Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP)
FY 2006 Grants
FY 2006 Grants
During FY 2006, PTFP awarded $19.7 million to 95 projects:
Thirty-one (31) digital television conversion grants awarding $12.3 million.
Eight (8) television equipment replacement grants awarding $1,126,743 to replace urgently needed equipment.
Nine (9) digital radio conversion grants awarding $604,237.
Forty (40) radio service expansion or equipment replacement grants awarding $4.4 million.
Five (5) nonbroadcast distance learning grants awarding $740,169.
Included in the above radio and television awards are grants so eleven public radio stations and sixteen public television stations can purchase standby generators to enable the stations to continue public service programming during times of emergency.
Also included in the above totals are two television grants and two radio grants awarded on an emergency basis for $ 672,576.
RADIO AWARDS - (49 awards; $5,003,552)
- Eight radio projects will extend new public broadcasting service to approximately 130,000 people and provide additional service to almost 400,000 people. Communities that will receive first public radio service include:
Lucerne, CA; Telluride, CO; French Lick/W. Baden Springs and Greensburg, IN; Netcong and Tom's River, NJ; Baker City, OR and Chase City, VA. One planning project will explore public radio service for the Latino community in southwest Texas.
- Nine digital conversion projects were funded. Eight projects will assist in the digital conversion of public radio stations in Ft. Collins, CO; Gainesville and Tampa, FL; Indianapolis, IN; Columbia, MO; Binghamton, NY; San Antonio, TX; and Salt Lake City, UT. Under a ninth project, a planning grant, National Public Radio will conduct a nationwide public radio under-service and service vulnerability spectrum study.
- Three projects will bring first nationally distributed programming to public radio stations serving the following Native American communities: the Tohono O'odham Nation, AZ; the Confederated Tribes/Umatilla Indian Reservation, OR; and the Pueblo of Zuni, NM.
- Twenty-nine (29) projects will replace urgently needed equipment at public radio stations.
- A new Radio Reading Service (RRS) service will be started in Panama City, FL as part of an equipment replacement award to Gulf Coast Community College.
- Two (2) of the equipment replacement projects were awarded on an emergency basis. The Texas Educational Broadcasting Cooperative, Austin, TX received a grant of $104,553 to replace studio equipment destroyed in a fire and Lakota Communications, Porcupine, SD, received a grant of $136,653 to replace transmission equipment destroyed in a lightning storm.
- The largest radio grant, for $902,393, was awarded to Mississippi Public Broadcasting to replace the FM transmitters of the eight-station Mississippi Public Radio network --- WMPN, Jackson; WMAV, Oxford; WMAW, Meridian; WMAU, Bude; WMAO, Greenwood; WMAE, Booneville; WMAB, Ackerman; and WMAH, McHenry.
TELEVISION AWARDS (40 awards; $13,470,170)
- Thirty-one (31) digital television conversion grants were awarded for $12,308,957 to recipients in 23 states. Some of the areas receiving funding for digital television projects include:
- Major population centers including Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC
- State networks in Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Utah.
- Other markets and rural areas including Anchorage, AK, Bloomington, IN; Topeka, KS; Wichita, KS; Reno, NV; Marquette, MI; Pablo, MT; Fargo, ND; Portales, NM; Columbus, OH; Dayton, OH; Toledo, OH; Binghamton, NY; Plattsburgh, NY; Harrisburg, PA (two grants); Cookeville, TN; Martin, TN; Austin, TX; Pullman, WA; and Spokane, WA.
Complete List of the 31 Digital Television Projects
- Eight (8) television awards, for a total of $1,126,743 were made to replace urgently needed equipment.
- Two (2) of the equipment replacement awards were made on an emergency basis. The Educational Broadcasting Foundation (WLAE-TV), New Orleans, received a grant of $312,270 to replace a television transmitter destroyed by Hurricane Katrina; South Dakota Public Television received a grant of $117,100 to replace a failed transmission line for KPSD-TV, in Faith, South Dakota.
- One planning grant was awarded to the Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, OK, to plan for the development of two low power TV stations in rural northeast Oklahoma.
- The year's largest television grant is $1,000,000 to the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association for a project to continue the digital conversion of WETA-TV, Washington, DC, by purchasing HD cameras, a production switcher, a digital graphics system, and a digital audio mixer.
NONBROADCAST (6 awards; $1,239,609)
- Distance learning: 5 projects received $740,169
- The largest distance learning award is $253,782 to the Pennsylvania Public Television Network for a project to use a portion of the digital transmission and distribution stream to complete a statewide distance learning datacast system by purchasing datacast equipment for the Pennsylvania Public Television Network operations center and five of its eight member stations.
- The University of Hawaii/PEACESAT received an award of $499,440 to continue distance education, videoconferencing and medical services to 22 Pacific Island nations/entities.
Complete List of the 6 Nonbroadcast Projects