WAMU 88.

5 COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Council
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

WAMU Community Council Members Attending:

Barbara Bares, Council Chair; Eugene Sofer, Vice Chair; Sharvell Becton, Dr. Christine Berg,
Paul DesJardin, Navroz Gandhi, Trisha Hartge, Nakeisha Neal Jones, David Nemazie,
Manuel Ochoa, Margaret O’Bryon, Tony Sarmiento, Stan Soloway, Shay Stevens, Thomas F.
Walls, Jon West-Bey.

Peter Tannenwald and Matt McCormick, ex-officio

WAMU/AU Staff Attending:

JJ Yore, Carey Needham, David Taylor, Kathleen Allenbaugh, James Coates, Lettie Holman,
Andi McDaniel, Brendan Sweeney, Anne Healy, Tenesha Vines, Nancy Feldman, James
Barbour, Joelle Costello, Tayla Burney, Kristen Sorensen, Rob Bertrand, Audrey Johnson,
Benae Mosby

Members of the Public:

Cathleen O’Brien and Glenn Ihrig (WAMU Volunteer Hosts)
Cliff Brody, Kent Lynn, Dale Clayton-Morrison, Victoria Zuckerman, Steve Kaffen, Lotte
Lent, Patrick Andriuk, Gar Young, Evelyn Turner

I. Welcome – Barbara Bares, Council Chair

Barbara Bares opened the meeting at 7 p.m. Barbara, members of the Community Council,
and station staff made a special presentation to Anne Healy, outgoing Manager of
Community Relations, in honor of her 26 years of service to WAMU. JJ Yore, Carey
Needham, Lettie Holman, Victoria Zuckerman, and Kristen Sorensen also provided remarks
and remembrances of Anne and her many contributions to the station and the Council.

II. State of the Station Report

Leadership, Membership & Audience Update – JJ Yore, General Manager

JJ introduced two new leadership hires: Audrey Johnson, Senior Director of Development,
and Rob Bertrand, Senior Director of Technology. Bios are available at
wamu.org/about/administration.

JJ reported that station membership totals 61,366 to date, representing a 20 percent increase
in membership since October 2015. He credited the growth to efforts to improve the sound
and messaging during on-air membership campaigns.
JJ reported that the audience has been growing significantly over a two-year period by
several measures. The number of AQH listeners1 increased by 35 percent over the period of
July 2014-March 2016 to 30,200. Cume audience2 has grown by 25 percent to over 730,000
weekly listeners. Share3 has increased by 25 percent to 8 percent.

Since programming schedule changes were implemented in January, WAMU is #1 in the

market on the weekends. The Kojo Nnamdi Show is #2 in the market, and WAMU is #2 in the
market during the 8 p.m. weekday slot, where popular public radio programs are rotated
throughout the week.

Financial Report – Carey Needham, Associate General Manager

The station’s FY16 (which ends April 30, 2016) budget is $22.2 million. Currently, revenue is
projected at just under $21 million. Membership revenue and major gifts are ahead of
budget, projected at $9.9 million. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant is lower
than expected, totaling $1.2 million, as a result of a reduced allocation to CPB. Corporate
sponsorship revenue is at $8.75 million, about 18 percent under budget, a result of vacancies
in the department and the outsourcing of corporate sales responsibilities to Market
Enginuity.

Projected expenses for FY16 total $21.4 million. Expenses in personnel have been reduced
to $9.34 million as a result of the corporate underwriting department transition and several
vacancies. Content acquisition expenses increased due to fee increases by NPR, PRI, and
other content providers, totaling $2.95 million. The station incurred $500,000 in unbudgeted
expenses as a result of the underwriting transition to Market Enginuity. Expenses related to
contracts and agreements are projected at $1.94 million, which is slightly above the budgeted
$1.88 million. Expenses on supplies are under budget, and capital lease and administrative
fees are as projected.

In response to a question raised by Nakeisha Neal Jones, Carey explained that in FY17,
corporate giving revenue is expected to increase because of the underwriting department’s
new strategy under the leadership of Market Enginuity, the addition of new employees, and
focus on monetizing digital properties.

1
If WAMU were a store rather than a radio station, the weekly cume is the total number of different
shoppers in the store.
2
AQH listeners represent the number of shoppers in the store during any fifteen minutes. AQH listeners
stay and shop longer, and come back for more return trips compared to cume listeners who only shop once.
3
Share is the percentage of those listening to radio who are listening to WAMU.
Barbara asked if the administrative fee paid to AU changes each year. Carey answered that it
was reset to $2.8 million in 2012 and increases 2.5 percent each year. In the next budget
cycle, discussions will begin about whether this fee can change.

