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REAUTHORIZATION OF THE CORPORATION 

FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, 

SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 13, 2004 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

( 

(II) 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Chairman 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

CONRAD BURNS, Montana 

TRENT LOTT, Mississippi 

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas 

OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon 

PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina, 

Ranking 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii 

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia 

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts 

JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana 

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey 

JEANNE BUMPUS, Republican Staff Director and General Counsel 

ROBERT W. CHAMBERLIN, Republican Chief Counsel 

KEVIN D. KAYES, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

GREGG ELIAS, Democratic General Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on July 13, 2004 ............................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Lautenberg .......................................................................... 46 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 47 

Statement of Senator Lott ...................................................................................... 2 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3 

Statement of Senator McCain ................................................................................. 1 

Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 43 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44 

Statement of Senator Rockefeller ........................................................................... 2 

Statement of Senator Sununu ................................................................................ 4 

WITNESSES

Burns, Ken, Filmaker, Florentine Films, on Behalf of PBS ................................ 23 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 26 

Cox, Kathleen, President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting ......... 4 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 

Frid, Peter A., CEO and General Manager, New Hampshire Public Television 

on Behalf of the Association of Public Television Stations ............................... 35 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37 

Matthusen, Carl, General Manager, KJZZ–FM, KBAQ–FM and Sun Sounds 

Radio Reading Services ....................................................................................... 14 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 

Taylor, Loris Ann, General Manager, KUYI Hopi Radio ..................................... 29 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 31 

APPENDIX

Response to written question submitted by Hon. Byron L. Dorgan to PBS ....... 55 

Statement of the National Minority Public Broadcasting Consortia: National 

Asian America Telecommunications Association, National Black Programming Consortium, Latino Public Broadcasting, Native American Public 

Telecommunications, Pacific Islanders in Communications ............................. 53 

(1) 

REAUTHORIZATION OF THE CORPORATION 

FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING 

TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2004 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:35 a.m. in room SR– 

253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John McCain, Chairman 

of the Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN MCCAIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA 

The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. Today, the Committee meets to 

hear testimony about the reauthorization of the Corporation for 

Public Broadcasting. The CPB has not been authorized since 1996. 

We’d like to address this situation by introducing a bill today to reauthorize the CPB for 7 years. 

In 1967, the Congress created the CPB, declaring, quote, ‘‘It’s in 

the public interest to encourage the growth and development of 

public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such 

media for instructional, educational and cultural purposes.’’ Today 

the CPB continues to provide financial and organizational support 

to the Nation’s 356 public television stations and almost 800 public 

radio stations. 

A recent General Accounting Office report noted that 79 percent 

of the public television licensees surveyed found that the amount 

of local programming they currently produce is not sufficient to 

meet local community needs; 85 percent of the stations surveyed 

stated they do not have adequate funds for local programming, or 

that they would produce more local programming if they could obtain additional sources of funding. 

The bill that I and others will introduce would provide the Corporation the explicit authority to award grants for the production 

and acquisition of local programming, including local digital programming. It’s my hope that the local stations will use these available funds to produce more local programming to fill the void some 

commercial broadcasters have left in local communities. 

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for appearing today to 

discuss the reauthorization of CPB and public broadcasting. 

Senator Rockefeller? 

2 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA 

Senator ROCKEFELLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I also 

welcome the witnesses. 

I am required by ethical laws in the Senate to report that my 

wife Sharon is in the audience, and she’s the CEO and President 

of WETA in Washington. 

The CHAIRMAN. And the brains of the family. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LOTT. We can all agree on that. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator ROCKEFELLER. I would hope very much that—as we proceed on this, that will be very sensitive to the fact that—this whole 

question of the trust fund and all the rest of it—in rural areas, the 

requirement to switch to digital pretty much knocks a lot of stations out of business if they actually go ahead and do it, and that 

we would be very careful, as we proceed, to protect the financial 

integrity, and, hence, the program integrity, and, hence, the integrity generally, and survivability, of rural public broadcasting stations. 

I thank the Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Lott. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TRENT LOTT, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI 

Senator LOTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for having 

this hearing today on the reauthorization of the Corporation for 

Public Broadcasting. 

Far too many times in the past, we never got around to doing 

the reauthorization legislation on a variety of issues, and it wound 

up being done late, or not at all, or in the appropriations bill. The 

best way to avoid that is to have the hearings and mark up a reauthorization bill, address some of the questions that may be out 

there, and then move the legislation forward. I think it’s important 

we be involved in the detailed process of reauthorization, and I 

thank the Chairman for directing the Committee’s focus to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

I want to thank the witnesses for being here. I do have a commitment later to be on the floor for some remarks, but I’m going to 

stay as long as I can, because I look forward to hearing what the 

witnesses have to say. 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is assigned the important task of overseeing the distribution of Federal funds to public 

broadcasting stations in this country, ensuring that Federal funds 

are utilized for national programming, and maintaining universal 

access to educational programs and services that are offered 

through public broadcasting. 

Public broadcasting does fill a vital niche that people benefit 

from and enjoy, and I think it’s important that we make sure that 

that niche is filled and that we don’t leave all of our access just 

to commercial broadcasters. 

I do think it’s extremely important that we meet the statutory 

requirement for ‘‘objectivity and balance,’’ quote/unquote, in programming by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in order to 

3 

ensure a fair and impartial approach is taken. I have long been 

concerned that the funding appropriated by Congress to be administered by the CPB has been used to advocate, on occasion, biased 

and partisan agendas, at times. I think a real effort has been made 

to work through that. I think progress has been made. And I congratulate the board for the work that’s been done there. It has been 

done carefully and meticulously and without a sledgehammer, and 

I think you’re to be commended for that. 

I also want to take a moment just to express my appreciation for 

the achievements of the Mississippi Public Broadcasting. My home 

state’s Public Broadcasting Network does an excellent job in serving the people of Mississippi. I appreciate what they do. And, on 

occasion, they have refused to carry certain programming; on other 

occasions, they’ve done really innovative programming. If every 

state’s organization works like ours does to inform the people and 

contribute to their enjoyment going to the rural areas, then it’s certainly working quite well. 

And I thank you for being here this morning and for having the 

hearing. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Lott follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. TRENT LOTT, U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing today to consider the reauthorization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I am pleased that this Committee 

has been more proactive in considering the reauthorization of the agencies and other 

entities which are within the Committee’s jurisdiction. It is important that we engage in the detailed work of the reauthorization process, and I thank the Chairman 

for directing the Committee’s focus to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is assigned the important task of overseeing the distribution of Federal funds to the public broadcasting stations in this 

country, insuring that Federal funds are utilized for national programming, and 

maintaining universal access to the educational programs and services that are offered through public broadcasting. Public broadcasting can and does fill a vital niche 

that would not otherwise be filled by commercial broadcasters. However, it is important that the statutory requirement for ‘‘objectivity and balance’’ in programming be 

followed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in order to insure that a fair 

and impartial approach is always taken. I have long been concerned that the funding appropriated by Congress to be administered by the Corporation for Public 

Broadcasting—money that belongs to the people—has been used to advocated biased 

and partisan agendas at times. 

There has been improvement in recent years as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has refocused on meeting its statutory obligation to achieve ‘‘objectivity and 

balance’’ and stepped up its efforts in this area. I want to take this opportunity 

today to encourage the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Board and staff to continue to make progress in facilitating the development of programming which is objective and balanced, and I would remind the witnesses today of this statutory requirement. When Americans tune into their local public television or radio station, 

they should receive news, entertainment, and educational programming that informs, enlightens, and teaches them and provides the tools they need to make independent judgments. We must continue to strive towards meeting this goal. 

I do not want to miss an opportunity to recognize the achievements of Mississippi 

Public Broadcasting. My home state’s public broadcasting network does an excellent 

job of serving the people of Mississippi, and I appreciate the good job that they do. 

I know several of the witnesses here today know personally of the challenges that 

must be met in running quality public radio and television stations. The reauthorization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a key way in which we can continue to help our state and local public broadcasting systems, and I look forward 

to the testimony today for the guidance it will provide in this process. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Senator Sununu? 

4 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN E. SUNUNU, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE 

Senator SUNUNU. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for stacking the panel with representatives from New Hampshire—— 

[Laughter.] 

Senator SUNUNU.—and welcome my friends, Peter Frid and Ken 

Burns. They’ve done great things to strengthen public broadcasting 

and the quality of the content in broadcasting, not only in New 

Hampshire, but across the country, and I thank them for their contribution and for their testimony today, as I do all the panelists. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Our panel today is Ms. Kathleen Cox, who is the President and 

Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Mr. 

Carl Matthusen, who is the General Manager of KJZZ, in Tempe, 

Arizona; Mr. Ken Burns, a distinguished filmmaker, of Florentine 

Films, of Walpole, New Hampshire; Ms. Loris Ann Vicente-Taylor, 

General Manager, KUYI, the Hopi Foundation, Keams Canyon, Arizona; and Mr. Peter Frid, the Chief Executive Officer and General 

Manager, New Hampshire Public Television, at the University of 

New Hampshire. 

Welcome. We’ll begin with Ms. Cox. Welcome. 

STATEMENT OF KATHLEEN COX, PRESIDENT AND CEO, 

CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING 

Ms. COX. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank 

you for inviting me to testify before you today on the reauthorization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. My thanks, as well, 

to the Committee staff on both sides of the aisle for the thoughtful 

and constructive approach they have taken to amending the Public 

Broadcasting Act, and particularly for the courteous and attentive 

hearing they have given to our comments. 

Before turning to the legislation, I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself to the Committee and to say a few words about how 

I see CPB’s role and where I think our most important tasks lie. 

First of all, on day 12 of my tenure as President of CPB, I must 

say that I am, indeed, honored to be at this hearing. As the former 

General Counsel of CPB, I worked with the Public Broadcasting 

Act on nearly a daily basis, and I welcome the opportunity to work 

toward its reauthorization. 

Nearly 40 years ago, recognizing the potential power of broadcast 

technology to serve the public interest, the predecessor to this Committee was instrumental in creating the public broadcasting system. The result is an extraordinary, distinctive, community-based 

partnership embracing public broadcasting, the American people, 

and their elected representatives. This partnership has yielded 

compelling public service programming and services without parallel in the media history of this country. 

We are now at a moment that calls for similar foresight, reflection, and judgment. Broadcasting is undergoing its biggest period 

of change since the arrival of television and radio broadcast. As recently as the early 1990s, television broadcasting was available on 

only a handful of channels, satellite radio was just developing, and 

no one, beyond a few research workers, had even heard of the 

5 

Internet, let alone thought that it had anything to do with television and radio. Today, digital cable and satellite radio are here 

to stay. The Internet has changed the very fabric of our lives, 

transforming society. 

Along with these dazzling breakthroughs in communication and 

information technology come some critical policy issues. How do we 

make sure that all Americans have access to these new and increasingly essential technologies? How can we ensure that the public interest is served in this information age? 

Public broadcasting is a structure in which a series of competing, 

sometimes almost contradictory, goals are balanced. It is a system 

that receives federally appropriated dollars, yet remains free of 

government control of its content. Equally important, it is a system 

composed of local broadcasters who schedule their programs, raise 

their own funds, and decide how best to serve their audiences, yet 

one that must be collectively strong enough to meet the needs of 

a national audience. CPB plays a significant role in that structure. 

CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation outside the government 

enclave. It is prohibited from producing or distributing programming, but responsible for facilitating high-quality content for the 

system of stations and the American public. CPB may not, itself, 

broadcast or own or control stations. Instead, it acts an honest 

broker, administering and distributing the appropriations to stations and producers, and providing the guidance and insight that 

comes with a systemwide view. It is also a heat shield, insulating 

public broadcasters from government efforts to exercise undue influence on editorial freedom. 

CPB does not make programs or broadcast them, and we don’t 

do outreach or raise funds, but we can help create the conditions 

in which these things, and so many more, can happen. Without the 

pressure of day-to-day decisions about what programs to air, CPB 

can take the long view. We can look at the system as a whole, not 

station by station, spotting problems and identifying possible solutions. And when there are unmet needs for a certain kind of programming or research or training, we can step in to provide it. 

CPB is guided by the principle of localism, that local stations 

make the best decisions about public broadcasting in their own 

communities, but localism does not mean, and cannot mean, localonly. CPB’s ability to direct resources to systemwide needs ultimately offers more benefits to individual stations than they would 

otherwise receive. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, CPB does for 

the community of stations what they cannot do at all in their separate and individual capacities. 

National programming, for example, is not something set apart 

from the work of stations, but a resource that draws listeners and 

viewers, and ultimately members, and that educates, informs, enlightens, and enables them to participate more fully in the lives of 

their community. Although CPB does not, itself, produce programming, it does fund and commission programming based on assessment of the system needs. 

To this end, CPB is conducting the largest audience research 

project ever in public broadcasting history. The results will help 

producers and programmers ground decision-making about primetime public television and knowledge about audiences and memVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
6 

bers, effectively bringing audiences into the room when decisions 

are being made. 

To bring new voices and viewpoints into the important national 

conversation about America after September 11, CPB is funding a 

new initiative, America at a Crossroads. We’ve received more than 

425 proposals, the most in our history; and 361 one of them were 

from first-time applicants. 

This fall, the CPB-funded ‘‘Maya and Miguel’’ will debut on PBS. 

This is a program for kids old enough to have graduated from Sesame Street, and one that speaks, sometimes literally, to Latinos, 

America’s fastest-growing minority. We are providing major funding for Public Radio Exchange, a system that makes independently 

produced content easily available to station programmers. And we 

are helping Alaska’s stations meet their special programming 

needs by funding installation of a broadband data network that 

will allow stations to share content with each other on a 24/7 basis. 

CPB’s view across the whole system informs more than programming. CPB funded a study of public television finances that identified major gifts as an untapped revenue source for stations. Working with the station community, we developed a curriculum that 

every station can use to create its own major giving plan. The response has been overwhelming. We expect that about 120 licensees, 

almost two-thirds of the total, will participate in this initiative. 

With strong support from Congress, we have been able to assist 

public radio and television stations to make the transition to digital 

broadcasting, and we are providing grants to small radio stations 

to develop their online services. 

The Public Broadcasting Act has proven itself resilient in the 

face of change, and its goals are perhaps more relevant than ever 

in these days of media concentration and frenetic commercialism. 

We appreciate this Committee’s work toward the reauthorization of 

CPB. I would be remiss, however, if I failed to mention the continuing importance of adequate Federal funding to public broadcasting, which begins with the authorization levels provided by this 

Committee. We look forward to continuing the dialogue with the 

Committee, and with the goal of making public broadcasting available and accessible to all Americans. 

Again, I thank this Committee for its major role in the creation 

and nurturing of public broadcasting, and I look forward to continuing to work with you. And I’ll be happy, of course, to take any 

questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Cox follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KATHLEEN COX, PRESIDENT AND CEO, 

CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, for inviting me to testify before you today on the reauthorization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. My thanks as well to the Committee staff on both sides of the aisle for the 

thoughtful and constructive approach they have taken to amending the Public 

Broadcasting Act, and particularly for the courteous and attentive hearing they 

have given to our comments. 

Before turning to the legislation, I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself 

to the Committee, and to say a few words about how I see CPB’s role and where 

I think our most important tasks lie. 

First of all, on day twelve of my tenure as President of CPB, I must say that I 

am indeed honored to be at this hearing. As the former General Counsel of CPB, 

7 

I worked with the Public Broadcasting Act on a nearly daily basis, and I welcome 

the opportunity to work toward its reauthorization. 

Nearly 40 years ago, recognizing the potential power of broadcast technology to 

serve the public interest, the predecessor to this committee was instrumental in creating the public broadcasting system. 

The result is an extraordinary, distinctive, community-based partnership embracing public broadcasting, the American people, and their elected representatives. 

This partnership has yielded compelling public service programming and services 

without parallel in the media history of this country. 

We are now at a moment that calls for similar foresight, reflection and judgment. 

Broadcasting is undergoing its biggest period of change since the arrival of the television. As recently as the early 1990s, broadcasting was available on only a handful 

of channels, satellite broadcasting hardly existed, and no one beyond a few research 

workers had even heard of the Internet, let alone thought that it had anything to 

do with television. Today digital cable and satellite channels are booming. The 

Internet has changed the very fabric of our lives and is transforming society. 

Along with these dazzling breakthroughs in communication and information technologies come some critical policy issues: How do we make sure that all Americans 

have access to these new and increasingly essential technologies? How can we ensure that the public interest is served in the Information Age? 

Public broadcasting is a structure in which a series of competing, sometimes almost contradictory goals are balanced. It is a system that receives federally appropriated dollars, yet remains free of government control of its content. Equally important, for our purposes today, it is a system composed of local broadcasters who have 

nearly total autonomy over their programming, services and finances, yet one that 

must be collectively strong enough to the meet the needs of a national audience. 

At the center of that structure is CPB. CPB is a private, non-profit corporation, 

outside the government enclave. It is prohibited from producing or distributing programming, but responsible for facilitating high quality content for the system of stations and the American public. CPB may not itself broadcast or own or control stations. Instead it acts as an honest broker, administering and distributing the appropriations to stations and producers and providing the guidance and insight that 

comes with a system-wide view. It is also a heat shield, insulating public broadcasters from government efforts to exercise undue influence on editorial freedom. 

We don’t make the programs, or broadcast them; we don’t do outreach or raise 

funds. But we can help create the conditions in which these things—and so many 

more—can happen. 

Freed from the day-to-day decisions about what program to air, CPB can take the 

long view. We can look at the system as a whole, not station by station, spotting 

problems and identifying possible solutions. And when there are unmet needs—for 

a certain kind of programming, or research, or training—we can step in to provide 

it. 

CPB is guided by the principle of localism—that local stations make the best decisions about public broadcasting in their own communities. But localism does not 

mean—and cannot mean—local only. CPB’s ability to direct resources to systemwide needs ultimately offers more benefits to individual stations than they would 

otherwise receive. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, CPB does for the community of 

stations what they ‘‘cannot do at all in their separate and individual capacities.’’ 

National programming, for example, is not something set apart from the work of 

stations, but a resource that draws viewers (and ultimately members), and that educates, informs, enlightens, and enables them to participate more fully in the lives 

of their communities. 

So CPB is conducting the biggest audience research project in public broadcasting 

history. The results will help producers and programmers ground decision-making 

about primetime public television in knowledge about audiences and members—effectively bringing audiences into the room when decisions are being made. 

We’ve also launched America at a Crossroads, an ambitious effort to bring new 

voices and viewpoints into the important national conversation about America after 

September 11. We’ve received more than 425 proposals—the most in our history— 

and 361 of them were from first-time applicants. 

This fall, we will launch Maya and Miguel, a program for kids old enough to have 

graduated from Sesame Street, and one that speaks (sometimes literally) to Latinos, 

America’s fastest growing minority. 

CPB’s view across the whole system informs more than programming. Just one 

example: CPB funded a study of public television finances that identified major gifts 

as an untapped revenue source for stations. Again working with the station community, we developed a curriculum that every station can use to develop and implement a major giving plan. The response has been overwhelming—we expect that 

8 

more than 120 licensees will participate in the initiative. With strong support from 

Congress, we have also been able to assist public television stations to meet the 

deadline for digital broadcast, and we are working collaboratively on ways to use 

new technology to enhance station and system efficiency. 

The Public Broadcasting Act has proven itself resilient in the face of change, and 

its goals are perhaps more relevant than ever in these days of media consolidation 

and frenetic commercialism. While we agree with the motivations behind the suggested changes to the Act, CPB believes that most of these goals can be accomplished within the current framework of the statute as it exists today. We look forward to continuing the dialogue with the Committee, with the goal of making public 

broadcasting available and accessible to all Americans. 

Again, I thank this committee for its major role in the creation and nurturing of 

public broadcasting, and look forward to continuing to work with you. I will be 

happy to take your questions. 

