Minutes of Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2004

Temporary Chairwoman Schiers called the meeting to order at approximately 5:30 p.m. in the Chiefs Room of the SUB. Schiers began by entertaining a motion from Pool to unanimously approve the minutes, seconded by Olsen. The minutes of Feb 17, 2004, were approved unanimously by the board.

ARGONAUT ADVERTISING:

Bottari said Vandal Friday advertising was going very well. The CNBAM Conference is rapidly approaching and the staff is working on the prep work for that. She said the department was meeting its revenue goals.

ARGONAUT:

Passey said, that while several members of the Argonaut had applied for awards at the Society of Professional Journalists conference, theyve been told the paper won only one award, for general excellence. The SPJ rep couldnt divulge what place the Argonaut had won, but Brian said he was hoping for first so the paper could then go on to be judged nationally; the paper finished third in the national SPJ competition last year. Passey added that he found some unused salary monies and plans to spread them out to staff who have been handling more than their load this year. Passey finished by saying that there are at least two applicants from on staff for the Argonaut editor, both were qualified and it would be a tough choice.

GEM:

Bacon said the yearbooks new section editor, which she recently hired, was doing a great job. The staff as a whole has been working hard to finish layouts and meet the deadlines.

KUOI:

Long said KUOI was running smoothly. She added that two people have picked up KUOI station manager applications.

PHOTO BUREAU:

Quint said her staff has had some problems getting photo assignments on Sunday nights from the Argonaut editors, so they decided to move the photo bureaus weekly meetings to Monday nights in hopes of solving that problem.

GEM magazine and budget:

Beesley gave the board a quick summary of some Gem magazine estimates for printing, reporting that by reducing the number of copies (1,000) printed as well as the size of the magazine (32 pages), he was able to get a favorable estimate for printing two full-color magazines each year (roughly $5,000 per printing). Beesley discussed the merits of cover prices, saying that selling the magazines for $1 would recover some costs but that selling the magazines for $3 would go further to paying for the printing and might be just as receptive to potential buyers as the $1 cover price.

KUOI Budget:

Jeff Kimberling and Sarah took board members through their proposed budget, noting differences in this years spending and revenue projections. Pool asked how they felt the new independent Moscow radio station would affect KUOI. Long said she was not greatly concerned as KUOI was a more established station and had strong relationships with its underwriters. She added she did not think that a new station would create a situation where that are too many radio stations in the area.

ADVERTISING Budget:

Michele Kimberling and Abigail Bottari went through the departments budget, explaining the adjustments they are making with the board. Bottari explained that classifieds are up this year, so they had increased the classifieds managers salary. Michele said they were budgeting more money for repairs to the media van as well, due to the wear and tear that it is receiving on a regular basis.

ARGONAUT Budget:

Beesley and Passey summarized the budget for the board. The only significant change was more money budgeted for envelopes used to send out subscription Argonaut. Beesley also noted that all the numbers the departments were sharing with the board at this meeting are rough drafts and that its possible, given the economic situation facing the university, each department could be asked to pare back its spending this year. He said the state board of education was that week going to be hearing requests from the UI president for a larger increase in student fees, and whether it passed or not would possibly affect the next round of proposed numbers from Student Media.

PHOTO BUREAU Budget:

Michele Kimberling took the board through the photo bureaus budget, which is new this year, having been created from parts of the Gem and Argonaut budgets. Michele noted that one item that the department would like to purchase next fiscal year is an image cataloging and archiving service that would make referencing photos considerably easier.

SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST:

Passey, as the secretary of the UI student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, read a letter written by SPJ President Jenny Sue Anchondo asking the board for help in paying for the groups attendance at the regional conference in Troutdale, Ore. SPJ is asking for hotel costs from the board, totaling about $300. Discussion followed on the nature of the organization and the potential awards that they might likely win. Bottari made a motion that the board award SPJ $300 for its hotel costs at the conference, and it was seconded by Pool. The board voted unanimously to donate the $300 to SPJ.

AD TEAM:

Whitney Adams and Bottari, both employees of Argonaut Advertising as well as members of the UI Ad Team, made a request for funding assistance for its regional competition in Great Falls, Mont. They said their cost for transportation and hotels will total more than $2,500, most of which will come out of their own pockets. Beesley reminded board members that last year, the board gave the Ad Team a donation for this same purpose but couldnt remember how much it was (later determined to be $1,400). There was some discussion pertaining to the details of the organization and the competition that they are entering. Bottari said the group would not need the money until late April, and so the board tabled discussion on this request and planned to bring it up at a later meeting, most likely the April 6 meeting.

OTHER BUSINESS:

The board discussed the topics of its next two meetings. The entire March 23 would be devoted to interviewing candidates for the department head management positions, of which there appeared to be about 9-10 applicants. Given that, board members recognized there may be a need to call an impromptu meeting, most likely Tuesday, March 30, for the purpose of voting on the final drafts of the FY05 budgets.

Bottari motioned to adjourn, Bacon seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The Student Media Board adjourned at approximately 7:05 p.m. .

-- Minutes submitted on 3/12/04 by Stacy Carroll, Student Media administrative assistant