Transcription
Okay, we will go ahead and get started. Uh, we did introductions earlier.
>> Why is that happening? Sorry, we're working through an echo.
>> It's the volume on that thing is on.
>> The volume, but the audio on that thing.
>> But I don't know how to.
>> Okay. Okay. What is this going to do?
>> Try not to sound like the guy on the radio that's listening to himself. Um.
>> I'm sorry.
>> We sent out the minutes in advance. Um, are there any edits to those minutes?
>> Yes, I hear the last meeting. Here. I believe.
>> You want to get this fixed.
>> No, no, no, no. I think I think you. Are you able to hear us now?
>> Yes.
>> There's an echo.
>> We're trying to fix that. How about now?
>> Yes.
>> Oh, no echo. Okay, great.
>> Treasurer's report.
>> Can everyone hear me?
>> Yes.
>> Great.
>> Okay. So, the first thing I'd like to go over with you is the income and expense report. It'll be the one that has some color on it. There's a yellow column in it. Go.
All right. Um, you can see that we've had a a large increase in our membership. Um, it's a change of about 54% over last year. Now, this change is due in part to successful fundraising and membership drive. However, there was a $149,000 overstatement last year on the financial statement. Last year's general ledger trial balance shows the amount for membership at $1,321,876. Um, but the expense reported 1.44 million. So, not all of that is an actual um increase. Um, still, it is a significant increase. Um, on your contractual uh line there, it is down about 24%. Uh, the difference is still due primarily to uh not having been paying the Nelson invoices for um from September through February. Um, those invoices from the 2025 area from that same period were about $30,000. So, if we had paid those all as we went along, there wouldn't be a really a big material difference between last year and this year, which would be expected. Um, on our printing, we're up 1,089%. Now, this is also due to, and we talked about this a little bit last time, the mail campaigns, um, this year are getting coded properly. Last year all of them were getting coded to postage. Not all of it postage. Some of it's labor, some of it's printing, some of it's supplies. So those are getting coded properly. Now, um, travel is down. So far this year, we have not paid any travel um out of the friends account. Your premiums and promotions um, it's not a material change. It's just 5%, so it's really not worth uh spending much time on. Uh, here, our postage, it is, you can see the postage is down 99%, which is the other flip side of the printing. So, not everything's getting charged to postage. Have a more realistic postage number there for this year. Um, our computer and database um is down about 54%. Um, in FY25, $55,000 in bank charges was accidentally included in the computer and database category on this report. Um, so posted year to date in that period was $39,000, which would not be of material difference to this year. Um, hospitality is down. We haven't paid any hospitality charges out of friends funds this year. Um, association dues are down. Um, there are a number of associations that we haven't paid this year. I guess we didn't join them. Um, and in that period of time last year, we had paid those same associations $8,900. So, had we paid those same associations again this year, we would still, we wouldn't have much of a material difference, but apparently we didn't join them all this year. Um, educational outreach. Um, there were no training classes paid for year to date. Um, and there were more invoices for the education department paid from friends funds than in FY25. So, uh, not a huge, it's a pretty good difference, but it's very, very well explained there. Our other expenses are down, uh, significantly. Um, advertising last year was $5,100 and zero this year. And we also paid $1,800, $1,850 to for program rentals last year, but not this year. So, that's the difference between last year and this year.
>> Um, any questions? Rhonda, could you talk about the line item for office?
>> Office versus $1,000 then $7,000.
>> Oh, yeah. Before I skip that. Um, yeah. Last year the um financial statement gave us a a number of $1,000 for office. That was not correct. Um, actual general ledger trial balance number for FY25 for the same period was $74,930.
>> So it was misstated by a large amount. Um, if not for this error last year, the change between last year and this year would not be material because last year was 749, this year 76105. So, not, it's a big difference, but not really, just because there was a mistake on the financial statement last year.
>> Sorry, I skipped that.
>> They do a lot of mistakes.
>> It happens. Did the auditors not catch it?
>> The auditors don't really audit financial statements. They just audit.
>> The numbers we get from.
>> Yeah. And then um, then they produce financial statements from those. And when we're just, so you'll have an idea, this is a picture of our general general ledger trial balance. And it basically just gives you a bunch of categories and each category is color-coded. And that's how I hook it up to this sheet right here. That's for me. Um, but if you're, if you're not careful, you can accidentally grab this line. You can grab in this blue area, you can accidentally grab this yellow line, make it blue, and if you're not really paying attention, that's going to happen. You know, we're all human. I hate that there was that many mistakes last year to point out this year, but I felt like it was, I would be doing everyone a disservice if I didn't tell you the differences and why it truly happened.
>> Thank you. Um, the next thing I'd like to look at is the discretionary count that shows.
>> I'm sorry.
>> Okay. When you look at 26 budget, you're 1.5.
>> So, it's showing us $430,000 over budget.
>> Bottom line.
>> Oh, I see that. Sorry, I did not. I was so tied up with this other stuff. Didn't really address that.
>> But let me make a note.
>> Right. That's.
>> That might be a, I'm going to circle this and that might be a um formula issue because these get the old stuff gets copied over to a new one and if we don't check these formulas sometimes that happens.
