Note to users
Please note that many details in this section are out of date. The section will be overhauled when staff time permits. Send suggestions and updates to the editor at webcurrent.org.

Kidsnet: Kidsnet, a nonprofit, subscription clearinghouse launched in 1986, maintains detailed computerized information on children's programs and public service announcements that have appeared on public and commercial TV, radio and cable. Kidsnet's primary subscribers are state education agencies, libraries and public broadcasting entities.
Executive Director: Karen Jaffe
Kidsnet
6856 Eastern Ave., N.W., Suite 208
Washington, DC 20012
202-291-1400
Fax: 202-882-7315
E-mail: kidsnet@aol.com
Web: www.kidsnet.org

LAG: Legislative Advisory Group, a committee of public TV station executives that advises APTS on legislative matters. Previously and unfortunately known as SLAG (Station Legislative Advisory Group). See APTS.

Lark: Lark International, a program development collaboration among public TV stations, was founded in 1992 by WTVS in Detroit and KCTS in Seattle, and expanded in 1996 to include KUHT in Houston and KETC in St. Louis. It develops international projects in financing, developing and distributing video and film projects for all media.
Lark International
c/o KCTS
401 Mercer St.
Seattle, WA 98109
Web: www.kcts.org/inside/publicnetwork/lark

LInCS: Local Independents Collaborating with Stations is a grant program operated by ITVS. Matching grants of up to $65,000 are awarded to assist production partnerships between public TV stations and independent producers. Successor to SIPP.
Contact: Elizabeth Meyer
ITVS
415-356-8383
E-mail: Elizabeth_Meyer@itvs.pbs.org

LPB: Latino Public Broadcasting was selected in a 1999 competition to serve as the CPB-funded minority consortium representing Latino producers and audiences. It supports production and distribution for public TV programs by and about Hispanic Americans. The project succeeds the National Latino Communications Center (NLCC), which lost CPB aid the previous year after financial problems surfaced.
Executive Director: Luca Bentivoglio
Latino Public Broadcasting Project
6777 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 500
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-466-7110
Fax: 323-466-7521
E-mail: lpb@lpbp.org
Web: www.lpbp.org

Mbps: Megabits per second, or millions of bits per second, is a measure of transmission capacity or data flow for digital media. A digital TV channel, for example, carries 19.4 Mbps of information, including images, sounds and other data. A relatively large digital line leased by many stations from a phone company, the T-1 line, carries 1.54 Mbps. An ordinary computer modem is so much slower that it's measured in kilobits per second—56 kbps.

MCA: Media Communications Association, formerly International Television Association, is a worldwide organization of visual communications practitioners including corporate and industrial nonbroadcast video professionals. It keeps tabs on the most recent production techniques and hardware.
Executive Director: Christopher Painchaud
International Television Association
9202 N. Meridian St., Suite 200
Indianapolis, IN 46260-1810
317-816-6269
Fax: 800-801-8926
E-mail: I_need_help@itva.org
Web: www.itva.org

MHz: Megahertz — one is equal to 1 million Hertz (cycles per second) or 1,000 KHz — is the measure used to indicate the frequency of an FM or TV channel. The bandwidth of a channel, from the top frequency to the bottom, is also measured in megahertz. A TV channel is 6 MHz wide.

MIFED: The Italian acronym for Mercato Internazionale del Film e del Documentario, MIFED is one of the larger international film and TV program marketplaces, scheduled each fall in Italy.
MIFED
Fiero Milano
Largo Domodossola
1-20145 Milan, Italy
39-0248012912
Fax: 39-0249977020
E-mail: mifed@fmd.it
Web: www.fmd.it/mifed/

MIP-TV: MIP-TV is the French acronym for Marche International des Programmes de Television, the large international programming festival and marketplace scheduled every spring in Cannes, France. The related MIPCOM Market—the Marche International des Films et des Programmes pour la TV, la Video, le Cable et les Satellites—is held annually in the fall.
MIP
Reed Midem
475 Park Ave. South, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10016
212-689-4220
Web for MIP: www.miptv.com
Web for MIPCOM: www.mipcom.com

MPEG: Motion Pictures Expert Group is an international standards-setting body that has specified standards for digital audio and video recording, among other things. MP3 is the most famous audio standard specified by the organization.

