the Democrats in Congress. They smile, do very little.  Maybe among this dinner party set, the truth is pot luck.  Anyway, the WYPR dinner party–I mean board of directors–meets again on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 @ 3pm at their usual hotspot, The Family Tree (no wet bar included).  The new WYPR CAB meets at 5:30 pm that same day at the station (free bottled water possible; they charge for chips).  For exact addresses, click here.

Kudos to WYPR for bringing on The Story, from North Carolina’s public station: An interesting, diverse show.  No Kudos for The Splendid Table: mindless Yuppie chatter that replaced Justice Talking. I bet it helps WYPR sell those underwriting advertising contracts to the Baltimore and Maryland food industries.  So obvious.

WYPR also is holding another “one day” fundraiser on May 21, 2009.  Brandon and Beinstock have been telling the WYPR board and the public that station finances are great, the fund-drives raising record amounts!  However WYPR is having a one day fundraiser. and they just had an online auction fundraiser a month ago.  Before that, some other fundraiser, it seems, constantly….

Professor Ifill Resigns from WYPR CAB

Open Letter to the Community Advisory Board and Board of Directors of WYPR

by Sherrilyn A. Ifill

Professor of Law, University of Maryland

April 7, 2009

Today I received a copy of a report from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) concerning WYPR. The report is an audit performed by the Inspector General of the CPB in response to requests made by concerned citizens in Baltimore after last year’s firing of radio host and WYPR founder Marc Steiner. I did not receive the report from the WYPR Board of Directors or from any official entity, although it is evident that the Board has been in possession of the report for some time. The receipt of this report, and the findings contained in it, has solidified for me my long-held intention to resign from the Community Advisory Board of WYPR, effective immediately.

As you all know, the CAB only became fully engaged over the last year after the firing of Marc Steiner. Prior to Steiner’s firing, many of us had been CAB members in name only. The precipitous and (many of us believe) ill-advised dismissal of Steiner, and the callous and insensitive handling of it, convinced many of us that WYPR had lost its way, and that the leadership of the Board of Directors of the station did not fully appreciate or respect the central role of the public in informing the direction of local public radio. I became active last February in the CAB order to help provide a conduit for the community to express not only its outrage about Steiner’s firing, but also because I became alarmed at what appeared to be a profound lack of understanding by some members of the Board about the critical role the public plays in public radio. Both the letter and spirit of the federal Communications Act, and the guidelines of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, contemplate the dynamic and active engagement of the public in the operation of public radio. The reason for this is simple. The public airwaves are owned by the public, and regulated by the federal government, which grants licenses to non-profit entities to operate radio stations. Those entities serve as stewards of a critical, community resource. Over the course of several CAB meetings with Board members, it became apparent to me that key leaders on the Board simply did not share this understanding of public radio.

I remained on the Board of the CAB with the hope that I could participate in its revival, and in helping create a structure for the CAB that would strengthen its hand with the Board. At key moments along the way this past year I came to doubt that this could truly be possible. One such moment was when the Board of Trustees provided draft by-Laws for the CAB [later adopted] that named the Station Manager (Tony Brandon) as the CAB Coordinator. Brandon also serves as President of the station. As contemplated in the by-laws, the CAB Coordinator (Brandon) would constitute the sole conduit through which the CAB could communicate with the Board. I expressly objected to this provision when it was suggested in a draft by management. Nevertheless this provision was adopted along with other objectionable provisions. For example, the new by-laws further provide that in some instances, members of the public who wish to speak at CAB meetings will need to make a written or telephone request to speak at the meeting to the CAB Coordinator five days before a meeting. These and other provisions in the by-laws reflect either a refusal to understand or a complete disregard for the ways in which Mr. Brandon’s credibility with the community had been fatally damaged by his handling of the Steiner matter, and demonstrate, in my view, the continued effort of Brandon to manage and control the ability of the community and the CAB to have a real voice in the charting the direction of the station.

The release of the CPB’s audit is confirmation of my intuitions. The final report is dated March 20, 2009. Mr. Brandon’s correspondence with the Inspector General reveals that he received a draft copy of the report on January 23, 2009, and he responded in writing to the findings in the report on February 19, 2009. The fact that this report was not shared with the CAB, even as the Board sought last week to obtain RSVPs from CAB members for a “Meet the New Team” reception to welcome new CAB members reveals the continued and, I now believe, fundamental inability of the Board to communicate effectively with the CAB, or to take seriously the contributions of the CAB. [Update April 9, 2009: It is only now that the report has begun to circulate among members of the community that Mr. Brandon has publicly spoken about it. Knowing that the Baltimore Sun was scheduled to run a story on the audit, Mr. Brandon sent an e-mail to CAB members about the report on the morning of April 9, 2009].

