December 17, 2014

Public Radio in Mid America
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
December 17, 2014

Called to Order: 2:30 PM

Board Members Present: Dan Skinner, Tim Eby, Regina Dean, Karen Olstad, Paul Maasen, Steve Schram, Mike Savage

Guest: Greg Petrowich and Tom Hunt

  1. Debrief on 2014 Super Regional 
    1. Feedback was generally positive, good speakers that engaged the attendees
    2. Dissatisfaction with the venue, too big, food too expensive
    3. Seemed like attendance from major market stations was lacking
  2. AREPS / NPR Annual Meeting
    1. Need more time to discuss the pressing issues affecting stations and NPR relationship
    2. Should we have a separate meeting rather than tack onto Super Regional? Discussion of pros and cons ensued. Consensus was that a separate meeting would be beneficial. Greg will communicate that to NPR 
  3. Spring 2015 PRIMA Conference—May 6-8 in St Louis (Dan)
    1. Suggested Guests & Topics: Want to have conversations rather than presentations
      1. PRIMA Suite!–Definitely
      2. Loren Mayer, NPR COO – Confirmed
      3. Legal Session with Meg Miller and Ernie Sanchez (Confirmed Interest)
      4. Joanne Church from RRC (Confirmed Interest)-Dan will follow-up to clarify what will be presented/discussed
      5. Bob Kempf, NPR Digital Services
      6. Journalism Session
        1. Tim Eby, Lessons from Covering Ferguson
        2. Collaborative Journalism
        3. New NPR News Director (If hired by then)
        4. Joyce Mac, CPB Journalism Initiative
        5. Keith Woods (NPR) –how to get more diversity in newsrooms
      7. National Public Media Rep (NPM)—Brian Moffet (could be folded into Loren Mayer’s session)
      8. Comparative discussion of challenges facing small and large stations—Panel
      9. Open Session for Free Form Group Discussion
      10. D/I re: New Interconnection System Capabilities and Costs
      11. Updates from attendees on accomplishments / challenges –over breakfast at beginning of conference
    2. Special Event at Cardinal Game –PRIMA Board authorized Tim to purchase tickets for the Cardinals event for approximately $4,000 for 40 attendees; Car Talk donation program seems interested in underwriting the cost. Only additional expense to PRIMA will be for transportation to ballpark.
    3. Dan encouraged members to send him speaker suggestions. He will follow-up.
  4. NPR Board Update (Greg)
    1. Discussion of suggestion made at Annual Meeting regarding proposal to add more lay members to the NPR Board in order to raise more money. Sense of those in attendance that it didn’t get much support.
    2. Discussion about lack of large station representation on the board. Consensus was that it is important that the NPR Board be representative of all the types of NPR member stations. PRIMA board would be supportive of further study/conversation regarding having “designated seats” to ensure diversity.
  5. U:SA (Tom)
    1. No meeting since Super Regional, good attendance there.
    2. Tom will be going off board in May when he retires
    3. Very proud of the establishment of the Madison Hodges Innovator Award, hope it becomes a well-respected award in public media. Will be awarded at Super Regional in the future to someone who made innovative changes to advance public media.

Adjourned at 3:50 PM.

No meeting in November due to Super Regional Meeting. Next meeting January 15 at 2:30 PM EST.

Respectfully submitted,
Karen Olstad
Secretary

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