Representation

NFCB represents the views and interests of its membership wherever policy and system wide issues are discussed: Congress; the Federal Communications Commission; the Copyright Office; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; the Public Radio Satellite System; funding sources; and throughout the arena of public radio regulatory and technological development. In addition, we advocate on media policy issues that are in line with the core values of NFCB: localism; diversity of media ownership, people, cultures, and perspectives; preserving and respecting cultures; empowering people with information so they can better control their lives; and community building.

Open Letter to Mexican President Vicente Fox
Letter to Vicente Fox - English (66kb PDF)
Letter to Vicente Fox - en Español (32kb PDF)

Congressional and FCC Testimony and Comments

August 7, 2008
NFCB joined the American Civil Liberties Union in a friend-of-the-court brief that criticized the Federal Communication Commission’s regulation of “indecent speech” as arbitrary, inconsistent and irreconcilable with core First Amendment values. The brief (260kb PDF) urges the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling in FCC v. Fox striking down the recent FCC decision to ban even “fleeting expletives” from the airwaves as an unjustified departure from the agency’s longstanding practices.
 
NFCB’s Ginny Z. Berson, Vice President and Director of Federation Services commented, “Noncommercial community-based radio broadcasters do not have the resources to appeal the FCC’s vague and obsolete rulings on what constitutes indecency at any given moment. Consequently, these stations block meaningful content from the air in acts of self-censorship so that they can spend their money creating programs that enlighten and empower their communities.”

April 7 , 2008
NFCB worked with the Media Access Project, Prometheus Radio Project, Native Public Media, et al on the following comments to ensure more stability for LPFM stations (120kb PDF)

October 24, 2007
Carol Pierson Testimony, NFCB (short) (33kb PDF)
Carol Pierson Testimony, NFCB (66k PDF)

April 5, 2007
National Federation of Community Broadcasters Submitted to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Science, and Related Agencies Regarding the Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriations for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (36kb PDF)

March 29, 2007
National Federation of Community Broadcasters Testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Regarding the Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Encompassed in the Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriation Legislation (44kb PDF)

March 30, 2006
NFCB Testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Regarding the Fiscal Year 2009 Appropriations for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Encompassed in the Fiscal Year 2007 Appropriation Legislation (31kb PDF)

January 3, 2005
Localism Comments (193kb PDF)

August 2 , 2005
Comments presented to the Federal Communications Commission by Prometius Radio Project, NFCB and more regarding the creation of a Low Power Radio Service. (143kb PDF)

March 9, 2005
Emergency Petition for Freeze on Pending FM Translator Applications (248kb PDF)

August 22, 2004
In the Matter of Retention by Broadcasters of Program Recordings (131kb PDF)

June 16, 2004
In the Matter of Digital Audio Broadcasting Systems and Their Impact on the Terrestrial Radio Broadcast Service (391kb PDF)

June 4 , 2004
In the Matter of Petition of National Association of Broadcasters Regarding Programming Carried by Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) (252kb PDF)

Re: Golden Globes
Official Press Release (20kb PDF)
Petition for Reconsideration (2.32mb PDF)

Regarding Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemereal Recordings (644kb PDF)