APTS updates Showcase participants

At PBS Showcase yesterday, APTS President Larry Sidman joked that there was scant coverage -- OK, none -- of his first 100 days in office. But he was busy indeed, and will continue to be during the coming months. Sidman and his legislative team updated pubcasters on the lobbying group's ongoing efforts on Capitol Hill. "We feel our job is to try to get access to as much federal funding for stations as we possibly can," Sidman said, because all stations are suffering shortfalls in "almost every nonfederal funding source." The group also is trying to assist individual stations that aspire to stimulus grants. There are "pockets of money," Sidman said, available through various agencies. "So we're working with stations to position themselves to be grant recipients."