APPENDIX

In my first appearance before the Committee, and the first time in several years 

that the Committee has considered a reauthorization of CPB, I wanted to provide 

a primer on how CPB fulfills the charter contained in the Public Broadcasting Act 

and carries out its responsibilities by encouraging high-quality programming, making grants to local public radio and television stations, and working to strengthen 

the public telecommunications system. 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting 

In 1967, Congress created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, declaring, ‘‘It 

is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio 

and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational and cultural purposes.’’ For more than 30 years, the Federal investment in 

public broadcasting has offered all Americans access to the highest-quality, noncommercial, educational and cultural programming delivered to their homes, schools 

and workplaces by means of the most current technology. With more than 1,000 locally controlled public radio and television stations, public broadcasting forms the 

largest community-based educational and civic institution in the Nation. 

CPB is the steward of the Federal investment in public broadcasting. It administers several grant programs, through which most of the federally allocated funds 

are sent directly to individual public radio and television stations. But in addition 

to aiding individual stations, CPB also is responsible for ensuring the strength of 

the overall system—for example, by funding an interconnection system that allows 

programming to be distributed and by paying some system-wide costs, like music 

royalties. Beyond that, CPB is uniquely positioned to assess the health and needs 

of the system as a whole, and to direct funds to the areas of greatest need. 

In 2002, concerned about the financial status of the public television station, CPB 

retained McKinsey and Company to conduct a system-wide review. The findings 

were disturbing. Every source of funding for public television—individual donations, 

gifts from foundations, corporate support, and federal, state and local government 

appropriations—were static or declining. McKinsey also identified key areas that 

presented opportunities for either increasing station revenues or decreasing costs. 

In response, CPB launched projects on major giving, operational improvements, and 

programming strategy—and then, in response to requests from the stations themselves—added local services to the list. All of these projects are well underway, and 

we anticipate a similar examination of public radio issues in the near future. 

This kind of system-wide approach offers benefits to local broadcasters that go beyond efficiencies of scale. It frees them to focus on the pressing needs of their own 

stations, while drawing on the research and opportunities provided by CPB. CPB 

provides a vital service by offering fact-based research on a range of issues, from 

finances to programming, and by funding initiatives that individual stations cannot. 

How the Public Broadcasting System Operates 

In contrast to commercial broadcasting, which is increasingly centralized, the public broadcasting system is very decentralized. Every public broadcasting outlet is 

under local control or ownership; increasingly, they are the only locally owned and 

operated media outlets in their communities. With local governing boards, community advisors, volunteers, and partnerships with local organizations, stations work 

to provide programs and services responsive to the needs of their communities. Each 

local station maintains sole authority and responsibility for selecting, presenting or 

producing the programs that it airs. Congress placed control of programming with 

local stations rather than CPB. It ensured this autonomy by prohibiting CPB from 

9 

owning or operating any television or radio station, system or network, and barring 

it from producing, scheduling or disseminating programs to the public. 

Instead, CPB operates within congressionally prescribed guidelines to provide financial support and services to 560 licensees operating more than 1,000 television 

and radio stations that deliver educational services and programming to virtually 

every household in the country. Congress has mandated that a majority of CPB’s 

appropriation be allocated for direct station support. Our obligation to Congress and 

the American people is to ensure that this money is being spent wisely and efficiently. Our obligation to stations is to insulate them from the political process, and 

to ensure that their receipt of Federal support in no way interferes with their ability 

to operate as free and independent broadcasters, as prescribed by law. 

In addition to our financial support of stations, CPB complies with the statutory 

requirement of providing funds to producing entities and independent producers to 

help them develop a wide range of programming that is then made available to local 

stations. As encouraged by Congress, CPB provides direct program support to PBS 

through contractual negotiations for a high-profile national program service, which 

includes series such as Nova, American Experience, Sesame Street and NewsHour 

with Jim Lehrer. CPB does not provide direct program support to NPR, which competes with other producers for CPB radio program funds on a program-by-program 

basis. CPB also provides programming dollars to entities such as the Independent 

Television Service (ITVS), five separate entities collectively known as the National 

Minority Consortia, and many independent producers and producing organizations, 

all of which are entirely independent of CPB. This enables stations to acquire programming independently from a wide variety of sources. 

Public television stations choose their programs from the following sources, among 

others: 

• PBS, which provides more than 1200 hours a year of children’s, prime time, and 

other educational programming from which its member stations can choose. 

• APT, which acquires programs that may be purchased by stations on a titleby-title basis. These include series and specials such as Nightly Business Report 

and Julia & Jacques: Cooking at Home. APT also maintains the largest source 

of free programming available to U.S. public television stations. 

• ITVS, which funds, distributes and promotes independently produced television 

programs. ITVS films have been nominated for Academy Awards for the last 

three years in a row, and for four primetime Emmys this year alone. 

• The National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), which annually distributes about 2,000 hours of programming—produced by public television stations, other entities and independent producers—via satellite to stations nationwide. 

Public radio stations also get their programming from a wide variety of sources: 

• Local productions typically account for about half of programming. In the Washington, D.C. area, for example, WAMU’s The Diane Rehm Show and Stained 

Glass Bluegrass, to name just two programs, are locally produced, as is much 

of WETA’s classical music programming. 

• 36 percent is from NPR, including news and information programs like Morning 

Edition, All Things Considered, and The Tavis Smiley Show, cultural programming like Jazz from Lincoln Center and The Thistle and the Shamrock, and entertainment programming like Car Talk and Wait, Wait. . .Don’t Tell Me! 

• 10 percent is obtained from PRI, which distributes programs like Marketplace 

and and operates a Capitol Hill news bureau that offers a local eye on national 

events. 

• 5 percent is from other producers, including other public radio stations. For example, The Diane Rehm Show, produced at WAMU, is heard on stations around 

the country. 

How CPB Distributes its Appropriation 

CPB distributes its funds based on a formula set forth in the Communications Act 

of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 396(k)(3)): 

• At least 6 percent of its appropriation for certain statutorily enumerated expenses for the system of stations (i.e., music royalties, interconnection expenses, 

ITVS and minority consortia operational expenses, etc.) 

• Not more than 5 percent for administrative expenses 

10 

The remaining 89 percent is allocated to stations as follows: 

• 75 percent for public television 

» 75 percent of which is for grants to television stations 

» 25 percent of which is for television programming 

• 25 percent for public radio 

» 70 percent of which is for radio station grants 

» 23 percent of which is for radio program acquisition grants 

» 7 percent of which is for radio programming 

A schematic diagram of the flow of the funds is as follows: 

Grants To Stations 

The statute directs CPB to provide a grant to each station in accordance with eligibility criteria and on the basis of a formula designed to (1) provide for the financial needs and requirements of stations in relation to the communities and audiences such stations undertake to serve; (2) maintain existing, and stimulate new, 

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creases in such support; and (3) assure that each eligible licensee and permittee of 

a public station receives a basic grant (47 U.S.C.A. 396(k)(6)(B)). 

Local television and radio stations are the bedrock of the public broadcasting system. They are community institutions working in partnership with schools, libraries, and other community organizations to provide news and information, children’s, 

local public affairs, and cultural programming for their viewers and listeners. There 

are many types of stations—state networks that provide service across an entire 

state and receive significant support from their state government; tiny rural stations that offer the only local news in a town or a region; major city stations that 

produce national programs; joint licensees that operate both public television and 

radio stations; and stations owned by universities or school systems. Each of these 

stations is governed by its own board of directors, provides its own brand of program 

options, and faces its own challenges in meeting its financial obligations. CPB’s 

grant structure, while complex, represents our best efforts to respond to the multiplicity of needs facing public broadcasters. 

Public Television Stations 

Television Community Service Grants 

Almost 50 percent of the money CPB receives is set aside for direct grants to public television stations, known as television community service grants or CSGs. A 

full-power station operating under a noncommercial, educational Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license qualifies for a CSG if it meets minimum requirements including a minimum level of non-federal financial support, a minimum 

broadcast schedule, and bookkeeping and programming standards. 

The CSG is divided into two parts. The first part is the base grant, a percentage 

of the Federal appropriation. In FY 2004, the base grant is $418,000. Designated 

overlap stations (that is, stations that share a market) share a single base grant 

for that market. The second part is an incentive grant designed to reward a station 

according to the amount of non-federal financial support it raises. Every CSG qualifying station receives the incentive part of the grant, which encourages the development of non-federal revenue, as prescribed by the statute. 

As required by statute, stations use CSGs for purposes ‘‘primarily related to the 

production or acquisition of programming.’’ Grant amounts vary widely from station 

to station, based on the amount of non-federal support that each station raises. CPB 

monitors grant spending through a combination of routine reporting requirements 

and direct audits conducted by CPB’s Office of the Inspector General. 

In addition to the CSGs, CPB now provides two other types of grants to television 

stations—the local service grant and the distant service grant. These grants are 

based on formulas arrived at after extensive consultation throughout the system— 

with representatives of APTS and PBS, but primarily with station general managers 

who appreciate the sharply different needs of stations throughout the system. The 

formulas that they developed are complex, but strike an extraordinary balance between providing support to all and offering special help to those who need it. In this, 

they reflect the statute’s policy goals by working to maintain universal service. This 

translates into making extra help available to stations providing services to small 

and rural communities; encouraging support from local private and public sources; 

and encouraging efficiency. 

Local Service Grants. CPB recognizes the special needs and challenges of small 

stations and the important role they play in providing universal access to free, overthe-air local public television. For that reason, CPB provides additional incentives 

to stations with less than $2 million in non-federal financial support. The grants are 

intended to strengthen local services such as outreach initiatives, educational 

projects and services, operational efficiencies, implementation of best practices, financial planning, and professional development. 

Distant Service Grants. To recognize the additional costs of serving multiple communities and the efficiency of multiple transmitter operations, and to further the 

goal of universal service, CPB provides larger grants to single grantees who operate 

three or more transmitters (stations). The grants are used to strengthen services, 

including outreach, educational workshops and training, and local content, in these 

communities 

Public Radio Stations 

Radio Community Service Grants (CSGs) 

Under the statute, CPB provides 15.6 percent of its total appropriation to 384 

grantees who operate approximately 700 public radio stations that qualify for radio 

CSG funding. The grants are designed to address the disparate needs of urban and 

rural stations. These stations provide outstanding, award-winning news and inforVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
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mation, arts and entertainment programming, as well as valuable community services. Sometimes they represent the only local broadcast signal—commercial or noncommercial—that a rural community receives. CPB also offers special funding incentives for nearly 60 minority grantees and more than 100 grantees operating in rural 

environments. 

A licensee or permittee of a radio station operating under a noncommercial, educational FCC license is eligible to receive a CSG if it satisfies certain minimal requirements relating to power, staff size, on-air time, financial viability, access to 

non-Federal financial support, record keeping, and programming. Higher grant 

amounts are available to public radio stations meeting a minimum standard of public service as measured either by the average quarter-hour listening audience, or by 

the level of local fund-raising support. 

Grants for Programming 

CPB is prohibited by law from producing or distributing programming. However, 

CPB actively encourages promising TV and radio projects, supports independent 

producers, and helps fund productions by and about minorities. CPB provides funding to the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) to support the National Program Service, and CPB’s Radio Competitive Funds are the major source of funding for new 

national radio programs. 

Television Programming 

CPB provides an annual grant to support the National Program Service (NPS), 

the package of television programming that is fed by satellite to PBS member stations in return for their dues payments. This includes signature series like 

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and PBS Kids children’s programming, as well as the Sunday-through-Friday prime time schedule. In FY 2004, CPB is providing $22.5 

million for the NPS. These funds, which CPB does not administer, support scores 

of individual programs and provide continuing support for some of public television’s 

signature series. 

In addition, CPB matches the stations’ contribution to the PBS/CPB Program 

Challenge Fund, which is intended to stimulate the development of high-impact, innovative television series such as Colonial House, The Blues series and Ken Burns’ 

American Stories.. CPB also administers a General Program Fund, used to fund educational projects 

and television programming. It supports a number of proposals on selected topics 

of national interest that meet the highest standards of excellence. Past projects include Masterpiece Theater’s American Collection, ‘‘Accordion Dreams,’’ and the Memorial Day and July 4th Concerts. High priority is given to programming that illustrates America’s rich cultural heritage and ethnic diversity. 

CPB also provides administrative and programming funds to five multicultural 

groups known collectively as the National Minority Programming Consortia (National Asian American Telecommunications Association; Native American Public 

Telecommunications, Inc.; National Black Programming Consortium; Pacific Islanders in Communications; and Latino Public Broadcasting). These groups distribute 

funds to producers for the development of programs of diverse content. 

In FY 2001, CPB established the Diversity Fund to encourage public television 

projects that help people think about the complexity and beauty of America’s contemporary multi-cultural society. Two projects supported by the Diversity Fund will 

air on PBS this fall. During Hispanic Heritage Month, PBS will air Visiones, a se- ries by acclaimed director Hector Galan that will look at the history of Latino Arts 

and Culture in America. Later this year, PBS will air The Appalachians, a multipart series looking at the history and legacy of the Appalachian people, and including an interview with Senator Robert Byrd. A companion book and CD will be 

hosted by Naomi Judd. 

As directed by Congress, CPB also provides annual programming support to ITVS, 

which in turn, provides production grants to independent producers developing 

projects intended for public broadcasting. This support helps CPB meet its statutory 

requirement that it provide ‘‘adequate funds for an independent production service.’’ 

ITVS’s work is of high quality—one program, ‘‘Flag Wars,’’ won a Peabody Award 

this year, and ‘‘Be Good, Smile Pretty’’ has been nominated for a national Emmy 

award—and ensures that public television benefits from the strong voices of independent producers whose stories resonate particularly with underrepresented and 

underserved audiences. 

Radio Programming 

Since 1987, CPB has directly supported the production of radio programs intended 

for national audiences. Throughout its history, CPB has awarded about three of 

every four radio programming grants to national projects by or about ethnic groups 

13 

and to projects by independent producers. All CPB-funded radio programs are made 

available nationally to all public radio stations. CPB continues to give highest consideration to excellent, balanced, and innovative programming from diverse sources. 

In addition, all Community Service Grant recipients are required to use approximately 30 percent of this grant for the purpose of purchasing or producing programming of national interest. These grants ensure the availability of some of the best 

programming public radio has to offer by targeting use of the funds to the purchase 

or production of national programming. 

System Support Funds 

By law, CPB spends at least 6 percent of the funds it receives to support the public broadcasting system, as opposed to individual stations or producers. CPB often 

supplements this amount with funds from its administrative allocation. 

System support expenditures include: 

• Interconnection grants. These are provided to public television stations specifically to purchase or maintain equipment allowing each local station to receive 

or deliver signals via satellite. By law, half of the interconnection costs for television are funded with system support funds through these grants. 

• Music royalty fees for broadcast and Internet use for all CPB-funded public television and radio stations, as well as for NPR and PBS. 

• Operational costs for ITVS and Minority Consortia. 

• Promoting workforce diversity and career development for minority producers. 

• Financing public broadcasting award programs, strategic planning, and research into new technologies. 

CPB Administrative Operations 

In 1988, Congress set CPB’s administrative budget at a fixed level with annual 

increases to be based on the Consumer Price Index or 4 percent—whichever is higher. In no instance may the administrative costs exceed 5 percent of the total appropriation. 

CPB’s Oversight Obligation 

Compliance with Funding Requirements 

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, as amended, and Federal appropriations 

place responsibilities on CPB for the distribution, use and reporting of appropriated 

funds. This responsibility extends to entities receiving CPB funds. External oversight to monitor their compliance with CPB funding criteria is a primary responsibility of the Corporation. In addition to its own grant administration policies, CPB 

is aided in this regard by its Board of Directors and its Office of Inspector General. 

CPB Board of Directors 

The CPB Board of Directors is comprised of nine members, appointed by the 

President and confirmed by the Senate. While the entire Board is charged with 

oversight, the CPB Audit Committee is the initial vehicle that the Board of Directors uses to discharge its oversight responsibilities under the laws and regulations 

governing the Corporation. Principal among these is compliance with the Public 

Broadcasting Act of 1967, as amended, and oversight of funds appropriated annually 

to public broadcasting. These responsibilities extend to oversight of corporate programs, functions and activities established to manage and control the Corporation’s 

utilization of funds. 

Office of Inspector General 

In 1989, the CPB’s independent Office of Inspector General was created for the 

purpose of improving efficiency, economy and effectiveness of CPB operations and 

programs, and preventing and detecting possible waste, fraud and abuse. The CPB 

Board Audit Committee and CPB Management work with the OIG to establish a 

programs for review of the adequacy of systems of financial management and internal controls to ensure accurate and complete reporting, compliance with applicable 

rules and regulations, and safeguards over CPB resources. This includes requiring 

stations to submit to audits and keep their books in compliance with CPB policies 

(47 U.S.C. § 396(l)(3)). 

Compliance with Content Oversight Obligations 

Sections 396(g)(1)(a) and 396(g)(1)(d) of the Act state, ‘‘(1) In order to achieve the 

objectives and to carry out the purposes of this subpart, as set out in subsection (a) 

of this section, the Corporation is authorized to: 

14 

(a) facilitate the full development of public telecommunications in which programs of high quality, diversity, creativity, excellence, and innovation, which 

are obtained from diverse sources, will be made available to public telecommunications entities, with strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all 

programs or series of programs of a controversial nature . . . [and] 

(d) carry out its purposes and functions and engage in its activities in ways that 

will most effectively assure the maximum freedom of the public telecommunications entities and systems from interference with, or control of, program content or other activities.’’ 

Our current activities designed to meet these statutory requirements fall into four 

general categories: 

Soliciting Public Comment. In 1993, the CPB Board and management established 

the Open to the Public initiative in order to encourage viewers and listeners to voice 

their opinions through: 

• A toll-free, 24-hour telephone line (1–800–272–2190) 

• A U.S. post office box (P.O. Box 50880, Washington D.C. 20091) 

• A dedicated e-mail address (comments@cpb.org) 

Virtually all public radio and television stations maintain similar audience response services, as do the national organizations, such as PBS, NPR, and PRI, as 

well as many other program producers and providers. CPB provides links to these 

organizations through its website. Earlier in this testimony, I discussed our plans 

to strengthen our Open to the Public initiative. 

Monitoring Public Perceptions. In addition to public comment, CPB considers 

other impartial indicators, including journalism awards, independent polling data 

and press reports, to help gauge perceptions of quality, as well as objectivity and 

balance. PBS and NPR also conduct regular independent surveys and focus group 

opinion studies, which we review and sometimes participate in. 

Addressing Concerns. CPB staff meet frequently with producers and station representatives to learn more about projects in development, plans for community dialogue, and special outreach efforts to ensure a variety of perspectives. When controversial programming generates public interest, CPB routinely communicates such 

comments to the appropriate producer or programmer and seeks further information 

or clarification. 

CPB Program Funding. It has been CPB’s long-standing policy to support a wide 

variety of programming sources and distribution channels, so that local programmers—and viewers and listeners—have a wide number of program choices. Programming content for stations, therefore, comes from PBS, NPR, PRI, APT, many 

independent sources, and from local sources, including the station. Each local station ultimately decides which programs to carry and when to carry them, and decisions about controversial programs are vested, by law, in individual stations. 

Program proposals are evaluated on the basis of comparative merit by CPB staff 

and panels of outside experts, representing diverse interests and perspectives. Balance and objectivity are important criteria for program proposals concerning topics 

of a controversial nature. Any resulting CPB program contract requires that a recipient’s production meet all applicable standards of journalistic ethics, including 

issues related to fairness. 

Since its creation by Congress in 1967, CPB has worked diligently to fulfill its 

mission of promoting a dynamic, independent and trusted public broadcasting system. I believe that CPB has and continues to meet its obligation to help provide the 

American public with a range and quality of programming and services unrivaled 

by any other broadcast service. 

I hope that this information is of use to the Committee. Please let me know if 

there is other information that I can provide to assist the Committee as it works 

towards a reauthorization of CPB. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. Matthusen, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF CARL MATTHUSEN, GENERAL MANAGER, 

KJZZ–FM, KBAQ–FM, AND SUN SOUNDS RADIO READING 

SERVICES 

Mr. MATTHUSEN. Thank you. 

