The Catskill Chronicle

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY, (June 26, 2013) – Ten new members have been named to the Radio Catskill – WJFF Board of Trustees. They are joining the board as a result of two elections finalized at the annual meeting of the public radio station on June 19.

Eight of the new members were selected through an open-to-the community nomination process which took place over the past six weeks. Those trustees are Tasa Faronii Butler, Barbara Demarest, Mike Fisher, Kurt Knuth, Midge Maroni, Patricia Pomeroy, Joel Sanchez, and Martin Springhetti.

Two of the members were elected through the station’s volunteer election process in which the station’s volunteers elect up to three members of the board of trustees. Those new trustees are Kevin Gref and Steve Harris.

The election process was put into place after 8 of 9 Radio Catskill board members resigned in April following criticism that the station had become disconnected from the larger community. Sonja Hedlund, a longtime volunteer and program host, led an effort, as the remaining trustee, to rebuild the board. A six-member nominating group assisted in the process. Twenty people in the listening area submitted applications to serve on the board of trustees or on a related committee.

Hedlund said she is particularly pleased with the overwhelmingly positive response to the open call for nominations and to the overall transparency of the process.

“Never before has WJFF Radio had such an open process to elect members to the Board of Trustees,” said Hedlund. “There will now be 12 New York and Pennsylvania residents serving on the board. You will find in this group a great diversity in skills, background, and ethnicity, along with a common commitment to making ours the very best grassroots station by a dam site!”

New board members will begin their terms of office in July. Hedlund will remain on the board as will John Bachman, who had served as an interim board member.

The Radio Catskill – WJFF board of trustees meets monthly; meetings are open to the public and are announced on the air as well as on the station’s website, wjffradio.org. WJFF is a non-commercial broadcaster run by a professional staff of three along with some 80 volunteers. An NPR affiliate, WJFF is found at 90.5 FM and at 94.5 FM and is the nation’s only hydro-powered radio station. Its main studios are located adjacent to the dam at Lake Jefferson in Jeffersonville, NY.