UAA Media Board
Meeting Minutes
Friday, January 25, 2013
1:30pm – JPC computer lab
Board members in attendance:
The Northern Light Faculty Advisor: Paola Banchero, Associate Professor (JPC)
JPC Appointed Student Representative: Emily McLaughlin
UAA Student-at-large Representative: Andrew Lemish
UAA Student-at-large Representative: Joseph Selmont
Absent:
Media Board Chair and KRUA Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Arnold, Assistant Professor of Journalism
JPC Alumnus Representative: Robert Stormo
Ex-officio members in attendance:
Student Media Administrative Advisor: Annie Route
KRUA 88.1 FM Station Manager: Audri Pleas
The Northern Light Managing Editor: Jolene Almendarez
Student Media Administrative Assistant: Sarah Dennison
In attendance:
None.
Call to order: A quorum having been established, the meeting was called to order at 1:38pm by
Emily McLaughlin, chair pro tem.
MOTION to approve December 7, 2012 board minutes made by Paola, SECONDED by Joe and passed
unanimously.
TNL Legal Issue
 The Northern Light has been contacted about an article published online in past; requested it be
taken down. Person has gone so far as to hire a lawyer and threaten a lawsuit.
 Lawyers for University do not think they have a case.
 If a person calls anyone in Media concerning anything legal, pass them on to the station
manager or executive editor. Important to not respond to the person!
 The Northern Light is a public forum so the person in question has option to write a rebuttal.
Anyone has this option.
Quorum is lost; 1:48 Joseph Selmont left meeting.
KRUA report
 Audri Pleas, station manager, and Connor Keesecker, news reporter, are traveling to Juneau to
cover the USUAA advocacy trip and legislative session happening February 8-12. Expectation for
types and amount of stories is settled on. Plan to share stories with TNL and KSUA in Fairbanks
plans to broadcast produced content.
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UAA Media Board
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First volunteer meeting of 2013 had over 20 students, three faculty/staff members, 16 current
show hosts, and a few community members. Eight pizzas were donated by Moose’s Tooth.
Programming has decreased to 56 hours due to DJs that are no longer with the studio. Their
absence is for the good of the station. Voice tracking is being created to make up for the missing
air-time.
Open positions: music manager and public affairs are being promoted via website, facebook,
and twitter. KRUA considering adding a position for publicity. It would consist of duties presently
shared between station manager and volunteer coordinator.
Near-future events:
o Feb 4th Mat Kearney Karaoke Contest with a ticket giveaway for concert
o Feb 13th Pre-Party Party with noon music by Jeron Rose and games as a kick-off to
KRUA’s 21st birthday party
o Feb 14th Alaska Thunder Funk will perform at the Cuddy from 7-9pm “Bring a can to get
in!”
The Northern Light Report
 Goals for this semester include clear expectations and evaluations, creation and updates to
handbooks, advance stories for the following week, more “managing” for executive editor.
 Improvements in areas of number of volunteers, new hires, and direction of new design.
 Purchases: need new mice and keyboards due to present wireless were connected to too many
computers and are now confused, camera pack if we have funds near end of semester, press
passes for photographers, and SWAG.
 Struggles include collaboration for new material with JPC classes, The Whale Song, and The Sun
Star, achieving goal of 7-9 staff writers, and lack of basic news values (this will be an eternal
struggle so long as we keep hiring new people; it is a continual lesson to learn).
 New paper size had unexpected problem of ad sizes not fitting into new layout. Chelsea is
working on sending out ad size changes to customers and gave a discount to any ads that were
cut off in Jan 22 issue.
 TNL will celebrate 25 years in September. Should begin to plan event. Can coordinate with
Student Activities or JPC to bring in an author.
Next Steps for Media Survey
 TNL: Ad manager is working on questions for advertising; executive editor has not started yet.
 KRUA: Not started yet.
 Recent experiences with surveys:
o Should never last 15 minutes- 5 minutes max
o Prizes are great motivators- KRUA underwriting in past has been offered promotions
instead of money; would be a great source for survey prizes
o Could consider an interactive event- offer pizza or put simple format survey on an iPad
o Next meeting need to decide deadline for completed survey
Travel Guidelines
 Need to create expectations of the board; this will help with planning and creating focus for the
traveler.
o What makes trip worthy?
o Take into consideration staff’s time at organization and academics
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UAA Media Board
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Timeline: Have guidelines by April meeting. Should be short and precise document.
For the Good
 Managing editor applicant withdrew her application. Problem filling this position so TNL is
recruiting by visiting JPC classes and updating house ads for future issues.
 Vitor no longer on Media Board. Paola will talk to Alejandra, USUAA President, about appointing
a replacement.
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