Western States Public Radio (WSPR) President’s report on the NPR Board Meeting in Washington (May 13, 2004), The Public Radio Leadership Forum and the A-REPS Meeting
NPR Board Meeting Summary
May 13, 2004
This is an abbreviated summary of various meetings in Washington DC the week of May 10 although predominantly covering the NPR Board meeting of May 13.
The Public Radio Leadership Forum was generally considered successful. About 270 persons attended. Attendance from the west was moderate. Key components of the meeting were emerging technology issues such as HD Radio and philanthropic/fundraising activities at stations and stations’ readiness to go to the “next level” in pursuing those opportunities. NPR is particularly anxious for stations to file FCC comments in support of the Secondary Audio Channel (SAC), comments on which are due June 16, to help assure that we have that opportunity in the digital world.
The a-Reps meeting, which followed the Leadership Forum, largely centered around NPR’s preliminary presentation of the Strategic Plan including a paper delivered by Ken Stern. Stern’s paper, which was reasonably detailed, was not available in hard copy which made it hard for stations to provide the comment/reaction which NPR had sought. NPR indicated they would post it to the NPR station website and would look forward to receiving comment from stations over the coming months. It was originally thought that conversation would also be had on the Partnership Compact but that was delayed and will be addressed at the regional meetings. NPR, for the second year, did not achieve a quorum for the Annual Meeting, something which seems to be a serious long-term issue which needs to be addressed.
At the NPR Board meeting a major topic was the report of the Strategic Planning Committee which has been conducting an “environmental scan” on the public radio universe in order to articulate a new Strategic Plan. The committee intends that the Plan include consideration of competitive factors in the public radio environment as well as consideration of policy issues surrounding major market stations and NPR’s major gift solicitation. Board members reflected concern over releasing only portion’s of the Committee’s work saying that “stations want to see the ‘full thing.’” They discussed timing for such consultation and decided it was impractical to complete that work by the Board’s July meeting. The goal is to now to have it completed by the November Board meeting (which precedes WSPR’s Fall Meeting by a week). There was also acknowledgement that stations want to view the completed Strategic Plan as “everyone’s” (NPR and its member stations’) rather than just NPR’s Strategic Plan. ● Kroc money has been received and explanation of funds and their relative yields given to Board along with some discussion about future investment planning. ● NPR news is being somewhat reorganized to reflect growing demands and strengths of the News Division. NPR is doubling the managing editor capacity for news. ● Further discussion was had on the draft revised Fundraising Principles. This codification also seek to embrace principles of the Cahill Amendment. Adoption was postponed until July meeting to allow further discussion with stations. ● Report on Major Gifts Task Force; 12 stations involved; making progress. This is a complex issue with no single solution. Guiding Principle should be that NPR efforts need to be additive to stations; focus on donor and donor needs should be paramount; stations must play a leadership role in process. Next Steps: developing the local case; develop package of donor benefits; conduct assessment of stations’ readiness to participate; continue dialogue with major market stations.● Public Comment: EPR asked NPR to consider freezing program costs for 4 years in light of Kroc gift. WSPR and CPR said that the Strategic Plan requires more discussion with stations than it has received to date.
Program Pricing: NPR announced that there would be no increase in membership rates in 2005. News magazines are now in the 2nd year of a 4-year plan and no changes are proposed. Review of plan indicates that some changes will eventually have to be made because many stations haven’t achieved revenue increases commensurate with increases in Listening Hours. The Kroc gift now allows NPR the latitude to temper upward pricing pressures and NPR plans to allocate $2.4 million toward that effort this year. NPR still plans that the “uncapped” full pricing on programs will begin in 2007.
Audit: The Kroc gift has introduced a variety of new considerations into NPR deliberations. One example: they added two additional people to the Audit committee who are drawn from the Board of the NPR Foundation.
General ‘Atmospherics:’ My own sense is that Kroc gift continues to loom very large on the NPR horizon. There’s lots of consideration of how money should be spent, what is the appropriate amount of consultation and comfort with stations on those decisions, what new steps represent prudent thought/care on the part of the NPR Board and the NPR Foundation’s Board. Discussion about what degree of interplay should ideally exist between the NPR Board and the NPR Foundation Board remains a topic. The Board’s attention is also heavily devoted to the Strategic Plan initiative with an indication of the level of interest being the Board’s meeting as a committee of the whole to discuss progress. They are heavily counting upon the regionals to fully “vet” the plan and be a source of thoughtful response to it.
Submitted by,
Ron Kramer
WSPR President