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NPR affiliate launches drone program

Missouri NPR affiliate KBIA has launched a "Drone Program" in the hopes of building drones to collect media, the station tells POLITICO.

"A lot of people are predicting that drone technology is going to really big when commercial and security applications are available. But why can’t citizens and journalists also use this technology to tell stories and discover more about the world around us?" Scott Pham, KBIA's content director, said.

Pham and KBIA were the recipient of a $25,000 grant from the University of Missouri's Information Technology Committee, which they will use to fund research for the construction and modification of "multiple drones for the specific purpose of collecting media," Pham said. The program is brand new and the name is provisional.

"While the technology is actually pretty well developed, it’s application in society is not. So far, drone enthusiasts are extremely limited in what they can do by the [Federal Aviation Administration], who will not develop a full set of regulations on drones until 2015," Pham explained. "Because current regulations require drones to stay below 400 feet and away from populated areas, our area of focus will be on rural and environmental stories. We plan to fly only on public lands or in areas where we have explicit permission from the landowners. The result will be a collection of web and radio stories that take advantage of a drone’s ability to gain perspectives and information not easily obtained on the ground."

TMZ, the Hollywood gossip site, is reportedly seeking its own drone from the FAA, though the network today denied that claim. Police departments, universities, and private corporations have also applied for drones from the FAA, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.

"We believe that by getting journalists involved with drones early on, we’re not only giving our industry a leg up, but we might influence the development of the technology too," Pham told POLITICO. "Journalism is just one application. I think we’ll be surprised at how many different industries can use these things."

H/ts Casey Morell and Byron Tau.