WVIK, NPR Community Advisory Board - Minutes Thursday, October 27, 2020 – 4 P.M. WVIK, Quad Cities NPR 815 38th Street Rock Island, IL 61201

□ Suzanne Baily, secretary □ Tom Cunningham x Mary McNeil □ W. Kent Barnds x Tyson Danner x Jay Pearce x Brian Boesen X David Gellerman, chair x Gary Rowe x Betsy Brandsgard, vice chair X Kathleen Kiley x Lisa Williams □ Jen Broders X Susan Kornreich-Wolf x Tracy White

4:00 PM Welcome/Call to Order David Gellerman

July Minutes Approval of minutes: motioned by Lisa, seconded by Mary, approved.

Executive Report Jay Pearce Terrestrial radio is doing well Thanks to staff for continued work during pandemic and derecho, didn’t hire to replace Ben, solvent. 105.7 on the air, tweaking schedule and technical delivery. New website on the way. Intelligent conversations – hidden conversations. Staff is back in the building, with accommodations and masks. Marianna Bacallao joined our staff as the Newsroom Fellowship. Tracy has shared her leadership on the Hidden Conversations virtual events.

Introduction of Tom Cunningham Jared Johnson

Tom was not able to join us this evening. Please see his bio for more information. Long-term user of APRIS. Discussion of the use of APRIS on the stream and in our APP. We were surprised by the usage and this has been a great way for to continue to make our service available without delivering radios.

Approve rolling term limits David Gellerman

Motion to accept the term limits as presented with Brian Boesen rolling off this year. Gary R. first motioned, Lisa second. Motion approved. Updates on WVIK HD2/105.7 FM Jared Johnson/Jay Pearce  Updates on signal quality: Engaged an engineering firm to help us find a better location for this signal. Nextstar is having an engineer review the structure to see if we have room, and then we’ll discuss the costs. This signal will serve our audience well, with our goal to serve the entire metro area.  Program updates: we’re completing the final programming schedule. Please see attached proposed. We’re hoping to go live with this final program schedule by Nov 6th. Questions, discussion: this proposal is for the 105.7 FM and HD2 only.  Highway 309: our goal was to bring roots and blues programming to the new station, but for local programming of this, it is not practical for us right now. We researched some packaged options, but found a service offered by WGLT. This would allow us a partnership with other stations in . There’s potential for partnership with Illinois musicians and performances. Forming this I74 corridor may allow us form a music region.  Other collaboration with WGLT: New politics podcast “Heartland Politics” We’d like to find a way to produce for on-air production.

WVIK Dashboard Review Jared Johnson

Highlights: (see report) first graph – cash flow for the year. We’re having one of our better net years. Even though revenue and expenses are both down. Uncontrollable revenue sources are mostly down, federal dollars early last FY. Individual giving, on pace, Corp Support up from last couple years, grants are right where we should be normally. Considering all things, we’re doing all right. Expenses under control for perorations and capital expenses on at budget.

Ratings: On-air broadcasts, stream available, terrestrial radio took a big hit in our last ratings book (spring 2020). Covid-19 accelerated our digital transition, and we don’t expect all the terrestrial ratings to completely return. We only get fall and spring books. We expect because of the election news and businesses reopening swell see a “bounce” up.

Web traffic and Alexa skills some digital decline, but we retained some digital in the re-opening and election. Covid-19 coverage is not the single topic sought after on our website. Quick growth on our HD Stream and APRIS stream.

Questions – which and what formats we lose listeners too? For about 4 years, we’ve been losing to IPR News and Talk, but our classical audience does well in comparison to IPR. Morning Edition is strong, but we lose midday for news and talk. We are committed to classical music and arts. We are taking advantage of the growth in new and talk, in order to financially sustain the station. Would is it better serve our mission to swap the news/info to main station and move classical music to 105.7? We should do this today, but we need to improve the 105.7. Would there be an opportunity to sell 105.7 once we improve the signal if we found a better full power station? Yes, we’re always looking for new opportunities to bring a better signal to more audience.

Upcoming Events Jared Johnson November 12, 2020 The Black Military Experience December 10, 2020 Inequities in Education January 14, 2021 Black faces in white spaces February 11, 2021 TBD

Program feedback (WVIK, WVIK HD2, APRIS)

New Business

Betsy Brandsgard accepts appointment as Vice Chair. Mary motions, Susan seconds, motioned approved. Vice chair is a single year term.

5:00 PM Adjourn Mary motions to adjourn, Betsy seconded. All approved. Adjourned at 5:06PM

Upcoming Events

November 12 Hidden Conversations: The Black Military Experience

December 10 Hidden Conversations: Inequity in Education

December 12 & 13 WVIK/QCSO Signature Series: Holiday Brass

January 14 Hidden Conversations: Black Faces in White Spaces

NEXT BOARD MEETING: Thursday, January 26, 2020 ~ 4 P.M. at WVIK