2008 PTFP Awards

During FY 2008, PTFP awarded $19,067,486 to fund 110 projects:

Thirty-three (33) grants for the digital conversion of television and radio awarding $9,303,015.

Twenty-two (22) grants to extend new public radio and television service awarding $4,522,279.

Fifty-one (51) grants to replace urgently needed equipment at public radio and television stations awarding $4,364,531.

            Four (4) nonbroadcast distance learning grants awarding $877,661.

Included in the above radio and television awards are twelve (12) grants so six (6) public radio stations and fifteen (15) public television stations can purchase generators or UPS systems to enable the stations to continue public service programming during times of emergency.

Also included in the above totals are nine grants awarded on an emergency or expedited basis for $1,445,392.

For administrative convenience, NTIA combined several applications and the 110 awards reflect 114 applications that were funded.

List of the 110 Awards

RADIO AWARDS - (61 awards; $6,248,638)

■          Twenty (20) radio projects for $3,543,009 will extend new public broadcasting service to over 450,000 people and provide additional service to over 500,000 people. Communities that will receive first or expanded public radio service include the following: Blythe, CA; Kellog, ID; Rushville, IN; Brewster, KS; Madisonville and Fulton, KY; Monroe, LA; Cabool and Mexico, MO; Ely and International Falls, MN; Minnewaukan, ND; Gouverneur, Cape Vincent, Tupper Lake, and Watertown, NY; Greenville, OH; Pontotoc County, OK; Burns, Bend, and Enterprise. OR; Coatesville, PA; Union City, TN; Vernal, Richfield, Monroe, Roosevelt, Monticello, and Castle Valley, UT; Emory, VA; Vergennes, VT; Omak, Twisp, and Oroville, WA; Ashland, WI; Franklin and Hillsboro, WV.

■          Two (2) projects for $125,908 will assist in the digital conversion of public radio stations in Durham, NC, and Lexington, NE.

■          Thirty-nine (39) projects for $2,579,720 will replace urgently needed equipment at public radio stations. Five of the radio projects were awarded on an emergency basis. These include: a grant of $81,393 to the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, to purchase equipment required to maintain service due to a forced relocation; a grant of $138,792 to Montana State University to replace a discontinued third-party analog microwave distribution system with a satellite system to feed a statewide translator network; a grant of $22,500 to the Texas Educational Broadcasting Cooperative, Austin, for installation costs to replace equipment destroyed by fire; a grant of $29,141 to the Utah State University to replace a transmitter operating on 1/6 power; and a grant of $70,531 to the University of Northern Iowa to replace a burned out transmission line.

■          The largest of the sixty-one radio grants, for $337,684, is to the University of Utah for a project to establish three new FM/HD repeater stations. These stations will provide first public radio service to nearly 62,000 people in Monroe, Roosevelt, and Monticello, UT.

TELEVISION AWARDS (45 awards; $11,941,188)

■          Thirty-one (31) digital television conversion grants were awarded for $9,177,107 to recipients in 19 states and territories. The areas receiving funding for digital television projects include:

►Major population centers including Cincinnati, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, and St. Louis.

►State networks in Arkansas, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin.

►One of the two digital conversion grants to WLAE-TV, New Orleans, is to replace production and associated equipment that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

►Other markets and rural areas including Fresno, Rohnert Park, and Sacramento, CA; Pueblo, CO; Jacksonville, FL; Elkhart, IN; Buffalo, NY; Duluth, MN; Springfield, MO; Dayton and Kent, OH; Scranton and University Park, PA; Memphis, TN; Austin and Lubbock, TX.

►Projects to upgrade analog translators to digital at Mansfield, OH and in 13 communities in Utah.

►Two of the awards included on this list were for transmission equipment for the Educational Broadcasting Foundation, New Orleans, and for the Rocky Mountain Public Television station in Pueblo, CO. These awards were expedited so the stations could meet the February 17, 2009 digital transition deadline.

■          Twelve (12) television awards, for a total of $1,784,811 were made to replace urgently needed equipment. Two of the television projects were awarded on an emergency basis. An application from the Mountain Lake Public Television, Plattsburgh, NY, was awarded $175,000 to replace a tower destroyed in an ice storm, and an application from South Dakota Public Television was awarded $386,750 to replace damaged guy wires on a 1,700 ft. tower.

■          Two (2) television awards for $979,270 were for extension of service. The University of North Carolina received a grant of $572,395 to activate WUNW-DT, a digital repeater in Canton, NC, to serve Haywood County, including the towns of Waynesville, Clyde, and Maggie Valley. The University of Montana received a grant of $406,875 towards the construction of a digital television facility to bring the first over-the-air public television service to Great Falls, MT and surrounding communities. (The Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided funding for other equipment in the Great Falls project.)

■          The largest of the forty-five television grants is $801,345 to Public Television 19, Inc., KCPT, Kansas City, MO, to continue digital conversion by purchasing a production switcher, HD cameras, teleprompter, associated production equipment, ATSC stream analyzer, encoder system, integration, and test and monitoring equipment.

NONBROADCAST (4 awards; $877,661)

■          Distance learning: 3 projects received $377,984.

■          The largest of the three distance learning grants is $187,931 awarded to the Educational Service Unit # 13, Scottsbluff, NE, for a project to establish a distance learning system through a partnership of Educational Service Unit #13 and Western Nebraska Community College by purchasing videoconferencing units, codecs, and associated equipment, in order to provide services to twenty-one school districts in western Nebraska.

■          The University of Hawaii/PEACESAT received an award of $499,677 to continue distance education, videoconferencing and medical services to Pacific island nations and U.S. territories.