PRIMA Board Meeting Minutes
March 4, 2008
2:30 pm ET Conference Call
Present: Cleve Callison, Dorie Vallillo, Bill Wheelhouse, Christina Kuzmych
Cleve Callison called the meeting to order.
WINTER MEETING:
Christina reviewed the final agenda for the winter meeting March 10-11, 2008 in Washington, DC. The PRIMA Suite on Tuesday night (9:00 pm) is a bit tentative as there is some indication that Dana Rehm will be using the suite for the night. Cleve and Christina will follow up and clarify.
Board members should meet in the lobby at 5:00 pm for a board dinner on Monday.
Cleve noted that he has been monitoring things with Mark Sachs regarding submissions from the membership for the Tuesday morning session. As of yesterday, he has had 5 submitted. Cleve asked all board members to submit something to Mark, as he’d like more than 5 submissions.
Cleve also asked that all of the Board members plan to be in the PRIMA Suite during the times indicated it will be open (beginning 9 pm each evening). Many felt we didn’t make very good use of the suite at the conference in St. Paul. It is important someone be there to welcome others when they drop by.
Cleve will contact the membership for agenda items for the business meeting next week. There is only 45 minutes scheduled for the business meeting, but it could continue in the suite at 5:30 pm Tuesday.
FUTURE MEETINGS:
Looking ahead to Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 meeting dates and locations.
Cleve has had an inquiry from Greg Schnirring at CPB already as to when our fall conference will take place. We should try to work farther ahead so we can go into each conference knowing where the next conference is going to be. Bill Wheelhouse noted that we may be able to get better hotel rates that far out.
Cleve noted that it is important to be in a city where air transportation is reliable. Another consideration is that we had an agreement to meet in Chicago before changing to DC. Christina has forwarded potential dates and locations to the board via email; everyone please respond. We can also make this a business meeting agenda item for next week.
Another consideration — is it a good idea to have our meetings back to back with NPR? On the positive side, the turnout seems good and people seem to appreciate combining two trips into one. On the negative side, it forces us to abbreviate our own conference. If NPR continues to go with a March AREPS, perhaps we can continue to plan our Winter meeting adjacent, and leave our fall meeting separate from all else.
OTHER ITEMS:
Regarding Public Radio Recognition Month: Mike Riksen is encouraging regional organizations to support this initiative. Cleve is encouraging everyone to keep an eye on this and to do everything you can to keep up your legislative contacts. Christina noted that her joint licensee and other Indiana PubTV stations visited their legislators for TV’s Capitol Hill Day. Wondering if we no longer go as a massive group of public radio people, are we leaving it all open for public TV? Worrisome as TV already seems to dominate the thoughts of national legislators. Cleve: we might want to think about giving a bit of time to Mike Riksen on our agenda — at least have him join us in the PRIMA Suite.
FCC/Localism initiative: Cleve reminded the group that PRIMA signed a letter asking the FCC to delay comments on the localism initiative. The initiative includes an apparent requirement that there be an operator on duty 24/365. As it stands now, comments are due by March 14th.
CPB Rescission: regional heads had a conference call with CPB; nothing got turned around, however, CPB seemed responsive as far as explaining things that weren’t clear. Cleve has forwarded a report about this to the membership.
Dues Issues:
Bill Wheelhouse inquired about the KOSU waiver request; Cleve will follow-up with their manager.
Cleve and Dorie noted that WUOM in Ann Arbor has been billed on a prorated basis for membership this fiscal year.
Meeting adjourned 3:10 pm ET
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Dorie Vallillo, Treasurer for Dan Skinner, Secretary.