15 

Chairman McCain, Members of the Committee, I’m the General 

Manager of three public radio operations in Arizona. They include 

KJZZ–FM, ‘‘K-Jazz,’’ KBAQ–FM, ‘‘K-Bock,’’ and Sun Sounds Radio 

Reading Service. My background also includes 6 years spent on the 

board of directors of National Public Radio, starting in 1990, with 

four of those years spent as chairman of the board. Thank you for 

this opportunity to provide a station point of view on behalf of NPR 

and its member stations as you contemplate legislation to reauthorize CPB. 

My stations represent much of the diversity that exists in public 

radio. KJZZ features news, information, entertainment, and acoustic jazz. It’s one of the older and larger station in the system. 

KJZZ’s sister station, KBAQ, provides Central Arizona’s only classical music programming. It is one of the newer and smaller stations in the system. Sun Sounds is a radio reading service. It and 

the other reading services around the country seek to provide timecritical information, primarily newspapers and magazines, to an 

audience of blind or otherwise print-disabled listeners. 

KJZZ and KBAQ are members of National Public Radio, as are 

some 770 other stations across the country. Combined, my stations 

reach about 400,000 listeners a week. The nation audience for public radio now numbers some 30 million Americans weekly. 

While there are a number of challenges confronting public radio 

today, I’d like to draw your attention to one in particular; that 

would be the analog-to-digital transition. To date, more than 150 

stations have applied for and received transition funds through the 

first two rounds of CPB grant assistance. A third round of funding 

assistance has just been released by CPB. By the end of calendar 

year 2004, we anticipate that 200 to 250 radio stations will be well 

down the road of this important technology transition. 

In October 2002, the Federal Communications Commission endorsed a technology for radio stations that began the conversion 

from analog to digital. The Commission’s landmark decision has 

opened a transition path that public radio stations must follow. 

This technology opens the door to new expanded service for public 

radio that is revolutionary in both improving sound quality and in 

creating a means of affordable programming expansion. 

Just weeks after the FCC’s 2002 decision, NPR announced the 

Tomorrow Radio Project, with partners in the private sector known 

for their expertise in transmission and radio receiver knowhow. 

The principal goal of NPR’s Tomorrow Radio effort was to test multichannel or multicasting technology that could allow public radio 

stations to broadcast more programming and more content, but 

using existing spectrum. Quite simply, this means that we can utilize the properties of digital broadcast technology to carry two or 

more streams of programming on the same channel or frequency. 

The Tomorrow Radio format, which may be approved this year by 

the FCC, will permit program expansion for a fraction of the cost 

of acquiring frequencies through traditional methods. 

Mr. Chairman, in reauthorizing CPB, I urge you to include language that continues funding for public radio’s digital transition, as 

well as for the operational funds so badly needed for the public 

telecommunications facilities program and for support of the satVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
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ellite interconnection system by which our programming is distributed. 

Chairman McCain and Members of the Committee, I recognize 

the fiscal challenges that confronts Congress in making funding decisions each Fiscal Year. I would suggest that the partnership existing between Congress, CPB, and the public radio and television 

stations is extraordinarily effective. For every dollar provided to 

public radio stations through CPB grants, the stations raise an additional eight dollars. Everything we do is nurtured, directly or indirectly, by the funding that you have provided. 

NPR and its member stations operate today not only because of 

Federal support, but also because we have worked to secure the 

loyalty, trust, and support of listeners, local businesses, and foundations. We actually believe it is our responsibility and mission to 

act in the public interest, convenience, and necessity. 

I have additional written comments, and request permission to 

submit them as part of the record of this proceeding. 

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to be part of your session today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Matthusen follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CARL MATTHUSEN, GENERAL MANAGER, KJZZ–FM, 

KBAQ–FM AND SUN SOUNDS RADIO READING SERVICES

Introduction and Summary 

Chairman McCain, Senator Hollings and Members of the Committee, I am Carl 

Matthusen, General Manager of KJZZ–FM, KBAQ–FM and Sun Sounds Radio 

Reading Service, all serving the citizens of Arizona. I’m grateful for this opportunity 

to support the reauthorization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Taking 

this action is a very significant and important step in securing a stable foundation 

for America’s public broadcasting institutions. I speak for all in public radio in expressing our appreciation for the leadership you’ve provided to public radio and television and to institutions like CPB. This leadership and support have been critical 

in continuing the successful, four decades-old partnership between the Congress and 

public broadcasting institutions that serve every state and congressional district in 

America. 

My stations are representative of the diversity and distinctive nature that defines 

public radio today. KJZZ features news, information, entertainment, and acoustic 

jazz. It went on the air in 1951, and is licensed to the Maricopa County Community 

College District. Arbitron numbers say KJZZ reaches nearly 250,000 listeners weekly. The annual budget is $3.1 million. 10 percent of that comes from the Community 

Service Grant program of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

KJZZ’s sister station, KBAQ, provides central Arizona’s only classical music programming. The Maricopa Community Colleges and Arizona State University jointly 

own KBAQ, which is 11 years old and has a current annual budget of $1.4 million. 

17.8 percent of the KBAQ budget comes through CPB. The KBAQ audience is about 

150,000 listeners weekly. 

Sun Sounds is a radio reading service for the blind and print disabled. It is 25 

years old this year. It, and the other readings services around the country, seeks 

to provide time-critical information, primarily newspapers and magazines, to a disabled audience. We estimate this audience numbers about 32,000 in Arizona. Sun 

Sounds does not receive any support from CPB, although CPB does support the distribution of some programming nationally. 

KJZZ, KBAQ, and Sun Sounds, like all the other public radio stations in America, 

are locally owned, locally licensed, locally staffed and locally programmed. KJZZ and 

KBAQ are members of National Public Radio, as are some 770 other stations all 

across America. Today, NPR programming heard on these stations reaches a weekly 

audience of some 22 million Americans. Public radio stations are located in every 

one of America’s fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam 

and the Marianas Pacific, to bring programming that meets the highest standards 

of public service in journalism and cultural expression. 

17 

While NPR is not the only producer and/or distributor of public radio programming, it is preeminent among all others. Because of this, my remarks speak to both 

NPR and public radio stations. As you know, NPR is a nonprofit membership corporation that produces and distributes noncommercial educational programming, including All Things Considered®, Morning Edition®, Talk of the Nation®, and Performance Today®, for broadcast by more than 770 public radio stations nationwide. 

NPR’s members, comprising a variety of community licensees, school boards and 

other local institutions, Native American tribes, and private and public colleges and 

universities, are themselves significant producers of news, informational and cultural programming. NPR also operates the Public Radio Satellite Interconnection 

System and provides representation and other services to its Member stations. 

NPR doesn’t own or operate radio stations. Public radio stations are locally licensed, locally governed, locally programmed, and locally staffed. Institutionally and 

practically, these very direct and significant local affiliations have accomplished 

their intended purpose: public radio stations are responsive and responsible to the 

communities and listeners they serve. Whether a public radio station’s broadcast license is held by a community college, like KJZZ’s, or by state authorities, such as 

either the Mississippi Public Radio Network or the South Carolina Educational 

Radio Network, or by a community entity such as Nevada Public Radio, public radio 

stations provide localized services that meet local and regional needs. 

I’d like to suggest four basic notions for inclusion in legislation to reauthorize 

CPB, all of which will strengthen the distinctive partnership between the Congress 

and public broadcasting institutions that has been the hallmark of our history: 

1. Funding authorization levels for CPB need to reflect the growth in audience, 

the distinctive service and importance of public broadcasting entities in America’s communities, and the challenges faced by local stations in responding to 

reductions in state and local financing sources. 

2. The transition to digital broadcasting technology, both in radio and television, 

is critical to the future success of public broadcasting. Legislation reauthorizing 

CPB needs to reflect this by containing specific funding authority and funding 

levels to help complete the transition. 

3. Renewal of funding authority for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) within the U.S. Department of Commerce is of great import to 

the future of public broadcasting entities. PTFP is an integral part of the construction of facilities to bring educational and cultural programming to the 

American public. 

4. Public radio and public television stations rely heavily on satellite interconnection systems, which are indispensable to our current and future abilities to 

serve the American public. CPB’s reauthorization must contain funding levels 

sufficient to provide these vital services. 

Public Radio Programming 

Programming heard on America’s public radio stations meets the highest standards of public service in journalism and cultural expression. Each station designs 

it own format by combining local programming with offerings from NPR, Public 

Radio International, and other sources to best serve its particular audience. 

Travel across America and you’ll hear public radio’s unique blend of programming 

that combines daily coverage of events with in-depth excursions into local, national 

and international stories. 

In addition, public radio reaches an international audience through NPR Worldwide, which brings all of our most popular shows to American military forces via 

the American Forces Network in the Middle East, Europe, Japan and Korea. This 

is an important audience for public radio and it’s an audience we value. Numerous 

letters from American soldiers posted overseas expressing sentiments like this have 

been received: 

‘‘Hello NPR . . . an Army Reservist recalled to active duty and sent to Bagram 

Air Base in Afghanistan this past May. I just wanted to drop a line to let you 

know I listen to NPR Worldwide on 105.7 FM. 

I found the station while channel surfing on a car radio the other day, and upon 

hearing Click and Clack’s familiar voices became quite pleased that NPR 

reaches this far from my home in Virginia. . . . I shared my find with a fellow 

officer and NPR listener, and we are now both confident that listening to NPR 

will make our stay in Bagram a bit more bearable. Thank you for making this 

service available so far away from home.’’ 

And this from a Chaplain: 

18 

‘‘I served as Chaplain to an engineer Battalion until December of last year. In 

February, the unit was deployed and is now in Iraq. Today I received an e-mail 

from the commander. . ..sharing some of the life and times in that country. He 

noted in particular that the English TV is very limited, so he listens to NPR. 

It was a comfort to me to know that our troops have contact to the world via 

NPR. There are some 450 soldiers with him, most from Arkansas. A member 

of A company was killed recently and the pain of his loss still lingers. If nothing 

else, I just want to say thank you for reaching around the world, with the 

world, so that our soldiers have a taste of home while in the desert’’. 

Mr. Chairman, distribution of NPR Worldwide programming is supported financially by NPR as part of its annual operating budget. Its current relationship with 

the American Forces Radio and Television Network began more than 2 decades ago 

and continues today as an important component of its day-to-day mission. 

News and Information 

The foundation of public radio is service to America’s communities. That commitment to service is best illustrated by the extensive news and information reporting 

that is found daily on public radio stations. While other media entities have 

downsized newsgathering and reporting over the past several years, many in the 

public radio community have added reporters, correspondents and offices worldwide. 

For example, in June, 2004 NPR announced a major expansion of its news operation 

with plans to invest $15 million over the next three years to add reporters, editors, 

producers and managers, and to add new foreign and national bureaus. This unprecedented investment and expansion is demonstrative of public radio’s commitment to 

bring in-depth and top-quality reporting and programming to our growing audience. 

Public radio audiences hear the results and benefit from this dynamic expansion 

when correspondents stationed across the Nation and throughout the globe are able 

to bring them growing numbers of voices and perspectives. Internationally, NPR 

supports 4 NPR News bureaus and 10 offices. Today, international news comprises 

more than one-third of NPR News. The conflict in Iraq, for example, has kept a 

dozen NPR reporters and producers rotating through Baghdad. 

Public radio station reporters are frequent and regular contributors to NPR programming. Mark Moran, of my own station, KJZZ, reports routinely on events impacting Arizona and America’s southwest. Eric Niiler, of KPBS in San Diego, was 

imbedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and filed very important stories found nowhere 

else on the radio dial. Literally dozens of stories each month, carried nationally, 

originate from local reporters who are on staff at public radio stations. 

Inseparable from public radio’s commitment of service to America’s communities 

is our commitment to the presentation of fair, accurate and comprehensive information. As a former Board Chair for NPR, I know that it is pledged to abide scrupulously by the highest journalistic, editorial and artistic standards and practices 

of broadcast programming. It is committed to providing diverse and balanced viewpoints through the entirety of its programming. As a news organization, NPR recognizes its coverage must withstand the same rigorous probing, testing and questioning it applies to the events it covers. While the following are unique to NPR, 

several of its policy initiatives are worth mentioning and are illustrative of practices 

employed throughout public radio. 

First, NPR is the only broadcast organization in the United States that has an 

ombudsman. Established in February 2000, the role of the NPR Ombudsman is to 

serve as an advocate for NPR listeners; to ensure that the highest standards of journalism are constantly maintained at NPR; to receive, investigate and respond to 

queries regarding editorial standards in programming; and, to serve as an independent source of information, explanation, amplification and analysis for the public 

regarding NPR’s programming and NPR’s adherence to its programming standards 

and practices. The ombudsman is completely independent of NPR staff and management, reports directly to the President and, through the President, to NPR’s Board 

of Directors. 

Secondly, NPR News is guided by a Code of Ethics and Practices as a way of protecting the credibility of its programming by ensuring the highest standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality and conduct of staff. This code, recently updated by 

NPR’s Vice President of News, covers all NPR journalists, defined as employees who 

report (including hosts and newscasters), edit or produce news programming. It also 

covers all senior News managers and applies to all platforms for NPR News content, 

including NPR Online. 

The code articulates the ethical standards NPR observes in the pursuit and presentation of stories; it sets rules and policies to prevent conflicts of interest; it establishes guidelines for outside work and activities that may reflect on NPR; and it establishes policies and procedures to ensure that the activities of NPR that fall outVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
19 

side journalism—corporate underwriting, foundation funding, marketing and promotional activities—do not jeopardize NPR’s journalistic independence or involve 

NPR reporters, editors, hosts or producers in activities inappropriate to their role 

as journalists. 

Thirdly, NPR News adheres to guidelines on commentary that are part of NPR’s 

weekday air. All commentaries airing on NPR must meet certain standards, including: 

• Rigorous fact-checking to ensure accuracy. If a commentary is aired with errors 

of fact, an on-air correction will occur. 

• Pairing commentaries aired on controversial subjects with other points of view 

on that subject in a timely way. NPR lets the listener know this will happen 

and takes steps to ensure that it does. 

• Underscore for listeners why commentators are appropriate to the subjects they 

discuss. 

• Assuring that all in the News management staff, including the Vice President 

for News and Information, share responsibility for commentary content. 

Mr. Chairman, NPR and public radio have long been leaders in establishing 

standards for confronting the ethical issues of the daily practice of journalism. Just 

recently, Al Stavitsky, Associate Dean of Journalism at the University of Oregon, 

and Jeffrey Dvorkin, Ombudsman for National Public Radio, have completed an ethics guide. With financial help from CPB, Messrs. Stavitsky’s and Dvorkin’s work, 

Independence and Integrity II: An Updated Ethics Guide for Public Radio Journalism, has been published. As Mr. Dvorkin describes it, the guide ‘‘. . . deals with 

some of the most important ethical issues that confront public radio journalism on 

a daily basis—questions about how to deal with and evaluate sources, correcting errors, reporting vs. punditry, relations with public radio underwriters and funders. 

. . .’’ 

The publication of this document allows and encourages those of us at the station 

level to further refine the efforts of our local news departments. It reaches us at 

an opportune and important time for public radio and for journalism generally. 

Scandals and embarrassments at some of America’s well-regarded news outlets have 

prompted a new wave of skepticism from the public. While public radio has not been 

part of these episodes, the Updated Ethics Guide is an important tool for all in public radio. 

Public Radio’s Audience 

The audience listening to public radio station programming reflects the distinctive, catalytic partnership that exists between local public radio stations serving 

local audiences across the country and national programming entities like NPR, 

Public Radio International, and other producers of public radio programming. 

Roughly one in ten Americans tunes to an NPR station in a given week and more 

than one in every four college-educated adults listens to NPR stations. This is an 

audience reach that exceeds the combined readership of the Nation’s top 46 newspapers and the respective weekly readership of Newsweek magazine and Time magazine. 

While retaining its deep local roots and focus on balanced, objective and in-depth 

programming, public radio has evolved dramatically in recent years. For example, 

in the past four years, NPR’s audience has grown by more than sixty percent while 

in the last decade its audience has doubled. This growth has occurred in public 

radio while audiences tuning into commercial stations have declined over the same 

period. Public radio stations attract and retain listeners because our programming 

engages them in their daily routines, offers insight and perspective on the events 

that shape communities, states, our Nation and the world. 

Our listeners are politically active and involved in their communities. Almost onethird of listeners classify themselves as very or somewhat conservative; 30 percent 

feel that they are in the middle of the political spectrum; and 29 percent describe 

themselves as very or somewhat liberal. Fully 62 percent of NPR listeners voted in 

local, state and Federal elections, while approximately 94 percent stated that they 

participated in community or political activities in the past year. 

Financial Profile 

The funding profile of public radio stations has changed dramatically in recent 

years. In 2001, local community support grew to 53 percent of a station’s total revenue, up from 38 percent in 1992. Federal financial support, while a vital component of local station operations, stands at only 14 percent of total revenue for an 

average station. This is down from 22 percent in 1992. Over the same time frame, 

total station revenue grew from roughly $310 million in 1992 to approximately $725 

20 

million in 2003. Public radio stations operate today because of the Federal financial 

support your subcommittee and the Congress provide, but also because they have 

won the loyalty, trust and support of listeners, local businesses and foundations 

through programming that is compelling and worthy. 

The challenges confronting public radio today—the necessity of converting an 

aging analog broadcasting infrastructure to a digital system; technical and cost constraints that limit expansion of public radio signals to unserved and underserved 

areas; improving programming service to existing listeners and reaching new audiences; and, decreasing financial support from state and local governments—all place 

significant financial stress on the system. Reaching underserved areas and audiences while improving existing services is now more important than ever, as current 

events demand an informed and engaged public. In this era of commercial media 

consolidation, public radio is unmatched in its ability to deliver in-depth, balanced, 

objective coverage of our cities, country and the world. 

Federal financial support has not kept pace with the growth in listeners, a situation that only adds to local station problems. This imbalance translates into staff 

reductions and reduced hours of local programming. Capital improvements are postponed, news staff growth is delayed and the expansion of initiatives to better serve 

communities simply doesn’t occur. To accomplish their public service mission and 

to improve the quality and expand the quantity of daily programming, America’s 

public radio stations need the continued financial support the Congress provides. As 

you consider reauthorization of CPB, it may be time to bring funding levels in line 

with the growth in audience. 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I recognize the fiscal challenges 

Congress confronts in making funding decisions each fiscal year. I would suggest 

that the partnership existing between Congress, CPB, and public radio and television stations is extraordinarily effective. For every dollar provided to public radio 

stations through CPB grants, the stations raise an additional eight dollars. Everything we do is nurtured, directly or indirectly, by the funding you have provided. 

Viewed another way, Federal support for public radio stations amounts to only 30 

cents per American. 

Public Radio’s Digital Transition 

One of the most important, immediate and far-reaching challenges of public radio 

stations is found in the technology used to reach listeners. Radio, the most ubiquitous, most accessed content delivery medium in the United States remains dependent on an aging analog transmission system. 

But change is on the way. In October 2002, the Federal Communications Commission endorsed a technology for radio stations to use to begin the conversion from 

analog to digital broadcasting. The Commission’s landmark decision has opened a 

transition path that public radio stations must follow. This new technology opens 

the door to expanded service for public radio in a way that is revolutionary in enhancing service to listeners, in improving sound quality, and in creating a means 

of affordable programming expansion. 

In the United States, public radio, through NPR and its member stations, has 

been at the forefront of digital radio development since its inception. WGUC Cincinnati experimented with digital stereo transmissions in 1985. WGBH Boston conducted similar experimental broadcasts in the evening hours in the late 1980s. By 

1987, NPR became the first broadcaster to suggest to the Federal Communications 

Commission the need for system development and future frequency allocations for 

digital radio applications in the United States. 

NPR and public radio stations have become recognized leaders in this important 

technology transformation. Just weeks after the FCC’s 2002 decision, NPR announced the Tomorrow Radio project, with partners in the private sector renowned 

for their expertise in transmission and radio receiver know-how. The principal goal 

of NPR’s Tomorrow Radio effort was to test multichannel or supplemental audio 

technology that could allow public radio stations to broadcast more programming 

and content using their existing spectrum. Quite simply, this means that public 

radio stations can utilize digital broadcast technology to carry two or more streams 

of programming on the same channel, or frequency. 

