WAMU 88.5 COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting of the CouncilWednesday, February 19, 2014

WAMU Community Council Members Attending : Kent Lynn, Council Chair; Barbara Bares, Council Vice Chair; Sharvell Becton, Rudy Burwell, Paul DesJardin, Jody Steiner Kelly, Larry McCarthy, Amy Nakamoto, Margaret O’Bryon, Delphine Peck, Micaela Mejia Pond, Donald Quayle, Anthony Sarmiento, Eugene Sofer, Thomas Walls and Peter Tannenwald.

WAMU/AU Staff Attending:David Taylor, Carey Needham, Kathleen Allenbaugh, Debbie Galiber, Walt Gillette, Harris Handwerker, Lettie Holman, Margo Kelly, Meymo Lyons, Deborah Morris, Wendy Ponvert, Kristen Sorensen, Armando Trull, Glenn Williams and Anne Healy.

Members of the Public: Rick Cato, Glenn Ihrig, Matt McCormick, Cathleen O’Brien, Bob Osberger and Gar Young.

I. Welcome – Kent Lynn, Council ChairKent opened the first meeting of the year by welcoming everyone and introducing himself as the new Chair of the WAMU Community Council, and he introduced Barbara Bares as the Council’s new Vice Chair. Kent said that he was delighted to serve in this very important year. He pointed out that this will be a year of transition for WAMU, and that it will be more important than ever for Council Members to be involved and engaged in fulfilling our mission to serve as the “eyes and ears of the station” in the community. Following his opening remarks, Kent asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the last Council meeting, which was held on December 4, 2013. Don Quayle moved that the minutes be approved as written, Paul DesJardin seconded the motion, and the minutes were approved without objection. Kent then asked Carey Needham to give his report on station activities.

II. State of the Station – Carey Needham, Interim General ManagerCarey advised the Council that calendar year 2014 had gotten off to a fabulous start with the ribbon-cutting ceremony for WAMU’s new media center which was held on Friday, January 31st and the open house that

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followed on Saturday, February 1st. During the open house, nearly 1,000 members, neighbors, and other listeners came to tour our new media center and meet with our hosts, reporters, and staff. On February 26th, the station will host a major broadcast debate featuring all of the Democratic candidates for Mayor of the District of Columbia. The debate will take place here in our media center and will be moderated by Kojo Nnamdi. WAMU reporters Kavitha Cardoza and Patrick Madden will serve as panelists along with NBC 4 reporter and WAMU political analyst Tom Sherwood. Audience ratings for fall 2013 listed WAMU 88.5 as the top-ranked station nationally among all public radio stations, and WRAU 88.3 in Ocean City garnered its highest rating since debuting in the fall of 2010. Carey announced that WAMU had received the City Paper’s Radio Choice award as DC’s “Best Radio Station” and Kojo Nnamdi was named “Best Radio Personality.” Diane Rehm made Washingtonian magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful people in Washington.

The building turnover process is expected to be completed in the new few weeks at which time American University will take over full operating authority from the General Contractor, Coakley Williams. There are still some items that need to be completed. The punch list includes signage, acoustical treatments, resurfacing of the Terreza floor, lighting and window glare fixes in the studios, and restriping the garage-level parking area. Carey noted that the cost to renovate and equip 4401 is projected to be just above $22 million. This is on top of the more than $27 million the University paid for the building. WAMU has a capital plan in place with AU to fund its share of the new facility. Our capital lease payment to the University is built into our operating budget, and the reimbursement to fund the capital equipment and construction cost of our space is approximately $19 million. While a significant portion of that cost was paid from our reserves ($12.5 million), we will be reimbursing the remaining amount to AU over several years to come. To help jump start our repayment plan, WAMU has received a two-year challenge grant from the Deerbrook Charitable Trust for 2014 and 2015.

