WYPR's next Board of Directors meeting, set for 3 p.m. May 21 at The Family Tree, 2108 N. Charles St., will be open to the public, as much as the small meeting room will allow.

The room, where WYPR's board has been meeting for some five years, holds about 30 people, says station President and General Manager Anthony Brandon. If all 22 board members show up, that would leave room for about eight more people, who will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Those unable to sit inside the room will be able to watch via an Internet stream. The web address for that stream will be posted on the WYPR web page, wypr.org.

"All this is being done with the consent and approval of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting," Brandon said. Any disruption to the meeting -- such as the heckling that was heard during last month's board meeting at the Church of the Redeemer, where supporters of fired talk-show host Marc Steiner continued their campaign to bring him back and replace the station management -- will not be tolerated, he added.

The CPB, Brandon said, has "told us that anyone who makes a disturbance [may] be asked to leave."

CPB regulations require that radio stations receiving CPB money hold open board meetings, and that "reasonable accomodations" for the public be provided.

CPB spokesman Eben Peck wrote in an email that the corporation "does not offer legal advice to the public on station compliance with the Public Broadcasting Act requirements," and "does not police them for violations of the statute." Rather, he said, "we respond to complaints and/or audits and investigations (including those of our Inspector General)."