For public radio stations nationwide, this revolutionary technology will permit the 

broadcast of multiple audio programs for the modest price of a new digital broadcast 

system. Prior to Tomorrow Radio, public radio’s only alternative for program expansion was the acquisition of an entirely new radio frequency, often technically and 

financially not achievable. With budgets already tight, very few public radio stations 

could afford to increase their programming services through new signal acquisitions. 

However, the Tomorrow Radio format will permit a program expansion for just 

a fraction of the cost. It is estimated that the total cost of converting public radio’s 

21 

800 full power stations and 800 translator and repeater stations is $171.7 million, 

with the average station transition cost estimated to be $130,000. In previous testimony before other congressional committees, CPB has communicated that the anticipated Federal share of this transition cost is estimated to be $77.3 million. 

The driving force behind public radio’s digital transition is not just the improved 

audio quality and reduced interference, but the expanded public service and programming opportunities. In addition to supplemental audio channel capability, digital broadcasting will provide on-demand delivery of programming; features that 

allow listeners to interact with stations and to tailor services to their own unique 

needs and interests; expanded weather alerts, continuous traffic reports, emergency 

and Amber alerts; non-English broadcasts; and expanded assisted-living services 

such as reading services for the visually impaired and even digitally captioned 

broadcasts for the hearing impaired. 

The FCC has been very encouraging in exploring the use of expanded services inherent in digital radio. The four public radio stations that formed the test markets 

for NPR’s Tomorrow Radio project were given experimental operating licenses by 

the FCC. Also, Commissioners Abernathy, Martin and Copps each spoke of the benefits consumers will realize from digital radio, including the development of innovative offerings such as multiple audio streams. Digital radio enthusiasts in the public 

radio community have embraced the expectations of Commissioners Abernathy, 

Martin and Copps to fully explore the expansion of service provided by this new 

technology. 

To date, 151 public radio stations have been offered transition assistance from 

CPB and approximately 20 are on the air, including WAMU and WETA in the 

Washington area. CPB has committed some $23.5m to support public radio’s digital 

transition and it recently announced transition grant guidelines for III of the conversion, which is open to all CPB-qualified public radio stations. If station response 

to this grant opportunity is on par with the previous two, I believe more than 250 

public radio stations will be well down the road to digital broadcasting by the end 

of calendar year 2004. 

The FCC released a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on April 15, with 

comments due June 15 and reply comments July 15. There was overwhelming support by public (and commercial radio stations too) for multicasting specifically, and 

for digital radio generally. We remain hopeful that sometime in the fourth quarter 

of this year, the Commission will issue an additional report and order that permits 

multicasting. 

Public Radio’s Satellite System 

In addition to its role as a content provider, NPR manages and sets policy for the 

public radio satellite system, which encourages and facilitates the exchange of programs from all over the world. The system is open to all public telecommunications 

users, including NPR’s member stations, freelancers, reporters, producers, and program syndicators. Each year, thousands of hours of news, music, and specialized audience programming are distributed to public radio stations throughout the United 

States via the Public Radio Satellite System® (PRSS). The PRSS is operated and 

managed by the Distribution Division of National Public Radio®, Inc. (NPR). 

Originally built in 1979 with funds provided by Congress through CPB, the PRSS 

currently is undergoing its most significant upgrade since its initial construction. 

This upgrade will take advantage of technological innovations to streamline how 

public radio stations and producers select, send, acquire, and automate programming. 

Structure: The PRSS is a distinctive, cooperative enterprise. Interconnected stations own their own downlink and uplink equipment. The Public Radio Satellite 

Interconnection System Charitable Trust owns the satellite transponder capacity, as 

well as the national operating system equipment located in Washington, D.C. Today, 

the PRSS includes more than 400 downlinks. Many additional stations also receive 

programming sent over the satellite through local connections with downlink stations. The System Technical Center (STC) is located at NPR headquarters in Washington, DC. 

Finances: The PRSS is entirely self-sufficient in covering its annual operating 

costs. The interconnected public radio stations and program providers support the 

satellite system through the payment of fees that reflect their share of the annual 

costs of operating and managing the PRSS. In addition, excess transponder capacity 

is sold to non-public radio users to help offset the costs of operating the system. 

Major infrastructure costs for the PRSS are met by periodic Federal appropriations, 

administered through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Access: The PRSS is open to all public telecommunications entities, including 

independent producers; program syndicators and distributors; national, state, and 

22 

local organizations; and public radio stations. Stations who receive programming 

distributed by the PRSS range from those located in remote villages in northern 

Alaska and on Indian reservations in the Southwest, to major market stations such 

as WNYC in New York and KUSC in Los Angeles. Programs distributed over the 

Public Radio Satellite System come from NPR, Public Radio International (PRI), 

Minnesota Public Radio and more than 200 other radio producers and organizations. 

Formats include news, public affairs, drama, documentaries, classical music, jazz, 

and many others. 

In-Kind Services: An important mission of the PRSS is to facilitate the cost-effective and efficient distribution of high-quality, educational programming to this country’s increasingly diverse population. As part of that mission, the PRSS provides satellite transmission services to distribute programming that targets unserved or underserved audiences, from sources who meet certain criteria established by the NPR 

Board, including demonstrated financial need. At the present time, the PRSS extends in-kind support to American Indian Radio on Satellite (AlROS), a program 

service based in Lincoln, Nebraska, that targets Native American listeners, and to 

Satellite Radio Bilingue, a Spanish language program service managed by Radio 

Bilingue in Fresno, California. 

Training & Outreach: The Distribution/Interconnection Technology Training Initiative was created in 2001 to address the growing need for more awareness and 

knowledge in the public radio community about new technologies-particularly technologies related to program and content distribution. In addition to providing training, the Initiative is working to expand the diversity of talent in public radio by promoting technical careers in the industry to young people, minorities, and others 

through outreach and education efforts. 

Governance: The NPR Board of Directors governs the PRSS. The Distribution/ 

Interconnection Committee (D/I Committee) of the NPR Board is charged with proposing rates and policy to the Board and overseeing the operation and management 

of the Public Radio Satellite System. The composition of the D/I Committee is 

unique, consisting of both Board and non-Board members. The non-Board members 

represent the interests of non-NPR users of the distribution system, including independent producers, other program distributors, non-member stations, and other organizations and entities in public radio. The presence of non-Board members on the 

Committee reflects NPR’s role as manager of an interconnection system that serves 

all public telecommunications entities needing distribution services. The non-Board 

members of the D/I Committee are elected by the NPR Board and confirmed by the 

interconnected stations. 

ContentDepot®: Public radio’s new program distribution system, the 

‘‘ContentDepot,’’ will continue to incorporate satellite distribution, as this technology 

continues to provide the most cost-effective and reliable means of delivering high 

quality audio programming to a diverse national network of radio stations. But the 

new system will also introduce use of the Internet, web-based interfaces, and enhanced station automation control to increase flexibility in the ways stations receive 

and store programs and other information from the PRSS. 

NPR Distribution began laying the foundation for the ContentDepot in 2001 by 

managing a major overhaul of station downlink equipment. This project outfitted 

interconnected stations across the U.S. with equipment that enables them to better 

access satellite backup capacity in the event public radio’s satellite capacity fails, 

is attacked, or otherwise becomes unavailable. Because of its broad scope, the realization of the full ContentDepot vision will take several years and ultimately will 

have a significant impact on radio station operations and program distribution practices. 

Conclusion 

Public radio’s long-standing commitment to serving America’s communities with 

deep, engaged, long-form radio journalism sets it apart from all other broadcasters. 

Listeners have come to rely on public radio during the most intense news periods 

in our Nation’s history. We have set the bar of public expectations exceedingly high 

because we’re capable of providing service that isn’t found anywhere else. We respect the public in ways that have been long forgotten in American broadcasting. 

Our relationship with listeners is not transactional. It is a relationship of values. 

Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee, thanks for this opportunity to 

support the reauthorization of CPB and to provide a summary of public radio in 

America today. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Welcome, Mr. Burns. 

23 

STATEMENT OF KEN BURNS, FILMAKER, FLORENTINE FILMS, 

ON BEHALF OF PBS 

Mr. BURNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. 

It is an honor for me to appear before you today on behalf of CPB 

and PBS, and I’m grateful that you have given me this opportunity 

to express my thoughts. 

Let me say, from the outset, as a film producer and as a father 

of two almost-grown daughters increasingly concerned about the 

sometimes dangerous landscape of our television environment, that 

I am a passionate lifelong supporter of public television and its 

unique role in helping to stitch our exquisite, diverse, and often 

fragile culture together. Few institutions provide such a direct, 

grassroots way for our citizens to participate in the shared glories 

of their common past, in the power of the priceless ideals that have 

animated our remarkable republic and our national life for more 

than 200 years, and in the inspirational life of the mind and the 

heart that an engagement with the arts and the humanities always 

provides. It is my wholehearted belief that anything that threatens 

this institution weakens our country. It’s as simple as that. 

For more than 25 years, I have been producing historical documentary films celebrating the special messages American history 

continually directs our way. The subjects of these films range from 

the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty 

to the life of the turbulent demagogue, Huey Long, from the graceful architecture of the Shakers to the early founders of radio, from 

the sublime pleasures and unexpected lessons of our national pastime in jazz to the searing transcended experience of our Civil War, 

from Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark to Frank Lloyd 

Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mark Twain. I even made a 

film on the history of this magnificent Capitol building and the 

much-maligned institution that is charged with conducting the people’s business. 

In every instance, I consciously produce these films for national 

public television broadcast, not the commercial networks or cable. 

As an educational filmmaker, I am grateful to play even a small 

part in an underfunded broadcasting entity with one foot tenuously 

in the marketplace and the other decidedly and proudly out, which, 

among dozens of fabulously wealthy networks, just happens to 

produce, on shoestring budgets, the best news and public- affairs 

programming on television, the best science and nature programming, the best arts, the best children’s shows, and, some say, the 

best history. 

Some critics say that PBS is no longer needed in this multichannel universe, that our government has no business in television or the arts and humanities, that we must let the marketplace alone determine everything in our cultural life, that a few 

controversial programs prove the political bias of the public television community. I feel strongly that I must address those assertions. 

First, let me share with you a few facts that might surprise you. 

As a result of media consolidation, public stations are frequently 

the last and only locally owned media operations in their markets. 

Despite the exponential growth of television options, 84 million 

24 

people a week watch PBS, more than any cable outlet. It is the 

number one choice of video curriculum in the classroom, and its 

nonviolent, non-commercial children’s programs are the numberone choice of parents. Indeed, as commercial television continues in 

its race to the bottom for ratings, PBS has earned the Nation’s 

trust to deliver programs that both entertain and educate, and that 

do so in a manner that the public consistently rates as balanced 

and objective. 

But, above and beyond these facts, there is a larger argument to 

be made, one that is rooted in our Nation’s history. Since the beginning of this country, our government has been involved in supporting the arts and the diffusion of knowledge, which was deemed 

as critical to our future as roads and dams and bridges. Early on, 

Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers knew that the 

pursuit of happiness did not mean a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure 

in the marketplace of things, but an active involvement of the mind 

in the higher aspects of human endeavor, a marketplace of ideas. 

Congress supported the journey of Lewis and Clark as much to 

explore the natural, biological, ethnographic, and cultural landscape of our expanding nation as to open up a new trading route 

to the Pacific. Congress supported numerous geographical, artistic, 

photographic, and biological expeditions to nearly every corner of 

the developing West. Congress funded, through the Farm Securities 

Administration, the work of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, 

and other great photographers, who captured for posterity the terrible human cost of the Great Depression. 

At the same time, Congress funded some of the most enduring 

writing ever produced about this country’s people, its monuments, 

buildings, and back roads in the still much-used and admired WPA 

guides. Some of our greatest symphonic work, our most treasured 

dramatic plays, and early documentary film classics came from an 

earlier Congress’s support. With Congress’s great insight, PBS was 

born and grew to its startlingly effective maturity, echoing the 

same time-honored sense that our government has an interest in 

helping to sponsor communications, art, and education, just as it 

sponsors commerce. 

We are not talking about a 100 percent sponsorship, a free ride, 

but a priming of the pump, a way to get the juices flowing in the 

spirit of President Reagan’s notion of a partnership between government and the private sector. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Grant I got for the Civil War series attracted even more 

funds from General Motors and several private foundations, money 

that would not have been there had not CPB blessed this project 

with their rigorously earned imprimatur. 

However, some continue to believe that public television is a hotbed of thinking outside the mainstream. I wonder, though, have 

they ever been to a PBS station? I doubt it. PBS is the largest 

media enterprise in the world, reaching into the most remote corners of every state in the union, and enriching the lives of people 

of all backgrounds. It is also the largest educational institution in 

the country because of national and local services that help build 

school readiness, provide distance learning, GED prep, and essential workplace skills. Local public television stations are essentially 

conservative institutions filled with people who share the concerns 

25 

of most Americans and who reflect the values of their own communities. 

Mr. Chairman, I know many people who criticize us as being too 

conservative, too middle-of-the-road, too safe. And in a free society, 

the rare examples of controversy that may run counter to our accepted canon, or one group’s accepted canon, ought to be seen as 

a healthy sign that we are a nation tolerant of ideas, confident, as 

the recent tide of geopolitical history has shown, that the best ideas 

will always prevail. Unfortunately, too often today we have become 

so dialectically preoccupied, stressing our differences—black/white, 

left/right, young/old, in/out, good/bad—that we have forgotten to select for the mitigating wisdom that reconciles these disparities into 

honest difference and collegiality, into a sense of belonging. And we 

long—indeed, ache—for institutions that suggest how we might all 

be bound back to the whole. PBS is one such institution. 

But there are still those who are sure that, without public television, the so-called marketplace would take care of everything, 

that what won’t survive in the marketplace doesn’t deserve to survive. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Now, some forms of our creativity thrive in the marketplace, and 

that is a wonderful thing, reflected in our Hollywood movies and 

in our universally popular music. But let me say that the marketplace could not have made—and, to this day, could not make—my 

Civil War series; indeed, any of the films I have worked on. That 

series was shown on public television outside the marketplace, 

without commercial interruption, by far the single most important 

factor for our ensuring PBS continuing existence and for understanding the Civil War series’ overwhelming success. 

All real meaning in our world accrues in duration. That is to say, 

that which we value most—our families, our work, the things we 

build, our art—has the stamp of our focused attention. Without 

that attention, we do not learn, we do not remember, we do not 

care, we are not responsible citizens. 

Most of the rest of the television environment has ignored this 

critical truth. For several generations how, TV has disrupted our 

attention every 8 minutes or less to sell us five or six or more different things, then sent us back, our ability to digest all the impressions compromised in the extreme. 

The programming on PBS, in all its splendid variety, offers the 

rarest treat amidst the outrageous cacophony our of our television 

marketplace. It gives us back our attention and our memory; and, 

by so doing, paradoxically ensures that we have a future. 

The marketplace will not—indeed, cannot—produce the good 

works of PBS, just as the marketplace does not come to your house 

at 3 a.m. when it is on fire, or patrols the dangerous ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. No, the marketplace does not and will not pay 

for our fire departments or, more important, our Defense Department, things essential to the safety, defense, and well-being of our 

country. It takes government involvement, eleemosynary institutions, individual altruism, extra-marketplace effort to get these 

things made and done. 

I also know, Mr. Chairman, that PBS has nothing to do with the 

actual defense of our country. I know that. PBS, I believe with 

26 

every fiber of my being, just helps make our country worth defending. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Burns follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KEN BURNS, FILMAKER, FLORENTINE FILMS, 

ON BEHALF OF PBS 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: It is an honor for me to appear 

before you today on behalf of PBS. I am grateful that you have given me this opportunity to express my thoughts. Let me say from the outset—as a film producer and 

as a father of two daughters increasingly concerned about the sometimes dangerous 

landscape of our television environment—that I am a passionate life-long supporter 

of public television and its unique role in helping to stitch our exquisite, diverse, 

and often fragile culture together. 

Few institutions provide such a direct, grassroots way for our citizens to participate in the shared glories of their common past, in the power of the priceless ideals 

that have animated our remarkable republic and our national life for more than two 

hundred years, and in the inspirational life of the mind and the heart that an engagement with the arts always provides. It is my wholehearted belief that anything 

that threatens this institution weakens our country. It is as simple as that. 

For more than 25 years I have been producing historical documentary films, celebrating the special messages American history continually directs our way. The subjects of these films range from the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty to the life of the turbulent demagogue Huey Long; from the graceful 

architecture of the Shakers to the early founders of radio; from the sublime pleasures and unexpected lessons of our national pastime and Jazz to the searing transcendent experience of our Civil War; from Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark 

to Frank Lloyd Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mark Twain. I even made a 

film on the history of this magnificent Capitol building and the much maligned institution that is charged with conducting the people’s business. 

In every instance, I consciously produced these films for national public television 

broadcast, not the commercial networks or cable. 

As an educational filmmaker, I am grateful to play even a small part in an underfunded broadcasting entity with one foot tenuously in the marketplace and the other 

decidedly and proudly out, which, among dozens of fabulously wealthy networks, 

just happens to produce—on shoestring budgets—the best news and public affairs 

programming on television, the best science and nature programming on television, 

the best arts on television, the best children’s shows on television, and, some say, 

the best history on television. 

When I was working more than 15 years ago on my film about the Statue of Liberty, its history and powerful symbolism, I had the great good fortune to meet and 

interview Vartan Gregorian, who was then the president of the New York Public 

Library. After an extremely interesting and passionate interview on the meaning behind the statue for an immigrant like him—from Tabriz, Iran—Vartan took me on 

a long and fascinating tour of the miles of stacks of the Library. Finally, after galloping down one claustrophobic corridor after another, he stopped and gestured expansively. ‘‘This,’’ he said, surveying his library from its guts, ‘‘this is the DNA of 

our civilization.’’ 

I think he was saying that that library, indeed, all libraries, archives, and historical societies are the DNA of our society, leaving an imprint of excellence and intention for generations to come. It occurs to me this morning, as we consider the rich 

history of service and education of PBS, that we must certainly include this great 

institution in that list of the DNA of our civilization. That public television is part 

of the great genetic legacy of our Nation. And that cannot, should not, be denied 

us or our posterity. 

PBS has consistently provided, with its modest resources, and over more than 

three tumultuous decades, quite simply an antidote to the vast wasteland of television programming Newton Minnow so accurately described. We do things differently. We are hardly a ‘‘disappearing niche,’’ as some suggest, but a vibrant, galvanic force capable of sustaining this experiment well into our uncertain future. 

Some critics say that PBS is no longer needed in this multi-channel universe, that 

our government has no business in television or the arts and humanities, that we 

must let the marketplace alone determine everything in our cultural life, that a few 

controversial programs prove the political bias of the public television community. 

I feel strongly that I must address those assertions. 

27 

First let me share a few facts that might surprise you: As a result of media consolidation, public stations are frequently the last and only locally owned media operations in their markets. Despite the exponential growth of television options, 84 million people a week watch PBS –more than any cable outlet. It is the number one 

choice of video curriculum in the classroom and its non-violent, non-commercial children’s programs are the number one choice of parents. Indeed, as commercial television continues in its race to the bottom for ratings, PBS has earned the Nation’s 

trust to deliver programs that both entertain and educate and that do so in a manner that the public consistently rates as balanced and objective. 

But above and beyond these facts that demonstrate the ways in which PBS is 

more important than ever in helping to address the public’s needs today, there is 

a larger argument to be made—one that is rooted in our Nation’s history. Since the 

beginning of this country, our government has been involved in supporting the arts 

and the diffusion of knowledge, which was deemed as critical to our future as roads 

and dams and bridges. Early on, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers 

knew that the pursuit of happiness did not mean a hedonistic search for pleasure 

in the marketplace of things, but an active involvement of the mind in the higher 

aspects of human endeavor—namely education, music, the arts, and history—a marketplace of ideas. Congress supported the journey of Lewis and Clark as much to 

explore the natural, biological, ethnographic, and cultural landscape of our expanding nation as to open up a new trading route to the Pacific. Congress supported numerous geographical, artistic, photographic, and biological expeditions to nearly 

every corner of the developing West. Congress funded, through the Farm Securities 

Administration, the work of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange and other great 

photographers who captured for posterity the terrible human cost of the Depression. 

