Broadcast Media Advisory Board

MEMBERS

• Hank Allen, junior in communications media, Student Media Board appointed student member, hkallen@ncsu.edu
• John Bullard, senior in fashion/textile management, Student Media Board elected student member, jbbullar@ncsu.edu
• Nicole Griffin, Serious Robots post-production coordinator, former WKNC promotions director, nicole@seriousrobots.com
• Kelly McCullen, producer/reporter/anchor UNC-TV, former WKNC DJ, kmanchor@yahoo.com
• Joe Ovies, 99.9 The Fan afternoon radio co-host, former WKNC general manager, jovies@999thefan.com
• Dean Phillips, lecturer in the NCSU Department of Communications, president of deanWORKS, Student Media Board professional member, deanworks@nc.rr.com
• Jim Rothschild, WRAL-TV director of station operations, Student Media Board professional member, jrothschild@wral.com
• Tommy Anderson (ex-officio), WKNC general manager, gm@wknc.org
• Caleb Van Voorhis (ex-officio), Wolf TV station manager, wolftv@technicianonline.com
• Jamie Lynn Gilbert (facilitator), WKNC station adviser, jamie_gilbert@ncsu.edu

MISSION
N.C. State Student Media’s Broadcast Media Advisory Board exists to help advise radio station WKNC 88.1 FM and television station Wolf TV. The goal of the board is to assemble professionals in the broadcast field, academics and interested students to offer insight on coverage, content, personnel and policy issues. The Broadcast Media Advisory Board is a discussion group rather than a policy-making body.

PRESENT
Hank Allen, John Bullard, Nicole Griffin, Jim Rothschild, Tommy Anderson, Caleb Van Voorhis, Jamie Lynn Gilbert, Student Media Board chair Paul McCauley, WKNC afterhours music director Joseph Brookes, WKNC engineer Austin Page, WKNC local music director Nicole Kligerman, WKNC DJ Don Mayo

DISCUSSION
WKNC general manager Tommy Anderson began by noting an area of concern for the radio station is the anticipated spring 2011 graduation of the general manager, program director, production manager, promotions director and public affairs director. With the majority of the station’s core leadership leaving in May, Anderson is beginning to meet with the directors to discuss possible successors. At least one student has indicated interest in running for 2011-2012 general manager.

Wolf TV station manager Caleb Van Voorhis discussed how Wolf TV operates under the Technician newspaper, with no budget (and consequently no staff salaries) of its own. Van Voorhis said it is difficult to retain an all-volunteer staff. He has about 10 core staff members who work with Technician on news packages.

How to generate income was a major topic for both media. WKNC adviser Jamie Lynn Gilbert talked about the differences between commercials traditionally heard on radio stations and the donor announcements on WKNC. While the station is meeting its sponsorship goal of less than $1,000 a month, it has considerably more inventory than could be sold. Student media board and advisory member Jim Rothschild talked about working around limited on-air language by better using the radio station’s Web site. He suggested developing a way to put everything that can’t be said on air on the Web through a sponsor page with printable coupons or other enticing content. Gilbert talked about current partnerships with concert promoters and the Afterhours dance parties as additional revenue-generating opportunities the station is pursuing. She also mentioned that Arbitron has begun using the portable people meter measurement method in the Raleigh-Durham market. Because WKNC has the necessary encoding equipment, it can now be measured in the ratings (see http://www.stationratings.com/ratings.asp?market=115).

On the Wolf TV side, the most developed sales plan is to sell commercials to local apartment complexes that will run on the campus cable channel 79. There was some debate as to whether pre-roll ads (those that run before the video posted online) would violate the N.C. State computer use regulation against paid advertising on official University websites. If Wolf TV wanted to sell banner ads on ncsu.edu/wolftv, as WKNC does on wknc.org, it would certainly need to be moved to a non-University server. The group decided the greatest potential revenue stream would be to establish Wolf TV as a for-hire videography service. While this would provide students with experience it could also provide income for staff salaries, as Gilbert indicated when WKNC rents their production studio the student producer receives a small stipend built in to the base price. Van Voorhis indicated Wolf TV had done some videography before and the group provided him with a few leads he could investigate for future business.

Agromeck/Windhover Advisory Board

Present: Susannah Brinkley, Mollie Mohr, Dao Nguyen, Britt Hayes, John (Coop) Cooper Elias, Martha Collins

Agromeck

Susannah started off with Agromeck, since she had another meeting at 8 p.m. and a yearbook deadline that evening. Good things: hiring a sports editor, setting mid-week deadlines. Problems: keeping staff on board – three writers quit in a week and the assignments editor quit.

Coop asked what she was doing to recruit and Susannah said she was sending e-mails to professors and also going to try the Writing and Tutorial Center. Coop said from his own experience personal contact with professors and classroom visits were more productive: asking about extra credit and passing out sign-up/interest sheets.

Dao asked if Susannah had asked designers to write stories and Susannah said some had, and their stories were good. She hopes to have them multi-task more.

Discussion followed about marketing, increasing campus awareness of the Agromeck: Susannah said she hired a marketing/promotions person and that seemed to be going well. Post cards were ordered today and senior ads will be pushed; senior portraits start soon.

Coop asked if it was possible to somehow partner with the class ring vendor (Balfour) but Susannah said they had been approached and weren’t interested. Coop then suggested that Greek group shots might be a good way to bring others in; it’s a large number of people and it comprises all classes.

