Video and minutes: NCPR Quarterly Public Meeting, 5/3/17

The quarterly public meeting of North Country Public Radio’s Executive Council, which acts as the station’s community advisory board, was held Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 1:30 pm. The quarterly meeting was held in person at Heaven Hill Conference Center off Bear Club Rd. in Lake Placid, NY. The public was invited to attend and make comments.

The meeting was recorded and is available for viewing below for those who were unable to attend. Questions and comments emailed in advance to [email protected] were presented to the meeting and attached to the minutes of the meeting, below.

NCPR’s Spring 2017 Executive Council Meeting from North Country Public Radio on Vimeo.

Upcoming 2017 Executive Council meeting dates:

• Annual Meeting: Thursday, July 27, 2017, 1:00-3:00 pm (Note: This is a date change from the previously announced July 6)
• Quarterly Meeting: Thursday, October 5, 2017, 1:30-3:00 pm

The July 27 annual meeting will be held in person in the Sykes Common Room on the campus of St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY and the public is invited to attend. The October meeting will be by phone conference and streamed online.

Members of the NCPR Executive Council in 2017:

• Rod Giltz, Plattsburgh, NY (chair)
• Cali Brooks, Lake Placid, NY
• Linda Cohen, Old Forge, NY
• Mark Dzwonczyk, Nicholville, NY
• John Ernst, North Hudson, NY
• Hannah Hanford, Saranac Lake, NY
• Steve Hopkins, Keene Valley, NY
• Sarah Johnson, Canton, NY
• Nancy Keet, Saranac Lake, NY
• Dale Kramer, Massena, NY
• Alan McLeod, Kingston, ON
• Stephen Meier, Queensbury, NY
• Dick Munro, Clayton, NY
• Cathy Pircsuk, Watertown, NY
• Susanna Piller, Plattsburgh
• Christopher Robinson, Potsdam, NY
• John Rosenthal, Lake Placid, NY
• Mark Scarlett, Hammond, NY
• Marion Roach Smith, Troy, NY
• Melissa Farmer Richards, Canton, NY

The governing board of North Country Public Radio is the Board of Trustees of St. Lawrence University.

Minutes of the Executive Council Meeting 5/3/17

COUNCIL ATTENDANCE: Rod Giltz (Chair), Cali Brooks, Linda Cohen, Mark Dzwonczyk, Hannah Hanford, Alan McLeod (via phone), Stephen Meier, Cathy Pircsuk, Susanna Piller (via phone), Christopher Robinson, John Rosenthal, Melissa Farmer Richards

STAFF ATTENDANCE: Ellen Rocco (Station Manager), Lizette Haenel (Giving Manager), Jon Sklaroff (Underwriting Director)

EXCUSED: John Ernst, Dick Munro, Steve Hopkins, Sarah Johnson, Nancy Keet, Dale Kramer, Mark Scarlett, Marion Roach Smith

PUBLIC ATTENDANCE: Katie Wilson, Steven Longmire

CALL TO ORDER: 1:30 pm

RECORDED BY: Jon Sklaroff

ADJOURNMENT: 3:15 PM

Introductions:

1. Executive Council (EC) Chair, Rod Giltz, called the meeting to order.
2. Roll call taken.

 

Item 1: Meeting Minutes Approved

February 2, 2017 minutes approved.

 

Item 2: Approval of New Terms

Three year EC member renewal terms approved for the following:

1. Rod Giltz
2. Linda Cohen
3. John Ernst
4. Cathy Pircsuk

 

Item 3: EC introduction by Ellen

1. Ellen introduces board members to the public in attendance, and explains their role as an advisory committee, not a governing board. St. Lawrence University’s (SLU) Board of Trustees is the governing board of North Country Public Radio (NCPR).
2. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) requires university licensed stations to have a community advisory board, NCPR refers to its board as the Executive Council.
3. The EC, however, is charged with reporting to SLU if they feel that NCPR is failing the community it serves. And, EC Members should also bring ideas from their community to NCPR. Jackie Sauter, Program Director of NCPR, takes consideration of all public comments.
4. Ellen views this board as a “think tank” of individuals she can rely on to keep NCPR plugged into the various communities.

 

Item 4: Fundraising Report from Lizette

1. We are no longer using the term “Membership,” but have moved to “Giving.” Annual gifts up to $5,000 are separate from major gifts over that amount.
2. The Spring Fundraiser goal was set at $300,000—which we surpassed—and the drive was shortened from three to two weeks. All of this in spite of the fact that the first three days were interrupted by special congressional hearing coverage and allowed limited fundraising opportunities.
3. In the first half of the year in giving, we raised over $370,000, more than $251,000 over last year’s fundraising during the same time period. This came from 2,911 total donors. This included a successful “New Donor Campaign.”
4. Ellen pointed out the continued success with the interruption-free fundraising, and still, many other stations are wary of trying it.
5. Listeners were concerned over recent conversations in Washington about potential cuts in CPB funding. They responded to us because they appreciate our style of fundraising and we “stay true to our values and do fact-based news coverage.”
6. Rod noted that FGCU Public Radio did our style of fundraising this year, with success.
7. Cathy noted that over the years there are fewer and fewer local news sources. Public media outlets like NCPR are crucial to a healthy news resource for the public.
8. We will continue with a five-day “Stand with the Facts” campaign in the summer, and another new donor campaign this year.

