Paul Bunyan Communications and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibweare holding a sign-up day for the Affordable Connectivity Program on Thursday, August 31 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Boys & Girls Club of the Leech Lake Area in Cass Lake.

The Affordable Connectivity Program will help to lower the cost of broadband service for eligible households struggling to afford internet service and provides a discount of up to a $30 per month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for qualifying households on qualifying Tribal lands.

A household is eligible if one member of the household meets at least one of the criteria below:

• Has an income that is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines;
• Participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI, WIC, or Lifeline;
• Participates inone of several Tribal specific programs, such as Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal Head Start (only households meeting the relevant income qualifying standard) Tribal TANF, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations;
• Is approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision;
• Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year; or

Eligible households can enroll at the sign-up event, through a participating broadband provider, or by going to http://www.getinternet.gov to submit an online application or print a mail-in application and contacting their preferred participating broadband provider and selecting a plan.  Additional information about the Emergency Broadband Benefit is available at http://www.getinternet.gov or by calling 877-384-2575 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET any day of the week.

We are pleased to announce that five De La Hunt Media Park Rapids Radio stations have been added to Paul Bunyan Television (PBTV) service!

KPRM AM & FM  News/Talk/Sports and More on PBTV channel 953 or PBTV Fusion channel 1053

KAKK AM & FM Fox Sports Radio on PBTV channel 956 or PBTV Fusion channel 1056

KXKK 92.5 FM Hot Country on PBTV channel 965 or PBTV Fusion channel 1065

KDKK Star Station 97.5 FM  on PBTV channel 969 or PBTV Fusion channel 1069

KQKK 101.9 FM the Arrow Classic Hits Radio on PBTV channel 972 or PBTV Fusion channel 1072

Established in 1962 by Ed & Carol De La Hunt, Butch & Tammy purchased the radio group from Ed & Carol under the brand of De La Hunt Media.  De La Hunt Media strives to create high quality, local programming and new media choices for their listeners; targeted audiences for advertisers; and attract, develop and sustain an efficient and highly productive group of broadcast professionals.

“We are very excited to have our stations added to Paul Bunyan Television! We’ve been waiting for the GigaZone to reach our corporate studios and the all-fiber optic network was installed last fall.  We have switched over our business services and joined the cooperative which as been a big upgrade for us and we are thrilled to have our stations added to PBTV so anyone with the service can listen to us!” said Butch DeLaHunt, owner of De La Hunt Media.

“One of the unique features of Paul Bunyan Television is that we provide many of the local radio stations as part of the service.  We’ve heard from many of our customers who appreciate the opportunity to tune in to local radio through their televisions. When we installed our fiber network up to their offices last fall we started working with them to get all their stations on PBTV!” said Brian Bissonette, Paul Bunyan Communications Marketing Supervisor.

Paul Bunyan Television is the only provider in the region offering local radio stations as part of the television service lineup which includes over 20 radio stations and Radio Talking Book services for the visually impaired.

Paul Bunyan Communications is returning over $3.2 million to its members in 2023.  For current members with a distribution amount of $100 or less, a credit has been applied to their August bill. Checks have been mailed out for distributions of more than $100.

Paul Bunyan Communications is a not for profit company that strives to provide the highest quality service at the most affordable rates.  As a cooperative, membership in Paul Bunyan Communications includes the opportunity to share in the financial success of the company. When profits are earned they are allocated to the members based on their proportional share of the allocable revenues.  These allocations may then be returned to the individual members through capital credit retirements.

If you were a member of the cooperative in 2003 and/or 2022 and accrued more than $10 in total capital credit allocations, but do not receive the credit on your account or a check by September 1, please contact Paul Bunyan Communications at (218) 444-1234 or (218) 999-1234.

Paul Bunyan Communications has been awarded a $5.5 million State of Minnesota Border-to-Border Broadband low-density pilot grant to serve areas of Angora, Alango, Balkan, Beatty, and Owens Townships in St Louis County.  The pink areas of the map are all the areas included in this grant.

The Low-Population Density Program will fund up to 75% of eligible project costs to help providers build out broadband infrastructure in some of the more remote or costly-to-serve areas of the state with the cooperative investing the remainder to expand its all-fiber optic network to these areas.  This project is estimated to cost $7,526,055, with the State of Minnesota’s Low-Population Density Program grant contributing $5,569,28, Paul Bunyan Communications investing $1,881,513, Angora Township $33,104, and Balkan Township $42,157.

The Angora, Alango, Beatty, and Owens Township areas are primarily between Cook and Britt along US Highway 53.

The Balkan Township project will reach nearly every home in Balkan Township which is north of Chisholm. It also includes several locations in the unorganized township west of Balkan-north, including those around Dewey and McCormack Lakes.

Paul Bunyan Communications expects to develop the expansion plans over the next 1-2 years and will contact locations along the upcoming expansion routes once those plans are finalized.  The project will be completed by the end of 2025.

