WFIU Community Advisory Board Meeting
DeVault Alumni Center, Metz Board Room
Monday, January 14, 2019, at 4:00 p.m.
Attending: Sara Peterson, Abby Henkel, Lacy Hawkins, Nancy Chen Long, Quinton Stroud, Daren Redman, Adrian Starnes, Sarah Taylor, Alexandra Chamberlain, Catherine Winkler, Alain Barker, Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, Janet Stavropoulos, Pam Davidson, Hilda Andres, Miah Michaelsen, Mary Hall. Staff: John Bailey, Perry Metz, Laura Baich, Eva Zogorski.
Absent: Matt Pierce, John Clark, Lynn Schwartzberg, Laura Ginger, Charlotte Zietlow, Quincy Robinson, Brent Molnar.
Sara Peterson calls the meeting to order.
Welcome
Sara P seeks motion to approve October 2018 minutes. Janet Stavropoulos moves, Alain Barker seconds. Motion passes.
Public Comment
No members of public are present to comment.
Approve and introduce new CAB members
CAB (Re)orientation
Overview of WFIU funding: John B directs board to 2018 Local Content and Service Report for revenue breakdown. Some highlights: FY 18 membership goal of $625,000 was station’s highest ever, and was exceeded. Station is at least 60% of the way toward FY 19 goal, with updated numbers due soon. Corporate development also enjoyed strongest year ever in FY 18. Federal and state revenues are flat.
b. Strategic plan progress report: John B refers board to overview document for full details. Some highlights: adding WFIU2 to analog airwaves; shifting focus in on-air fundraising to sustainer giving; adding national syndication to our portfolio of revenue sources; enhancing collaboration with public media newsrooms around the state; seeing our most robust listener numbers ever, and that membership and corporate revenue have followed. We continue to search for ways to expand our signal footprint, to engage communities outside Bloomington; to find alternative revenue sources; to help secure federal and state funding; and to strengthen the station’s relationship with the Community Advisory Board.
Prospective property purchase – John Bailey
Manager’s Report – John Bailey
Ecosphere
A program is slated to be developed focusing on environmental issues; it will be staffed by a full-time host producer and two half-time assistants, and funded by Environmental Resilience Institute. The initial search for a host/producer wrapped this past Friday; difficult to fill because of the desired skill set, including science background and prof. bcasting exp. Likely air times: with Earth Eats on Saturday morning, and in a slot on Sunday afternoon; no ETA on show debut – possibly late spring.
Statewide news grants
Last month, IPBS learned that the Regional Journalism Center has been awarded a three-year grant of more than $1.3 million; three days later, we got word of a two-year, $360,000 grant from CPB for statewide news. This means: three years of salaries for six current reporters that won’t have to be shouldered by the stations; the ability to hire a managing editor with the assurance that the project will continue; the creation of a few positions – a bilingual reporter in Evansville, a business/economy reporter in West Lafayette, a videographer in Indy; a community engagement manager in Indy; and a host and two producers for a new daily, statewide talk show based in Indy.
Statehouse Day
On January 15, Brent Molnar and John B will be heading to the Statehouse, as public stations around the state have each of the last couple of years, to talk with legislators about their priorities this session, and ask them to consider the value of public broadcasting, and to endorse preserving the appropriation for it that IPBS receives from the state. That’s more challenging this year than some, because the proposed budget released by Governor Holcomb on Thursday reflected a cut of more than $110,000 (about 3%) per year, to $3.56M.
Some talking points: - public broadcasting offers an effective public-private partnership, offering educational services, civic engagement, emergency information and school security services, and community outreach statewide; we’re always mindful of our stewardship of our resources, and we’ve even more efficient now that we share resources among stations; our newsrooms offer in-depth reporting on issues that the Assembly is trying to tackle, such as the opioid epidemic … and we stage community events that allow more people to discuss these issues.
NPR’s CEO retires
NPR’s CEO, Jarl Mohn, announced last month that he is leaving the network when his five-year contract is up in June; he’ll return to his previous business of investing in tech startups; he’ll also continue consulting with NPR on fundraising issues, and has announced a $10M gift to the network; no handicapping who his successor would be – Kevin Klose came from Voice of America, Gary Knell came from Sesame Workshop, Vivian Schiller from NYTimes.com – it probably won’t be from within the system.
Next Steps & Other Business
Adjourn
5:13 p.m.