Webster-Calhoun Receives USDA Grant

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association has been awarded a $300,000 grant through the USDA’s Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program. As part of the application requirement Webster-Calhoun also committed an additional $30,000. This amount was also applied for and matched by Aureon’s Ripple Effect grant for $30,000.

“We are excited to receive this award and add to our existing revolving loan fund,” states Webster-Calhoun General Manager, Marcie Boerner. “This loan will go to the Southwest Webster Ambulance at zero percent interest over a ten year period. As the loan is paid back funds will be available to provide additional loans for local economic and community development projects.”

“This is a win-win as Webster-Calhoun will be able to reinvest these dollars into a revolving loan fund and help Southwest Webster Ambulance move forward with their building project.” adds Boerner. “Webster-Calhoun established a revolving loan fund in 2017. Growing this fund to a total of $720,000 directly impacts our local economy.”

Groundbreaking for the Southwest Webster Ambulance on March 17, 2025. Pictured from the left are Dan Hanson, Marcie Boerner, Jim (Archie) Peterson, Jessie Reed, Terry Towne, Melissa Joyce, Matt Nahnsen, Marsha Farnham, Adam Marquart and Robbin Dorman.
Groundbreaking for the Southwest Webster Ambulance on March 17, 2025. Pictured from the left are Dan Hanson, Marcie Boerner, Jim (Archie) Peterson, Jessie Reed, Terry Towne, Melissa Joyce, Matt Nahnsen, Marsha Farnham, Adam Marquart and Robbin Dorman.

Webster-Calhoun applied for the funds resulting in $360,000 specifically to assist the Southwest Webster Ambulance construct a new building to house two ambulance units, as well as classroom and office space. Ambulances have grown longer and wider making the existing building too small to upgrade to a new unit. Emergency calls for the service have nearly doubled with only three responding ambulance services in Webster County (population 36,626).

“The support of Webster-Calhoun and this funding has been the catalyst to making this vision a reality,” noted Terry Towne, SWWA, during the ground breaking event. “This project has been 15 years in the making.”

Constructions starts on the new ambulance building located between the current ambulance building and the fire department. When completed the Gowrie Police Department will move into the current ambulance building consolidating the location for emergency services in the Gowrie community.
Constructions starts on the new ambulance building located between the current ambulance building and the fire department. When completed the Gowrie Police Department will move into the current ambulance building consolidating the location for emergency services in the Gowrie community.

Webster-Calhoun established a Revolving Loan Fund in 2017 with funds from the USDA to help improve quality of life in rural areas.

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association provides Landline Telephone, Digital TV and Internet service to 16 rural communities on a Fiber driven network just outside the Fort Dodge, Iowa area: Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Farnhamville, Gowrie, Somers, Moorland, Knierim, Barnum, Clare, Thor, Badger, Vincent, Duncombe and in the towns of Lohrville, Manson, Rockwell City and Lake City. www.wccta.net   

WCCTA is Gigabit Certified and designated a Smart Rural Community by NTCA: the Rural Broadband Association.

Vosberg Enterprises Welcomes New Owners

On Friday, September 2, 2022, Vosberg Enterprises Inc. was purchased by Trevor and Brett Larson. The brothers have been with Vosberg Enterprises for several years where they have learned the ins and outs of both the farm drainage and machining sides of the company from the previous owners, and brothers, Jeff and Gary Vosberg. Jeff and Gary will continue working with the company to help transition the leadership roles smoothly.

“It’s important to us to express that, as a company, we are and will continue to operate the same as we have in years past. We have always thought Vosberg Enterprises has delivered quality service in the surrounding areas and we will do our best to live up to the high reputation the Vosberg family has built over the past 70 years.” explains Trevor Larson.

The Larsons and the Vosbergs gave credit to several entities that helped in this transition including their customers, the Small Business Development Center, and Brian Lane of Security Savings Bank. They also noted Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association, Calhoun County Electric Cooperative Association, and Calhoun County Economic Development Corporation as they were able to collaborate with local lenders by utilizing Revolving Loan Funds.

WCCTA established a Revolving Loan Fund in 2017 with funds from the USDA to help improve quality of life in rural areas by contributing to the long-term improvement of the economy including job creation and retention.

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association provides Landline Telephone, Digital TV, Internet and Wifi service to 20 rural communities on a Fiber driven network just outside the Fort Dodge, Iowa area: Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Farnhamville, Gowrie, Somers, Moorland, Knierim, Barnum, Clare, Thor, Badger, Vincent, Duncombe, and in the towns of Lohrville, Manson, Rockwell City and Lake City. www.wccta.net WCCTA is Gigabit Certified and designated a Smart Rural Community by NTCA: the Rural Broadband Association.

