[Rfu-station] Station Update April 22, 2008

[Andrew Ó Baoill]

Lots of news this week - see below for opportunities to help your  
station, to promote your activities, and much more (including a  
potluck in mid-May).

MARKET AT THE SQUARE
At our meeting we approved running a stand at the Farmers' Market in  
Urbana for an initial 5 weeks. We will have a stand every second  
week, and then review how we wish to proceed for the remainder of the  
summer.

We need WRFU members to operate our stand from 8am-12pm each day. We  
already have some volunteers from our meeting, and look forward to  
others. We will operate on a two-shift basis: 8-10am and 10am-12pm.

Weeks we will book initially:
May 10, 24. June 7, 21. July 5

Please let me know which weeks you can volunteer for.

FUNDRAISING
We're sitting pretty much where we were at my last update. We're  
hoping to make some income from the Farmers' Market, as well as the  
'Everybody has a Voice' and 'Kids on the Radio' events being  
spearheaded by Lavana.

Can you pledge $5 per month to WRFU? Send me an email.

We're still interested in running a fundraising event in late May,  
perhaps involving music, a slideshow/presentation on La Voz Lenca,  
silent auction, and more. Can you help organize part of this?

$10k to go, and we'll have permanent tower facilities and a new  
mixer. Remember - we can't continue with our current tower  
indefinitely, so this fundraising is essential to our continued  
survival.

PRODUCTION FACILITIES
Tomorrow (Wednesday) there will be a meeting for those interested in  
the IMC Production room, aimed at founding an IMC working group to  
manage audio and video production facilities. 6pm at the IMC for  
those interested.

Thursday May 1, the IMC Steering Group will consider these proposals.

The future of production facilities is an important issue for WRFU -  
in part because some of our equipment is currently housed in the  
production room - and for members interested in pre-recording shows,  
and editing material. Please do attend one or more of these meetings  
if this is an area of interest to you, or make your opinions known by  
email.

At our last meeting we talked about possible solutions and  
rearrangements of our affected equipment, and I look forward to a  
fully-operational production space in the near future.

PROGRAMMING
Thursday of next week is May Day, and WRFU will be broadcasting a 2- 
hour play from 12-2pm. "Inquisitions (and Other Un-American  
Activities)" explores timely themes through a dramatic recreation of  
the movement for an eight-hour workday, the Haymarket bombing, and  
hanging of four activists. It was recorded in May, 2003 at City Hall  
in Burlington, Vermont, on the 117th anniversary of the infamous 1886  
bombing.
http://www.squeakywheel.net/inquisitions.html

Each week WRFU member Ray Morales broadcasts The Show on Friday  
nights at 10pm. And then on Mondays The Show appears on UPTV Channel  
6 at 11pm. Don't have cable? You can catch episodes online on Ray's  
YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/UHPstudentatUIUC

Hugo Morales of Radio Bilingue - 2-4pm each weekday on WRFU - was  
given the Bader Award at the recent NFCB Community Radio conference  
in Atlanta, for his lifelong work with this important community radio  
resource:
http://www.radiobilingue.org/article_13809.htm

Proud of your contributions to WRFU? Drop me a mail and let me know,  
so I can include it in these updates, or send a mail to the RFU list  
yourself.

With election season fast approaching - and the conventions even  
sooner - there are opportunities for us to provide important and  
interesting coverage to our listeners. In particular, we can tap into  
the global network of Independent Media Centers, bringing new  
perspectives to our local community. If you're interested in working  
on special programming for these events, let me know.

OUTREACH
We may have an advertising volunteer available to us through the  
summer. From July the IMC plans to have an outreach staff member.  
Both these positions can be used to expand knowledge about our  
station and reach new areas of our community. Let's think about ways  
we can make use of these resources, as well as coordinating the  
various outreach efforts of individual members and shows.

UPCOMING MEETINGS
I've booked the library nook for our next two meetings: Tuesday 6 May  
at 8pm and Saturday 17 May at 1pm.

We haven't identified a facilitator for our next meeting - can you  
volunteer?

Our meeting on 17th May will include a potluck, and is aimed at being  
a more social affair, encouraging station members to get to know each  
other. I look forward to seeing you at it!

Andrew Ó Baoill
Station Manager
WRFU-LP, Urbana 104.5FM
http://www.wrfu.net andrew at funferal.org
admin/voicemail: (217) 278 3933  x25
(217) 344-2536 (studio)