Our member and the Major Gifts Officer at KUOW radio, Matt Albertson, moderated a panel discission on The Future of Public Broadcasting that featured: Rob Dunlop (President/CEO, Cascade PBS), David Fischer (President/General Manager, KNKX radio), and Tina Pamintuan (President/CEO, KUOW radio). Matt introduced the topic and the panel: “we have three local, public media leaders who will discuss what public media look like in our region. Three challenges they and all public broadcasting are now facing: changes in funding, technology and people’s attention.“
We heard how they are navigating these changes:
· There is a financial impact of course from the loss of Corporation of Public Broadcasting funding but also the psychological and emotional impact
· KUOW has closed this funding gap for this year thanks to their generous listeners but that is not true across the country
· Public broadcasting has a unique value to deliver; they each bring a different mission and provide broadcasting that commercial stations do not, including in the public safety space (for example, their stations are how we find out about emergencies)
· Going forward they want to focus on local coverage; opportunities for citizens to engage locally
· KUOW’s top priorities: hiring an investigative reporter, more political reporting and educating people on how media is made; teach people about media at an early stage
President Jan opened the meeting at the Motif Hotel on a rainy and dark autumn day with a few minutes of Table Talk answering the question: “Art is…?” She encouraged all members to read her Presidents Update that was emailed earlier this week and included our club’s top three funding priorities, the latest membership numbers (she reminded us that all of us are needed to grow our club), and the importance of networking opportunities now and going forward. She also recognized the many guests in attendance including someone visiting from Germany.
Jimmy Collins accompanied by Burr Stewart led us in a Military Service Medley – we sang the anthems for the Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Army with our members who served in each branch standing for the applicable song. Maddy Vonhoff inspired us by reflecting on the importance of public television as she grew up: “they were more than just shows, they grew our values and reflected who we were and wanted to become.”
Our member and District Governor Jeff Borek provided a District Level report, starting with how to answer the question, What is Rotary? He explained what the Rotary District is, interesting stats on Rotary membership and how it is organized, provided information on upcoming district and international Rotary
conferences, and his top priorities as district governor that includes: increasing membership and multi-year planning – Unite for Good. Please see the button on the newsletter with his slides for more information.
President Jan closed the meeting by encouraging us to visit a museum, cultural exhibit, see a performance; “Art is a life saver.”
