Press Release
Press Release
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
03.20.20
Pillsbury retired partner, Richard “Dick” Zaragoza, will receive the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s 2020 Distinguished Service Award. The award was established to recognize those who “reflect the values embodied in the Wisconsin broadcast industry of promoting economic vitality, engagement in civic affairs, advocacy for the First Amendment and dissemination of community information and community service and support of diversity and a better Wisconsin.”
Zaragoza was nominated by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Board and by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation Board. Zaragoza will be recognized with the award on June 18, 2020 during the WBA summer conference in La Crosse.
In order to help protect broadcasters nationwide, Dick worked with the FCC’s Enforcement
Bureau to design and establish the Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program between the State Broadcasters Associations and the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. For over a decade and a half, thousands of stations have utilized the program he developed.
“We are thrilled to honor Dick with the WBA’s Distinguished Service Award,” said current WBA president and CEO, Michelle Vetterkind. “Neither the WBA nor NASBA would be where they are today without Dick. The effects of his work will be felt for generations.”
Zaragoza was a Communications partner at Pillsbury, based in Washington, DC. He counseled a broad range of clients including radio, television stations, financial institutions and private equity companies — focusing on regulatory, transactional and litigation matters. Zaragoza also represented the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA). Zaragoza is a past President of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) and has served as the FCBA’s Delegate to the American Bar Association. Zaragoza is a former Trustee of FCBA Foundation and received the FCBA’s Distinguished Service Award in 1995.
It was Zaragoza’s vision to establish the FCBA Foundation which has provided over $2 million in scholarships and grants to charitable organizations, predominantly serving the District of Columbia community.
“I am so appreciative of the WBA choosing me for such a high honor,” said Zaragoza. “ I have such high respect for the broadcast industry because it is the only business in America that is licensed by the federal government to do good – serve and protect the lives and property of all listeners and viewers by acting as reliable first informers in times of emergencies, as constant conduits through which community needs, issues and concerns are identified and addressed and as the ‘oil of commerce’ introducing the goods and services of local and nonlocal merchants to the public. The Wisconsin broadcasters have demonstrated to me their true commitment to doing good in these very important ways.”