October 26, 2007: Miami report on WMUB released

The Miami University committee appointed by President David Hodge to make recommendations on WMUB's future has completed its report and delivered it to the President. The committee examined and made recommendations on 4 options:

1. An independent or stand-alone station (not recommended)
2. Sale of the station (not recommended)
3. Local Management Agreement with one or more partner stations (serious consideration recommended; see #4)
4. Develop dynamic partnerships on and off campus (#4 incorporates much of #3; strongly recommended)

Click here for an executive summary (Word format) of the full report. Or click here to find the full report, via a link to the Miami site.

Click here to listen to Gary Scott's feature report on developments; or click here to listen to Gary's full interview with the committee chair, Professor Richard Campbell, Program Director for Journalism at Miami.

For more on the significance, see our Frequently Asked Questions below. Let us know your reaction on our WMUB Directions blog.

October 29, 2007:

What does this mean for WMUB?

Will there be programming changes?

What happens next?

How long will this process take?

Why should I continue to support WMUB?

May 30, 2007: Why is this process going on now?

What will be the impact on WMUB's programming?

How can I participate in the process?

December 20, 2006: What is the latest news?

Why is there a concern now?

Where does WMUB's budget come from?

How much will the total cuts be?

What is WMUB's response to the shortfall for FY07?

What is the nature and purpose of Miami's new committee on directions for WMUB?

What happens if WMUB can't make the budget balance?

October 29, 2007: What does this mean for WMUB?

It's good news for WMUB. After a couple of years of uncertainty, the Committee's plan gives some answers -- and in its recommendations to the PResident the committee specifically rejected the options of either selling or downsizing WMUB. More than that, the plan provides the framework for growth. It does present challenges to WMUB to form alliances both within the University and outside it, and strong public support will be even more critical as time goes on.

Will there be programming changes?

Frankly, we will not know the answer to that for some time. There may be some changes that in the normal course of things would have been done sooner were we not in a "holding pattern" while the committee finishes its work. But a key part of our next phase is to study, with the help of experts from around the country, what is the best program mix for the regional cooperative model we envision. WMUB WILL continue to offer the kind of unparalleled community service that listeners have rightly come to expect from public radio.

What happens next?

The committee's recommendations are being studied by President Hodge. There will be some more discussion and reaction to the report. If the recommendations are accepted, one thing is certain: There will be planning. And more planning. Nothing has been agreed to yet other than a continuation of studies, and there are many more questions unanswered. The regional discussion has already involved the participation of WDPR (Dayton Public Radio and WYSO (at Antioch University). It is possible that some for-profit media entities may become part of the discussions also. We are encouraged by the progress made and agreements reached; and we are making plans for the next phase of the talks. The next step is to look at the financial and organizational environment of the various partners. If we proceed beyond that, there will be further studies of complex questions involving programming, organizational development, and much more..

How long will this process take?

The committee report has taken the better part of calendar 2007. And for the last 6 months serious talks have been underway among the management of WMUB, WDPR, and WYSO. Now that we have funding for the business analyses, we estimate that it will take up to a year to complete the next planning steps listed above, and a year to two years beyond that fully to implement any resulting plan. Again, we are not moving toward a pre-determined outcome; we are on the initial stages of a journey that is open but tantalizing with possibilities.

Why should I continue to support WMUB?

WMUB has always looked to its audience for critical support that makes a difference in our programming. Since our format change in 1998, listener support has grown over sevenfold. Even so the level of support for WMUB from Miami's operating budget has remained well above national benchmarks for University stations. Clearly the station is at risk long-term for that support to diminish. The Committee report deals with the harsh reality that the population base within WMUB's signal is far less than that of any other major public radio station in southwest Ohio -- so low that it is not feasible to imagine that WMUB would ever be close to self-sufficiency alone.

The committee's October 2007 plan offers a sound path to a future for WMUB that if successful will actually strengthen our commitment to public service by enhancing not just our radio options, but innovative new media applications. Now and in the future, WMUB might be able to survive, but it can never live up to its potential without increased community support -- more listeners at all levels of membership, more underwriting, and renewed local commitment. The rewards are many, with a strong partnership and commitment of the stations involved and of our members.

May 30, 2007: Why is this process going on now?

Miami is continuing to evaluate the appropriate level of support for various divisions of the University. Historically its support for WMUB has been quite generous, more than many other university-supported stations receive. But cutbacks in institutional support from Miami and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the last two years have raised concerns about whether the current program schedule can be maintained. Part of the committee’s task is therefore to provide a framework for determining what the appropriate level of Miami support should be, and that in turn is directly dependent on verybasic questions of mission: is WMUB’s mission clear? Is it being accomplished? Is it compatible with Miami’s?

What will be the impact on WMUB's programming?

That is still unclear at this point. All involved in the process acknowledge that cutbacks in programming, whether national (NPR) or local, run the risk of reducing listener support, thus starting a “death spiral” of more and more cutbacks. At the same time, it is apparent that more can and should be done to bring WMUB in line with national trends in fundraising from listeners and local businesses, thus making up for reductions in institutional support.

The good news is that membership fundraising in fiscal year 2007, which ends June 30th, has been going well. Although we did not hit our on-air goal in either of the drives, post-drives mailings were strong in December and May is picking up. If the June end-of-fiscal year response brings in as many spring late renewers as last December’s did for our fall renewers, we should end this fiscal year in better shape than feared several months ago, and continue at new record levels into 2008.

