Original Webinar Date: November 10, 2009

Successful PTFP Applications
PTFP is a competitive grant program to help public broadcasting stations, state and local governments, Indian Tribes and nonprofit organizations construct facilities to bring educational and cultural programs to the American Public using broadcasting and nonbroadcasting telecommunications technologies. The application process is lengthy and you’ll need guidance to navigate the system.

PTFP Program Officer Lynn Chadwick led a talk for new and returning grant hopefuls to help you fulfill all the requirements of the application, submit the necessary information in a timely manner, and above all, deliver a compelling narrative that’ll get you the funding. It’s not the need of your project that will influence the judges, it’s the need of your community for the services that you’ll provide. This, and many more such helpful tips on this valuable NFCB webinar.

Presenter
      • Lynn Chadwick, Program Officer, NTIA

Special Note for Mac Users:  
This webinar recording is a wmv video file and is viewable on Mac machines if you are running Windows Media Player 9 for Macs, or if you have installed Telestream's "Flip4Mac", a free WMV plug-in found here.

Original Webinar Date: October 1, 2009

Managing Your PTFP Grant
Whether you've just received your letter announcing your new PTFP grant or you've been managing one for a year or two, you could probably use a tutorial on how to navigate the NTIA grant system.  NFCB hosted an hour-long webinar to guide people who are new grantees, who have inherited old grants, or who are getting ready to close out their existing grants on how to use the PTFP main website and PORTS for online reporting.  We got a practical demo from a PTFP grant officer and touched on financial reporting and NIST.

All 2009 grants that were announced in September MUST use the PORTS system for reporting.  Paper or faxed reports will not be accepted.  

Presenter
      • Lynn Chadwick, Program Officer, NTIA
 
Special Note for Mac Users:  
This webinar recording is a wmv video file and is viewable on Mac machines if you are running Windows Media Player 9 for Macs, or if you have installed Telestream's "Flip4Mac", a free WMV plug-in found here.

August 18, 2009

Radio Studios: Setting up Your New Home
The studio is where everything happens, so there are many things that go into and around it which are very important for the day-to-day life of your station! Engineer Andy Gunn with Prometheus Radio Project presented the information you need in a webinar for groups with freshly minted Construction Permits as well as existing stations looking to upgrade or remodel. You'll get tips on site selection and space construction for your new Community Radio Station as well as learn what goes into the air studio, the production studio, the news studio, and other rooms in the building.

Topics we covered were:
• Studio layout and design
• Studio furniture and equipment
• Location, location, location!
• How much space is needed? How many rooms?
• Modifying and improving the space (soundproofing, etc.)

Presenter
      • Andy Gunn, Prometheus Radio Project

June 18, 2009

Transmission Equipment: Powering the Voice
Building a new community radio station begins with just that: Building.  To get your brain around some of the options and requirements of getting your physical plant going, NFCB offered a primer on Transmitters, Antennas, STLs, EAS, et al.

In it, engineer Michael D. Brown will present on these crucial subjects:

• Transmitters and Remotes
• Antennas and Pattern Distortion
• EAS options
• Old School STL's vs. Alternative STL Methods
• Building a new Tower vs. Co-location on an existing Tower
• and definitions of all the terms you’ll encounter
  

May 14, 2009

Streaming Radio for Community Stations
As a new Community Radio station, or even an existing one already on the air, there are many reasons you'd want to stream your programming. This webinar gives you all the basics for getting started: from how it works, to different approaches, and the practical components you'll need (equipment, servers, and formats).  We also touched on licensing and reporting your streaming content, and discussed archives and podcasts.

Presenter
      • Andy Gunn, Technical Director with Prometheus Radio Project

March 10, 2009

Legal Issues for New Managers
This is an overview of the most important legal and regulatory issues to which new station managers at community radio stations must pay attention.  In the onslaught of all the things you must deal with in running your new station, we focused on the most important legal things that a new manager should understand.  Learn it now and reduce your potential exposure to problems with the Feds.

Presenters
      • Michael Couzens, Attorney at Law
      • Melodie Virtue, Communications Attorney with Garvey Schubert Barer

February 12, 2009

Programming a Community Radio Station
For most of you, Programming is the reason you're starting a station, so we're presenting the basic principles of programming a Community Radio station.  There are many ways to program a station and the choices you make will determine how many people listen, who they are, when they listen, and how they value the station.  We begin with the assumption that you want to have a significant impact on your community.  Then, we’ll talk about what causes radio listening, different kinds of formats, common myths and mistakes, and how a Community Radio station can provide a quality public service to a significant number of listeners.  View this webinar to get the theoretical and the practical, and come away with the lesson that there is no good or bad; there are just consequences.

Presenter
      • Ginny Z. Berson, Vice President and Director of Federation Services, NFCB

July 14, 2008

Governance & Operations: An Online Seminar for New Stations
A presentation defining “Governance” and “Operations”, how to go about addressing issues under them, and how important they can be to the foundation of a new community radio station.  Learn about: building effective Boards, options for staff structures, working with volunteers, and what has worked at community stations across the country.

The Agenda Includes

• A culture of change and communication
• Being clear on the mission
• Roles, job descriptions, and written procedures
• Written policies
• Protecting Your Assets
• Outside resources
  

Presenter
      • Carol Pierson, President and CEO of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters

May 29, 2008

Business Planning for New Stations
Business planning is vital to the success of a new community radio station. Build it right on a well thought-out foundation now, and it’ll thrive later.

This overview of the ways and means of business planning for your radio venture covers the following topics:

• What are business models/plans? Why Bother?
• Who should be involved? When is the best time to do it?
• Where do you start?
• How do you complete it?
• How do you evaluate it?
• What else is needed besides the business model?
• How should it be presented?
• Lines of Revenue
• Keys to Success

Presenter
      • Rolfe Larson, Project Coordinator with Public Radio Capital

Special Note:
This was the first web conference held by NFCB, so there inevitably were technical problems encountered along the way.  Please be patient with some of the extraneous recorded conversation at the beginning and end of the recording.  If you can, please jump to the 4:10 time mark of the recording (4 minutes and 10 seconds in) where the presentation starts, and end the playback at 1 minute and 12 seconds before the actual end of the file, as the attendees are hanging up their phones.