SEATTLE -- With one week to go before all TV stations switch to a digital format, media groups are stepping up efforts to help consumers prepare for it.

The push is on to make sure those who need them get digital converter boxes in time for next Friday's switchover.

A technician from Dish Network showed Gwendolyn Williams of Seattle how to hook up the new digital converter she got in a straight exchange for the $40 coupon she received from the government.

She will now be able to receive digital signals on her old analog TV set for free.

DTV Converter Box Swap Saturday, June 5 – from 11 to 4 p.m. Beacon Hill Festival Jefferson Community Center 3801 Beacon Ave. S. Seattle, WA

Her friend Sina Jackson wasn't so lucky.

"My coupon expired two weeks ago," Jackson said.

She applied for another one. But it wouldn't arrive until well past next Friday's change-over.

Media organizations such as Reclaim the Media are helping host these community events to assist low-income and non-English-speaking communities for the coming digital switch.

"There'll be a lot of blank screens," said Johnathon Lawson, who estimates 35,000 households in Seattle and Tacoma do not yet have the converter boxes they'll need after Friday.

"It's just about going to the communities where we think people are without boxes and the information and try to get it out there as best as we can."

It turns out Sina Jackson didn't go away empty-handed. Someone donated a coupon to her.

"Now I'm happy," she said.

A similar exchange is set for 11 a.m. Saturday, June 6 at the Jefferson Community Center on Beacon Hill.