SORRY for the haphazard layout of this. I'd say print it out and make notes as needed, or cut and paste into a word processor to layout how you need to print and make changes. PLEASE take a little time to look at this stuff. It's the lates revision for some of the stuff. Some might already be outdated even. Some sections are not spoken for here either (eg; friends of, guest policy... etc.) if I'm not confused.
T-SNAKE
DJ Requirements
Because WRUV has no paid full time staff, it take the cooperation of the whole station to run effectivly. DJ's are required to fullfill obligations each semester outside of Doing a show each week. The requirement differ slightly for students vs. non-students.
1. Each semester each DJ must produce two PSA's for students and five PSA's for non-students.
2. Each DJ must attend one WRUV event, or take part in a fundraiser, or do at least one sign-up show this includes covering a show for another DJ.
3. DJ's must attend all staff meetings, unless notice is given to the program director.
4. DJ's must attend their show each week, or have it covered by another DJ.
ON-Air Guidlines
By law we are required to perform certain tasks in accordance with FCC guidlines while on the air. WRUV's philosophy and music policy must be adhered to at all time as well.
1. At the top of the hour the legal station identification must be said the legal ID is: "WRUV FM Burlington".
2. A PSA must be played or read at the top of every hour. It is important to differentiate between PSA's and promotions. Promotions do not fullfill the legal PSA requirement. Because we are a non-profit station we are not allowed to advertise, it is important to never read prices over the air when promoting an event.
3. The news and ride board are to be read at certain times throughout the day, these times are posted in the on-air booth.
4. Each DJ must play at least 25% new music during their show. New music is music recieved by the station in the on-air booth. Personal music does not count as new music.
5. The WRUV philosophy states we will not play any commercial music. This includes music on other local stations aside from VPR, music on MTV, and classic rock. If you question if music is playable check with one of the music directors before airing it.
6. Never play music that contains foul language between the hours of 6:00 Am and 8:00 PM. Outside of these hours music containing foul language may be played if the disclaimer is played before or after the song, but this is strongly discouraged. A DJ must never use foul language personally.
7. All logs must be filled out completely an signed with your legal name during the times you are on the air.
8.DJ are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner. Drugs and alcohol are forbidden while you are on the air, if you are caught intoxicated immediate action will be taken.
Promotion
WRUV depends on support from the community. There are several ways we promote the station in the community.
Events/Banner Use policy
WRUV Often sponsors events at local clubs and bars. We own two banner with the WRUV logo on the. These are available to all staff members, and can be requested by filling out the appropriate form in the staff lounge.
Publications
Each semester WRUV prints schedules which are distributed around the community, printed in local newspapers, and available to the public in the staff lounge. Bumper stickers are also printed and given away at events. T-shirts are made each semester and can be purchased at the station or through the web site.
Giveaways/Freebin
We receive posters, music and other items that the station doesn’t want or already has. These are placed in the freebin inside the station and are available to any staff member. We also have item available to giveaway on the air. These are located in the executive board office.
Public Relations Director
The public relations director is the link between WRUV and the community. The Public relations director has three main duties: Promote the station within the community, and respond to feedback from the community ( complaints, questions comments, etc.), and sort public service announcements and place them in the PSA book.
PSA’s
Public Service Announcements come from various sources and are directed at a variety of different topics. It is important to distinguish promotions from PSA’s. Promotions deal with upcoming events in or around the community. A PSA is an informative message about services, non-profit organizations, information about a particular topic, etc. Both are placed in the PSA book, however only PSA’s shuld be logged at the top of the hour by the on-air DJ. In the case of promotions all prices must be crossed out before they are posted. PSA’s and promotions should be removed from the book in a timely fashion after they have expired.
Station Promotion
The public relations director is resposible for printing T-shirts, sticker, and the schedule. The schedule is printed in various local publications, it is the PR directors responsibility to get the schedule to these publications. There are a variety of other ways to promote the station throughout the year such as, homecoming, concerts, and campus events. The PR director is responsible for using such opportunities to promote WRUV.
Music Director
Term: offset term explainations.....
E-mail:
Station: wruv@zoo.uvm.edu
What the Music Director(MD) is:
The MD is an elected position on the Executive Board who is also a voting member. The MD is also a student of the University of Vermont.
Responsibilities of the MD:
Acts as a liaison for the music industry for the station. The MD is responsible for keeping in contact with record labels and promotional companies in order to keep new music coming into the station.
Responsible for publishing the station’s Top 30 chart to various trade magazines.
Reviews new music and puts it out for play
Makes sure DJs are playing 25% (or more) new music as well as appropriate music.
Sub-Music Director
What a Sub-Music Director is:
A sub-music director is an elected position, but does not necessarily need to be a student. The term for any sub MD position is one (1) year.
