Professional Documents
Culture Documents
5 COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Council
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
The council held small group discussions answering two questions about diversity and the
station, the questions were developed by the WAMU Diversity working group, comprised of
Community Council members: Donna Willson, Shay Stevens, Tony Sarmiento, Gene Sofer
and WAMU staff: Alicia Montgomery, Kelsey Proud, Latisha Few, James Coates and JJ Yore
as well as community member, Timothy Tillman.
1. How do we ensure that diversity of coverage reflects underserved populations and areas
like Prince Georges County?
Group 1- This group spoke about the need for the station to start talking to our community,
asking what issues they want to hear on air. We should not be afraid to have a number goal
for audience and for staffing diversity. We need to set numbers to have a staff look like the
region we cover. But we don’t want to get to the point where Black reporters only speak to
Black people, Hispanic reporters only talk to Hispanic people etc. Learning, not sparing
should be the objective in discussions.
Group 2- This group spoke about having a more diverse staff and a more diverse audience
and agreed it’s important. The group didn’t see these as hard and fast goals, but instead
something to work towards. Staff is something we have power to control; audience can only
be an aspirational goal. We want to grow listenership in the areas that don’t listen without
losing listeners in the areas that currently listen. Diversity of experiences within staff will
help sculpt the sound/programming. Digital platforms will make it easier to get more
perspectives on all the programs we have. WAMU has an incredible mission to foster great
journalism because of fake news.
Group 3- This group spoke about wanting to be true to public service media, and making
sure that it reflects its community not only in stories, but also who’s making decisions, who’s
reporting. They do want to set goals for diversity. They also noted that we have the
opportunity to be the station the new administration tunes into every day, hearing from
multiple perspectives is how we do that.
Group 4- This group spoke about how diversity starts with the staff. They said they would
be interested in seeing numbers on how the racial breakdown might be different with
streaming/ podcasts/ listening online vs. on air. They also said it’s important to ask “why
does WAMU want to be diverse in the first place?” It was noted that radio may not be the
best medium to promote diversity, the group disagreed about this statement.
Group 5- This group spoke about how we talk about being a regional station but some
people think of us only as a “DC” station. That can be fixed through programming choices
and reaching different populations within the region. This new administration provides a
unique opportunity to provide wider coverage.
Group 6- This group spoke about the importance of maintaining news integrity, highlighting
stories that are more ethnically and economically diverse, and looking at the diversity of
staff. This group didn’t come up with specific goals. They noted it’s also important to look at
geographic diversity—specifically challenges in Prince Georges County. This group also
asked the question “would the station be satisfied if the listenership decreased and the
diversity increased?” They followed up by saying that making programming changes to
attract diverse listeners could turn off current listeners.
Respectfully Submitted,
Madeleine Poore