Minutes: Executive Council Meeting 5/2/11

• Participating: Lee & Nancy Keet, John Rosenthal, John Ernst, Rod Giltz, Steve Hopkins (by phone), Janet Langlois, Marion Smith, Mike Clarke, Bob Sauter and Ellen Rocco.
• There was approval of the notes/summary of the last meeting.

Update on NPR/NCPR funding:

• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB was ultimately funded in the budget. Virtually none of the money actually goes to NPR. Most of the support is directly for local stations. There may be some funding indirectly for NPR because the stations buy programming from NPR.
• PTFP was not funded. This was a program that provided subsidy for building public broadcasting infrastructure. 75% funding was normally available for new and upgraded broadcasting equipment. This program will be missed.
• Some modest cuts from NY State are expected. NCPR gets roughly $60,000 per year from the State Education Department.
• In the end, funding public broadcasting was not a partisan issue.

Update on personnel changes at station:

• Jonathon Brown has left and Nora Flaherty was hired to replace him. In a few weeks, a reformatted “All before Five” may be back on the air.
• Hired Julie Grant to sub for David Sommerstein beginning July 1. Julie will also work on morning news with Martha.
• A replacement for Kelly Trombley has been hired. She had been re-assigned during the cutbacks at the University last year and applied for this job.

Update on service from “Radio” Bob Sauter:

• Bob explained some of the technical issues involved with broadcast transmission at NCPR. Transmitters are licensed and as of 2007, the FCC has not issued any new licenses. Translators can fill in some of the gaps, but are much lower power.
• We have just completed upgrades to transmitters in Cape Vincent, Lake Placid and Gouverneur. The next upgrade will be at Lowville.
• Bob is looking into a studio transmitter link using microwave for some of the transmitters.
• Because the FCC is not issuing new licenses, expansion would require the acquisition of another license, such as a commercial station.
• A special committee was formed to develop a strategic overview of the broadcast issues, including a map of the current broadcast coverage, with population density. The members of the committee are Lee Keet, John Ernst and Marion Smith. They will report back at the next meeting.
• The areas of future growth that were considered were Elizabethtown as a priority and the Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs markets.

Executive Council Elections:

• As prescribed in the ByLaws, Steve Hopkins was elected as Vice-Chairman of the EC.
• Additionally, members of the EC whose terms expire on June 30, 2011 were re-elected for a 3 year term ending on June 30, 2014. Those members are Michael Clarke, Linda Cohen, John Ernst and Mark Scarlett.
• A Nominating Committee including Michael Clarke, Mark Scarlett and Rod Giltz was formed and charged with recommending potential new members to the EC.

Media Enhancement Program

• Ellen briefed the EC on her discussions with the Adirondack Community Trust (ACT) Director Cali Brooks concerning a joint grant application to the Knight Foundation for funding the next steps in media enhancement. After a meeting with the Knight Foundation on April 29, there is some optimism that the proposal will get funded. We expect to hear back by the end of May.

Next Meetings:

• Annual/Summer –July 28 at 4 pm at the Old Forge Arts Center. The Annual Meeting will be at 6 pm.
• September conference call if needed.
• Fall – October 20-22 to coincide with SLU Trustees in Canton.