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.

Urgent support needed against attacks on PTFP funding
Support Documents

NFCB members support threatened Radio Victoria in El Salvador.
Resolution (78kb PDF)

NFCB and AMARC call on government officials to denounce attacks on media practitioners in the Americas.
Resolution (57kb PDF)

NFCB files in the FCC's Future of Media Proceeding
Testimony (113kb PDF)

NFCB President submits testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Regarding the Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program.
Testimony (281kb PDF)

NFCB President submits testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Regarding the Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program.
Testimony (281kb PDF)

NFCB and Prometheus Radio Project write to the House of Representatives to endorse the Local Community Radio Act
Letter (74kb PDF)

NFCB Signs on with NAF and Diverse Consortium of Public Interest, Community, Media, Arts and Native American Groups Propose Significant Changes to Broadband Stimulus Programs
Press Release (62kb PDF)

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

NFCB Testimony in support of a $44 million appropriation for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program within the Department of Commerce.
NFCB Testimony - English (276kb PDF)

NFCB requests FCC to Expand NCE Radio Band to TV Channels 5 and 6
Michael Couzens on behalf of NFCB, Prometheus Radio and Brown Broadcast Services requested a stay on the granting of any permits for LPTV or TV transmitters to more TV Channels 5 or 6. We are part of a growing group that is trying to get Channels 5 and 6 reclassified for FM NCE assignment and perhaps allow AM stations to move into this spectrum as well.
Request (776kb PDF)

NFCB President submits testimony to Congress in support of increased funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Testimony (241kb PDF)

FCC Comments

August 12, 2009
NFCB and Prometheus Radio Project filed rely comments in the Rural Radio proceeding urging the FCC to immediately institute the Tribal Priority, to prohibit band-hopping from the non-reserved band into the reserved band by translators, and to preserve localism by requiring licensees to serve their communities of license.
Rural Radio Reply (237kb PDF)

July 14, 2009
NFCB and Prometheus Radio Project filed joint comments with the FCC to ensure that the Commission fulfills its goals in promoting localism and diversity. They encourage the Commission to view the stations’ intended service to the community of license, rather than based on the stations’ intention to serve a large, urban area. They also ask the FCC to immediately implement the Tribal Priority and create a rulemaking that will address issues and abuses in both the commercial and non-commercial band.
Analysis (161kb PDF)

June 26, 2009
NFCB and Prometheus Radio Project filed joint comments with the FCC about collecting information on gender, race, and Tribal entities on ownership reports. We also support moving to a common filing date and are making suggestions on how to simplify the filing process.
Comments on Ownership Reports (95kb PDF)

Letter to President-elect Obama on Telecommunications and the Public Interest

December 18, 2008
NFCB and Native Public Media have signed onto a letter to President-elect Obama urging him to keep the commitments he made to shift communications policy toward the public interest. This includes creating a more vibrant and diverse media system, an open Internet and access to new technology for all Americans.
 
Letter to President-elect Obama (36kb PDF)

Reply Comments on Diversity of Ownership

August 29, 2008
NFCB filed Reply Comments in the Diversity of Ownership FCC proceeding with both Native Public Media and Prometheus Radio Project/New America Foundation. These comments commend the FCC for its effort to increase ownership diversity, to specifically include “Indian Tribe” and “Tribal Government” in its definition of “eligible entity,” and it proposes significant expansion of the FM band including at least TV channels 5 and 6.

Reply Comments of Prometheus Radio Project, National Federation of Community Broadcasters, and New America Foundation (57kb PDF)
Reply Comments of Native Public Media and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (27kb 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)