Mr. Carlson resigned last week from his position at CPB after 5 years of exemplary work for the public broadcasting industry. During Mr. Carlson's tenure, public broadcasting faced a great challenge of consistently reduced federal funding. He responded to this challenge by calmly and effectively leading CPB through changes to make public broadcasting more effective. Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Carlson has reduced CPB overhead expenses, protected program content from government editing, instituted a moratorium on adding new stations to TV and radio grant programs, devised a new TV station overlap policy and created a new grant program, the Future Fund. However, these significant accomplishments take a backseat to his commitment to continuing and strengthening public broadcasting's mission of education.
Education is at the heart of public broadcasting.
Mr. Carlson has played an important role in making certain learning resources are available through public broadcasting and reach almost every home, school, and business in this nation. In addition to the contributions he has made to public broadcasting, Mr. Carlson has accomplished many personal achievements. He has received several major awards for journalism, including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and the 1997 American Broadcast Pioneer Award, which is presented to those who have contributed in a legendary fashion to the broadcast industry. Mr. Speaker, public broadcasting has benefitted substantially from Richard Carlson's stalwart and thoughtful leadership. His presence will be greatly missed.