PBS CUTS WOULD BE PAINFUL BUT NOT FATAL, WFYI SAYS

If the feds take away the tax dollars, public TV and radio will just have to deal with it.

What comes to mind when you think of PBS? Nature? Across Indiana? Sesame Street? Red Green?

Red Green?

Red Green, 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, is a Canadian spoof on how-to shows. In one recent episode, Red Green showed how to turn a toilet tank into a cooler.

PBS's wide array of programs is jeopardized by U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and others who want to withhold taxpayer money from PBS. Children's Express recently visited WFYI (Channel 20), Indianapolis' PBS station, to learn about PBS and to find out what these cuts would mean to WFYI.

In 1967, Congress passed the Public Broadcasting Act, which provided for noncommercial radio and television. Noncommercial means these stations don't rely on advertising for funding, and therefore aren't as ratings-crazy as commercial stations because they don't have to lure advertisers.

Marty Kinsella, director of communications at WFYI, explained why public television was started:

"There were people who felt that television could be utilized in a lot better way than it was being utilized for straight entertainment. And it was also an opportunity to bring great cultural events - great music, great dance - to people who lived in isolated communities or who were financially unable to afford going to the Metropolitan Opera, for example."

The Public Broadcasting Service oversees noncommercial television programming. National Public Radio oversees noncommercial radio programming.

Helped `Red Green' get its start

Individual television stations buy programs from PBS or independent producers. In fact, Kinsella said WFYI was one of the first stations in the United States to buy Red Green and thus made its production possible.

Some stations produce programs themselves. For example, WFYI produces Across Indiana and makes it available to other PBS stations in Indiana.

Public broadcasting money approved by Congress goes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes it to PBS and NPR stations.

Kinsella explains: "The tax dollars that are collected throughout the United States go to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and they then distribute (the money) to the various stations based upon proposals that are written to them. That's not just to television, but it's also to radio."

In addition to taxpayer funds, PBS and NPR stations receive funding from viewer/listener donations and corporate sponsors.

WFYI doesn't rely on as much taxpayer money as do other PBS stations, thanks to the support of corporations and foundations in the area.

"Across the country, an average of about 15 percent of the individual station's budget is made up by tax dollars. In Indianapolis, we receive about 14 percent from taxpayer dollars," Kinsella said.

"In some places, for example in Appalachia and in South Dakota, which are very isolated areas, up to 50 to 55 percent of their budgets come from taxpayer dollars. They don't have the access to Lilly Foundations and major corporations within their communities to try to get additional dollars from."

WFYI also receives support from the public through its fund drives. "We've just come off a two-week radio drive. We received probably $27,000 more than we anticipated," Kinsella said.

"Grossly, grossly exaggerated"

Gingrich has said taxpayers "shouldn't be forced to pay taxes to keep billionaire Big Bird on television." Kinsella says Gingrich is misinformed.

"The statement that Barney and Big Bird are billionaires is grossly, grossly exaggerated. The actual money that Barney made is in the millions, not in the billions, and a very, very small percentage of that is available to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting."

Kinsella acknowledged that public television has made some marketing mistakes. One of them is "probably not being smart enough to realize that Barney was going to make tons of bucks and to get themselves a good percentage of it."

Congress and PBS are in negotiations about funding cutbacks. Kinsella said a 15 percent cut has been proposed for fiscal year 1996, which starts Oct. 1.

If the government does take away taxpayer money, it won't be the end for PBS and NPR.

"I don't think they will disappear," Kinsella said. "They may look a little bit different.

"What we are being awakened to do is to look at alternative funding sources."

PBS officials recently rejected selling advertising as one way to make up the money. However, they may allow longer announcements by corporations who underwrite programs.

Kinsella doesn't want to see PBS programming available only through cable companies. "It wouldn't be universally accessible," she said.

"Cable provides (service to) 66 percent of the households. Public television is accessible to 99 percent of the households. . . . There are a lot of people who can't afford $23 to $25 a month for cable."

There are many reasons to fund PBS, Kinsella said. One is that it expands our horizons.

"We do not have the opportunity, many of us, to travel, for example, to Alaska and see the Kodiak bears. So that with public television, we have much more of an opportunity to understand . . . the other systems of the universe."

People in need benefit, too. WFYI offers a program called GED on TV to help people who have not graduated from high school take the general educational development exam and pass it.

WFYI also has programs to train day-care providers and childhood educators in how to use some of the educational materials by the creators of Sesame Street.

"Children aren't paying taxes, but there is a value to support a system like public television," she emphasized.

EDITED BY: Sara Berghoff, 14. ASSISTANT EDITOR: Michelle Heron, 15.