MSA: Metro Survey Area is Arbitron's geographic survey area for radio ratings that corresponds with local governmental boundaries. MSA + non-metro counties = TSA (Total Survey Area), according to RRC.

NAATA: The National Asian American Telecommunications Association, founded in 1980, produces, acquires and distributes Asian American programming for radio and TV. It is one of five minority production groups funded by CPB.
Executive Director: Edward G. Wong
National Asian American Telecommunications Association
145 Ninth St., Suite 350
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-863-0814
Fax: 415-863-7428
E-mail: naata@naatanet.org
Web: www.naatanet.org

NARRS: The National Association of Radio Reading Services changed its name in 1999 to the International Association of Audio Information Services. See IAAIS.

NABIPB: The National Association of Blacks in Public Broadcasting (formerly Blacks in Public Radio) was organized in 1987 by a group of station managers, producers and others to represent the interests and perspectives of blacks in public radio. BIPB identifies issues, shares information about national programming and policy decisions and promotes members' points of view to public broadcasting.
National Association of Blacks in Public Broadcasting
P.O. Box 73617
Washington, DC 20009
Fax: 202-234-8264

NAB: The National Association of Broadcasters is the television and radio industry's primary lobbying and trade organization. It largely represents the interests of commercial broadcasting, though 400 of its 6,000 members are public broadcasting organizations.
President: Edward O. Fritts
National Association of Broadcasters
1771 N St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
202-429-5300
Fax: 202-775-3520
E-mail: ssiroky@nab.org
Web: www.nab.org

NAEB: The National Association of Educational Broadcasters, no longer in existence, began in 1925 as ACUBS, the Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations, which represented a few small stations. It developed the major national educational radio and TV program distribution systems, superceded by NPR and PBS in the 1970s, and it was instrumental in gaining federal support for the field. Until it folded in 1981, NAEB was public broadcasting's primary professional association. Current, the biweekly newspaper that covers public broadcasting, was launched in NAEB's last days and resumed publication in 1982 under separate auspices.

NABA: The North American Broadcasters Association was formed in 1978 to represent Canadian, U.S. and Mexican broadcasters at gatherings of international broadcast organizations. CPB pays annual fees for itself and other groups, giving public broadcasters in the U.S. a passport to international broadcasting. (NABA was formerly known as NANBA, North American National Broadcasters Association.)
Secretary-General: Bill Roberts
North American Broadcasters Association
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5W 1E6
416-598-9877
Fax: 416-598-9774
Web: www.nabanet.com

NANBA: See NABA above.

NAPT: Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc., formed in 1977 to promote, produce and distribute Native American TV and radio programming, is one of five minority production and distribution groups now funded by CPB. Formerly known as Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium (NAPBC), the organization has done most of its work in TV, but it was the original producer of the public radio talk show, Native America Calling.
Executive Director: Frank Blythe
Native American Public Telecommunications
1800 N. 33rd St.
Lincoln, NE 68583
402-472-3522
Fax: 402-472-8675
E-mail: native@unl.edu
Web: www.nativetelecom.org

NARAS: The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, also known as the Recording Academy, was established in 1957 and includes more than 13,000 musicians, producers and other recording professionals. It sponsors the Grammy Awards and numerous outreach, professional development, cultural enrichment and human services projects.
President: Michael Greene
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
3402 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
310-392-3777
Fax: 310-392-9262
Web: www.grammy.com

NASBE: The National Association of State Boards of Education is the lobbying group for the heads of state boards of education.
Executive Director: Brenda Lilienthal Welburn
National Association of State Boards of Education
277 S. Washington St., Suite 10
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-684-4000
Fax: 703-836-2313
E-mail: boards@nasbe.org
Web: www.nasbe.org

