Community Advisory Board Meeting Tuesday, July 17, 2018 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Ron and Linda Yanke Family Research Park 220 E. Parkcenter Boulevard, Room 700 Board Members in Attendance: Laurie Ahern Dave Fotsch Kay Alspaugh Dennis Hall Susan Bechdel Andy Huang Julie Adams DeFord Vicki Lawson Board Members Not in Attendance: Shelby Zepeda Shikhar Sarin Stacy Madsen Jean Mutchie Staff in Attendance: Tom Michael, General Manager
David Lombardi Paul Ries Dede Ryan Kendal Shaber
Mark Wheeler Teresa Yragui
Corey Cook
Leta Neustaedter
Katie John, Recorder
Via phone: Tyson Chaplin
Paul Stribling, Program Director
***************** Call to Order – David Lombardi Board Chair David Lombardi called the Boise State Public Radio (BSPR) Community Advisory Board (CAB) meeting to order at 12:05 p.m. Introductions & Announcements – David Lombardi Each board member introduced him or herself, including the new members who were present in person and via telephone. Each new member present was given a CAB information binder, and David announced there will be in the near future an orientation to help new members get acquainted with the station. David also stated that he would like to increase the number of meetings per year, and proposed both a social event in the evening plus an additional full CAB meeting in October 2018. Katie will send a Doodle poll after the meeting to determine the best days for these events. The proposed format is a social event one evening, plus a meeting the next day at noon (making only one extra trip for out of town Board members). Approval of April 3, 2018 Meeting Minutes – David Lombardi Laurie Ahern made a motion to approve the minutes; seconded by Dede Ryan. The minutes were approved unanimously. General Manager Update – Tom Michael • The station is currently hiring a Reporting Fellow to be part of the nationwide “Guns & America” collaboration, based out of member station WAMU in Washington, DC.
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Tom recently spent the day in Sun Valley at a development conference; he is also working with the NPR contact in the area to coordinate giving efforts. This is while the station is also in the hiring process for a Major Gifts Officer to replace the former Development Director position. During the April on-air membership pledge drive, the station raised more than $200,000, which was about $13,000 less than the goal. Idaho Matters launched on April 23, 2018. This includes the addition of 2 full-time staff members, plus half the time of existing newsroom member Samantha Wright. The newsroom had successful Primary Night election coverage on May 15th. Two summer newsroom interns will soon wrap-up their experiences: Will Reid from Yale University and Blake Simony from Boise State University both found success in the newsroom this summer. There is also a student intern helping with Idaho Matters, Hannah Gardoski of Boise State, and a student from Upward Bound on Boise State’s campus spent 6 weeks at the station this summer as well. The Murdock Charitable Trust grant projects are moving along well. This project will update the aging infrastructure we have across the state. This summer we are purchasing new transmitters for KBSU, KBSX, and KBSW. Kate Concannon is working for Boise State Public Radio from Seattle as the Managing Editor of the Mountain West News Bureau. The Bureau was recently credited by the Washington Post for breaking news regarding Ryan Zinke and the shift in leadership at Yellowstone National Park. Two podcasts out of BSPR found success this spring: Legislative Breakdown by Samantha Wright and Boise State professor Gary Moncrief, as well as You Know The Place from Lacey Daley and co-host Joel Wayne. A recent event in Ontario, OR reached the outer fringe of our listeners on the western side. Joel Wayne is the new producer for retired BSU President Bob Kustra’s show, Reader’s Corner. Sonic IDs, the “sense of place vignettes” previously previewed to the CAB are now live on air. Tom asked for feedback- Andy Huang and Dave Fotsch like how they are sounding so far. Our fiscal year (2018) ended on June 30th. We were slightly under goal in both the membership and underwriting departments, but savings in expenses allowed the organization to show a net gain for the year. Tom explained a very broad view of revenue and expenses for FY18, which included outsized revenue from Boise State (seed funding for Idaho Matters) and grants (Murdock Charitable Trust and CPB). A question from the CAB: What is our current outlook on funding, given the so-called Skinny Budget from Washington that provides $0 to Corporation for Public Broadcasting? Tom responded that funding is done on a 2-year cycle, so we feel secure for at least next year. However, funding is always a concern, especially with an administration that isn’t interested in funding public media. He suggested reviewing the resources available at www.protectmypublicmedia.org (Also, for reference, local contributions make up the bulk of our funding, with membership alone usually contributing about half of annual revenue.) Tom gave a brief overview of the conferences recently attended by staff members; shared the station’s perspective that continually educating our people and meeting others in the field is key to success. Concerns on the horizon: Digital concerns, as NPR retracts from their digital products; plus collaborating more with NPR in the future on both editorial projects and fundraising. A question from the CAB: How does NPR charge? Tom answered it is not based on coverage area, but on how much we raise in the community (TSR- total station revenue). Follow-up questions: How will we leverage growth in Boise going forward? Tom pointed to increasing our sustainer support (the big goal now is 60% of membership funds coming from monthly “sustainers”). We use benchmarks from similar markets like KUER in Salt Lake City to see how we are doing, and we also plan to increase the strength of a legacy (planned) giving program. Our biggest opportunity right now is in major gifts; currently the Broadcast Society has about 140 members. A question from the CAB: How much do we bring in from car donations each year? Through our partnership with Idaho Youth Ranch, we bring in generally about $25,000. FY18 ended at about $30,000 from car donation commissions.
