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WPSX wins award for fundraising efforts
	Penn State Public Broadcasting’s TV station WPSX-TV, Channel 3, was honored by PBS as the recipient of the 1998 On-Air Fundraising Achievement Award at the 1998 PBS Development Conference held in Atlanta, Ga. The award is presented annually to the station that has achieved significant success using on-air techniques to acquire new members and to retain and cultivate existing members.   Special acknowledgment was awarded for WPSX’s locally produced fundraising programming, including the “Our Town” series and “Alphabet Cooking” programs.   In presenting the award, Jon Abbott, PBS senior vice president for development, said, “These programs and the efforts of the WPSX staff have confirmed the station’s commitment to serving its local communities on a day-to-day basis, while generating significant new gifts for Penn State Public Broadcasting.”   “It’s really a tribute to our members,” Mark Erstling, Channel 3’s general manager, said. “Their strong support of our programming and services made the award possible, and we plan to continue our commitment to providing a service of quality, diversity and value. This award also acknowledges the extraordinary efforts of the WPSX team and our development staff.”   Over the past three years, WPSX-TV has doubled its number of new donors and built an 87-percent increase in net revenue from on-air campaigns, while actually decreasing the number of hours of pledge time. At the same time, the dollars raised per donor have increased by 40 percent.