NATAS: The 40-year-old National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is the New York City-based organization that awards Emmys in the categories of public service, news and documentaries, engineering, sports and daytime programs. Seventeen chapters hold Emmy competitions in major cities and regions. NATAS also publishes Television Quarterly magazine. The Los Angeles-based sister organization, ATAS (Academy of Television Arts and Sciences), presents the primetime Emmys.
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
111 W. 57th St., Suite 1050
New York, NY 10019
212-586-8424
Web: www.internetgroup.com/natas

NATPE: The National Association of Television Program Executives, a 1,700-member group of programmers (most in commercial TV), was formed in 1962. Its annual program conference is the largest marketplace for syndicated TV programming.
President: Bruce Johansen
National Association of Television Program Executives
2425 Olympic Blvd., Suite 600E
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-453-4440
Fax: 310-453-5258
Web: natpe.org

NBPC: The National Black Programming Consortium supports the development, production and distribution of educationally and culturally specific television and film programs by and about Africans/African Americans. NBPC presents the Prized Pieces Awards and provides assistance to independent producers by serving as a fiscal agent and identifying funding sources. It is one of five minority consortia funded by CPB. NBPC, which has relocated to Harlem, also has an office in Pittsburgh.
Executive Director: Mable Haddock
National Black Programming Consortium
68 East 131st St., 7th floor
New York, NY 10037
212-234-8200
Fax: 212-234-7032
Web: www.nbpc.tv
E-mail: info@nbpc.tv

NCI: The National Captioning Institute is a nonprofit corporation established in 1979 and supported by contracts with the Department of Education and TV producers. NCI has popularized the PBS-developed closed captioning system for hearing-impaired viewers and created captioning for many national productions. The WGBH Caption Center had earlier popularized open captioning (which all viewers can see) and it since has become a major competitor of NCI in providing closed captions (which can be seen only with special captioning decoders). The FCC required that all TV sets made since 1992 with 13-inch or larger screens must include captioning decoders. Under the FCC standard, broadcasters encode the captioning data on line 21 of the TV signal's vertical blanking interval. The new DTV system also includes closed captioning capability.
President: Gene Chal
National Captioning Institute
1900 Gallows Road, #3000
Vienna, VA 22182
703-917-7600
Fax: 703-917-9878
E-mail: mail@ncicap.org
Web: www.ncicap.org

NCO: National Center for Outreach was selected for CPB funding in 2000 to strengthen public TV's outreach efforts, both on the local and national levels. The center, based at Wisconsin Public Television, distributes grants, provides training and facilitates communication among outreach managers at stations across the country.
National Center for Outreach
Executive Director: Maria Alvarez Stroud
975 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
1-866-243-2016
Fax: 608-265-5039
E-mail: nationaloutreach@wpt.org
Web: www.nationaloutreach.org

NCTA: The National Cable Television Association, cable TV's lobbying group, steered the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 through Congress.
President: Decker Anstrom
National Cable Television Association
1724 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
202-775-3669
Web: www.ncta.com

NEA: The National Endowment for the Arts is a federal agency created in 1965 to support American arts and artists. Another NEA, the National Education Association, is the 2.5 million-member teachers' union.
Chairman: Bill Ivey
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20506
202-682-5400
Web: arts.endow.gov

NEH: The National Endowment for the Humanities is a federal agency created in 1965 to support research, education and public activity in the humanities.
Chairman: Bruce Cole
National Endowment for the Humanities
1100 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20506
202-606-8400
Web: www.neh.fed.us

