Florida bill would allow state money to non-CPB funded stations

A bill in the Florida Legislature would amend a statute that limits state money for public broadcasting only to stations under the purview of CPB. It adds “nondenominational television stations licensed by the FCC as full-power educational broadcast stations”as eligible for funding via the State Board of Education. “What this bill would do is open it up to a larger group of licensees,” said Sandra Ceseretti, g.m. of WSRE at Pensacola Junior College. “It could be community or perhaps religious licensees that are nondenominational. It would take the current infrastructure and grow it, perhaps to another 200 new licensees." As the college's newspaper, the Corsair, reports, that could dilute funding to existing stations, causing problems WSRE. The station has already had cutbacks and layoffs as a result of a deficit last year.