Negotiating Retransmission Fees

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association like many other TV providers is once again, in 2020, facing rising retransmission fees for local broadcast channels. These rates will only affect WCDTV television customers.

What are Retransmission Fees?

Every three years TV providers are required by law to receive permission from local broadcasters to retransmit the free over-the-air signals from ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX to customers.

This programming is free to you over an antenna. If it is carried on WCDTV it makes it very convenient for you to view it like any other channel on our lineup.

The rate for broadcast channels is itemized on your billing statement so you can see exactly how much of your TV package is passed through JUST for these networks. The contracts are renegotiated every 3 years and affect the annual rates during each of those 3 years. Retransmission fees come from a decades-old federal law that allows local broadcast stations to charge cable and satellite companies, such as Webster-Calhoun, to carry their programming on our channel lineup.

How does that impact my TV rates?

Although Webster-Calhoun will do our best to negotiate fair rates there are many challenges. One thing remains consistent in that when rates from channel providers continue to increase so do the rates for WCDTV channel packages. This is a no-win situation for ALL TV customers. If WCCTA says no to high rates and drops the channels customers are frustrated. When rates go up customers are frustrated.

Why do I have to pay for channels I never watch?

Just eight multi-billion-dollar corporations own or control about 90% of existing TV Networks – both those you want as well as those you don’t. And they won’t let you have the most-popular Networks unless you get the less-popular ones, too. In turn, if we ask for a price for just the most-popular Networks, a common response from Network owners is to raise their price, effectively eliminating this option from consideration.

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association provides Landline Telephone, Digital TV and Internet service to 16 rural communities on a Fiber driven network just outside the Fort Dodge, Iowa area: Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Farnhamville, Gowrie, Somers, Moorland, Knierim, Barnum, Clare, Thor, Badger, Vincent, and Duncombe. www.wccta.net WCCTA is Gigabit Certified and designated a Smart Rural Community by NTCA: the Rural Broadband Association.

Solid Gigabit Capable Network

In September 2017 NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association recognized Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association as one of 13 rural broadband providers with the Smart Rural Community Showcase award. They were recognized for their efforts to deliver technologies that make rural communities vibrant places in which to live and do business.

“WCCTA is prime example of the power of a broadband connection and a steadfast commitment to growth and prosperity,” said NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield.

“Not only are the people of WCCTA charting their own path to a more prosperous future, they are also creating a road map for many more communities across the country to follow suit. I commend the people of WCCTA for these extraordinary efforts.”

“It’s a solid, Gigabit capable network and has very little downtime. It is something we’re very proud of” states WCCTA General Manager, Daryl Carlson.

As a member owned cooperative and independent telecommunications provider WCCTA provides service to 16 rural communities throughout five counties covering 715 square miles. According to WCCTA General Manager, Daryl Carlson, “We’ve plowed a tremendous amount of Fiber out into those rural areas and built a solid backbone from a network perspective to give all our members broadband capabilities.” That process completed in 2011 included more than a decade of construction and an investment of more than $20 Million dollars.

Wireless needs wires, too. WCCTA already connects Fiber to a number of cellular towers in the service area. This will be critical with the industry push towards 5G technology.

Receiving the Gigabit Certification through NTCA in 2015, WCCTA continues to upgrade technology and equipment powering the Fiber network. Technicians locate and maintain over 1,000 miles of buried Fiber Optic cable as part of WCCTA’s Fiber to the Home network. Maintenance is ongoing to make sure the network for members continues to provide quality and reliable service.

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association provides Landline Telephone, Digital TV and Internet service to 16 rural communities on a Fiber driven network just outside the Fort Dodge, Iowa area: Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Farnhamville, Gowrie, Somers, Moorland, Knierim, Barnum, Clare, Thor, Badger, Vincent, and Duncombe. www.wccta.net WCCTA is Gigabit Certified and designated a Smart Rural Community by NTCA: the Rural Broadband Association.

Working Smarter Not Harder

Farming is a lot of hard physical labor but broadband access allows the Carlson Family of Gowrie, Iowa to work smarter as part of their grain and livestock operation

These are so many ways broadband makes access to and transferring information easier for this family’s farming operation. Josh Carlson appreciates keeping connected to different people such as agronomists, buyers and sellers for livestock. His mother, Jennifer Carlson, monitors markets and appreciates the access to reporting capabilities at the local grain cooperative

Weather stations can provide rain totals for each field location, combines collect real time harvest data in the field, and access to scale tickets at the local cooperative may be available online before the truck driver sees it. “We don’t have to drive around to every farm to see if it’s ready to harvest or if it’s ready to plant we have a weather station that we can look on the Internet and see how much rain each field has gotten.” says Jennifer

She adds, “You check the markets, hog prices, cattle prices, all of that stuff is important and if you don’t have the broadband you might be missing out on opportunities when to sell.”