At the same time, Congress funded some of the most enduring writing ever produced about this country’s people, its monuments, buildings, and back roads in the 

still much used and admired WPA guides. Some of our greatest symphonic work, 

our most treasured dramatic plays, and early documentary film classics came from 

an earlier Congress’ support. 

With Congress’ great insight PBS was born and grew to its startlingly effective 

maturity echoing the same time-honored sense that our Government has an interest 

in helping to sponsor Communication, Art and Education just as it sponsors Commerce. We are not talking about a 100 percent sponsorship, a free ride, but a 

priming of the pump, a way to get the juices flowing, in the spirit of President Reagan’s notion of a partnership between the government and the private sector. The 

Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant I got for the Civil War series attracted 

even more funds from General Motors and several private foundations; money that 

would not have been there had not the Corporation for Public Broadcasting blessed 

this project with their rigorously earned imprimatur. 

But there are those who are sure that without public television, the so-called 

‘‘marketplace’’ would take care of everything; that what won’t survive in the marketplace, doesn’t deserve to survive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because 

we are not just talking about the commerce of a nation. We are not just economic 

beings, but spiritual and intellectual beings as well, and so we are talking about 

the creativity of a nation. Now, some forms of creativity thrive in the marketplace 

and that is a wonderful thing, reflected in our Hollywood movies and our universally 

popular music. But let me say that the marketplace could not have made and to 

this day could not make my Civil War series, indeed any of the films I have worked 

on. 

That series was shown on public television, outside the marketplace, without commercial interruption, by far the single most important factor for our insuring PBS’s 

continuing existence and for understanding the Civil War series’ overwhelming success. All real meaning in our world accrues in duration; that is to say, that which 

we value the most—our families, our work, the things we build, our art—has the 

stamp of our focused attention. Without that attention, we do not learn, we do not 

remember, we do not care. We are not responsible citizens. Most of the rest of the 

television environment has ignored this critical truth. For several generations now, 

TV has disrupted our attention every eight minutes (or less) to sell us five or six 

different things, then sent us back, our ability to digest all the impressions compromised in the extreme. The programming on PBS in all its splendid variety, offers 

the rarest treat amidst the outrageous cacophony of our television marketplace—it 

gives us back our attention and our memory. And by so doing, insures that we have 

a future. 

The marketplace will not, indeed cannot, produce the good works of PBS. Just as 

the marketplace does not come to your house at 3:00am when it is on fire or patrols 

the dangerous ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. No, the marketplace does not and 

will not pay for our fire departments or more important our Defense Department, 

28 

things essential to the safety, defense and well-being of our country. It takes government involvement, eleemosynary institutions, individual altruism, extra-marketplace 

effort to get these things made and done. I also know, Mr. Chairman, that PBS has 

nothing to do with the actual defense of our country, I know that—PBS, I believe 

with every fiber of my being, just helps make our country worth defending. 

The meat and potatoes of public television reaches out to every corner of the country and touches people in positive ways the Federal Government rarely does. Recent 

research suggests that PBS is the most trusted national institution in the United 

States. Indeed, it would be elitist itself to abolish public television, to trust to the 

marketplace and the ‘‘natural aristocracy’’ that many have promised over the last 

two hundred years would rise up to protect us all—and hasn’t. Those who labor in 

public television are not unlike those in public service who sacrifice job security, 

commensurate pay, and who are often misunderstood by a media culture infatuated 

by their seemingly more glamorous colleagues. 

With regard to my own films, I have been quite lucky. The Civil War series was 

public television’s highest rated program and has been described as one of the best 

programs in the history of the medium. But that show, indeed all of my films produced over the last quarter of a century, are only a small part, a tiny fraction, of 

the legacy of PBS. If public television’s mission is severely hampered or curtailed, 

I suppose I will find work, but not the kind that ensures good television or speaks 

to the overarching theme of all my films—that which we Americans all hold in common. But more to the point, where will the next generation of filmmakers be 

trained? By the difficult rigorous proposal process of CPB and PBS or by the 

‘‘gotcha,’’ hit and run standards of our commercial brethren? I hope it will be the 

former. 

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich spoke eloquently and often of an American people poised for the twenty-first century, endowed with a shared heritage of sacrifice and honor and the highest ideals mankind 

has yet advanced, but also armed with new technologies that would enable us to 

go forward as one people. I say to all who would listen that we have in public television exactly what he envisions. 

Unfortunately, some continue to believe that public television is a hotbed of thinking outside the mainstream. I wonder, though, have they ever been to a PBS station? I doubt it. PBS is the largest media enterprise in the world, reaching into the 

most remote corners of every state in the Union and enriching the lives of people 

of all backgrounds. It is also the largest educational institution in the country—because of national and local services that help build school readiness, support schools, 

provide distance learning, GED prep and essential workplace skills. Local public television stations are essentially conservative institutions, filled with people who 

share the concerns of most Americans and who reflect the values of their own communities. And Mr. Chairman, I know many people who criticize us as too conservative, too middle of the road, too safe. 

And in a free society, the rare examples of controversy that may run counter to 

our accepted cannon, or one group’s accepted cannon ought to be seen as a healthy 

sign that we are a nation tolerant of ideas, confident—as the recent tide of geo-political history has shown—that the best ideas will always prevail. 

One hundred and sixty-six years ago, in 1838, well before the Civil War, Abraham 

Lincoln challenged us to consider the real threat to the country, to consider forever 

the real cost of our inattention: ‘‘Whence shall we expect the approach of danger?’’ 

he wrote. ‘‘Shall some transatlantic giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? 

Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia could not by force take a drink from the 

Ohio River or make a track in the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, 

if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.’’ As usual, 

Mr. Lincoln speaks to us today with the same force he spoke to his own times. 

The real threat always and still comes from within this favored land, that the 

greatest enemy is, as our religious teachings constantly remind us, always ourselves. Today, we have become so dialectically preoccupied, stressing our differences; 

black/white, left/right, young/old, in/out, good/bad, that we have forgotten to select 

for the mitigating wisdom that reconciles these disparities into honest difference 

and collegiality, into a sense of belonging. And we long, indeed ache, for institutions 

that suggest how we might all be bound back to the whole. PBS is one such institution. 

The clear answer is tolerance, a discipline sustained in nearly every gesture and 

breath of the public television I know. We are a nation that loses its way only when 

we define ourselves by what we are against not what we are for. PBS is that rare 

forum where more often than not we celebrate what we are for; celebrate, why, 

against all odds, we Americans still agree to cohere. 

29 

On the other hand, we in public television must not take ourselves too seriously. 

Sometimes our greatest strength, our earnestness and seriousness, has metastasized 

into our greatest weakness. Usually a faithful and true companion, that earnestness 

and seriousness is sometimes worked to death. And Lord, how we sometimes like 

to see our mission as the cure. I remember once, after giving an impassioned defense of what we do at PBS, a man came up to me and said simply, ‘‘It’s not brain 

surgery, you know.’’ He was right, of course, but sometimes we do effect subtler 

changes; help in quotidian ways. 

Not too long ago, on a perfect spring day, I was walking with my oldest daughter 

through a park in a large American city on the way to her college interview. We 

were taking our time, enjoying the first warm day of the year, when a man of about 

thirty, dressed in a three piece suit, approached me. 

‘‘You’re Ken Burns.’’ he asked. 

I nodded. 

‘‘I need to talk to you about Baseball,’’ he said under his breath. 

‘‘Okay.’’ I hesitated. 

Then, he blurted out: ‘‘My brother’s daughter died.’’ I took a step backward, stepping in front of my daughter to protect her. 

‘‘Okay,’’ I said tentatively. I didn’t know what else to say. 

‘‘SIDS.’’ he said. ‘‘Crib death. She was only one.’’ 

‘‘I’m so sorry,’’ I said. ‘‘I have daughters.’’ 

‘‘I didn’t know what to do,’’ he said in a halting, utterly sad voice. ‘‘My brother 

and I are very close. Then I thought of your film. I went home to our mother’s 

house, got our baseball mitts, and went to my brother’s. I didn’t say a word. I handed him his mitt and we went out into the backyard and we played catch wordlessly 

for an hour. Then I went home. . . . I just wanted to thank you.’’ 

Maybe it is brain surgery. 

Mr. Chairman, most of us here, whether we know it or not, are in the business 

of words. And we hope with some reasonable expectations that those words will last. 

But alas, especially today, those words often evaporate, their precision blunted by 

neglect, their insight diminished by the shear volume of their ever increasing brethren, their force diluted by ancient animosities that seem to set each group against 

the other. 

The historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. has said that we suffer today from ‘‘too 

much pluribus, not enough unum.’’ Few things survive in these cynical days to remind us of the Union from which so many of our personal as well as collective blessings flow. And it is hard not to wonder, in an age when the present moment overshadows all else—our bright past and our unknown future—what finally does endure? What encodes and stores that genetic material of our civilization, passing 

down to the next generation—the best of us—what we hope will mutate into 

betterness for our children and our posterity. 

PBS holds one clear answer. It is the best thing we have in our television environment that reminds us why we agree to cohere as a people. And that is a fundamentally good thing. 

Nothing in our daily life offers more of the comfort of continuity, the generational 

connection of belonging to a vast and complicated American family, the powerful 

sense of home, and the great gift of accumulated memory than does this great system which honors me by counting me a member one of its own. 

The CHAIRMAN. Very well said, Mr. Burns. 

Ms. Taylor, welcome. 

STATEMENT OF LORIS ANN TAYLOR, GENERAL MANAGER, 

KUYI HOPI RADIO 

Ms. TAYLOR. Chairman McCain and Members of the Committee, 

greetings from Hopi, and thank you for this opportunity. 

Today, I would like to focus on the Native American public radio 

system, which consists of 32 radio stations located throughout Indian country in nine states, reaching more than 500,000 listeners. 

Native Public Radio is supported by the work of the American Indian Radio on Satellite, a program distribution operation based in 

Lincoln, Nebraska, and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, a major 

national production center with offices in Anchorage, Alaska, and 

Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

30 

My perspective is based on my experience and responsibilities as 

General Manager for KUYI, an FM station located on the Hopi 

Reservation in Northern Arizona. My station has been on-air for 4 

years. 

As sole service providers, Native stations offer some of the best 

examples of the powerful benefits that accrue to communities because of strong public broadcasting outlets with deep local roots 

and strong commitments to local service. The Indian Country News 

Bureau, a partnership between Northern Arizona University’s public radio station, KNAU, and KUYI, was established in response to 

a desire in both communities to have better local news coverage. 

And it works, because both partners agree there is an important 

need to introduce Native American issues onto the mainstream National Public Radio communications highway. As a result, stories 

like the Hopi people’s vote against gaming cannot only be heard on 

KUYI, but on Arizona Public Radio and NPR, as well. 

Native stations play a significant role in keeping Native languages alive, and, in some cases, have led to a resurgence in Native-language use. On my reservation, the loss of the Hopi language is more than 90 percent in some villages. This fact makes 

our Hopi language programs extremely important. 

Native stations provide important educational and health programming. KUYI Housecalls, a weekly program, connects the radio 

station with the work of the Hopi Healthcare Center by providing 

critical information on diabetes, alcohol and substance abuse, and 

heart disease. 

Whether broadcasting from remote Native communities in Bethel 

and Barrow, Alaska, the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation, or Navajo 

lands in New Mexico, the overarching role of Native Public Radio 

is to serve as an important voice and leader within Native communities. 

CPB provides much of the funding that makes Native Public 

Radio possible, and these investments are producing important returns. Native America Calling, a daily live call-in program about 

relevant and current issues, connects tribes electronically. AIROS 

distributes programming 24 hours-a-day, allowing stations to extend their broadcast days while making the most of very limited 

staff resources. 

CPB’s support of core Native radio programming has been critical to its development and survival. On average, CPB provides 

nearly one-third of overall annual revenues for Native stations. 

In spite of its many successes, there is no question that Native 

radio operates in very difficult environments and continues to face 

enormous challenges. The circumstances, resources, and history of 

the Native radio system are very different from mainstream public 

radio and its model of listener-based contributions and financial 

support. Financial constraints, tribal dynamics, widely scattered 

Native populations, and poor tribal economies with high unemployment are all significant limiting factors. 

One of the most promising changes on the horizon of Native 

radio is the proposed establishment of the Center for Native American Public Radio. With an initial investment from CPB, the center 

will serve as a critical role in identifying and developing specific 

strategies to bring new resources into the Native public radio sysVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
31 

tem. It will also provide leadership and efficiency, and make centralized services available in engineering and financial management to help stations enhance their operations. The center will be 

established within the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, an organization dedicated to serving community stations 

for over 29 years. 

The CPB provides vital assistance, and its continued support of 

the Native public radio system is critical. Congress can help by providing continued funding for CPB and by supporting CPB’s key priorities for Native Public Radio’s long-term sustainability. 

I thank the leadership of CPB, and in particular President and 

CEO Kathleen Cox and Senior Vice President Vincent Curren for 

making it a priority to take a firsthand look at the state of the Native American public radio system and for working hard to improve 

that system. On behalf of the Native American public radio system, 

Chairman McCain and Members of this Committee, thank you for 

the years of support and the wise guidance you have given to public broadcasting. 

I ask that this Committee reauthorize the Corporation for Public 

Broadcasting and continue to support the good work that it does. 

Thank you. Asquali. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Vicente-Taylor follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF LORIS ANN TAYLOR, GENERAL MANAGER, 

KUYI HOPI RADIO

Introduction 

Chairman McCain and members of the Committee, thank you for this opportunity 

to offer testimony in support of the reauthorization of the Corporation for Public 

Broadcasting. Today, I would like to focus on the Native American Public Radio system which consists of 32 radio stations located throughout Indian Country in nine 

states reaching more than 500,000 listeners. Native Public Radio is supported by 

the work of the American Indian 

Radio on Satellite—a program distribution operation based in Lincoln, Nebraska, 

and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation -a major national production center with offices 

in Anchorage, Alaska and Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

My perspective is based on my experience and responsibilities as general manager 

for KUYI, an FM station located on the Hopi Reservation in Northern Arizona. My 

station has been on-air for four years. 

The Role of Radio in Indian Country 

As sole service providers, Native stations offer some of the best examples of the 

powerful benefits that accrue to communities because of strong public broadcasting 

outlets with deep local roots and strong commitments to local service. 

The Indian Country News Bureau—a partnership between Northern Arizona University’s public radio station KNAU and KUYI—was established in response to a 

desire in both communities to have better local news coverage; and it works because 

both partners agree there is an important need to introduce Native American issues 

onto the mainstream National Public Radio communications highway. As a result, 

stories like the Hopi people’s vote against gaming can be heard not only on KUYI 

but on Arizona Public Radio and NPR as well. 

Native stations play a significant role in keeping native languages alive and, in 

some cases, have led to resurgence in native language use. On my Reservation, the 

loss of the Hopi language is more than 90 percent in some villages. This fact makes 

our Hopi language programs extremely important. 

Native stations provide important educational and health programming. KUYI 

House Calls, a weekly program, connects the radio station with the work of the Hopi 

Health Care Center by providing critical information on diabetes, alcohol and substance abuse, and heart disease. KUYI in partnership with the Hopi Junior-Senior 

High School established the first Radio Class with the two-fold mission of building 

succession for the radio station and to open career opportunities for local students 

in the field of communications. 

32 

Whether broadcasting from remote Native communities in Bethel and Barrow 

Alaska, the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation, or Navajo lands in New Mexico, the overarching role of Native Public Radio is to serve as an important voice and leader 

within native communities. 

Funding Indian Country Radio 

CPB provides much of the funding that makes Native Public Radio possible and 

these investments are producing important returns. Native America Calling, a daily 

live call-in program about relevant and current issues, connects tribes electronically. 

AIROS distributes programming twenty-four hours a day, allowing stations to extend their broadcast days while making the most of very limited staff resources. 

CPB’s support of core Native Radio programming has been critical to its development and survival. On average, CPB provides nearly one-third of overall annual 

revenues for Native stations. 

In spite of its many successes, there is no question that Native Radio operates 

in very difficult environments and continues to face enormous challenges. The circumstances, resources and history of the Native Radio System are very different 

than ‘‘mainstream’’ public radio and its model of listener-based contributions and financial support. Financial constraints, tribal dynamics, widely scattered Native populations, and poor tribal economies with high unemployment, are all significant limiting factors. 

The Center for Native American Public Radio 

One of the most promising changes on the horizon of Native Radio is the proposed 

establishment of the Center for Native American Public Radio. With an initial investment from CPB, the Center will serve a critical role in identifying and developing specific strategies to bring new revenue resources into the Native Public Radio 

System. It will also provide leadership and efficiency; and make centralized services 

available in engineering and financial management to help stations enhance their 

operations. The Center will be established within the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), an organization dedicated to serving community stations for over 29 years. 

Conclusion 

The CPB provides vital assistance and its continued support of the Native Public 

Radio System is critical. Congress can help by providing continued funding for CPB 

and by supporting CPB’s key priorities for Native public radio’s long-term sustainability. 

I thank the leadership of CPB and in particular, President and CEO Kathleen 

Cox and Senior Vice President Vincent Curren for making it a priority to take a 

first-hand look at the State of the Native American Public Radio System and for 

working hard to improve the system. On behalf of the Native American Public Radio 

System, Chairman McCain, and members of this Committee, thank-you for the 

years of support and wise guidance you have given to public broadcasting. I ask that 

this Committee reauthorize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and continue to 

support the good work that it does. 

Chairman McCain, I would also like to submit a couple documents for the record 

as part of my testimony. 

July 12, 2004 

Chairman McCain and Members of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

Committee: 

I am writing today to share with you some of the accomplishments of Koahnic 

Broadcast Corporation, the Native media center headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, and to let you know how instrumental funding and support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been in making these accomplishments possible. 

Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (KBC), established in 1992, is the leading producer of nationally distributed Native American programming for public radio. From 

the Badlands of the Dakotas to the streets of New York, and from the Bering Sea 

to the LA freeways, KBC’s technically and editorially high-quality programs are 

adding to the diversity of viewpoints available to the American general public as 

well as within and between Native communities. 

In Alaska, where according to recent U.S. Census figures nearly 20 percent of the 

statewide population is Native, KBC has established KNBA 90.3 FM, the Nation’s 

first Native public radio station in an urban area. KNBA’s progressive music format 

is infused with the music of contemporary Native artists, and its morning, mid-day 

33 

and afternoon broadcasts feature local Native news, interviews with local Native 

leaders and community members, community reports and public service announcements. 

Without CPB funding, radio stations serving diverse audiences in the way that 

KNBA does would literally be unable to exist. CPB funding has made it possible 

for KNBA to pioneer and refine its unique mix of progressive music and award-winning Native programs by supporting both local production and the acquisition of national programming. With CPB providing basic annual support, KNBA is able to incorporate elements like news from National Public Radio and the Alaska Public 

Radio Network, and programs from American Indian Radio on Satellite in order to 

broaden the listenership of the station while maintaining its unique and important 

focus on original Native programming for local, regional and national audiences. 

Our yearly station grant from CPB funding supports our efforts to build a sustainable financial base for KNBA over time. KNBA membership dollars consistently 

grow with each membership drive, and CPB support helps KNBA leverage funding 

from foundation funders and state arts and humanities agencies, as well as business 

underwriting for cultural and news programming on KNBA. 

The mission of KBC is to be the leader in bringing Native voices to the region 

and the nation, and in accordance with this mission, KBC not only operates KNBA 

90.3 FM, but produces three national Native American radio programs: Native 

America Calling (NAC), National Native News (NNN), and the weekly program of 

Native music and culture, Earthsongs. These three programs reach national audiences through radio stations nationwide, including almost every Native station. In 

addition, they are available on the Internet for listeners worldwide to listen in and 

participate in discussions. 

