PBS Arkansas selects FC for transmitter site

Forrest City is one of five sites selected by Arkansas PBS for a transmitter to improve the public service television station’s broadcast signal across the state.

The first of the five-transmitter expansion project was recently completed at Lee Mountain near Russellville.

Arkansas PBS officials said plans are to place the transmitter in Forrest City on the Arkansas State Police tower.

Other sites selected by PBS for transmitters are Yancy, near Texarkana; Gaither, near Harrison and Rich Mountain, near Mena.

Arkansas PBS said the purpose of the expansion is to try and achieve near universal public television broadcast coverage in the state by the end of the year, extending airwaves to part or all of 31 counties that previously received a very weak or no signal – an increase from 76% of the state to 99.5%.

The project received $6.4 million in federal CARES Act Covid funds from the state’s CARES Act steering committee.

Operating now at full power, the transmitter near Russellville helps bring PBS to home of residents in Pope, Johnson, Logan and Yell counties, covering the cities of Russellville and Dardanelle, as well as those communities in the Arkansas River Valley from Clarksville to Atkins. This first transmitter accounts for a 4.2% increase in coverage and reaches an additional 124,289 people.

(Continued from Page 1) This new service is a repeater from the Arkansas PBS primary transmitter in Little Rock and will be broadcast as KETS channel 2 when residents scan for it on their televisions.

“The value of public media is its availability to all, and at Arkansas PBS we provide a daily and essential service for Arkansas families, both urban and rural populations,” Arkansas PBS Executive Director and CEO Courtney Pledger said. “This vital CARES Act funding enables us to be a truly statewide network and better serve the many Arkansans who live in areas without broadband coverage, or who cannot afford cable, satellite or broadband – those most in need of our educational programming and services.”

The need for additional transmitters was determined by a technical study that revealed that the network’s broadcast signal reached roughly 76% of the population of Arkansas.

When schools were dismissed in March 2020 due to the Covid19 pandemic, Arkansas PBS worked closely with the Arkansas Department of Education to develop and produce “Arkansas

AMI” (Alternative Methods of Instruction) to keep prekindergarten through eighth grade students learning from home. These broadcasts helped fill the void for students who did not have Internet access, whether due to availability or associated expense. However, because of coverage gaps, not all students were able to benefit from the programming. The Arkansas CARES Act Steering Committee recommended Arkansas PBS receive funds to expand coverage to ensure educational services are available for all in the future.

PBS officials said these transmitters will fill the majority of existing gaps, and nearly 100% of Arkansans will be able to benefit from the network’s full range of entertaining and educational programming including educational programming for school-aged children during school closures.