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Committee Updates A. Executive Committee (David Lombardi): The committee consists of Chair David Lombardi, Vice Chair Vicki Lawson, 2 at-large members (Paul Ries and Teresa Yragui); the Exec committee worked with the Nominating committee to secure new members in June. B. Nominating Committee (Teresa Yragui): With the June 12th meeting that added 6 new members to the CAB, the Board is now at the minimum of 20 members. The goal is another slate of 6 potential members for the fall meeting. Teresa & Vicki are preparing to interview; the committee could use 1-2 more members. A question from the CAB: Why does the Board want to be closer to 30 members? Answered that with more members, member activity overall may increase and expand diversity (geographical especially) of the Board. Plus two members will rotate off the Board this year- Dede Ryan and Dave Fotsch. If anyone is interested in serving on this committee, reach out to Vicki or Teresa. C. Governance Committee (Laurie Ahern): An overview of changes to the Bylaws: decrease minimum number of CAB members from 20 to 15, switch to simple majority, role of past chair to stay on for an additional year as part of the Exec committee, accommodations so the Chair & Vice Chair can be elected to a second term, added conflict of interest language, reordering of priorities, and clarification of financial commitment requirement of CAB members. These changes trickle down to the CAB Member Expectations as well. Redline versions of both documents are available for CAB input; Katie will send out Word and PDF versions after the meeting. CAB members should “reply all” with their feedback. A question from the CAB: Will the Vice Chair automatically become the Chair (is this written into the Bylaws?) After brief discussion, the consensus is “no”, it does not need to be strictly written into the Bylaws. D. Discussion of New Committees a. Advocacy Committee (Vicki Lawson): This committee was active in the past; seek to enhance visibility & support for BSPR specifically, and public radio in general. For example, digital ambassadorship- share stories of interest on various platforms, discussion on the BSPR website. Or, board members working on gaining the support of local elected officials. Helping with event planning or community sessions. i. Tyson Chaplin volunteered to be a part of this committee b. Fundraising Committee (Teresa Yragui): Developing sources of funding & helping with current fundraising efforts; Support membership/development staff (the committee would need one BSPR fundraising staff member- Kristin Jackson, Larry Newton, or Patty Trent?); work with underwriting, major gifts; support them in any way needed. c. Programming Committee (David Lombardi): The station management will ultimately make the decisions regarding the programs on air, but this committee will provide feedback and a “testing ground” for proposed changes (and feedback after the fact). The committee could be equipped with one or two bullet points about new changes to discuss in their respective communities. i. Andy Huang volunteered/was recruited to be a part of this committee Board Matrix: Katie will send the survey link to new members & get results to Vicki & Teresa for their use in the nominating committee. Department Opportunities: Kristin Jackson in membership can use help making “Thank you” calls. Contact Kristin at 208-426-1558. October Meeting: Week of October 15th or 22nd? Katie will send a poll after the meeting. This will be a social event, followed by a regular (additional) meeting at noon the next day. [This is not in place of the September meeting.]
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Good of the Order – David Lombardi This is Dede Ryan’s last meeting, as she won’t be present at the September meeting. A big thank you to Dede for her years of service to the CAB and to the station at large! Additionally, Stacy Madsen is moving from Twin Falls to Portland, OR so she has resigned from the Board. Meeting Times & Dates – Katie John The CAB reviewed the following meeting date for the remainder of 2018 (at noon). • Tuesday, September 25, 2018 Adjourn Dave Fotsch moved to dismiss the meeting at 1:32 pm, Dede provided the second, and the meeting was adjourned.
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