WRFI Board Meeting Minutes — January 2021
WRFI Board Meeting Minutes — January 11, 2021, 6-8pm
Present:
Stephen Cope
Carlos Gutierrez
Joseph Haefeli
Joe Romano
Godfrey Simmons
Pamela Tan
Felix Teitelbaum
Chantal Thomas
John Young
Agenda:
Coup attempt, ongoing risks, coverage
Risks to journalists/media
Risk Trump could use EAS - response
Personnel
ND or Director of Content ?
When to do search?
VOTE: Hire Jimmy to manage headlines?
VOTE: Contract Celia to produce Which Way Forward
WINO update
VOTE: Apply for second round PPP
DISCUSS: Apply for SBA loan for WINO move?
Anti-racism workshops
News Reboot
Reviewed minutes from December 2020 Board Meeting
Coup attempt, ongoing risks, coverage + Risks to journalists/media
- Possible to increase security in the station.
- Press credentials for news team if they’re covering anything on the street?
- Proactive call to the mayor/police: ask how we can help as well as head’s up about possibility of being targeted as a news source.
- Felix can broadcast from home, if the station is compromised.
Risk Trump could use Emergency Alert System
- “EAS Participants must transmit Presidential messages during national emergencies.”
Personnel
- Michayla stepping down from news director role after 1/22.
- On 1/25: new interim format, headed up by Felix and Peter
- VOTE: Hire someone to manage headlines on interim (3 month) basis
- Stephen called vote, Joseph seconded. Motion passes unanimously.
- VOTE: Authorize hiring someone to produce Which Way Forward
- Grant from Engaged Cornell to continue through spring 2021
- Remaining grant funds: $1800
- NO VOTE Needed, as grant funds are for this project.
VOTE: Apply for second round PPP (provided personnel changes will not be an issue)
- Raised $67K in 2020 ($5K over last year)
- Rule for 2nd round: show 25% increase in any given quarter in 2020 compared to 2019.
- $13K from 1st round.
- Bookkeeper has PPE reporting tool, making tracking straightforward.
- Stephen called vote, Joseph seconded. Motion passes unanimously.
- Second draw info
Board Antiracism Sessions
- Wed, Feb 3 @ 1 pm - 3 pm: What Does Antiracism Mean?
- Mon, Feb 22 @ 5 pm - 7 pm: Understanding Racism at Work
WINO update
- $250/month rent.
- Contingent on passing structural engineering sign-off.
- Will need space for two antennae array as well as points above and below the tower (about 30 feet).
- Where on the tower? Need to set antennae in a particular way, increasing the load.
- Window coming up for non-commercial educational licenses, suggest get authorization for modification before then.
- Felix: will continue to follow up with Michael.
- Eventually need someone local (Michael is in Oregon) to assist. Stick with Michael if he comes through soon.
- Felix: We could cover Ithaca with two streams of content: talk and news
- KUNC: do they have words of wisdom, as they went down this road.
- Can a translator run two program streams. Maybe run both streams on both towers?
- Apply for SBA loan for WINO move?
News Reboot
- Felix asked the past 3 news directors to consider reformatting the show, but it was challenging for them to do this when the focus was producing weekday news.
- Other stations: 1.5 minute local spot versus WRFI’s 10 minutes of local news daily (that takes 4 hours of writing/day + daily feature/interview
- Plan for the interim
- Two 2-minute newscasts (early morning, 3 pm, replays at 6)
- No ½ hour evening program.
- ½ hour magazine program on Fridays looking back on previous week.
- Lowers the bar of entry for volunteers and increase quality of what we’re doing.
- What is the purpose of the news? Training, engagement.
- Felix’s notes from meetings with advisors
- News Director could be a Director of Content instead.
Safety during COVID:
- Key news team members are in-person.
- Air filtration is running in the studios/office.
- Vaccinations: WRFI employees in group 1c