WAMU 88.

5 - COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING

Minutes

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

WAMU Community Council Members Attending:

Susan Weiss, Dr. Christine Berg, Don Britton, Navroz Gandhi, Shay Stevens, Gene Sofer, Peter
Tannenwald, Audrey Alvarado, Huda Asfour, Nakeisha Neal Jones, David Smith, David Nemazie,
Donna MP Wilson, Matt McCormack, Paula Jimenez, Maura Brophy, Lucinda Crabtree

WAMU/AU Staff Attending:

JJ Yore, Kelsey Proud, Bec Feldhaus Adams, Dawnita Altieri, Kathy Goldgeier, Jeffrey Katz, Carey
Needham, Patrice Jackson, Bec Feldhaus Adams, Latesha Smith

Members of the Public:

Carol Klinger, Rene Barger, Robert Osberger, Steve Kaffen, Carolyn Lenney

I. Welcome – Eugene Sofer, Council Chair & Station Tour

Eugene opened the meeting at 7:02 p.m.

Huda Asfour and Paula Jimenez, the 2 new members were introduced and then Council Members went
around and introduced themselves.

Members were invited to count off into 3 groups to join a station tour with WAMU staff. Tour guides
included JJ Yore, Denise Couture, Sarah Crumbie and Al Reynolds.

The groups visited the following parts of the station:

LL: Black box theater & Technical Ops Center (TOC)

1st floor: studios & newsroom
2nd floor: 1A production team, Gun Violence, Kojo Show, SOPs
3rd floor: Performance Studio
4th floor: JJ’s office, conference room #400

Station Update - JJ Yore, Carey Needham and David McMullen

JJ discussed the 1A event hosted at the District winery on February 6. The event was held to celebrate
the success of the program. Over 375 guests attended the reception. No major event scheduled when
the show launched.

This event was scheduled to raise the profile of the show & WAMU, especially with media and
Congressional staff/Capitol Hill types. The event was costly but we sold $60K underwriting to
defray some of expenses. Many members of the Community Council attended. 1A is now on
275 stations around the country.
There were many notable attendees, including:
Deborah Tannen
Andrew Beaujon, Washingtonian
Molly Ball, Time
Shane Harris, Emily Heil, Ruth Marcus & Eugene Scott, Washington Post
Rebecca Cooper, Vandana Sinha & Jennifer Nycz-Conner, Washington Business Journal
Abby Phillips, CNN
Matt Lewis, The Daily Beast
Michele Kelemen, Loren Mayor & Renee Montagne, NPR
Ruth Marcus, Washington Post
Daniel Newhauser, National Journal
Nancy Youssef, Wall Street Journal
Tammy Haddad, Haddad Media
Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal Diocese of Washington
Congressman Blake Farenthold (R-TX) and his Chief of Staff Bob Haueter

On-Air Campaign

David McMullen updated the Council on the new approach to the March Campaign, called “Five Days to
Full Funding”. The campaign will be held March 15-19. The goal is $1.3M. The theme is Five Days to Full
Funding. It’s a runway with momentum. The gifts will capture attention. The campaign is to build
revenue, but also to increase membership numbers. David provided his email address and asked that
members reach out with ideas or suggestions.

David also mentioned the process of connecting with donors. In May, the department will offer EFT
which provides 90% retention of donors. The University has agreed to allow this new system.

We will experiment with the campaign length adjusting it to 5 days, from 8.

Approx. 40% reduction in pitch footprint or less programming interruption for listeners

Pre-campaign challenge spots FRI March 2 - FRI March 9

PURPOSE: Get early donations & build this key incentive fund – integrates with direct mail

Speed-up-the-campaign spots SAT March 10 – WED March 14

PURPOSE: Get a head start on the goal – include “early-bird” prize incentives
PURPOSE: Thank donors or continue to ask for donations if goal is not met.

Future campaigns are scheduled for September 21-28 and December 9-14.

Questions

Don Britton asked how revenue is measured.

JJ said that NPR is the 1A contractor and revenue. We receive 4 times as much from 1A as was Diane
Rehm Show.

David Nemazie asked for the timing for WAMU’s fiscal year? It is May-December.
Paula asked why the station runs a deficit?

JJ responded that the station doesn’t run a deficit, it loses money on 1A but runs an overall surplus.
Underwriting, fees and grants pay for the shows.

JJ introduced Dawnita Altieri, the new member of the WAMU team and explained that her COS
responsibilities would entail managing the GM’s office, working with the Council, taking minutes at
meetings, and keeping the Council section on wamu.org up to date.

Dashboard

Carey Needham reviewed the dashboard data with Council Members. It was emailed in advance to all
members to view. To note: there was a slight audience drop, we are now #2 in mkt, this is a normal
trend synching with election/post-election cycles. There weren’t any questions.

Workplace Culture

AU’s Title IX officer conducted mandatory training for all WAMU staff.