Native America Calling, is a daily live talk program that links Native radio stations and their listeners together in a national discourse. Through NAC, members 

of rural and reservation Native communities and Native people listening from urban 

areas can call in and speak directly to people closest to Native issues. For its entire 

17 years, National Native News has been the leading daily news service focused on 

Native issues. NNN is perhaps the most widely heard, daily minority news program 

in the country. Functioning as the equivalent of the All Things Considered of Native 

radio, NAC and NNN are the uniting force in Native radio and serve as the common 

carried programs. Broadcast by nearly every Native station, these programs provide 

a common voice for all American Natives. 

Despite the recognized service these programs provide, they have historically operated on a budget barely adequate to survive. CPB, a committed and involved funding partner from the beginning, has recognized the critical importance of these programs to Native radio and has recently granted support through 2006 to NAC and 

NNN, to strengthen all facets of both programs for long-term significance, sustainability and viability. 

Native radio stations are providing important service to their communities. They 

are often considered essential institutions in their communities and, in many places, 

are the only source of hard news and information about issues of concern to Native 

Americans. In addition, they are also key cultural assets; keeping Native languages 

alive, and acting as a holder of history and culture-acting as a ‘‘home’’ to those who 

live within, the station’s signal. 

CPB funding investments in programming and infrastructure have clearly paid 

off, as national programming for the Native radio system has become an essential 

element in the program service offered by stations in their communities. Native 

America Calling, for example, has almost universal live carriage by Native stations 

and provides the only national daily conversation among Natives about important 

issues. 

Koahnic Broadcast Corporation is proud of our many accomplishments, including 

the numerous regional and national awards for news programs and cultural features 

we have produced, the opportunity to provide training and assistance to early-career 

Native broadcasters and to rural Native stations such as KUYI in Arizona and 

KCUK in Chevak, Alaska, statewide broadcasts of the annual Alaska Federation of 

Natives Convention and nationwide broadcasts of significant Native events including the 3rd and 4th annual Native American Music Awards, our success in growing 

membership and underwriting revenues, and the establishment of a Native Program 

Fund Endowment designed to ensure that quality Native programming is sustained 

over time. This pride in our accomplishments is greatly mixed with sincere gratitude for the essential part CPB has played both in our success, and in the growth 

of Native broadcasting throughout the Nation. 

Best regards, 

JACLYN SALLEE, 

President and CEO. 

34 

July 1, 2004 

WAYNE TAYLOR, JR., 

Chairman. 

CALEB H. JOHNSON, 

Vice Chairman. 

Senator JOHN MCCAIN, 

Chairman, 

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, 

Washington, DC. 

Dear Senator McCain: 

I am writing this letter in support of KUYI 88.1 FM, a Native owned radio station. I write in support of continued funding of Native radio in Indian Country. 

KUYI made its on-air debut on Dec. 20, 2000 after years of planning and development. The station has never looked back, but is instead progressing toward increasing standards of excellence. 

Last year, Vincent Curren, senior vice president of Radio for the Corporation for 

Public Broadcasting (CPB) visited KUYI to understand what makes Native radio 

stations so unique. Mr. Curren expressed how thoroughly impressed he was with 

the station’s service and described it as one ‘‘that provides an amazing level of community service and serves as a model for other stations to follow.’’ 

KUYI is just one of 32 Native radio stations in 9 states in the United States. CPB 

allows Native radio to have a strong, far-reaching voice on Native homelands. We 

need more stations like these in Indian Country. Such stations provide a wealth of 

knowledge and cultural exchange. 

KUYI, and others in Indian country, is not just a radio station; it’s a school without walls. It’s an institution that teaches, employs, educates, and provides a voice 

for the community. 

I have found in my capacity as public relations officer for the Hopi Tribe that 

KUYI is indispensable. My office provides a weekly broadcast called the ‘‘Hopi Tribal Report’’. It is a news format program that provides updates to the Hopi public 

about occurrences in the tribal, state and Federal government. Further, whenever 

breaking news occurs, I immediately call KUYI because it is a guaranteed source 

to keep the Hopi community abreast of developing stories. I trust that it will continue to be such an institution. It provides a tangible means to preserving the Hopi 

people’s heritage and culture especially when the broadcasts are conducted in the 

Hopi language. Similar radio stations on other reservations can attest to these 

claims as well. I hope that Native radio will continue to be a legacy for all Native 

people. I have faith that funding and support from CPB will not be interrupted for 

Native radio. 

Respectfully, 

VANESSA A. CHARLES, 

Public Relations Officer, 

The Hopi Tribe. 

July 9, 2004 

Senator JOHN MCCAIN, 

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, 

Washington, DC. 

Dear Senator McCain, 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has been instrumental in making 

possible the Indian Country News Bureau (ICNB) partnership between public radio 

stations KNAU and KUYI. 

The ICNB gathers and distributes significant news from northeastern Arizona 

and the Four Comers area to public radio stations throughout the region. Numerous 

reports have been nationally broadcast on NPR, National Native News and other 

public radio programs. 

Northern Arizona University (NAU), the licensee of KNAU–FM, has as one of its 

Strategic Goals to ‘‘Be the Nation’s Leading University Serving Native Americans.’’ 

NAU is proud to be a partner in the Indian Country News Bureau initiative. 

One of public radio’s principal functions is providing lifelong learning opportunities as a public service. Indian Country News Bureau lives up to that lofty ambition. 

Listeners to ICNB reports have gained tremendous insight into issues and concerns 

35 

of Native American people. They have heard about the successes as well as the challenges facing indigenous people. For instance: 

• Navajo tribal consideration of the death penalty 

• White Mountain Apache economic recovery from devastating fires. 

• Zuni water rights legislation. 

• Hopi tradition of cross-country running. 

ICNB productions have received awards from the Arizona Associated Press, the 

Radio Television and News Directors Association, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, and Public Radio News Directors Incorporated. 

Perhaps most significantly, ICNB has advanced understanding between Native 

and non-Native peoples. None of this would have been possible without initial financial support and encouragement from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

I urge the U.S. Senate to reauthorize CPB and to continue its generous financial 

support of CPB. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JOHN STARK, 

KNAU General Manager. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Frid? 

STATEMENT OF PETER A. FRID, CEO AND GENERAL 

MANAGER, NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC TELEVISION ON BEHALF 

OF THE ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS 

Mr. FRID. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s an honor to have the 

opportunity to testify today on behalf of the Association of Public 

Television Stations, which represents local licensees all across 

America. 

Prior to joining NHPTV, in 1996, I managed public stations in 

Corpus Christi, Texas; Juneau, Alaska; and Long Island, New 

York. What all of these stations have in common is their public 

service mission. Each station must meet its local community needs 

for programming, education, and outreach. I emphasize the word 

‘‘local,’’ because, simply put, public television stations’ localism is 

without rival today. 

Mr. Chairman, let me express our stations’ support for the bipartisan approach that you and Ranking Member Hollings have taken 

in reauthorizing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. It strikes the 

right balance between reform and not trying to fix what isn’t broken. 

The institution of public television is more necessary now than 

in 1967, for many reasons. Let me offer three: 

First, education services. NHPTV’s Knowledge Network provides 

education services at all levels, including the Ready to Learn service, which has no parallel in commercial children’s television. 

Ready to Learn combines high quality PBS programming with local 

station outreach workshops, and achieves measurable improvement 

in early childhood learning. NHPTV is also proud to offer online 

teacher training through the PBS TeacherLine service, which is a 

line to the individual state curriculum standards. Both services 

were authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act, and neither 

could exist without the delivery system of local stations backed by 

a national programming service, PBS. 

Second, public affairs. Mr. Chairman, you were a frequent visitor 

to our state in 2000, and, of course, are familiar with the Presidential primary debates that NHPTV sponsored. But candidate acVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
36 

cess to our airways is not limited to high-profile races. In 2002, we 

broadcast seven separate Federal and statewide candidate debates, 

and we’ll do the same this year. And our nightly public-affairs program, New Hampshire Outlook, offers direct access to political candidates at all levels. 

Third, universal service. It is important to recall that the 500- 

channel world exists only for those households that pay for cable 

and satellite subscription services. For one in five Americans, it 

does not. People like Steve Barba, in Dixville Notch, rely on us for 

New Hampshire-based programming. Connecting Steve and others 

to our service is reason enough for Congress to fund public television. 

Mr. Chairman, as you prepare to introduce your reauthorization 

bill, we ask that you continue funding CPB. That is the lifeblood 

of our stations. Nearly all the funding is distributed directly to stations by formula, and represents an average of 15 percent of the 

stations’ budgets. The CPB also has provided additional funding to 

help stations meet special needs. For instance, a CPB-funded grant 

allowed NHPTV to initiate the Partnership for a Safe New Hampshire to address emergency management and preparedness for our 

homeland security. 

In short, the annual CPB appropriation has a real impact on 

helping stations fulfill the twin objectives of localism and public 

service. We believe it follows that expanding the input of local stations in governing CPB would improve responsiveness of the system to localism. Current law designates that two of the nine seats 

on the CPB board be filled by representatives from local stations. 

We propose that that number be increased and to provide additional input for local stations. Reforming the governance of CPB in 

this manner creates more assured accountability for stations and 

CPB to the communities that we serve, and we look forward to 

working with the Committee and CPB to accomplish that goal. 

Finally, Mr. Chairman, our local stations view digital transition 

as their greatest opportunity to serve the public. Since the DTV 

transition began, our system raised more than a billion dollars to 

make the conversion. We are, therefore, hopeful that your draft bill 

will reauthorize two key programs, CPB’s temporary digital program, and the Department of Commerce longstanding Public Telecommunications Facilities Program. 

In 2002, a PTFP grant paid for the digital conversion of our 

transmitter and tower in Keene, New Hampshire. And this year, 

New Hampshire Public Television received an additional grant 

from CPB to convert our master control room to digital. These programs are good investments for the Federal Government in the truest sense of the word. 

Digital television means more than simply broadcast television, 

and we ask that you consider expanding the definition of what may 

be funded to include datacasting. At NHPTV, we see enormous potential to enhance our work with K–12, higher education, and the 

New Hampshire Office of Emergency Management through 

datacasting. 

And, finally, we hope that you will authorize funding to replace 

PTV’s interconnection system, which links local stations with PBS. 

37 

Our stations currently spend an estimated $36 million a year to 

run two redundant transmitters, and about $20 million per year replacing analog equipment. Those costs, together, exceed the $50 

million Congress appropriated last year to CPB for digital funding. 

We look forward to the day when this money can be invested in the 

delivery of services rather than old and costly technology. 

Many of our stations would be willing to surrender their analog 

spectrum early if three conditions existed: bold post-transitional 

carriage of our signals on cable and satellite, the availability of 

low-cost converter boxes, and, you guessed it, a new stream of 

funding derived from the eventual auction of public television spectrum. In this case, NHPTV, for instance, might be capable of returning our analog spectrum by 2006, well in advance of the 2009 

hard date proposed by the FCC. 

Allowing public television to benefit from at least some of the 

proceeds raised by auctioning that spectrum is a win-win for the 

public. First, as Committee Members like Senator Sununu and 

Senator Ensign have noted, the economic activity generated by new 

uses of the spectrum would far exceed the actual dollar value of the 

spectrum itself. Second, witnesses at the July 9th hearing agreed 

that the early clearing of only part of the broadcast band—for example, the 21 percent that is held by the PTV stations—would harness market forces to accelerate the DTV transition. Senator Hollings has some thoughtful ideas in this regard, and we appreciate 

the time and attention that he has given this issue in the final year 

of his great public service career. 

In sum, Mr. Chairman, we respectfully ask that the Committee 

approve the reauthorization of the Public Broadcasting Act to ensure public television’s near-term future, and to move immediately 

to take advantage of the historic opportunities created by DTV 

transition as a means of ensuring public television will be an effective institution for public service for generations to come. 

Thank you for this opportunity, and I’d look forward to your 

questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Frid follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF PETER A. FRID, CEO AND GENERAL MANAGER, NEW

HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC TELEVISION ON BEHALF OF THE ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC

TELEVISION STATIONS

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am Peter Frid, Chief Executive Officer and General 

Manager of New Hampshire Public Television. It is an honor to have the opportunity to testify today on behalf of the Association of Public Television Stations, 

which represents 150 local stations across America. 

Mr. Chairman, public television stations are as distinct as the communities they 

serve. Prior to joining NHPTV in 1996, I had the opportunity to manage public TV 

and radio stations in Corpus Christi, Texas; Juneau, Alaska; and Long Island, New 

York. What these and other stations have in common is their mission: striving to 

serve the individual needs of their communities. While both technology and the 

media landscape have changed greatly since passage of the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act, the mission of public television stations remains constant: to serve the 

local public interest through education, culture and citizenship. 

Public Television’s Commitment to Localism 

I emphasize the word ‘‘local’’ because, simply put, public television stations’ localism is without rival today. Each station is engaged in meeting its local community 

needs for relevant programming, education and outreach. Licensed to the University 

of New Hampshire, NHPTV, along with the other 175 individual public television 

38 

licensees nationwide, is and will remain locally controlled, operated, and programmed. 

As the Committee takes the first step toward reauthorizing the Public Broadcasting Act, we hope that you will recognize the enormous significance and value 

of having at least one locally controlled television station in every media market. 

Mr. Chairman, on behalf of public television stations, let me express our support 

for the bipartisan approach that you and Ranking Member Hollings have taken to 

reauthorizing the Public Broadcasting Act. It strikes the right balance between reform and not trying to fix what isn’t broken. If enacted, it will ensure the uniqueness of public television’s mission of public service to our communities. 

How Public Television Serves Communities 

It is fair to ask if public television is necessary in today’s 500-channel television 

world; if the missions of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 are still relevant. The 

answer is that this institution is more necessary now than in 1967 for many reasons, 

but let me briefly offer three: 

Education Services. NHPTV’s ‘‘Knowledge Network’’ provides education services 

at all levels, from early childhood learning to distance learning to teacher professional development. One example of our innovative approach to promoting 

literacy in the community is a program we established with the New Hampshire 

Department of Corrections to reconnect prisoners with their children through 

reading. Project Story Time videotapes prisoners reading an age-appropriate 

book, then the tape and book are shared with the child and custodial family to 

encourage family literacy and bonding. 

Public television’s unique children’s programming service, known as Ready To 

Learn, has no parallel in commercial children’s television. Ready To Learn combines the high-quality children’s programming and curriculum materials provided by PBS with the local outreach workshops offered by local stations and 

achieves measurable improvement in early childhood learning. For our state, 

this is one of the most successful educational outreach efforts we’ve ever undertaken, far exceeding what we originally envisioned. 

NHPTV is also proud to offer online teacher training through the PBS 

TeacherLine service, which is aligned to individual state curriculum standards. 

Both of these programs were authorized by No Child Left Behind and together 

receive about $47 million in grants from the Department of Education. We have 

leveraged those grants with local foundation and corporate funds that have allowed us to reach every corner of New Hampshire through broadcast, the Web, 

and face-to-face community workshops. However, these and other educational 

services would not exist without the delivery system of independent local stations backed by our national programming service, PBS. 

Public Affairs Coverage. Mr. Chairman, you were a frequent visitor to our state 

in 2000 and of course are familiar with the presidential primary debates that 

New Hampshire Public Television sponsored. But candidate access to our airwaves is not limited to high-profile races; we are equally proud of the debates, 

candidate forums and ongoing public affairs coverage we provide for local races 

throughout each election year. 

For instance, in 2002, we broadcast seven separate Federal or statewide candidate debates and will do the same this year. And our nightly public affairs 

program, NH Outlook, offers substantial direct access for, and coverage of, political candidates at all levels. In 2002 alone, we provided in-depth profiles of more 

than a dozen mainstream and third-party candidates and conducted many more 

in-studio interviews. We are proud of our ability to offer candidates free, 

unfiltered access to the public. 

Universal Service. Third, the long-established national policy of truly free, universal service dates to the Communications Act of 1934 and it is literally a responsibility for public television. Earlier, I mentioned today’s 500-channel 

world. But it is important to recall that this world exists only for those households that pay for cable and satellite subscription services. 

At least one in five Americans are not part of that world and many more households have over-the-air television sets that are not connected to such a service. 

Some of those Americans are economically disadvantaged. Some are in rural 

areas or on reservations and literally don’t have the choice of subscription services. Many of them truly have the greatest need for the services we provide. In 

any case, connecting these Americans to our services is reason enough for the 

Congress to provide support for public television. 

39 

NHPTV’s ability to serve both the urban and the very rural parts of New Hampshire is critical to bringing our state together. Steve Barba of the Balsams in 

Dixville Notch often mentions that our station affords him access to New Hampshire-based programming by connecting him to the state. Through our programs, 

NHPTV affords the residents of the Great North Woods a share of voice. 

CPB Funding and Localism 

Your bill, Mr. Chairman, would continue the critical funding for the Corporation 

for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that is the lifeblood of our stations. Nearly all of that 

funding is distributed directly to stations by formula in the form of Community 

Service Grants. This funding represents on average 15 percent of most stations’ 

budgets, and is critical to our ability to fulfill the missions I described. 

In addition to the community service grants, CPB has also provided critical funding for special projects that have helped us to meet special local needs. For instance, 

a CPB-funded grant from the National Center for Outreach allowed NHPTV to initiate ‘‘The Partnership for a Safe New Hampshire’’ project. The station brought together the NH Library Association, Volunteer NH, and UNH Cooperative Extension 

to hold eight forums to help geographically diverse communities address emergency 

management and preparedness for homeland security. 

In short, Mr. Chairman, the annual appropriation that Congress provides to CPB 

has a real and measurable impact on ensuring that local stations can fulfill the twin 

objectives of localism and public service. We appreciate that your draft reauthorization bill does not tear down this proven system. 

As our stations raise most of their budgets in the community, they must be responsive to local needs. We believe it follows that expanding the input of the local 

stations in governing CPB would improve the responsiveness of the system to fulfilling localism objectives. Current law designates two of the nine seats on the CPB 

Board to be filled by representatives of local public radio and television stations. Mr. 

Chairman, we propose that this number be increased to four of the nine seats, allowing more system representation to be introduced to the Board gradually, as existing Board terms expire. Reforming the governance of CPB in this manner creates 

more accountability for the local stations to ensure that funding is used according 

to the objectives of Congress. It also increases CPB’s accountability to the communities the stations serve. We hope your final bill includes this provision. 

The Digital Transition 

Mr. Chairman, if one accepts that public television’s mission has grown since 

1967, we are fortunate today to have a 21st century delivery system to meet it. I 

am speaking of course of digital television, which has geometrically expanded our 

capacity to meet our mission. Since the DTV transition began, our system has raised 

more than $1 billion to make the conversion. As of today, 264 of the country’s 357 

PTV stations are transmitting a digital signal in markets that include more than 

87 percent of households, and we are optimistic that most of the remainder will be 

on the air by the end of this year. 

Our true challenge now is to move from simply delivering a digital signal, to creating and delivering actual digital services. For instance, our stations have pledged 

to devote one-quarter of their digital bandwidth to educational programming. Also, 

many of our stations are creating public service datacasting services such as offering 

a portion of their bandwidth for local emergency alert communications. 

It is no exaggeration to say that our local stations view digital as their greatest 

opportunity ever to serve the public and we are grateful that your draft reauthorization bill would help us to fulfill that promise. Allow me to highlight key portions 

of the bill in this regard: 

First, the draft bill reauthorizes two key programs, CPB’s digital fund and the 

Department of Commerce’s Public Telecommunications Facilities Program. Why 

two programs? The CPB digital program is a temporary one aimed at putting 

stations on the air in digital, while PTFP, which predates DTV by 35 years, is 

an ongoing competitive matching grant program that funds infrastructure. A 

2002 PTFP grant paid for the digital conversion of our transmitter and tower 

in Keene, southwestern New Hampshire. The PTFP program is a good investment for the Federal Government in the truest sense of the word for it allows 

us to leverage revenue from local sources and we appreciate your support for 

it. 

Second, the bill expands the definition of what may be funded to include 

datacasting services. Such services take digital television beyond the television 

set, for instance, allowing a station to directly transmit video curriculum to 

schools or to provide a platform for emergency communications. At NHPTV we 

40 

see enormous potential to enhance our work with K–12, higher education, and 

the New Hampshire Office of Emergency Management through datacasting. 