“We are so intertwined with broadband here on our operation. Without reliable broadband we wouldn’t be able to function as efficiently with what we do.” says Jim Carlson.

https://youtu.be/Kb1t7LJsPAo?si=UTz6SM-mv8YALc32

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association provides Landline Telephone, Digital TV and Internet service to 16 rural communities on a Fiber driven network just outside the Fort Dodge, Iowa area: Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Farnhamville, Gowrie, Somers, Moorland, Knierim, Barnum, Clare, Thor, Badger, Vincent, and Duncombe. www.wccta.net WCCTA is Gigabit Certified and designated a Smart Rural Community by NTCA: the Rural Broadband Association.

Reliable Internet Is Essential

Kevin Black, President, believes broadband service from Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association allows Heartland Bank to compete with larger banks by offering many of the same services. That means an opportunity for growth.

“It is essential to have reliable Internet service up and running all the time. It is an extremely critical part of our business model.” states Kevin Black, President, Heartland Bank.

“We consider WCCTA to be a very valuable partner and have had a very long relationship with them. Over the years I’ve always felt that technology leveled the playing field for small rural banks to compete with larger regional banks. A majority of transactions from customers are done via the Internet.” says Black. “The impression we try to leave with our customers is that we do lead with technology and we do have online services.”

“The great thing about community banking in small rural areas is everyone knows everybody. We have that relationship banking that we think sets us apart from larger regional banks.” Black adds, “We are connected. We can offer those same services in a competitive environment so we think there is growth potential and that’s why we’re looking forward to the future and a new facility in Gowrie.” Heartland constructed a new office building in Gowrie just down the street from the previous location. They moved in 2017.

Heartland Bank constructed a new office in Gowrie and moved in 2017

Heartland Bank has offices in four locations including Gowrie, Somers, Callender and Manson. Even though WCCTA doesn’t provide service to each location they were able to create a network to connect all four bank branches together. Black agreed, “We called them up and explained our situation. They provided a solution to create what I consider to be state-of-the-art connectivity within our organization.”

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association provides Landline Telephone, Digital TV and Internet service to 16 rural communities on a Fiber driven network just outside the Fort Dodge, Iowa area: Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Farnhamville, Gowrie, Somers, Moorland, Knierim, Barnum, Clare, Thor, Badger, Vincent, and Duncombe. www.wccta.net WCCTA is Gigabit Certified and designated a Smart Rural Community by NTCA: the Rural Broadband Association.

Southeast Valley High School Students Benefit From Broadband

Last weekend seniors at Southeast Valley High School in Gowrie, Iowa wore caps and gowns as they participated in a graduation ceremony and received high school diplomas! Today the rest of the student body is celebrating their last day of school before a well earned summer break

“WCCTA gives us the opportunity to really prepare students for the future.” – Tamara Hanson, Southeast Valley High School

For those seeking higher education many graduates already have a head start on college classes. During the school year, technology is an important part of education for students at Southeast Valley High School and is powered by access to broadband from Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association.

Over a number of years the school district has continued to build and invest in infrastructure for wireless access and implementing 1:1 computers for students. According to Tamara Hanson, TLC Leadership Coordinator, “This experience definitely prepares students for what they will face in college and the business or career world.”

For students choosing a path to college, students are able to take up to 23 credits of college level courses through Iowa Central Community College online without the hassle of travel time (for the student or the teacher). This can be done through online computer classes or the ICN (Iowa Communications Network). WCCTA also connects the high school to the ICN which is a polycom system connecting to teachers at Iowa Central.

Hanson adds, “In the classroom there are so many cool things going on right now. Students are actively engaged with the ability to explore new applications and new ways to use technology. Broadband gives us the opportunity to really prepare students for the future.”

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association provides Landline Telephone, Digital TV and Internet service to 16 rural communities on a Fiber driven network just outside the Fort Dodge, Iowa area: Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Farnhamville, Gowrie, Somers, Moorland, Knierim, Barnum, Clare, Thor, Badger, Vincent, and Duncombe. www.wccta.net WCCTA is Gigabit Certified and designated a Smart Rural Community by NTCA: the Rural Broadband Association.