Public Radio Stations Look to Local Communities After PTFP, CPB Digital Funds End

Jefferson Public Radio in Ashland, Ore., was granted construction permits by the FCC, but faces challenges to building two new stations and replacing outdated translators, said Ron Kramer, executive director. “If there was a PTFP program or CPB digital appropriation, we'd be going into that construction with new equipment designed for HD radio,” he said. “We can’t do that.” The stations will be equipped with used equipment in analog format, he added.

Although some projects funded by CPB are nearing completion at New Hampshire Public Radio, other efforts will be affected going forward, said NHPR Vice President Scott McPherson. The lack of funding for both “could potentially impact our ability to expand our services to more of New Hampshire and complete the transition to digital,” he said.

For some stations, PTFP was a key source of funding to build infrastructure in hard-to-reach areas. “It’s been an important source of funding to extend service to rural communities because there isn’t local matching funds available,” McPherson said. Broadcasts from JPR wouldn’t have been available in some areas of Oregon if it hadn’t been for PTFP, Kramer said. It has mountainous terrain and is sparsely populated, with equipment installed on 50 mountaintops, he said: “That couldn’t have been achieved without PTFP support.” JPR was counting on PTFP to provide about $350,000 toward equipment in a new studio, he added.

The loss of PTFP threatens CPB’s goal of universal service, said John Hess, general manager at Boise State Public Radio in Idaho: “We don’t have the safety net we once had in terms of equipment.” BSPR is looking to donors in its coverage area to raise money for a new broadcast center in Boise, Hess said. There are plans to have three stand-alone studios with control rooms that will cost about $50,000 each to equip, he said: With the loss of funds, priorities change and the fundraising for the center “moved up on the priority list this year.”

CPB put its support behind a project aimed at helping public TV stations achieve more effective fundraising solutions. It invested more than $500,000 in the Contributor Development Partnership (CDP), created by WGBH-TV Boston and Major Market Group. WGBH will manage data submitted by participating stations and submit reports to CPB, said Mark Erstling, CPB senior vice president. The project addresses the challenges stations face in the declining economy and from state and federal funding going away, he said. “The CDP is one of our efforts around strengthening stations.” CPB expects it to improve the overall ability of stations to generate revenue through their membership program, which is “the most significant source of funding for stations,” Erstling said.

The loss of the appropriations may take a toll on the community partnership aspect of public radio, McPherson said. PTFP funding was used to purchase and install antennae, generators and transmitters at NHPR, he said. “We matched PTFP funding with local contributions, but it was that matching relationship that allowed us to do it.” JPR will begin next month fundraising for a component of the new studio, Kramer said. Raising money locally would take longer than it would with the appropriation, he said. Without the appropriations, some projects will be more difficult, McPherson said: “It'll make expansion opportunities more difficult, especially in more rural communities."

The public broadcasting industry must prepare for the future, said Hess: “We need to start thinking more long term, so that we have reserves we can use in emergencies because we don’t have PTFP funds to rely on anymore.”