How can I participate in this process?

If you haven’t already contacted the WMUB committee, they would like to hear from you at the email address above.

If you are due to renew your membership in WMUB, please let us hear from you by June 30th. Call 888-877-3885, or pledge online on our secure server. Thank you!

December 20, 2006: What is the latest news?

WMUB's year-end pledges have now passed the $120,000 level set as a goal for our fall drive. This is critical momentum needed to sustain our drive to the end of the fiscal year next June 30th -- see below. Thank you!

Why is there a concern now?

Up through fiscal 2006 (June 30, 2006), WMUB's budget had been in balance for the last several years. In fact in those years our income exceeded our expenses by small amounts, allowing us to build up a reserve fund (a rainy day account, if you like) that provided some protection against budget emergencies.

However, Fiscal 2007 (ending June 30, 2007) will see a problem -- a significant drawdown of the reserve fund that will sharply affect future services. The shortfall arises partly caused by modest or flat increases in our local fundraising sources (membership and underwriting). But the principal change is cuts in some of our institutional support, mostly Miami University and Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds. The combination means that right now we are projecting a drawdown against reserves of nearly $100,000, or nearly half our reserve fund, at the end of 2007, and the likelihood of more down the line.

At the beginning of this fiscal year we were aware of the problem. Our hope was that vigorous upward growth in both the Fall 06 and Spring 07 member drives would address a good bit of the concern. Unfortunately, our Fall drive did not meet its target, though as of early December, 2006 it is close to being acheived.

Where does WMUB's budget come from?

WMUB is licensed to Miami University, and historically University funds have provided much of its support. Miami's support is in 3 kinds:

• Funding of 7 full-time staff positions (local fundraising and grants support 3 others)
• In-kind donated services such as office space, administrative support, maintenance and other services
• Cash support for specific expenses such as telephone, student wages, and other items

The last category, non-salary cash support, has been declining since fiscal 2005. Recognizing that listener support is necessary for growth in services, WMUB and Miami agreed to a 5-year phaseout of that category. 2007 is the second year of the phaseout, which accounts for about $46,000 of the projected $100,00 shortfaull.

Non-Miami sources of support, in declining order of size, are

• Membership contributions
• The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Underwriting support from local businesses
• A State of Ohio grant supporting education and public broadcasting
• Miscellaneous and 1-time grants

All told, our buget was approximately $1.7 million in FY 2006. Aboout $1.3 million of that was in cash.

How much will the total cuts be?

At a minimum the cuts we know of now total over $94,000 in this fiscal year (FY07), and we are not sure if there may be more. $46,000 comes from the second year of the Miami non-salary cash phaseout discussed above. In addition there will be another reduction of $25,000 in that category this year. Our CPB grant is expected to be around $23,000 less this year than in FY06. So far State of Ohio operating funds look to remain the same -- however, their levels are down around $15,000 from their peak in 2002. And State of Ohio capital funds, used in the late 90's to construct our studios, have essentially disappeared.

What is WMUB's response to the shortfall for FY07?

WMUB has approached the problem in two ways. One acknowledges that our fundraising in recent years has not kept up the pace needed to make up this year's shortfall. Therefore we set a challenging goal for our Fall member drive ($120,000) and will need to do the same or more in Spring 2007. As mentioned above, we still have not met the Fall target. Underwriting support from businesses has increased significantly in the last year, but not enough to cover all the differnece.

The second part of our response was to determine from Miami the extent of budget support in FY08 and beyond. As you may know there is a new administration at Miami under the leadership of President David Hodge. Since Dr. Hodge was not part of the discussions leading to our phaseout of non-salary cash support, we believed that the time was right for the University and the station to work together on a plan for the future, taking into account Miami's overall mission and budget, and determining where WMUB fits into that. We are pleased that President Hodge agreed, and that committee is now being formed.

What is the nature and purpose of the committee on directions for WMUB?

This body (unnamed at present) will be primarily a committee of Miami and community members, with signficant public input. Its mission will be to review the relationship of Miami and WMUB, and to make recommendations for future directions. No staff member of WMUB will serve on the committee, but we will serve as resources when needed to the chair and members. The committee will collect information, solicit opinions and make recommendations. The target date for its report to President Hodge is April, 2007.

What happens if WMUB can't make the budget balance?

In the short term, we will need to make a significant drawdown of our reserve funds on June 30, 2007. Our existing contracts for services expire either on that day or on September 30, 2007. Unless we are confident that we can bring the budget into balance sometime in fiscal 2008, good stewardship demands that we cut expenses. We have expanded prudently in the last few years, which means that there is not a lot of low-hanging fruit in the ways of easily expendable services. So any cuts will likely be noticeable on the air, a situation we hope to avoid.

Without doubt, the best outcome would be for WMUB to succeed in growing its local revenue beyond current levels. It's unlikley that we could sustain the pace set in the years from our format change in 1998 through 2005. In those years our membership and underwriting support grew at an average annual rate of 26%. But we believe there is still a great deal of potential for public radio in our listening area. Meeting the challenge will require additional underwriting, recruiting new members, growing average contributions, and increasing contributions from key supporters in a position to move into our Leadership Circle of $1,000 a year and up. We are calling on all listeners who have not made a pledge, or who are due to renew, to make a generous gift now to move us into this position.

Want to support WMUB? Make a pledge now on our secure server.