This article originally appeared in the October/November 1999 WEFT Revue.

In the last article in this series I discussed how programming decisions at most commercial and public radio stations are made by one person, a program director, who is strictly limited to programming within each station’s narrow format (light rock, oldies, news-talk, etc.).

This is the polar opposite of WEFT.

WEFT is governed by a democratic structure, where representatives elected by the station’s volunteers and listener-members are charged with all vital decisions. This democratic process goes for programming decisions, too. WEFT’s Programming Committee (PC) is composed of nine representatives, five of whom are elected by WEFT’s Board of Directors (BOD) and four of whom are elected by the Associates Committee—the committee of all WEFT volunteers. The chair of the PC must be a member elected by the Associates, and all members serve one-year terms.

This committee supervises all aspects of programming under the supervision of the BOD. PC decisions are made democratically, as specified by the committee’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Although important, programming decisions are just one of the PC’s responsibilities. The committee’s members are also responsible for tasks like supervising the training of new airshifters, filling vacant slots with competent substitute airshifters, and ensuring that programming complies with Federal laws and regulations. Altogether, the nature of PC’s responsibilities make it one of the most demanding, but also rewarding, WEFT committees to be a part of.

This does not mean that making programming decisions is easy. As any listener should know, WEFT is not limited to any genre, style or type of programming. From the music of India to avant-garde jazz, to environmental talk, almost any type of show can appear on WEFT. It is often the difficult job of the PC to pick just one from amongst many equally fine programs to place in a schedule hole.

There are some guidelines that make this process easier. From 5:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays (39% of WEFT’s total airtime) WEFT has "strip programming." This means that certain blocks of hours during this time are reserved for certain types of programming. For instance, Noon to 3:00 PM is reserved for WEFT’s popular blues strip. If one of WEFT’s blues airshifters leaves her show, she must be replaced by someone playing blues, not jazz or rock. These strips are viewed as the bedrock of WEFT’s programming and thus are protected by the BOD and cannot be changed by the PC.

Outside of strip programming, when there is an opening in the schedule the PC can fill it with just about any kind of programming. The PC members could easily think up hundreds of ideas for programs to fill any given slot, but that isn’t the hard part. It’s finding a way to turn it into a producable show. Luckily, it is not the PC’s job to produce program ideas. Instead, the PC relies on the station’s volunteers to think up programs and propose them to the committee.

Anyone who has completed WEFT’s bi-monthly airshifter training program is eligible to submit a program proposal to the PC. This includes long-time WEFT airshifters as well as folks who just recently joined the station. Based upon this proposal the PC may ask a potential airshifter to meet with the committee, produce a demo tape or even substitute an open slot on air as a type of test-run of the proposed program.

More often than not, there are several proposals competing for any given slot. Frequently, these programs are all interesting and well thought-out. But only one program can be put in. In this case the PC must somehow decide which proposed program should be in that slot and which shouldn’t. In order to guide PC members in choosing a program the committee’s SOP dictates a set of equally weighted criteria, including the uniqueness of the program, the proposing airshifter’s volunteer commitment, and the existence of a audience desiring the type of program under consideration.

An overriding principle in the PC’s selection of programs is fairness. Therefore every reasonable effort is given to allow each potential airshifter the opportunity to demonstrate her proposed program. Sometimes this is a lengthy process that may take several months. But the point of it all is to end up with programming that consistently serves WEFT’s mission.

As a final note I’d like to point out the fact that nearly all of the PC’s programming decisions concern the filling of empty program slots. This is due to the frequent of turnover in volunteer organizations. But also it’s due to the fact that WEFT airshifters make accommodations in their lives in order to do their programs. Out of respect for this substantial commitment the PC very rarely changes existing programming. This means that the committee generally avoids moving, cancelling, shortening or lengthening an airshifter’s program without considerable deliberation. While the alteration of one or two hours of programming may not seem like much, to the volunteer whose show is changed, it’s a pretty big deal.

In my opinion this is utterly consistent with WEFT’s mission as a community station, where the community includes the volunteers who commit their time just as it does the listeners and members of WEFT. Stations like WEFT program under the premise that radio should be important to peoples’ lives, not just a means to sell beer. And so, behind the scenes they should act like it too.