NETA: The National Educational Telecommunications Association was organized in July 1997 by members of Southern Educational Communications Association (SECA) and the Pacific Mountain Network (PMN). NETA provides representation, program acquisition and distribution, and professional development services to member stations and educational institutions across the country. NETA operates NETA Educational Resources (formerly EPS) and the National ITV Satellite Schedule (NISS) and provides staff for the Organization of State Broadcasting Executives (OSBE), the Public Broadcasting Management Association (PBMA), the Small Station Association, the National Forum for Public Television Executives and APTS. It also works closely with the Satellite Educational Resources Consortium (SERC). The predecessor organization, SECA, was founded in 1967 and was the largest of the four major regional public TV associations (see CEN listing).
President: Skip Hinton
National Educational Telecommunications Association
P.O. Box 50008
Columbia, SC 29250
or 939 Stadium Rd.
Columbia, SC 29201
803-799-5517
Fax: 803-771-4831
Web: www.netaonline.org

NFCB: The National Federation of Community Broadcasters was organized in 1975 to represent community radio stations—generally low-budget, locally oriented and eclectic in programming. In 1995, the federation moved its national office from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, and in December 2002 it moved across the Bay to Oakland.
President: Carol Pierson
National Federation of Community Broadcasters
1970 Broadway, Suite 1000
Oakland, CA 94612
510-451-8200
Fax: 510-451-8208
Web: www.nfcb.org

NFFS: Nonfederal financial support is CPB's term for the portion of a public broadcasting station's income that is eligible to be matched by federal aid — CPB's Community Service Grants (CSGs). For every dollar contributed by CPB, several come from nonfederal sources such as audience contributions, underwriting grants and state aid.

NFPB: National Friends of Public Broadcasting, the association of volunteers at public broadcasting stations, was founded with a Carnegie Foundation grant in 1970 to promote volunteerism in public TV. NFPB, now self-supporting, advises stations on how to organize volunteer fundraising programs and is a resource for local volunteer groups.
Chairman: Carrie Cinnamond
National Friends of Public Broadcasting
c/o WNET Friends of Thirteen
450 West 33rd St.
New York, NY 10001
212-560-2800
Fax: 212-560-2091
E-mail: nfpb@thirteen.org

NICEM: The National Information Center for Educational Media maintains an international database of information about educational media materials. The 590,000 entries represent all academic areas, age levels and media types. The database is available to libraries, media centers, producers and distributors, training directors and others who need information on CD-ROM, online or in print. The center was established by the University of Southern California and is now owned by Access Innovations.
Executive Director: Roy R. Morgan
National Information Center for Educational Media
P.O. Box 8640
Albuquerque, NM 87198-8640
800-926-8328, 505-998-0800
Fax: 505-998-3372
E-mail: nicem@nicem.com
Web: www.nicem.com

NISS: The National ITV Satellite Schedule distributes frequently used classroom video materials to public TV stations and schools across the country. The partnership, managed by NETA, was created in 1979 by PBS, CEN, PMN and SECA (now NETA).
Contact: Bob Petts
National ITV Satellite Schedule
P.O. Box 50,008
Columbia, SC 29250
803-799-5517
Web: www.netaonline.org/niss.htm

NITV: The nonprofit Network for Instructional Television helps education and related agencies establish, develop and promote instructional television fixed service (ITFS) and other education technologies.
President: Thomas Pyle
Network for Instructional Television
1595 Spring Hill Road, Suite 250
Vienna, VA 22180
703-860-9200

NLCC: The National Latino Communications Center (formerly referred to as the Latino Consortium) was one of the five minority program production and distribution groups funded by CPB. In 1999 it was replaced by the Latino Public Broadcasting Project. See LPBP.

NPPAG: The National Program Production and Acquisition Grants are smaller amounts that CPB pays annually to qualified public radio stations in addition to their Community Service Grants. When CPB discontinued direct funding of NPR in 1986-87, it put the money into NPPAGs, whichare intended to be spent for national programming. Much of the money ends up at NPR, but stations are free to spend it for other syndicated programming.

