January 2018 Community Advisory Board Minutes
The WFIT Community Advisory Board (CAB) serves in an advisory role to WFITs staff and Board of Directors. The membership of the CAB reasonably represents the diverse needs and interests of communities served by WFIT. The CAB assists WFIT in being responsive to community interests in regard to programming and services.
WFIT Community Advisory Board Minutes
January 24th 2018 4 pm at the WFIT studios.
Contained within are the minutes of the WFIT Community Advisory Board, held at the first quarterly meeting of the 2018 calendar year, on January 22nd at 4pm at WFIT Studios, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL. Community Board Members Mary Berlin, Rosemary Cruz, Lee Garner, and Donna McEnrue were present; Ann Lansing and Ras Michael were absent. WFIT Staff members Terri Wright, Jane Clary, Pam Pedersen, George Wilson, Sonny Wolfgram, and Theresa Conway were present. T. J. Misilo and WFIT show host, Mary Elwell, were also in attendance. The Meeting Agenda was distributed, and Terri Wright opened the meeting with a reading of last quarter’s minutes, followed by approval of those minutes.
The first order of business was discussion of Lagoon Minutes, a new series of 60-second spots. Terri Wright explained that the Marine Resources Council was initially approached to produce them; when the MRC found they were unable to do so, faculty from FIT/IRL Research Institute were approached and agreed to produce the spots. A graduate student was ultimately tasked with writing spots for the series. To date, only two (2) of the necessary twelve (12) spots have been written. Donna McEnrue volunteered to act as liaison between WFIT and the grad student to facilitate completion of the spots; Terri Wright will initiate introductions via email.
The next order of business was planning the February Broadcast Booster Event. After discussion, it was unanimously decided the theme would be “Mardi Gras”, complete with floats, costumes, music, beads/trinkets and “New Orleans Style” food and coffee.
Moving on, Terri Wright related the latest information about the upcoming Jesse Colin Young concert. With only one sponsor, WFIT must sell 79 more tickets just to break even; a sold out concert would net $6,875. Unforeseeable circumstances and expenses led to the decision to hold no more concerts at WFIT/Gleason Performance Center. Board Members were invited to attend the concert.
Next on the agenda—discussion of the 2018 Garage Band Contest and Sonic Waves Music Fest. This year’s contest drops the high school/college student requirement, which should result in a greater number of submissions. After discussing pros and cons of holding the festival at Intracoastal Brewing Co., the decision was made to keep it at the FIT Pantherium, but with a later start time of 3pm rather than noon. Non-Profit organizations will be invited to participate. Other suggestions included the addition of a Petting Zoo and Drum Circle. On a side note, the suggestion was made to consider Intracoastal for a May Broadcast Booster Event.
Moving on to current issues, TJ Misilo brought everyone up to speed on WFIT’s streaming service, which has been down since the beginning of the year. Windows had been running the service but ultimately proved unreliable. A new encoder was purchased, which has since resolved the issue. Terri Wright then talked about the need for a basic staff/DJ operation manual for Rivendell automation. Mary Elwell volunteered to write one.
Moving on to goals, Terri Wright discussed a possible program opening due to show host illness and a possible retirement. This was followed by discussion of program changes, including the possibility of moving Blues with a Twist to Friday, and Lucy’s Sonic Garage to Tuesday 7-10pm. No final decisions have been made at this time.
Discussion then moved to fundraising ideas, including a “Vintage Market” event to be held in November 2018. Rosemary Cruz and Terri Wright will continue to be in communication about this. Discussion concluded with the consensus to continue with proven fundraising strategies at this time, rather than overextend the staff with additional fundraising events.
The floor was then opened up to questions. Donna McEnrue asked if there had been any resolution on the Space Coast Live website (leadership of which WFIT was invited to assume after the original administrator retired). George Wilson explained why WFIT eventually had to decline