Four seats are up for grabs on the board of directors of public radio station KHNS.
Members interested in serving on the seven-member board must submit a petition with the names of at least five station members by Oct. 10. Ballots will be mailed to members and will be tallied at the station’s membership meeting Oct. 22.
Seats to be filled are ones currently held by Rita Brouillette and John Binger and by Skagway residents Randy Wiley and Deb Potter. The board also includes Haines residents Russ Bowman, Eric Kocher and Sarah Cohen.
About a half-dozen members turned out for the board meeting Sept. 2, most voicing concerns about staff turnover. Three top jobs at the station, including general manager, have changed hands in the past six months.
Former manager Judy Erekson said board training and manager evaluations were important for smooth administration. “I was not evaluated in three years as general manager and neither was (outgoing manager) John (Hedrick). To not have that process and just cut somebody loose, it’s just happened too many times.”
Member Thom Ely said the station’s next manager should have clear goals and be able to work with all segments of the community for the betterment of the station.
Lee Heinmiller, a former KHNS board chair, encouraged air checks for volunteers. Checks are done to ensure a professional sound. “Volunteers color the level of professionalism to a level that you don’t really want,” Heinmiller said.
The station started advertising this week for a general manager, following a recent review of finances.
“We’re certainly in a financial position to hire a general manager. I think our idea is to hire a manager and then let them look at the budget and staffing and decide where to go from there,” said board member Kocher.
Bookkeeper Georgia Giacobbe and development director Leslie Ross are sharing managing duties in the wake of Hedrick’s departure, with Giacobbe attending to administrative functions and Ross handling programming.
“I think everybody (on the board) would like to have a general manager on board as soon as possible. But I doubt that can be done in less than a month, depending on the candidates,” Kocher said.
Whether the station hires another employee to serve as program director will be left up to the new manager, Kocher said. The station is seeking a manager with experience in station programming, he said.
Full-time staff includes news director Tara Bicknell and operations manager Susannah Dowds. Bill Annis works part-time as weekend host and operations assistant.
Zelda Layne works on call as the station engineer.