Carey distributed the FY 2014, FY 2012, and FY 2011 Revenue and Expense Detail by Unit as of January 31, 2014 to the members of the Council and reviewed it with them. (Please see Attachment #1)Carey pointed out that total membership income is up 1% compared to last year but is still running behind budget. Major giving ($1,200 per person annually and approximately 25% of all membership) grew by more than 30% since last year; however, overall giving is down by 3% compared to last year. WAMU’s grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is projected to be the same as last year-- $1.1 million--which is more than expected. Carey noted that total expenses are up some 10% largely due to our new facility and its operating costs.. Expenses for Business Administration are up by 14% compared to last year. These expenses

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include the lease payment to AU and the administrative fee of $3.028 million which increased by 4% from last year. Barbara Bares asked about the terms of the lease payment and Carey explained that it is a 20-year lease at $2 million per year with an escalation cost of 2.5% per year. In closing, Carey said he was pleased to announce that Patrice Jackson, a long-time WAMU employee, has just been promoted to fill the newly created position of Facilities and Events Coordinator.

III. Report on the General Manager Search, David Taylor, President’s Chief of Staff, American UniversityDavid reported that shortly after he last spoke with the Council in December, the firm of Spencer Stuart was hired to help with the search for a new General Manager. Spencer Stuart has offices throughout the country and has conducted searches for leadership positions at NPR and APTS as well as for public radio stations in California and elsewhere. It is the firm that recruited Caryn Mathes for KUOW in Seattle. David is working with Spencer Stuart consultants Sally Sterling and Will Schutte and with a seven-member in-house search committee that includes Carey, Lettie Holman, and Walt Gillette. Spencer Stuart has been collecting applications and has put together a preliminary list of candidates. The committee has been reviewing all of the applications, and David said that he expects the first round of interviews to begin in March and the interviews with the finalists to take place in April. He said that he would welcome ideas and suggestions from the members of the Council. Margaret O’Bryon asked what characteristics they are looking for in a potential General Manager for WAMU. David responded that resource development will be an essential role for WAMU’s new General Manager as it has become for all public media leaders.

IV. Updates from WAMU Departments Programming: Lettie Holman, Manager of Programming and Research, began her report by telling the Council Members about some program-related special events that will be coming up this year. The first will take place on Thursday, April 24th, when American Public Media brings Marketplace to Strathmore Hall. APM is partnering with five public radio stations including WAMU and this will be the first stop on the program’s national tour. On Thursday, September 18th, WAMU will host a gala at the Mellon Auditorium to celebrate the 35th Anniversary The Diane Rehm Show.

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And plans are underway for another WAMU event later in the year to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of WAMU’s longest running show, The Big Broadcast, and its host Ed Walker. The Fall 2013 Arbitron Ratings measured radio listening from September 12th through December 4th, and Lettie distributed her report on the PPM data to the Council and reviewed it with them. (Please see Attachment #2) Delphine Peck asked about the data for WRAU. Lettie explained that WRAU’s ratings are measured as part of the Salisbury, Maryland market, which uses diaries instead of the PPM method. Data for the smaller markets are only measured in the spring and fall.

News: Meymo Lyons, Managing Editor, News, began by telling everyone how fabulous it is for all of the reporters, editors, and producers to be in WAMU’s new media center. She related that on the news team’s first day at 4401, the shooting at the Navy Yard took place and everyone had to scramble to report the story in the midst of unpacking and settling in. Meymo said that she is blessed with an outstanding team, and she talked about the documentary and five-part series that Tara Boyle put together on DC’s crack cocaine epidemic. Tara became interested in reports about the huge number of deaths in the 1990s attributed to the epidemic and spent nights and weekends researching this era and conducting interviews with people who were involved. Meymo also spoke about the amazing investigative reporting Patrick Madden has been doing on his “Deals for Developers” series with assistance from graduate students from American University’s Investigative Reporting Institute. Kavitha Cardoza is in the process of putting together a series on the educational opportunities for the children of active duty military service members and plans to visit military bases across the country to conduct interviews. Meymo announced that Senior News Editor Rebecca Blatt will be leaving WAMU to take a position as PIN Bureau Chief and Professor of Practice in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at the University of Arizona. While she is happy for Rebecca, Meymo said that it will be extremely difficult to find anyone capable of doing the outstanding work that Rebecca has done for WAMU. In closing, Meymo thanked the Council Members for their strong support of WAMU and its programming.