NPR: National Public Radio, incorporated in 1970, is the principal national producer and distributor of news programming for public radio stations. NPR also distributes independently produced programming, operates public radio's satellite interconnection system and is public radio's primary lobbying group in Washington, D.C.
President: Kevin Klose
National Public Radio
635 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20001-3753
202-513-2000
Fax: 202-513-3329
Web: www.npr.org

NTIA: An agency of the Department of Commerce, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration advises the president on communications and information policy. It also administers several grant programs, including the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (see PTFP).
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information: Nancy J. Victory
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Department of Commerce, Room 4898
1401 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20230
202-482-7002
Web: www.ntia.doc.gov

NTSC: The National Television Standards Committee developed the black-and-white TV broadcast system that was adopted by the FCC in 1942. The committee was convened again in 1950 to develop a color TV standard, which the FCC adopted in 1953 and which was compatible with broadcasts using the original black-and-white standard. NTSC is an analog transmission system that uses 525 scanning lines, broadcasting 30 complete frames per second. (The image is interlaced: each frame is transmitted in two separate scans, 1/60th of a second apiece, each scan including every other line of the picture.) The picture is modulated using an amplitude modulated vestigial sideband scheme, and the sound is sent by FM technology. Picture and sound together occupy a channel of 6 MHz bandwidth.

OSBE: The Organization of State Broadcasting Executives is an interstate collaboration of chief executive officers of state public broadcasting networks and directors of commissions and authorities with statewide public broadcasting responsibilities. OSBE includes representatives from 30 states, which operate two-thirds of the public broadcasting stations in the United States. NETA acts as secretariat for OSBE.
Contact: Skip Hinton
Co-chairs: Rita Ray and Peter Morrill
Organization of State Broadcasting Executives
P.O. Box 50008
Columbia, SC 29250
803-799-5517
Fax: 310-788-7616
Web: www.osbe.org

Pacifica Foundation: Pacifica operates five public radio stations in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington and New York City. Known for its progressive politics, Pacifica put its first station on-air in Berkeley in 1949 and soon invented "listener support" with on-air fund drives.
Interim Chairwoman: Leslie Cagan
Executive Director: Dan Coughlin
Pacifica Foundation National Office
1925 M L King Jr Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-849-2590
Web: www.pacifica.org

PacRim: The Pacific Rim Co-Production Association, no longer active, was a group of Asian, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and U.S. public TV organizations that worked together in various groupings on co-productions.

PBMA: The Public Broadcasting Management Association is an association of financial, human resources, legal, information systems and administrative managers of public TV and radio stations. When founded in 1979 (as the Public Telecommunications Financial Management Association), most members were financial managers. The association's affairs are managed by NETA.
Chair: Bert Schmidt
Executive Director: Chuck McConnell
Public Broadcasting Management Association
P.O. Box 50008
Columbia, SC 29250
803-799-5517
Website: www.pbma.org

PBS: The Public Broadcasting Service was formed in 1969 to distribute public TV programming nationally. PBS operates these program distribution services: NPS (National Program Service), SIP (Station Independence Program, for fundraising specials), ALS (Adult Learning Service, for college telecourses), PBS Select (individually syndicated programs) and PBS Plus (fully underwritten programs). PBS also manages the public TV satellite interconnection system used by most distributors of programming for public TV stations. In new media, PBS operates PBS Video (videocassettes for schools and colleges), PBS Home Video (in collaboration with Turner Home Entertainment) and PBS Online.
President: Paula Kerger
Public Broadcasting Service
2100 Crystal Drive
Arlington, VA 22202-3785
703-739-5000
Fax: 703-739-0775
Web: www.pbs.org

PBS Express: This internal messaging system, operated by PBS, allows for flexible text communications among public TV stations and related organizations. The system, which replaced DACS in 1996, was to be transmitted over a closed-circuit satellite network, but since the failure of Telstar 401 in 1997, it has been on the Internet. The system is based on First Class software with a graphical user interface.

