WFHB FireHouse Broadcasting

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING AGENDA
BLOOMINGTON COMMUNITY RADIO, INC.
MAY 24, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Hooker Room, City Hall, 201 N. Morton St., Bloomington, IN

I. CALL TO ORDER / ATTENDANCE OF BOARD MEMBERS
The meeting was called to order at 7:15pm
In the absence of President Mark Need, Secretary Carolyn VandeWiele held the chair

Present: Shaun McDermott, Carolyn VandeWiele, Suzette Weakley, Mike McAfee
Marc Tschida, Pam Raider, Matt Pierce and Will Murphy
Absent: Mark Need, Kirby Thompson,
Guests: Jim Manion, Joe Estivill

II. REVIEW/APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MARCH AND APRIL
The minutes of the March meeting were approved as written by unanimous vote.
The minutes from the April meeting are pending. Due to the convoluted events surrounding the
Waldron situation we would like Mark Need to review them for accuracy before submitting them
to the full board.

III. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS, UPDATES: as necessary
please make reports be as brief as possible

a.) Executive Committee (Mark Need, Shaun McDermott, Carolyn VandeWiele)
b.) Personnel Committee (Mark Need) no report
c.) Marketing & Promotion Committee (Kirby Thompson) no report
d.) Development Committee (Pam Raider) Pam Raider and Will Murphy were present. The committee discussed some business connected with financing of The Brown County Radio Hour Project and looked at some of the projects that still need to be accomplished this year including the Matchstick Grant and the Digital project. They also discussed moving the meeting time from Wednesday at 6pm since few people seemed to be able to attend. Pam Raider will poll committee members to see if there is a better choice. The next meeting will be on Tuesday June 1 at 5pm.

e.) Legal Affairs Committee (Mark Need) no report
f.) Nominating Committee (Carolyn VandeWiele) see discussion of the annual meeting below
g.) NPAC Committee (Mike McAfee, Carolyn VandeWiele, Chad Carrothers) Approved the Farmer's Market Report modules which are now running at 0:40 past the hour from 8am to 1pm during the Saturday Farmer's Market. They also discussed the proposed "Indigenous Indiana" project which was sent back for further development.

h.) Music Committee (Mark Need, Suzette Weakley, Jim Manion) The Music Committee did not meet in April due to Fund Drive and health issues. They will start meeting on the third Tuesday of each month 7:15 pm at the station. Primary focus over the last six months was to finish the Air Sound focus groups. Nighttime and Weekend Specialty shows have met and the only group remaining is for DJs of Overnight shows (attendance optional for music committee members).
They plan to move ahead in June with new business - and plan to take a serious look at the schedule
in conjunction with the News Department and General Manager.Jim would like to see us develop a survey to look at the overall schedule. Many shows have been in place for 17+ years, and while nothing is truly broken, he feels it's time to reconsider at show length, what's on the air and what's being proposed and how we might mix things up to make it fresher for our listeners.

We are full up with volunteers for the current show schedule so there isn't really room for new show development in the Music Department at this time. For the early morning overnight hours were are still looking at automation with mix of news and music but the exact lineup has yet to be decided. After the election they will also look at Board representation on the committee and see if any changes will be needed. The next meeting of the music committee will be on Tuesday June 15 at 7:15pm

i.) Tech Committee (Will Murphy) Will emailed out a report from Markus on behalf of the Tech Committee. The first part is an ongoing job list of what needs to be done and the second part details what has been accomplished

j.) Fund Drive Committee (Will Murphy) Has not met since fund drive. As a quick wrap up roughly we have completed pledges of $31,000. There are 99 outstanding for approximately $6800. This includes pledges that were associated with the mail renewal campaign and income raised during Fund Drive special events. To Will's knowledge all premiums have been sent out with the exception of about 10 items - we still need to send out some Coyaba cds and we have not yet received copies of Jim Hightower's book from the show.

k.) Volunteer committee (inactive)

IV. GENERAL MANAGER'S REPORT - Will Murphy
a.) state of the station
Will has begun the evaluation process of WFHB staff. He has talked with Jim and Chad, and still
needs to talk with Jeffrey (not set up) and January (scheduled for Wed). The meetings have gone well,
although he had hoped for more feedback from the station volunteers.

