WAMU 88.

5
COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Council
Wednesday, December 9, 2015

WAMU Community Council Members Attending:

Kent Lynn, Council Chair; Barbara Bares, Vice Chair; Audrey Alvarado, Rudy Burwell, Paul
DesJardin, Trisha Hartge, Nakeisha Neal Jones, Jody Steiner Kelly, Ginny McArthur, Larry
McCarthy, Manuel Ochoa, Daniel Okonkwo, Micaela Mejia Pond, Tony Sarmiento, Eugene
Sofer, Shay Stevens, Thomas Walls, Peter Tannenwald, and Matt McCormick.

WAMU Staff Attending:

JJ Yore, Carey Needham, Kathleen Allenbaugh, James Coates, Michael Martinez, Susan
Thomas, and Anne Healy

Special Guest:
Dale Clayton Morrison, former Chair of the Community Council

Members of the Public:

Cathleen O’Brien (WAMU Volunteer Host)
Chivonnie Gius, Reginald Ragland, Donald A. Masters, and Gar Young

I. Welcome – Kent Lynn, Council Chair

Kent opened the meeting at 7:05 p.m. He welcomed everyone to the fourth and final
meeting of 2015 and thanked them for coming. He noted that in addition to himself, Larry
McCarthy, Daniel Okonkwo, Micaela Mejia Pond, Jody Steiner Kelly, and Ginny McArthur
would be retiring from the Council at the end of the year, and he thanked them for their
outstanding service to the Council and to the station. Barbara Bares thanked Kent on behalf
of the entire Council for his great leadership as Council Chair. And, JJ Yore added his thanks
on behalf of WAMU and presented Kent with a gift from the station. JJ pointed out that
Kent brought some wonderful attributes to his role as Chair including his calm leadership,
his strong support of WAMU, his unfailing good cheer – no matter what, and his deep
listening across multiple platforms.

Kent announced that the Annual Council Reception to thank retiring members for their
service and to welcome new members will take place on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 from
6:30 to 8:30 in the community room at the station. He then turned the meeting over to JJ
for his “State of the Station” report.
II. State of the Station Report - JJ Yore, General Manager
JJ reminded the Council Members that at the first meeting of the year, he had announced
that WAMU was partnering with Atlantic Media Strategies to guide us through our station
identification process and assist us with developing a strategic plan for the future. At the
meeting on April 29th, Jean Ellen Cowgill, President of Atlantic Media Strategies, and Merrill
Wasser, Associate Director of Strategy made a presentation to the Council on their findings
up to that time. The station’s work with AMS has now been completed, and we have an
“Executive Summary of the WAMU 2015 Strategic Plan” which will be given to each of the
Council Members in attendance at the end of this meeting. A short video prepared by staff
members anticipating the unveiling of the plan was shown and then JJ gave a power point
presentation on the plan itself and reviewed it with the Council Members. (Please see
attachment #1) JJ stressed that WAMU has great strengths as the only public radio station in
our market and in our revered hosts Diane Rehm and Kojo Nnamdi. Our listeners value us
as a trusted voice, but we need to change and to grow. Radio listenership is declining, and
WAMU needs to be more accessible on all platforms and to attract younger and more
diverse audiences. A discussion with Council Members followed JJ’s presentation.

III. WAMU Department Directors Reports

Financial Report – Carey Needham, Associate General Manager
Carey’s report on FY2016 and FY2015 Revenue and Expense Detail by Unit as of
November 30 was sent to the Council Members in advance of the meeting. (Please see
Attachment #2) Carey reviewed the financial information with the Council. He reminded the
Council that Fiscal Year 2016, which began on May 1, 2015, is the first year of our two-year
budget cycle. While revenue from development is running ahead of last year at this time,
revenue from underwriting or corporate marketing has declined. However, we anticipate an
increase in revenue in that area when Market Enginuity takes over underwriting sales at the
end of the year and four open positions in the department, including that of Department
Director, are filled. In the meantime, we are continuing to keep expenses down and are
projecting a net increase in revenue by the end of the fiscal year. JJ added that we are cutting
expenses not only to pay down the deficit but also to be able to invest in developing new
content on all platforms.

Programming & News – JJ Yore and Michael Martinez, Acting Managing Producer,
Kojo Nnamdi Show
JJ informed the Council that Andi McDaniel, WAMU’s Senior Director for Content and
News has begun a search to fill the very important position of Executive Editor for News.
We have been talking to several highly qualified candidates and she hopes to make a final
decision in the near future. WAMU is launching a new audience-connected initiative based
on a project that began in Chicago. The program will be called “What’s With Washington”
and it will provide listeners with a way to submit ideas as to what issues they would like the
station to cover. Barbara Bares asked how this project differs from the PIN network that
the news department set up several years ago, and JJ responded that this program is much
less technologically cumbersome. The station is also working with Katie Davis, a former
NPR producer and host, who secured a grant to spend nine months in Anacostia covering
the issues important to the people who live in that part of Washington. WAMU will be the
home station for “Anacostia Unwrapped,” which will launch in January. Katie is very
familiar with the area as three generations of her family have lived there.

