Two seats on Pacifica’s National Board (PNB) are held by representatives from Pacifica affiliate stations. They are elected and seated by Pacifica board members before the new year starts. Nominations can come from either:

• Affiliate Stations
• Associations of affiliate stations.

Inclusion of affiliate representatives to the PNB are asked for in the spirit of partnership between Pacifica and our affiliates. The representatives from our affiliate network are asked to participate and contribute to the policy development of the organization.

Protocol for Nomination

Nomination must be submitted in writing to the secretary of the PNB at secretary@pacifica.org

Nominations must be submitted by November 15.

The document submitted by the nominating station or association must include a written explanation of how the nominee was selected for nomination.

The statement must be certified by the affiliate station’s general manager or the governing board secretary of the station or association nominating the candidate(s).

Each nominee must submit his/her resume and a statement of his/her interest in serving as a Director of the Foundation.

The final selections of affiliate PNB members are made via telephone interviews and elections by the other seated members of the PNB. Travel, lodging, and food expenses are provided to board members by the foundation during board meetings.

About the PNB

The Pacifica National Board (PNB) has 22 seats. Twenty are sent by local boards of the five Pacifica stations, four from each listening area, LA, Berkeley, NYC, Houston, and Washington DC. There are also potentially two more at-large board seats (to date these have never been filled). The board is re-elected every year and seated at the end of January.

Pacifica operates five [5] stations and an audio archives unit. The Affiliate Program has over 200 contracted affiliates generating approximately $200,000 in fees.

Affiliate Representatives are not paid for their time, but expenses for attending meetings (travel, hotel, meals) are paid by the Foundation. Directors potentially meet in person 4 times per year in rotation at the Pacifica Sister Station signal areas; Berkeley, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington DC, and New York City. Due to funding cutbacks in-person meetings happen less often. There are more board meetings via telephone. Being a board member is a relatively time-consuming responsibility.

Pacifica Foundation By-Laws Statement Regarding Affiliate Representation

Nomination

Any Foundation “affiliate station” (as defined below) or any association of affiliate stations may nominate one or more candidates for the two Affiliate Director positions on the Board. Nominations shall close on November 15th each year and shall be submitted in writing to the Foundation Secretary. Every affiliate station or association of affiliate stations submitting nominee(s) shall include with said nomination(s) a written explanation of its procedure for selecting the nominee(s). Said statement shall be certified by the station general manager or the governing board secretary of each affiliate station nominating said candidate(s) or by the secretary of the association of affiliate stations, as appropriate. In addition, each nominee shall submit his/her resume and a statement of his/her interest in serving as a Director of the Foundation. The Foundation Secretary shall forward to all Foundation Directors all materials submitted supporting each nominee not later than December 15.

For purposes of this Section, an “affiliate station” shall be defined as any non-profit, non-commercial broadcaster that broadcasts programming provided or distributed by the Foundation pursuant to a written agreement with the Foundation, including, for example, community radio stations, internet broadcasters or digital broadcasters, as such technology may be developed. An affiliate station shall not be a radio station whose broadcast license is held by the Foundation. For purposes of this Section, an “association of affiliate stations” shall be defined as any group of affiliate stations that have joined together to form an association, provided that said association has adopted bylaws and its membership is limited solely of affiliate stations.

Election

As the first order of business, and given 30 days advance notice, at a Board meeting in December each year, the Directors present and voting (excluding any then current Affiliate or At-Large Directors from the vote) shall establish a protocol for balloting and shall elect two (2) Affiliate Representative Directors from the nominees submitted by affiliate stations and/or affiliate station associations, using the Single Transferable Voting method. Affiliate Directors shall serve for a one-year term which shall commence with their seating at the regular January Board meeting.

When there are more than two candidates nominated for PNB seats, the election process has been ammended to be conducted by telephone prior to the March Board meeting.