Over the past three months we’ve implemented a few initiatives to help us gauge our current
workforce culture:
 We invited AU’s HR and Title IX Officer to conduct a training session on
preventing discrimination and sexual harassment
• This included information on where and how to report an incident, and what
to expect once you do
• They also walked us through hypothetical scenarios to help us understand
what constitutes a violation, and how we can all respond when we see
inappropriate behavior
• Self-care session led by a clinical therapist
• Departmental, small group meetings
• Staff Survey, starting tomorrow

We also shared our plans externally, with our leadership council and members. We did that
because we take this seriously and we are holding ourselves accountable. We want to ensure
we are doing everything possible to provide a safe and healthy working environment.

Leadership is scheduling meetings to include JJ and JJ will begin the Food for Thought series, which will
bring small groups to hear from staff and focus on opportunities for improvement. There will be 12
meetings with groups of 6-8 in each meeting. The meetings should be completed by April.

In collaboration with AUHR, leadership issued a larger survey of staff. Results will be shared as we
determine any follow-up actions that are needed.
Council Engagement

JJ noted that there is a lot of opportunity in terms of increasing our engagement with Council members
differently and in more meaningful ways. The conversation began with JJ asking how can we assist the
group improve upon meeting and connection? Gene mentioned the community council news briefing as
a way for members to connect with the News team. We opened the discussion to the entire group for
thoughts and suggestions.

• Present less, discuss more

• What kind of experiences would make your participation more interesting?
• Consider a retreat in lieu of a meeting so members can get to know each other
• Gene said CC hears about station, but doesn’t get much “inside” info about how we
create shows, or meet on-air staff
• Also, CC ambassadorial/information role: sharing info about station with your networks,
bringing input back to station
• Serve as eyes and ears for the station. In your community, serving as an ambassador and
providing feedback on what you’ve heard.
• Communication from us? Frequency? Monthly updates? (Plus when major or visible
things happen?)

Lucinda mentioned that she is thinking about the next chapter after her current term ends. She offered
her home as a place to host Council events.

David N. asked about the diversity in audience data. It would be good to speak to the community and
learn the perceptions of the station.

Susan said it would be helpful to know the strategic vision. Perhaps learning the editorial outlook and
goals a year in advance.

We need to create a 2-way conversation that is very focused and a way to engage the community in a
different way.

Gene suggested that we give assignments to members to make them more valued and address WAMU’s
needs.

Huda asked about diversity issues at the station.

Jeffrey Katz offered that there are several new positions open in the newsroom: general assignment,
transportation, gun violence. And, diversity is an important part of this.

We need to find a way to use the council to widen sourcing. The Council will be an important part of the
effort.

James Coates commented that he worked with JJ to make suggestions on diversity of staff and
unconscious bias training. Important to also have diversity in community perspectives and all
perspectives. The team is bringing perspectives.
Shay will continue to have discussions on engagement and provide follow up to the Council. She also
suggested a biography book on council members.

Huda asked how audience numbers are created and age group information is provided. JJ explained that
Nielsen provides broadcast ratings regularly which includes age group data. 25-34, 35-44 age groups
have increased and overall audience. They divide diversity into African American, Latino, and everyone
else.

Don asked about behind the scenes opportunity and getting engaged in the business aspects of the
station.

JJ mentioned the diverse range of the Council, as well as their geographical and professional expertise.
Collectively they have a range of experience which will help define the direction of the council.

Maura discussed the need to shape the best format for the meetings.

Nakeisha noted that it would be helpful to know what is effective.

JJ mentioned that he brought people in from Atlantic media to review station goals. We will also revisit
the current strategic plan to see where we are headed. Atlantic will help WAMU on digital strategy and
board development. We will invite them to present at a future meeting.

Gene mentioned the new hires and beats and engaging in that.

III. Public Comments

Steve Coughlin asked about the weekend time slots. He offered that there is not much going
on. Is there a possibility of changing the shows that appear during that time?

JJ responded that NPR offers Saturday programming.

There was a question about Science Friday and why it is no longer on WAMU.
JJ gave background on the issue. Talk of the Nation was the original show, then Here and
Now. They asked Science Friday if they could package the show for WAMU for Saturday, but
change the name, they declined the offer.

A member of the public asked about the Kojo show and why it had been decreased to 1
hour. JJ responded that the change is intentional and was at Kojo’s wish. Kojo will do more
public appearances going forward.

Cliff read passage from an article which discussed the demographics of culture between NYC
and DC. DC is an incredibly sophisticated market. He asked, “what do we want to know
about the audience that eludes you?”

JJ responded that there are p1, p2, and p3 listeners. The P3s should be listening.

IV. Old Business

 The minutes from the previous meeting, December meeting were read and approved with the
addition of David Nemazie as an attendee.

V. Adjournment/Announcements
The meeting was adjourned at 8:58pm
Also, the dates were presented for 2018 quarterly meetings: February 14, May 9, September 12
and December 12. Meetings begin at 6:30pm.