JJ asked Michael Martinez to talk about the changes to “The Kojo Nnamdi Show” which will
take effect on January 25. Kojo and his producers have been working to reshape the
program into the strongest possible local program that will strive to fill the needs of the
metropolitan area. As of January 25th, the show will air from 12:00 until 1:00 p.m. Monday
through Thursday, and the “Politics Hour” will continue to air in that time slot on Fridays.
Mike said that this change will enable Kojo to be an ambassador for the station in our region
and to greatly expand the program’s outreach by increasing the number of “Kojo in Your
Community” shows to 10. The Kojo team will also be using the Black Box theatre for more
live events like the mayoral debate Kojo hosted last year. Mike pointed out that this will be a
three-dimensional approach: on-air, on the website, and out in the community.

IV. Community Dialogues – Barbara Bares, Council Vice Chair and Chair of the
Community Dialogue Committee
Barbara reported that the Council sponsored three Community Dialogues this year. The
topic for the first meeting, which was held on March 19,th was “Policing in Diverse
Communities: Best Practices.” The second dialogue was held on June 8th and focused on
“Aging in the Metro Area: Solutions to Issues Affecting Seniors.” The topic for the third
and final dialogue was “The Role of the Arts in the Changing DC Area.” The participants
were Holly Bass, a local writer, director, and performer; Steven Scott Mazzola, director of
grants for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; Tendani Mpulubusi El, Ward 8
Arts and Cultural Council; and Jon West-Bey, head of the Prince Georges African American
Museum and Cultural Center. Barbara thanked Council Member Shay Stevens for finding
the participants for this session and for helping to focus the discussion. The dialogue was
well attended by both WAMU staff and Council Members. Barbara said the discussion was
spirted and lively and focused on how to engage the media with local artists--a subject the
station plans to delve into more deeply. Shay thanked Barbara for giving her the opportunity
to organize this dialogue and she said that she believes that public media has a very
important role to play in covering the arts.

V. Report of the Nominating Committee- Gene Sofer, Committee Chair

Kent introduced Gene and asked him to present the Nominating Committee’s report.
Gene reported that the 2015 Nominating Committee corresponded by email and convened
several times this fall, and has the following recommendations to present:

Members who will be leaving when their terms expire on Dec 31, 2015 are: Kent Lynn,
Lawrence McCarthy, R. Daniel Okonkwo, Micaela Mejia Pond, and Jody Steiner Kelly. In
addition, Virginia McArthur is retiring at the end of this year with one year remaining on her
second three-year term. We recommend that Dr. Christine Berg and Thomas Walls be
renewed for three-year terms that end 2018.

We evaluated our current membership, and considered which strengths we might enhance,
including better representation of geographic areas, diversity, the private sector, and adding
to our already strong skill sets. We received many good nominations. More, in fact, than we
can select. We discussed and ranked the candidates, and we reached a strong consensus.
We recommend for your consideration five new members to serve three-year terms:
Lucinda Crabtree, Navroz Gandhi, Stan Solloway, Avis Thomas-Lester, and Donna
MP Wilson; and, one new member to fill a one-year term: Jon West-Bey.

Kent asked for a motion to approve the report of the nominating committee. Larry
McCarthy made the motion and it was seconded by Ginny McArthur. The report was
unanimously approved. JJ will make the appointments to the Council effective January 1,
2016.

The next order of business was the election of a Chair and Vice Chair for the 2016
Community Council. Kent proposed that Barbara Bares be elected as Chair and Trisha
Hartge proposed that Eugene Sofer be elected as Vice Chair. The Council voted
unanimously to elect Barbara and Gene to those positions.

VI. Old Business, New Business – Kent Lynn

Kent asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the September 9, 2015 meeting of the
Council. Gene Sofer moved that they be approved and Chris Berg seconded the motion.
The minutes were approved as written. Under new business, Kent reminded the Council
Members that they were all invited to the WAMU Holiday Party which will take place on
December 14th. The dates for the 2016 meetings will be Wednesday, February 3,
Wednesday, April 27, Wednesday, September 14 and Wednesday, December 7.

VII. Public Comment

Kent asked the members of the public in attendance for any comments that might wish to
make. Gar Young said that he was curious about the future of Bluegrass Country. JJ
responded that he has commissioned Public Radio Capital to do a study to determine how to
make this service more self-sustainable. Unfortunately providing this service is now costing
WAMU over $300,000 annually.

VIII. Adjournment
There being no further business, the Chair called for a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Trisha Hartge made the motion which was seconded by Gene Sofer and approved by the
Council. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Anne
Anne Slattery Healy