Audio and minutes: NCPR Quarterly Public Meeting, October 5, 2017
Listen to archive audio of the October 5, 2017 meeting:
The quarterly public meeting of North Country Public Radio’s Executive Council, which acts as the station’s community advisory board, was held Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 1:30 pm. as an audio phone conference.
The meeting audio was streamed online and made available by dial-in telephone.
The public was invited to participate by listening in and posting questions and/or comments on this post, or by calling toll-free: 1-877-388-6277. You can still email questions and comments to Danielle LaCourse ([email protected])
Upcoming Executive Council meeting dates:
- Thursday, February 15, 2018, 1:30-3:00 pm
- Thursday, May 3, 2018, 1:30-3:00 pm
- Thursday, July 19, 2018, 1:30-3:00 pm
- Thursday, October 4, 2018
February and October are phone meetings, The May meeting will be held in person at a location TBD, and the public is invited to attend. The July meeting will be held in person in Canton, NY (location TBD) and the public is invited to attend.
Meeting Minutes: October 5, 2017
COUNCIL ATTENDANCE: Cali Brooks, Mark Dzwonczyk, John Ernst, Rod Giltz, Hannah Hanford, Nancy Keet, Alan McLeod, Stephen Meier, Susanna Piller, Tom Pynchon, Christopher Robinson, Marion Roach Smith
STAFF ATTENDANCE: Ellen Rocco, Jackie Sauter, Jon Sklaroff, Lizette Haenel, Danielle LaCourse
EXCUSED: Linda Cohen, Steve Hopkins, Sarah Johnson, Dale Kramer, Dick Munro, Cathy Pircsuk, John Rosenthal, Mark Scarlett
CALL TO ORDER: 1:32 pm
RCORDED BY: Danielle LaCourse
ADJOURNMENT: 2:25PM
Introductions:
- Executive Council Chair, Mark Dzwonczyk, called the meeting to order.
- Roll call taken.
Item 1: Meeting Minutes Approved
- July 27, 2017 minutes approved.
Item 2: Comments from Mark Dzwonczyk, new Executive Council Chair
- Mark is excited to enter into his new role. Going forward, he would like to clarify roles and the Advisory Board’s mission, as well as its relationship with St. Lawrence University, who is the “overseeing board” behind the Executive Council.
Item 2: Programming update from Jackie
- Car Talk/The Best of Car Talk aired for the last time during the previous week. Still possible to subscribe to the podcast. Moved Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me an hour earlier. Added Hidden Brain.
- Revising the flow of The 8 O’clock Hour – moving locally featured content to the first half of the hour and adding five minutes of NPR news time to the second half of the hour.
- Long-time, part-time announcer, Jonathan Brown, changing relationship with the station; he accepted a full-time position in St. Lawrence University’s Advancement office. Beginning the process of finding a replacement.
Item 3: Fundraising Update from Lizette.
- Exactly where we were last year at this time, in terms of fundraising goals.
- Fall fundraiser dates: 10/16/17-10/30/17
Item 4: General Station updates from Ellen
- “Fight for the Facts” will be the slogan/theme for the fundraiser.
- Brian Mann has become the Northeast Correspondent for NPR, but remains the Adirondack Correspondent for NCPR.
- Working with the digital team on the release of the North Country at Work website.
- 50th Anniversary planning is in full swing. Kick-off event with SLU’s President Fox.
- Ellen is going to ask everyone to stretch (donation-wise), in honor of the anniversary.
Item 5: Public Comments
- Danielle reads a comment sent to the station from listener Rich Paolillo regarding the possibility of adding Democracy Now! to fill the slot left open by the departure of Car Talk. Jackie and Ellen address this issue and note that the program is not fair and balanced, and therefore does not belong on public radio stations.
