“My students are always kind of surprised to learn about what they have missed, what they haven't been paying attention to all their lives.”
Natural Sciences Professor Laura Alexander
The Executive Board (or the 'EBoard' as we call it) is a team of students who take responsibility as a team for the successful operation of WSCS-FM. As detailed in our original FCC License Application, the EBoard's authority comes from the Communications Studies program faculty, which in turn is responsible to the Colby-Sawyer Board of Trustees who are the licensees of record.
The EBoard has support from a Faculty Advisor, several Work Study students under her supervision, and a large cadre of volunteer hosts. Tasks are delegated across this whole group.
EBoard members assume two kinds of duties. One set of duties relates to a specific position (Music Director, Community Relations Manager, etc.). The other kind of duty is shared duty -- shared duty amounts to those responsibilities that all eBoard members assume, or that rotate around the entire board so that no single person is burdened with the entire job.
| EBoard Positions | ||
|---|---|---|
Shared Duties
Although eBoard officers take leadership responsibility for particular areas of operations, all eBoard members are expected to pitch in to get the work done. Examples of shared tasks include (but are not limited to) developing programming ideas, representing the radio station at campus functions such as the Activities Fair and the Admissions Open Houses, providing back-up (either live or pre-recorded) programming when regularly scheduled hosts are unable to perform, being available and on-call for technical troubleshooting over the weekend, keeping the station neat, providing feedback to volunteer hosts, monitoring station activities and on-air product for technical and performance problems, and coping with station mail and email.
Station Manager
The station manager is the person ultimately responsible for the effectiveness of the student management team. Qualities that make a good manager include vision, a deep understanding of the various aspects of station operations, a responsible attitude, organization and people skills. The manager works closely with the Faculty Advisor to make sure the volunteers have what they need (direction, resources) to deliver an air product that is consistent with the station's mission.- The manager helps the eBoard team keep the big picture in view. Toward that end, the station manager calls and runs a weekly meeting for the whole Eboard and the faculty advisor to attend. S/he solicits input from the volunteers, the eBoard and the faculty advisor and draws up the agenda for each meeting. S/he delegates responsibility for taking and posting minutes of each meeting.
- The manager coordinates resources(human and material) across the eBoard team and monitors the performance of the various station departments so resource conflicts and other problems can be caught and addressed before they mushroom.
- At a minimum, the station manager must understand all of the technical aspects of the station including proper operation of the on air studio equipment and transmitter. The very best manager knows enough about all the jobs and the resources available to support any volunteer in their front-line responsibilities. S/he strives to be a person that any volunteer can rely upon for support if regular help is unavailable or ineffective.
- The manager should be accessible to everyone involved with the station; to that end, s/he keeps a weekly scheduled office hour, publishes his/her current contact information in the station and on the station website; and edits a monthly newsletter for all the volunteers.
Community Relations Manager
The Community Relations Manager has leadership responsibility for maintaining open, two-way relationships with people in our community of service. S/he organizes regular meetings with community hosts, collects feedback from them (and from other community sources) on station operations; solicits their suggestions for improvement, and seeks their input on community concerns that the station ought to be addressing with its programming. As the primary liaison between the eBoard and community volunteers, the Community Relations Manager also makes sure that community DJs are “in the loop” when station policies change, or when scheduling decisions (such as going off the air for holidays, or pre-empting regular programming for some special event) may affect their participation.Program Director
The Program Director has leadership responsibility for planning the station's air sound. S/he organizes the on-air schedule -- assigning time slots for DJs and Special Productions programming. S/he keeps track of contact information for all volunteer hosts. S/he runs the effort to create and distribute a program guide. S/he is the first contact for hosts who cannot make a scheduled shift. S/he takes leadership responsibility for the training, evaluation and feedback processes at the station.Music Director
The music director(s) have leadership responsibilities for contacting record labels and getting CDs for the station library. This person must hold regular office hours and contact labels weekly. This position is in charge of keeping track of what is being added to the station library. The music director is the person who DJs get in contact with when they wish to request a certain CD be ordered and added to the library, or if there is a CD in the library that is damaged.Bookkeeping is another role. The music director must keep CDs alphabetized in their appropriate sections of the library. They must make sure the library is neat and easy to use. Also, this person needs to keep a rotating selection of new releases for DJs to play. The music director must have a good ear for music and knowledge of multiple genres, because they must sort and label incoming CDs.
The music director is in charge of sending out a weekly report to CMJ (the College Music Journal). This requires the person holding this position to keep track of what is being played by the DJs. This includes charting of the Radio 200, Loud Rock Top Ten, Radio 200 Adds, and Loud Rock Adds.
News Director
The news director has leadership responsibilities for news and public affairs programming aired on WSCS-FM. S/he manages all incoming news from the AP Wire News Service, and develop other, local information resources. S/he coordinates the efforts of volunteers who are interested in contributing to the station news effort. The News Director is expected to help hosts by printing to be able to read on air. The news director is expected to compile and read a nightly five minute news report.Special Productions Director
This position's role is to sort through, select, and program times for prerecorded shows. This person determines what is suitable and fits well with the programming of the station. In order to get new shows, this person must contact companies and people who can provide the station with prerecorded shows. The special productions manager must also find a staff of people who are willing to play these programs at their scheduled times. Ideas for airing new programs will be passed through the Eboard before being placed on air.Technical Director
This person is in charge of making sure that all of the station equipment is up and running. This is who DJs contact when the transmitter or any other piece of equipment is failing to run properly. The technical director will then be the one to fix the problem or contact the proper person to do so. When the professional repair technician comes to the station, the technical director is responsible for meeting with this person and keeping track of any updates or repairs. The technical director must go through web training and is responsible for updating the WSCS web page. Also, this person should keep track of transmitter logs and take part in training DJs with the use of equipment.
Promotions & Publicity
The Promotions/Publicity Manager is also in charge of organizing press releases and college events onto cards to be read over the air. The responsibility of spreading station news to the community through flyers and the newspaper is an additional part of this job. This position involves working with the business manager in coordinating fundraisers and events to promote the satiation. This person is responsible for making and hanging up posters and signs around Colby-Sawyer. Also, the holder of this position works with the Community Relations manager in promoting the station in the town of New London. The promotions manager is in charge of submitting articles to the Courier that promote WSCS and update the DJ of the month.
