The Radio Club of America, Inc., is the oldest and most prestigious ham club in the world with membership by invitation only. Its first meeting was called to order in January 1909 and was founded as the Junior Wireless Club Limited in 1909 with roots dating back to 1907. The Club is nearly as old as the radio art itself.
An amateur station built and operated by The Radio Club of America was the first to send a message across the Atlantic on the short waves. It was sent from Old Greenwich, Connecticut, to Ardrossan, Scotland by amateur station 1BCG on December 11, 1921.
The Radio Club of America counts among its current and past membership the best in the radio communications industry, including such radio pioneers as Edwin H. Armstrong and David Sarnoff.
Armstrong, (1890-1954), an Electrical Engineer, is the inventor of the superheterodyne and superregenerative circuits ...and (in 1933) a new form of modulation, FM. Frequency Modulation eliminated the static that plagued AM.
Previously a maritime radio operator, Sarnoff, (1891-1971), worked his way up from office boy to become the president and CEO of RCA (the Radio Corporation of America.) He predicted the immense popularity of not only the household radio but also television. It was he who first proposed a "Radio Music Box" for the "amateur" market of radio enthusiasts. Sarnoff founded NBC in 1926, the first television network in the United States.
Radio Club of America to elect 2008 Officers
One of the candidates for Vice President is Don Bishop, W0WO, of Overland Park, KS. Don is a a lifetime Fellow of the Radio Club of America (RCA), an ARRL and QCWA life member and a member of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Bishop was also a member of the RCA board of directors and editor of their magazine, “Proceedings,” for many years. Recently, he had been writing and distributing a RCA newsletter (he called "personal correspondence") which apparently was not the “official” club publication. Another newsletter claimed to be the “official” one. We were never able to figure out why there were two, but suspected there was some sort of problem.
It came to a head on September 12, 2008, when we received another official RCA newsletter that carried an item entitled:
Club Call Sign To Be Restored
The newsletter went on to say (...and this is a quote):
“Without the knowledge or the authority of the Radio Club Board, the Radio Club's amateur call sign, W2RCA, was secretly assigned to Don Bishop, who alleged on the application to the FCC that he was the new trustee of the station. ‘The original trustee, Eric Stoll [K2TO], was not informed of and did not participate in this activity,’ says, President Phil Casciano [who is not a licensed radioamateur] ‘The Radio Club's Board was shocked to find that this asset was improperly spirited into Bishop's control without warning or authority.’
“The Executive Committee voted to restore the license to the rightful trustee. Meanwhile, the matter has been referred to Radio Club legal counsel to determine what, if any, federal laws have been violated by Bishop's unauthorized actions. ‘We are providing Mr. Bishop an opportunity to explain his bizarre actions,’ comments Robert Schwaninger, co-counsel, ‘prior to making further recommendations to the Board.’”
Dr. Eric Stoll, trustee of W2RCA said he "...found this a curious situation considering that W2RCA has been active in all the recent Radio Club of America QSO Parties....”
Club Station Call Sign Administrator (CSCSA)
We decided to look into this since FCC rules, Section 97.5(b)(2) clearly require that club trustee changes must be authorized by an officer of the club and submitted through an FCC-appointed Club Station Call Sign Administrator. It takes two signatures on the trustee-change application: appointment by a club officer and the agreement of the new trustee.
The FCC privatized the Club Call Sign Assignment System several years ago. All club licenses must go through a CSCSA and there are three. Two are the ARRL-VEC and W5YI-VEC. (The ARRL CEO Dave Sumner/K1ZZ and the retired founder of the W5YI-VEC, Fred Maia/W5YI, are both long time members and Fellows in the Radio Club of America.) The RCA trustee change application was submitted through the ARRL-VEC.
