NFCB conference attendees won’t hear any community talk radio in New Orleans
One wonders how a few advocates trying to establish a true community radio station, in a city still reeling from the floods which destroyed more than three-quarters of the city hosting the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, could possibly be a bother to other participants. Indeed, is there any community in the United States which needs a community talk radio station more than New Orleans?
Since the NFCB conference was being held in New Orleans anyway, we hoped, mistakenly, that the NFCB might accomodate our need to quickly get up to speed so we can get a recovery radio station started.
The NFCB Board snubbed our request that they waive the $100/day registration so we could get a couple of passes a day to attend the conference sessions.
The NFCB Board reviewed your letter today at its meeting. We are very impressed with the work you are doing and hope that you will be successful in getting a station providing community news to New Orleans. I know that it will be a challenge to find a frequency in the New Orleans area.
Each year we receive many requests for reductions or waivers of the registration fees. These fees cover actual costs to us whether someone is paying or not so we are not able to waive them—even for our workshop leaders and Board members. We wish that we had enough funding to provide that kind of support but NFCB is basically supported by our members.
We wish you all the luck with your project. We would be very happy to help in any way that we can.
Carol
Carol Pierson
President and CEO
National Federation of Community Broadcasters
1970 Broadway, Suite 1000
Oakland , CA 94612
510-451-8200
carol@nfcb.org