Our offices will be closed on Tuesday, July 4 for the Independence Day Holiday.

As always, 24 hour emergency repair will be available.

Paul Bunyan Communications, Minnesota’s largest broadband cooperative, announced today plans for its growing 2025 Leadership Team. With an expanded structure, several promotions and additions to the team will allow for the continued success of the cooperative and
its focus on member service. It will empower their dedicated and talented employees, preserve cooperative culture, and take advantage of new technologies and opportunities for continued growth.

Several promotions of long-time management personnel will take place throughout 2024. Christie Turn will be promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Christie has served the cooperative in several customer service and operational leadership roles for 28 years, including the last ten years as Customer Service Manager. Rob St. Clair will be promoted to Chief Network Officer, overseeing Paul Bunyan’s expansive fiber network infrastructure, engineering and expansion. Rob has been with the cooperative 24 years, serving the last 17 as Network Operations Manager. Leo Anderson will be promoted to Chief Technology Officer. Leo’s technology leadership will continue to guide the cooperative’s innovation and technical services. Leo has been with Paul Bunyan 25 years, most recently serving as Technology Experience
Manager.

New to the team is Chad Bullock who will join the experienced group as Paul Bunyan Communications’ new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding current CEO Gary Johnson who intends to retire at the end of 2024. He’ll serve in the transitional role of Assistant General Manager throughout 2024. Chad is the current CEO of West Central Telephone Association, a broadband cooperative based in Sebeka, Minnesota. Chad has led West Central since 2015 and has been in the telecommunications and broadband industry for 30 years.

“The Board of Directors congratulates these dedicated managers as they are promoted to new C-Level leadership positions with our growing cooperative. And we are very pleased to welcome Mr. Bullock as our new CEO in 2025. This proactive expansion of our leadership team will provide a seamless transition, and create a number of new opportunities for employee advancement and leadership as we look forward to continued success for our cooperative and our members”, said Randy Frisk, Paul Bunyan Communications’ Board President.

Also retiring at the end of 2024 are current CFO Dave Schultz, and IT & Development Manager Steve Howard. More details about these retirements will be shared next year.

“We want to thank our retiring leaders, Gary, Dave, and Steve. Their decades of service and dedication to our cooperative and the impact they’ve had on the region we serve cannot be overstated. We look forward to celebrating their retirements with them when that time comes later next year.”

For aviation enthusiasts and anyone interested, we have added a Bemidji Air Traffic Channel to Paul Bunyan Television service!  You can find it on PBTV channels 297 or 797.  It is in high-definition and is available to all PBTV subscribers.

Paul Bunyan Communications, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Itasca County, and the Itasca Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) are holding a sign-up day for the Affordable Connectivity Program on Monday, June 26 from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at King Elementary in Deer River as part of the Day of Connections.

This event will provide the opportunity to explore many community resources including free/reduced Internet service through the Affordable Connectivity Program, job opportunities, education, social services, and Leech Lake Tribal IDs with the $15 replacement fee waived for all attendees.  Transportation is available with pick up locations including Spring Lake Community Center, Inger Community Center, and Lone Eagle Center in Ball Club.  For more information on the Day of Connections call 218-328-8352.

The Affordable Connectivity Program will help to lower the cost of broadband service for eligible households struggling to afford internet service and provides a discount of up to a $30 per month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for qualifying households on qualifying Tribal lands.

A household is eligible if one member of the household meets at least one of the criteria below:

• Has an income that is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines;
• Participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI, WIC, or Lifeline;
• Participates inone of several Tribal specific programs, such as Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal Head Start (only households meeting the relevant income qualifying standard) Tribal TANF, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations;
• Is approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision;
• Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year; or
• Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating broadband provider’s existing low-income program.

Eligible households can enroll at the sign-up event, through a participating broadband provider, or by going to www.getinternet.gov to submit an online application or print a mail-in application and contacting their preferred participating broadband provider and selecting a plan.  Additional information about the Emergency Broadband Benefit is available at www.getinternet.gov, or by calling 877-384-2575 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET any day of the week.

BYU-TV HD (channel 896) and Pursuit Channel HD (channel 576) have been added to Paul Bunyan Television Service.

Those who subscribe to main service and PBTV HD will get BYU-TV HD.  Those who subscribe to PBTV Sports and PBTV HD will get Pursuit Channel HD.

The 2023 Annual Business Meeting was held at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, May 24 in the Lakeside Rooms of the Sanford Center in Bemidji.

The meeting included a review of 2022 financial and operational results with presentations from Board President Randy Frisk, Chief Financial Officer Dave Schultz, and Chief Executive Officer Gary Johnson.  Also reviewed were the 2023 Director election, in which District 4 Director Brian Nicklason and District 6 Director Glenda Martin both ran unopposed.