More important still, are the substantive findings set out in the report. The CPB auditor found that WYPR was not in full compliance with the provisions of federal law regarding public meetings, the CAB, open financial records and compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity requirements. According to the audit, “[d]espite these omissions, WYPR certified its compliance with these requirements annual when it applied for the CSG [Community Service Grant].”[1] The auditor concluded that WYPR’s failure to comply with requirements regarding open meetings and public records, “did not provide the public with the informational transparency envisioned under CPB’s guidelines.” [2]

These critical findings are deeply disturbing. They reveal a lack of transparency about key issues, and are indicative of the ongoing failure of the Board to fully appreciate its obligations to the public in the operation of the station. That YPR certified that it had complied with these requirements when in fact it had not, is even more troubling. I find the explanations for these failures offered by Mr. Brandon in his February 19, 2009 response letter to the Inspector General, to be unconvincing. Over the past year, Board members have cited the radio expertise of Mr. Brandon as the reason that they have deferred to his judgment in running the station. Indeed it was deference to Mr. Brandon’s judgment that resulted in the Board’s support for Steiner’s firing. And yet despite this “expertise,” WYPR sought government funding and represented that they were in full compliance with critical reporting requirements when in fact they were not. In fact, the Inspector General’s report revealed that “[d]iscussion with station officials disclosed that they were not fully aware of [Communications] Act requirements.”[3]

As I leave the CAB, I wish to express my continued concern and hopes for WYPR. This station served a critical role in introducing me to Baltimore in all its complexities when I first moved here 15 years ago. Much of this was due to the Marc Steiner show – a program that exuded the spirit of a complex, and dynamic city, and that examined a broad range of local, national and international issues through the lens of an authentic American city. I am so thrilled that Marc continues to capture the spirit of Baltimore in his new program on WEAA-FM, and that the public has an opportunity to continue to engage in the kind of dialogue that Marc brought for so many years to WYPR.

I believe that with an aggressive and proactive Board of Directors and CAB, and with a commitment to transparency and respect for community input, WYPR could regain its footing. I sincerely hope that this will happen. I continue to be concerned about the talented staff at WYPR, who may be unable to fully express their views and concerns about the running of the station, and who most likely possess valuable information that would greatly enhance the station’s ability to respond effectively to the needs and desires of the public.

It has been my observation that there are some Board members at WYPR (and I admit that I do not know the new Board members), who operate in good faith and who understand the particular obligations that public radio has to the community it serves. It is my view that in the past those Board members have been outmatched or overwhelmed by the very deliberate strategy of key Board leaders, who have their own vision of the station – a vision that I regard as being at odds with the public mission of this station, and contrary to needs of the community it serves. I hope that those Board members who have experience working for and with the public will free themselves from the paralyzing deference to “expertise” that appears to account for the passive acceptance of decisionmaking that has fundamentally undermined the “YPR” brand in the eyes of the community, and that according to the audit report has resulted in the station’s failure to comply with CPB requirements. Expertise is often not all it’s cracked up to be. Our country – and indeed the world – is currently living through an economic crisis created by so-called “experts.” It is the obligation of those of us who are entrusted with stewarding critical community resources to ask the proper questions, to search until we find truthful answers, and to demand excellence and integrity from those who hold the public trust. Start with the Inspector General’s report, which indicates the CPB’s intention to continue to monitor the station’s compliance with the requirements identified in the report. These are matters that should be examined closely by the Board over the next year.

It is my hope that the new members of the CAB, along with those who continue to serve, will be diligent and firm in representing the community – in asking tough questions, in listening to the community and in speaking truth to power. My hope that such efforts will yield real change at WYPR is not sufficiently strong to support my continued involvement with the CAB in this effort. I wish you the very best.

Sincerely, Sherrilyn A. Ifill

FOOTNOTES: [1] Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Office of Inspector General, Special Review of Your Public Radio Corporation, Report No. ECR901-903, March 20, 2009 at p. 3. [2] Id. at 4. [3] Id. at 8.

CPB Requests Input; Take Back YPR Meets

The CPB Office of Inspector General (IG) has agreed to accept and consider the official response to their audit from the Take Back YPR Group.  The group plans to submit that response to the CPB IG on May 15.

