Members present:  Carol Laferty, Mary Caric, Drew Henderson, Black Bear (Stephen LaBoueff), Greg Dike, Megan Boone, Paul Hitchcock

Guest:  Tara Holaday

The meeting began at 6:04PM in the studios of Morehead State Public Radio (MSPR) at Morehead State University.  Drew Henderson, MSPR Community Advisory Board (CAB) Chair welcomed members of CAB.

Old Business

Minutes of the May 8, 2014 meeting were reviewed.  Megan Boone made a motion to approve minutes as presented.  Mary Caric seconded.  Motion passed. 

MSPR’s quarterly program report for the period of April – June 2014 was presented by Paul Hitchcock.  General discussion followed.  It was discussed that program changes have been pretty well received.  A few concerned comments from listeners but not much feedback.  Transition has gone well.  Paul submitted Morehead as a location for a live “Whad ‘Ya Know” recording location.  Greg Dike made motion to approve and Carol Laferty seconded.   Motion passed.

A draft of MSPR’s strategic plan for 2014 to 2020 was presented by Paul Hitchcock.  The strategic plan is designed to be a road map and will be presented to President Andrews.  Paul opened floor to general comments.  Discussion centered around renovation of MSPR’s lobby and the idea of Steven A. Inskeep School of Journalism.  Both of these ideas were well received by the Board.  Paul talked about already working towards the 2014 goals.  Community engagement is a challenge.  Even social media is changing.  Coal, environment, education, and health seem to be top issues judged by clicks on pieces on website.  The Advisory Board thought focusing on key local issues is a good strategy. Paul talked about being careful to be fair and unbiased when working with political issues. Lots of discussion around keeping an open mind to diverse programming and staff. Sin Fronteras is a start toward this.  Plans are really getting underway towards the 50^th anniversary.  Megan Boone made a motion to support the strategic plan as presented to us, seconded by Mary Caric.  Motion passed.

Guest Comments

Black Bear introduced Tara Holaday, Suicide Prevention Specialist at MSU.  Tara’s position is supported by a 3 year grant written by Carol Barnett.  One of her main goals is building a strong more connected campus tied to suicide prevention and getting policies in line with best practices.  She is working to build in Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training in social work, criminology & nursing courses.  MSPR might be able to run a PSA and change it throughout the year.  Plus send it to other stations.  The Board thought this was a good idea and pertinent to our listeners so Paul and Tara will coordinate recording a PSA. 

Advisory Board members are encouraged to bring guests to CAB meetings.  This is a good way to ensure diversity of thought.

New Business

Paul talked about changes with Kentucky Public Radio – MSPR is no longer a part of this news sharing service as it went to one feature statewide.  KPR used to have regional reporters.  The elimination of KPR is a cost saving of $11,000.  Local programming would be gone if we continued as a member of KPR.  MSPR has 20 local programs and we don’t want the local, cultural information eliminated.  KPR is getting support from CPB.  WMMT, WUKY and WV Radio are applying for a grant to focus on SOAR news and features. MSPR’s stance is that KPR isn’t for us.

Morehead Arts & Eats Festival will be held downtown on Saturday, September 20. MSPR will be participating again with Hawaiian SPAM theme.  MSPR will need donations and volunteers so be on the lookout for information about this.

MSPR’s Online Auction is planned for October 8 – 15.   If you know of anything to be donated or someone who might donate, please let Paul know.  The auction will again be done through Facebook as that worked well in the past.

Reader’s Notebook is another programming change.  Local historian, JD Reeder, is taking a particular subject and elaborating on it.  This will start on Sept 1.   And is designed to replace Writer’s Almanac.

Chuck Mraz is making changes to Front Page.  It will only be one day a week on Friday starting in September.  The idea is to cut out authors and try to focuse more on elected officials, President Andrews updates about MSU, and more immediate issues.  This will free Chuck up to spend more time with students in news room.  Students will be doing more features which are shared with other stations.  CAB concern was missing out on the real local news and events.  Paul explained that exceptions will be made for special issues and some weeks it will air more than once.

Paul Hitchcock shared CPB Diversity Report 2014 with us.  Diversity is broad and more than just what you hear on the air.  CAB members discussed pulling in more student listeners.  We tabled exploring having a student on the board and exploring including a diversity representative on the board and how to engage the diverse community at the university and in the greater community or even a diversity hour that brings in diverse groups.  Maybe CAB needs to host forums and reach out to community groups to get more diverse input.  Guests at CAB meetings would be one way to accomplish this without changing bylaws.

Paul Hitchcock wanted to be sure all members knew about NPR One which is a free phone ap that shows hourly newscast and features.   You can quickly move from one feature to another.  If you like a feature, hit like and it will play similar features.  Local features are in one bucket of features. MSPR is part of this ap.

Paul Hitchcock shared that WMKY earned the FCC Compliance Certification.  All day was spent with the inspector looking at files, transmitter, etc.  The certification is valid for 3 years. 

Closing Comments

The next meeting is scheduled for November 12, 2014 and will take place at 6PM in MSPR’s studios.  With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45PM.  Megan Boone made the motion to adjourn and Black Bear seconded.