ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 18, 1994                   TAG: 9404180032
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

BROADCASTER STARTS LEAP INTO COMPUTER AGE

Looking to be part of the information revolution, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting plans to give a dozen broadcasting companies $1.4 million either to create or expand on-line computer services.

The project is the first of its kind for CPB, the main funding organization for public TV and radio stations. CPB, a non-profit group that gets its money from Congress, plans to give the grants today.

"We're helping people begin to make the psychic transition from shooting out a signal and hoping people get it, watch it or listen to it to developing more interactive services," said Robert Coonrod, CPB's executive vice president.

Like their commercial counterparts in broadcasting and cable television, public broadcasters realize that technology and the growth of electronic communications is going to change the way they do business, Coonrod said.

Public broadcasters will work with local organizations and businesses to set up or expand computer links to schools, libraries, museums, hospitals and government entities.

Ten projects cover cities and some metro areas; two are statewide. Altogether, around 25 million people could have access to the on-line services, CPB said.

Under the projects, local residents would have free access to the on-line information. Coonrod said services could include: high school equivalency and educational courses; library card catalogues; and information about property taxes, drivers and marriage licenses, and alcohol and drug abuse programs.

Specific services and the extent to which people can order and retrieve information will be determined by individual communities, he said.

New services should be available by next April. People who don't have computers at home will be able to use ones at libraries or churches, Coonrod said. Although public broadcasters are testing the waters, Coonrod said he expects them to create new programs that could be available in some form on computers.

In Virginia, WHRO-TV, Norfolk, Community Link, has been awarded $110,000 for the project. 


 by CNB