Take Back YPR will be meeting tonight, May 5, at the One World Cafe to finalize its response at 6:30 PM, part of a series of ongoing meetings dedicated to analyzing and responding to the IG, March 20 report finding multiple violations of law and regulation at WYPR.  The group will meet one more time before May 15.  Stay tuned.

WYPR to date has refused to release its internal governance audit, though WYPR’s board chairwoman and two board members promised the report to this blog and Take Back YPR activist Max Obuszewski.  WYPR station manager Tony Brandon did email the “summary” document for the report, but that only can count as a “switcheroo.”  Of course Mr. Brandon was not party to the promise.  Nevertheless. . . .

Investigation continues.

KERRFUFFLE at the WYPR Governance Committee Meeting

The WYPR Board’s governance committee met at WYPR on Tuesday, April 28, and reported back to a committee of seven–as four public observers sat in attendance–the results of a WYPR Board of Directors feedback survey, and their effort to move forward to expand the WYPR Board.

Overall, WYPR Board Members expressed happiness with board performance and roles, according WYPR Board Member Dr. Emile Bendit, who delivered the results of an anonymous survey of board members. Only 10 out of approximately 19-to-21 responders agreed that the board represented the community. Only 13 board members out of approximately 19-to-21 responders felt they were well-informed about WYPR programming matters and decisions. Only 7 responders thought WYPR board performance itself was properly monitored, while 10 responders listed “neutral” on this issue. The committee singled out these three areas for improvement. I report these figures from the meeting’s conversation, and can only approximate the total responders (the context) because those numbers were not precisely articulated.

WYPR’s governance committee appears to be moving toward expanding the board’s diversity (in terms of profession, age, and ethnicity). They voted to nominate Gary Levine, an ex-officio board member according to the committee, to the board, as well as to move forward in vetting another nominee who shall remain anonymous. If both are elected–as it appears will be the case from the meeting–WYPR will have added four new board members in the last half year (with three out of four being new): a church leader, a Towson University professor, a doctor, and a chain-store owner. The WYPR Board runs up to a limit of “25″ total members, said station manager Tony Brandon, who was at the governance committee meeting. WYPR’s Board may not be able to add any more for now, the committee seemed to fret.

Brandon sits on the WYPR Board, according to the WYPR Web site, is station manager and “CEO” of WYPR, and currently serves as “President [of] American General Media.” Furthermore, Brandon as “[t]he station manager” is in charge of being the “CAB Coordinator” and overseeing WYPR’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) and its feedback to the station and board–according to the CAB rules submitted to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Office of Inspector General (Report #903, Exhibit 3: By Laws 1.3). In fact, Brandon helped to interview the new members for the recently expanded CAB, which will have its first meeting on May 27, 5:30 PM at the station. Lastly, Brandon on April 28, 2009 sat in on the only WYPR board committee specifically in charge of overseeing his job: that of WYPR CEO. This is a clear conflict of interest. Quite a lot of cookies for that cookie monster.

WYPR’s governance committee also finalized language outlining WYPR committee roles, and approved language requiring the WYPR Board to evaluate itself on an “at least” annual basis. The board members present also appear to be refining and expanding the board’s active engagement with the station, with content, and with fundraising–including formalizing the role of a “content” WYPR Board committee. This is a good development, a good start, in terms of increasing the board’s activity, self-scrutiny, and engagement with the station.

All this action is the result of the tsunami of outrage triggered by the Feb. 1, 2008 secretive firing of radio host and WYPR founder Marc Steiner–and the massive kerrfuffle of pressure that protesters have brought to bear on making WYPR less secretive at its top. Specifically on April 15, 2008, the WYPR Community Advisory Board formally recommended that WYPR Board undergo an outside governance audit, diversify the board, and improve its governance structure. WYPR did hire an outside consultant, who delivered an audit report to WYPR’s board. The board is tweaking its structure in response.

As the meeting ended, ubiquitous Take Back YPR activist Max Obuszewski stood up and demanded to see the “report”! The board committee reacted nonplussed, startled; many of them leaned back in their chairs. Mr. Obuszewski demanded the “report” again. A gaggle of responses kerrfuffled the room.

This blog editor somehow clarified the stunned committee that Mr. Obuszweksi was requesting a copy of the original governance audit.  This audit was completed by the summer of 2008, for a summary of the report–dated July 30, 2008– was presented to the WYPR CAB. WYPR Board Chairperson Deborah Callard, after presenting it to the CAB meeting, in fact did say she would get back to the Take Back YPR group and saveWYPR.com about whether we could read the full report.

