PUBLIC RADIO IN MID-AMERICA
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Winter 2008 Conference
March 11, 2008
11:30 a.m.
Marriott Westfield’s Conference Center
Chantilly, VA
MINUTES
I. DETERMINATION OF QUORUM & CALL TO ORDER
PRIMA President Cleve Callison
Called the meeting to order at 11:30.
Established Quorum.
II. ADDITIONS & APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Motion to approve made by Art Timko. Tom Hunt seconded.
Unanimously approved.
III. SECRETARY’S REPORT:
PRIMA Secretary Christina Kuzmych
Considered Minutes from Business Meeting September 25, 2007.
Motion to approve by Patty Wente. Art Timko seconded. Unanimously approved by PRIMA members.
IV. TREASURER’S REPORT:
PRIMA Treasurer Dorie Vallillo
Balance in checking account 9/25/07 $23,426.08
Income $14,685.34
Expenses $15,519.92
Balance in checking account 3/11/08 $22,591.50
Motion to approve Treasurer’s Report made by Tom Hunt. Art Timko seconded. Unanimously approved by PRIMA members.
V. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
PRIMA President Cleve Callison presented report.
Talked about the conference planning, and initial plans to meet in Chicago in conjunction with NPR. CPB plans created a different scenario; PRIMA ended up at Westfield’s.
The PRIMA Board has identified several initiatives, the main one focusing on overall training for managers. This is an issue that managers cite as one of the most important one for their development.
Cleve attends the NPR Board meetings on behalf of PRIMA and reports to the membership. PRIMA is a member of PRRO (Public Radio Regional Organization). In addition to other functions, PRRO gives a yearly Achievement award to an outstanding public radio professional. One will be given out during the NPR sessions.
VI. OTHER REPORTS:
Future Meeting ideas (Christina Kuzmych)
PRIMA membership had been polled for meeting destinations. Cities suggested Chicago, Cincinnati, Nashville, Memphis, and Louisville. We have also received a recommendation from Art Timko for Eagle Crest near Ann Arbor and Detroit. Chicago is the favorite destination for the Fall meeting. San Antonio is scheduled for February 2009. The dates considered for the Fall meeting are Sep 5 through 7 or 10 through 12.
VIII. OLD BUSINESS:
A. None pending
IX. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Mike Riksen from NPR Government Relations presented. Public Radio Recognition Month (TBA). There will be no Capitol Hill Day this year. What is at stake this year: We are asking for 483 million dollars; this is an historic Presidential Election year; 33 Senate seats. The PRRM was initiated to get more stations to do more throughout the entire month, through a series of activities for stations to do in their communities. This is to convince them to fund for FY 2011. These are easily doable activities that help increase awareness by citizens as well as legislators. HR 1002 already has a sizable amount of co-sponsors. There will be training for stations through e-mail and through phone interconnects. There is also a fly-in day in April. The main purpose is to turn this month into a year-long activity for managers. There are fewer groups coming to D.C. to advocate on one day. More groups are staying in their state and advocating through grass roots. A web site has been established to help increase the options for managers and to learn more.
B. Report on FCC Localism proposals (TBA).
Commission is engaged in decisions that affect commercial stations. They haven’t distinguished the implications for public and commercial radio. Their requirements may harm public radio. FCC needs to know from us how this will impact our operations. Riksen’s team has posted information on the NPR web site. April 28 is the new deadline for filing opinions. Commission is also dealing with low power FM – there are some implications to full power stations that should be addressed. Some of the specific items dealing with localism apply to public radio directly. For example, the proposed requirement for attended operation will be a financial hardship. This definitely needs to be pointed out. Implications for state networks should be highlighted. Anyone operating a satellite-fed station is at risk. This discussion also applied to television. The reason there is so little understanding on the part on the Commission is that they have been focusing mainly on commercial broadcasters. Riksen – talk about the implication to YOUR station, not necessarily radio-at-large. This will remind them of the differences between public and commercial radio. In the next years, we will need to more strongly delineate the needs of public radio as a viable group of broadcasters. Michigan’s John Dingle’s came out in favor of this initiative. How to deal with this? Agree with him about the localism, but then explain how this will affect public radio and the need to made distinctions.
C. Copyright Royalty Issue:
Not official yet. We have reached agreement in principle on copyright royalty matters. We got the recording industry to recognize the difference between public broadcasting and commercial. Reporting and compliance not there yet. Don’t know when CPB will complete the document and swap it with Music Exchange. This has only to do with streaming and not podcasting. Does this apply only to CPB-qualified stations? Riksen – there are some distinctions. Broadcast Performance Royalties: There is no royalty at the present time. Agreement has been between recording industry and performers – performers get value. Congress leans towards applying royalty to all performed music. Public broadcasting is saying that this is a good idea for performers, but it doesn’t apply to us, because we already incorporate promotion for performers. We bring them into the station, present their bios, talk about them, etc. Legislation assessing royalty on on-air performance. They are going to assess each station $1,000 for copyright royalty. So far we have achieved recognition that we are different. NPR believes that CPB has the responsibility to pay royalties out of the CPB 6 per-cent budget.
D. NPR Board Issues:
Rob Gordon, member of the NPR Board updated PRIMA members on NPR Board activities. Encouraged members to read over the issues relating to the make-up of the NPR Board. Also updated the group about the hiring of an Interim CEO, Dennis Haarsager.
XI. PRIMA Nominations
Without checking the PRIMA officer election schedule grid Christina prepared, it looks like our vacancies may occur in the following areas:
Vice-President (Christina Kuzmych)
Treasurer (Dorie Vallillo)
Board Member At Large #1 (Al Bartholet)
Board Member At Large #2 (Jon Schwartz)
Cleve will check the officer election schedule grid to determine positions up for election and will ask PRIMA members to volunteer to serve on the Nominating Committee.
X. ADJOURN
Meeting adjourned at 12:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
by Vice-President Christina Kuzmych
for PRIMA Secretary Dan Skinner
March 12, 2008