[Imc-radio] IMC Radio News Group Meeting notes 6/1/2004

[herringb at prairienet.org]

IMCRN MEETING 12 Noon-1PM Tuesday June 1, 2004

Present were:  Danielle Chynoweth (DC); Clint Popetz (CP); Ondine G (OG);
Carol McCusick (CM); Sandra Ahten (SA); Paul Kotheimer (PK, also taking
notes)

Big decisions to be made:  Shall we continue?  Shall we leave our WEFT
slot behind?  How will we make the time commitment over the summer?

The EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:  All currently are hoping NOT to abandon our Monday
slot on WEFT.  We are brainstorming, re-envisioning our work here.  We
will be continuing the conversation about WHERE DO WE GO NEXT? over the
next few weeks.  Meanwhile, Ondine will do half-hour interview-format
shows.  Sandra will do headlines.  Clint and Paul will help with uploading
and any pre-production needs.

We will meet from 1PM-2PM on Tuesdays starting the 15th.  Next week's
meeting will be Noon-1PM, as before.

************************TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS********************

DC brainstorms IMC Radio- WEFT revision relationship:  Our mission has 3
sub-parts:  1. Interview format Ondine's own 1/2 hour no pre-prod all live
2. Features are work intensive. Weekly is too frequent. 3. Local news 10
minutes every few hours daily.

OG  Not enough tie in between Public I and IMC-RADIO. IMC has identity. 
good to have relationship w/ this place.  Good to have in-depth evergreens
with unique perspec.

CP  how we get volunteers what makes it worthwhile

OG & DC  more interaction w/ WEFT.  more pick-up, more repeat?

OG hire a person raise funds
SA  more outlets needed   interviews appropriate hook-up between
content-producers and radio outlet.

CP  taking DC's approach to news.  timeliness?  resource for headlines. 
Do headlines. Get them out.  (Do something which is Low input.  High
visibility. with WEFT)  Radio4All provides plenty of fodder.

OG   Promo needed.

DC  Brooke Anderson has been doing promo for our work.  Some promo is
getting done.  Problem with radio is that the Audience is invisible. 
Current timeslot good
SA  Promo would help.  Incompatible with time demand of prod.
CP  People are listening 4-5PM.
ALL Timeslot is really good.

CP Great story of IMCRN being on in a gas station...  Listeners are out
there.  Production goes out into a black hole

OG can do promo  making topics searchable on internet  making series
available to broadcasting.
DC radio is a secondary outlet.  internet primary source.  maybe
searchability and linking is an issue.  catalog should be on our site. 
update of features by topic.  each linked separately.  break up features. 
Web and not radio.  time-specific vs. evergreen.  W/ Radio4All, you can
link to where your story is.

PK brainstorm breaking up the producer role.  technical vs. content and
personnel organization.
CP archiving could be done  problem is making 1/2 hour with no
fellow-committors  consistent of drum-ups.  content providors. 
Co-ordinator.
DC when one person is the bottom line, buck stops there.  WEFT gets their
content.

CP Even if that role is change  IMCRN is seen as bottomless pit of work. 
we need to change that perception
DC $$ meant an increase in seriousness.

CP immediate Q?? what to do this summer?  other part of coordinating
production is HEADLINES.
OG how do we interact w/ WEFT?
DC morning menu and afternoons, it's possible to fill up some time with
IMCRN headlines.  Making a fax in the workflow of WEFT.

OG gone for a short time this summer.  out 1 week in July-Aug
DC kkranich's sense is that it'd be to difficult to get a hiatus from
WEFT.  tricky to say "hold the slot"  it'd be overused.  Can Ondine turn
the format into a live-on-air interview prog?  Call-ins are possible too. 
go into "low intesity" mode.  hard to swallow concept of losing the slot
on WEFT.
CP keeping the slot is hard to justify when we're just re-running
Radio4All with no local content.
DC our self-description can be changed.  If it'd be radically different,
we'd have to repitch...
SA  I think it's pretty flexible.
CP  research:  chunk of money from WEFT is still forthcoming.  $800. 
Where is it?  Did Sascha M get that $$.
DC  kkranich will be off programming comm and onto WEFT board soon.


OG paying an archivist/cataloguer  .. Willing to do live stuff on Mondays.
 Need help.  Finding interviewees, angles, stories.  Questions coming from
the interviewees.  Help research interview questions.
DC and SA  promise to send along interviews
CP note that we'd need to repitch because an interview-format IMCRN would
be too close to Mick's "Work in Progress"
CM Lori does interviews too.
SA volunteers to do headlines.
CP more than just read and redigest and repeat.  contact with person in
the issue...  agree that IMCRN daily headlines are better in format.
SA keep headlines
CP keeping what we have is not sustainable
OG sense of a solution is getting $$ and funding somebody

DC get WEFT and syndicatees to pay decently.  overall co-ordinator?
CP same $$ ($7000/yr) would be reasonable when it's technical only.  Bring
in trainees.
DC once in a while with great distro would be ideal.
PK agree

ALL let's not cancel airing.
DC  we have knowledge of preproduction.  maybe IMCRN should merge with WRFU?
CP  RFU will be airing air america  local public affairs  flexibility 
drop-ins  production takes time
SA  drop the slot... meet 1/week... find our outlets... before doing
interview, think:  where could it air?
DC another option is
CP deadline makes this happen.  not meeting during summer.  interesting
things to say.
DC motivated by the work around us
SA issues ] do story ] get it out
DC that's a 3-motnh turnaround timeline
CP monumental effort to do it and do it all weekly
DC this conversation and decision-making is necessary, and will take weeks

ALL co-ordinating imminent commitments:  OG live in-studio.  kkranich
could help?

Change meeting time to accomodate summer-school schedules???

 Noon-1PM Tuesday 6/8/04;  1PM-2PM  Tuesday 6/15/04;  1PM-2PM Tuesdays for
the rest of the summer.