WERS Receives CPB Community Service Grant

Emerson College radio station WERS 88.9-FM is one of 16 public radio stations nationwide selected to receive a Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) community service grant.

Stations chosen for this grant are “noncommercial public radio stations that provide significant public service programming to their communities,” according to the CPB website. They must adhere to a rigorous set of guidelines in order to be eligible.

The grant of $122,000 will be spent over a two–year expenditure period, which began on October 1. The grant is recurring each year.

A student takes the mic at WERS-FM at Emerson College

“This CPB community service grant will allow WERS to purchase some badly needed equipment, most notably a new fully integrated Nautel HD transmitter,” said WERS General Manager Jack Casey. “Funds from the grant will also allow us to upgrade and remodel our editing suites as we explore opportunities for making some of our current programming available to other stations across the country.”

Kevin Cooney, WERS director of membership and individual giving; Bill Gilligan, vice president for information technology; and Jacquie Gales-Webb ’77, WERS Hall of Fame inductee, worked alongside Casey to advocate for WERS and apply for the grant. Casey credited Cooney’s background in assembling data and writing grant applications for a large part of their success with the CPB.

Casey noted that this is the first time in the radio station’s history that WERS has applied for the prestigious award. “Receiving it in our first year of application is a significant acknowledgment of the difference our programming makes daily in the Boston community and beyond,” he said.