June 27, Urbana, Illinois – Norman Stockwell, WORT (Madison, WI) Operations Coordinator with Pacifica Affiliates Coordinator Ursula Ruedenberg, in front of the GRC Community Radio Quilt. Stockwell had just received Pacifica Network’s Annual GRC Outstanding Service to Community Radio at the Pacifica Affiliates Meeting during GRC Conference.
Norman Stockwell was honored with the annual award for “Exceptional Service in Community Radio” of the Pacifica Affiliates meeting in Urbana on August 27. Norm was recognized for his pivotal role in community radio in the United States (and sometimes beyond!) as well as his role in the conception and development of Pacifica’s current affiliates network.
In 2002, when Pacifica’s current affiliates program was created, Norm served on the “Affiliates Committee” of the Interim Pacifica National Board (iPNB) . The iPNB was the governing body tasked with transitioning Pacifica’s governance into a democratically elected body at the end of the “Pacifica struggle to prevent the corporate takeover.”
Together with other members of the 2002 Affiliates Committee of the iPNB gathered a comprehensive body of information about needs and desires of Pacifica affiliates in order to develop the best agenda and management structure for the affiliates program. A summary of the findings and the proposed program can be seen here. The proposal was adopted by Pacifica on December 20, 2003.
While on the Affiliates Committee, Norm was operative in requesting that Pacifica’s National Board include 2 representatives from the affiliate network, and helped found “Sprouts Radio From the Grassroots,” a weekly program distributed by Pacifica featuring production from affiliate stations. Perhaps most significantly, Norm conceived and made the founding outline for Audioport.org, Pacifica’s on-line content sharing and distribution system.
As with the Audioport, the affiliates program was revamped in those years into a partnership between Pacifica and affiliates. This structure set the stage for a successful alliance of collaboration and cooperation that makes the network we have today network strong and resilient. Norm has also always given one-on-one assistance to Ursula Ruedneberg, Affiliates Coordinator. Many others at this year’s GRC award ceremony gave spontaneous testimony as well, that he has served them as a tireless, generous, and highly valued mentor.
In Madison, Norman Stockwell serves as WORT’s Operations Coordinator. He has been working at the station in music and news programming since 1983.
In addition to working as a journalist in the U.S., Cuba, Nicaragua & Mexico, Norm has been involved in the collective management of two Madison institutions – Lakeside Press and Mifflin Street Co-op. He is also former Director of the Old Town School of Folk Music-Madison, and served in the 1970’s as Facilities Manager for the Northwestern University Archeological Program.
Norm has been hosting programs of “A Public Affair” since 1989, covering such issues as the murder of the Jesuits in El Salvador, the Gulf War and its aftermath, the pro-democracy movement in Nepal, and the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. His guests have included Noam Chomsky, Holly Near, Johnny Clegg, Sara Diamond, Paco Ignacio Taibo, Le Ly Hayslip, Alexander Cockburn, Fran Peavey, and many more.
He has covered the WTO meetings in Seattle & Cancun, the FTAA meetings in Miami, the Democratic Conventions in 1996 & 2000, and the Republican Convention in 2004, and the Spring 2004 elections in El Salvador. He has coordinated community radio coverage at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2002, 2003 & 2005, and the Polycentric Forum in Caracas, Venezuela in 2006, the WSF in Nairobi 2007, and the US Social Forum in Atlanta. He also coordinated the IraqJournal website in 2002-2003. He is active in the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the GrassRoots Radio Coalition, IndyMedia, and AMARC: the World Association of Community Broadcasters.