W5YI contacted Don Bishop to get more details. In a September 13, e-mail, Bishop said he was asked to be the trustee, by Ray Minichiello, W1BC, of Bedford, NH. Minichiello is RCA Secretary and an officer of the club. He also believes Ray was authorized since “It was Ray's idea for RCA to apply for the license in the first place, ten years ago. He prepared the original application back then, and he asked Frank Gunther, W2ALS (SK) to be the first trustee for the license.” The W2RCA trustee change was made in May 2008.
Bishop said that he did not initiate the trustee change, but he “agreed to serve” adding “No one from RCA contacted me about this W2RCA matter before sending the RCA email newsletter, so that was my notice that there was a problem.” He said “I hear complaints from some Club leaders who are not radio amateurs that ‘Bishop is trying to turn RCA into a ham club.’”
“What I actually am doing is looking to restore a proportion of technical understanding and engineering background to the Club, and especially within its complement of elected officials. The Club leadership has shifted toward the non-technical during the past decade or two. Also, the Club is taking on more of the attributes of a trade association and losing its identity as a fraternal organization of individuals interested in the radio art.”
Bishop added “In 2007, of the 21 board members, only four were radio amateurs. Through a grassroots effort using email and telephone communication to identify potential candidates and then using petitions to nominate them, nine candidates with RF-oriented backgrounds and radio amateur licenses were placed on the ballot for director for the 2007 election to take office in 2008. ...This change in the makeup of the board of directors shocked an influential part of the incumbent leadership. They saw it as a step that was not in the best interest of the Club. Many others among the rank-and-file members saw it as a welcome step forward.
“This year, the same grassroots effort used email and telephone communication to identify some more potential candidates. Then, once again using petitions, seven candidates with technical backgrounds and radio amateur licenses -- and many with executive, managerial and entrepreneurial experience, I might add -- were placed on the ballot.
“The incumbent leadership has sometimes described this development as ‘hijacking the election’ or ‘taking over the club’ or worse. What it is, is good old-fashioned activism intended to improve the Club and move it forward.
“If these seven candidates are elected as directors, along with Ray Minichiello as secretary, and myself as vice president, then the Radio Club would have about 15 radio amateurs on its 21-member board of directors. The exact number depends on who is appointed to fill vacancies.
“But the candidate field is large. Ray and I both share the ballot for officer positions with candidates who are not radio amateurs, and the list of director candidates includes the names of eight nominees who are not radio amateurs. It therefore is possible that no one with a radio amateur license will be added to the board in this election, and next year's board would have six members with licenses. The actual number could be somewhere between six and 15.
“A focus on radio amateur licenses is not so important, but the candidates with licenses generally have technical or engineering backgrounds, and those without often do not. That's just the way it tends to work. People who are interested in radio for career purposes often obtain radio amateur licenses, and youngsters with radio amateur licenses may grow up to become adults with technical careers.
“Last year's election results were not lost upon the incumbent, influential leadership. This year, some of them are going to great lengths to obtain a different outcome that does not include radio amateurs. Whether what you have just seen in the newsletter and in a previous postal letter sent by the Club president is a reflection of that effort, I would leave to you to decide. Whether you also are seeing RCA officials with a desire to sway the election outcome using the Club's media and its postal permit, in effect spending Club money on electioneering, is also something I would leave for you to decide.
“I have never seen the Club give so much attention to its amateur radio club station license. You won't find the call sign printed on the ‘Proceedings’ masthead. You won't see it displayed in the ‘Aerogram’ printed newsletter. You won't see it identified in the email newsletter heading. You won't see it mentioned anywhere on the Club's website. I've urged the Club to do any one or all of those things, but the incumbent leaders won't do it because it would ‘make RCA look like a ham club.’ It's as though the club station license and the call sign W2RCA were an insignificant part of the Radio Club until that email newsletter from the Club came out on Sept. 12, yesterday.
Response by Radio Club of America
On September 16, W5YI sent an email to RCA President, Phil Casciano, pointing out that “It is not possible for a club trustee to assign himself as the new trustee and that the trustee change was authorized by the signature of Raymond Minichiello, a current RCA officer. The trustee rules do not require that the RCA Board nor the outgoing trustee be involved.”
