VegasPBS finds success by branching out

VegasPBS "may have found just that new business model" that will help public TV stations survive, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "While maintaining and even expanding its traditional educational mission, VegasPBS has branched out in ways unusual for PBS stations," including landing Homeland Security grants to build a regional emergency response support system. The station is now an $18 million-a-year diversified business, with nearly $63 million in net assets. And General Manager Tom Axtell says the station may launch a nightly newscast, a rarity in the pubTV system. "We have weathered the recession pretty well," he said.