Responsibilities:
To review new music that the Music Director(s) do not handle.
To make sure that the DJs in the Sub-MD’s genre is playing 25% new music as well as appropriate music within that genre.
Depending on the genre, the Sub-MD may be responsible for publishing a Top 10, 15, or 20 chart to various trade magazines.
Your Sub-Music Directors (a page will be inserted as needed listing the sub music directors and their contact info, likely with the staff phone/contact list)
Executive Board Assistant
Created the end of the summer of 1999, the EB Assistant position is an Executive Board appointment or a non-student staff member. The purpose of this position is multi-faceted.
Assist the EB as a representative of the non-student WRUV body, with a non-voting voice.
Help to head projects relating to the station that may be important, but the regular EB time doesn’t allow for proper attention.
Tracking staff activities, attendance, problems and other factors relating to staff responsibilities and general staff PR type stuff.
Create and maintain the official staff handbook and training guidelines.
Receive reports of equipment and inter-staff problems.
Maintain WRUV listserve
Advisor or sorts without the student “strings” attached.
From time to time, Djs have cause to want to officially borrow music from the station. The strct policy on this is that no one may borrow music, as it is equated to stealing the music.
But a procedure is in place for checking music out.
Checking music out to bring home to listen to is NOT a valid reason.
Valid reasons would include:
Spinning at a WRUV sponsored event
A one off DJ gig at a club
The music you intend to check out must not interfere with an on-air DJ’s show. This means that is there will be a DJ on the air during the time you have the music out, you must not (or try to not) be taking any of the music that is most likely going to be used by that DJ. Typical check-out duration is 24 hours or less. Only under pre-approved circumstances may a longer period be used.
The following steps must be taken to check music out.
Get approval from an exec board member
With that EB member present, retrieve music from libraries and create a complete catalog of what is being checked out.
Both the DJ and the EB member need to sign off on the list contents
Within 24 hours the DJ must bring the music back to the station
With either the same EB member (preferably) of another EB member, check the music back in using the same list to account for all pieces that went out.
REFILE the music you checked out.
Reporting Mechanisms (Personal Conduct section)
It is in everyone’s best interest to protect the station’s integrity and rules. From time to time, DJs meet up with inter-staff issues, such as fellow DJs causing personal problems or conflicts or even breaking various rules of the station, or even laws. While not all of these offences will hurt the station, they are still indicative of a DJ or DJs who tend to show little interest or care for the station and it’s staff.
Generally, in our society, being a “rat” is frowned upon, but that is easily also a major reason why when things are wrong, nothing actually changes. WRUV is very a relaxed and forward thinking station, but knows that in order to remain taken serious, even though the staff turnover is frequent, we must maintain a certain level of constant self-regulation.
With that in mind we have a simple system for keeping the status quo while offering everyone a part in making changes.
There are incident forms provided in the on-air booth and on the bulletin board in the main hallway. Whenever you feel another staff member is breaking a rule or creating a situation where you feel uncomfortable, it is your duty to fill out one of these forms. Anonymous forms will not be followed up on, since everyone must be responsible, but every means will be taken to follow up without confrontation until it is needed. Every accused has a right to know who their accuser is. That said, sometimes, some situations can be resolved by only bringing the issue up with the accused and possible misunderstandings can be simply cleared up without even divulging the name of the person who submitted the report. In other cases, the possible good to come out of it should outweigh the fear of confrontation.
The WRUV Executive Board
The WRUV Executive Board is a group of students that care immensely for the station. Executive Board members are most often djs that have been at WRUV for several years and know how the station works. They are a group concerned with maintaining the character and quality of our programming. The Executive Board play a crucial role in the upkeep of the station, and devote countless hours to their positions. The Executive Board is rewarding in many ways, but is not a joyride or simple resume-builder.
The WRUV Executive board consists of 7 positions, which are described in detail below. They are Station Manager, Program Director, Music Directors(2), Public Relations, Fiscal Manager, Chief Operator, and a non-student assistant to the Executive Board.
One month before the E.B. elections, a candidate for office must present the general staff of WRUV with a letter of intent. This letter should include a candidateÕs qualifications for the positions, what they have done for the station in the past, and what their plans are for the following year. This letter is hung on the bulletin board in the hallway of the station. All djs should pay close attention to these letters, as their votes are important in the election process.
The election process for deciding officers is held late in the spring semester of the previous school year of the term. During this time newcomers are trained so that they are comfortable with their responsibilities when their predecessor leaves the Executive Board. It is often suggested that a dj interested in an E.B. position should train even before elections, so that he or she knows exactly what they are getting into.
