July 25, 2017 BSPR Community Advisory Board Meeting Minutes

Community Advisory Board Meeting Tuesday, July 25, 2017 – 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: David Lombardi Vicki Lawson Shihkar Sarin Corey Cook Laurie Ahern Stacy Madsen Paul Ries Maria Trebby

Kay Alspaugh Mitzi Jensen Dave Fotsch Leta Neustaedter

Dede Ryan Kristin Mathews Mark Wheeler

Erik Jones

Katie John

Board Members Attending via Conference Call: Shelby Zepeda Teresa Yragui Board Members Not in Attendance: Emily Walton Cornelia Sprung Staff in Attendance: Tom Michael

Paul Stribling

***************** Call to Order – Shelby Zepeda Vice Chair, Shelby Zepeda, called the Boise State Public Radio (BSPR) Community Advisory Board (CAB) meeting to order at 12:08 p.m.

Approval of April 2017 Meeting Minutes – Shelby Zepeda Mitzi Jensen made a motion to approve the minutes; seconded by Shihkar Sarin. The motion was passed unanimously.

Board Leadership – Shelby Zepeda • Board leadership has remained the same for a longer period of time than usual due to staff transitions (namely Tom starting as General Manager a few months before the transition was scheduled to take place), but in preparation for the October meeting a new slate of board leaders was proposed.

• Shelby, who leads the Nominating Committee, suggested the nomination of David Lombardi as the next Board Chair, and Vicki Lawson as the next Vice Chair. Dave Fotsch made a motion to move forward with this proposal, and Dede Ryan seconded. Everyone was in agreeance and the motion to nominate David and Vicki for board leadership passed unanimously.

• A vote will take place at the fall meeting (on October 24, 2017) to confirm the new Chair and Vice Chair for a one-year term- October 2017 until October 2018 (pursuant to the Community Advisory Board Bylaws).

• On a related subject, Katie John and Tom Michael will review current board member terms and update the CAB prior to the next meeting about each member’s remaining time on the board.

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General Manager Update – Tom Michael Tom began by introducing Laurie Ahern, who officially became a board member in April but was unable to attend the spring meeting in person. Laurie is a resident of Ketchum and joins Paul Ries in representing Blaine County on the CAB. Financials and Federal Funding • Despite the budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration in March, CPB remains fully funded at this point and has an optimistic outlook for the future. A number of polls show that it is an extremely valuable asset in the eyes of voters. Maria Trebby shared that she wrote to Congressman Simpson voicing concerns about financial support for public media. He responded positively, saying that he is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and will continue to work for support of public media funding.

• Tom shared a number of slides (which were sent to the CAB, post-meeting) with financial information. Fiscal year 2017 (FY17) ended on June 30, with revenue of ~$3.5 million and expenses of ~$3.1 million. The largest expense continues to be programming costs. o Boise State University and the Corporation for Public Broadcast were the largest two single funder. Boise State’s line was outsized this year due to one-time funding of new show production.

• The June “Stealth” membership pledge drive was successful and met the goal of $120,000 with only 2 days of on-air disruption.

News & Programming • News coverage in the first quarter of FY17 focused heavily on politics (43% of stories) due to the legislative session, but the second quarter showed more balanced coverage, including equal shares for politics, environmental news, and Idaho stories.

• The newsroom is focusing on solar eclipse coverage until August.

• A question was raised about “Some of the Parts” podcast and how much interest it raised. Katie will include these figures in the post-meeting email.

• Tom accepted a national award in the category of Breaking News at the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI) conference in June. This award was in the category of newsrooms with a size of 4-7 people.

• Listener-generated news stories, using the Hearken software, have been a success so far this summer. Up next is “Why does Boise not have a north-south highway?” which is being investigated by Matt Guilhem.

• Jimmy Dawson, a native Idahoan who most recently worked at Delaware Public Media, will join the newsroom as News Director on July 31.

• The CPB Regional Journalism Collaborative (RJC) has been approved with $475,000 in funding. This will be a partnership among Mountain West stations (Yellowstone Public Radio in Billings, MT, Wyoming Public Media in Laramie, WY, KUCR in Salt Lake City, UT, KUNC in Greeley, CO, and KRCC in Colorado Springs, CO.) The managing editor for the RJC will be housed in our newsroom at BSPR, and this position will be posted soon for hiring.

• We are continuing the search for both a local show host and producer, with the host candidates currently entering the final round.

KBSU at 40, a Fall Celebration – Erik Jones and Tom Michael • Erik Jones is leading the charge on planning an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of KBSU on the airwaves.

• His plan includes a reunion for those who have been involved with the station over the years, and also hopes to tie the anniversary into fundraising efforts in September and December (on-air pledge drives).

• Leta has been piquing interest among early supporters of the station that are in her social circle. Teresa Yragui specifically mentioned being interested in a committee that helps with the celebration. A number of others shared ideas and expressed interest in helping as well.

• Many questions came up during the discussion, including will former general managers be involved or interviewed about their roles at the station?

• Katie will compare the station history on the website to that found in the CAB binder, and also update it to include current efforts.

• Erik is looking for audio (tape, recordings, etc.) photos, and testimonials to put together for the celebration.

Anyone with content, or questions/leads, should be in touch with Erik at erikjones@boisestate.edu.

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Lastly, Erik wants to tell the story of the station, and focus on those who have helped KBSU/BSPR become what it is today.

No specific date was decided upon, but Shihkar suggested it may be beneficial to hold the event around Boise State’s Homecoming this fall (November 3-4). Ideas include a station take over on Saturday, an open house on Friday or Saturday, and also a more intimate gathering for previous hosts (a reunion).

Dede suggested researching corporate sponsors from 40 years ago (are any long-time local businesses consistent for a significant part of the 40 years?) and Paul Ries mentioned looking into any individual donors who have been loyal over the years too. Mitzi mentioned a central theme along the lines of “look how far we’ve come”, and Maria suggested reflecting on the little house where it started and the journey to the facilities where the station is located now.

Good of the Order – Shelby Zepeda • Leta mentioned that Emily wanted to pass on the message that she is doing well after surgery.

Adjourn Shelby moved to dismiss the meeting at 1:25 pm, Shihkar provided the second, and the motion passed unanimously.

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