June 17, 2015

Public Radio in Mid America
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
June 17, 2015 

Called to Order: 2:30 PM

Board Members Present: Dan Skinner, Tim Eby, Karen Olstad, Paul Maason, Steve Schram. Regina Dean, Christina Kuzmych

Guest: Greg Petrowich

  1. 2015 PRIMA Conference— Financial Report (Regina)
    1. 53 attendees, 12 comps, 1 scholarship
    2. Revenue: $15,597 ($14,722 receipts plus $875 outstanding registration fees)
    3. Expenses $15,967
    4. Net loss $370—very good considering the quality of the conference and associated meal events.
  2. PRIMA Listserv Update —(Dan)
    1. Moved to a stand-alone service rather than be housed at a member station, eliminates future problems
    2. $100 annual fee, no usage fee
  3. WSPR Update – (Christina)
    1. Western States Public Radio had a meeting week after PRIMA, only managers (about 20), no guests, moderated by Wayne Roth
    2. Major topics
      1. Major donor fundraising—how many stations have a major project ready
      2. Collaboration
    3. Succession Planning—not just for GMs, but other difficult areas such as engineering
    4. People were happy with the format and ability to talk directly with one another and their unique issues and challenges relating to their mountainous geography.
  4. NPR Fees Discussion —Board Members
    1. Notification of increase in fee cap on member station dues late in budget process for stations on July 1-June 30 fiscal year
    2. Difficult for stations to absorb at this stage in budget process, especially when we are trying to increase local capacity including collaborations with NPR.
    3. NPR Board member, Greg Petrovich reported that NPR board encouraged staff to make simple adjustment in order to increase revenue to cover increased costs associated with election coverage until we can develop a new dues model that reflects changes in media environment.
    4. Dan will contact Gemma about possible phone conference to discuss with board members and possibly general membership.
  5. PRRO Update – Dan
    1. Discussion about CPB’s concerns regarding upcoming FCC auction of TV spectrum and implications for public TV.
    2. Questions regarding politics of it if Congress questions why Federal funding is needed if PTV stations are reaping big proceeds from and could have implications for radio stations.
    3. Gemma joined the call, discussed mixed results from Spark project
    4. Also discussed continuing high cost of Car Talk
    5. Some discussion about Membership Dues for NPR from flat rate to sliding scale, another part of the discussion is which NPR costs are covered by the membership fee.
    6. Registration information website for Super Regional will go up in a few weeks.
  6. NPR Board Update (Mike/Greg/Paul)
    1. Elections for NPR Board members will open soon, WSPR will provide forum for candidates to address their position on system issues.

Adjourned at 3:30 PM.

Next meeting July 15 at 2:30 PM EST.

Respectfully submitted,
Karen Olstad
Secretary

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