VEGAS PBS – Television and so much more!

2011 LOCAL CONTENT AND SERVICE REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY

LOCAL VALUE

Vegas PBS is a valuable resource to the Southern Nevada Region. Vegas PBS has provided access to valuable educational, informational, cultural and economic developmental services to over 2 million people. Vegas PBS helps support the community by providing high-quality educational programs, informative and trustworthy news and information, as well as valuable job training and development opportunities. Vegas PBS has developed numerous broadcast, internet and wireless services designed to empower individuals, businesses, government and nonprofit organizations achieve their objectives.

In 2011, Vegas PBS provided these key local services: Produced many local programs focusing on important community topics such as sustainable development, school improvement, planned giving, Nevada politics, and civic and cultural events. Provided numerous workshops, resources and informational material to help promote children’s education. Developed and produced content to combat Southern Nevada’s unemployment crisis.

Vegas PBS’s local services had deep impact throughout Southern Nevada. With high quality, unbiased public affairs, cultural, educational and informative programming, Vegas PBS owns and operates six stations with ten additional translators carrying these channels throughout southern Nevada, plus nearby portions of Arizona, Utah, and California. In addition, six educational channels are provided directly, to CCSD classrooms.

LOCAL IMPACT

2011 KEY

SERVICES

2011 LOCAL CONTENT AND SERVICE REPORT

IN THE COMMUNITY

The Vegas PBS Educational Technology Campus is home to a state-of-the-art public service media center that has garnered many awards, was the subject of articles in national publications, and hosted many visitors. Its revolutionary design incorporates business concepts that directly link efficient digital video production and distribution with engaged community partners, offers extensive electronic education, and provides innovative emergency response communication systems. Vegas PBS seeks to create a unique digital technology corporation focused on unmet local public service needs. The “Community Engagement” business model adopted by our board requires us to assess community needs and develop program services in cooperation with public, private and nonprofit partners. These collaborations are designed to track participation and deliver measurable public service results. PROGRAMMING Vegas PBS’ three over-the-air television services are rebroadcast via a network of translator stations throughout southern Nevada, plus nearby portions of Arizona, Utah, and California. Vegas PBS owns and operates six such stations with ten additional translators carrying these channels. Almost all translators have been converted to digital systems that allow viewers to see all three over-the-air broadcast channels. According to the four quarterly Nielsen rating reports, Vegas PBS Channel 10 had an average monthly audience of 734,565 people. The average viewing household watched 3.7 hours a week, During the fiscal year the most watched daytime programs included Curious George, Arthur, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Super WHY!, Wild Kratts, Peep and the Big Wide World, and Caillou. The audience for these programs represented between 6 and 9% of all the viewing on television or cable at the time. Children’s audiences remain large because there are few truly educational alternatives in the media. Our children’s programs have large audiences in Spanish speaking homes and are often ranked as the first or second “most viewed” daytime programs among all networks in these homes by Nielsen. During the fiscal year the Vegas PBS production department produced 391 hours of local television, cable and web content. Television series included Your Money: What’s Next, Impact Nevada, Election 2010, Building Las Vegas Greener, Inside Education, Community Billboard, Nevada Week in Review and Homework Hotline. These series covered important community topics such as sustainable development, school improvement, planned giving, Nevada politics, civic and cultural events and math achievement. Specials included Varsity Quiz, Junior Varsity Quiz, the Science Bowl Quiz, the Clark County Spelling Bee and School Matters. As part of its community service mission Vegas PBS donated production of public service announcements, training videos, or event recording for the Southern Nevada Health District, Green Chips, Legal Aid Center, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Atomic Testing Museum, Lied Children’s Museum, Smith Center for the Performing Arts, College of Southern Nevada, and 14 Workforce Investment Act certified local service providers.

2011 LOCAL CONTEN2011 LOCAL CONTEN

2011 LOCAL CONTENT AND SERVICE REPORT

IN THE COMMUNITY

EDUCATIONAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT

Vegas PBS educational media services are funded by competitive governmental grant funds, expense reimbursements, or user fees. Corporate and foundation funds are solicited for specific projects. Management’s philosophy is to define a specific problem or a service desired by an educational partner, and then craft media content, curriculum, workshops, and student materials that will achieve the project goals. The goal is a long term business relationship that provides mutual benefit and quantifiable outcomes, which utilize the distinctive digital production and distribution capabilities of Vegas PBS. The major service functions of the Educational Media Department include: Educational Media Center – The EMC serves as the media library for the Clark County School District (CCSD) and subscribing charter, private, or home schools. The EMC houses 14,000 physical media titles which are delivered to teachers as requested. The EMC also provides digital encoding and analog and digital duplication services for numerous educational and nonprofit groups. Instructional Television - Vegas PBS provides five wireless “closed circuit” television channels to over 345 public and private school and administrative sites in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson, Nevada. The channels are programmed with guidance from the Clark County School District. Some programs are in Spanish to provide teachers with limited English proficient (LEP) students a learning alternative. Programs on these channels often do not have Internet broadband streaming rights, but do have school recording rights. Typically, school librarians or media specialists record the programs for later use by a teacher, although certain programs are intended for live interactive classroom settings.

Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) – DCMP is a statewide collection of media programs and services for deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, or visually impaired students beyond the closed captioned and audio described programs broadcast on public media channels. The service was begun when educators noted Nevada had no access to this service due to limited state funding for deaf or blind programs. Locally created services include sign language workshops, closed captioning of local educational and training videos, family learning kits to assist families with Braille literacy and sign language, classroom socialization kits for teachers, and customized Braille materials for local educators and students. A large library of Braille books were secured for lending to schools under a grant. Extensive use of PBS children’s educational programs with captioning and audio descriptions is promoted. Educational Outreach - These programs began with a national grant to promote childhood literacy using national PBS program materials and books in schools serving students from low socioeconomic homes. The program elements include television programs seen in the home; public service announcements between the programs sponsored by various partners; school and community workshops for children, parents and teachers; take home materials for workshop attendees, and interactive websites. Although the workshops are offered throughout the community, over 90% of all participants attend schools classified as eligible for federal Title I funding due to the parent(s) low annual household income. The local Vegas PBS program has expanded to include three curriculum elements focusing on literacy, oral health, and childhood obesity. American Graduate - In 2011 Vegas PBS was selected as one only 12 of Stations to receive funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting for the American Graduate Initiative. Launching in the 2012 school year, this program will focus on creating public awareness about the crisis facing today’s dropout crisis in our public school system. Through a number of different venues including teacher town hall meetings, public service announcements, professional development training as well as others, Vegas PBS hopes to raise community awareness and help combat the trend of increasingly fewer numbers that are receiving a high school diploma.

2011 LOCAL CONTENT AND SERVICE REPORT

IN THE COMMUNITY

ONLINE MEDIA DEPARTMENT Vegas PBS started providing local for credit instruction using cable and videotape techniques in 1998, but quickly moved delivery of these services to the Internet as the technology developed. Three distinct online “virtual education” services are now offered by the Vegas PBS. All have substantial growth expectations, and rely on user-fees and tuition reimbursements rather than philanthropy for sustainability. PBS TeacherLine - offers over 110 post baccalaureate online courses through subscribing local stations. Vegas PBS has the largest annual enrollment of any station in this program and offers it to every school district in Southern Nevada. Over 5,200 local teachers have taken these courses since 1998, and 727 enrolled last year. The classes were designed under a US Department of Education grant and allow teachers to meet No Child Left Behind “Highly Qualified Teacher” requirements and to advance on the salary schedule. All Nevada school districts recognize the courses for continuing education requirements and salary advancement.

CCSD Workforce Training - produces and distributes online materials offered for staff development, mandated viewing, and professional certification. Over 135,000 online views of CCSD workforce training videos were recorded last year. Some materials respond to state law mandates for annual documented training, others respond to court orders or OSHA requirements, and some reflect training priorities of the school administration. Topics include blood borne pathogens, sexual harassment, permissible practices for disorderly special education children, school bus safety, and active shooter procedures.

SUPPORT SERVICE Emergency Communications - is an emerging public safety service function of the company that links its unique broadcast, microwave, fiber, and satellite resources with the public as well as emergency command centers. Vegas PBS provides a full range of Emergency Alert Services to Southern Nevada on Channel 10 and our other public media channels. Severe weather and civil alerts, including AMBER alerts for missing or abducted children, may be broadcast at any time on any of our channels. During the year, we served as a national pilot station for the dissemination of emergency multimedia alerts via the emerging “mobile digital” TV standard. Vegas PBS was the first station in the Western US to broadcast geo-targeted alerts on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security’s Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) system, which provides instant message style warnings to wireless providers and their subscribers. PLAN sends emergency alerts only to mobile devices (e.g., cell phones) located within the affected areas. This program will be deployed nationwide in 2012.

In addition to public alerting, specialized equipment and proprietary networks incorporated into the new Educational Technology Campus allow Vegas PBS to provide redundant communication pathways to hospitals, police and fire vehicles, government offices, and command centers during emergencies. Detailed blueprints and other information on over 400 public buildings are maintained on site as well as family contact information on over 345,000 K-12 students and employees. A grant received from the US Department of Justice will upgrade the system software and provide and provide enhanced capabilities to 80 police and Crisis Response vehicles next year.