PI: The most common usage at stations is "public information," referring to station spokespersons. But in 1999 web entrepreneur Tom Lix and PRI created Public Interactive, a partnership that syndicates web services to public radio stations' web sites. Early features included Public Arts, Public Conversation and Public NewsRoom.
President: Tom Lix
Public Interactive
180 Lincoln St.
Boston, MA 02111
617-423-4491
Fax: 617-423-4498
E-mail: frontdesk@publicinteractive.com
Web: www.publicinteractive.com

PIC: Pacific Islanders in Communications was established to increase public broadcasting programming by and about indigenous Pacific Islanders. It provides media funds, training and outreach programs. PIC is one of five minority consortia funded by CPB.
Executive Director: Ruth Bolan
Pacific Islanders in Communications
1221 Kapiolani Blvd. Suite 6A-4
Honolulu, HI 96814
808-591-0059
Fax: 808-591-1114
E-mail: info@piccom.org
Web: www.piccom.org

PMN: Pacific Mountain Network, once one of four regional public TV networks (see CEN listing), ceased operations as an association of station licensees in 1997. However, it still exists as a corporation. NETA and CEN welcomed PMN's former member stations. PMN was formed in 1978 and sponsored FirstView, a yearly screening of new instructional TV programs. It helped form the Television Ratings Analysis Consortium, now an independent audience data analysis company (see TRAC Media Services).
Contact: Ron Bornstein
Pacific Mountain Network
520-825-8494
Fax: 520-825-8493

PMN TRAC: This was the name of TRAC Media Services when it was associated with PMN.

P.O.V. Named for the movie-industry acronym for "point of view," this continuing series is assembled by the American Documentary Inc. and distributed by PBS. It serves as a summer showcase for independent nonfiction films.
Executive Director: Cara Mertes
The American Documentary Inc.
P.O. Box 750, Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113
212-989-8121
E-mail: pov@pov.org
Web: www.pbs.org/pov

PRADO: The Public Radio Association of Development Officers, a membership organization of development professionals in public radio, provides mentoring and idea-sharing opportunities, bestows awards, promotes communication with colleagues and welcomes newcomers to the field.
Contact: June Fox
President, PRADO
10420 Artemel Lane
Great Falls, VA 22066
703-759-2221
E-mail: jfox@deiworksite.org
Web: www.pradoweb.org

PRC: The Public Radio Conference was public radio's major annual gathering, with a focus on management issues. In its later years much of the discussion of programming topics moved to the fall conference sponsored by the Public Radio Program Directors Association (see PRPD). The first Public Radio Conference, held in 1971, was sponsored by NPR and CPB. NPR staged the last PRC in 2003, and the success of that conference spawned the Public Radio Leadership Forum, a stripped-down gathering organized by all of public radio's membership groups scheduled to debut in 2004.

PRC: Public Radio Capital is a nonprofit company created to fiind financing for the expansion of public radio. Created by Station Resources Group (SRG) in 2000-2001, PRC serves as broker for purchase of stations and facilitator for borrowing through the sale of tax-exempt bonds.
Contact: Marc Hand, 303-781-5101, mohand@aol.com
Susan Harmon, 765-215-1018, meyerhar@aol.com
Public Radio Capital
4600 East Oxford Place
Englewood, CO 80113
Web: www.pubcap.org

PRG: The Program Resources Group, which began in the summer of 1992, is an ad hoc program service run by a number of public TV stations whose broadcast areas overlap with those of other public TV outlets. Now based at WNET/WLIW in New York, PRG organizes group buys of syndicated and imported shows to give those stations exclusive, unduplicated programming.
Executive Director: Al Rose
Program Resources Group/WLIW
450 West 33rd Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10001-2605.
212-560-8836
Fax: 212-590-4921
Web: programresourcesgroup.com
E-mail: RoseA@wliw.org

PRI: Public Radio International, formerly American Public Radio, was created in 1982 when Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) President William Kling and four public radio stations — WNYC-AM/FM, New York; WGUC-FM, Cincinnati; KQED-FM, San Francisco; and KUSC-FM, Los Angeles — established a network to distribute cultural programs produced by stations. The network distributes an extensive line-up of music and public affairs programming to hundreds of affiliate stations, most of which are also NPR members. Notable programs include A Prairie Home Companion, Whad'Ya Know? and Marketplace. PRI plans to increase its own role in production, and is the major force behind the international news program The World.
President: Vacant
Public Radio International
100 N. 6th St., Suite 900A
Minneapolis, MN 55403
612-338-5000
Fax: 612-330-9222
Web: www.pri.org/

