WFIU Community Advisory Board Meeting
DeVault Alumni Center, Metz Board Room
Monday, October 1, 2018 at 4:00 p.m.
Attending: Sara Peterson, Miah Michaelsen, Lewis Ricci, Charlotte Zietlow, Pam Davidson, Matt Pierce, John Clark, Mary Hall, Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, Lacy Hawkins, Daren Redman, Lynn Schwartzberg, Laura Ginger. Staff: John Bailey, Eva Zogorski.
Absent: Quincy Robinson, Catherine Winkler, Alain Barker, Abby Henkel, Janet Stavropoulos, Brent Molnar. Staff: Perry Metz.
Sara Peterson calls the meeting to order.
I. Welcome & Introductions
Approval July 2018 Minutes
Janet Stavropoulos motions to approve. John Clark seconds. Motion passes.
II. Public Comment
No members of public are present to comment.
III. New Business
a. Nominations Committee Report – John Bailey
Lewis Ricci, who has been on the CAB since 2006, is to rotate off the board in December, and thus attending his final meeting. Sara P thanks him on behalf of the board for his service.
Sara Peterson notes that four are currently due for term renewal – Lacy Hawkins, John Clark, Daren Redman, and herself. John Bailey voices support for renewal. Janet Stavropoulos moves to approve second terms for all. Pam Davidson seconds.
Sara Peterson notes that Janet Stavropoulos, Laura Ginger, Mary Hall, Charlotte Zietlow, Lynn Schwartzberg, and Pam Davidson are due to end their tenure by the end of 2019, and that the slate of officers will be refreshed at that time as well.
John Bailey reports on efforts to repopulate the board. Nominations committee hopes to introduce three new CAB members by January and will need to reconvene soon. Committee will be focusing on geographic and demographic diversity, and in search of new names from the board at large.
b. Fund Drive Preview and CAB Challenge – John Bailey
Pre-drive campaign starts Tuesday, October 9, and continues for a week leading up to the on-air drive. Non-staff on-air guests to include Lynn Schwartzberg, Alain Barker.
Station has been soliciting testimonials from new members about what they decided to join; as sustainer base grows, the drive becomes more about new and lapsed members, and sustainer upgrades.
Goal this time is 900 pledges, or about $135,000; asking for about 7% less than last fall’s on-air drive because of sustainer success, political giving, online fulfillment concerns. Again mostly focusing on callers, not dollars, except in certain challenge, match, or countdown periods.
Lewis Ricci voices concern that an increase in sustainer giving might come at the cost of a sense of community during the drive, and that sustainers might come to feel unacknowledged.
Miah Michaelsen raises concern over the ongoing University restrictions on secure giving and its effect on the overall financial health of the station, and ask whether the CAB can influence the speed of the review process on campus.
Last fall’s CAB challenge was $3200; could the board move closer to the previous fall’s $4000? John Bailey suggests $3500, and members voice support.
c. Manager’s Report – John Bailey
a. Website
UITS continues to scrutinize FIU/TIU web security. The migration of the site from WordPress to IU’s proprietary content management system, Cascade/WCMS, is rolling out in phases. Review of whether the membership database, Allegiance, can move to a cloud-based system is in progress, and credit card storage is restricted pending approval.
b. Programming
Sylvia McNair, who was an early ‘80s host on the station, is rejoining. She’ll be hosting on Saturdays from 10 to 1 on WFIU2 starting in January. She’ll begin voicetracking in late October.
Station is developing an audio drama podcast about Ernie Pyle. Actor/writer Michael Brainard is at the helm as scriptwriter and actor. Staff member Russell McGee will be involved with casting and production. A likely series of 12 episodes to commence production in early ’19, with all episodes dropping at once close to the IU Bicentennial in early 2020.
c. Syndication
PRI / PRX have merged. Many details still need to be ironed out between their CEOs, but the stations expect to be relieved of satellite distribution fees for Harmonia come January.
Subscriptions for fees are robust: Harmonia is on track with 23 pickups, and the overnight service ClassicalWorks is garnering interest around the country.
d. IPBS
IPBS is the consortium of public radio and TV stations in Indiana that facilitates shared programming, especially news; that identifies strategies for greater efficiency; that enables professional development; and that advocates for our statewide appropriation at the Statehouse. It has a new director: Roger Rhodes retired after a decade; as of Labor Day, IPBS has at the helm Mark Newman. He had been the ED of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development since 2012, and before that was VP of Marketing for Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
e. Open House
Just agreed upon: Thursday, November 8, 6 to 8 p.m.; invitations to follow.
f. Ratings and Research
Results from 10th Public Radio Tech Survey are in: more than 22,000 respondents nationally, 200 from FIU listening area. It tracks public radio listeners’ self-reported use of all kinds of technology, from AM/FM radio to social media to podcasts to streaming apps to smart speakers.
True blue public radio people: 70% listen at least 2 hours per day; about 89% say they’re members – a little more than half are sustainers.
The reasons people listen have not changed: “I want to be informed about what’s going on in the news” – almost 97% of listeners list that as a main or secondary reason; “The presentation is calm” – about 89%; It’s doesn’t sound as commercial as commercial radio – about 87%; “I like particular shows or hosts” – almost 97%; “I enjoy learning about new things” – 96%; “I hear music I don’t get anywhere else” – 71%; about 78% said “Public radio needs my support.”
What has changed? Ebbing away at use of AM/FM radio – about 82% of listening is now happening on terrestrial; the rest is through streaming or on-demand.
Half the respondents listen to podcasts sometimes, and a third of those people say they’re listening to “real time” radio a little or a lot less as a result.
About 6% say they’re listening less overall than last year, largely due to news fatigue.
And, a first-time question: autonomous cars. 29% like or love the idea; 33% are skeptical or hate the idea; almost 40% feel uninformed or unsure. Research within public radio has just begun, due to worry about what people will do during drivetimes when they don’t actually have to drive.
Nielsen Audio: Highest weekly cumulative audience ever! WFIU can report a “cume” of 56,000 and a 7.8 rating across 14-county survey area; 2,900 people listening in an average quarter hour. Second best audience was last spring: 52,400 cume and 7.5 rating. Average for previous five springs: 36,000 cume. Time spent listening has dipped, but it enjoys an inverse relationship with cume – many new listeners are relatively casual. Has aggregate audience since FIU2 launch on analog actually increased by half? Only trends may tell. Data is not parsed by channel, and fall figures are not as consistent or as robust.
V. Other Business
a. 2019 Meetings:
Monday, January 14
Monday, April 8
Monday, July 15
Monday, October 7
John Bailey says this space (the Metz Board Room) has been booked for October.
VI. Adjourn
4:58 p.m.