Betty McArdle
Betty McArdle is Executive Director of Community Media Assistance Project. Established in 2003, CMAP strives to "further the cause of community radio programming by providing services to underserved voices and audiences, reflecting values of peace, environmental protection, and human rights.” She helps non-commercial stations with many tasks: preparing applications for license, governance, organizing, translating FCC speak, and much more.
Betty has 45+ years of experience working in and with community and environmental protection groups in the Northwest. She served as President of Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, and has served as a board member and volunteer for several organizations including the Sierra Club, Puget Consumers Co-op in Seattle and her local neighborhood association in Portland, Oregon. Currently she is on the board of Oregon Community Media (OCM), a group of community radio stations in Oregon.
Ask Betty about some of her favorite things to do when she has a break from helping community groups get a radio station: Tap Dancing, bicycle touring, world travel, gardening, kayaking, reading and socializing with friends.
About this Presentation
Who has control? Governing your station.
Whose voice counts for strategy, policy, and other station decisions? Board? Manager? Staff? Volunteers?
Community members?
Presenters Paul (Pablito) Bame and Betty McArdle will discuss a variety of methods of governance and
invite attendees to add their insights.
GRC was started partly because "Important principles are participatory governance and community and
volunteer involvement in all major decisions. ‐GRC mission".
Our conferences have taught new stations that they could operate with collaborative governance. How
does (or will) your station balance iron‐fist in a velvet glove with pure democracy? What choices and
tradeoffs are there?
We (GRC) support new stations and stations in the planning stage to plan ahead as to how their stations
will be governed. GRC conferences tackle issues like community involvement, access, activism, and
accountability in both programming and governance. Is governance by boards and managers
participatory, collaborative and accountable? Will everyone associated with the station need to meet to
make all decisions, or will there be a person or persons (such as a committee) with the title something
like, The Buck Stops Here?
Where along this spectrum is (or will be) your station? What choices and tradeoffs are there?