St. Lucie News Tribune from Fort Pierce, Florida • 17

The News Tribune MnmMKM Friday February 8 1985 BS Fort Pierce TV station to be 'air' born in 2 years Backer sees FCC QK in 30-45 days BV Peter Williams News Tribune Writer A non-commercial television station based in Fort Pierce should be on the air within two years the top organizer of the effort said this week Pr William Henkel founder and president of Florida Educational Television Inc said he expects the Federal Communications Commission to issue a construction permit within the next 30-45 days That will start the clock on an 18-month time period in which he must get the station on the air businesses to sponsor the production of programs She mentioned Piper Aircraft and the Harris Corp two businesses that may be asked to help underwrite the cost of programming The station also plans to produce programs locally that could center on issues that are important to area residents like the citrus industry she said Channel 21 'Will broadcast from a 1000-foot tower located in a citrus grove north of Orange Avenue Extension and five miles east of the St Lucie-Okeechobee County line The signal will reach as far north as Brevard County and include portions of Hendry Martin and Highlands counties anticipated that all of St Lucie Indian River and Okeechobee -counties will Ub able to pick up the signal It will take $24 million Henkel estimated to Just get the station on the air Of that 1590000 will have to be raised locally he said To operate the station would need about $12 million a year he estimated Of that 1540000 expected to come from the state $200000 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $460000 from local grants or sponsors Henkel plans at first to operate the station about 2600 hours a year or seven hours a day The production facilities will be located somewhere within the city of Fort Pierce Henkel said Henkel 40 lives in Boca Raton but plans tb move to St Lucie County before the station becomes operational Henkel said his station win differ in a lot of ways from the mold the public tends to place on public broadcasting stations He said he doesn't intend to hold telethons to raise money and he -want to simply copy the PBS programs offered by the 'two PBS affiliates that now serve portions of St Lucie County Henkel said he wants a mix of 60 cent local programs to 40 percent of the traditional PBS fare The new station is badly needed Henkel said to serve -an estimated 325000 residents who are unable to receive educational television programs' without a large antenna or cable Lori Burns a former WTVX-Channel 34 employee and programming director said their idea is to get local 1 New station is bad news for fans of WTOG broadcasting station Henkel is entitled to the channel Kays admits "It was a stipulation when we went in that if an educational station requested the channel to give it up" Kays saidin a telephone interview from his Tampa office "There is no way we can fight it even if we wanted to fight it We simply will have to' come up with another frequency or go In the Tampa Bay area WTOG broadcasts on UHF Channel 44 but its signal is not strong enough to reach the Treasure Coast When WTOG officials learned the UHF Channel 21 being used in Fort Pierte they decided to install a translator or repeater in St Lucie County so they could bring their signal in If WTOG remains on the air in St Lucie County after the new PBS station starts up it will have to be on another channel and as Kays points out the FCC is somewhat stingy about that looking at other frequencies right now but itTs an ongoing battle to find Kays said "Right now nothing available There is a freeze on (new channels) but they (the FCC) do have a series of windows where they announce that certain frequencies are open for lottery in certain areas but that may not happen for a year or two and all that means is we can put our bid in like everyone else Hopefully something will work out it's a good market over If WTOG is able to be reassigned to another UHF frequency it will solve its problem by creating another one for Bill Crosby the general manager of Florida Cableyislon i Henkel said it wu too early to say how much of a salary he would draw as the chief executive officer of Channel 21 He did say bet it'll be the among the lowest of any of the in Florida" So far no call letters have been assigned to Channel 21 he said That will come after the construction permit is issued For the past 10 years the FCC has set sside UHF Channel 21 for use by a public broadcasting station but none has surfaced For the last two years been used by WTOG an independent commercial station from Tampa-St Petersburg WTOG will have to give up its use of the frequency once the new station is complete officials of WTOG said We in Tampa Because WTOG has rebroadcasting facilities in the area the FCC says Crosby ust carry it on the primary VHF band (channels 2 through 13) If another local station were added and WTOG allowed to remaip it would mean Crosby would have to bump one of the sixstations he now carries on the VHF band from 2 through 13 The last time that happened it touched off a drawn out campaign by a bandful of fans loyal to one or both of the Miami stations that were bumped off JCPenney Catalog HOURSi Monday-Sat urday 930-530 Sunday 12-5 By Pater Williams News Tribune Writer The establishment of a public broadcasting station in St Lucie County may good news for some but bad news forJohnKays Kays is the chief engineer for WTOG a Tampa-St Petersburg television station that will be forced off the Treasure Coast airwaves by the new station broadcasts on UHF Channel 21 the same one Dr William Henkel needs for his PBS station As a public Uphill fight is ahead for PS skaters By Tim Jamiolkowskl News Tribune Writer Diane Berish has one more chance to convince Port St Lucie city officials a skateboard ramp belongs in her back yard Qfn Jan 8 city planner Steve Henninger ruled a 9-foot-high 12-foot-long U-shaped wooden structure at her house 567 Euclid Lane is not permitted by Mrs sons and their friends caused ah uproar last December when neighbors complained of loud noise and vandalism associated with the use Mrs Berish will go before the city council acting the Board oft-Eoning Appeals Feb 19 at a public hearing to present her afifc $he city's code enforcement board already has dismissed Mrs case because the family ws charged with violating an ordinance that no longer exists In mid-December Henninger referred final decision on 'the ralnp to the city council 1 Jn a memorandum to City Minager Wayne Allgire Hen-ninger wrote that use of the skateboard "was not con-! tepiplated by either the planning and zoning board and city council inhe recent adoption of the (ci-fyj) ordinance" jhe letter also stated that if the board of appeals overturns Hgnninger's decision the cope board case would be dropped and a skateboard ramp would considered a customary yard structure and allowed through the hand-written letter from Mrs Berish appealing Henn-inger's ruling was received Monday at city hall I Vero Beach man charged An Indian River County man 'as arrested Wednesday bn traf-ic homicide charges resulting rom a Jan 27 pedestrian fatality Vero Beach Gary Paul Wright 28 of 3436 rst Lane Vero Beach posted 2500 bond Thursday on targes of driving while toxicated-homicide and driving dth a revoked driver's license He wu arrested by Vero Beach blice Wednesday A spokesman for the Florida (ighway Patrol which in-estigated the accident uid Vrignt was the driver of a car fhich struck Alfred Leo Michele 18 of 450 28th Court Vero teach he walked near the in-trsectlon of Fourth Street and $th Court about 7 pm Jan 27 Pet patrol I If you have lost or found a pet call Aileen Schulz at 461-2050 qrt 162 to get an item in this column i Found A small pet parrot It is green and yellow and very tame It wu found Feb 6 in the vicinity of Seaway Drive and Bin-ney Drive on South Hutchinson Island Call 461-0672 for SAVE 25-40 LADIES GOWNS 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