This is a public board, and that is a public document, Obuszewski claimed and demanded.

Then Tony Brandon rose and said it was not a public report. The audit was paid for with private funds, he said. At some point, the governance committee chairperson said that the request for report was noted. Another board member, becoming frustrated, told Mr. Obuszewski his request was noted and asked him to leave.

Of course none of the three other members of the public (including the blog editor) were leaving at that point. Who could? Obuszewski demanded the board members there and then respond “yes, no, or maybe” about whether he would get a copy of the report. Brandon asked the board to come to his office in order to escape this public harangue. At this point Obuszewski said he was leaving and we all left.

The good news is that WYPR Board member John Machen stopped by after the meeting as some of us were talking outside WYPR and said he would email the report to the saveWYPR.com blog. WYPR Board Chairperson Deborah Callard and other members of the committee echoed this. This blog is looking forward to reading the report.

Next week saveWYPR.com will provide Part III of its analysis of the CPB Inspector General’s audit of WYPR, focusing on the documents provided by WYPR in the report itself and what they say about the state of WYPR. Til then–

Financial Cloud at WYPR

WYPR may be experiencing financial problems, according to sources working with the station. Furthermore at the March 11, 2009 WYPR Board meeting, WYPR closed the discussion of its finances to the public. WYPR station manager Tony Brandon failed to provide a reason for this closure, says Max Obuszewski, who was asked and then forced to leave. An arbitrary closing of a WYPR Board meeting may be a violation of open meeting laws.

During the previous WYPR Board meeting in Jan. 2009, Andy Bienstock detailed troubles facing public radio stations across the country. He discussed numerous layoffs hitting stations in Minneapolis and New York, and of course at the D.C-based National Public Radio. WYPR has claimed success for its 2008 fund drives, but considering all the unverifiable information coming from station management, who knows?

An on-air WYPR personality–who shall remain nameless–recently claimed that the station is having trouble meeting payroll, according to a bird outside my window.  Of course, this is just a rumor.  But combined with the closing of their financial report at the March 2009 Board meeting, maybe this rumor has some legs.

If layoffs do come to WYPR, they probably will be with low level staff first. WYPR is required to list their top five paid employees in their publically available Tax Form 990–which likely means that on-air personalities like Sheila Kast and Dan Rodericks are being paid under unlisted contracts, because very few on-air people are listed in WYPR’s forms. In fiscal 2006, WYPR station manager Tony Brandon pulled down $135,000. The highest paid employee was underwriting sales representative Carla Truax at $115,000. WYPR has a very commercial bent these days, and this is reflected in where WYPR salaries go.

WYPR’s online auction, and a forthcoming 24-hour fundraising drive, may be a reaction to raising money in a recession. Interestingly, the top item at WYPR’s online auction as of April 28 is a “$3,000 Underwriting Schedule” that someone is willing to pay about $400 for. If you want to think about what public radio is today, just look at how WYPR refers to its own services as “(advertising).”

WYPR 88.1 FM Underwriting Schedule

Estimated Value $3,000.00

Item Number 140

Item Description: Work with Leslie Bowyer, Underwriting Account Executive to design a $3,000 underwriting (advertising) schedule on WYPR. Promote your business or services and get results!

WYPR False Federal Records Part of a Pattern of Deception

WYPR submitted false certification to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) since 2002, according to the recent report of the CPB Inspector Generals Office, in order to receive an estimated $300,000 in annual federal grant money. The report was covered here in the last blog post, as well as afterwards by the Baltimore City Paper, The Sun, and Takoma Park-based The Current. The CPB Inspector Generals Report also found that WYPR did not account for how they spent federal taxpayer money, as legally required, nor did WYPR keep complete financial records open to public inspection, per federal requirements. The onus of all this, as Baltimore CityPaper reporter Eric Ericson first pointed out, falls on the mantle of secretive WYPR station manager Tony Brandon.

Though it may seem grandiose to compare WYPR to the insurance giant A.I.G.–or the Wall Street ratings agencies who gave triple-A golden ratings to what are now considered junk bonds for subprime mortgage loans–there are parallels. The current Wall Street financial crisis, which is causing a U.S. and global recession, has not triggered any large-scale federal criminal investigations of fraud at major banks or ratings agencies to date; it remains to be seen if the CPB will discipline WYPR for years of delinquent, and possibly fraudulent, conduct.

