The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 47

CjrWf '-T ti fijyT i Robert Wood mans the equipment at Vermont Educational Television Itum.inil earlier communication Free Pren Photo by RIK JESSE Vermont Public Radio Prospects 'Very Good' Continued from Page 1 obtaining approval for public radio because "it is precisely the same as it was for ETV. "We went to the same two organizations in Washington as we did for ETV: the consulting engineering firm of Jansky and Bailey, and the legal firm of Covington and Burling, the latter whose job it was to arrange with the Federal Communications Commission for a frequency. "We now are in the process of trying to arrange for two channels, one on Mt. Ascutney in Windsor and the other on Mt. Mansfield, but the situation on Mt.

Mansfield is still a little unclear," Phillips said. Last October Vermont Public Radio was awarded a $25,000 grant by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Such expansion project grants are designed to support the development of full-service public radio stations in currently unserved population areas. This money comes from Congress for the Public Broadcasting Corporation, and is broken down into public TV (PSB) and public radio. "Before applying for the grant I knew there were certain criteria," Phillips said.

"To be eligible you had to incorporate and become a nonprofit organization." The purpose of the grant is threefold: To try to establish interest in the area for public radio; to help local organizers go through legal and engineering work, and to help the local organizers to find out about fund-raising. "That's where it stands, up to now," Phillips said. "More money will be needed, and we figure it's about $328,539, and that's for equipment, to begin with. We can apply to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for that, but we also must meet certain requirements here. To get that amount, we must raise one-fourth of it, or about $82,000, locally.

"The requirements of the Public Broadcasting Corp. are that we have operating money of $175,000 a year to start, we must have nine full-time employes, and we must broadcast 18 hours a day for 365 days of the year. Also, this money is needed so we can connect with the national hookup, and that's important," he said. "There has been considerable interest shown from local individuals, corporations and foundations," Phillips said. "I think the prospects are very good, and with the federal money available, the interest shown indicates to us we can, indeed, raise this kind of money." The present plan is for two radio stations.

The main channel would be FM, which is open broadcasting. The other would be for special broadcasting purposes, for which a special receiver would be needed. Phillips, who will be returning to UVM next September as a professor in the College of Education, said he hopes to find studio facilities for the project somewhere in Ft. Ethan Allen because it would be advantageous to be located near ETV. He also said he hopes to be able to persuade ETV to share space, certain equipment and some technical staff, especially on Mt.

Mansfield. "Such sharing has already been approved by the UVM trustees," he said. Even though ETV is partially supported by public funds, UVM does hold the licenses for the four ETV transmitters, and, in effect, owns the station. The transmitters are two of high power on Mt. Mansfield and Mt.

Ascutney and two of low power on Burke Mountain and Grandpa's Nob in Castleton. "Both could benefit economically from the sharing," Phillips said. "We would pay our part of the freight so we would be helping to cut down on ETV's expenses," he said. Dilley pointed out that radio programming takes about 10 per cent of what it costs to produce a television program. "No question, there is room for both," Dilley said.

"They do different things." Dilley also said they have received tremendous expressions of support from organizations such as the State Council of The Arts, Vermont Historical Society, the governor's office, The Vermont Association of Mental Health, the Community College, the Vermont Bureau of Information and Travel, and others. "In fact, Dilley said, "the Bureau of Information and Travel said 'if public announcements through public radio would make people stay in the state just one half day longer, it would add $50 million annually to the state's Phillips told of the struggles he had getting ETV into the state. Then people like Prof. William J. Lewis of UVM, and Larry VanBenthuysen, public relations director at the university, became interested and put it before the then UVM President Jack Fey.

Fey showed an interest, and called a meeting of 80 leaders throughout the state, to see if they thought the state should have ETV. The response was good, so the groundwork was laid. Phillips said Fey thought "if this is indeed going to be a service to the public, then the public should pay for it." That's when a bill was drawn up for the legislature. After two tries, Phillips said, the state agreed to contribute $600,000, the Public Broadcasting Service put in $100,000 and another $100,000 was raised from within Vermont and Canada to support the budget of about $800,000. After seven years of ETV operation, Phillips said, "I believe ETV is filling a very definite need, not only for elementary and secondary students, but for the public as well." "I think ETV could have done a lot of things it hasn't done, if it had been recognized by the central administration as the powerful communications tool that it is, but it never was recognized as such," Phillips said.

"ETV started out to provide service to the schools, which was the heart of ETV in programming, and I think we did an excellent job there. A survey showed about 100,000 kids in Vermont take advantage of it." In February of last year, ETV was moved from the Continuing Education Division at UVM to the academic vice president's office. "The given reason," Phillips said, "was to make ETV a more integral part of the university." Phillips said national programs like Masterpiece Theater and Sesame Street have done much to enhance ETV. "I also advocated the use of more sports, but I couldn't get it through. "I hope it will be possible for ETV to get enough additional money so local programming can gain more strength, quality, depth and irraiginitiveness, so as to be more comparable to national programming," he said.

Even though he's technically not connected with ETV now, Phillips still shows considerable interest in it. "I put eight years of my life into ETV. You just can't turn that off," he said. "When public radio becomes a reality and it will Phillips said, "both public radio and ETV will be strengthened and they could give better-coordinated service to the state if they were administered together. "Also," he said, "there's no reason why public radio couldn't be privately funded and ETV publicly funded and work together." Vermont This WeekSunday, January 25, 19763.