The election process is a democratic system in which ballots are cast for the most competent candidate. After a candidate delivers a short speech of intent to the staff summarizing the main points of the fore mentioned letter, the general staffÕs votes are counted up and tallied. The term of the winning candidate usually starts on the date of the election and ends the following spring. It should be understood that Executive Board positions usually require a summer commitment as well as the entire school year.
The following are the detailed descriptions of WRUV Executive Board positions:
Fiscal Manager
The fiscal manager is one of the most challenging positions of the WRUV Executive Board. The fiscal manager of WRUV is responsible for much of the financing of the station. This includes writing purchase orders for station equipment and expenses, which only the fiscal manager and station manager are allowed to do. The fiscal manager must be knowledgeable about SGA operations and the SGA treasury. Another name for "fiscal manager" is WRUV Treasurer. It is the fiscal manager, and sometimes the station manager, that must meet with the SGA Finance Committee if a financial problem occurs. If the experience of this rewarding position is not enough, the fiscal manager is compensated with a ten percent commission on all underwriting he or she collects.
The two biggest responsibilities of the WRUV fiscal manager are collecting underwriting and compiling the WRUV Budget for the following fiscal year. The budget proposal is a vital part of the fiscal manager's role because, if done well, the SGA will grant WRUV a greater allowance than the previous year. WRUV could always use more funding as the costs of our technical equipment is always rising.
The SGA is usually glad to help the fiscal manager with any help s/he needs during the budget proposal process. The WRUV treasurer should always have an assigned SGA Finance Liaison whose job it is to answer any finance questions. The budget proposal process is not covered with great depth here because the SGA offers a complete packet guide to the process, which is available in the Finance Office.
Underwriting is a fund raising program similar to the underwriting heard on public radio stations like VPR or NPR. Underwriting is important to the station's financing because it can add up to a significant amount of money and can not be touched by the SGA.
Underwriting
The underwriting program at WRUV can be incredibly beneficial to the station's finance. It is not an easy task, but when done right, underwriting can raise over five thousand dollars for the station each semester. This is significant money. Most importantly, money raised through underwriting goes into the WRUV revenue account, which is separate from our budgeted SGA allocation. Unlike our SGA budget account, money in the WRUV revenue account rolls over to the following financial year.
A crucial virtue of an underwriting director is organization! This can not be stressed enough. Likewise, if one is organized during their term, it will be easier for their successor to organize themselves, allowing for greater and greater efficiency from year to year. Before trying to do anything, the fiscal manager should try to organizes their file cabinet (presently in the finance office) and organize folders and files on the computer. It is obviously encouraged to use the station's Macs for all fiscal management work
To start, the fiscal manager should compile an underwriting packet. This packet should tell a prospective business why they should underwrite. Such selling points include WRUV's ratings in recent years and WRUV's important place in the Burlington community. The packet should include a separate page for the underwriting rates for the year. Another page of the packet will be the underwriting contract. This contract is a written agreement stating the responsibilities of both parties. If the Fiscal Manager chooses to wait until the schedule is printed to collect underwriting, the schedule should be attached as well.
After compiling the underwriting packet, the fiscal manager must distribute them. When distributing the packets, the FM should keep records of every person they spoke to, and should inquire as to who they should get in contact with. In the office, a ledger should be kept of every correspondence between the businesses. In talking to so many people, it is easy to confuse who you have spoken to. Five days to a week is a suggested time period before initial call backs. It is of great importance that the FM keeps a good record of their contacts, both for themselves and for future FMs. A list of contacts should pass from one FM to the next.
The invoice process is the next step to collecting underwriting money. Following the signing of a contract, a business should be mailed a copy of the invoice as a form of billing. This invoice tells the company the amount that is due, as well as the time they have to pay the amount. The FM should write"PAID" on their copy of the invoice when payment is made. This is a good way to keep record of who has paid and who has not.
It is important that the FM keeps copied records of all checks deposited in the WRUV revenue account. This is especially important if the FM is received a commission, as this is your proof of what the FM collected. As the semester goes on, the FM should deposit the checks as soon as they come in. The deposit slips are at Blance Caha's desk, and upon her signing them, they should be brought to the Cashier's Office in Waterman.
Underwriting scripts are not advertisements, but rather mentionings of the services or goods a business provides. A model script should run 20 to 40 seconds and should not mention prices. Once scripts are put in the on-air booth, any changes to them are discouraged. If there is ever a script with questionable content, the FM should tell the business to make the proper revisions. WRUV reserves the right to determine whether an underwriting script is adequate for broadcast.
Finally, the FM must have a clear communication with the WRUV staff. It is usually by flyers in the on-air booth that the FM lets djs know whose programs are underwritten. Also helpful is a posted short write-up as to what a djs responsibilities are as an underwritten dj.