You can read the saveWYPR summary of the report here, or click directly to the CPB “Special Review of Your Public Radio Corporation” (Report #903 from 20 March 2009) right here. One of the most shocking aspects of the report–one not covered by last week’s blog post or the media–is that the report itself contains false information and documentation submitted to the CPB Inspector Generals Office by WYPR.

WYPR’s response to the CPB audit–including WYPR documents as well as comments summarized by federal auditors–shows WYPR asserting that it always possessed a Community Advisory Board (CAB), a stipulation for WYPR to receive that valuable federal grant money. In fact, WYPR’s submitted “Chronology of WYPR CAB” includes this statement:

“April 2002 to present”: A Friends Group consisting of a least 50 stations supporters meets monthly and reports quarterly to the Board of Directors has always been active in discussion of station ideas and supporting the station….” (Report, Exhibit 1).

This blog has never met or heard of this group, which meets “monthly.” And this blog has covered WYPR since Feb. 2008 through April 2009 and counting, publishing on a nearly week-by-week basis.

No member of this Friends group attended a WYPR Board Meeting or CAB meeting covered by the saveWYPR.com blog editor. However, there is a glimmer of their existence! SaveWYPR group activist Max Obuszewski reports that a former WYPR Board member, Gary Levine, who claims to be a representative of this “Friends Group,” did talk at the March 2009 WYPR Board meeting. How can a monthly “Friends Group,” meet “monthly,” according to WYPR’s Exhibit 1, with “at least 50 station supporters,” and from “April 2002 to present,” and exist with such silky stealth?

Furthermore, WYPR’s submitted documents in the CPB Report claim WYPR CAB meetings for “October 4, 2004,” “January 2006,” and “September 2006.” However ex-CAB member Brandon Walsh told this blog on Feb. 20, 2008 that the first-ever CAB meeting occurred in May 2007. The CPB Report concurs. The auditors note on page 4 that “there was no record of CAB meetings prior to May 2007″ (Report #903, page 4).

The report also notes on the same page that “agendas and several e-mails were available for four of these meetings” in 2007 and 2008, and the comments there show these 4 CAB meetings were “intended to formalize the role of the CAB.” Of course an organization that began in May 2007 still would be formalizing its role later that year. One founded since 2002 likely would not. Furthermore, WYPR’s submitted evidence for having a CAB–in the CPB Report as Exhibits 2 through 4–only include recent 2009 documents: documents dated Feb. 13; Feb. 16; Jan. 5; and Jan. 21, 2009. It looks like WYPR engaged in a 2009 rush job to create documents to satisfy their CAB requirement for this report.

Yet WYPR station manager Tony Brandon, in a letter to the CPB Deputy Inspector General William J. Richardson III dated Feb. 19, 2009 and included in the report brazenly asserts: “Again, we acknowledge the inadequacies of the record-keeping, but in substance we did have a functioning CAB.”

That Brandon on behalf of WYPR continues to assert that WYPR had a “functioning CAB” is a stupendously bold use of history, a use that reminds me of comedian Stephen Colbert’s 2006 roasting of George W. Bush at the White House Correspondants’ Dinner. Brandon and WYPR’s use of the word “functioning”–an assertion that means their nearly invisible “Friends Group” from “April 2002 to present” and then the WYPR CAB met the Federal Communications Act requirements for 1) regular and open public meetings, 2) regular attendance by CAB members, and 3) regular input at the station in the form of advice–is ludicrous. False. WYPR’s current leadership is broken.  It has got to go.

Let’s say this: All evidence points to the fact that WYPR never had a functioning Community Advisory Board (CAB). However, Marc Steiner’s Feb. 1, 2008 firing galvanized the WYPR membership and listening community to demand input and investigation into the station. This prompted the Feb. 20, 2008 CAB meeting at the Baltimore Museum of the Arts. This meeting drew over 300 members of WYPR and the public. The CAB–on the April 1, 2008–met and voted to rehire Marc Steiner, audit WYPR’s governance structure, and recommend diversification of the WYPR Board.  The CAB presented this finding to the WYPR Board on April 15, 2008. Since then, the WYPR CAB has had several meetings.  WYPR has brought on three new board members.  They have undertaken a private governance audit, but not released the full report.

WYPR station manager Tony Brandon also told the Jan. 2009 WYPR Board meeting that this audit was just a “routine” audit. Brandon joked to them that the CPB said to him how WYPR was audited because WYPR is so close to Washington D.C.

