WFIU-WTIU Community Advisory Board Meeting
In the Kelley Dining Room, DeVault Alumni Center, and via Zoom
Thursday, November 2, 2023, 12:00 p.m.
Joan Curts calls the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m.
Welcome & Introductions
Attending: Sharon Sung Andrews, Michele Bergonzi, Tom Bunger, Joan Curts, Lauren Dexter-Burns, Sally Gaskill, Abby Henkel, Samantha Johnson-Helms, Cullen McCarty, Martha Nice, Lynn Schwartzberg, Adrian Starnes, Judy Stewart, Nathan Watson. Staff: Laura Baich, John Bailey, Eric Bolstridge, Mary Ducette, Amy O’Shaughnessy, Joan Padawan.
Absent: Pamela Davidson, Karen Gahl-Mills.
Approval of July minutes
Public Comment
No members of public are present to comment.
CAB Working Groups: Recruitment Update
John Bailey notes the departure of three members leaving the CAB in 2023 – Mark Edwards, Sammy Johnson-Helms, Abby Henkel – leaving 12 active members. Given the CAB’s vote during the previous meeting to waive the one-year gap between a second term and an optional third, there will be minimal near-term loss of institutional memory. With many members originally scheduled to leave in 2022 now slated to leave in 2025, the recruitment effort will need to ramp up in 2024 to allow for significant crossover with outgoing members. Sally Gaskill recommends casting a wider net for new recruits using station airwaves.
Development Update
Amy O’Shaughnessy discusses a draft plan for news expansion, including the pursuit of a Knight Foundation grant initially to fund an editor position and fulfill tech needs, followed by a morning newscaster and social media coordinator. She requests assistance from the CAB in identifying people tied closely to outlying communities to assess their local news needs.
Group Travel Prospect
Joan Curts suggests pursuing a station partnership with the IU Alumni Association on a 2025 travel experience that ties in with public TV content, perhaps the Ken Burns documentary American Buffalo. TIU’s effort would be largely promotional.
Audience Research Overview
John Bailey presents topline findings from WFIU’s participation in the nationwide Public Radio Tech Survey. Some key discoveries: AM/FM continues to dominate in-car listening; in more listeners’ homes than ever, though, terrestrial radio has been supplanted by smart speaker use. There is an appetite for alternate news sources (e.g. a daily local news podcast). Listeners might find AI-generated copy or delivery acceptable in certain production contexts (e.g. IDs, underwriting), but not as part of news content. And, people are as always continuing to listen for the same reasons that drew them to public radio in the first place.
2024 Meeting Dates
The board agrees to adhere to the standard first Monday of each quarter, except for May’s, due to campus activity during spring commencement. Dates thus will be February 1, May 9, August 1, and November 7.
Other business
Joan Padawan offers a preview of a live Noon Edition about carbon sequestration, November 10 in Terre Haute.
Adjourn
1:19 p.m.