>> What numbers are you looking at, Brian? I, I'm just looking at the net income and if we had some restatements in the accounts, I mean, it's fine if it's 1.9, that's great. We were budget.
>> Bottom line, D. Yeah.
>> Yeah, of course.
>> One is year to date, the other is annual, right?
>> Right.
>> But the budget is 1.5.
>> Just looking at the budget, what the budget was projected at.
>> Okay.
>> Um, I know we had an increase in membership and we had an increase in dues. I just would have expected that to go down a little bit with some of those other restatements. Actually, that's where we are. That's outstanding.
>> Well, I will check it and uh send out an email. I'll send it to Kathleen and then she can forward it to you all. So, you'll know what um what I find out as to the reasoning behind that. And if it's simple, I hope it's just as simple as I messed up a formula.
>> I, I hope you didn't mess up because number.
>> Well, I, I'd rather be right. I'd rather have everything be correct. So, if it's, if I did mess up and it changes, well.
>> I mean, it looks like it's just directly attributed to the membership and the increased.
>> Revenue that we've had come in from that.
>> Very conc. And you, you're probably. Yeah, you're probably very right about that. I think that's.
>> So, we're overshooting our budget from what we.
>> What you wanted. Well, with the, the amount of membership um drives that they're doing and how successful they're being, I'm really not surprised by that.
>> Um, and we'll take that as long as we can get it.
>> Right.
>> Okay. So, moving to the discretionary account, it's the top line says membership revenue July through January 2026. So, so far we've got um $192,000 in membership this year, almost 193,000. Um, below that, everybody find it.
>> I'm just rushing. Okay.
>> That's not the right. My numbers are different.
>> Yeah, I have.
>> Oh, I know. I'm sorry. You were right because I may had to made, I made an addition. So, we really have. Yeah. One is revenue and one is expenses. So this is both. Um, the first one, the top line should say $233,585.
>> Okay.
>> There we go. That was my mistake for not reprinting this for myself.
>> Um, and that includes, this first number I gave you didn't include January because we weren't finished with January membership entry, but we did since finish that and that's included in this report. That brings it up 233. Um, below that, you'll see the things that we've paid out of the discretionary fund, which is the 10% fund. Um, and then below we have um the, uh, it'll be the 192 or the 233,000 plus 10% would be your 256,000 would reduce, reduced by expenditures of 18266 brings us to a balance at the end, end of the period of $194,15.
>> I've got 23.
>> 23. Oh, I'm sorry. I should be reading her page because I've got mine wrong. But yeah, 238. Same on me. I'm so embarrassed. Sorry, y'all.
>> Okay.
>> And this includes January.
>> It does include January.
>> February.
>> Not February. We just got February. Actually, Meredith is inputting February numbers right now. It takes us a little while into the next month to finish the previous month. Um, the next page, we have the membership revenue is showing you all the revenue for each period. So, um, you can see, I think we had last, last time I was here, we had up to the fifth to October showing. So in November, we've added a uh $36,000 and that's 10% of the, the, uh, membership revenue brought in during November, October. Um, December was 45 and January was 40,000. So that brings us to a grand total of $233,585.66 so far for the year.
>> Anything else?
>> Let me get, is this just the discretionary number?
>> Yes, that's just discret. Yeah, the last two pages are just your 10% account. And if you'd like for me to label that 10% account, but I do have a question if that's okay. We're only talking and seeing the finances of the friends, right? How, how do we comprehend also the whole station or public broadcasting? How we fit into this? What portion of it? And what's, what's your budget? You know, your overall budget.
>> Um, you mean the EBA?
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um, the next quarterly commission meeting is next week. Uh, we had to push it because of the session or anything. Um, so it's next week and that will, we'll have an overview of the entire, the entire budget. Um, membership usually makes up what's the total budget? I'm blanking right now. Oh, well, yeah, I would be.
>> I'm thinking of our Oasis budget, which doesn't include this stuff. So.
>> Right.
>> Yeah.
>> That's okay. Okay. Um, so for the state, the amount we get from the state.
>> 3.8 million. Membership usually brings in 2.1 million. Um, and then the rest of the money that comes in is for the foundation. Um, those are either bequests or grants or underwriting or other income. Um.
>> Underwriting, having people, uh, underwrite a show. Is that where the underwriting is? I mean, like the sponsors.
>> Yes, sponsors.
>> So that goes to the um.
>> Foundation.
>> Foundation. Um, so the friends is just the memberships.
>> Yeah. No, I understand. It's confusing.
>> It's confusing for those, those of us who work here, too.
>> So about 35 to 40% of the total.
>> Probably. Yeah.
>> Yeah. And ours, the ship is usually the one that it can fluctuate a little bit faster than the foundation.
>> The foundation funding is generally a little more stable with the outlying requests that we don't know about, which is usually what happens with this.
>> How much does the foundation actually contribute on a regular basis? Because I thought theirs was just managing the assets that they had.
>> Um, it's sort of those, they um, I'm really blanking on how much money they have. Um, I know that as far as the assets that are the investments, it's four and a half million.
>> It's probably closer to 5 million because we do have, we did get some gifts to the endowment.
>> Um, but outside of that, that's where the grant funding lives. That's where the underwriting funding lives and I'm not sure what those totals are right now.