The board accepted this statement. Only when the report was published did saveWYPR.com and others discover that the audit was “in response to complaints of alleged violations by Your Public Radio Corporation (WYPR)” (Report, Page 1).

Station manager Tony Brandon misled the WYPR Board. However, much like these Wall Street Corporate Boards of failed and failing banks and investment companies, the WYPR Board does not question much what they hear from him. They seem to just want to show up, listen to some reports, feel good about themselves volunteering for “public radio,” and then go back to their busy lives (like most people). This is the story of the WYPR Board in 2008 and 2009. It also is part of the story of the 2009 Wall Street financial crisis.

WYPR continues to make false official statements to the CPB and most likely the public. They made at least one false statement to federal auditors as recent as in a March 2009 CPB Inspector Generals Report. Furthermore, Brandon and his WYPR management team continue to assert WYPR’s financial health to the WYPR Board and the public, but people inside and outside the station are whispering otherwise. More on that in next week’s post.

What else is going on there? WYPR donating members need to become more active, or they are throwing their money away. WYPR employees probably need to protect themselves and their futures, because this station is being mismanaged. The CPB itself, as well as federal prosecutors, need to look into the secretive inner workings of the public facade of WYPR.

WYPR Falsified Records, says Corporation for Public Broadcasting Inspector General

The Inspector Generals Office of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in Washington D.C. has finalized their audit of Maryland public radio station WYPR, finding them in violation of multiple federal regulations. WYPR has violated the Federal Communications Act requiring public radio stations which receive taxpayer funds to have a functioning Community Advisory Board (CAB), according to the official federal Report # 903: Special Review of Your Public Radio Corporation. Click this link for the report.

The report also found that WYPR repeatedly certified they were in compliance with CAB regulations to get federal grant money, though they were not. They have very few records of having a functioning CAB from 2002 to 2007.

The CPB Inspector Generals Office also found that WYPR violated laws requiring opening meetings, the announcement of open-to-the-public WYPR Board of Directors and CAB meetings, in their method of keeping financial records; and by not accurately accounting for how they spent federal taxpayer funds.

The saveWYPR blog will summarize the report next week in Part II of this post. Right now we will focus on how WYPR submitted false compliance records stating they had a Community Advisory Board–when they did not–in order to receive federal grant money.

Our question is: Who signed those statements? Did they intentionally defraud the CPB and thereby siphon off taxpayer money? WYPR receives upward of $300,000 per year in CPB grant money, according to WYPR station manager Tony Brandon at the Jan. 2009 WYPR Board meeting.

This March 20, 2009 U.S. governmental report by an independent, national authority is a victory for the saveWYPR group and all concerned Maryland public radio listeners. Our outcry, our writing to local and federal officials, made it happen. Furthermore it confirms what people have been saying all alomg: 1) WYPR has been in violation of CPB regulations. 2) WYPR management runs a closed-to-the-public ship. 3) They did not support a functioning Community Advisory Board until “December 2008,” according to this report (p. 5). The first ever recorded CAB meeting was in May 2007, according to this report (p. 5). This fact–that WYPR’s first CAB meeting was in May 2007–also was confirmed to this blog by ex-CAB member Brendon Walsh on Feb. 20, 2008. This means WYPR was in violation of CPB requirements from inception in 2002 to mid-2007, though they submitted federal documents to the contrary and received hundreds of thousands of federal dollars.

“Despite these omissions,” says the report about WYPR’s lack of a Community Advisory Board, “WYPR certified its compliance annually when it applied for a CSG grant” (p. 4).

Of course we all know that when an individual, say, speeds on the highway and then claims they did not know the speed limit, they get a ticket anyway. When an individual misfiles their taxes and the IRS notices, they have to pay their back taxes with penalty. Well, WYPR misfiled their grant applications; they received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars; they have been caught. Will the U.S. government enforce the law under the Federal Communications Act? The CPB Board of Directors now must review this report and act on it, according to Inspector Generals Office member E. Jeremey Hutton in communication with this blog. What will the CPB do?

We ask: Who signed these documents attesting false complaince?

We ask: Did WYPR management and station manager Tony Brandon intend to make false statements?

We ask: What did the WYPR Board know about multiple violations of federal law by WYPR management?

We say: We will find out.

We say: A criminal investigation is called for.

The report contains more explosive evidence. Still, in the interest of Internet brevity, I will save that for Part II next week, and then Part III the week after, of this ongoing investigation.

Tune in for our next blog entry. Contact the CPB. Read the report.