Vegas PBS has established a locally managed communications resource in cooperation with Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) operators. Three digital repeater systems and high frequency “shortwave” transmitters are operating from the Educational Technology Campus providing world-wide emergency communications capabilities. Station K7PBS has been licensed by the FCC and recognized by the American Radio Relay League.

2011 LOCAL CONTENT AND SERVICE REPORT

STORIES OF IMPACT

Ready to Learn The Ready to Learn childhood literacy outreach program included 458 community workshops. Participants included 58,654 children, parents or caregivers in the school workshops, book of the month activities, or community events. Ready to Learn offers several themed workshops including basic literacy, environmental print, nutrition and exercise, music, and sign language.

Freedom Riders In conjunction with the national PBS Freedom Riders documentary series, Vegas PBS hosted a preview party prior to the national showing. At this event people were able to preview the show and then participate in a live discussion with original Freedom Rider and Congressman John Lewis (GA). This wonderfully successful event helped both children and adults understand the importance of standing up for inequality

Teacherline This PBS program offers over 110 post baccalaureate online courses through subscribing local stations. Vegas PBS has the largest annual enrollment of any station in this program and offers it to every school district in Southern Nevada. Over 5,200 local teachers have taken these courses since 1998, and 727 enrolled last year. The classes were designed under a US Department of Education grant and allow teachers to meet No Child Left Behind “Highly Qualified Teacher” requirements and to advance on the salary schedule. All Nevada school districts recognize the courses for continuing education requirements and salary advancement.

2011 LOCAL CONTENT AND SERVICE REPORT

IN THE COMMUNITY

Vegas Virtual Online -

With the downturn of the Nevada economy, tens of thousands have found themselves without employment. Vegas Virtual was launched to help put Nevadans back to work by providing the training needed for workers to become employable. Through partnerships with many of the state’s public and private agencies and development of high quality training materials, we are able to provide valuable services to numerous industries within our community.

Reach in the Community: With Nevada’s economy based on the service industry, Vegas Virtual’s partnerships provide the workers in those industries opportunity to become better workers through different training services provided. Whether it be obtaining a health card to handle food from the Health district, or learning to speak English with our Ronna Timpa’s Hotel English Online, hundreds of thousands of people a year are receiving some kind of training provided by Vegas PBS.

Partnerships: Clark County School District

Southern Nevada Health District

Workplace ESL Solutions

Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority

Foundation for an Independent Tomorrow

Goodwill Career Connections

High Sierra Health Education Center

Moapa Band of Paiutes Vocational Rehabilitation

National Healthcareer Association

Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation

Las Vegas Clark County Urban League

Workforce Connections

Southern Nevada Business Resource Network

Impact and Community Feedback: The custom training portal created to serve the Southern Nevada Health District’s Food Handler Safety Training requirement will touch approximately 1 out of every 7 citizens in Southern Nevada.

“The Southern Nevada Health District’s goal is to make the

food handler health card program more accessible,

more comprehensive, more informative and more

convenient and to be able to include more up-to-date and

appropriate food safety information. To accomplish

this, we are working with Vegas PBS’ Vegas Virtual

Online Education to overhaul and update the health card

food handler education program established in the

1960s.”

-Chief Health Officer, Lawrence Sands, DO, MPH, Southern Nevada Health

District

2011 LOCAL CONTENT AND SERVICE REPORT

Evaluating Outcomes, Measuring Impact

“The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is very excited to see Vegas PBS initiate innovative programs like this to help get Nevadans back to work.” – Terri Janison, Regional Director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development

Highest whole day and highest daytime gross rating point totals of any PBS affiliate in the US.

Described and Captioned

Media Center proving resources for Nevada’s deaf and blind.

Over 15,610 children, parents, teachers, and caregivers participated in Vegas PBS’ Keeping Kids Fit program.

58,654 children participated in 458 community workshops for our Ready to Learn program .

Vegas Virtual Online Education partners announce local, regional and statewide programs. From L to R: President Ronna Timpa, Workplace ESL Solutions; Executive Director Andrea Gibbons, High Sierra Area Health Education Center; Chief Health Officer Lawrence Sands, DO, MPH, Southern Nevada Health District; Workforce & Economic Development Director Debra Solt, Vegas PBS; Regional Director Terri Janison, Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development; and General Manager Tom Axtell, Vegas PBS.

The Vegas PBS Board’s strategic plan includes Civic Engagement as a foundational pillar of the station’s mission. Vegas PBS has integrated civic engagement into all of its operations. Whether it be by educating children about how to stay healthy and the importance of education, providing teachers better the opportunity to become better educators, helping the unemployed obtain the skills they need to get back to work, or airing high quality, informative, enjoyable programming, Vegas PBS provides a valuable service for everyone. Vegas PBS is Television and so much more!