KRMJ-TV, the Grand Junction affiliate of Rocky Mountain PBS, recently received a $416,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help enhance the station’s programming.

“The purpose of this grant is to help small TV stations serve rural areas with digital television,” Rocky Mountain PBS Producer Greg Mikolai said. “Now cities like Gunnison, Ouray and Crawford can still receive local programming.”

The USDA picked grant winners based on two factors: economic need and how rural the surrounding communities were.

The grant will help fund field acquisition and HD digital production for KRMJ.

“Now students are going to have brand new, state of the art equipment,” Mass Communication Associate Professor Dan Flenniken said. “That’s hard to come by in this economy. [This equipment] combined with great teachers will make CMU the best teaching environment in the state for broadcasting and new media.”

The old equipment will be used on remote (off-campus) projects. This marks the first time CMU will have a formal field production unit.

KRMJ moved to CMU from WCCC earlier this semester. For more information on Rocky Mountain PBS, visit www.rmpbs.com.

sfrose@mavs.coloradomesa.edu