Job Posting: WPKN General Manager

Deadline for Applications: December 5, 2023 Summary

WPKN, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2023, is a non-commercial, listener-supported station. Our programming focuses on independent and alternative music, arts, culture, news, and public affairs, almost entirely produced by community members. In 2021, the New Yorker described us as “The Greatest Radio Station in the World”! We are based in Bridgeport Connecticut, 50 miles east of New York City, but we are the “community station” for towns and cities throughout our signal area of Connecticut and New York.

Our volunteers and supporters are from these communities, and a working Board of Directors guides both the station’s long-term planning and many of its daily tasks, including programming decisions, fundraising, underwriting, and volunteer recruitment. The station has a non-hierarchical, democratic structure, and major strategic decisions are decided in regular meetings of the voting members.

General Manager Job Description

The General Manager’s primary responsibility will be to ensure WPKN’s long-term financial success by supporting all revenue streams: on-air fundraising, underwriting, grant applications, and donor cultivation. The GM represents the organization externally through personal engagement with community and business leaders in Bridgeport and the many other localities in our listening area. The GM provides sound non-profit management and oversees all day-to-day operations, working closely with the other two paid staff members and volunteers. The GM implements WPKN’s policies and plans, maintains broadcast operations, meets all FCC and other legal requirements, and acts in accordance with the station’s mission and vision statements (see below). The GM’s performance is supervised and evaluated by the Board of Directors through the Personnel Committee.

The ideal candidate will be a strong communicator who has demonstrated experience in team-building and community engagement; can manage and motivate a small staff and a large group of volunteers; can successfully promote WPKN to expand its audience; has a proven track-record of fundraising, with a solid commitment to building and maintaining positive relationships with donors and other community partners.

While the GM must bring efficient and effective fundraising and management skills to ensure the productivity of the organization, it is also critical that s/he be dedicated to alternative independent radio with a mission of broadcasting sounds and ideas not readily heard in the mainstream media. The

GM will also support efforts to evaluate and embrace new technologies that will continue to change the face of radio in the twenty-first century.

Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Working with the Board of Directors (BoD), lead the station in successful fundraising efforts, including underwriting solicitation, on-air fund drives, member and donor programs, grant applications, and special events.

  • Ensure effective administrative support, budget management, grants management, contract management, records management, FCC compliance, and personnel management.

  • Supervise a staff of paid employees.

  • Ensure that the facility and equipment needed to effectively broadcast daily programming on a 24-hour basis are operating, maintained, and repaired promptly, using staff, contractors, and volunteers as appropriate.

  • Provide monthly administrative and financial reports to the Board of Directors.

  • Implement the board’s approved policies and strategic plans.

  • Promote WPKN in Bridgeport and other communities in our listener area by fostering positive relationships and articulating the station’s mission with community leaders and organizations, media outlets, listeners, underwriters, and all other constituencies.

  • Help to guide WPKN through a changing media landscape and new technological opportunities and ensure the station’s continued financial success and relevance to a multi-generational audience.

  • Develop relationships with local media outlets and other public broadcasting organizations (i.e., NFCB and CPB). Seek opportunities for collaboration or utilizing shared resources.

    Qualifications:

    Preferred:

  • Experience in a senior management position in a non-profit organization.

  • Experience in overseeing budgets and all financial requirements for a business or non-profit.

  • Ability to oversee regulatory compliance with multiple government agencies and grant funders.

  • Successful experience in fundraising activities such as direct appeals (letter and on-air fundraising) grant writing, donor program cultivation and stewardship, and event coordination.

  • Supervisory experience of paid employees.

  • Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with a wide variety of volunteers, people, interests, and viewpoints.

  • Strong oral and written communication skills.

    Beneficial:

  • Experience in community-based radio.

  • The strong public presentation skills necessary to represent WPKN successfully to the community, grantors, regulatory agencies, and other collaborators.

  • Non-profit fundraising database management.

  • Demonstrated knowledge and application of FCC regulations applicable to radio broadcasting.

  • General technical knowledge applicable to working with radio and computer technology and an ability to readily learn and adapt to new systems and technologies.

  • Experience with or knowledge of website development and use of web-based resources and social media for communications and promotion.

  • Familiarity with the utilization of new media technology for program development and/or organizational communication and development.

  • Oversight of facility management (building maintenance, utilities, contract management).

Position Type: Full-time

Salary: $65,000 – $85,000, commensurate with qualifications and experience

How to Apply

Please submit a cover letter and resume to Simon Hunter, Board Chair via [email protected]

WPKN is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

WPKN is committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported. We encourage applications from people with disabilities and are committed to an inclusive culture for everyone. Accommodations by request can be made for all aspects of the selection process.

WPKN is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, genetics, disability, marital status, age, veteran status, domestic partner status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Mission Statement

WPKN’s mission is to strengthen and enrich our community by broadcasting programming that is provocative, innovative, human-driven, and free from commercial influence and that promotes diversity, tolerance, and freedom of expression.

Vision Statement

The vision of WPKN is to build community, a loyal and growing audience, and an engaged and educated citizenry by providing the highest quality of freeform programming that broadcasts entertainment, music, news, thoughts, sounds, ideas, and event listings that support free speech, diversity, and the interests of the local and global communities WPKN serves.

The ongoing ripple-effect of sustaining WPKN is to expand a dedicated listener-base who embrace and support WPKN because they feel that the station enriches and improves their lives, strengthens their communities, and makes the world a better place.