Marketing & Communications: Kathleen Allenbaugh, WAMU’s Director of Marketing and Communications, gave a Power Point presentation on some of the work that her team has been doing during the past few months creating ads, logos, and materials to market WAMU’s programs and documentaries to public radio program directors across the county. Her

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department, which includes the digital media team, is working on the redesign of the news section of wamu.org and on the websites for the talk shows to make them more interactive. Rudy Burwell asked if visits to the WAMU website have increased, and Kathleen responded that our stream is showing solid growth. She said that it is clear that our listeners are using multiple platforms to access our content.

Corporate Marketing: Anthony Hayes, Director of Corporate Marketing, was unable to attend the meeting and Glenn Williams, Account Manager, presented the report for the department. (Please see Attachment #3) Glenn said that the summer had been slow but the team expects March to be a good month, and that FY 2014 is proving to be another strong year.

Development: Walt Gillette, Director of Development, reported on the Winter Membership Campaign, which took place last week. The week presented a number of challenges beginning with the Winter Olympics, which diverted listeners to their television sets, and ending with a storm that closed offices and schools throughout the metropolitan area for the final two days of the campaign. Walt said that while we did not make the original goal for the campaign--which was set at $1.3 million--he expects that the final total will be close to $1.2 million. He thanked the members of the Council for their generous donations to the Community Council Matching Grant. The Council achieved 100% participation. Walt informed the Council that public radio stations across the country are now concentrating less on on-air campaigns as the primary means of raising funds and more on increasing the number of sustaining members. He said that 23% of WAMU’s members are now sustainers, and he hopes to substantially increase that percentage to 50%. He is also planning to downsize the premium budget to cut costs and to focus more on the programs during the campaign spots. Walt informed the Council that we have raised $115,000 toward the grant from the Deerbrook Charitable Trust. The grant is a 2-for-1 match, which means we have to raise $400,000 to receive the $200,000 grant. Several Council Members noted that sustaining members might not be motivated to give during on-air campaigns or to increase the amount of their gifts. Kent suggested that we might devote some time at a future meeting to talking about ways in which sustainers might be encouraged to make additional contributions to the station during the year.

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V. 2014 Community Dialogues – Barbara Bares, Council Vice Chair & Chair of the Community Dialogue Committee

Barbara thanked all of the members of the Council who volunteered to help with the 2014 dialogues. The committee has already had two meetings and has selected the following three dates for this year’s Community Dialogues: Monday, March 24th, Wednesday, June 18th, and Wednesday, October 29th. Barbara reminded everyone that the three dialogues which were held last year focused on different aspects of the Affordable Care Act. The Community Dialogue that will take place on March 24th will focus on the Chesapeake Bay and the proposed title is: “Chesapeake Bay Watermen: What Will the Future Hold?” Tara Boyle, who produces Metro Connection and Coastal Connection, will be working with the committee to put this meeting together.

The meeting on March 24th will be held in the afternoon beginning at 4 p.m. to make it easier for panelists who might be coming from the Eastern Shore; however, the June and October dialogues have been scheduled for 8:00 a.m. with breakfast beginning at 7:30.

VI. Old Business, New BusinessThere being no Old Business to consider, Kent asked for new business. Peter Tannenwald, Ex-Officio Council Member and WAMU’s FCC counsel, announced that after working with the station for 46 years, he was planning to cut back on his hours to spend more time traveling and relaxing. He introduced Matt McCormick, an attorney with his firm, who will be assisting Peter with some of the work he does for the station. Kent thanked Peter for his outstanding and continuing service to WAMU and the Community Council.

VII. Adjournment The Chair asked for Public Comment and there being none, he asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Tony Sarmiento made the motion, which was seconded by Margaret O’Bryon and approved by the Council. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Anne

Anne Slattery Healy

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