Windhover

Mollie said she really wanted to increase Windhover’s presence on campus – she’s talked with so many people who don’t even know what it is. She wants to partner with WKNC maybe for Open Mic night and have two this year. She has a literary committee and would like to do something similar for the art and music submissions.

Britt asked when the submission deadline was – Dec. 1 – and Dao suggested doing something like a rolling deadline instead of just having one final deadline. Mollie said that was done somewhat last year because Windhover took submissions after their original deadline.

Britt suggested tapping into alumni more, having Open Mic nights sponsored by a local gallery and hosting a Pecha-Kucha type event in addition to Open Mics might generate more interest and be exciting. She knows some people in the Raleigh group that she thinks would totally be on board with getting involved.

Dao suggested getting in touch with the communication officers in each college but everyone thought focusing on student groups might be better. She said the Design Council would be a good way to reach more students – the Design School’s “Bash” is coming up soon and that would be a good place to promote awareness.

Posters — Mollie has started a Twitter. Coop said tweeting teasers might be a good way to reach more people. Britt said Mollie should consider delegating tweeting to several people so no one person has the sole responsibility and more info can be there.

Everyone agreed for the need to develop a plan, goals to generate income from additional sources to ensure the publication’s perpetuity, but all agreed that this should be done through fundraisers, soliciting donors, not advertising in the publication.

Coop said T-shirts with donors’ logos, info might be a way to give donors’ more visibility. Everyone agreed that only a simple list at the end of the book should be considered for inclusion.

There was discussion about how WKNC might help make connections with bands that might want to advertise this way. Britt said getting a gallery to host a fundraiser might be an option and she will follow-up with some Design Box folks about that.

All decided that meeting again before the end of the semester was a good idea – Wednesday, Nov. 10, 6 p.m. – and that everyone should stay in touch, continue dialog with each other.

Technician/Nubian Message

Present: Amanda Wilkins, Technician editor; Mario Terry, Nubian Message editor; Paul McCauley, Student Media Board of Directors elected member; Dick Reavis, journalism associate professor; Toni Thorpe, African American Cultural Center program coordinator; Andrew Williams, electrical engineering senior; Nathan Hardin, Technician news editor; Tyler Dukes, Student Media production assistant

Wilkins began by looking for advice about the vacancy of the Viewpoint editor position, which she said is one of her biggest issues. She said the section is understaffed, and she has trouble filling the page with content from her existing columnists.

So far, she’s posted the positions around the office and contacted campus organizations about writing guest columns when people from those organizations complain or when issues salient issues come up. She sent e-mails to professors about recruiting, but she hasn’t received any responses. Her ideal staff would be about 12 writers.

Reavis said he will spread the word among his classes. Dukes said appearing in front of classes in person will get better results than just e-mailing. McCauley suggested running a PSA on WKNC and promoting the open positions online on technicianonline.com, Facebook and Twitter. He also said he could help to further brainstorm ideas outside of the meeting.

In terms of training new Viewpoint writers, McCauley also suggested that instead of assigning them two “practice columns,” Wilkins should make them write two news, features or sports stories so they’ll learn more about the reporting and researching process.

Dukes also suggested Wilkins talk to her senior staff about the possibility of rotating editorial writers, either the senior staff themselves or their deputies and staff writers.

Reavis said he’s been surprised by the quality of some of the editorial content, like one urging Chancellor Randy Woodson to change the campus policy on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as it applies to ROTC.

“I thought, ‘That was a great editorial. How’d it get in the Technician?’” Reavis said.

Terry said one of the biggest problems he’s seen so far is a lack of awareness of the Nubian Message on campus. He said he especially thinking that’s true when it comes to the paper’s history. On that note, he said he worries the campus too often compares the Technician and the Nubian Message to each other, even though they both serve different purposes.

Thorpe suggested Nubian Message staffers do a piece on the history of the Nubian Message, possibly tying it in with the upcoming anniversary of the African American Cultural Center. Dukes said suggested as staffers work on the story and contact previous editors and reporters, they should inform former staffers about the Student Media alumni directory, online at http://ncsu.edu/sma, which allows users to browse and submit their information.

Terry also said he was worried about the continued leadership of the paper in terms of passing knowledge from his staff to the next. He said he feels that often much of the progress one editor makes over the course of the year doesn’t carry over, then the next editor has to do a lot of rebuilding. The only way for the Nubian Message to continue to improve is to build on success year after year.

Recruitment and retention efforts are a big part of this concern, Dukes said, suggesting that Terry and Wilkins combine their efforts to recruit at classes around the University. Dukes said creating a staff manual for the Nubian Message might also be an important step at this point, since it will help with continuity.

On the subject of content, Reavis said both papers had been noticeably trending toward PR events and entertainment in lieu of harder news coverage. He said sports, editorial and features — although that page tends to run too many product reviews — had all been pretty decent. There was nothing terribly controversial about any of the stories he’s seen in the paper, and he said he felt like coverage in the news section has actually gotten worse. He said if student reporters want to create a paper filled with PR and entertainment, they can, as long as they’re clear with readers about their mission. He also recommended putting sports and features on part of page one, since they tend to be stronger than news.

Dukes disagreed and said he thinks the breadth of news coverage in the Technician has actually improved. He also pointed to several examples where reporters pursued stories more in-depth, like the piece on predatory towing.