Michael Couzens

Michael Couzens (1946 - March 18, 2023) was a communications attorney and community broadcasting advocate. Employed by the FCC in the 1970s, Couzens headed the Low Power Television Task Force which developed the rules and regulations for Low Power Television.

Education Couzens studied Law at the University of California Berkeley and economics at Stanford University.

As a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, Couzens did his service at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

Broadcasting

Legal career After law school and serving at the Brookings Institution, Couzens worked for the Federal Communications Commission. In 1976, he worked in Washington DC for a law firm representing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), helping to develop the legal process for establishing TV dishes in major cities. Couzens often worked Pro bono when his clients could not afford to pay him. Couzens was a board member and the Vice President for Legal Affairs for the National Translator Association, joining the organization at the birth of the LPTV initiative.

In 2007, in conjunction with the opening of a public filing window for frequencies for noncommercial full power station, Couzens teamed with Alan Korn to create Discount Legal. Over subsequent filing windows, Korn and Couzens assisted over 100 applicants to apply for new noncommercial educational FM stations of which 50 are currently on the air as of 2024.

Community radio Couzens began his work in community radio in 1976 when, as he was coming out of law school, he volunteered to help represent the newly founded National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB).

In 2020 Couzens stated his belief in community radio in an interview with The Union, a Grass Valley, Calif., newspaper: “If you read the blogs and trades, they say broadcast radio is stone cold dead, no radio audience whatsoever, but everything I see shows community radio is loved and essential, that people want it and will go find it. It’s that important, no matter what they say.” When asked about community radio's impact on the American landscape, Couzens responded, “It’s had people recognize, once again, that media and journalism work their best at the local level in a specific community. In that way it’s been very enriching.”

Personal life Working out of Oakland, California, Couzens frequented Bluegrass music concerts, practiced Karate as a Wado Kai black belt, and was married to radio producer and Peabody Award Winner Adi Gevins.