Navroz Gandhi asked whether it is realistic to project an increase in membership in FY17 if

the last membership campaign had to be extended to meet the goal. JJ said that the
campaign was affected by unseasonably warm weather, and the decision to extend the
campaign was made to eliminate the need for smaller campaigns during the year. The
station’s focus is increasing sustaining memberships, and the impact of the sustaining
memberships on revenue is not immediate.

Trisha Hartge asked what kinds of corporate sponsorship opportunities are of interest to
potential underwriting clients. Carey said that corporate partners are interested in new
content as well as a broader range of digital sponsorship opportunities, and that new
initiatives are considered with these preferences in mind.

Andi McDaniel said the new website will open up more digital sponsorship opportunities,
and that the redesign will likely improve user experience and traffic and hence the value of
website sponsorship.

Content Initiatives & Newsroom Restructuring – Andi McDaniel, Senior Director of

Content and News, and Brendan Sweeney, Managing Producer, New Content and
Innovation

Brendan played a clip from Anacostia Unmapped, which airs weekly on Wednesdays during
All Things Considered and is produced by independent producer Katie Davis and contributing
producers from Anacostia. One segment of the project was the second most-shared WAMU
story on the NPR One app. Anacostia Unmapped will continue to air through July.

Andi provided an update on the newsroom reorganization. The transition of the digital team
to the newsroom is complete. The newsroom has also added editors to improve the
consistency and quality of on-air and online content. Producer positions have been created
for All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Geographic beats have been eliminated in favor
of adding five distinctive new beats: Transportation and Development, Education and
Inequality, Race and Ethnicity, Power and Influence, and Arts and Culture.

The changes to the structure of the newsroom should allow for growth until the five-year
strategic vision for the newsroom is achieved.
III. New Business - Strategic Plan Workshop

Members of the Council split into four working groups with strategic plan team leaders from
the station’s staff to review the WAMU Strategic Plan. The strategic imperatives discussed
were: Audience, Journalism, Platforms, and Partnerships.

Audience: Tom Walls, Barbara Bares, Nakeisha Neal Jones, Stan Soloway, and team leader
James Coates

Nakeisha reported that the Audience group discussed strategies to get information about
listener habits, preferences, and geographic identity. They also discussed how technology
such as customer relationship management software can be a tool for the station to gather
data about listeners.

Journalism: Navroz Gandhi, Gene Sofer, Matt McCormick, and team leader Brendan
Sweeney

Navroz reported that the group discussed how to integrate coverage from new beats to
make it relevant and engaging to listeners across geographic lines. The group discussed
solutions such as creating geographically-themed projects similar to Anacostia Unmapped in
other locations and working with editors to produce stories with resonance across
geography.

Platforms: Trisha Hartge, Peter Tannenwald, Christine Berg, and Kathleen Allenbaugh,
Director of Marketing & Communications (substitute for team leader Chris Lewis, Director
of Digital Media)

Trisha reported that the group discussed ways to ensure that listeners continue to be
exposed to new ideas and viewpoints as news access becomes more personalized. They also
discussed creating an analytics strategy and reaching out to Vox, Politico, and other non-
public media organizations for insight.

Partnerships: Tony Sarmiento, Manuel Ochoa, Paul DesJardin, Margaret O’Bryon, Jon West-
Bey, and team leader Tayla Burney

Manuel Ochoa reported that the group discussed questions about how long a partnership
should last, how reporters could be assigned to particular neighborhoods of strategic
interest, and emphasized that relationships will take time to evolve. The group concluded
that the relationship with AU should be a key priority. The group also highlighted that the
Council can be helpful in developing relationships.
IV. Community Dialogues – Eugene Sofer, Council Vice-Chair and Chair of the
Community Dialogue Committee

Gene reported on the March 22 dialogue, which was titled “Technology, Development, and
the New Washington” and focused on challenges facing local technology entrepreneurs.
The panelists were D.C. Councilmember David Grosso; Evan Burfield, Cofounder and Co-
CEO of 1776; Jason Nellis, Director of Business Development, Brllnt; and Jonathan
Aberman, Managing Director and Chairman, Amplifier Ventures.

Gene said that the discussion was successful, with reporters exchanging information with
panelists following the conversation. Margaret O’Bryon asked if the dialogues can be used to
help inform the new beats in the newsroom. Andi suggested that the format of the dialogues
be reviewed to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.

V. Old Business - Barbara Bares

Barbara called for a motion to approve the minutes from the February 3, 2016 meeting. The
motion was made and seconded, and the minutes were approved.

VI. Public Comment

Steve Kaffen commented on the programming schedule, approving of several programs,
especially local programs.

Evelyn Turner provided comments in support of a WAMU mobile app for listeners.

Cliff Brody commented on the programming schedule and discussed emphasizing WAMU’s
value proposition for donors and non-listeners.

Gar Young provided comments about the station’s new content initiatives.

VII. Adjournment
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made and seconded. The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Benae Mosby