Casciano forwarded our email to Robert Schwaninger, legal counsel for the Radio Club of America. He said in part “You are correct when you state that the trustee of a club license cannot be assigned without participation by an officer of the Club. The applicable FCC Form requires execution by both the new trustee and an officer. What the completion of the form does not reach, however, is whether the proposed trustee or the officer have the necessary corporate authority to take those actions to assign the trusteeship. In the subject case, neither Mr. Bishop nor Mr. Minichiello possessed such authority.
“Just because a person serves as an officer of a Club, that person is not imbued with the authority to transfer the control of Club assets without consent of the Board. Nothing in the RCA By-laws provides such authority to Mr. Minichiello by virtue of his status as Club Secretary. To the contrary, such authority resides solely in the Board. Similarly, nothing in the By-laws would allow Mr. Minichiello to unilaterally name Don Bishop trustee of the radio license.
“As for what the FCC rules require, the following statement is more accurate: The FCC rules require that an officer, who is also empowered by the licensee, approve such an assignment. When a club officer executes a Form 605 they are not just ‘approving’ the assignment, they are also warranting that they have been provided all corporate authority to take such actions. Mr. Minichiello made that warranty to the FCC, but that warranty was incorrect as he had never requested such authority from the Club, was never granted such authority from the Club, and never even informed the Club that he intended to so act. Therefore, your assertion that ‘The trustee rules do not require that the RCA Board nor the outgoing trustee be involved’ is inaccurate. FCC rules in combination with corporate law and, frankly, polite participation in a non-profit organization require that, at least, the RCA Board be involved.
“Both Mr. Bishop and Mr. Minichiello knew or should have known that their actions required Board approval. They did not seek such approval and, instead, acted outside of their respective authority. This situation raises legal issues which are being explored by legal counsel, pending a fuller explanation from Mr. Bishop and Mr. Minichiello.”
So the controversy continues. On the surface, it appears that the trustee change was properly handled by the American Radio Relay League. As of press time, Don Bishop is still listed as the trustee for the Radio Club of America ‘s ham station cal sign,W2RCA.
An amateur station built and operated by The Radio Club of America was the first to send a message across the Atlantic on the short waves. It was sent from Old Greenwich, Connecticut, to Ardrossan, Scotland by amateur station 1BCG on December 11, 1921.
The Radio Club of America counts among its current and past membership the best in the radio communications industry, including such radio pioneers as Edwin H. Armstrong and David Sarnoff.
Armstrong, (1890-1954), an Electrical Engineer, is the inventor of the superheterodyne and superregenerative circuits ...and (in 1933) a new form of modulation, FM. Frequency Modulation eliminated the static that plagued AM.
Previously a maritime radio operator, Sarnoff, (1891-1971), worked his way up from office boy to become the president and CEO of RCA (the Radio Corporation of America.) He predicted the immense popularity of not only the household radio but also television. It was he who first proposed a "Radio Music Box" for the "amateur" market of radio enthusiasts. Sarnoff founded NBC in 1926, the first television network in the United States.
Radio Club of America to elect 2008 Officers
One of the candidates for Vice President is Don Bishop, W0WO, of Overland Park, KS. Don is a a lifetime Fellow of the Radio Club of America (RCA), an ARRL and QCWA life member and a member of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Bishop was also a member of the RCA board of directors and editor of their magazine, “Proceedings,” for many years. Recently, he had been writing and distributing a RCA newsletter (he called "personal correspondence") which apparently was not the “official” club publication. Another newsletter claimed to be the “official” one. We were never able to figure out why there were two, but suspected there was some sort of problem.
It came to a head on September 12, 2008, when we received another official RCA newsletter that carried an item entitled:
Club Call Sign To Be Restored
The newsletter went on to say (...and this is a quote):
“Without the knowledge or the authority of the Radio Club Board, the Radio Club's amateur call sign, W2RCA, was secretly assigned to Don Bishop, who alleged on the application to the FCC that he was the new trustee of the station. ‘The original trustee, Eric Stoll [K2TO], was not informed of and did not participate in this activity,’ says, President Phil Casciano [who is not a licensed radioamateur] ‘The Radio Club's Board was shocked to find that this asset was improperly spirited into Bishop's control without warning or authority.’
