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Tarpon Spending Fireworks Money On Radio

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: May 12, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. -- There might still be a Fourth of July fireworks display here this year, but only if someone other than the city will pay for it.

The city had set aside $22,500 in its fiscal 2008 budget to pay for the Independence Day pyrotechnic display. Local officials, however, have decided to spend the money instead to get the city's low-power emergency radio channel back on the air.

So the city is looking for someone interested in paying for the Fourth of July fireworks, acting City Manager Mark LeCouris says.

Radio Tarpon, which broadcasts on 1610 on the AM dial, fell silent in November of last year because of an equipment failure.

Before the channel went off the air, a couple of hundred people were tuning in to hear announcements and other information from the city, according to Fire Chief Steve Moreno. The number of listeners likely will rise once the channel returns to the air, in about three months, with better equipment, he says.

For one thing, the station's transmitter will be moved from the former Stauffer chemical plant site, in the northwestern corner of the city. It will be place on a higher spot, atop the Public Safety Department building.

In addition, its output will be increase from 8 watts to 10 watts.

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