>> Okay.
>> I couldn't understand how, what, what parts of that get pushed back into your, your budget, you know, as compared to just managing the assets.
>> Yeah. No, they have two streams of funding like that. People who give to the endowment that gets invested. Everything else is money we can use.
>> Interest. I mean, you were, you've been going to them recently, you've been going to them. Have you understood that completely that.
>> How they do it? Yeah.
>> I, I finally did, but it took a while. You know, it's not something that's absorbed quickly.
>> It takes some time to figure out the structure. I mean, these memorandums, memorandum of understanding or um, you know, it's kind of form the foundation of how all of that's put together and you can sit on this board for quite some time without ever really understanding that, I'm afraid.
>> Yeah.
>> Um, no kidding.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, it's, it's humbling to finally start to figure some of that out and it's probably time for them to kick me off the board after that. No idea to have some sort of presentation. What can we grow? How can we be involved with it?
>> I mean, I, I think under our direct control is is growing the membership,
>> You know, getting the word out, bringing, you know, and that's done exceptionally well this year. Some of that I think is directly attributable to the political climate and it's, you know,
>> Helped us probably more than they.
>> Intended. Took away from where else.
>> Could I ask for some clarification? When you talk about foundation, that's the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation.
>> Yes.
>> And the endowment fund, that's the same thing. Is that right?
>> It's managed by the foundation.
>> The endowment fund is managed by the foundation. And the foundation is the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Educational broadcast.
>> Oh, no.
>> You almost had it. I know.
>> Okay. Y.
>> But in terms of our scope and what the board does, it's primarily around membership and then administration of the 10% fund. That, that's what we're empowered to allocate.
>> It's nice to know how we fit in.
>> Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.
>> And we were looking for leverage and trying to figure out what we could do, you know, for some of for some of the things that were happening around us. Um, you know, that was important to know is how much do the friends contribute and how much exactly what part of this is the friends and so that we can um, you know, do whatever we, you know, might want to do, but of course, we found ourselves woefully short on real leverage to do much of anything on so much of this. I mean, we, you know, don't want to destroy the battleship, we want to try to join and do something important.
>> So our contribution to West Virginia Public Broadcasting or educational broadcasting is 35 to 40% of the budget.
>> Yeah. Of the total budget. And that's been pretty much the way it's been for a long time.
>> I would assume it's growing since we've lost a million dollars from the feds, right? And.
>> Sure.
>> I mean, so our portion becomes.
>> Okay. Well, um, I think I'm following this conversation, but obviously as the state appropriation goes down each year, then our percentage increases. Membership.
>> I'm saying about the federal government as well. 12,000 down from the state is pretty.
>> Yes.
>> Not not the same thing for us to increase our percentage.
>> Best we can. And it puts us in the position when we have to really.
>> Didn't mean to carry on.
>> No, it's fine. Uh, any additional questions on the finance report?
>> I just want to make a a comment along the lines of what you're talking about. It is amazing the money that is being raised by the friends and that the fact that it's going up and you look at what a million dollars already, $2 million in West Virginia with all that's going on. It is totally amazing and heartening.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
>> I think it's the ultimate endorsement.
>> Absolutely.
>> Yeah. Mhm.
>> We just need to figure out how to.
>> Course set that up the the ladder.
>> Sustainable. Yes.
>> If anyone knows of an 18% mutual fund out there.
>> No, that would be too good to be true.
>> That's not the ones to do.
>> Well, Mr. Chairman, I would move to receive an announcement.
>> Thank you.
>> I'll second.
>> All in favor?
>> Any oppose? Approve the finance report. Uh, we'll move on to uh chairperson's report. The executive committee update. We met last week. Um, primarily the business discussed was around the 10% um allocations and um Kathleen, I'll let you speak to those in detail and then we.
>> All right. Um, I think in the past we have gone through the entire list and then rather than deciding on each one, we'll take it as a whole at the end. Um, so this is the sheet that starts with the list of conferences at the top. Um, these are conferences, uh, memberships and certifications, education, what's the replenishment, video production request. These are things that you all traditionally have supported through the 10% um amount that you can encumber to us. Um, and so these are the things, these are, I'll, these will be presented in a timely manner. So there may be other requests in the future, but the time is not significant at this point. So they are not being requested right now. But as far as the conferences, the PBS annual meeting is from May 5th to 7th. Um, there's only one staff member currently here who went to the PBS annual meeting the last time we sent people. So, there's a whole bunch of new people that should go. Um, so I'm requesting $20,000 to send four staff. It's in Austin, so that would include flights, hotels, all and the registration. Um, and then, uh, PMDMC, which they changed the name of it. This is the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference. Um, it's in Chicago this year. It's July 8th through 10th. Um, I think there's three staff that should go to that. I'm requesting $12,000 for that. Um, the NITA conference is in September and that's educational television. Um.
>> And there are three staff who would like to go to that. Two education staff and the director of programming. So that's also, I'm asking for $12,000 for that. Um.
>> That is Vegas. I think that's where it is. Um, and then PMCC. We don't have any details on this yet, like the location or the actual date, but we're basing this on the last time somebody went. Uh, it would just be the director of programming, and that was $4,000.
>> What is PMCC?
