Join HPPR for a reception and concert dedicating an upgrade to our station serving southeastern Colorado, Thursday, March 12, 5:30pm MDT, at the Cultural Events Center, 104 West Parmenter, in Lamar.HPPR staff and personalities will make an appearance as a model of a radio tower is lit in a ceremonial opening of KCSE's expanded service to the region.
Texas Panhandle musician Mike Blakely will provide entertainment in a concert following the ceremony. Blakely is an award-winning novelist and singer-songwriter in the Western tradition.
HPPR's upgraded 4,000-watt signal will augment coverage, providing public radio service to approximately 19,300 unserved residents in southeastern Colorado.
The new KCSE will cover all of Prowers County and parts of Baca, Kiowa, and Bent counties.
The first public radio service in the region begain in 1984 with a 10-watt translator located atop a grain elevator in Lamar. In 1998 at the request of listeners, the signal was upgraded to 250 watts as KCSE moved-up to a radio tower.
Today's $137,000 expansion project was funded through a federal grant with more than $35,000 in matching funds from local and regional donors and foundations.
Thursday's concert will be the first of several events planned by Friends of KCSE/HPPR, a group of residents supporting public radio service in the Prowers county region.
KCSE's improved service is made possible by many southeastern Coloradans who have been instrumental in raising the matching funds and spreading the word to make the expansion a reality.
Thanks goes to: long-time supporters Frederick Esgar and to the memory of his late wife Jayne Esgar through their family foundation; the El Pomar Foundation for issuing a challenge grant; the Gates Family Foundation of Denver and the Cooper-Clark Foundation of Liberal, Kan. for helping meet that challenge; the Anschutz Foundation for providing funds for marketing and awareness; charter underwriters Lamar Community College and Colorado Mills.
Thanks also goes to volunteers, friends, and listeners throughout the region who support public radio with their membership and underwriting gifts.
