PRIMA BOARD MEETING
February 28, 2023
In attendance:
President PAUL Maassen – WWNO
Secretary NEENAH Ellis – WYSO
Treasurer REGINA Dean – WUOT
DAN Skinner – Kansas Public Radio – absent
NICO Leone – KERA
STEVEN Williams – WMUK – absent
MYRNA JOHNSON – IOWA PUBLIC RADIO
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@ 2:38 it’s Paul, Regina, Myrna, Neenah
Any more info about the job cuts at NPR?
Myrna says John is being transparent. Ad buys are way off. It’s been worse than they predicted.
What is the reaction of the staff/board? I don’t know what’s going on inside. It’s dicey – She doesn’t know.
Paul – we see the turns a year later. We don’t get the highs or the lows.
In Iowa, I see some drops in ad buys, but not to the magnitude of NPR.
Paul suspects it’s more with national ad buys than local buys.
Business:
The other PRRO groups are interested in doing a conference – perhaps recast as a “leadership summit” to coincide with the NPR annual meeting, but NPR may be doing that virtually.
MJ: We set the date, but I don’t know more.
PM: In September or October – that’s the PRRO thinking. That seems to be the plan and it’s coming together quickly. More for leaders to network and get training.
Not sure if doing it at NPR is going to be possible. Not clear whether or not it will be in person or virtual.
Nico joins at 2:50
Paul isn’t sure we can do a PRIMA meeting in person. We will do a virtual meeting.
We have an opportunity to re-invent the board with a lot of new people. We need to work on this in earnest. Paul will send out the list to the board and at the March meeting can can come up with a slate. Second Tuesday of the month, March 14th at 130 pm CT.
Nico’s term expires this year – also leaving the PRIMA board are, Regina Dean, Dan Skinner, and Neenah Ellis. Paul will be ex-officio.
Myrna – important for the board to lay out a vision, how this organization fits into the ecosystem of public radio. It’s an opportunity to shift/renew purpose, but also to articulate the role of PRIMA.
Paul will send around the mission/vision statement. Paul says giving feedback to NPR is very important. I think the board listens to our recommendations and that role can be more pronounced or defined as we move forward. Also, having a smaller meeting occasionally is fairly important. A lot of stations just don’t have the money to go to big conferences. I think that’s important, too. The pandemic sidetracked everything but we can re-energize.
Nico says he thinks we can sharpen our focus on two fronts: feedback to NPR and meeting opportunities. They two are not incompatible.
Paul – mentorship is also an important role.
“A good rock will fall out “
Stations want to be useful by sending in job opportunities to NPR employees.
Meeting ends at 3:06 ET