Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) FY 2007 Grants

During FY 2007, PTFP awarded $22,450,416 to fund 118 projects:

• Forty-eight (48) digital television conversion grants awarding $15,012,071.

• Eight (8) television equipment replacement grants awarding $2,242,442 to replace urgently needed equipment.

• Sixteen (16) digital radio conversion grants awarding $802,604.

• Forty-one (41) radio service expansion or equipment replacement grants awarding $3,619,048.

• Five (5) nonbroadcast distance learning grants awarding $774,251.

Included in the above radio and television awards are twenty-four grants so eighteen public radio stations and six 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 grants awarded on an emergency basis for $436,057.

List of the 118 Awards

Radio Awards - (57 awards; $4,421,652)

• Sixteen radio projects for $2,167,338 will extend new public broadcasting service to over 200,000 people and provide additional service to almost 750,000 people. Communities that will receive first public radio service include the following: Roseau, MN; Schnecksville, PA; Island Pond, VT; Chehalis, WA; Adams, WI; and the first local public radio service to Jackson, WY. Additional services will be provided to the following communities: the Southern Ute Indian Reservation near Ignacio, CO, and other communities in the Four Corners area, including Pagosa Springs, CO, and Farmington and Flora Vista, NM; Bettendorf, IA; Wichita, KS; Buffalo, NY; and Charlottesville, VA. Planning grants include projects to explore public radio service for the Native American community in the Rocky Boy's Reservation in northern Montana and the Latino community on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

• Sixteen projects for $802,604 that will assist in the digital conversion of public radio stations in Montgomery and Tuscaloosa, AL; Miami, FL; Cedar Rapids, IA; Bloomington and Elkhart, IN; Grand Rapids, MI; New Town, ND; Sergeantsville, NJ; Geneva, NY; Scranton, PA; Austin, TX; Logan and Salt Lake City (2 stations), UT; and Madison, WI.

• Twenty-four (24) projects will replace urgently needed equipment at public radio stations. One of the radio projects was awarded on an emergency basis. An application from the University of Northern Iowa received a grant of $220,725 for replacement of a tower, antenna and associated equipment destroyed in an ice storm.

• A Radio Reading Service (RRS) planning grant to the Radio Reading Service of the Rockies, Boulder, CO, will study implementation and receiver issues for using digital television associated audio to distribute radio reading services.

• The largest radio grant, for $393,099, was to Minnesota Public Radio for a project to establish a Class C2 radio station in Roseau, MN.

Complete List of the 57 Radio Projects

Television Awards (56 awards; $17,254,513)

• Forty-eight (48) digital television conversion grants were awarded for $15,012,071 to recipients in 32 states and territories. The areas receiving funding for digital television projects include:

- Major population centers including Chicago, Denver (2 grants), Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, and Washington, DC.

- State networks in Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah (2 grants), Vermont and Wisconsin.

- One grant, to WYES-TV, New Orleans, to replace production and associated equipment which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

- Other markets and rural areas including Tempe, AZ; Bakersfield and Huntington Beach, CA; Boynton Beach and Gainesville, FL; Bloomington and Merrillville, IN; Topeka, KS; Kansas City and Warrensburg, MO; Austin, Duluth, and Appleton, MN; Pablo, MT; Buffalo, NY; Reno, NV; Athens, OH; Erie, Scranton, and University Park, PA; San Juan, PR; Nashville and Memphis, TN; and Roanoke, VA.

- A planning grant will conduct a comprehensive nationwide study of public television digital coverage, necessitated by the change in the service area of many public television stations due to the shut-off of analog signals in February 2009.

Complete List of the 48 Digital Television Projects