His primary focus has been pivoting from fund drive to the annual meeting for this month. We have two underwriters on board for the Farmer's Market report - Farm (meeting with them this week) and Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau.

V. TREASURER'S UPDATE - Shaun McDermott
a.) Budget Proposal
Shaun distributed a draft of the preliminary budget for June 2010 through May 2011. He has worked with will on a general plan for the next fiscal year's budget. To create this they used the existing QuickBooks chart of accounts for income and expense lines as we had it set up for this year. As we go forward he would like to compress the chart of accounts by combining some sections to create an overall Profit & Loss Statement. He thinks we can do a better job of organizing the accounts, especially on the expense side - down to 3-4 categories of expenses, f.i.:
Staff Payroll and related cost lines Facilities expense and related cost lines Programming expense and related cost lines Other expenses and related cost lines

This budget outlines operating income vs operating expense, it does not include capitol items. Looking at the difference between the last Fiscal year and this year he would project an income for FY2010-11 of $236,250 as opposed to a FY2009-10 income of roughly $209,000.

INCOME:

The three major sources of income are Grants, Membership and Underwriting with a small percentage or income coming from special projects, merchandising and other miscellaneous contributions. Grants: the major grant income comes from the CPB. The actual allocation to our station from the overall funding pool is variable according to a CPB formula but our understanding is that at our B category level we should receive a minimum of $65,000 per year (divided into two payments in November and March). We had had been concerned that our reported Non-Federal Financial Support would determine the grant allocation and this was a concern because the actual NFFS amount was down this year as compared to our the prior filling. However, we have learned that because station has under $300,000 in NFFS, this puts us into the class B category and it doesn't affect our allocation. We have become fiscally dependent on the CPB Grant - at $65,000 it represents close to 30% of our $230,000 budget. We have $120,000 in annual staff expense and everything else is bare bones, there isn't much to cut without losing staff or dramatically backing off from our current programming. If we lost that funding we would have a significant problem and in this economic environment cuts in Federal support would not be totally unexpected.The CPB has been very helpful when we have asked questions, and we can be very open and we can ask them about anything without repercussions. For example, Shaun has been working with them on how we should be allocating our reduced rent as an in kind contribution for reporting purposes .... we need to get IVY Tech to provide us with an annual letter stating the value of our rent and to keep this documentation in our files in the case of an audit or request to produce it.

We are not sure if there is there any way to increase the grant amount within our category? Shaun's sense is we already get what's currently available. The grant renews yearly for three years - and after that there is a review of the application. Matt Pierce stated that need to be a bit nervous because Congress provides three-year forward funding for these programs. With the government in fiscal trouble and the pressure to balance the federal budget
we should be prepared to see some significant cutting of the CPB budget over the next 10 years. How the CPB responds to that - whether they tell the larger stations to do more outside funding and provide a greater degree of protection to smaller stations or they cut across the board is unknown. We need to have a contingency plan in place for what to do if, at the end of the current three year period, the CPB cuts back on our grant allocation
In the long run a reliance on CPB funding to stay in business is not healthy - we would prefer to have a
budget that largely emanates from the community. We need to reduce our reliance on the CPB by increasing our funding we get from our own comunity - get that local funding up so that the CPB grant essentially becomes icing on the cake - something that we can use for true expansion and doing things that we otherwise couldn't do.

Membership: in order to balance for our projected expenses we had to bump up membership expectations by about 5% over for the next two fund drives; we think we should be able to achieve these goals : $42,000 for the Fall drive and $36,000 for the Spring.

Merchandising: Shaun added a new line for merchandising. He doesn't expect this to be a large item,
especially initially, but feels the concept is important.