Third, the bill authorizes funding to build a new interconnection system that 

will link PTV stations with each other and the national programming service. 

Interconnection was at the heart of the original Public Broadcasting Act. While 

it is unseen by viewers it is literally the backbone of public television, as it 

serves as the national programming transport system. The current system must 

be replaced soon as satellite contracts are expiring. Congress appropriated a 

down payment last year, and this bill provides the authorization to finish the 

job—and, I might add, replace radio’s separate interconnection system when the 

time comes. 

Allow me to offer one additional thought about the DTV transition. The law requires public stations, along with commercial stations, to return their analog spectrum to the government when the DTV transition is complete. As you know, some 

experts estimate that, absent policy changes, the transition could drag on for more 

than a decade. In fact, a 2002 NAB study pegged the so-called ‘‘natural’’ transition 

date at 2021. 

Mr. Chairman, when presented with the opportunities that digital broadcast could 

offer in our ability to enhance our service to our communities, public television embraced this project. In New Hampshire, we have been extremely fortunate that our 

University and the New Hampshire State Legislature embraced the potential of digital as well. Recently, the University System of New Hampshire Chancellor, Stephen Reno, stated before the Governor’s Capital Project Hearing that the continued 

funding of NHPTV’s digital conversion is critical to the University’s plan to have 

the station play a key role in delivering distance learning to our state. 

But, with this asset in place, we are still challenged by the necessity of maintaining our analog transmitters as well. This will contribute significantly to the complexities of operations, additional electrical costs and, if the deadline to shutting off 

our analog signal is significantly delayed, the prospect of having to replace at least 

one if not two of our analog transmitters. Nationwide, our stations currently spend 

an estimated $36 million per year to run two redundant transmitters, and about $20 

million per year replacing analog equipment. Those costs together exceed the $50 

million Congress appropriated last year to CPB for digital funding. We look forward 

to the day when this money can be invested in the delivery of valued services to 

our state and not the re-investment in old and costly technology. 

As our association testified before this committee on June 9, many of our stations 

would be willing to voluntarily surrender their analog spectrum early if three conditions existed: full post-transitional carriage of our signals on cable and satellite; the 

availability of low-cost converter boxes; and—you guessed it—a new stream of funding derived from the eventual auction of PTV stations’ spectrum. In this case, 

NHPTV, for instance, might be capable of returning our analog spectrum by 2006, 

well before the January 1, 2009 ‘‘hard date’’ proposed by the FCC Media Bureau. 

Public television stations occupy 21 percent of the broadcast spectrum and we are 

eager to work with this committee to develop a plan for returning it to the government as soon as practicable. Allowing public television to benefit from at least some 

of the proceeds raised by auctioning that spectrum is a win-win for the public. 

First, as Committee members like Senator Sununu and Senator Ensign have 

noted, the economic activity that would be generated by freeing up this spectrum 

for other uses would be an enormous boost to the economy. Most experts believe 

that activity would far exceed the actual dollar value of the spectrum itself. Second, 

a consensus of witnesses at the June 9 hearing agreed that an early clearing of only 

part of the broadcast band—for instance, the 21 percent of it held by PTV stations— 

would harness market forces to accelerate the DTV transition. 

Our association has proposed that at least a portion of the revenue derived from 

auctioning PTV’s spectrum be used to create a fund dedicated to digital educational 

services, but there are many options worthy of consideration. The distinguished 

Ranking Member, Senator Hollings, has some thoughtful ideas in this regard and 

we appreciate the time and attention that he has given this issue in the final year 

of his great public service career. 

In sum, Mr. Chairman, we respectfully ask that the Committee approve reauthorization of the Public Broadcasting Act to ensure public television’s near-term future, 

and that it move immediately to take advantage of the historic opportunity created 

by the DTV transition as a means to ensuring public television will be an effective 

institution of public service for generations to come. 

Thank you and I look forward to your questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. 

41 

There have been complaints about public broadcasting having a 

liberal bias. In a February 2004 hearing before the House Energy 

and Commerce Committee, Congressman Regula reminded public 

broadcasters that, quote, ‘‘McDonald’s made a fortune catering to 

everyone’s taste.’’ I also note that the—PBS recently added two 

conservative commentators to its national programming lineup. 

Ms. Cox, do you believe that the stations should attempt to cater 

to everyone’s tastes? 

Ms. COX. Absolutely, Senator McCain. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Matthusen? 

Mr. MATTHUSEN. To the extent that we can, we try to represent 

all points of view. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Frid? 

Mr. FRID. Absolutely. I think the stations are very sensitive to 

the need for objectivity and balance. Our local programming, for example, really works to offer diverging viewpoints. We believe, as 

holder of the license and the trust of the public, that our efforts to 

achieve objectivity and balance is an important thing for us to consider. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Vicente-Taylor? 

Ms. TAYLOR. Absolutely. With the Indian Country News Bureau, 

we have some unique situations. As you may recall, the Hopi and 

Navajo, for example, have had years of tension between them. And 

so, balance and fairness and objectivity in covering those stories 

are extremely important. 

Also, the Indian Country News Bureau covers stories about Hopi 

people themselves, and we live and work with these people in our 

communities, and so we’re keenly aware that we need to be balanced and objective in our stories there, as well. 

The CHAIRMAN. Do you believe that—Ms. Vicente-Taylor, do you 

believe that CPB’s funding formula adequately takes into account 

the special needs of stations like KUYI that are located on reservations, most low-income areas of America, and have difficulty raising 

money from listeners? 

Ms. TAYLOR. I think there can be some improvement in the way 

funding is channeled into Native American public radio stations. I 

don’t think the model of mainstream public radio is completely 

compatible with how funds should be raised. For Hopi, for example, 

our unemployment is so high—sometimes as high as 55 percent— 

and rather than having pledge drives to get money from families 

that are worried about putting a roof on their heads or feeding 

their children or clothing their children to give money to KUYI, I 

would rather try to look at other models, and we’re trying to figure 

those things out. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Cox, I hope you will try to help figure those 

out. Public broadcasting on Native American reservations have difficulties because of the nature of the degree of poverty that exists 

on those reservations, and I hope you will—and the board—look 

into those special needs situations. 

Ms. COX. Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, in the fall, we’re beginning 

a new consultation, on both the radio and television side, to consider the best use of all of our funds, and, in particular, the CSG 

funds, the community service grants, that go to the stations. As 

you’re well aware, we service a variety of stations, from the staVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
42 

tions just described to some of the largest and strongest stations 

in the system, so it’s a careful balancing act, but we do have that 

very much in mind. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Burns, you have consistently chosen to display your documentaries on public television, and not provide them 

for bidding in the open marketplace that now includes History 

Channel, Discovery Channel, A&E, and others. Why? And wouldn’t 

this free you from seeking corporate sponsors? 

Mr. BURNS. It probably would, in the long term, Mr. Chairman, 

but I think my remarks about attention are extremely important. 

We don’t go to the cinema or to the ballet or to the symphony and 

expect, every few minutes, to be interrupted. And so, too, would I 

like my work in an uninterrupted form. There are other venues 

where that could take place—notably, pay cable stations. 

The CHAIRMAN. Financially, it would have benefited you significantly. 

Mr. BURNS. It might have. But I think that we have to measure 

riches in lots of different ways. I stand before you proudly telling 

you that if there’s a film that you don’t like of mine, it’s all my 

fault. And I have colleagues in all those other networks that say, 

‘‘Well, that film didn’t work out because they took it away from me 

and re-edited,’’ or, ‘‘They made me use this person,’’ or, ‘‘They made 

me use that person.’’ I stand before you, sort of, the proud citizen 

of public television, and say that if you don’t like one of my films, 

it’s all my fault. And I’m pleased to be in a network in which that’s 

the case. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Cox, in April 2004, the GAO found that 

CPB’s funding and distribution of grants under the Television Future Fund was not within the statutory authority under which the 

Corporation operates. Specifically, the GAO found that funds Congress designated for the distribution to the public television licensees should not be siphoned off by CPB for systemwide projects. 

Shortly thereafter, CPB announced it would no longer use such station monies for the Television Future Fund. 

The GAO report only addressed the Television Future Fund. 

Does the Corporation intend to eliminate or restructure the Radio 

Future Fund or the Small Station Future Fund to comply with its 

statutory authority, or do you believe the statutory authority 

should be changed? 

Ms. COX. Senator McCain, as noted in our response to the GAO 

report, we do disagree with the legal interpretation of the statute. 

We had two different opinions that confirmed our interpretation of 

the statute. 

Nonetheless, with respect to our understanding of where the station’s financial situation is, on the television side, we have, I believe, resolved any issue with respect to that. We are returning station finances—money back to the CSG pool, and we will not be contributing any additional money to the Television Future Fund in 

the 2005 Fiscal Year. 

On the radio side, I think that there are similar considerations 

to be had. Again, we’re of the view that the stations have in mind 

the best ways to spend their money. So in 2005 Fiscal Year, we will 

not be contributing to the Radio Future Fund. But we do have in 

mind the fact that, on the radio side, the stations do enjoy the abilVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
43 

ity to aggregate funds toward those kind of projects that can’t be 

handled at the local level. So we’ll be engaged in consultation with 

them over the year to determine whether they wish to—desire to 

have that, in which case I think it maybe appropriate to seek statutory clarification, in terms of our ability to accommodate that. 

The CHAIRMAN. Why did CPB have almost $24 million sitting in 

its digital fund, unobligated, at the end of calendar year 2003, according to the GAO? And what are you going to do with these monies? 

Ms. COX. That situation has also, I think, been addressed. As the 

GAO report fairly accurately reported, the digital funds came to us 

for the distribution of equipment, and that was a new situation for 

us. We had to determine different guidelines and a different method of getting that money out. We are past those hurdles. I think 

that we have addressed—provided more resources to the speedy expenditure of those funds, working with the stations. So we are— 

again, have put more resources toward that. We have had the appropriate consultations, and we will continue to do whatever is in 

our power to get that money out the door as fast as possible. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Nelson? 

STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA 

Senator NELSON. Mr. Chairman, I ask consent that I can have 

my statement entered in the record, and just a couple of—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection. 

Senator NELSON.—quick questions. 

I passed one of my colleagues in the hall coming here, and he 

was just singing the praises, Mr. Burns, of your opening statement, 

and I’m going to look forward to reading it in the testimony of this 

Committee. 

I’m curious, how would you address critics who say that PBS is 

too liberal? 

Mr. BURNS. Well, I think that, quite often, public television has 

been a fairly convenient way to, sort of, project other arguments 

into the fray. I’ve noticed, in the course of a lifetime of watching 

public television, that it has been a forum where lots of competing 

voices come, and there’s a wonderful fission that takes place from 

the collision of free electrons. Remember Buckley’s Firing Line has 

been on—was on for more than 30 years, and hardly a liberal outpost. There have been, I think, instances of individuals expressing 

a liberal agenda, but I think it has been more than balanced by 

other programming throughout. 

And, of course, in my own work, one can’t perform the kind of 

historical triangulation that’s required to make good history without being balanced and fair to all sides. That’s exactly what history 

is about, the sort of accounting that takes place in that work. 

I’m proud to be in a network that is tolerant enough to welcome 

lots of different opposing voices, and I don’t think it has a particular bias. 

Senator NELSON. I’m concerned about the political discourse in 

this country. We seem to have gotten to the point that it’s a lack 

of toleration for views that are opposite of our own, and we castigate each other, and we use labels as ‘‘liberal’’ or ‘‘ultra-liberal’’ or 

44 

‘‘ultra- conservative’’ if someone has a view different than our own. 

I just don’t want you all to fall in that trap as we see that happening with other outlets of information. 

Mr. Frid, you stated that public TV broadcasters would be willing to voluntarily surrender their analog spectrum early if low-cost 

digital-to-analog converter boxes were available. What do you see 

as the role for Congress in this? Should Congress, for example, subsidize converter boxes? 

Mr. FRID. I know that that’s an idea that’s been discussed. I 

think one of the challenges that we will have is, once one gets beyond those that have satellite and cable, there will be a group of 

individuals that may not have the financial resources to purchase 

converter boxes. And I think it’s certainly an idea that’s worthy of 

exploration. 

Senator NELSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Nelson follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing regarding the reauthorization 

of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, known as CPB. 

I am a big fan of the programming and services provided by public television and 

radio. Hardly a week goes by when I haven’t tuned in to a PBS or NPR program. 

In this age of increased media consolidation and commercialization of news, PBS 

and NPR greatly assist in informing and educating Americans about national and 

local issues. 

Since its creation in 1965, CPB has played the central role in overseeing the development of public broadcasting. I think that most people would agree that CPB 

has done an excellent job over the years in administering the Federal funds that 

Congress allocates. CPB has carried out its mission largely immune from political 

pressures and has acted in the public interest. 

As CPB has recognized, broadcasting is now at a crossroads. Broadcasters are in 

the midst of a multiyear digital TV transition. At the same time, broadcasters are 

competing with cable television, satellite, and the Internet to deliver programming. 

Now, more than ever, Congress should ensure that non-commercial, locally oriented 

public broadcasting is nurtured. 

Without CPB, public broadcasting and the principle of localism would suffer. I 

look forward to hearing today from the various witnesses about how Congress can 

help promote vibrant and effective public broadcasting. If there are specific problem 

areas that Congress should address in the context of CPB’s reauthorization, I would 

like to hear about those issues as well. 

I thank the Chair. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Sununu? 

Senator SUNUNU. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Burns, I’d offer up, maybe for future use, when someone like 

John McCain asks you why you do what you do and the way you 

do it, you could make a lot more money elsewhere, just point out 

to John McCain, ‘‘You could make a helluva lot more money if you 

quit the Senate.’’ 

[Laughter.] 

Senator SUNUNU. But it’s not necessarily a good idea. 

[Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. But a popular move among some. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator SUNUNU. Could you talk a little bit about the process for 

funding projects—CPB provides money to help fund content, fund 

programming—and then the process for getting your work distributed? Does that work well? Are there any changes or concerns that 

45 

you have or would recommend for either the funding of content, or 

is there something that could be done to make the process for distribution work better to encourage innovation or independence or 

to help new producers of content? 

Mr. BURNS. Senator, there’s always room for improvement, and 

I think we’re constantly tinkering, as we are in this republic, and 

will continue to tinker, I hope, for as long as we’re around. 

The process is—I think most of my colleagues and I would say 

we want to have that ten-picture deal that the commercial networks would provide for us so that this rigorous fundraising thing 

would disappear. But, at the same time, that rigorous fundraising 

process makes us more honest, and stronger. Quite typically, we’ll 

get an idea to produce a film, we’ll discuss it with various colleagues who would be involved in its production, we would produce 

a proposal, of not insignificant length, that would be submitted to 

the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They have a rigorous proposal process. It’s vetted by other media professionals and also by 

experts in the particular field. Sometimes we also are submitting 

a grant to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which requires an even greater and more rigorous proposal process. We get 

some early seed money, and then the rest of the process is a kind 

of patchwork quilt of funding, going out to private foundations, 

going to PBS itself, going to individual state tourism—I wish that 

Governor Allen was here. After the Civil War series, tourism in the 

State of Virginia went up by tens of millions of dollars, and the 

state actually called me and asked me if there was anything else 

I was doing on Virginia; they’d like to contribute. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BURNS. And you could have knocked me over with a feather, 

because no one, in my entire 25 years in public television, has ever 

called me up and said, ‘‘Do you want some money?’’ 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BURNS. And the State of Virginia contributed to a film I was 

working on, and completed the funding for a film I was working, 

on Thomas Jefferson. 

We go out, we moan and complain about how difficult it is to 

raise money. There are great filmmakers out there, and great 

ideas, and not enough money to go around, so we’re excited about 

the prospects of a generous reauthorization. But we like the process, in the end, because of how rigorous it is, and gets—we have 

to get our facts right, in the case of history—and get it down. 

And then I’ve been privileged to work with PBS Video, which has 

been distributing my product for most of the time my films have 

been available. And that has a dual function; not only are they the 

best, I believe, distributors of this kind of educational material, 

they know the territory better than anybody else, and get it out to 

a wide number of people, but the money they earn, in turn, gets 

folded back into production. And that’s a terrifically symbiotic kind 

of thing that goes on, that I know that money that’s being earned 

might eventually end up back in a production budget for a subsequent film down the line. 

We’ve got a whole sequence of things we’re looking forward to 

over the next several years—the history of the second World War, 

history of our national parks—we’re finishing a film on the boxer 

46 

Jack Johnson—all of which have required that same sort of teamwork and cooperation to get done. And as, sort of, messy as it is— 

and I think that this institution knows about messy processes—you 

wouldn’t really want to have it any other way, because the alternative then tends to focus the power into just a few hands, and 

what I like about this is that there are a lot of voices that contribute to our process all the way through. 

Senator SUNUNU. Within the production community, is there concern that that kind of a system places people who aren’t quite as 

well known as you are at a disadvantage—new entrants, new producers? 

Mr. BURNS. I think that funding constraints probably do that 

more than the process itself, because if there was more funding— 

but I broke in, I looked—when I started out, I looked like I was 

12 years old, and my first film was on—— 

Senator SUNUNU. So if you could do it, anybody could do it, right? 

Mr. BURNS.—on the Brooklyn Bridge, and a lot of people outside 

of public television were saying, ‘‘No,’’ as I was trying to sell them 

the Brooklyn Bridge. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator SUNUNU. That was very good. 

Ms. Cox, anything you’d like to add about the funding structure 

for content, or the ease with which good content is distributed 

across the spectrum of participants in the Corporation? 

Ms. COX. Just to follow up on the last point, I think that the— 

our ability to attract new, younger, and additional voices to the 

public broadcasting world is extremely important. It’s one of the 

things that I’m going to be focused on, as well. 

Two examples. One is—and I think that, Ken, you were part of 

what call the Producers Academy, which is an effort to bring in 

younger, but with some experience, producers into the public 

broadcasting fold. We want to have people understand how the system works so that we can bring them along and be able to use their 

works as part of all the programming that we do. 

Another example is this Crossroads Initiative that I mentioned 

in my testimony. That was really an effort to—it was an RFP. We 

took this out to—around the country in four or five settings to explain what this was about, with a real desire to bring in additional 

voices. And, as I said, we got 450 applications submitted for this 

kind of funding; 360 new applicants. So I think it’s—we do very 

much have that in mind, and are trying to find ways to encourage 

additional voices coming in. 

Senator SUNUNU. Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Lautenberg? 

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. 

I ask consent that my full statement be inserted into the record 

as if read. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Lautenberg follows:] 

47 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY

Mr. Chairman: 

Thank you for holding the first hearing in ten years on reauthorizing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). 

TV has been called a ‘‘medium’’ because it’s neither rare nor well done! Well, public television is the exception. And public radio is equally outstanding. I’m not sure 

if it’s possible to estimate the beneficial impact public TV and radio have had on 

informing, educating, and entertaining America. 

I believe that CPB, National Public Radio (NPR), and the Public Broadcasting 

Service (PBS) have been extremely successful in fulfilling their mission and providing the highest quality of broadcast journalism and services to all Americans. 

NPR News, for example, has seen rapid growth in its audience—from 11.5 million 

listeners in 1994 to 22 million in 2004. 

PBS is the leading provider of educational materials for K-to-12 teachers and it 

offers a broad array of educational services for adult learners. Approximately 87 

million people watch PBS each week. That’s more than any cable network audience. 

I have to compliment the Nation’s public TV and radio stations for providing innovative educational and civic programming that enriches the communities they serve. 

In addition to providing the highest quality of programming in the business, public TV stations are creating new ways to serve the public interest, without Congressional pressure. 

In my home state of New Jersey, for example, WNJN—the New Jersey Network— 

is already using its digital signal to transmit job training data to a test site in Trenton. 

‘‘Workplace Essential Skills,’’ an historic partnership with the New Jersey Department of Labor, is helping the unemployed get the basic skills they need to compete 

for jobs. 

New Jersey Network has also been involved with the State Office of Emergency 

Management to provide secure links between emergency authorities and nuclear 

power plant operators. 

I commend public broadcast TV stations for offering these and other valuable 

services as they make the transition from analog to digital signals. 

