South Dakota Provides Emergency Communications Funding to KILI Radio

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds today announced the state is providing KILI Radio a grant of more than $46,000 to get its transmission tower back up and running.

"KILI is the only dependable means the state, or anyone else, has of communicating to the public on the Pine Ridge reservation during an emergency or disaster situation," said the governor. "Without KILI broadcasts, we have no way of letting people in the KILI listening area know about impending danger."

In April, lightning struck the KILI tower in Porcupine and damaged it so badly that the station is no longer capable of broadcasting emergency notifications.

The money provided by the state is part of a matching grant from the federal government and covers 25-percent of the cost to repair the KILI tower. A federal Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) grant is picking up the remaining 75 percent of the cost.

KILI is the largest Native American owned and operated public radio station in the U.S. Its listening area is 10,000 square miles covering portions of the Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations.
KW