Special Events: This requires our four shows to bring in net income of about $500 each. In terms of budget that becomes a necessity and requires them to do a better job of budgeting and marketing.

Underwriting: We have budgeted an aggressive increase in the underwriting budget for the next fiscal year. We should clear about $33,000 for FY2009-10 and the next year's budget projects an increase of about 30% or $10,000. The trick is how do we help the General Manager achieve this goal; we wouldn't be able to do it under the current structure - that would be stretching Will too far.... We would really like to have a person specifically dedicated to underwriting development but it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation- how do we get the money to pay the person to get the money.

Question: how do we present ourselves to the underwriters - is the pitch be a good citizen and donate to community radio or do we sell ourselves as being able to provide real marketing for them. Will said that the pitch is probably a little of both but he feels that the reality is that most our our underwriters view it as a good thing to do but don't expect a lot of return for the investment. We've never had the money to do an accurate audience analysis. We're a small station, we can't buy Arbitron ratings and, on the other hand, most underwriters don't actually build in some way of measuring advertising return. It's better to not have any numbers than to fudge your numbers.... Will feels that there may be some ways that we can develop this, for example, when he talked with
Victory Lane about renewing their contact Will was told that they felt that their advertising was successful because so many of the cars coming in sported WFHB bumper stickers. Testimonials from current underwriters could be an important part of our marketing strategy. We need to push our membership and volunteers to make it known that they support the businesses that support WFHB.

To whom do we assign responsibility for ensuring that we put more emphasis on underwriting - does this fall under the purview of the Development committee? Certainly we need to get ideas and leads on new underwriters from Board members, the volunteers, listeners, etc. Can we hire an underwriting coordinator without straining our budget up front. Should we make it a policy that any new program has to bring in underwriters with it to get on the air....

New Service Income - service income arising from our expertise as a station - this is a previously untapped area f.i. audio production, live event services at the Waldron, production of audio spots for businesses and individuals, workshops or classes. Again - who is responsible for making this happen? What services might be offered, how do we deal with equipment costs, liability, etc. and do we divide income between those providing the services and the station and if so, how do we decide how much?

EXPENSES:

By an large this section was developed by extrapolating from the expenses of the current fiscal year... the idea being that if we paid for it last year we are likely to need to pay for it this year as well. Therefore, this is essentially a repetition of the current fiscal year that incorporates some modifications that we know have to happen or should in the next fiscal year.

Major changes:
We need to allow for at least a cost of living raise for the staff, they haven't had a true raise for some time - budgeted at 3% for the next year

Shaun is not happy with our current bookkeeping services - we need improvements made so that we can
move towards a proper accounting audit - the treasurer can't also be the bookkeeper. Running a tighter
ship with the financials starts with bookkeeping and the consequences of not having a good financial system
in place reflects on us as Board Members and can have ramifications on ability to apply for grants and other
funding. Our current bookkeeping contract runs about $180/month, we are looking to increase that to about
$500 for services would include accounting, off site record keeping and accounting advice.
Shaun has also included $1000 in this budget to would help us to begin to move towards preparing for and funding an actual audit for FY2010-11, an expense that would run an additional $5-8K and wouldn't actually
be paid until 2012.

This budget contains a considerable increase in our programming expense in order to meet the 26% requirement stipulated by our CPB Grant. Unfortunately their requirements don't allow this money to be
spent on developing local programming and the costs of bringing in programs to the station such as
satellite access, equipment needs, etc. are also not included in this amount.

There is no service allowance for previous debt included in this budget because Shaun expects the
remaining $1500 owed to PRI to be cleared prior to the next fiscal year. We do have a $5000 loan to a
private individual that is still outstanding but a decision on when and how to clear this debt has not been
made to date.

Other expenses outlined in the budget are more or less on a par with expenses in the current fiscal year
with some allowances for health insurance increases and similar expenses.