“The Executive Committee voted to restore the license to the rightful trustee. Meanwhile, the matter has been referred to Radio Club legal counsel to determine what, if any, federal laws have been violated by Bishop's unauthorized actions. ‘We are providing Mr. Bishop an opportunity to explain his bizarre actions,’ comments Robert Schwaninger, co-counsel, ‘prior to making further recommendations to the Board.’”
Dr. Eric Stoll, trustee of W2RCA said he "...found this a curious situation considering that W2RCA has been active in all the recent Radio Club of America QSO Parties....”
Club Station Call Sign Administrator (CSCSA)
We decided to look into this since FCC rules, Section 97.5(b)(2) clearly require that club trustee changes must be authorized by an officer of the club and submitted through an FCC-appointed Club Station Call Sign Administrator. It takes two signatures on the trustee-change application: appointment by a club officer and the agreement of the new trustee.
The FCC privatized the Club Call Sign Assignment System several years ago. All club licenses must go through a CSCSA and there are three. Two are the ARRL-VEC and W5YI-VEC. (The ARRL CEO Dave Sumner/K1ZZ and the retired founder of the W5YI-VEC, Fred Maia/W5YI, are both long time members and Fellows in the Radio Club of America.) The RCA trustee change application was submitted through the ARRL-VEC.
W5YI contacted Don Bishop to get more details. In a September 13, e-mail, Bishop said he was asked to be the trustee, by Ray Minichiello, W1BC, of Bedford, NH. Minichiello is RCA Secretary and an officer of the club. He also believes Ray was authorized since “It was Ray's idea for RCA to apply for the license in the first place, ten years ago. He prepared the original application back then, and he asked Frank Gunther, W2ALS (SK) to be the first trustee for the license.” The W2RCA trustee change was made in May 2008.
Bishop said that he did not initiate the trustee change, but he “agreed to serve” adding “No one from RCA contacted me about this W2RCA matter before sending the RCA email newsletter, so that was my notice that there was a problem.” He said “I hear complaints from some Club leaders who are not radio amateurs that ‘Bishop is trying to turn RCA into a ham club.’”
“What I actually am doing is looking to restore a proportion of technical understanding and engineering background to the Club, and especially within its complement of elected officials. The Club leadership has shifted toward the non-technical during the past decade or two. Also, the Club is taking on more of the attributes of a trade association and losing its identity as a fraternal organization of individuals interested in the radio art.”
Bishop added “In 2007, of the 21 board members, only four were radio amateurs. Through a grassroots effort using email and telephone communication to identify potential candidates and then using petitions to nominate them, nine candidates with RF-oriented backgrounds and radio amateur licenses were placed on the ballot for director for the 2007 election to take office in 2008. ...This change in the makeup of the board of directors shocked an influential part of the incumbent leadership. They saw it as a step that was not in the best interest of the Club. Many others among the rank-and-file members saw it as a welcome step forward.
“This year, the same grassroots effort used email and telephone communication to identify some more potential candidates. Then, once again using petitions, seven candidates with technical backgrounds and radio amateur licenses -- and many with executive, managerial and entrepreneurial experience, I might add -- were placed on the ballot.
“The incumbent leadership has sometimes described this development as ‘hijacking the election’ or ‘taking over the club’ or worse. What it is, is good old-fashioned activism intended to improve the Club and move it forward.
“If these seven candidates are elected as directors, along with Ray Minichiello as secretary, and myself as vice president, then the Radio Club would have about 15 radio amateurs on its 21-member board of directors. The exact number depends on who is appointed to fill vacancies.
