Board Meeting Minutes

Board of Director’s Meeting New Wave Corporation915 E. Broadway – Columbia, Mo. KOPN Studios, Cope Ashlock Room

Meeting of April 20, 2010

In attendance were Thomas Sobieck, Scott Meiner, John Betz, Ray Marks, Ann Mehr, Meg Pochė, Jill Sheets, Bridgette Early, Tom Verdot, Michelle Grant, and General Manager, David Owens. Absent: Sheryll Clapton, Ellen Froeschner, Kyle Cook, and Jim Baker.

Call to Order:

Board President, Thomas Sobieck, called the meeting to order at 7:00pm and asked for any changes to the agenda. No changes were made to the agenda.

Review of Minutes:

The minutes from the March 2010 meeting were reviewed. Tom Verdot motioned to approve the March Minutes. Scott Meiner seconded the motion. All agreed.

*The minutes from the March 2010 Board meeting were approved.Staff Reports

Audit and Accounting Process:

David Owens informed the Board that the CPB audit process was still in progress. Thomas Sobieck, Scott Meiner, and John Betz have meeting with David to help sort through records and figure out the accounting process. Accounting of In-Kind contributions is still outstanding as well as other demands put forth by the CPB in order to complete the audit. David hopes to complete the audit process in the next 2-3 days, but isn’t sure when this will happen.

Accounting Situation:

Many problems exist having mainly to do with our not having a good understanding the accounting process and/or the use of QuickBooks. David has made efforts to understand QuickBooks and to simplify the database for mail outs during pledge drives. A discussion was held on the importance of our need to understand the basic accounting needs of the station as well as the possibility of hiring an outside accounting firm for NFP, and later on a book keeper we can train. The most important thing is for the KOPN GM and a few other key figures to understand the basic accounting process in order to prevent being compromised in the future.

Pledge Drive:

David discussed the upcoming One Day Pledge Drive to be held on May 25th. Staff has been busy in planning the drive. The main message is to get KOPN supporters to pledge their support on this ONE-day and in return receive 9 days of un-interrupted broadcast. Few premiums will be given during a one-day drive. Michelle Grant reported that after the production of “Radio Play”, a cast party would be held at the Broadway Brewery on May13th. KOPN underwriters, audience members, etc, would be invited and asked to help record thank- you messages for the pledge drive. David also informed the Board of KOPN’s involvement in other community events such as Artrageous Gallery Crawl, Earth Day, and Bike Walk and Wheel Week. In other news, the Contra Dance won by Don Asbee from KOPN’s online/on-air auction was to be used as a fundraiser for the local food bank.

Staffing Issues:

David read Holly Maness’s resignation letter to the Board. May 25, 2010 is Holly’s last official day as paid staff at KOPN, however because of 60 hours of comp. time she will be paid through the end of June.

The Executive Committee approved an increase in paid hours for Jeff Wheeler. David would like to hire a replacement for Holly and redefine Jeff’s job to include regular formalized trainings. David would like to see volunteers being trained to promote KOPN in hopes of gaining more listeners. More people trained in postproduction work would be good too. A discussion was held regarding the importance of New Wave Corporation Board members acting as advocates at KOPN events and as promoters in the community. Board members can be a significant help by showing up to shake hands and thank people for coming to events, etc.

Committee Reports Executive Committee

The Executive Committee has been meeting regularly to help the General Manager sort through financial affairs in the front office.

Programming Committee

Meg Poche has stepped down from the Programming Committee and Ray Marks has assumed the position of Board Representative to the Committee. Ray reported that plans were underway to gain more members to the Committee. 2 non-programmers are to be chosen by the General Manager and 2 are to be appointed by the Board. Discussions were held on how to find potential Committee members. A suggestion was made to include an announcement in the next outgoing pledge drive letter. David Owens agreed that this would be a good thing to consider.

Programmer Kevin Walsh requested that the Board approve a return to FCC rules with regard to “Safe Harbor”. This would allow for more adult content between the hours of 10pm and 6am. At some point in the 1990’s KOPN adopted a more stringent policy than the FCC called for. Meg motioned for KOPN to approve Kevin’s request to go back to following FCC guidelines regarding Safe Harbor. Tom Verdot seconded the motion. All agreed.

• The Board approved the motion to return to current FCC guidelines regarding “Safe Harbor” during the hours between 10:00p.m.and 6:00a.m.

Tom Verdot reported that Julie Baka had mentioned an interest by the owner of Parkade Plaza being interested in housing KOPN in the future. A discussion was held and everyone generally agreed that this wasn’t a goal for now. Tom also reported that Randi Bishop had pointed out the nice location beside Lifestyles Furniture that used to be the Grindstone Brewery. It has a parking lot and is in a good location close to downtown. David Owens has also been looking around at properties and mentioned “The Corner”, an old grocery store located at Wilkes and Rangeline, which is now empty. The search continues for possibilities.

New Business
Minutes and Policy Tracking

David Owens ended the session by stating his desire to “codify” policy changes. This would allow for easier follow up to questions and discussions that regard policy set forth by the Board. A request was also made for the Board Secretary to submit Minutes to the Board in the form of a draft, followed by a final set of Minutes that contain all changes agreed upon at the time of reviewing the draft copy.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30pm Next Meeting: May 18, 2010

Respectfully submitted to the Board by Meg Poché on May 18, 2010