History

Over 30 years ago in Madison, Wisconsin, a group of 25 visionaries and counter culture mavens gathered to ponder the future of community radio. The National Alternative Radio Konvention, or NARK, resulted in a resolution to develop a national organization representing community broadcasters, and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) was founded shortly thereafter. Tom Thomas and Terry Clifford set up NFCB's national headquarters in a portion of their Washington, DC apartment. The initial mission of NFCB was to develop training manuals for stations, help stations obtain their FCC licenses, and set up the Program Exchange to facilitate sharing of programming tapes among stations.

Community radio experienced rapid growth in the late 70's and early 80's, as did NFCB. Membership rose to 75 stations, and NFCB published Audiocraft, a production training manual that is still used in college and university classes across the country. The Public Radio Legal Handbook was also published, and it remains a standard public radio reference tool. The Program Exchange became a national outlet for station programming, and provided independent producers a program distribution avenue. NFCB also proved instrumental in bringing people of color into public radio. The organization staged the first-ever Minority Producers' Conference in 1982, and played a key role in the development of national policies to enhance community stations - for example, NFCB helped make it possible for non-National Public Radio stations to receive grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

During the mid-eighties, many of the founding members and early staff of NFCB moved onto other endeavors. Many of the stations, mostly already on the air, struggled with internal conflicts of growth and development at the local level. The stations were faced with such difficult issues as creating a listener-oriented sound, moving from all-volunteer to professional staff, and purchasing buildings and adequate transmission and studio equipment.

A new NFCB president hired in 1984 faced muddled objectives and a precarious financial position for the organization. The next two years were difficult, indeed, and while the Federation pulled through, there was a price to pay. Staff was reduced from nine full-time employees to four, and the Program Exchange was merged into the Pacifica Program Service.

During the fall of 1986, NFCB's president resigned. The 1987 NFCB Annual Business Meeting proved to be a watershed for the organization's future. The organization found itself in a significantly changed national arena, and it was vital to figure out where community radio fit into the national picture before moving on. Eventually Lynn Chadwick was chosen to head the organization. Chadwick's longtime involvement in community radio and with NFCB earned her the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award in 1995.

NFCB relocated to San Francisco from Washington, DC in July, 1995, and shares a space with Western Public Radio, a non-profit radio training and production facility. NFCB now has a major voice at Congressional hearings on CPB funding, and plays a key role in partnerships with other national organizations on public broadcasting and other policy issues relevant to community radio. There have been other changes as well as a spate of new publications was released, including A Guide to Underwriting for Public Radio, The Volunteer Management Handbook for Community Radio, and The Guide to Political Broadcasting for Public Radio Stations. Chadwick departed in 1998 and Carol Pierson became President and CEO. NFCB began putting together group buys of equipment and services at discounted rates for member stations. And 2002 has been a banner year for NFCB, with new staff additions, new sources of funding, the launch of the Online Public Radio Legal Handbook, and a new image to present to the public. NFCB launched the National Youth in Radio Training Project and the Rural Programming Initiative, and staged the first Native and Latino Radio Summits. The organization is also involved with the Low Power FM rollout. These are exciting times for NFCB.