The B.C. Interior General Manager for Stingray Radio – the parent company of Radio NL – says the $15 million in radio advertising grants announced last week has been well received.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, Peter Angle says across the Thompson-Okanagan, there have been about 160 applications from businesses so far, looking for some help to weather the COVID-19 economic crisis.

“We started issuing grants already and those grants are ranging anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000, $7,000, $8,000 – and again, it really depends on the business and their needs,” he said. “But we’ve been really overwhelmed, and that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to do something that would inject some energy into the economy.”

Angle says businesses within 100 km of a community with a Stingray radio station can apply, and they will have a year to use the money.

“A lot of businesses were opening up and they obviously have a lot of expenses to do so,” he added. “Things haven’t been great I guess to say it loosely, and this is something we felt if we could stimulate through marketing and getting activity with that, and helping the businesses grow, then in the end, so would we.”

You can apply for the grants online, and Angle says they range from $1,000 to a maximum of $100,000 in advertising per business, which will have a year to use the money.

“Close to $600,000 to $700,000 of grants that we are going to be issuing over the next two months in the Thompson-Okanagan,” Angle said. “There is lots of time to apply, its a very simple process, and it’s gratifying to see the people reaching out and seeing that we can make a difference.”