>> Uh, Public Media Content Collective, formerly the uh Public Radio Conference and um, we've had, uh, we've previously been uh members in the past, due to I think some errors in communication when I took over from Eddie, our membership last. We tried to correct that last year and then we kind of had a, our funding freeze. So we're, we're looking to get check in with them and refresh some of our radio programming out there and get a better handle. Hopefully get some of our stuff out there. So then the next thing under the memberships is our membership for PMCC, which is $2,500, which we would like to renew that. Um, the line item after that is for, uh, it's for our HR director. It's she refers to as SHRM. Uh, it's their certification program. So, and it's the $300 annual certification. Uh, the next thing is the CFRE, which Certified Fundraising Executive um renewal. That's for me. Um, and, uh, the friends had previously paid for my training and initial CFRE um certification. So that's, I would like to maintain that. Um, it has been helpful with resources and the same with the, uh, SHRM membership. Nicole uses her resources on that on pretty much a daily basis. So these are both very valuable um memberships or certifications to maintain. Uh, the education department would like to replenish the resources that they give out at events. Those are books, those are printables, those are little stuffed animals, like everything that we give out. And so they're asking for $15,000 for that. They haven't replenished them for a while. And we're starting to have a lot more events that they are attending. So, it would be helpful to have some of that. Um, and then the writer's contest is coming up and they would, uh, there are student judges from Marshall that will be judging the uh elementary school uh entries. So, um, we're asking to if you would provide the meal for the judges at the writer's contest. Um, when they are judging. Um, video production is asking for $5,000. They're trying to complete Always Free and so $3,000 will help with travel and reenactor fees to complete the project and that travel will be to Fort Edwards and Capen Springs and uh reenactor fees, rental fees, um, and you can read the more of the details there. Uh, then Almost Heavens is the uh program where we film with the astrophysicist at the Clay Center. Shannon is an astrophysicist.
>> Yes, she is.
>> Yeah. Um, and so we're getting ready to start the second season and so this would help pay for travel, uh, to take Shannon to some other locations instead of just being in the Clay Center or here on the green screen. So, um, that's $2,000 for that. Mountain Stage is asking for $10,000 for marketing. And the back of this page has the breakdown of what their marketing expenses are. And finally, News would like to have $400 for editor training for Bill Lynch. Um, I think the training is a valuable asset and I know personally having professional development supported by you all makes you feel valued by the organization and so I think all of these are not vital, but they are appreciated by the.
>> And I will add, the executive committee reviewed all these and we support the request as well. So the total request comes to $81,890.
>> Um, quick question, just curious, the memberships and certifications, are those some of the things that from the um income and expense association dues where there's been a lapse? Is that what some?
>> Okay. That is. Okay. Thank you.
>> Oh, sorry. Scott, go ahead.
>> I'll do it.
>> Motion to accept.
>> I have a question.
>> Second it.
>> I did.
>> Uh, the astrophysicist.
>> Back to that. I'm looking forward here. Um, that's something that this astrophysicist does at the Clay Center but works for us.
>> No. No. We're producing a program with her. She is hosting it. Um, and it's. Chris, would you like to post?
>> Yeah. Um, Always Heavens is our little target to show about what you can see above the mountains of West Virginia and the relating areas around all corners. Um, Shannon Silverman, she currently works, well, hopefully she'll look forward to all time at the Astro residence at the Clay Center and the Clay Center is a co-sponsor of this program. They help us make sure all our information is accurate, make sure um because, you know, the stars are really a mission to most of us. Uh, so Shannon comes over and films during her hours while she goes to the fair. So there is about her work during her time there. The money would be used for so we can actually go somewhere else like the Green Bank Observatories or whatever to add a little more depth to what's actually not just for our green screen animation behind.
>> How many segments are you making?
>> We are. This past season, we are currently wrapping up the first 20.
>> Our goal was to have four to six per season. So you have six for winter, etc., etc. And going into season two, we want to get into more specific things that relate to West Virginia, like, you know, the astronauts that come from here, you know, the scientists contributed to the space program, as well as locations like Green Bank and other things that involve the state to fruition. Um, so we want to be able to leave our nest upstairs and go out on the road and get some out there.
>> Nice.
>> Nice.
>> Good.
>> How long is an episode?
>> About three minutes. Program and on uh Passport and YouTube, our social medias.
>> Okay.
>> We like to eventually be able to do a speech episode. It's just we got to find connected episodes that actually work together and not just 26 minutes out.
>> Thank you guys.
>> Any additional questions?
>> Kathleen, I'm, I'm interested in the, the investment in the education program um, which is so important and particularly more and more as school systems here are starving. But I'm, I'm curious. Were you allowed to attend the appropriation request to to House and Senate Finance Committee?
>> Oh, okay. Because I'd be interested in knowing what the legislators think about our education resources, if they're even aware or that's valued as much as Mount, for example. But you were not there.
>> I was not.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Any questions? Okay, we have a first and second. All in favor?
>> I.
>> I.
>> Okay, the 10% requests are approved. Thank you all.
>> We'll go ahead and move into committee reports. Are there any standard committee reports?
>> Nominated.
>> Oh, nominating committee. I have no reports. Are, are we not going to have it more? Do we have more openings in, uh, in our board?