Shaun would like this to be the working budget model as we go in to the next fiscal year. It was felt that
members should get a chance to review the budget proposal over the next month and make suggestions
for changes or additions at the next meeting with a goal of taking a final vote to approve the budget in
July 2010. (Ideally, in future years, we would look for the budget proposal to be presented in April with
a final vote in May by the outgoing Board but that is obviously not going to happen for this year).
It was also suggested that we look at the figures with an eye towards making a contingency plan if
funding doesn't come through as expected - that is where, if any can we make cuts or reductions in
expenses if needed. Shaun thought it might even be desirable to approve two six-month budgets to
give us some flexibility - considering that our income seems to come in in two waves, that might make
sense and allow us to adjust the next six-month budget based on the results of the previous one.
Shaun also thought it would be a good idea to hold some ad hoc budget sessions over the next month
to further explore the financials.

Mike McAfee wondered if the fund drive committee should be renamed as a revenue committee that could
provide expanded oversight of quarterly sales goals, revenue streams and funding as well as marketing
and promotion. It was suggested that one of the first goals of the new board would be to sit down and take
a look at the existing committee structure to see if it continues to meet our needs and to get chairs in place
to take responsibility for the operation of those committees as well as developing committee membership.

The Board gave a big thank you to Shaun and Will for their hard work in putting the budget together
and for their work towards updating the station's financial practices. A great deal of work has been
accomplished in a relatively short period and, although there is still much to be done, we are in a much
better situation than we have been in for some time.

VI. OLD BUSINESS
a.) Update on the Waldron Status/The New Lease
no update

VI. NEW BUSINESS
a.) Annual Meeting/Board Elections
i. Election Packets
Election notices have gone out to the participating membership that includes a Notice of The Annual Meeting of the Membership of Bloomington Community Radio, a Welcome from the president, and absentee ballots and proxies and their instructions. These notices have been mailed to members who are out of town and have been distributed to the mail boxes of those who are not.

In addition we will be sending all the Candidate Questionnaires and Bios, information on the Bylaws amendment and any other information out on email and expect that this will save us $3-4 per member in printing and postage costs.
Envelopes that are not picked up by the 28th will also be posted and we will also mail the additional information to the few members for whom we don't have emails or to additional members who indicate that they are unable to open the attachments sent by email

ii. President's Message
Mark Need will be unable to be at the annual meeting because he will be out of town for a work related conference but has agreed to write a message to the membership that can be read at the meeting. As Secretary, Carolyn VandeWiele will chair the meeting in his absence.

iii. Treasurer's Report
Shaun will put together a basic Treasurer's report for the Annual meeting. We weren't really able to do this last year and the report from 2 years ago was pretty dismal so we'd like to be able to show the membership that we really have made significant progress in getting WFHB back on a firm fiscal basis.

iv. Election Process
Following the Treasurer's report we will introduce the candidates for the Board and allow them a few minutes for introductions followed by a short question and answer period. There is only one amendment up for a vote this year and it is exactly the same amendment that we voted on at the 2009 meeting so we don't anticipate there will be a significant discussion there. Suzette and Pam will handle member check in, ballot counting and other onsite needs.
This Following the election there will be presentations from the Staff and member awards

b.) Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors
There will be short informational meeting for all Board Members after the annual meeting.
The Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors with election of officers and committee assignments will take place at our June meeting on the 28th

c.) What to have in a Board Welcome Packet
We would like to put together a Board Welcome Packet that would contain copies of the WFHB Bylaws and Governance Documents and information on committees and meetings. Other suggestions included:

1. who the staff members are and when they did training so that members who might be interested in station operations might attend.
2. A map of station cove rage
3. A list of expectations for Board Members
4. Budget Information
5. Basic facts about the volunteer membership

VII. ADJOURN
A motion was made to adjourn, seconded and passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:41pm.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors will be on Monday, June 28, 2010 at 7:00pm in the Kelly Room,
City Hall, 201 S. Morton Street, Bloomington, IN