CAB MINUTES: MARCH 2013
CAB Minutes
3/18//2013
Present: Joyce Lannert (Chair), Steven Rapkin (Vice Chair), Shavonne Johnson (Secretary), Renee Cherow-O’Leary, Lue Ann Eldar, Elinor Fuchs, Sarah Lenigan, Harriett Olsen, MJ Robinson
Absent: Matt Bancroft, Michael Bauman, Beth Knobel, Lisa Labrado, Judith Moldovar Cholst (Vice Chair), Kate Rath, David Tereschuk
6 members from the public
Joyce opens meeting at 7:10pm
Renee motions and February minutes are approved
Public Comments
Member of the public - Sandy coverage was outstanding.
Member of the public - Is interested in education reform and getting more involved with the station.
Member of public (Mike) - Wants to become more involved with station, loves local business coverage, weekly business segment, and “Last Chance Foods” on Leonard Lopate Show.
Member of public (Brian) - Fan of the station for a long time and saw WNYC at NJ shore during cleanup and was really impressed.
Recruitment Committee Presentation
Steven Co-Chair
-Committee looked at background of current CAB members and is looking at areas where they should recruit.
-Committee recommends recruiting more from outer boroughs and other industries - sciences, professional musicians - and plan to contact eight groups that they thought would be good areas to supplement the CAB’s gaps.
-Committee is also waiting on station to get back to them about approaching partner organizations with WNYC for recruitment.
-Suggest placing more appealing ads to entice interest in joining CAB.
Renee - How many are we looking to recruit?
Steve - Charter says up to 25
MJ - For the future we might want to think about how we can incrementally keep the CAB at a certain number and grow from there.
Joyce - (Recapped discussion from last month’s meeting on recruitment) - The station knows that the CAB do want great collaboration.
Joyce - Noreen O’Loughlin (Vice President, Integrated Marketing & General Manager of The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space) will try to set up a meeting with Joyce, Steve and Judith. This meeting will also be about expanding to working with WQXR more.
Renee - The CAB wants to define its mission with all areas of NY/NJ Public Radio. Perhaps with a larger board the CAB will be able to break into smaller committees that could specifically focus on NJ, WQXR, etc.
Sarah - Should the CAB look to add members who are outside of the (tri-state) area, but are avid listeners through streaming?
Joyce - The station is really focused on covering just the metropolitan area.
MJ - Perhaps a larger CAB could have a committee that focuses on the digital community.
Renee inquires about CAB getting demographic information from the station.
Joyce - Are there any other topics that the CAB should bring up with the station for this upcoming meeting? One issue that the CAB should address is getting feedback earlier than the end of the year. Noreen suggested that we give feedback immediately directly to the BOT, so they could discuss it at the next board meeting.
Interface Meeting Rebranding
Elinor - Where is the station on the Interface meetings?
Joyce - The Interface meeting needs to be rebranded.
MJ - If we had a podcast of it people would probably be downloading it.
Joyce recalls Religion and Politics, Aging, Future of Radio forums that were recorded in the past by Matt Bancroft and wonders if the CAB could do this for future meetings.
Sarah - Notes that the video quality would be poor without proper equipment.
Member of public (Norah) - Suggested that there are very decent and cost effective apps on the iPad that could be used for recording audio.
The Climate Change panel is planned for May 20, 2013 - Tentative Panelists for Meeting:
Government Rep from deputy-mayor’s office - Unknown who it will be at this time
PlaNYC 2030
Climate Center
Regional Plan Association - Independent non-profit
Klaus Jacobs from Columbia University - Advises city on subways
Andrew Freedman clearing house that takes reports from all over on Central Climate
-Suggestion is made to invite “After Sandy” segment producer on WNYC to the Climate Change meeting.
Joyce - How do we increase audience attendance?
Lue Ann - Suggest targeting invites to groups that are in alignment with the discussion topic.
Elinor - I would not pick and choose. I would go after all environmental groups and community groups.
Sarah - Offered to reach out to the Alumni of Baruch Public Affairs Department
Elinor - Emphasized there has to be campaign to get people to attend
MJ - Will network through the Environmental Department at Marymount Manhattan and will reach out to her colleagues.
Sarah - Suggest using Patch local neighborhood websites to advertise.
Renee - Suggest posting on local community board calendar calendars.
Steven - Will advertise May meeting on the Hoboken and Jersey City community calendars.
Renee - We really need a press release (to be written by Lisa Labrado) to hand out to organizations.
Sarah - We can add it as an event to our Facebook page to advertise it.
Lue Ann - Will contact her local community board members to make an announcement.
Elinor - Can we make a calendar before we leave tonight and about when email blast will go out?
Lue Ann - We should do it about 6 weeks out.
Elinor - April 8th could be the Save-the-Date announcement.
-Meeting update will be given at the April 15, 2013 meeting.
Elinor - Perhaps we should approach the Straphangers campaign and NY1 as well.
Shavonne - Will contact EarthShare New York.
Elinor - We need to make sure we are on each calendar’s deadline for submission, so we need the press release right away.
-Kim will see about getting it announced in the WNYC Community Engagement Newsletter (goes out bi-weekly on Thursday), CAB website, and Event’s page of WNYC.
Elinor - We are all reporting to Joyce before April 8th
Sarah - Suggest that a Google doc/drive spreadsheet be created so that the entire CAB can work off of the same document and update it as we make community comments.
Member of the public (John) – Suggested that the CAB could create a single CAB Gmail log-in for all non-Gmail users.
New or Old Business
Renee - Reminds the CAB that the May 20th meeting has not solved the CAB’s ongoing discussion on trying to figure out what its roll is with the station. Questions why the CAB is still struggling to find a purpose and the appropriate relationship with the station.
Steve - Agrees with Renee that the CAB needs more direct connection with the station and it needs to have clear direction.
Fred - I thought last year’s work was establishing a new relationship with the station. What happened to that?
Joyce - It seems to be a misunderstanding about working with the station and doing joint projects with the station.
Public Comment
Station and CAB Relationship
Member of the public (John) - What is your best guess at what you think the station thinks the roll of the cab should be?
Joyce - It is up in the air.
Sarah - Explains what the government mandate is and we are trying not to duplicate what paid WNYC staff like Listeners Services does.
(Kim Reads Cab Bylaws stating CAB’s purpose)
Joyce - Notes that the CAB did not even know about the 5-year plan WNYC created and wonders where was the public input?
Member of the public (Brian) - What is the goal for the upcoming (May 20th - Climate Change) meeting?
Joyce - The CAB wants a meeting to focus on changes like zoning, building codes, etc. and other serious changes the public needs to know and how the station informs listeners. The station needs to start early and make sure people are informed about changes in the city post-Sandy.
Member of the public (Brian) - Unless this board is endorsed strongly by the public then what leverage do you have?
CAB Meetings
Member of the public - Staff at the WNYC building should know when, where, and what events are being put on that night. (The member went to the Green Space and neither security or anyone else knew where the CAB meeting was taking place).
There is a motion which is then seconded to adjourn.
Joyce adjourns meeting at 9:10pm
