Mission and People

Our Mission Statement

WJFF Radio Catskill is an independent community voice of the Catskills and Northeast Pennsylvania. We connect listeners through locally focused and globally aware programming to inform, entertain, and inspire our communities, and promote understanding among people of diverse social, cultural, economic, and political backgrounds.

Our Values

Radio Catskill is committed to these core values to carry out its mission.

Compassion and Inclusivity

We believe that communities of neighbors, listeners, volunteers, and staff can be better when we come together. We support each other, participate in good faith, listen with care, make space for others, and deliver honest feedback.

We achieve more and are more successful in serving our communities when we are inclusive, open, and welcoming.

We believe in equity and inclusion in the stories we tell and how we treat each other. We invest in our people and help them chart their way. We have courageous conversations.

Curiosity and Creativity

We seek to foster the search for the truth, grounded in facts.  We explore and explain the “why” to our audience.

Creativity and the arts are vital to our communities and the hallmark of our service. Our programming celebrates the power of music and culture to enrich our lives.

Stewardship and Sustainability

We have a long history of environmental stewardship and commitment to renewable energy.

We are dedicated to protecting and celebrating our precious rivers, forests, farms, and mountains.

Community Representation Statement

Diversity is central to Radio Catskill. Compassion and inclusivity are among our core values. We believe in equity and inclusion in the stories we broadcast and how we treat each other.

All forms of diversity and the absence of any forms of discrimination are important to Radio Catskill including–but not limited to–gender, sexual orientation, generation, geographic location, disability, race, religion, educational background, and field of employment. A diverse workforce, community of volunteers, Board of Trustees, and Community Advisory Board inform our understanding of the communities of the Catskills, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Upper Delaware, and Mid-Hudson River Valleys, and enable us to deliver content and services that will help us attract, engage and inform our listeners. We recruit from a broad pool of candidates enabling us to hire and promote qualified individuals with a variety of backgrounds and talents that reflect the diverse needs and interests of the communities served by Radio Catskill.

Radio Catskill broadcasts a wide range of programming, including programs that amplify the experiences and perspectives of the African American, Latino & LGBTQIA+ populations, veterans, farmers, Indigenous peoples, and many others. Radio Catskill also provides on-air and online exposure for various cultural and civic organizations based in our community and beyond.

Radio Catskill’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan includes several diversity goals:

We will build a larger, more diverse, and more inclusive Radio Catskill community through strategies of interpersonal outreach, building partnerships, and relationship and community building.

We will grow and diversify our Radio Catskill community by prioritizing outreach to young people, people of color, long-time and multi-generational residents

We will strengthen and build our talent and human resources including volunteers, staff, and board.

We will continue to develop content that serves all people of all backgrounds in our community.

We will explore new opportunities for achieving and promoting diversity and to monitor and evaluate our success.

Code of Integrity

Adopted from Public Media Code of Integrity

Radio Catskill, individually and collectively:

Contributes to its listening community’s civic, educational, and cultural life by presenting a range of ideas and cultures and offering a robust forum for discussion and debate.

Commits to accuracy and integrity in the pursuit of facts about events, issues, and important matters that affect communities and people’s lives.

Pursues fairness and responsiveness in content and services, with particular attention to reflecting diversity of demography, culture, and beliefs.

Aims for transparency in news gathering, reporting, and other content creation and shares the reasons for important editorial and programming choices.

Protects the editorial process from the fact and appearance of undue influence, exercising care in seeking and accepting funds and setting careful boundaries between contributors and content creators.

Encourages understanding of fundraising operations and practices, acknowledges program sponsors, and discloses content-related terms of sponsor support.

Maintains respectful and accountable relationships with individual and organizational contributors.

Seeks editorial partnerships and collaborations to enhance capacity, perspective, timeliness, and relevance and applies public media standards to these arrangements.

Expects employees to uphold public media’s integrity in their personal as well as their professional lives, understanding that employee actions, even when “off the clock,” affect trust, integrity, credibility, and impartiality.

Promotes the common good, the public interest, and these commitments to integrity and trustworthiness in organizational governance, leadership, and management.

Strategic Plan 2022 - 2026

2022-2026 Strategic Plan

Presentation: 2024 Progress on 2022-2026 Strategic Plan

Bylaws

Current WJFF Radio Catskill Bylaws

Transparency

As a public media entity, Radio Catskill makes every effort to be as transparent as possible to comply with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Additional governance and financial information, including Radio Catskill’s most recent Station Activity Survey (SAS), most current IRS 990, information on obtaining copies of Radio Catskill’s Annual Financial Reports and the station’s policies regarding open meetings, open financial records, CAB, EEO as well as donor list and political activities requirements can be found here.

DONOR TRANSPARENCY POLICY

We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.

Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, organizations and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics and special projects. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates as a public trust, we do not pay certain taxes. We may receive funds from standard government programs offered to nonprofits or similar businesses.

Our news judgments are made independently – not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.

We make public all revenue sources and donors who give $5,000 or more per year. As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our board of directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.

CORRECTIONS POLICY

Radio Catskill is committed to maintaining the trust of our audience. We will correct significant errors in broadcast and online reports. Corrections will be made as quickly as possible. To report an error, please contact us.

Our Team

Meet our Staff and Board HERE

History

Learn More

Board Minutes

Minutes from Board of Trustees meetings can be found here.

The Radio Catskill Board of Trustees usually meets once a month. Specific dates and times are posted on our website under the Community tab. Meetings are open to the public and time is allotted for public comment. Anyone interested in joining the Board of Trustees can fill out this form to request an interview. For more information email: board@wjffradio.org.

Executive Committee

Pete Madden, President

Amy Brightfield, Vice-President

Jill Fruchter, Vice-President

Leif Johansen, Vice-President

Katie Childs, Treasurer

Donald Almquist, Secretary

Executive Committee Minutes can be found here.

Nominating and Governance Committee

Nominating and Governance Committee Minutes can be found here.

Finance Committee

Finance Committee Minutes can be found here.

Audit Committee

Audit Committee Minutes can be found here.

Personnel Committee

Personnel Committee Minutes  can be found here.

Outreach Committee

Outreach Committee Minutes can be found here.

Facilities and Operations Committee

Facilities Committee Minutes  can be found here.

Strategic Planning Working Group

Strategic Planning Working Group Minutes can be found here.

Honesdale Working Group

Honesdale Working Group Minutes can be found here.

Ad Hoc Local News Working Group

Ad Hoc Local News Working Group Minutes can be found here.

Program Advisory Committee

Valerie Mansi, chair, David Dann, Nick Forte, Judy Rosen, Duncan Hutchinson

The Program Committee is an advisory committee reporting to the Program Director. The committee meets quarterly to review station programming and program proposals. For further information, email: pc@wjffradio.org.

Program Committee Minutes can be found here.

Radio Catskill is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization  |  Federal Tax ID#22-2792

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2758 State Route 52, Liberty NY 12754