Fort Hays State University - Reveille Yearbook (Hays, KS)

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FHS The responsibilities ol the corporation included hiring a general manager to work on final preparation for the station to go on the air in late 1980, Garwood received 50 applica- tions for the job and screened that number down to three applicants from Ohio, Florida and Nebraska. Dana Cox, broadcasting manager consultant for Ohio State University, Columbus, was named executive director-general manager in May. The station, if built, would cover the area in a 60 mile radius from Hays. Counties within the coverage area were Sheridan, Graham, Rooks, Osborne, Russell, Trego, Gove, Lane, Ness, Rush, Barton, Pawnee, Hodgeman and Ellis, What type of effect would this station have on the campus community and the Hays community? A positive and desira- ble effect, ' ' Garwood said. Six to seven new jobs would be created, classes could be offered to area residents and the station would attract students to the campus. Students in radio-television-film would benefit greatly from the practical experience provided by working for a public television sta- tion. Production crews for locally produced shows would come from within the department. Local residents would benefit from the educational view- point also: more educational programming from a local stand instead of programs from Wichita or Topeka. The station would take some programming from Wichita and Topeka but local shows aimed at the residents of the coverage area would replace those aimed at the residents of other areas. Editor’s Note: Funds for the Media Center , closed circuit televi- sion equipment and public television for Western Kansas were approved April 27 by the Kansas Legislature. The bill included $375,000 for the Media Center, $139,000 for closed circuit televi- sion equipment, $888,860 for construction of public television facilities and $60,000 for its preparation and planning. PBS Feature 27

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PBS for By Jean Teller ft wasn ' t exactly the bright spot on the horizon that some people hoped for but public television in the Hays area wasn ' t through yet . . . at least for the moment. Several of the major first steps had been taken. An ascer- tainment study of needs and interests in the coverage area was completed. A non-profit corporation, the Smoky Hills Public Television Corporation, was formed to oversee the new station. A general manager and secretary were in the process of being hired. Governor Bennett recommended to the state legislature that funds requested by Fort Hays State and the state Public Television Board for the establishing of a Hays station be approved. The funds recommended by the governor included $375,000 requested by the university for a media center and $170,000 allocated by the Kansas Public TV Board for a building to house the Hays station. Unfortunately the Senate cut the funds requested for the media center and for closed circuit television equipment. The funds for public television were also in jeopardy. The senate wanted more time to study public television in Kansas and this desire led to the cutting of the FHS budget. The items had been requested for several years and were necessary even if the public television station was not located in Hays. The Kansas House could reinstate the requests by Fort Hays State and if so. the items would stay in the budget. If the House did not include the media center and closed circuit television, the items wouldn ' t be included again until the next proposed budget. If that budget was passed the money would become available in the summer of 1 979. The media center would be located in the basement of Forsyth Library and would house the radio-television-film department, plus audio-visual and photographic services. The studio for the public TV station would be built next to the library. If there were any doubts how the public would feel about the station, they were dispelled during the ascertainment study. Conducted by David Lefurgey. assistant professor of speech, the study included personal interviews with commu- nity leaders and a random telephone survey of Hays resi- dents. Eighty-eight community leaders in the coverage area were contacted Each was asked to respond to survey questions and to list several problems or needs facing the area that public TV could deal with. From the 88 contacted, 225 prob- lem responses were received. Totally 328 people were interviewed in nine communities and 890 problem responses were received. The top priority items for the coverage area were leisure activities, crime, agriculture and the economy. An interesting sidenote, of the 216 people who answered the question concerning Fort Hays State offering courses over a public television station, 82.5 per cent thought it would be a good idea. In answering the next question, 65.4 per cent said yes, they would enroll in a course broadcast over the public TV station. Two of the next steps to be taken were to obtain a corpo- rate charter from the station and hire a general manager for the station. In order to do this a non-profit corporation was formed. The Smoky Hills Public Television Corporation had sixteen members who had completed articles and by-laws for the corporation. Dr. John Garwood, dean of instruction, was elected chair- man of the corporation. The corporation, Garwood said, should expand from its present 1 6 members to 45 members from the entire coverage area. 26 PBS Feature

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