>> Oh, yes.
>> So how do we.
>> The annual elections are coming up.
>> The elections were.
>> Like we just did it. Yeah.
>> We're talking about two different things, I think, because we had the, the election for the executive team.
>> And now we have the, the community elections related for board members.
>> Okay. Well, this is March. All right. But I guess I haven't been in touch with the staff about, uh, those elections and looking at, uh, the terms that are expiring. So, I've been falling down on the job. I have done need to work with staff.
>> Yeah. I mean.
>> And the committee obviously.
>> We always have some opening. So.
>> Yeah.
>> And the committee reviews them.
>> Yes.
>> Yes. Afterwards with K.
>> Is there a calendar?
>> Well, it is, go back in my files to see what the calendar initiates.
>> But if, if you have someone in mind, then you should contact Rita. I mean, for sure. Figure out.
>> Yeah, you have to find the, the spot in the area to see where you can bring them in from. Right.
>> Well.
>> What I'm realizing is.
>> Yeah, as staff get smaller and smaller that this board, you know, takes on more, a little more responsibility and time. So, I need to be rem, remember that. So, thanks for bringing that up. And I have one more about committees. Sure. We had some discussion, at least a few of us did, about a committee to look at the bylaws again to refresh them. They need to be um, and I think there is a committee, but I don't know what it is or who's on it. But.
>> I think Eddie chairs it.
>> Yeah.
>> I don't know.
>> No, no, no, no. I did, but I don't.
>> That the bylaws committee. Yeah. No, I do not chair the bylaws committee.
>> To my should.
>> I guess we have a question. Do we have membership on the bylaws committee and do we need to select membership to be on the bylaws committee?
>> Well, do we want to.
>> Right. I know typically the executive committee um will appoint members from the board to work on a bylaws committee and I'm happy to do that if that's, you know, the will of the group. Maybe we should have a vote because.
>> We might just have somebody, one, one or two people just take a look to see if there's anything that needs to be updated.
>> Well, I know Walt was interested. I think.
>> Yeah, we have talked about a couple.
>> Sarah, weren't you interested?
>> Yeah, if, if, if it needs to be done. Sure.
>> Okay.
>> Do we have, we established that it's that they're outdated? I.
>> And who among us would make that determination? Well, if the chairman appoints the committees, so.
>> I'm happy to help. It sounds like some, it sounds like you may have identified a couple of areas that we need to address.
>> And if, if there are those areas, then several of us can get together and try to do that if the chairman decides to appoint us to do that.
>> Consider yourself so that might happen. I suspected that might happen.
>> Who are the appointees? That's Elliot. Yes, I'm, I'm being volunteer to.
>> Hi, this is Rich Goldberg. I'm willing to volunteer to work with.
>> Elliot. Good.
>> Thank you.
>> And Sarah.
>> Doesn't Walt want to do it?
>> Sure.
>> We need it. Oh, yeah. We need it.
>> Pure.
>> H A U P.
>> Yeah, I know how to spell that. Sherman, tough part.
>> That's right. In the minutes you'll find her name. Mr.
>> Sherman, should we ask Walt to identify some of those things that he already knows are issues and then is there anybody, I don't know whether there's anybody else out here who has identified things that have become stumbling block.
>> Yeah, probably has.
>> I would recommend that the committee create a list of those bylaws that they feel need revision and then we'll bring it back and discuss as a group.
>> Yeah. Object. And we open, I guess we open up to everybody, anybody who sees anything that needs to, that they found as a stumbling block. Let's look at it and see whether it's the right thing to do or not. Right.
>> Down and read them by law.
>> Oh my gosh. Really?
>> Read them.
>> Thing about rules is you got to read them.
>> We've all worked on the bylaws at one time or another.
>> We did that.
>> Any more discussion committee perspective? All right.
>> Okay. If not, we'll move on to the organizational update. Kathleen.
>> All right. So, um, we were included in the state budget this year, uh, at $3,859,496, which is $12,596 less than last year. So, stable, flat, as they like to say. Um, and I decided that this time if I could, I wanted to focus on the projects versus the departments because a lot of these projects involved multiple departments. Um, most recently the big one was the legislature today. Uh, because that included news, video production, digital, education, and engineering. Um, because it was quite a production as far as moving parts. Um, in addition to the news team, we had stories from WVU and Marshall students. We had two teams of high school reporters and they produced stories that were included on the weekly program. We did only have the program once a week this year. Um, but then their stories are also featured on the Legislature Today student reporters program page on our website, which is under education. Uh, we use short form videos on social media, uh, which resulted in more than 13,000 impressions on the news department's Instagram post and 51 new followers, which is a big deal. Uh, more than 200 viewers watch the final hours live broadcast on YouTube. Uh, Legislature Today student reporters resource page on our website features video clips, worksheets, and other components so that teachers may use this to teach civics, uh, to their students. Um, and the page was visited more than 1500 times between December 3rd and March 22nd. There are nine videos that students produced and they've been viewed 622 times on YouTube. So, this is a worthwhile project and, and I'm excited that this is the third year for it. I can only see it getting better, bigger. Uh, we also launched the Legislature This Week podcast, um, that released new episodes every Saturday on our website, Apple Podcast, Spotify, NPR1, and YouTube Music. During the season, video production is still working on Always Free, which is the companion piece to the American Revolution. And uh, Chris Barard has been speaking with WHRO in Virginia, WQED in Pittsburgh, and WUB in Ohio um about airing our documentary on their stations. We've continued filming at Fort Randolph and Point Pleasant, Morgan's Cabin in St. Albans, and the Old Stonehouse in Bell. They're going to Fort New Salem and Fort Edwards and returning to Fort Rolph. So, they still have some other places to visit. Um, Almost Heavens is approaching its one-year anniversary and we've got 20 episodes and the fourth episode of Mountainology is planned for an April release. Hey Chris, what's the topic of that one?
