WYPR CAB Statement of Purpose

The Community Advisory Board (CAB), the establishment of which is a requirement of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, consists of a diverse group of up to twenty-five interested listeners and station advocates from all five counties served by the station that are involved in and informed about their community.  The CAB's primary responsibility is to advise the board of directors of WYPR as to whether the programming and other policies of the station are meeting the specialized educational and cultural needs of the communities that we serve and to make recommendations as it considers appropriate to meet those needs.  The role of the CAB is solely advisory.

Volumes of FCC legal text have been written about the issues surrounding public access to the airwaves and broadcasters' obligations to "ascertain" the community issues at regular intervals and at license renewal periods.

Ascertainment was defined by the FCC in the 1970s as, "a diligent, positive and continuing effort by the licensee to discover and fulfill the tastes, needs, and desires of his service area." Under the original process of "Ascertainment", a broadcaster was obligated to interview a broad cross section of community leaders to determine "tastes, needs, and desires of his service area." As a practical matter, many communities would share issues such as schools, roads, crime, but each area would also have unique issues which should be addressed by the media. It was the obligation of each licensee to present on-air content that addressed each of these "ascertained" issues.

Current FCC regulations covering "ascertainment" have been greatly streamlined and provide that management of a licensee is obligated only to be generally aware of community issues. Each quarter management is to place in the public file a list of key issues which it deems important and then present on-air content which addresses those issues. No interviews with community leaders are currently required.

WYPR management is proposing to greatly expand its ascertainment process by returning to the original concept of "Ascertainment" and by engaging the CAB in the process. Meetings with community leaders on a semi-annual basis which provide leaders the opportunity to express their concerns about the community's listening needs would provide WYPR management and news department staff a better understanding of the communities WYPR serves.

In considering your interest in serving on the CAB, please bear in mind how your involvement could help further the goals stated above.