PRIMA: Public Radio in Mid-America, founded in 1975, is the largest of the regional groups of public radio stations. PRIMA represents member stations to NPR and other Washington organizations.
President: Patty Wente, KWMU, St. Louis.
Web: www.prima.org

PRISA: The Public Radio Internet Service Alliance, established in 1998, changed its name to the Integrated Media Association in 2003. See IMA.

PRNDI: Public Radio News Directors Inc. was organized to articulate the concerns of public radio journalists. It publishes a newsletter, bestows awards and holds an annual conference.
President: Connie Walker
Public Radio News Directors, Inc.
c/o WUNC News
120 Friday Center Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Web: www.prndi.org

PRO: Public Radio Online was Minnesota Public Radio's service that developed and syndicated the Radio Scout search tool for public radio stations' web sites. PRO was announced in 1998 and effectively merged into eXploreRadio, a collaboration with NPR that was unveiled the next year.

Promax International: The nonprofit organization in advertising, promotion and marketing for the electronic media was formerly known as BPME (Broadcast Promotion and Marketing Executives). It was formed in 1956 as the Broadcast Promotion Association. Promax holds its annual conference in conjunction with the Broadcast Designers Association.
Promax International
2029 Century Park East, Suite 555
Los Angeles, CA 90067-2906
310-788-7600
Fax: 310-788-7616
President: Glynn Brailsford
Web: www.promax.org

PRPD: Until the Public Radio Program Directors organized in 1985, programmers at public stations had no single voice or forum. PRPD serves public radio stations with programming information, training and consulting services. Its annual conference in the fall is one of the largest in public broadcasting.
President: Marcia Alvar
Public Radio Program Directors Association
517 Ocean Front Walk, Suite 10
Venice, CA 90291
310-664-1591
Fax: 310-664-1592
E-mail: info@prpd.org
Web: www.prpd.org

PRSS: Managed by NPR Distribution, the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) is the distribution network through which programming is delivered every year to public radio stations throughout the United States. The PRSS includes multiple uplinks, more than 400 downlinks, and more than 250 program producers and distributors.
NPR Distribution
635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-513-2600
202-513-3035
E-mail: prsstraffic@npr.org
Web: www.prss.org

PRX: See Public Radio Exchange.

PTFMA: See PBMA.

PTOA: The Public Television Outreach Alliance, which operated between 1987 and 2000, has been succeeded by NCO (see above).

PTFP: The Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, a grant program operated by NTIA in the U.S. Department of Commerce, is a major source of matching grants for the purchase of broadcast equipment by public TV and radio stations.
Director: William Cooperman
Public Telecommunications Facilities Program
Department of Commerce, Room 4625
1401 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20230
202-482-5802
Fax: 202-482-2156
E-mail: ptfp@ntia.doc.gov
Web: www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/ptfp/

PTPA: Public Television Programmers Association is an individual-member association of public television station executives directly involved in acquisition and scheduling of programs at public television stations. The association was launched by TRAC Media Services and shares quarters with TRAC.
Chief Executive Officer: Judith LeRoy
Public Television Programmers Association
Box 65120
Tucson, AZ 85728
520-299-1866

PRX: The Public Radio Exchange is a web-based program distributor developed by SRG and Jay Allison's Atlantic Public Media to bring together independent radio producers, producers at public radio stations, station programmers and other distributors for critiques of work, auditioning of audio work and distribution.
Executive Director: Jake Shapiro
PRX
P.O. Box 382234
Cambridge, MA 02238
866-797-7842
Fax: 888-204-9792
E-mail: info@prx.org
Web: www.prx.org

PUR and PUT: Persons Using Radio and Persons Using Television are measures of the general level of the radio or TV audience at a given time in a market. See also HUT.

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