>> Um, that is, that is the second annual plate session.
>> Okay. Um, we did some, uh, digital posts, social media posts, uh, for Black History Month and Women's History Month. And that involves education, video production, and the digital departments. And the teams work together to post short educational videos with classroom resources, uh, to Facebook and Instagram for Black History Month during February and Women's History Month during March. And the videos on Facebook alone have resulted more than 39,000 views. And the best performing video has been about Bill Withers with over 19,000 views. So, uh, Inside Appalachia and Cokeways. Cokeways is, um, getting back up and running. We got some new grant funding for it. So that features stories for those who are not familiar about central Appalachia's arts and cultural practices. The reporters are from West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Ohio. Um, and there may be others, but that's the region and those are the stories that they report on. Um, the stories are air on Inside Appalachia and are overseen by the Inside Appalachia team. The Inside Appalachia team also recently attended the Appalachian Studies Conference in Huntington. And they were meeting people, talking about the show, made a lot of contacts, hopefully recruited some reporters. So, it was beneficial for them to be at that. Mountain Stage has a full schedule of shows through the end of June. So, and they're all in Charleston, so there's no excuse. You all can go. Uh, the next one is April 12th featuring Band of Heathens, Donna the Buffalo, Dela May, and Billy Martin with guest host David Mayfield.
>> She's a riot.
>> We also have the new t-shirt. Some of you may have heard about it last week during the fudge drive. This is the Mountain Stage t-shirt that has the graphic on the front includes Cathy's and it has her signature on the back. Hold this up so you all can see the front. There's the back with her autograph. And um, it is a pledge exclusive. You cannot get it anywhere except on the Mountain Stage pledge page. You can't get it at a show. You can't get it any other way. And if we find out you are, we're that. And we had a lot of interest last week during the radio drive. So I can only imagine it's going to increase because it's a great shirt. Um, the writer's contest is quickly, the deadline's quickly approaching, but there's a, a flyer about that in your packet that includes the QR code to if you want to email or find more information. There's an entry form online. There's all the details here and it's for students grades K through five. They can write a story and include illustrations and some of the stories that are final, like in the final um, they get animated by our video production team and some of those videos are available definitely on our YouTube page. I'm not sure if they're available on the education page. They are. Okay. So they're on the education page as well. You can watch them. The stories are really, really good. Um, but the, the entries are due March 31st. They don't have to be here on March 31st if they're put in the mail, but they do have to be postmarked by the 31st. And since the post office is getting a little slow with that, sooner the better. But if you know anybody who would be interested, please share this information with them. Um, Be My Neighbor Day. We're going to have another one. We're, uh, already working with Bread & Roses Productions. They notified us about getting a grant again this year. And so that was the free outdoor event we did last year at, uh, Slack Plaza and um, we partnered with local organizations to um, uh, help share resources that support children and families in our state. Um, and there were over 600 people probably at the first event and we didn't really know exactly how big it would be or how popular or, I mean, Daniel Tiger was there, so that was probably a big draw, but it was very successful and so we're looking forward to another successful year with that. We are in year three of Daniel Tiger's Total Learners and we had expanded that from Boone County to Lincoln, Clay counties and currently they're working on getting the family night out events scheduled for the participating counties and the grant application with the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation for year four is being worked on as we speak. Um, in general, our education team is more likely out of the office than in the office because they are at events, they are speaking at conferences, they're attending conferences, they're at libraries, they're at schools, they're recognizing teachers, they're doing a lot of things. So far this year, they have been in the community 15 times since January, and they estimate 600 educators, children, and families have been impacted by our education program and resources this year. So they do a lot of work that may not get seen by everybody because it's in schools, it's in communities, it's in libraries, but they are doing just as much work as everybody else in this organization even.
>> Um, I don't doubt that at all and I'm not doubting any of it, but um, how does that fit into the public broadcasting part? And I know there's the whole educational filamentation part, right? That's in the governmenty side of things, right? Is that who runs that?
>> Well, all of their programs are based on a lot of their programs are based on PBS Kids programming. Um, because that programming has a lot of educational components to it. Um, curriculum that is created from the programs and that's a lot of what this is based off of.
>> Do you show those? But I don't watch TV. They're on your.
>> Our hour.
>> Yes. Okay.
>> Thank you. Yep.
>> Um, the news department has 12 finalists in 10 categories for the Virginia's AP.
>> Excuse me, what's AP?
>> Uh, Associated Press.
>> Associate. Okay. So.
>> Um, and the awards luncheon for that is this Saturday. So we will find out how many awards we will have won.
