American Archives Pilot stations chosen

Phase I of the American Archives Pilot Program is about to begin. Oregon Public Broadcasting, overseeing the Archive project (Current, April 13) , has selected 25 pubcasting stations. Each will receive up to $10,000 to “locate and inventory video and audio content for the archive prototype,” according to a statement from OPB. The massive effort hopes to preserve aging historical television and radio content. The stations chosen are “a relevant representation of both radio and TV stations both geographically and in terms of the type of content they bring to the pilot project,” said Patricia Lanas-Espinosa, CPB’s project manager for digital media strategy, in the statement. TV stations: WTVS, Detroit; WNET, New York; WHUT, Howard University in Washington, DC; VPT, Colchester, VT; LETA, Baton Rouge, LA; KCPT, Kansas City, MO; IPTV, Johnston, IA; and AETN, Conway, AR. Radio: WYSO, Antioch University, Yellow Springs, OH; MPR, St. Paul, MN; and KFPA, Berkeley, CA. Joint licensees: WTTW, Chicago; WSIU, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL; WPT/WPR, Madison, WI; WGBH, Boston; WVIZ/WCPN, Cleveland; WQED, Pittsburgh; WOUB, Ohio University, Athens, OH; WKNO, Memphis; WILL, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL; WCNY, Liverpool, NY; WMPN, Oxford, MS; KUON-DT, Lincoln, NE; KQED, San Francisco, CA; and TPBA, Texas. Once stations have identified content, OPB will review it and choose which stations will continue into phase two, restoring and digitizing materials, and also compile a database. Here’s more background on the Archive from Current.