March 19, 2014

Public Radio in Mid America
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
March 19, 2014

Called to Order: 2:30 PM

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

Guest: Tom  Hunt

  1. Feeback on NPR Fly-Ins – (Board) Christina went to one in Denver. Only about 22 people so had a chance for a lot of discussion. Learned a lot about where NPR is heading, what they see as challenges and opportunities. Didn’t feel like she got as much information about business plan as she would have liked. It was not the place to discuss NPR Digital. Ellen Weiss gave a pitch about collaboration. Clock project, not too many details.
  2. Treasurer’s Report – Regina Dean report receipt of a check for $91.71 from ableBanking, on behalf of its customer Elizabeth Vaughn, 560 E. Cheston St., Virginia, IL 62691,dated February 13, 2014 to Public Radio in Mid America.  The accompanying letter states the funds donated come from ableBanking, not individuals and that donor lists should recognize ‘ableBanking customers’ rather than individual’s names.  Regina asked if anyone knew of any connection Ms. Vaughn has/had to PRIMA. No one did. Karen Olstad reported that Ohio Public Radio had also received a check from ableBanking on behalf of a customer unknown to any of the OPR officers. The PRIMA Board directed Treasurer Dean to deposit the check in PRIMA’s bank account.
  3. NPR Digital Services Discussion (Board) – Ellen Rocco compiled results from her informal survey via AReps and distributed to stations via email. Eby: Question seems to be that few large stations use the CMS and are subsidizing its use by small stations, is that sustainable? More detailed discussion will be at the “deep dive” meetings rather than at the Fly-In.
  4. Report on PRIMA New Member Recruitment – (Christina) Letter has gone out. Christina will send a pdf to board members.
  5. Update from PRRO Group Meeting (Dan)–
      1. Disbursement of proceeds from 2013 SuperRegional — $5,000 to each of the regionals, balance being kept for cash flow for 2014 Super Regional Conference.
      2. 2014 Super Regional (Dan) — Next Super Regional will be in Las Vegas November 10-14, 2014. Hotel rates will be much more affordable than last year, deal with hotel nearing completion and will be shared with members once final.
      3. PRIMA Business Meeting at Super Regional – How much time do we need/want? Most PRROs felt 2 hours would be enough. PRIMA Board agreed.
  6. What follow-up should we request from scenario planning done last year? – Consensus from board is that it needs to be different. We need to follow-up on discussions from Fly-Ins and the NPR Digital Services policy issues. A discussion about topics and speakers followed — not so much on strategic planning and scenario planning exercises, but hear from thought leaders as to what the scenarios might be. Dan will forward specific suggestions to PRRO Group.
  7. Upcoming Conference Call with Gemma—(Dan) Details to come. He is also going to set up a conference call with Joyce Mac about lessons that stations could learn from NPR underwriting department.
  8. NPR Board Update –No report.
  9. USA Update (Tom) – Nothing to report.

Adjourned at 3:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Karen Olstad
Secretary

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