Gaylord National Hotel, National Harbor, MD
Washington, DC Area
Public Radio in Mid America Membership Meeting
Annual Meeting Minutes November 13, 2013 | 3:45PM ET
DC Super Regional Conference
Call to Order and Determination of Quorum
President Christina Kuzmych called the meeting to order at 3:50pm ET on November 13th, 2013. Vice President Dan Skinner determined a quorum was present.
Additions and Approval of Agenda
There were no additions. Motion and second to approve agenda. Motion carried.
Secretary’s Report
On behalf of Karen Olstad, President Dan Skinner distributed the minutes from the Fall 2012 Conference. There were no additions or corrections. Motion and second to approve the minutes. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Dean distributed the balance sheet indicated a balance of $47,944.63 as of September 30, 2013. Motion and second to approve the balance sheet. Motion carried.
President’s Report
President Kuzmych shared encouraging news that there were seven applications for the PRIMA Scholarship Award. Four were selected; one couldn’t accept because of fund drive conflicts at her station. President Kuzmych honored the three awardees and encouraged them to join PRIMA permanently.
• Dan Woods – KRCU Public Radio General Manager
• Randy Eccles – WUIS General Manager
• Bob Culkeen – Illinois Public Media Station Manager
[Maggie Montgomery was awarded a scholarship but had to decline.]
President Kuzmych indicated that her remarks would be short, in order to allow time for a Q&A with NPR Board Chair Kit Jensen, and NPR Board Membership and Governance Committee Chair Greg Petrowich. Also, CPB Board Chair Patty Cahill was present, and President Kuzmych hoped that she could have a few minutes to speak to the group.
President Kuzmych served as PRIMA President for almost six years, completing Cleve Callison’s term, and then running for two terms as stipulated in the by-laws. Every year has been a pleasure, and a learning experience. She said that public radio has come far in the last six years in terms of content, technology, and governance, and changes were quick. She selected a few highlights from her work as PRIMA President in cooperation with other Regional Presidents. She believed that these instances made a big difference to public radio stations and managers.
• Encouraging directors at NPR Digital to consult with managers prior to rolling out plans for NPR Digital. This enabled managers to learn about the program and become stakeholders in the overall initiative. As a result, both Kinsey Wilson and Bob Kempff agreed to initiate a series of national visits to encourage managers and their digital personnel to participate and offer suggestions. In her opinion, the NPR Digital project is not yet perfected, but increasingly more stations are finding it a useful if not critical part of their online development.
• Working with Mike Riksen and his Government and his Policy and Representation team to assess initiatives such as Protect My Public Radio (and the earlier 170 Million Americans), signing on to letters from Regional Presidents to the FCC on a variety of topics such as Indecency Proceedings and Ownership Reporting (dealing with giving out of SS#’s of donors). In this vein, PRIMA and other Regionals submitted a White Paper to NPR President Gary Knell outlining protocols under which radio and television can best collaborate on Legislative Hill initiatives. These single activities were precursors to the current Protect My Public Radio and the Community Voices initiatives.
• Representing PRIMA on the CPB CSG Review. This 10-month review evaluated metrics and criteria used for determining CSG eligibility. President Kuzmych commended CPB on their hard work in ensuring that stations were not adversely affected by decisions.
• Representing PRIMA on the NPR Distribution consulting team to help craft the terrestrial technology of radio’s future.
• Establishing a blueprint for the SuperRegional. This was an idea proposed at the PRIMA conference in Kansas City by Al Timko, and seconded by the entire group. President Kuzmych noted that this Gaylord National conference was the second try at the combined regional approach, and that members need to assess it and offer suggestions for future conferences. A recent survey showed that over half of responding members would enjoy reinstating the second annual PRIMA meeting, as per PRIMA tradition. She noted that this is an issue that needs attention and participation on the part of members as we go into the future and work with our colleague Regionals.
President Kuzmych noted that PRIMA contributes richly to the national public radio governance. She noted that the last NPR Board Chair and current Chair are PRIMAtes (Dave Edwards, and Kit Jensen); the Chair of the NPR Membership and Governance Committee is a PRIMAte (Greg Petrowich). And before them, PRIMAtes had a long history of involvement in key positions — Tim Eby served as NPR Board Chair, and Regina Dean served on the Board. Both served on PRIMA boards, as did several people in the room. And now, the first Radio Chair of the CPB Board is a PRIMAte – Patty Cahill.
President Kuzmych indicated her pleasure to work with the NPR Presidents and CEOs during her six years. These included Ken Stern, Dennis Haarsager, Vivian Schiller, Joyce Slocum, Gary Knell and now Paul Haaga.
She indicated her pleasure at continuing to serve on the PRIMA Board in the position of Past President. She was presented with an inscribed desk clock for her service to PRIMA.
She thanked Kit Jensen, Greg Petrowich and Patty Cahill for participating in the meeting in Q&A sessions.
President Kuzmych encouraged the membership to complete the Super Regional surveys as it is critical to understand the feedback on the Super Regional approach and how to move forward with future planning years.
Old Business
None.
New Business
President Kuzmych introduced Treasurer Regina Dean who served as the chair of the nominating committee. Dean presented the slate of Dan Skinner, President; Paul Maasen, Vice President; and Steve Schram, Board Member #1. Motion and second to accept the slate nominees for the uncontested positions and approve their appointment. Two nominees were presented for the position of Board Member #2. After conducting a vote via paper ballot, Regina Dean announced that Mike Savage was elected to the position.
Discussion Items
Guests Kit Jensen, Chair of the NPR Board and Greg Petrowich, Chair of NPR’s Membership and Governance Committee make comments and took questions from the PRIMA membership. Topics discussed included the search for a new NPR President and the goal to have a new leader in place as early as spring 2014; the availability of the new NPR headquarters to member stations for meetings and for broadcast origination; continuing work on updating the program clocks for Morning Edition and All Things Considered; and the future of NPR Digital Service offerings and funding. PRIMA members also asked about future content delivery and marketing assistance from NPR.
Patty Cahill, Chair of the CPB Board, discussed issues currently before the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
At the request of President Kuzmych the meeting entered into executive session to discuss personnel matters and the SuperRegional. The group asked for a survey to be distributed to all members again, now that members have had a chance to experience the 2nd SuperRegional. The process of tallying survey results was discussed. Members agreed that results should be received by a 3rd party to comply with standard business practices.
Meeting adjourned at 5:03pm.
Respectfully submitted by Dan Skinner on behalf of Karen Olstad, Secretary