WMNF Coronavirus UPDATE

Listeners, Staff, Programmers, Volunteers, and Board,

At this moment, when Coronavirus dominates the news, and World Health Organization has declared the Coronavirus a pandemic, I wanted to reach out and let you know that WMNF is implementing a three-stage plan with enhanced protocols to ensure your safety and the continuation of critical broadcasts to serve the community. Please read this carefully as it will detail facility protocols. It is also crucial that if any of you don’t feel comfortable, or not well, please do not come in. Notify us, and we will make contingent plans. We want you to do what is best for you and your family.

We are closely monitoring the guidance of the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and Local Health Agencies regarding the spread of the virus. Our focus is to ensure we serve our listening audience with critical news updates as well as continue to deliver what they expect from us on a day to day basis. While at the same time doing our part to keep our staff, programmers, volunteers, and our communities safe. This is a fast-moving situation, and we can get through these three stages within days or hours.

Planning for Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The senior management team will be monitoring this very carefully, and the goal this week is to coordinate with the entire staff to ensure we have implemented our pre-emptive measures. At the same time, we will be preparing specific plans with department managers for station operations if some or all employees need to work from home.

Preventative Measures As of Today

Staff, Volunteers, Programmers, and anyone in the WMNF facility is to follow these preventative measures to lessen exposure to COVD19:

Wash hands frequently with soap and water, use of hand sanitizer as needed
Disinfect work area(s)
Limit touching – no handshakes
If you are ill or have any symptoms that show potential, stay home
Keep a distance of 6 ft. from someone who is visibly ill
Before scheduling guest visits to the station check if they recently traveled abroad
Staff should prepare for the possibility of working remotely in the event the office is closed – can have the ability to access emails, voicemail, the shared drive, etc.

CLEANING ON-AIR & PRODUCTION STUDIOS AFTER USE.

Must wear supplied disposable gloves while broadcasting

When done with your show:

Using wipes – wipe down

Phone (all buttons & handset)
Headphones headphone jack
CD players buttons & knobs
Faders and On & Off button
Keyboard & Mouse
Microphone & Spit screen
Wipe down the counter space in front of the board
Arm Chairs

IMPORTANT: If you’ve had a guest in the studio, you must clean the area your guest used during your broadcast.

Stage 1

(We begin this stage on 3/16/2020)

No guests will be allowed into the building (radio volunteer on-air hosts, show assistants, and office volunteers may come in, but no guests or bands)
Interviews out in the community will be decided on a case by case basis by News Director
Any radio interviews that have already been scheduled will need to be done by phone instead of in studio
Wear protective gloves when operating the board

Stage 2

In the event, the local government declares schools and/or government offices close due to an incident of COVID-19, we will notify you and do the following:

No volunteers of any kind in the building, including volunteer on-air hosts
Programmers will email us playlists, and we will do our best to run them. Programmers will not lose their slot due to missing shows during this period.
We will assign paid staff to run playlist
People who can work remotely from home will do so
Those who mustbe at work to operate the on-air F.M. board and hosting should be protected by allowing them to “self-isolate” while working to remain well
Record general phone message for organization stating our closure is in response to the public outbreak of COVID-19

Stage 3

In the case of a full outbreak, we will notify you we will do the following: