Utah Public Radio to go digital, pending funding
The Utah State University-owned radio station, Utah Public Radio, is seeking $67,000 in donations to match a grant received from the Department of Commerce, given to help UPR develop a new digital, satellite broadcasting network.
“We’ve already let them know that we would be able to raise that amount, that our listeners would come through for us,” said Bryan Earl, director of development and marketing for UPR.
Earl said they receive a grant from the Department of Commerce every year to help provide the station with the funding it needs to buy programming. This year’s grant was larger to help UPR set up a satellite broadcasting network to replace the system of radio towers and translators they have been using for the last 50 years.
According to its official Web site, www.utahpublicradio.org, UPR is able to reach approximately 80 percent of Utah’s population through its chain-like network of 27 translators, which bounce the original signal to St. George, with each local translator broadcasting at a different frequency. Earl said the translators use only available local frequencies and are not licensed or protected. About a year and a half ago, a religious broadcaster tried to license a station which would operate on the frequency used by the translator in Utah County, which would effectively disrupt the chain and prevent further transmission to the station’s other translators to the south.
“It would have knocked out 24 of our 27 translators throughout the state,” Earl said.
To prevent this from happening, UPR scrambled to set up a digital satellite network with receivers at each of the most important translator sites. They are currently renting space on USU’s satellite and have bought enough equipment to begin satellite broadcasting in the most key areas of the Uintah Basin, as well as in Brigham City, Levan and Springdale, Utah. Earl said that with the grant money, they plan on buying a permanent satellite uplink and updated equipment to provide satellite reception at the nine most important translator sites throughout the state.
“As soon as the FCC will allow us, we’ll be re-licensing those translators as stations,” Earl said. This will be done so the translators will be protected from others who want to broadcast on the same frequency, thus maintaining listeners throughout the state.
To be able to make these changes and improvements, UPR needed additional funding above and beyond the usual grant money it receives each year.
“The grant we received this year was for $67,000, with the stipulation that we could match it,” Earl said.
The grant was received on Oct. 1 and UPR will have one year to raise the money to match the amount received.
The matched funds are in addition to the funding that must be gathered to buy programming and run the radio station. Earl said the cost of programming alone is approximately $100,000. Although the station’s license is owned by the university, UPR receives no operating budget from USU.
“The single largest source of income for the station is from our listeners,” Earl said.
Within that group of listeners, Earl pointed out the importance of the USU faculty and staff as the basis of support the station receives.
“They are our bread and butter,” Earl said. “We have so many of the faculty and staff who do payroll deductions to give us money and support throughout the year.”
Other sources of funding for the station include money received from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, charitable organizations such as the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation and corporate support in the form of advertising. USU provides the building and pays for electricity and one third of the employees’ salaries.
UPR is officially owned by USU, but is also a member of National Public Radio and an affiliate of Public Radio International, buying many of its programs from these two organizations. According to its Web site, UPR also receives additional programming from the Associated Press news service and a classical music service called the Beethoven Classical Network. In addition to these, the station supports three local programs: “Access Utah,” a folk music program called “Fresh Folk” and “On Stage” with Michael Ballam.
Earl said the station serves the community by providing in-depth news and classical music which is hard to find on other radio stations, especially in the more rural parts of the state. It also helps USU in its role as an institution of higher education.
“There is that image of the university providing an education, and news, information and classical music does just that,” Earl said. “People don’t realize what’s available. Once you start listening, you get hooked and you don’t stop. It’s like a breath of fresh air.”
UPR accepts contributions and pledges of support over the phone at 797-3138, or through the mail: Utah Public Radio, 8505 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322-8505.
-sjeppesen@cc.usu.edu