- Public comment from Rich Paolillo: Greetings,
I trust the Community Advisory Board, CAB, has had a chance to review my letter, mentioned in the video and minutes, to you from the last meeting. I’m sure the people serving on the Executive Council are all nice well meaning leader of their communities, however this fine group is not, and does not appear in the least, to be, or function as a CAB.
Here a test. Car Talk is being pulled by NPR and NCPR will have a one hour time opening on Saturdays. How about this Board discuss the idea that the station, your bound to advise, give Democracy Now a try for one hour a week to fill in the sudden one hour of open time. Democracy Now is free for the first year and would be an opportunity for the station to air a fresh perspective and the board to advise.
Current NPR programs all lead to “movies Hollywood TV” NASA, or sports. We need new content!
Thank you
Sincerely
Richard Paolillo
- Public comment from Rich Paolillo: Greetings,
Item 6: Introduction of Tom Pynchon, the University liaison since the departure of Melissa Farmer Richards
Item 7: Meeting Adjourned
Members of the NCPR Executive Council in 2017:
- Mark Dzwonczyk, Nicholville, NY (chair)
- Cali Brooks, Lake Placid, NY
- Linda Cohen, Old Forge, NY
- John Ernst, North Hudson, NY
- Rod Giltz, Plattsburgh, 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
- Tom Pynchon, Canton, NY
- Christopher Robinson, Potsdam, NY
- John Rosenthal, Lake Placid, NY
- Mark Scarlett, Hammond, NY
- Marion Roach Smith, Troy, NY
The governing board of North Country Public Radio is the Board of Trustees of St. Lawrence University.
Please post a response, here on this site, the names of the two ? NCPR station agents along with their respective titles, who annually? certify CPB compliance that this station has a Community Advisory Board CAB and that this Executive Council is understood to be the CAB for this station.
Thank you very much.
Jackie starts around minute eight and a half saying that she”holds the Line” concerning Democracy Now! That tells listeners that there is a “line” that Should be Held. Heroic words that could easily translate into My Internal Bias. It’s valid to say that Democracy Now!is a show with a view point, a bias. Everyone has My Internal Bias. That fact can be validated in a spectrum ranging from Adolf Hitler to Noam Chomsky. The democracy I assume Goodman refers to in her title, is the airing of ALL views. Her bias shows up in her open derision for the words a our president, but NCPR’s bias shows up in a structural way. If only the powerful, The Chairman, the President, the Owner, etc., are interviewed then no one is ever given an answer that doesn’t underwrite that person’s continued career in that role. If you ask the President of Exxon if there is a future for oil most likely he/she will say yes.
Jackie made mention of availability. You can get it on line, Ellen chimed in with some TV feed she had at home, lots of ways to get it; conspicuously missing was any mention of the almost 50 Public Radio stations that carry the Now now. ???
Politics is the study of power. The way NCPR divides the world is into Republicans and Democrats. You could say that’s power, what do you want from us? This station works as a voice that supports Saint Lawrence University, not Saint Lawrence County.
OK enough of my ranting for now. I suspect there is a Hobbesian element in this internalized bias too, but that’s a longer discussion that would be a lot more fun to have in person. LOL
BTW you’re doing a lot better than every other mainstream news source.
hope my message got through my typos. Feel free to ask for clarification.
Greetings
I trust the Community Advisory Board, CAB, has had a chance to review my letter, mentioned in the video and minutes, to you from the last meeting. I’m sure the people serving on the Executive Council are all nice well meaning leader of their communities, however this fine group is not, and does not appear in the least, to be, or function as a CAB.
Here a test. Car Talk is being pulled by NPR and NCPR will have a one hour time opening on Saturdays. How about this Board discuss the idea that the station, your bound to advise, give Democracy Now a try for one hour a week to fill in the sudden one hour of open time. Democracy Now is free for the first year and would be an opportunity for the station to air a fresh perspective and the board to advise.
Current NPR programs all lead to “movies Hollywood TV” NASA, or sports. We need new content!
Thank you
Sincerely
Richard
Paolillo