 

Item 5: Major Giving Report from Ellen

1. Initially had a FY ’17 goal of $450,000, but have decreased goal to $200,000 through attrition and “tightening of the belt.”
2. In FY ’16 we raised $71,500 total in Major Giving, FY ’17 has brought in $174,000.

(Last year a large expected “firm” commitment fell through.)

3. Two years ago our Knight Foundation grant ended, which also ended several years of matching gift commitments.
4. We currently have about a couple dozen active major donors, and including several new ones in this fiscal year.
5. Ellen has continued to meet with potential new major givers at various events in the region and elsewhere.

 

Item 6: Underwriting Report from Jon

1. Reviewing the numbers from the last several years, underwriting brought in an average of $493,000 a year from 2010 – 2015, in 2016, Sandy Demarest raised $580,748 in her last year with the station (FY’ 16).
2. To set a more realistic goal for the transition year from Sandy to Jon, the budgetary goal was set at $555,000. This goal included an expected $30,000 in revenue from the hiring of our Glens Falls / Southern Adirondack Sales Rep, Jim Goodspeed.
3. After several months of no success, Jim resigned from his post, however, the budgetary goal remained the same, and the expectation based on projections is to exceed that goal.

 

Item 7: Special Projects Update from Ellen

1. We’ve had great success with North Country at Work and received both small and large foundation grant money to continue work on it. Four NEH grant applications are still in the works, as well.
2. Amy Feiereisel, who has been heading the project, is a “dream next generation reporter,” for public radio. Amy travels the region going to events to continue to build the project, while also working with a local contract web developer to build the platform.
3. The Howl Story Slam, partnered with the Adirondack Center for Writing (ACW), has been a great success. After the first year of working things out, we’ve been able to host great events at every venue.
4. Between North Country at Work and The Howl, we’ve been able to increase our exposure in the region, to have “boots on the ground,” and have been able to create content as well. This is the ideal way to “market” the station.

 

Item 8: SLU Update from Melissa, SLU VP

1. Reiteration of facts, SLU holds the NCPR license, but does not dabble in programming. SLU provides administrative support for NCPR such as Human Resources, use of their Business Office, etc.
2. The SLU Board of Trustees is the governing board for NCPR and meets four times a year, and NCPR station updates are given each time. Ellen works with NCPR EC members and SLU Trustees, Marion Roach Smith and Sarah Johnson to provide updates.
3. Ellen, Rod, and Mark met with President Fox to discuss leadership transition for NCPR. Ellen plans on retiring after NCPR’s 50^th Anniversary year, and as the current chair of the EC, and the incoming chair, Rod and Mark were on hand to provide input. They also discussed the possibility of NCPR being relocated in the future, ideally downtown in Canton.

 

Item 9: 50^th Anniversary

1. Lots of ideas being thrown around, including the possibility of a concert featuring the Gibson Brothers.
2. More to come and suggestions welcomed.

 

Item 10: News Update from Ellen

1. For a number of years, there has been a focus at NCPR on hiring, training and mentoring the next generation of public media professionals. This serious attention to the next generation is starting to get some footing across the public radio system.
2. NCPR is exploring more opportunities to reach a different audience, more focus on podcasting, after success of the Day-by-Day podcast covering the Nick Hillary trial.
3. NCPR hosted a retreat for NPR news, which brought Mike Oreskes, Senior VP of News and Editorial Director, Mark Memmott, Senior Editor of Standards & Practices, Elizabeth Jensen, Obudswoman and Andrea de Leon, Northeastern Bureau Chief to the region. NCPR team was gratified that NPR views the work being done at the station as a standard to be emulated by the rest of the public radio system.
   1. A reminder that it is a privilege to be a part of the Fourth Estate, and that we must take that position seriously, and not offer personal opinions, but the facts only.
   2. NCPR leadership has had discussions with other stations on what is and what is not appropriate, especially around content that is distributed to and broadcast on NCPR.
   3. “It is not our job to take sides.”
4. NPR also brought Chief Digital Officer, Tom Hjelm, VP of Member Partnership, Gemma Hooley and Chief Marketing Officer, Meg Goldthwaite to NCPR for conversations on the digital future in the public radio system. NPR has asked that NCPR’s Bill Haenel participate in a consulting team being organized in Washington to discuss that digital future.

 

Item 11: Public Questions

Steven asked, “How important is local news? Can you be my only local source?”

1. Ellen discussed the method of covering our large region. We focus in on one locale, for example, one school district, as a way of drilling down on issues and activities that are relevant in communities across the region.
2. We have a small news team and finding reliable stringers can be difficult.
3. Regional news is the most difficult to cover, “hyper-local” and national create more passion.
4. We do a combination of hard and breaking news, along with feature and investigative work.

 

Item 12: Thinking about Diversity

Mark noted that there is a lack of diversity around the EC table, and hopes that we can address that going forward. Mark noted that there are many forms of diversity, and that a committee to review this should be established.

 

Item 13: Next Meeting

Summer on SLU campus meeting rescheduled, tentatively to July 27. Fall meeting planned for October 5.