[Rfu-station] WRFU NOTES AUGUST 7, 2007

[Ghost Dance]

Notes August 7, 2007 – WRFU MEETING

ADGENDA
Automation
Computer business
Fliers for shows
Sabaa
UofI extension

Vince Parker – Show proposal

Mike's News on finances: [PLEASE SEE MIKE'S UPDATE EMAIL AT END OF NOTES FOR
FINANCIAL UPDATE. . .AND FUNDRAISING INSPIRATION!]
Rough idea of what in our accounts:
    (after BIG audit) – b/c of capital account inconsistencies not as much
money as we hoped
-    approx. $6000 in our account!
Need to keep in mind we have expenses coming up: 5 mo. Of studio overhead
($100/mo)
Phone: $ 105 (35/mo)
$600 in copyright fees to ASCAP/BMI/ETC

-    we inherited $1600 in another account only for portable recording
gear/prod. equipt
-    audio production equiptment (audio workstation)
-    proposal for use of that money

set aside $2500 emergency fund. (for trans prob/lightening/the board goes
out.

w/all expenses subtracted we got:
~5000: in capital expenses (equipt. Mike bought)

in ALL we got ~3789 (PAID: all expenses through to $2008)

$150: set aside for streaming
cost of streaming lisense $864
- industry up in the air on rules

by middle of November we need to replace our tower . . . .
(new board/cds/streaming)


need to do fundraising
letters brought in $2000
$1000 pledge with some lady

Community foundation of E. C. Illinois
Dan is going to work on this proposal

Mike transitioning out of being station mgr.
Ray proposes we purchase a new board . . . .
Mike proposes we attempt to repair the old board to save money

Quality board $2500

Didn't want to FUNDraise, unless we needed equiptment
SOLID proposals for fundraising WE REALLY NEED

Mike proposes a group interested in helping to fundraise

Fundraising campaign:
6 people gave substantial amount with letter campaign

Eloris: We need a fundraising group

Fundraising committee:
Nick/Eloris

Outreach – mtg. w/ children

We have around 80 members

QUAD DAY 8/16
9am-2pm
Sign-up list for volunteers by RAY [SEE RAYS EMAIL @ END OF NOTES]
Make fliers for your show

TASTE OF NEVADA
2pm-5pm
WRFU Remote broadcast

Promote radio station etc.

Ray will send email w/volunteers, and rules of quad day


New people: Vince Parker

Hip hop: Thursday – Friday

4-H Youth development educator: U of I extension: KAREN

New creative ways of how to engage kids –

rfu at ucimc.org

should have had streaming a year ago b/c bigger audience gives us a greater
pool of people to try and fundraise from