>> Good luck.
>> We absolutely will.
>> We'll let everybody know when when we win the awards.
>> Is the news department up there crowing?
>> I mean, 12 finalists. That's impressive. Yeah. Um, now the stuff that keeps us on the air, the engineering updates. So, we've needed a new roof and uh substructure at the Cooper Rock transmitter site. And so, that is going to get started now that the weather is clearing up. That is a vital hub for all parts north of the state. So that is very, very needed um for multiple reasons. The least of which is it keeps the northern part of our state connected to us.
>> What's the cost of that?
>> What is the cost of this?
>> More than it was supposed to be.
>> $250,000.
>> Oh, wow.
>> Yeah.
>> So, we are also working to rehab our Parkersburg transmitter site um because we couldn't move it. So, the TV has already been moved, but the radio will still remain in Parkersburg. So, we are working on getting that up to stop. Um, fiber is being installed to our Garfield Street transmitter site and that will help keep the TV feed from dropping, but we're also going to put a tower cam up there so we can have a live look at Charleston from our tower, which is going to be pretty cool. I'm very excited about this. Um, and then they're going to install fiber, uh, to help with TV siren TV transport stream at Barker's Ridge and link the radio telescope to the network. And then more importantly, firewalls were upgraded here and in Beckley to help keep our network, uh, safe and secure.
>> Um.
>> At the engineering department also, you do that, doing the IT stuff that's.
>> There have been several times in the past month or so where the Wheeling transmitter went out. What's the deal with this?
>> There's no generator there. So anytime take a power hit there, it's been driven a few windstorms go through.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Yeah. So anytime take the power hit, uh, we're emergency power.
>> And generators, uh, depending on the size, you can pretty much.
>> $100,000.
>> So everything else, uh, going on that's not draw.
>> Well, I go to the, uh, app or, uh, in Wheeling, we can actually pick up the Morgantown transmitter as well. It's not as clear.
>> Okay. Well, that answers my question. Thank you very much.
>> My other finally, uh, we've gained over 2,000 first-time members to date this this school year.
>> That's fantastic. Last fiscal year, the whole year, we only gained 1,460. We're well past that, and we still have another quarter to go for the year. Um, we're also ahead of last year's total raise by more than $474,000. Um, and upcoming, we have a fiscal year end mail campaign that will go out in May and June. We're going to have a digital pledge drive which will only be promoted through social media and email. We won't be on TV or on the radio for that for the end of April to coincide with Mother's Day because we were thinking of maybe including the coffee and tea and mug and all the things in a special, uh, thank you gift. Um, but we also have this other project that we talked about last time and then it got talked about a little bit in between the meetings. That's the opportunity for you all to help us by recording spots that we're have on the air. We have a pretty good script now. Um, I will send that out to everybody and for those of you who are close, if you want to come in and record them, absolutely and we can coordinate that. Um, if there's another option, um, on our app, you can use the talk to us feature. There's an option for a voice memo or a video, however you would want to record that. Or you can just record a voice memo on your phone and email it to one of us and we can take it from there.
>> Give us the scripts.
>> Yes, I'll send the scripts out and then, um, it's basically why you support and why you think this is important and, and we'll get your testimonial on the air and, you know, more real people the better. So, um, and with that, that is all I have.
>> Yes, ma'am. Question, uh, Adam is here. I'd really like to know a little more detail about how Mountain Stage is doing.
>> Okay. Well, I prepared a little something.
>> Um, anything specifically you'd like to know about Bonnie or.
>> No, just your, how are you doing financially and everything? How's everything.
>> Panning out?
>> Generally, we're okay. Um.
>> Um, I think it's that way across the country. Uh, I don't think people are buying tickets as early or as often as they once did. I'm trying to get shows announced and on sale a lot earlier. We used to have them on sale for three months. Now we're aiming at four or five months. Um, and just this week, we got an email from someone saying your schedule ends at June. What's up with that? You know, they're obviously planning further out than June right now. And so we got to try to keep up with, uh, that, those trends in the industry. M.
>> Um, just yesterday I received our most recent ratings, um, which I barely had a chance to look at. Unfortunately, I think probably due to the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiencies, we lost 34 stations in our carriage. Now, NPR was able to offer recision funding packages to the stations that carry Mountain Stage. Um, and if not for that, we probably would have lost or we could have expected to lose many more stations. They, those stations pay NPR to carry our show, then we get 90% of those fees. So, uh, apparently as many as 38 stations or at least, uh, stations that represent up to 38 transmitters, you know, weren't able to.
keep the show on their program. So that'll ultimately, you know, leads to less exposure for the show and ultimately leads to less revenue for the show. I don't know exactly how much impact because those rates are all set by NPR. Um, I just would expect to receive slightly less in our next uh uh payment from APR.
>> How many transmitters on do you do? Are there?
>> Uh, it went down from 270 to this says 238, I think. I I have a question and it's not particularly about this, but it's just something that I'm wondering about. NPR is closing down.
>> No, no, no.
>> CPB closed down.
>> NPR public broadcast.
>> Oh, okay. So, is there a difference between what we get fed from NPR and APR? Uh, American Public Radio, I think it's now American Public Media.