“But the candidate field is large. Ray and I both share the ballot for officer positions with candidates who are not radio amateurs, and the list of director candidates includes the names of eight nominees who are not radio amateurs. It therefore is possible that no one with a radio amateur license will be added to the board in this election, and next year's board would have six members with licenses. The actual number could be somewhere between six and 15.
“A focus on radio amateur licenses is not so important, but the candidates with licenses generally have technical or engineering backgrounds, and those without often do not. That's just the way it tends to work. People who are interested in radio for career purposes often obtain radio amateur licenses, and youngsters with radio amateur licenses may grow up to become adults with technical careers.
“Last year's election results were not lost upon the incumbent, influential leadership. This year, some of them are going to great lengths to obtain a different outcome that does not include radio amateurs. Whether what you have just seen in the newsletter and in a previous postal letter sent by the Club president is a reflection of that effort, I would leave to you to decide. Whether you also are seeing RCA officials with a desire to sway the election outcome using the Club's media and its postal permit, in effect spending Club money on electioneering, is also something I would leave for you to decide.
“I have never seen the Club give so much attention to its amateur radio club station license. You won't find the call sign printed on the ‘Proceedings’ masthead. You won't see it displayed in the ‘Aerogram’ printed newsletter. You won't see it identified in the email newsletter heading. You won't see it mentioned anywhere on the Club's website. I've urged the Club to do any one or all of those things, but the incumbent leaders won't do it because it would ‘make RCA look like a ham club.’ It's as though the club station license and the call sign W2RCA were an insignificant part of the Radio Club until that email newsletter from the Club came out on Sept. 12, yesterday.
Response by Radio Club of America
On September 16, W5YI sent an email to RCA President, Phil Casciano, pointing out that “It is not possible for a club trustee to assign himself as the new trustee and that the trustee change was authorized by the signature of Raymond Minichiello, a current RCA officer. The trustee rules do not require that the RCA Board nor the outgoing trustee be involved.”
Casciano forwarded our email to Robert Schwaninger, legal counsel for the Radio Club of America. He said in part “You are correct when you state that the trustee of a club license cannot be assigned without participation by an officer of the Club. The applicable FCC Form requires execution by both the new trustee and an officer. What the completion of the form does not reach, however, is whether the proposed trustee or the officer have the necessary corporate authority to take those actions to assign the trusteeship. In the subject case, neither Mr. Bishop nor Mr. Minichiello possessed such authority.
“Just because a person serves as an officer of a Club, that person is not imbued with the authority to transfer the control of Club assets without consent of the Board. Nothing in the RCA By-laws provides such authority to Mr. Minichiello by virtue of his status as Club Secretary. To the contrary, such authority resides solely in the Board. Similarly, nothing in the By-laws would allow Mr. Minichiello to unilaterally name Don Bishop trustee of the radio license.
“As for what the FCC rules require, the following statement is more accurate: The FCC rules require that an officer, who is also empowered by the licensee, approve such an assignment. When a club officer executes a Form 605 they are not just ‘approving’ the assignment, they are also warranting that they have been provided all corporate authority to take such actions. Mr. Minichiello made that warranty to the FCC, but that warranty was incorrect as he had never requested such authority from the Club, was never granted such authority from the Club, and never even informed the Club that he intended to so act. Therefore, your assertion that ‘The trustee rules do not require that the RCA Board nor the outgoing trustee be involved’ is inaccurate. FCC rules in combination with corporate law and, frankly, polite participation in a non-profit organization require that, at least, the RCA Board be involved.
“Both Mr. Bishop and Mr. Minichiello knew or should have known that their actions required Board approval. They did not seek such approval and, instead, acted outside of their respective authority. This situation raises legal issues which are being explored by legal counsel, pending a fuller explanation from Mr. Bishop and Mr. Minichiello.”
So the controversy continues. On the surface, it appears that the trustee change was properly handled by the American Radio Relay League. As of press time, Don Bishop is still listed as the trustee for the Radio Club of America ‘s ham station cal sign,W2RCA.
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