WFHB Board of Directors hires permanent General Manager

The WFHB Board met on November 25, 2013 to determine the next steps in the General Manager search.  With the decline of employment from Mr. Kevin Culbertson, the board decided that there was no need to reopen the search with the current two finalists remaining and a potential additional candidate to consider as a finalist.  The board determined that Mr. Cleveland Dietz, who had previously received an interview from the selection committee for the position of GM should receive a finalist interview with the board to be considered along with the other remaining finalists.

Given the data collected on each candidate, the committee engaged in a lengthy deliberation and compared the overall competencies and strengths to determine which finalist would best meet the current and future needs of the station.  To evaluate each finalist, the board reviewed the strengths of the three finalists considering the interview results, input received from the staff, interview committee notes, and the membership input.

After a unanimous vote, it was agreed that Cleveland should receive an offer of employment to become the next General Manager of WFHB. An offer was extended to Cleveland on November 26, 2013 and he accepted. Cleveland, who is familiar to us during his years of volunteer service at WFHB and the last five months as interim GM was selected based on the following:

1.  Experience with WFHB

• Served as news volunteer

• Serving successfully as the interim GM

• Understands “volunteer powered radio”

2.  Familiarity with radio station operations

Understands:

• Day to day operation

• Logs and traffic management

• FCC compliance requirements

• Recognizes the need to update and maintain equipment from studio to tower

3. General Characteristics As interim GM has demonstrated:

• Flexibility

• Problem-solving skills

• Ethics

• Decision-making skills

• Willingness to change and adapt

• Willingness to continually learn

4. Fit and interest

• Loves the station and clearly wants the station to be successful

• Respected by staff and volunteers

5.  Strategy and Vision

• Understands the current strategy and has been working to execute it

• Has a vision for the station to grow and truly live up to the slogan of “community radio for south central Indiana

• Wants to reach out and include volunteers from other counties beyond Monroe

• Wants to expand news coverage to include news from other cities in our listening area

• Envisions live in-studio videos circulating around the internet

• Wants to establish a tradition of news speakers to come in and give talks

6.  Staff and Membership Relationships

• Understands the importance of the Staff and Volunteers

• Wants to recognize the value of the work of the staff

• Believes we are over-reliant on a small staff and must work on solutions to address this

• Wants to harness the energy of the volunteers to create greater success for WFHB

• Wants to communicate to the volunteers clearly

• Use Spot Online for issues that come up

• Update the website regularly,

• Reinstate the monthly volunteer meetings

• Wants to build a sense of belonging among the volunteers

• Feels that we can use broadcast time to talk about WFHB meetings and events to communicate to the membership and volunteers

7. Continuous Improvement

• Believes the station operation can continually improve

8.  Fundraising and Development

• Understands the necessity and importance of fundraising

• Looks forward to prioritizing the selection of a development director

• Must work to overcome the current state of “strapped for money”

• Must continue to emphasize two 10 day fund drives

• Need to work hard to gain traditional funding through on-air appeals and mailings

• Should work on payment processing changes to allow us to take credit cards at events and the station

9.  Station Image and Community Presence

• Believes he will need to devote a significant amount of time to community relationships

Let us all welcome Mr. Cleveland Dietz as our new General Manager of WFHB Radio. If you have questions for the board about the selection process, feel free to communicate with us. Thank you.