Sounding Board

PBS North’s Community Advisory Board (Sounding Board)

Share your Input and Ideas with PBS North’s Community Advisory Board, or Sounding Board.

To help best serve our community, PBS North hosts Sounding Board meetings in Hibbing and Duluth twice a year. All meetings are open to the public. We want to hear your thoughts and ideas about our current programming and what you feel we could do better. Your feedback helps us continue to ensure we are meeting the needs of your community.

We hope that you’ll share your thoughts with us! Who knows…you may see them produced and on-air; documentaries such as “Minnesota’s Lost Mining Towns” and “Historic Trails of Northern Minnesota” are just a few of the projects developed from suggestions gathered from these very meetings! We can’t wait to hear from you.

Note: Attending the Sounding Board is free and open to the public. You are welcome to attend either meeting, whatever works best for your schedule. If you have any questions or would like to receive the information by phone, please call (888) 563-9373 or (218) 788-2832 during regular business hours or leave a message and we’ll reply the next business day.

Duluth

  • Meets in May and October
  • Next meeting: Tuesday, October 17, 2023, at 5:00 pm at the PBS North Studio or Microsoft Teams meeting. Click here to join the meeting. Meeting ID: 215 114 865 394 Passcode: ZC7htX

Hibbing

  • Meets in May and October
  • Next meeting: Monday, October 16, 2023, at 5:00 pm at Sammy’s Pizza, Board Room

Can’t make it? You can always reach out through our contact form at any time with feedback or comments.


FAQ:

What is PBS North’s Sounding Board?

A: It’s a group of viewers and community members who come together twice a year – typically in the spring and the fall – to hear about PBS North’s production and outreach activities and provide feedback. The role of this board is to advise PBS North’s staff and the Board of Directors if our programming is meeting the educational and cultural needs of their community and provide suggestions for improvement. The feedback received during these meetings is taken into consideration in future programming decisions.

While the general public is invited to participate in these meetings, the Sounding Board is a formal board, which community members are welcome to join. Members are encouraged to serve for a minimum of two years to get to know fellow board members and the station on a deeper level, as well as provide continuity for the station.

The board commitment consists of attending the twice/year Sounding Board meetings in either Duluth or Hibbing. While all attendees are encouraged to participate, members of the board can also vote.

Do I need to join the Community Advisory Board?

No, all meetings are open to the public. You don’t need to formally join the board to participate, but we’d love to have you join! The board meets twice a year in both Duluth and Hibbing. Do you want to just come to one meeting to share your thoughts? That’s okay too! But the more voices we hear from consistently, the better our programming and station will be.

I would like to join the board. What does that entail?

That’s great! We’d love to have you. Members of the board attend two meetings a year – typically in the spring and the fall. You can sign up at one of the meetings or by calling (888) 563-9373 or by reaching out through our contact form. Please let us know if you want to attend the meetings held in Duluth or Hibbing.

By joining the board, you will be encouraged to attend two meetings a year for at least one two-year term. We also look forward to hearing your feedback about how the station can better serve and reflect the community. We may also reach out to the Sounding Board occasionally for real-time feedback on programming between meetings. 

The Sounding Board’s Responsibilities are:

The right to review the station’s programming goals.
The right to review the service provided by the station.
The right to review significant policy decisions rendered by the station; and
The obligation to advise the station’s governing body on whether the station’s programming and other significant policies are meeting the specialized educational and cultural needs of The communities served by the station, and to make recommendations the SB deems appropriate to meet such needs.

The nomination of Chair for this committee whose responsibilities include:

Assistance to strengthen the Sounding Board and its role
Help recruit new members
Assist in conducting meetings

What if I don’t have any specific ideas to share?

That’s great too! We still hope you’ll come and hear updates from the station. You are welcome to participate in the conversation at any time.

What happens at these meetings?

A staff member of PBS North provides updates on the production and outreach activities of the station. Those in attendance are asked to provide their input about the station’s current programming and outreach activities and to provide suggestions for future programming that would be beneficial to their communities.

I can’t make the meeting. How can I still give input?

You can reach out through our contact form at any time with feedback or comments. You can also call our office during regular working hours: (888) 563-9373.

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