After a delay caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the 2019 ARRL Annual Report has finally been published. As usual, it’s full of glowing statements about how great amateur radio is and what a fabulous job the ARRL is doing. As usual, I have a few comments of my own.
My first comment is about the cover (see right). I don’t know this guy, and honestly, he looks like someone I could be friends with, but I’m not sure that he’s the right person for the cover of the annual report. Perhaps a collage of different hams, like the one on page 2 (minus the group shot of ARRL staffers) would be more appropriate. The goal being to show the diversity of people in amateur radio and the wide range of activities that we participate in.
There’ s also the usual emphasis on ARES and emergency communications. Five pages are devoted to this aspect of amateur radio. On the first page of this section are the following figures:
- Total volunteer hours: 572.996
- Total volunteer value provided: $14.6 million
$14.6 million isn’t chump change, but I’m not so sure that we should be all that proud of it, either. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a member of the Rotary Club here in Ann Arbor. Rotary provides way more volunteer value. A recent Johns Hopkins University study estimates that the volunteer value provided by Rotary clubs around the world at $850 million per year, with the U.S. and Canada making up 22% of that total, or $187 million.
Membership drops again
Of course, my biggest beef is about membership. Membership dropped again in 2019, from 156,899 to 156,755. That’s not a big drop, but ARRL membership as a percentage of licensed amateur radio operators fell 0.3% from 20.8% (156,899/755,4330) to 20.5% (156,755/763,539). What this means is that the ARRL is becoming less and less relevant to the amateur radio population.
I’ve said this many times before, but the ARRL really needs to set a membership goal. I think setting a goal of 25% of licensed radio amateurs within 5 years is doable, and that this should be one of ARRL’s top priorities, if not the top priority. Without members, you don’t have an organization. I honestly don’t understand why it’s taking so long to get the ARRL to focus on this. I’ve asked for someone to explain this to me, but all I get are shrugs and smiles.
MarCom reorganization
Perhaps a step in the right direction is the reorganization of the marketing communication effort. I don’t know who was in charge of membership recruiting and retention before (I tend to think that no one was explicitly in charge of this), but the annual report notes,
The revised MarCom department encompasses a centralized team that collaborates and is responsible for a range of interconnected activities including, member acquisition, retention, engagement, service and communication; publication marketing, sales, circulation, and fulfillment; and advertising and dealer sales.
While it’s a good thing that this group now has explicit responsibility for membership, I’d be worried that their other duties aren’t going to leave much time for membership matters. Indeed, there’s a lot of biz-speak describing the responsibilities and activities of the reorganized Marketing and Communication department, but nothing really in the way of plans to increase membership.
New and ongoing programs
The annual report mentions three new and ongoing programs that are worth mentioning: On the Air magazine, the Volunteer Monitor Program, and the Lifelong Learning program.
According to the annual report, On the Air offers new and beginner-to-intermediate-level radio amateurs a fresh approach to exploring radio communication. I don’t know about the “fresh approach,” but it is a good publication for new hams. It provides basic information in a straightforward, dare I say “no nonsense” way. About the only negative I’ve heard about the magazine is that many hams think it should be provided free of charge to anyone that would like to read it. Having said that, though, kudos to the ARRL for On the Air.
The Volunteer Monitor Program is really just getting underway, so there’s not much to really report on its operations just yet. It is lacking a way to actually report problems, but hopefully that will be remedied soon.
Despite being announced with a lot of fanfare, and the allocation of a lot of money, the Lifelong Learning Program is also still trying to find its way. It’s been put in charge of the three ARES courses, but other than that, it’s not really produced much.
I do have to take part of the blame for this. They contracted with me to deliver an online course entitled, “Introduction to Amateur Radio Communications,” and honestly, aside from an outline of the course, I never delivered. I’m only going to take part of the blame, though, as I don’t think that I was given enough guidance as to how the course was to be delivered. I note that none of the other courses are online now, either.
Looking forward
I think 2020 will go down in the books as another year in which we’ve just sort of stumbled about. The ARRL CEO was dismissed in January 2020 and only recently has a new one been hired. That, couple with the covid-19 pandemic, put a real crimp in everyone’s plans. I know we still have a few months left in 2020, but I’m already looking towards 2021 as being a breakout year.
Until the ARRL stops demanding MORE money for LESS apparent benefit, they will continue to slide into obscurity. They need to have pounded into their collective minds that they are supposed to WORK FOR US.
The ARRL seems to be nothing more than optics to me. The Lifelong Learning Program is a great example. Dump a bunch of OUR money into something, announce it with a bunch of fanfare, then let it slowly die. LLP should have had authors, lesson plans, instructors, classes, materials, etc already in place before announcing it. Instead of “Hey, fawn over our newest money pit!” It should be “Hey, here’s a list of resources, classes, people, materials, etc that are now part of our unified Lifelong Learning Program.”
ARRL seems to be in love with “vaporware” – announcements that either result in nothing or that take so long to actually come to fruition that they have been forgotten about. One example is the online courses that you mentioned. At least the first few of those, covering various subject areas, should have already been completed and made available the same day that LLP was announced. Instead, we’ve got empty promises that, likely, will not bear fruit. How much of OUR money has ARRL WASTED on this SO FAR?
You mention that the ARRL did not provide you with enough guidance in how the courses we’re to be delivered. Come on, man! That should have been ironed out BEFORE they ever approached you! Just more proof of half-brained money wasting by the ARRL. Announcing online courses without any clue as to how they will be delivered is ignorance of an epic scale.
My opinion is that the ARRL board, officers, directors, section managers, etc are all just a bunch of insecure and ineffective people that won popularity contests and have no actual desire to further amateur radio, but rather desire to strut around boasting that they are an ARRL board member, officer, director, section manager, etc. at meetings, online, and at ham fests in an effort build up their perceived importance.