Board of Directors Responsibility for Radio Production Staff and ProgrammingThe Board of Directors shall be responsible for the hiring of the staff of the radio station which will include Station Manager, Programming Director and a bookkeeper. Staff must be hired according to their qualifications for the positions. The Station Manager and Programming Director will be charged with operating the station in compliance with crtc guidelines. The Board of Directors will maintain a Programming Committee.

These changes allow for good community radio programming and stable operations they reflect input from local programmers and Gabriola Co-op Radio volunteers. The fining by the FCC of an american radio station for the airplay of Sarah Jones' "Your Revolution" triggered interest in defining the role of station management in operations decisions. The entire constitution for Gabriola Co-o p Radio is available on line. http://members.shaw.ca/gabriolaradio/
Policy adopted January 2003
Summary Acts by Station Management
Decisions about programming will be made by the programming committee, however, the station manager or the programming director may ban the broadcast of any material if any one of them believes the material is in contravention to the laws of Canada. Further, the station manager or the programming director may summarily cancel a program if the material broadcast is, in their opinion, shows a demonstrated history of being not of "high standardÓ as defined by the Broadcasting Act.
Consequences of invoking a Summary Act
Should the station manager or programming director invoke a summary act the following must occur: a meeting of the programming committee be immediately called and convened within 7 days, at that meeting reasons be given, by the Programming Chair, why the summary act was invoked, the programming committee must then decide to support or repeal the action of station management.
Actions of the Programming Committee Actions of the Programming Committee may include limiting the times of day material / program may be broadcast without advisories, or a repeal of t he arbitrary act. No outright ban of the material can be made, only guidelines given for the context that it can be broadcast. Properly contextualized material may be broadcast at any time of day and all sexually explicit material must contain the proper advisories. Material intended to incite violence or hate may not be broadcast.
Programming Committee
The Programming Committee (PComm) will comprise the following members of Gabriola Co-op Radio: 2 Board members (1 non-voting chair selected by PComm) Programming Director Music Director 2 programmers (selected from active programmers pool) 2 members at large (selected by PComm)

POLICY
Any decisions of the programming committee may be appealed to a general meeting of the membership. The decision of the general membership is final, but the issue can be brought up for discussion after 30 days.

From the crtc
Canada's Broadcasting Act (the Act) gives us our mandate but it doesn't give us any powers of censorship or the authority to prohibit the broadcast of any programming matter.ó But the Act does specify that all programming b e of "high standard" and the Regulations state that no broadcaster shall broadcast "anything in contravention of the law," amongst other things. The responsibility for program content and scheduling is given to broadcasters themselves.ó They must ensure their programming conforms with applicable legislation and regulations. This means that we don't tell broadcasters what they may or may not air. And we only intervene after the fact if we have reason to believe there's been a breach of the Act's provisions or the associated regulations.ó Our involvement is usually triggered by a specific complaint from the public. Specific complaints are required because we simply do not have the financial or human resources which would be required to launch general programming investigations. For more information, please see our complaints process fact sheet: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/ENG/INFO_SHT/G8.HTM
Also from the crtc
Thank you again for taking the time to contact the CRTC. This is in response to your most recent message, asking if we had received any complaints about the Sarah Jones song "Your Revolution".
We have no record of having received any complaints about this particular song.

Questions:
>> 1) Are you incorporated?
> Yes, we will be incorporated under the BC Societies Act as a co-operative pending acceptance by the crtc of our Application to Obtain a Broadcast Licence to Carry on a Community Radio Programming Undertaking >
>> 2) Do you have a Board of Directors?
> Yes, we will have a BOD (maximum ten) elected from the active membership (12 months service) for
> two year staggered appointments.
> >> 3) Who elects or appoints the Programming Committee?
> Chair selected from the following members: 2 Board members (1 non-voting chair selected by PComm) Programming Director Music Director 2 programmers (selected from active programmers pool) 2 members at large (selected by PComm)
> >> to whom is the Programming Committee accountable? CRTC via Board of Directors Summary Acts: an action taken by a station manager or programming director?
> Summary, dictionary definition: done without delay or formality, adverb -
> Summarily, as in to summarily dismiss or revoke.
> PComm will review a Summary Act undertaken by station management within 7 days. The chair of PComm will report to PComm why the summary act occurred.
> >> when should the board be involved?
> I seemed to have taken the BOD out of the process. Should the BOD be > involved in a programming decision especially a contentious one? ;or should
> the BOD only be around for business decisions? My considered response is the BOD
> should be involved in appointing the PComm but not be involved in PComm
> decisions. PComm is a committee of the BOD
>