I look forward to hearing the testimony of our witnesses. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. And I’m sorry that I’m a little late here. 

I would have preferred to be here than where I was, on the floor, 

engaged in combat without combat pay. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LAUTENBERG. I’m trying to fix that in an amendment I 

have for those who are serving in Iraq. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LAUTENBERG. I come out of the computer business. The 

problem is that it was so long ago that maybe it’s a different industry. When I visited my old company, after having been here a few 

years—we had giant computers wherever we were located. The 

company is called ADP. It’s a very big company, and I started it 

with two other fellows—and I saw the room was half empty, and 

I was in shock. I said, ‘‘What’s happened to—have we lost so much 

business?’’ Anyway, we’ve gotten better at it. So the things that I 

may ask may have little relationship to reality. 

But I thought about—a long time—about how we might educate 

our children differently. And now I’m talking about the mechanical 

means. I’m not talking about the classroom subject. We know that 

we have places, even in crowded little New Jersey, where school 

buses ply the streets every day, and the kids are brought to the 

classrooms, some of them fairly far distant from a regional high 

school or something like that. And I know that, in states like New 

Hampshire and others, like Arizona, have that problem, of bringVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\81579.TXT JACKIE
48 

ing—going to fetch these kids and so forth. And I wonder whether 

there has been any thought given to the possibility that the classroom—and this is through PBS eyes—the classroom might move to 

the electronic delivery? I think it must, one day. 

And has there been any review of the possibilities that public 

broadcasting might be part of a network that says, ‘‘OK, we’re 

going to be giving you instruction over these 4 days a week for your 

classroom work, and then on Friday we’ll come and have a professional visit you in the neighborhood—and others’’? Has there been 

anything done in—to your knowledge, to try to initiate these kinds 

of specific learning programs through a media broadcast? 

Ms. COX. Yes. And I think that Mr. Frid probably will have some 

additional comments to bring to bear on this question. But, as was 

mentioned earlier, public broadcasting is one of their best-kept secrets of how much work that they are doing in the educational 

world. Nearly two-thirds of the licensees are associated with education licensees or work closely with their schools in their communities. So the ability to use this—new technologies in ways that 

benefit both the teachers and the students is very much a part of 

the conversations that we’re having. 

In fact, there has been some tremendous advances within the 

system already, utilizing aggregated material geared toward state 

standards that are available on a server or online or broadcast. So 

there’s—we are trying to explore the various financial models to 

support that those kind of activities—again, going to the level of 

support that would allow us to really explore what we can do with 

this digital technology—but the use of it for purposes of teacher 

training and school-based training is absolutely front and center as 

part of those conversations. 

And I think, Peter, you might have some other things to say. 

Mr. FRID. Yes, Senator, I think, not only for K–12, but also for 

higher education. I know that ours certainly—New Hampshire 

Public Television is looking at a number of different venues. One 

is, we are working with a number of local school districts to create 

the Granite State Distance Learning Network, which is a Internetconnected learning network that provides the ability for different 

schools to dial in and use a common instructor, those kind of 

things. We’re looking at access for students, whether they’re at 

home or in the classroom, utilizing video-streaming technology, 

where, again, they could access the things that Kathleen was talking about, in terms of not only courses, but other types of short program segments. 

I think one of the things that really I’m excited about, and I 

think has great potential, is the opportunity for datacasting, and 

that is that by utilizing our capability of digital to be able to take 

program segments, instructional materials, and feed them directly 

either into the classroom, or, for that matter, right into the home— 

I know that our Knowledge Network staff is working with a number of homeschoolers in the state—actually, in the region—to provide that kind of access. So there are some great opportunities here 

that are ahead of us. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Does that kind of research or inquiry come 

out of the operating budget for PBS? The kind of review—— 

49 

Ms. COX. There are contributions. There’s research that goes on 

around the system. CPB is engaged in some research; the stations, 

as well. I know PBS has had an education agenda, as well. So it’s 

really—there are pockets of significant research going on around 

the system. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Ms. Cox, how much of the budgetary—of 

your revenues come from contributions and campaigns that you organize, as compared to the government contribution? 

Ms. COX. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting gets its funding from the Federal Government. So our funding is really strictly 

just the appropriations. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. I see. And when we get to NPR—— 

Ms. COX. The system, as a whole, the Federal contribution is 

roughly—it varies between 12 and 15 percent of the overall budget. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. So the rest of it is raised? 

Ms. COX. There is—almost 50 percent comes from members. 

There is money that—I don’t—I can’t recall the specific breakdown 

right now, but in terms of underwriting support from foundations, 

and corporate support. So it’s really back to the idea that this really is a partnership of the Federal Government. We also get significant support from state and local entities, as well, all of which 

seem to be under some downward pressure these days. Again, 

we’re very thankful for the continued steady support of the Federal 

dollar; again, signifying how important that is as the bedrock of 

this equation. So—— 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Mr. Chairman, the thing that it says to me 

is that it confirms the public interest in these divisions of the public broadcast, and it says that, ‘‘We like what you do.’’ And I know 

my alarm clock goes off every morning, and there’s some mellifluous tone that comes over and tells me what time it is, but it’s 

better than somebody shrieking at me—— 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LAUTENBERG.—from some commercial television. 

If I may, Mr. Chairman, just one other thing. It’s to Mr. Burns. 

I don’t know—I don’t remember, in detail, your baseball documentary, but was it prominently acknowledged that baseball was invented in New Jersey? 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BURNS. Yes, I—Senator, I’d be happy to send you the first 

episode of that series, called ‘‘The First Inning,’’ that takes great 

pains to debunk the myth that it was born in Cooperstown, New 

York, by Abner Doubleday, an illustrious Civil War general, who 

apparently had nothing to do with baseball, but was, in fact, born 

on the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Thank you. Do you remember the name of 

the team? 

Mr. BURNS. Well, there was—the New York Nine was playing another group of clerks from Brooklyn, and they were seeking the refuge of the Garden State from the teeming metropolis of New York, 

and adapted rules of rounders and cricket into a game that we now 

recognize as baseball. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. You’ve made my day. 

[Laughter.] 

50 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Mr. Burns, have you had a chance to look 

at the just-concluded 200th anniversary of the duel on the cliffs of 

Weehawken, New Jersey? Quite a story, the Vice President killed 

his opponent, was indicted, but never charged. Things are same. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BURNS. Senator, with regard—I have an anecdote that 

doesn’t address specifically your first question, but I get a great 

deal of letters from teachers all the time that are pleased that this 

material—all the films—are involved in their curricula. And a very 

interesting several letters have appeared from various parts of the 

country saying that some school districts have remade their American history curriculum to teach it using the baseball series. They 

saw it as a kind of Trojan horse that not only communicated mathematics and statistics, but the whole arc of American history and 

women’s issues and racial issues and issues of labor and management—— 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Terrific. 

Mr. BURNS.—all of that. And we’re excited by the fact—I think, 

in public television—that, unlike the rest of broadcast and cable, 

which is like skywriting, which disappears in the first zephyr, that 

we’re committed, as are many of our underwriters, to stick around 

with educational outreach. So I think some of the questions that 

you have will be fulfilled in the years to come. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Mr. Chairman, one more impertinent 

question. 

The CHAIRMAN. We’re leaving the issue of killing people in New 

Jersey? 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LAUTENBERG. I never spar with this Chairman when he’s 

sitting there. 

But, no, the question about—you do such wonderful work, and 

we’re all indebted to you, to all of you for the work that you do, 

because the volunteer side of America is a great side of our society—but I would ask you, the impertinent question is, do you get 

paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting? And if so, couldn’t 

you sell this product for lots more money, assuming that you do get 

paid for the work that you do? I hope you do. You deserve it. 

Mr. BURNS. I do, Senator. It’s not commensurate with professionals in the rest of television. But we write a budget that includes salaries for the people that work on it, that are modest. 

Afterwards, because of our stake in the ownership, we can receive 

money through the sale of videotapes and—— 

Senator LAUTENBERG. I see. 

Mr. BURNS.—CDs and things like that. Companion books are 

often a helpful way to do it. But it should be noted that, in the case 

of the grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or the 

National Endowment for the Humanities, off the top, they are paid 

back in a very simple and elegant formula that permits us to return, back to the treasury, incomes that we’ve made from these 

projects. 

Senator LAUTENBERG. Wonderful. We congratulate all of you for 

your work. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

51 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the witnesses for being here. We’ll try 

to mark up this reauthorization next Tuesday, and hopefully we 

can get it through the Congress before we go out of session. I think 

it’s relatively noncontroversial. There is the issue of more representation of station managers on the board, but I think that’s a relatively minor item. And, of course, the issue of funding continues 

to be an issue of some discussion. 

I thank all the witnesses. This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:50 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

(53) 

A P P E N D I X 

July 15, 2004 

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL MINORITY PUBLIC BROADCASTING CONSORTIA: NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICA TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION, NATIONAL BLACK

PROGRAMMING CONSORTIUM, LATINO PUBLIC BROADCASTING, NATIVE AMERICAN

PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS, PACIFIC ISLANDERS IN COMMUNICATIONS

The National Minority Public Broadcasting Consortia submits this statement in 

support of S. 2645, legislation reauthorizing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting 

(CPB). We also recommend that the bill be amended to provide additional resources 

for the production of multicultural programming for the public broadcast system. 

Our mission is to bring a significant amount of programming from our communities into the mainstream of PBS and public broadcasting. The five communities 

represented by the Minority Consortia—African American, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American—are 29 percent of the U.S. population (2000 Census). 

The Minority Consortia 

With primary funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Minority 

Consortia serves as an important component of American public television. By training and mentoring the next generation of minority producers and program managers 

we are able to ensure the future strength of public television and radio television 

programming from our communities. Individually, each Consortia organization is 

engaged in cultivating ongoing relationships with the independent producer community by providing technical assistance, program funding, programming support and 

distribution. We also provide numerous hours of programming to individual public 

television and radio stations. 

Through our outreach we help bring an awareness of the value of public media 

among communities which have historically been untapped by public television. 

Through innovative outreach campaigns, local screenings of works destined for public television, and promotion of web-based information and programming, communities of color are embraced rather than ignored. The Minority Consortia’s work in 

educational distribution further increases the value of public television programming by sharing its works with thousands of students. 

While the Consortia organizations work on projects specific to their communities, 

the five organizations also work collaboratively. One example is our joint effort on 

the public television four-part series, Matters of Race that aired last fall. That series 

explored the complexity of our rapidly changing multiracial, multicultural society in 

America.. The project resulted in more than television programming. The project 

was designed so that modules could be pulled out for classroom use. It was also formatted for radio broadcast and for the Internet, and included extended interviews. 

This project provided a great opportunity for extensive and diverse community outreach and collaboration throughout its development, distribution, and use. 

We also worked with American Public Television on 6 one-hour programs (named 

Colorvision) featuring the work of Native American, Asian American,, Pacific Islander, Latino and African American filmmakers and television producers. It is now 

in national distribution for all public television stations. 

The programming we, both as individual organizations and collaboratively, help 

bring to public television is beyond the production reach of most local television stations. We support the bill’s proposal for increased funding for production of local 

programming but believe there is also a great need for increased funding for major 

programming efforts such as those we and other independent producers undertake. 

From 1997 to 2002, the Minority Consortia delivered over 88.5 hours of quality 

public television programming. Collectively, we have also funded 250 projects and 

440 producers/directors. These accomplishments have been recognized with over 123 

prestigious national and regional awards, including numerous Emmys. While most 

of our work is focused on film, of note is that the Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) also works in the area of public radio. NAPT developed the 

54 

Native American public radio satellite network (AIROS) that provides live radio 

streaming 24 hours a day to over 70 Native American and mainstream public radio 

stations in the U.S. (including Alaska). 

CPB Funds 

The National Minority Public Broadcasting Consortia currently receives funds 

from two portions of the CPB budget, organization support funds from the Systems 

Support and programming funds from the Television Programming sections. CPB financial support is critical to the work of our organizations. We believe that we make 

a major contribution to public broadcasting with a very modest amount of funding, 

but there is so much more that should be done. 

The organizational support funds we receive from CPB are used not only for operations requirements but for also for a broad array of programming support activities 

and for outreach to our communities. We received $1,850,000 in FY 2004 CPB funds 

for organizational support ($370,000 for each organization). This represents 0.48 

percent of the FY 2004 CPB appropriation. We have received only very small increases in operations support funds in the past several years. 

The programming funds we receive from CPB are re-granted to producers, used 

for purchase of broadcast rights and other related programming activities. Each organization solicits applications from our communities for these programming funds. 

We received $3,181,815 in FY 2004 CPB funds for programming ($636,363 for each 

organization). This represents 0.83 percent (less than one percent) of the FY 2004 

CPB appropriation. Our CPB programming funds have remained virtually flat over 

the past nine years, despite increases in CPB appropriations. 

Recommendations 

The Minority Consortia recommends modest increases in the proportion of CPB 

funds—from the System Support and Programming portions of the budget—to support the production of multicultural programming. We also welcome any suggestions 

the Committee may have for additional ways in the CPB bill to achieve this goal. 

System Support. While the Minority Consortia currently receives funding from the 

System Support portion of the CPB budget, the authorizing statute makes no direct 

mention of support for the kind of contributions we bring to public television and 

radio. The current law notes that funds are for capital costs relating to telecommunications satellites, payment of royalties and other fees, interconnection facilities, assistance for stations that broadcast in language other than English, ‘‘and, 

if available, funding permits for projects and activities that will enhance public 

broadcasting’’. We recommend adding to this portion of the statute that one of the 

activities for which funds under this section should be used: 

• ‘‘for organizations that support the public broadcasting needs of the African 

American, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native American communities 

through training, production, distribution, promotion, outreach, and funding’’, 

and 

• ‘‘not less than 1.5 percent of the total CPB appropriations are for the National 

Minority Public Broadcasting Consortia for activities under this section.’’ 

Television Programming. The current law states that of funds available for television programming, ‘‘a substantial amount shall be distributed to independent producers and production entities, and producers addressing the needs and interests of 

minorities for the production of programs.’’ We are pleased that the S. 2465 would 

retain this language. To it we would add: 

• ‘‘not less than 2 percent of the total CPB appropriation is for the National Minority Public Broadcasting Consortia for activities under this section.’’ 

Report on Diversity. The current law requires CPB to publish an assessment every 

three years on the needs of minority and diverse audiences and its plans to address 

these needs. These reports can also serve to explain the value of multicultural programming and we are pleased that the bill would retain this reporting requirement. 

We will provide the Committee with a copy of our publication, ‘‘The Minority Consortia: Bringing New Voices to Public Television’’ which describes in more detail the 

contributions made by our organizations, individually and collectively, to public 

broadcasting. 

Thank you for your consideration of our recommendations. We as minority communities in public broadcasting see new opportunities to increase diversity in programming, production, audience, and employment in the new media environment. 

55 

July 2004 

NATIONAL MINORITY PUBLIC BROADCASTING CONSORTIA 

Latino Public Broadcasting 

6777 Hollywood Boulevard, Suite 512 

Los Angeles, California 90028 

Luca Bentivoglio, Executive Director 

Native American Public Telecommunications 

Box 83111 

Lincoln, Nebraska 68501 

Frank Blythe, Executive Director 

National Asian American Telecommunications Association 

145 Ninth Street, Suite 350 

San Francisco, California 94103 

Eddie Wong, Executive Director 

National Black Programming Consortium 

145 East 125th Avenue, 4th Floor 

New York, New York 10035 

Mable Haddock, Executive Director 

Pacific Islanders in Communications 

1221 Kapiolani Boulevard, #6A4 

Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 

Carlyn Tani, Executive Director 

RESPONSE TO WRITTEN QUESTION SUBMITTED BY HON. BYRON L. DORGAN TO

PBS 

Question. One of the most important services that public broadcasting provides 

today is quality educational programs for our Nation’s children. 

When the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was established in the late 1960s 

its goal was to offer programs that weren’t available anywhere else. But today, with 

hundreds of channels offering every imaginable kind of program, the children’s programs are the ingredient that differentiate public television from the rest of the 

media. In fact, with the decline of locally-originated programs, many Americans 

would likely consider that children’s programs such as Sesame Street offer the best 

justification for continued Federal support of public television. 

I would like the Public Broadcasting Service to provide the Committee with information that quantifies how much funding is currently dedicated to their children’s 

programs. The report should delineate the sources and associated amounts from the 

Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Ready to Learn Program, other Federal 

programs, public television station support, nongovernmental fundraising efforts 

that include foundations and corporate sponsorships, and any other sources, so that 

the resources available to ensure the continuation of quality educational children’s 

programs can be assessed. 

Answer. PBS appreciates the recognition of and support for its quality children’s 

programs and is proud of its record of 35 years of offering programs that kids and 

parents love and trust. PBS continues this tradition today. 

As a testament to their quality, PBS children’s programs continue to win prestigious awards. For example, the year 2004 marked the seventh consecutive year 

that PBS earned more Emmys for its children’s series than any other broadcast network. Programs including Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks were among the winners. 

PBS continues to be relevant with new offerings like its PBS KIDS GO! block, 

which debuts on October 11, 2004 with programs and online content for early elementary school kids like Maya & Miguel and Postcards from Buster, which promote 

cultural diversity, pro-social behaviors, and English language acquisition. 

While children’s programming is a marquee product for PBS, we are able to feed 

nine hours of unique children’s programming each weekday to local stations through 

the National Program Service for a more reasonable investment than it takes to 

fund some other kinds of educational programming. There are a number of efficiencies that operate to help stretch children’s programming dollars. For example, 

children’s programming has the advantage of a long screen life, as the audience continually turns over when children outgrow shows and new, younger children watch 

library programming for the first time. In that way, fewer new programs need to 

be created for children than for other audiences. PBS also negotiates favorable deal 

56 

* ‘‘Broadcast year 2003’’ numbers generally reflect funds allocated for new programming broadcast during the time period July 2002 through June 2003 as well as the renewal of distribution 

rights for previously broadcast programs, as reported by program producers to PBS. 

terms, and doing so returns money to PBS’ National Program Service for additional 

high-quality programming. 

PBS’ quality programs are funded with monies from a variety of sources. The total 

production cost for PBS children’s programs in broadcast year 2003 * was about $74 

million. This number does not include contributions from the U.S. Department of 

Education, which most recently contributed $8 million for Federal FY 2004. From 

year to year, children’s programming costs vary depending on such factors as the 

timing of new program launches and the number of new episodes. Following is a 

breakdown of PBS children’s television funding for the most recent time periods 

available. 

Public Television. For broadcast year 2003, producing stations funded about $5.8 

million in children’s programming, PBS through its National Program Service funded about $19.5 million, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting funded about 

$6.4 million. 

Producers, Corporate, Foundation. Non-station producer funding accounted for 

about $27.7 million in broadcast year 2003. Corporate underwriting accounted for 

about $8.3 million in broadcast year 2003, and foundation support accounted for 

about $1.7 million. 

Government. For Federal FY 2004, the Department of Education contributed $8 

million through Ready to Learn for programming such as Arthur, Between the Lions, 

and Sesame Street. For broadcast year 2003, National Science Foundation contributions accounted for about $4.4 million for programming such as Cyberchase and 

Zoom. 

PBS will continue to be the leader in children’s programming, expanding into new 

areas such as the GO! block and supporting every program with rich online educational content. Although there are many children’s offerings provided by other 

channels, PBS programming is unique in its commitment to educational quality and 

universal access. For example, PBS works with experienced educational film or television producers who involve children, educational researchers, parents, educators, 

daycare providers, and subject-matter experts in the design and production process. 

As a result of our focus on education, PBS is trusted by parents and teachers, and 

is especially popular among homeschoolers. A recent study by Harris Interactive 

found that a majority of American caregivers agreed that PBS KIDS offers ‘‘educational programs from which (their children) can learn.’’ PBS KIDS also received 

the highest overall quality score of any competitor in children’s programming, and 

parents felt that PBS is a ‘‘trusted and safe place for children to watch television.’’ 

We agree, and we will continue to make quality children’s programming a priority. 

Thank you for your interest in PBS children’s programming. 

Æ