under writing opportunities

tower vs.board

WE NEED TO WORK FOR BOTH REGARDLESS



MIKES EMAIL

On 8/9/07, Mike Lehman < rebelmike at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> I don't believe that I've seen a post with the minutes from last
> Tuesday's meeting yet. That is probably a good thing, as I thought I'd
> been pessimistic enough about the adjustments that would be made to the
> RFU account to reflect the capitalized cost of the equipment adjustment
> made by the auditor. So everyone who was at the meeting, please consider
> what I have to say is not going to be particularly good news. Those who
> weren't there will not have to deal with the small bit of optimism, but
> can like we all should, start thinking about what we need to do to start
> doing some very much needed fundraising.
>
> That said, before I go into details, let me give some background. When
> we set up RFU,. we decided that the RFU membership fees should cover the
> basic station expenses. We would only do fundraising for specific
> equipment needs in order to avoid the need to do regular fund drives on
> the air. We did raise the RFU membership from $10/year to $20/year at
> the beginning of 2007, in hopes that this would relieve some of the
> financial pressures we knew were coming and maybe have some left over to
> finance the streaming expenses.
>
> Your RFU membership expires at the end of one year since you last paid
> it. If anyone needs to know when that is individually, please let me
> know. I will be able to tell you the last time you paid. That way you
> will know that it's time to give us your $20 for the next year's
> membership. We have not actually requested formally that people renew,
> because we haven't been organized enough to do so. However, what I will
> tell you below will show you just how vital it is that we get everyone
> to renew ASAP -- and maybe give a little extra if you are able.
>
> Our main issue at this point is that our auditor made a decision that
> equipment purchased to start the station should be capitalized. I won't
> even try here to explain what that means, other than that it reflects a
> legitimate need to show those items as an asset on the books and to
> write off a small part of that asset every year as it got older. The
> problem came in how this adjustment was made. Instead of deducting the
> funds to cover this cost from the RFU account, it was deducted from the
> IMC general fund. This made it seem like those funds were still in the
> RFU account, when in fact they should've been transferred to cover those
> costs instead of having the IMC as a whole pay for them.
>
> The items involved include our transmitter, antenna, audio processor,
> cavity filter, and EAS box. The other night I estimated that to be
> around $5000 when I spoke at the meeting. However, I underestimated what
> these had cost. In fact, this charge comes to $10,202. Ouch!
>
> So here's the rundown on approximately what is in our account. After
> subtracting this charge, we have only $4074.60 in the RFU account. That
> total includes $1633.33 that is dedicated to buying audio production
> equipment, such as an audio production workstation and portable audio
> recording gear, which was transferred to us from the old IMC Radio
> group. So the total that is actually in the RFU account and is available
> for general station expenses and equipment purchases (other than the old
> IMC Radio group dedicated funds) is just $2441.27.
>
> We did identify some cases in which funds paid to cover both IMC and RFU
> membership were instead credited entirely to the IMC account. Those will
> be corrected, but I expect those adjustments to add no more than $500 to
> the RFU account. So once those are made, we're still in pretty bad shape.
>
> The total amount in our account includes $150 that is dedicated to pay
> for streaming. The anticipated regular station expenses until Jan. 1,
> 2008 are these:
> $500 studio overhead ($100/month for 5 months)
> $105 phone ($35/month for 5 months)
> $600 broadcast copyright licensing (estimated, due on Jan. 1, 2008)
>
> Subtracting those expenses leaves us with just $1086.27, all of which is
> dedicated to the new permanent tower fund.
>
> To say the least, this is discouraging news. However, it should be
> remembered that we have done practically NO fundraising since we went on
> the air in November 2005, so it's not really as surprising as it might
> be. We have done a couple of small events and sent out one letter, but
> we have no organized fundraising group. We need to correct that error
> and we need to use this news as inspiration to get ourselves back on a
> healthy financial track. This is the responsibility of everyone, just as
> all other station operations are.
>
> This is one of the main reasons we ask people to participate in station
> meetings -- and not simply do your show. We really need your help to
> keep the lights on! Please start showing up and participating, if you're
> among the approximately half of the station membership that we never see
> at meetings. This is an obligation and eventually, when we get organized
> enough to do so, we'll probably start canceling programming groups and
> shows that don't attend meetings.
>
> A number of ideas were discussed the other evening at the meeting,
> before we knew just how bad of shape we are in financially. We need the
> permanent tower ASAP in order to serve the thousands of listeners we
> could reach in our community, but aren't yet able to. I know there are
> those who want streaming, but this also requires a solid funding source
> to pay for it before we devote anymore of our limited resources to gain
> those listeners, who cost us on an individual basis, unlike those who
> listen to us via the tower do. We also need better equipment, but that
> will have to wait until we can fund replacements. We don't even have the
> emergency fund that I had hoped we could set aside that I described the
> other evening. If something breaks, we simply can't afford to replace it
> right now. Let's hope there's nothing vital that does!
>
> WRFU has many supporters in the community. I know, because I raised the
> first $15,000 that it took to put us on the air myself with the help of
> a few others. But it is now time for the station as an organization to
> step up and take on this task. We couldn't be in much worse shape, so
> all the arguments I've heard about what to spend money on first are
> largely irrelevant. We don't have any money to spend (except for the
> Radio group funds for audio production gear). We need to raise it and we
> need to start ASAP. We need to start thinking of the station as a whole,
> not just about our own shows. Let the discussion begin, but more
> importantly let's start the work and coordination that it will take
> among EVERYONE at WRFU to solve this problem.
> Mike Lehman
> _______________________________________________


QUAD DAY - RAY's EMAIL

Raymond Morales to WRFU
show details

Please plan on arriving 5-10 min before your shift to allow for a smoother
transition between groups. There will be folks from other working groups of
the IMC present. If you have a lawn chair, bring it. Can we get some more
volunteers to fill the afternoon slots?

Can someone volunteer to make an RFU flyer advertising the meeting that
evening with a small map where we are located on it? I will be there for a
good portion of the afternoon slot so do not worry about not feeling
competent to help. Extra hands are ALWAYS welcome.

-Ray



 NAME  9:00 AM 1 Janice Lilly
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  10:00 AM 1 Brianne Boln
 2 Scott Lutz


  11:00 AM 1 Aaron Pollack
 2 Colin Grady


  12:00 PM 1 Stephen Fonzo
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