CAB Members: Tom Bunger, Joan Curts, Mike Conway, Tim Decker, Mark Edwards, Alexandra Etheridge; Gary Hallum, Mike Hefron, Cullen McCarty, Will Murphy, John Nash, Martha Nice, Andrea Oeding, Lynn Schwartzberg,

Staff: Eric Bolstridge, Perry Metz, Brent Molnar, Nancy Krueger, Scott Witzke, Marianne Woodruff, Eva Zogorski

Meeting started at 11:30am

Board transition

Perry welcomed all and indicated that he wants the board meetings to be more discussion, less lecture. He then informed the board that PBS CEO Paula Kerger will be in Bloomington in November. He described the role that she has played over her tenure, leading PBS through the recession towards a promising future. Event details are still being formalized.

Friday Zone updates

Eric Bolstridge, Lead Producer, Weekly Programs spoke about some the initiatives that WTIU Kids is undertaking. WTIU Kids will again be partnering with the Wonderlab Museum for Wondercamps. This is a fantastic opportunity for local kids to learn about TV Technology.

Thanks to a gift from Viola and George Taliaferro, The Friday Zone has created a Curriculum Guide. Indiana has abandoned the Common Core and teachers are now faced with finding classroom resources that meet the new state standards. The Friday Zone has partnered with the IU School of Education to create the guide and are working with the Indiana Department of Revenue to gain their endorsement of the project and their assistance with getting the guide to teachers across the state.

Board Comments:

• It would be great if we could do a Teachers' Video Production Workshop.
• The teachers Mary and I heard from when we did the WTIU Learning Lab Pilot said that they would pay out of their own pockets to travel to a workshop like that. They also mentioned that they didn't necessarily have budgets, which would allow for a workshop registration fee though. We could use our mailing list for the School Closings packets to reach the schools - should this come together.
• Andrea mentioned something about coordinating with WonderLab's Teacher's Science Workshop, in terms of timing too. Maybe that way, more than one teacher from the same school could share travel costs to Bloomington.

Sneak preview of PBS season

Brent Molnar, Program Manager presented some highlights from the upcoming PBS season. First was a look at Masterpiece: Indian Summer, a dramatic retelling of the twilight of British rule in India. Then baby animal orphans on Nature, and highlights from the upcoming season of American Masters including the stories of Janis Joplin, Carol King, Althea Gibson, Norman Lear, and more.

Board Comments:

• The board seemed excited about the selections.

Advertising/Marketing Possibilities

Scott Witzke, Director of Marketing & External Relations presented a handout looking at some goals for our marketing, a look at personas of our audience, and then a look at how we’ve spent our marketing dollars over the last year and ways that we may expand our marketing mix to reach new audiences.

Board Comments:

• Some board members indicated that they watch TV and have not seen our spots
• Facebook is fine for middle-aged audience. Younger people are not on FB and older audiences don’t use FB in the same way and that over 50 read the newspaper
• We had a discussion on our upcoming Lew Wallace program--Identifying who he was and what are the interesting points that will interest audiences
• Look into trailers before movies at the theater.

Corporate Development Policy

Brent Molnar, along with Marianne Woodruff, Director of Corporate Development, then played an example of a typical program break including a proposed underwriting message from Lovers Playground. CAB members then discussed on and voted to see if the message was appropriate for our airwaves, If we should accept such and underwriting, and how we should incorporate these points into our ongoing policy

Board Comments:

• Reactions to whether adult-oriented businesses, with the right messaging, could be consistent with the mission of public broadcasting were mixed: Approx. 50% favorable, 25% unfavorable, 25% unsure.
• 100% felt that adult-oriented businesses should be allowed to have the same contact information as all other businesses listed on screen (Address, Web, Phone). Note: A few CAB members abstained from the vote, feeling that adult-oriented businesses are inconsistent with the station's character.
• Between the two primary variations of underwriting scripts presented, approximately 90% were more comfortable with the short/positioning statement version of the script which read: ...an adult-oriented retail network, supporting happy and satisfactory sexual lifestyles and wellness. As opposed to approximately 10% which were fine with the long/product and service version of the script: ...an adult-oriented retail network, supporting happy and satisfactory sexual lifestyles and wellness. And offering adult-oriented products, online sexual advice, articles, and tips.
• When asked whether they would be comfortable defending the messaging they saw to a friend, family member, viewer or member, Approximately 66% said yes, while 34% said no.
• When asked which day parts would be appropriate for an adult-oriented businesses' underwrite: 85% felt that the spots should land outside of safe harbor (10pm-6am). 15% said that non-family oriented, primetime programming (Ex. Frontline, Washington Week, Independent Lens, Specials, etc.) may be okay.

Additional Notes:

• Most felt that an adult-oriented business’ positioning messages/underwriting spot made the most sense if the company’s mission could be closely related to a program’s content (sexual health, wellness, research, issues, etc.), and would be more justifiable to other station stakeholders if the spot needed to be defended.
• The issue of fairness and first amendment rights was also raised, “If a business is operating legally, and there haven’t been local protests in the community, then why should they be treated any differently?”
• We were also reminded that community standards may vary from town to town, and what plays well in liberal portions of WTIU’s market, may not pass in more conservative areas.

Meeting Adjourned at approximately 1:30pm