KEEPING OREGON CONNECTED

OPB Engineer Al Steffler of La Grande checks on translator equipment atop Mount Fanny, The Grande Ronde Valley is one of the areas in the state where OPB has already installed a digital system. (Photo/OPB).

- Bill Rautenstrauch

- The Observer

Culture helps the economic world go 'round, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting President and CEO Steve Bass.

That's one good reason state legislators need to support it, he says.

Bass, in La Grande recently for the Business Development Entrepreneur Day at Eastern Oregon University, told The Observer he has high hopes for legislative approval of the Culture, Heritage, Art, Movies, Preservation Reinvestment Package, a $10.6 million initiative to support those things.

"We're thrilled there's this kind of funding package put together," he said. "We're really working this. It's important to us because of the end of analog technology in less than two years."

CHAMP is a proposal before the Oregon Legislature to revitalize the key arts and culture organizations.

As proposed, the package would provide $2.9 million for the Oregon Arts Commission, $2.8 million for Oregon Historical Society, $414,000 for the Oregon Film and Video Office, $750,000 the Oregon Main Street Program — and $3.75 million for OPB.

Backers say arts and historical preservation programs generate income and create jobs in communities throughout the state.

OPB plays a role in illuminating those programs, in addition to serving as the backbone for the state's emergency alert system, Bass said.

Two-thirds of OPB's CHAMP share would be used to help pay for the cost of replacing 54 analog translators in rural Oregon that the federal government will not allow to be used after February, 2009.

Bass said OPB is pushing hard to extend and maintain service to the rural areas. Because of topography and the large distances between communities, it's an expensive proposition.

"When we get out to the rural parts, the costs on a per-person basis are enormous," Bass said. The cost per home is $5.42 in the Northeast region compared to 48 cents in the Portland area and $1.28 along the southern Oregon Coast.

Until 2003, OPB received an annual appropriation for the preservation of statewide access to the public broadcasting service. That year, the appropriation was rescinded. According to OPB, viewers and listeners increased contributions, which now account for 64 percent of operating revenue.

But the lion's share of contributors are clustered on the state's west side. Contributions for rural residents don't make up for the cost of getting service to them.

Some rural areas, including Union County, are served by digital translators, but OPB has a long way to go before its state-of-the-art network — required by federal law — is complete.

If the reinvestment package passes, OPB would use $2.75 million to pay half the cost of replacing the analog system. The money would be a match for a U.S. Department of Commerce grant for the remainder.

Money from CHAMP also would help maintain public broadcasting in rural areas, upgrade emergency alert systems and make some services more widely available.

In addition to funding for public broadcasting, the CHAMP package includes funding for the Creative Oregon Initiative.

Administered by the Oregon Arts Commission, the initiative is aimed at helping non-profit agencies and organizations support artists, grow audience and add jobs and revenues to local economies.

The Oregon Historical Society would use funds to collect, preserve and catalogue the history of Oregon.

The Oregon Main Street Program would use its share of the CHAMP money in efforts to preserve and restore historic downtowns.

Money for the Film and Video Office would be spent on maintaining a Los Angeles-based representative, and marketing Oregon through trade journals, direct mail, and film festivals.