>> Um,
>> so those are different distributors. Those are different programs. Okay.
>> Yeah. Know program offerings like APM PRX is another one.
>> PRX are Yeah, they're after NPR. They're kind of our largest stand.
>> Right.
>> After uh NPR, they are our largest source of radio programming. um we had showed like marketplace from them. Um so they are they're another source for the content folks. They're um the same way that PRS is or you know WNYC we get radio labs from WNYC. So they're um they're kind of a larger distributor of public radio.
>> Is there a difference in cost or
>> um there is it's more of a that uh APM's a little more alleart we kind of take more of the programs we get from that whereas sort of the larger package overall from
>> okay thank you
>> but in as much as there's one's more news and one's more there's necessarily that kind of a breakdown they both
>> Any other followup questions for
>> Well, I also realized I forgot one thing.
>> Okay.
>> Um,
>> if I may just add that the t-shirt was Kathleen's idea and I appreciate her support in coming up with that and the first time ever stage pledge exclusive uh item. So, thank you. Nice.
>> Um, the last page of your packet is about the sponsorship opportunities because you all had wanted some talking points.
>> Yeah. So, there are no costs on here because we fit everything to the budget that the underwriter has. It if someone has a $500 budget, we'll figure something out that works best for them. And it also doesn't it could be radio spots, it could be TV spots, it could be digital. We have a lot of digital options now. Um, so this is just a brief list of the opportunities that we have currently. Annie is happy to if you have questions specifically, she's happy to answer any of those questions. You can direct people to her. Um, if they want more information, but this is just all of the opportunities we have for underwriters currently. Um, you know, you can have specific programs, specific podcast, mountain stage, it could be mountain stage nationally, it could be mountain stage locally. It's just there's a lot of options. So, um,
>> that's the kind of list I would like to have trying to figure out how to help.
>> So, that's in your packet. So, and I did email it out to everybody this morning as well.
>> I was going to say you sent it out as well for those that are online. It's in the packet. So, if you have any questions about it, feel free to direct those to Annie because she can help you with all of that.
>> So, unfortunately, I've got another question. Um, when we're looking at the fundraising, there's the fund drives, there's the I mean, I'm listening to radio, there's the suggestion regularly, different presenters about, and then you have things like on your page that you have a donation thing. I'm curious where do they each come from or what's the numbers or how valuable is each section? You know, it's the it's the low pressure mentioning it regularly as useful as the fund drive. So, I know they're important at times and
>> uh just trying to understand how the revenue
>> and and it's a mix, but honestly, the biggest the best results that we get are from the letters. We get stacks and stacks of
>> your story letter to that.
>> No, no, there's um sustainers don't usually see these letters because they're for additional gifts and they are for laps members generally. Um I'm not exaggerating when I say every day in December we got a stack of envelopes this tall
>> with checks in
>> with checks in
>> every day in December in response to these letter campaigns. So these mail campaigns are very important to us. Um, they are they bring in more revenue than any of the pledge drives any of the other opportun like they bring in more to us on a regular basis.
>> Yeah.
>> Do we do a specific push in November?
>> Like I was just thinking related to you know it's tax time and everybody's trying to get their deductions in.
>> Yes.
>> I'd much rather pay it here than pay it to the federal government. So
>> Sure. Yeah. We have um four mail campaigns every year. There's one in February and March. There's one in May and June. That would be the fiscal year end budget year end. Uh, there's one in August and September and then there's one in November and December for uh calendar year end. Those all coincide with pledge drives. The calendars sync up, but it's two different audiences. So the people who want to give during the post drive give online, call the numbers and give that way or call us directly and give that way. The people who don't do that usually respond to the mail. So
>> So how many of the when you send these letters out, how many at a time do you send?
>> Um if it's uh additional gift campaign, a lapse campaign, excuse me, and an acquisition campaign 75,000. 75,000
>> for each one for each campaign.
>> Uh, yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. About that
>> to the same people four times a year.
>> Different people depends on where they are in their renewal cycle because we don't send additional gift notices to everybody if you're within a window of your renewal notices. So it's and same thing's true for last um acquisition. Those are people that may have been members many many many many many years ago and then they get pulled onto this list and then they get letters and we saw a lot of people return in November and December people who had been members for 15 20 years.
>> Wow.
>> Wow. That's impressive.
>> Yeah.
>> Who manages that database?
>> The membership department. Oh, you mean
>> uh this is Harold Brham.
>> Uh am I jumping in the wrong time here? I I just wanted to mention the opportunities to raise money off the elections. there's going to be a very strong interest in the elections coming up and um the that should draw lots of uh listeners maybe members uh maybe contributors and um the also over the summer you could hire few college interns for very cheap to help you cover it maybe draw of younger uh viewers listen anyway way. We might as well make money off of it if we can.
>> But we can't have a political perspective.
>> No.
>> And no mail in ballot.
>> I think uh the legacy news is kind of uh falling, declining. This gives the opportunity for uh public broadcasting to jump in and provide dependable, accurate news, which we do.
>> Thank you, Harold. any other um matters that we didn't address on the agenda? If not, I'll accept a motion to adjourn and give 15 minutes back.
>> So move.
>> Second.
>> Thank you all. Appreciate your time.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.